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Belgian Authorities Have Identified Brussels Bomb Maker; Exclusive Interview with Rep. Steve Cohen. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 23, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] EMILY EISENMAN, BOYFRIEND MISSING IN BRUSSELS: I talked to him on the phone before he was going to get on his train to go to Brussels, which was a two-hour train ride. And you know, he promised me he would tell me once he got to the airport safely. And he did send me a message saying I'm on the train, and, you know, just excited to see me. And that was the last I heard of him. I was hoping to hear from him once he arrived from -- at the airport, and to receive a boarding pass. But neither of those I received and his family as well.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Let's back up for a second. So he lives in (INAUDIBLE). This is as you pointed out about two-hour train ride from Brussels. He is in university there. He is in school. And so, we was coming to visit you. You have of course been in touch with his family because you are sort of thinking where is he and why haven't I heard from him? And I imagine his family is as well. What has his family done? Have they been in touch with hospitals at all or in touch with government officials?

EISENMAN: Yes, they filed a missing persons report this morning. Police came to their house and got a DNA testing. They have been going to many hospitals. The military hospital in Brussels there they have been at today. And they have just been waiting by to hear the first news. And to this point, we have heard nothing from him. He is on no list of any kind.

BALDWIN: Emily, how did you meet him?

EISENMAN: My brothers and I work together. We do -- we promote health and wellness over the media. And like through you tube and Facebook. And we hold retreats. And so we had a retreat in Georgia. And Bart heard about us. You know, he followed us on you tube and wanted to come to a retreat. So he came to the U.S. for the first time to attend this retreat. And we met there. And this was about five months ago.

BALDWIN: About five months ago. So he's, as I pointed out, in university in Belgium. You are in Athens, in north Georgia. You have been back and forth. This is your boyfriend you haven't heard from. How old are you, Emily, if I may ask?

EISENMAN: I'm 21.

BALDWIN: Twenty one. And so, you -- what is it like, I'm trying to put myself in your shoes. I would be sitting by the phone trying not to go mad. How are you feeling going through all of this.

EISENMAN: These last two days have been something I never thought I would feel. I -- it's been the worst days of my life. I just -- I guess I didn't know how much one person can love another until you just don't know where they are at. You just have no idea. I'm just hoping for a sign of some sort that he is OK. And I'm just - I believe in God and I believe that God is with him and that is what I hold on to. That is where my hope comes from.

BALDWIN: My heart is with you, Emily. And I can't even pretend to understand what this is like for you. You know, let's remain optimistic. If he is he's OK, you know, and in that first phone call with him, what's the first thing you are going to tell him?

EISENMAN: That God is our savior, and that if we can make it through this, then there is nothing that can stand between us. And I just cannot wait to see his smile. And I'm just in hope that that time will come very shortly. Yes.

BALDWIN: Emily Eisenman, I am thinking only happy thoughts. Only happy thoughts for you. Thank you so much for the time. Let's stay in touch. My best to you, and of course Bart's family as well. Thank you.

EISENMAN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:51] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, OUTFRONT: Back to Brussels here, where we have breaking news. Belgian officials are saying that they believe that they may have the identity of the bomb maker, the crucial bomb maker they have had a manhunt for. They say he may be one of the suicide bombers in the airport attack. That now infamous picture, you have the two men in black pushing the luggage cart. Those were the two suicide bombers. They say one of them may be Najim Laachraoui, the bomb maker. His DNA on the bombs for the airport bombs, and also in the bombs in the Paris attacks.

There is still a man hunt going on for the third man in that picture, the man in the light colored jacket and at the metro attack here in Brussels, where even more people were killed. They know there was one suicide bomber. They do not yet know how many others they are looking for.

I want to bring in now Daniel Benjamin, the U.S. ambassador at large, counterterrorism expert at the state department and our own Clarissa Ward who is here with me in Belgium.

Daniel Benjamin, let me start with you though and get your reaction. They are still trying to figure out what the actual DNA is - actually, let me ask you, Clarissa, whether this really is Najim Laachraoui. But you have been here throughout the day as the manhunt has been going on. And what is the latest that you are learning as they are looking for him, as they have been looking for that man in the light colored jacket?

