Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Brussels' New War on Terror; Syrian Army Retakes Palmyra World Heritage Site; Suicide Bomber Brothers on U.S. Watch List; Cruz Blames Trump for Tabloid Story; Attack Survivors Recall Events. Aired 12- 12:30a ET
Aired March 26, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is the face of the latest suspect implicated in terror attacks in both Brussels and Paris. What we know about the man and how he might have been able to strike two European capitals in a matter of months.
Fact has already proven stranger than fiction in the Republican race for the White House. But Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are contesting the truth about new allegations printed in a U.S. tabloid. We'll have the details ahead.
Plus: Cuba is getting a whole lot of satisfaction as the Rolling Stones break through a decades-long ban on foreign rock music in Cuba.
And hello, everyone. It's all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. We're live in Atlanta. Thank you for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ALLEN: We have new information about a possible suspect in Tuesday's terror attacks in Brussels. CNN has obtained this French police bulletin, showing Naim Al Hamed. He's a 28-year-old Syrian, thought to be at the heart of the ISIS attacks in Brussels and Paris.
Right now Hamid is one of the most wanted men in Europe. Investigators are unsure of his whereabouts during the bombings Tuesday at the Brussels airport and the metro station. However, French media report police found his DNA inside the apartment the three airport attackers used.
This comes as officials make at least 10 arrests across Europe in connection with the bombings.
The antiterror raids have begun to be a type of new normal for some Brussels residents as police hunt down suspects. CNN's Erin Burnett talked with one woman, who saw a violent police takedown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ERIN BURNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Security forces taking over Brussels' Schaerbeek neighborhood, an assault by heavily armed officers. A major operation in broad daylight, loud explosions, once quiet streets now the focus of a war on terror.
Police have been scouring this neighborhood for days. And today it led them here to this tram stop where, in a dramatic confrontation, they shot a man.
Witness Lydia Lanzone (ph) tells me, "We heard a shot. It was the police that shot in that direction to my right. We saw a man on the right in front of me. He was on the ground."
"At that moment," she tells me, "the police dragged him and put him in ambulance."
Police had demanded the man's backpack. After shooting him, they shouted at him to throw it aside. Police dragged the man away. Then the bomb squad moved in to check the bag.
BURNETT: This is where the man ended up, about 40 feet away. Hours later, his blood still on the ground.
BURNETT (voice-over): Today's shooting, only about two miles from the Schaerbeek apartment, where a taxi driver told police he picked up the three men who pulled off Tuesday's deadly airport attack.
Schaerbeek looks like any other middle class neighborhood. The area is home to many young jihadists. Lydia Lanzone (ph) has lived here for 17 years. Today, shots outside her home, a day she never thought possible.
She tells me, "I live in fear now. I live in fear now, not before. Maybe things will calm down.
"But," she tells me, "I think it's just the beginning."
BURNETT: Secretary of State John Kerry arriving here in Brussels to meet with Belgian and E.U. officials this morning. He laid a wreath at a memorial at the airport to honor the victims of the horrific bombings.
For Kerry, the attacks are now personal.
BURNETT: Americans, of course, we now know are dead in these horrible terror attacks here in Brussels.
Do you consider this an attack against America?
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Whenever Americans are killed, of course.
BURNETT (voice-over): Four days after the bombings, the people of this beautiful old city are afraid of more attacks, watching raid after raid and trying to mourn.
Says Lydia, "It's so sad, just sadness."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Erin Burnett there in Belgium for us.
And Like the Brussels attacks, ISIS is also claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 25 people at a football match.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN (voice-over): This video shows the moment of the explosion at the stadium in Iraq, where trophies were being handed out to a local team that won a championship. CNN cannot independently confirm this video. ISIS has been losing territory in Iraq and the country's army is now concentrating on retaking the key city of Mosul.
The Syrian army says it has retaken the Palmyra castle (ph) and areas around it from ISIS. The strategic city is an important landmark in the history of human civilization and last year ISIS destroyed many of the temples in the ancient city in what the U.N. called a war crime.
Palmyra has key supply routes leading to the ISIS self-declared capital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:05:00]
ALLEN: So it has been a strategic city there in the middle of Syria.
U.S. officials say the number two commander of ISIS has been killed. The man was the terror group's finance minister. The American military identified him as a top target who may have been next in line to lead ISIS. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. special operations forces secretly sent into Syria trying to capture this man alive, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter bluntly described the target.
ASHTON CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: He was an ISIL leader, senior leader, serving as a finance minister and who also is responsible for some external affairs and plots.
STARR (voice-over): Somebody the U.S. government put a high priority on grabbing, including a $7 million bounty on his head.
COL. STEVE WARREN, U.S. SPOKESMAN FOR OPERATION AGAINST ISIS: In fact, we know that he was actively planning external attacks, presumably in the West or even in the United States.