[15:40:16] CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, if this is Najim Laachraoui and Belgian authorities do believe that this was indeed him, this is very significant for a number of reasons. Let me just go through some of the key points that our viewers should know about Laachraoui.

This is a 24-year-old male, born in Morocco. His DNA reportedly found on two of the explosive vests in Paris. Obviously, if he was one of the bombers in the Belgian airport he was heavily involved in this plot as well. He was considered to be extremely dangerous. Interpol put out a so-called red alert for him. In that red alert they detailed that he had experience with explosives, that he was known for terrorist activity. He was also spotted, you may remember, in September of last year with Salah Abdeslam in September on the Austrian/Hungary border. So we are still waiting for absolute confirmation, but it does appear at this stage that Najim Laachraoui is indeed one of the suicide bombers in that airport attack. This is extremely significant and it will be somewhat of a relief to authorities here as well because of course he was considered to be armed and dangerous. And he is believed to be the one who had the know-how with regards to forming explosives using very crude, easily available over the counter materials, TATP, that's a peroxide based agent. It can be found in everything from nail polish remover to hair bleach - Erin.

BURNETT: That's right. So easy to obtain the components to make a TATP bomb. You know, Bob Bear saying that it doesn't take a significant amount of training to successfully make one. Others saying it could be much harder than that.

Daniel Benjamin, let me ask you, though. You know, it is clear to saying, if this is Najim Laachraoui, it would be very significant because the man with the know-how whose DNA is on the bombs on the attacks here in Brussels and also in Paris would be dead. And that would be very significant. There were, though, of course, 15 kilograms of TATP found in the apartment that he had vacated that morning raising the question of whether he was just leaving that there or someone else has been trained to replace creating so many more questions tonight.

DANIEL BENJAMIN, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR AT LARGE: That's correct. There are lots and lots of questions. I think what this does tell us, though, is that the cell based in Molenbeek was sensing it had a noose tightening around it. The capture of Abdeslam certainly suggested that there was going to be an important informant in the custody of the police. And so the cell seemed to be in a use it or lose it situation. And that would apply first to the explosives, but also to the people who were going to detonate them themselves, and suicide bombers are an important resource in this kind of terrorism.

BURNETT: And Daniel, the other question of course is that the man hunt continues. They don't know whether there were accomplices on the scene who fled in the metro attack. They don't know where the man in the light colored jacket is in that picture in the airport. And of course they don't know how many others are involved.

They do believe at least that man in the jacket is here in Brussels yet they are not shutting the city down. They are not going door to door. They are not doing what the Americans officials did in Boston with the Tsarnaev brothers as just another example. Why do you think that is? Should they be doing it like this?

BENJAMIN: I'm not a policeman and I'm really not in a position to examine their police tactics. They probably have a reason for doing it. And I'm sure that they are getting a fair amount of assistance from international intelligence and foreign police as well. So I certainly hope they have a good reason for it. Again, you know, they haven't had huge amounts of experience in counterterrorism operations. But they have been on high alert hope they know what they are doing.

BURNETT: And Clarissa, they have been going and doing raids. I mean, certainly, we have been hearing about raids constantly since the Paris attacks that have been going on here in the Molenbeek neighborhood right here in Brussels. But over the past couple of days, even the past days since these attacks you yourself have seen several new raids.

WARD: There have been several new raids, Erin. I think what is key here is that the Belgian authorities are coming under real pressure. Many of these men were well-known to police. They were on Interpol red alerts. The brothers had an extensive criminal record. And I think a lot of people here will want to know how it is that they were able to slip under the radar and elude capture for so many months. Salah Abdeslam living here for about four months, Erin. I think a lot of people would like answers. And they want to know that the noose has finally tightened around this terror cell once and for all.

[15:45:08] BURNETT: All right, Clarissa Ward, thank you very much. Daniel Benjamin, thanks very much to you from here in Brussels.

Now back to you Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Erin, thank you so much. Let me just pick up there with Rukmini Callimachi, a terror correspondent for "The New York Times." We talked multiple times. Amazing reporter. Also Rick Schwein, a counterterrorism expert and the man who led the search for Eric Rudolph when they finally found him in the Appalachian wilderness after years of looking for him. He was the Olympic park bomber. So great to have both of you on.