STARR (voice-over): But even though the U.S. forces went in to capture him, they kill him in a highly dangerous mission, about which little is being revealed.
The troops were part of the Pentagon's covert expeditionary targeting force, a team of 200 special operations forces with orders to kill or capture ISIS leaders.
The unit had been tracking Qaduli. From helicopters overhead, they prepared to land and grab him from a vehicle on the road, fighter jets overhead ready to act if the troops needed more firepower.
But sources tell CNN something went wrong. The commandos ended up having to open fire from their helicopters and kill Qaduli.
CARTER: The removal of this ISIL leader will hamper the organization's ability to conduct operations, both inside and outside of Iraq and Syria.
STARR (voice-over): Qaduli, who some analysts call the number two in ISIS, would have had crucial intelligence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is somebody with significant credentials in global jihad.
STARR: If they had been able to grab him alive, the plan was to take him back to Iraq, interrogate him there and then turn him over to Iraqi authorities for detention -- Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: We want to talk more about that development and what's going on in Belgium now with CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore. He spent 25 years as a special agent with the FBI and has extensive experience tackling terrorism in the U.S. and abroad, running the FBI's extraterritorial squad.
Thank you for joining us, Steve. We appreciate your time.
First of all, I want to talk to you about the attacks there in Belgium and the investigation four days on. We've got more raids, a new suspect name; let's step back and give us a sense from what you're learning about what investigators are learning about this terror network or networks and how they may all be connected.
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's happening right now is they're actually starting multiple investigations. You're getting to the point where a lot of the information that they picked up from this apartment has been translated; they've done link charts.
And really what it's doing is breaking down into dozens of smaller investigations. And as each one of those gets enough credibility to go forward, they're going to start hitting other places and people.
ALLEN: And meantime, Paris authorities say they thwarted another attack that may have been in the advanced stage of being launched.
What does that say to you that so soon after the horror of the two Paris attacks that we've seen, another might have been forthcoming?
Do you think that investigators are staying ahead of ISIS or are very much behind?
MOORE: I don't think they're ahead and I think they would tell you that. But when they bring somebody down or a cell down this quickly after -- after a -- after a hit on that apartment, you have to believe that that hit had something to do with -- with ratting out that next attack.
And so the good news -- and the bad news is -- is, yes, they are getting information, they are catching up a little bit but this is notice that for everybody in those cells that, hey, they may be coming; let's speed everything up.
ALLEN: We know that the two brothers who killed themselves in Brussels were on a U.S. terror watch list. Belgium officials missed a chance to perhaps bring one of them in.
Belgium is a small country. The U.S. has extensive resources to protect our borders.
And is there any way that more Western countries can cooperate with one another now and share knowledge, now that this happened again?
MOORE: Well, we were already obviously sharing information, I believe. The problem is, yes, Belgium has limited resources, because -- simply because of the size of the country. That doesn't mean that they're going to invite people --
[00:10:00]
MOORE: -- from the FBI or French officials or German officials into their borders to help them investigate.
There are very strong feelings about sovereignty in play here. And I think the best we can do is give them information that's actionable, not just "watch this guy" but "go get this guy."
ALLEN: Well, the U.S., as we said, killed a top operative of ISIS, killing him in a helicopter -- from a helicopter.
Will knocking down ISIS in Syria help or hurt the threat to Western countries as far as terrorism on the West's soil?
We heard Ash Carter say he thinks it will diminish Syria -- excuse me, ISIS -- both in Syria and in the West.
What do you think?
MOORE: I think it will diminish them in the short run. What -- you know, the good thing here is that they sent a message.
They said, oh, yes, we get Brussels.
Do you get this? And so that was them saying we can get you any time. So don't mess around.
I believe that, as long as ISIS in Syria is fighting for their survival, they're not going to have a lot of time to help -- to send teams out around the world. So I like that strategy.
But in the long term, somebody's going to take his place. And, really, a lot of people have to start over when you kill the person that we have information on that we know about. So when you kill him, we've got to start over with a new guy.
ALLEN: Steve Moore, as always we appreciate you coming on. Thank you.
MOORE: Thanks.
ALLEN: The terror attacks are exposing Belgium as a fertile recruiting ground for jihadi fighters. But even before that, CNN's Nima Elbagir was in Brussels' Molenbeek neighborhood, an area becoming synonymous with extremism.
She and her team spent months getting to know the residents, having them share what it's like to live there and finding out what attracts some to a violent ideology.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that it's a part of our Islam that we protect the country that we were raised in and that we try to make the country that we lived in prosper. And the problem is the misunderstanding of this youth, that they think, when I attribute myself to a non-Muslim country, it makes me a non-Muslim and that doesn't make any sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ALLEN (voice-over): That's just a small part of an in-depth look at the fight against terror in "Frontline Belgium," Saturday at 7:30 pm in London, 8:30 Central European Time, right here on CNN.