And here is one question and picking up the tail end of that conversation about whether or not this is the bomb maker and if in fact he is dead.

Rick, let me pose this to you. You know, if you are a terror group, and you sort of have an A-team bomb maker and a B-team bomb maker, would someone be waiting in the wings, you know, knowing that law enforcement have been looking for you and that ultimately he is perhaps dead? Or is this truly like cutting the head off a snake and this is a huge, huge win for counterterror efforts? RICK SCHWEIN, COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT: You know, Brooke, it's really

hard to tell at this point, right. Any time that you can take a significant player, especially somebody a skill in making improvised explosives devices that's potentially a win for law enforcement. It seems like because of the arrest of Abdeslam that this cell had to speed up their time line. Leaving 15 kilograms if TATP, a really highly unstable homemade high explosive is of concern. You know, it tells me, as a former investigator, that they had bigger plans and that they had -- they felt they needed to speed up their line because they didn't know whether or not Abdeslam was cooperating or to what extent that he was cooperating.

I suspect that this cell is part of network cells that are present in this 1500 cad ray of foreign fighters that have returned from Syria and Iraq and are now operating in the European continent.

BALDWIN: Yes. So many of them coming from Belgium to Syria. And that's a huge issue.

Let me come back to you on the cell. But on your point, meaning to you, we know from Intel officials that yes, this was a plot. These attacks in Brussels had been in the works for some time. Because of the arrest of the eighth Paris terror suspect, that that did accelerate their plots. And so, we have also learn that one of the wills -- there were two brothers involved, one of whom blew himself up in the airport and the other at the subway, one of the brothers left his will on a laptop, tossed it in a trash can. And within that will -- tell me what we've learned.

RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, TERROR CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: The thing you have to understand, Brooke, this is part of ISIS tactics. Fighters who are sent to take part in the external operations wing of the terror group are instructed to leave a will basically stating their last wishes and making very clear for the record that they were acting on behalf of the Islamic state. And we have seen this with the Paris attackers. We are now seeing with it the Brussels attacker and with many others before then. So when I see the will, to me it's just another flag that this is part of the pattern of the way ISIS operates.

On the bomb maker, I just wanted to caution that I think the evidence points to the knowledge being not just with one human being. The reason I say that is the first case of an ISIS operative coming back to Europe and trying to build a TATP bomb dates to December 2013. He leaves Syria in December 2013. He is briefly arrested in Greece in January of 2014, and is finally arrested with the TATP bombs in the city Khan (ph) in France in February of 2014. So we are talking almost two years ago. And that man successfully made TATP bombs. They are stuffed inside of a red bull soda can. The one element he hadn't figured out was how to make the detonator. But going back almost two years, we see that this group had the know how to make the TATP.

Now in Paris, the TATP bombs went off in seven different locations and materials associated with the making of those bombs were found in three different locations, two in France and one in Belgium. That suggests that there was more than one bomb maker, I believe.

BALDWIN: `I have so many more questions. We are out of time. Please come back to both of you, Rukmini and Rick. Thank you.

Meantime, President Obama is hitting back against his critics to his response to the Brussels attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have got a lot of things on my plate. But my top priority is to defeat ISIL.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Congressman Steve Cohen, who has been traveling with the president in Cuba, he will join me live. He will weigh in on the president's remarks, some of the criticism the president has been facing, and also his takeaway from being in Havana.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:54:54] BALDWIN: President Obama speaking today, reaffirming his vow to destroy ISIS but he is still receiving criticism for going through with his trip to Latin America instead of coming home after the deadly terror attacks in Brussels and especially sitting at a baseball game. The president has said cutting his trip short would play right into ISIS' fear tactics.

Joining me now, Congressman Steve Cohen who traveled this week to Cuba with the president. He is a member of many committees on Capitol Hill, among them, the Helsinki Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

So Congressman, wonderful to see you.

REP. STEVE COHEN (D), TENNESSEE: Nice to be with you, Brooke. Thank you.

BALDWIN: All right. So we will get to Cuba in just a second. But we have to begin with Belgium. Listen, talking to so many of these counterterror experts, they say absolutely Belgium has been this, you know, hot spot for these terrorists. But I was talking to a former CIA counterterrorism official on my show yesterday who said, Brooke, you know, Belgium is just the beginning. Watch Germany, watch more France, watch the U.K. for potential attacks, alarmist or realist? I mean, what do you agree with?

COHEN: I think they are realists. I think that ISIS wants to set off terror and concern throughout the civilized world because they are against the civilized world. We do have a war on terror. I mean, it was a terrible thing that we had to undergo and experience, and it was a shame that the Bush administration didn't recognize and accept the signals they were given by the CIA to have been on alert before we had 9/11, but they got us into this. We are there. And we need to protect our people and the people in the civilized world against ISIS. BALDWIN: I mean, the state department even today issuing a warning

alerting U.S. citizens to potential risks of travel to and throughout Europe because of what happened in Brussels, talking to folks who, you know, cover state. They say it's a pretty rare thing, what the state department did here. Do you think it's appropriate?

COHEN: Well, I'm sure it is. The state department wouldn't do it unless they were concerned about the safety of Americans and that's the first concern we should always have. This situation I think situation I think was probably -- probably set off by the arrest of the last Paris conspirator and that these folks in Belgium thought they better act before they get captured themselves. It's a shame they weren't captured. They should have been.

BALDWIN: On to Cuba. You were at that baseball game, I believe. We saw the president at the baseball game. He said, you know, this is precisely what we should be doing, not, you know, cow-towing to terror so he was there in Havana and, you know, has faced, you know, blistering criticism, obviously, from Republicans, specifically John Kasich even, saying I think the president should have come back. Come back now and begun to talk to leaders of Europe. Senator Ted Cruz saying indeed President Obama is at a baseball game yacking it up with the Castro communist dictators rather than being in America. Your response to that.

COHEN: Well, you know, those people think that President Obama makes a mistake every day that he wakes up. And they had that problem with him ever since he has been elected president and they can't get over it. He wasn't born in Kenya. He is an outstanding commander in-chief and he has telephones. And believe it or not, air force one has communication tools where he can contact and speak with any leader in the world at any time that he needs to. And I'm sure he was doing that while in the air. President Obama doesn't just sit around and play cards. He is a very engaged president. And even in that airplane he is working and he is working on behalf of the American people to make us more secure.

BALDWIN: Before I let you go, on a personal note, I know that you were in Havana with secretary Kerry and others back in August when the U.S. embassy reopened, which was a huge, huge deal. Your passion for Cuba started when you were a young boy and you met Mini Minoso (ph). I'm sorry you're missing the Rolling Stones on Friday. But, can you tell me a story?

COHEN: It was an exhibition baseball game in Memphis. And I was not quite six. I was on crutches after having polio. And I had a White Sox cap and shirt and a baseball player gave me a ball. And I thanked him and he said don't thank me, thank that player over there, number 9. Blackest player on the field but in segregated Memphis he didn't feel comfortable giving a ball to a white kid. It set off a friendship that I had with Minoso through his death. He was a warm and gracious man. He was from Cuba. He was my hero. I visited him at the Lorraine Motel in one of his last visits to Memphis and he stayed at the Lorraine where Dr. King was assassinated eight years later because of segregations and that is the (INAUDIBLE). So he taught me about civil rights early. He taught me about kindness to kids. And we just had a Cuban child come to Memphis for pediatric cardiac surgery and it saved his life and I was able to help in that regards. And he taught me about the love for Cuba which I have had.

So I have been on the Cuba team for a long time. I was proud to be there and see the flag go up kind of ending the Berlin Wall and the Caribbean. And now we have got better relations with Cuba and with all Latin-American relations as the result. The Cuban people loved our president and the American people can travel to Cuba more freely and eventually totally freely and that was tough and wrong for the American people.

BALDWIN: It's on my bucket list. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous of your multiple trips down there.

Congressman Steve Cohen, thank you so much for the time. I really appreciate it.

BALDWIN: You are welcome, Brooke. You're real young, you can get a big bucket.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Thank you for that.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me here. "The LEAD" with John Berman starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Thanks, Brooke.

The alleged bomb maker blows himself up. "The LEAD" starts right now.