Coming up, a young American missionary was badly hurt in the Brussels airport bombing. He's speaking with CNN from his hospital bed. And, incredibly, this is the third terror attack he's experienced. We'll have his story ahead here.
Plus: another ugly turn in the Republican presidential race. Scandalous tabloid allegations against Ted Cruz and he is pointing the finger at Donald Trump.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ALLEN: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. The verbal battle between U.S. Republican candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump is growing more heated. Now Cruz is furious after a salacious tabloid article was published about his family and he is accusing Trump of planting the story and the smear. CNN's Manu Raju has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Donald Trump may be a rat but I have no desire to copulate with him. And this garbage does not belong in politics.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ted Cruz today accusing Donald Trump and his allies of planting a tabloid report to hurt his campaign and embarrass his family. But not offering any proof to back up his claim.
CRUZ: Let me be clear, this "National Enquirer" story is garbage. It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear. And it is a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen. It's not surprising that Donald Trump's tweet occurs the day before the attack comes out.
RAJU (voice-over): Trump responding in a statement saying, "I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Did not know about it and have not as yet read it," adding, "Unlike lying Ted Cruz, I do not surround myself with political hacks and henchmen and then pretend total innocence."
The feud even leading Cruz for a second straight day to refuse to say if he'd support Trump as a nominee.
Cruz : I don't make a habit out of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my family.
RAJU (voice-over): The nasty tone has been escalating for days.
CRUZ: Donald should stick with attacking me, because Heidi is way out of Donald Trump's league.
RAJU (voice-over): Trump re-tweeted unflattering photo of Cruz's wife, Heidi. Trump's response, Cruz started the fight after an anti- Trump super PAC released an ad showing his wife, Melania, posing nude for "GQ" 16 years ago. The ad meant to turn off socially conservative voters in Utah was not affiliated with the Cruz campaign, but Trump supporters aren't buying it.
SAM CLOVIS, TRUMP CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRMAN: I haven't heard anybody talk about all of the outrageous acts of the Cruz campaign.
RAJU (voice-over): The exchange spotlighting Trump's problem with a key voting bloc -- women. While a new CNN/ORC poll finds that 59 percent of Republican women say they have a favorable view of Trump, the survey also shows that an overwhelming 73 percent of all registered women voters view Trump unfavorably. Comments like these could be a big reason why.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She wanted to breast pump in front of me and I may have said that's disgusting. I may have said something else. I know where she went. It's disgusting. I don't want to talk about it.
RAJU (voice-over): In Oshkosh, Wisconsin, today Cruz hitting Trump for more than the personal attacks. Blasting the GOP frontrunner on his lack of policy specifics.
CRUZ: And I'm going to wave a magic wand and it's going to be great. Well, I'm sorry, Donald, we don't live in Wonderland.
RAJU (voice-over): And on Trump's refusal to debate.
CRUZ: Trump is scared. It ain't complicated.
RAJU (voice-over): The ugly back-and-forth giving Democrats hope that they will win the White House, especially if Trump is the nominee.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If he's the nominee, I look forward to debating him, yes, absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Well, there are three Democratic contests Saturday in Alaska, Hawaii and the state of Washington. Be sure to tune in all day for CNN's full coverage of the Democratic caucuses.
And speaking of Democrats, a bird was feeling the Bern Friday when it made an unannounced appearance at a Bernie Sanders rally in Oregon. The crowd roared with applause as their feathered friend perched on the podium in front of the senator.
With a wide grin on his face, Sanders called the bird a symbol of peace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VT., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now you see, this little bird doesn't know it.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: I think -- I think there may be some symbolism here.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: I know it doesn't look like it but that bird is really a dove, asking us for world peace. No more wars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Quite a cute moment there. Sanders needs big wins on Saturday if he has any hope of trying to catch front-runner Hillary Clinton in the fight for delegates. Well, even one of the world's most successful women has --
[00:20:00]
ALLEN: -- had her setbacks. Coming up, the humbling way the creator of Harry Potter is inspiring budding writers.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ALLEN: The past few days have been agonizing for families and loved ones of the victims of Tuesday's terror attacks in Brussels. The girlfriend of a young man who was killed in the airport bombing tells CNN he was her best friend.
Another young man, badly injured in the attack, spoke with CNN from his hospital bed. Brynn Gingras reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY EISENMAN, BART MIGOM'S GIRLFRIEND: It's been the hardest day of my life.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hope is now heart break for Emily Eisenman. Her boyfriend and Belgian native, Bart Migom, is among the 31 people killed in Tuesday's attacks. His family identified the 21-year old's body Friday.
EISENMAN: The fact that he was my best friend and I just felt like I could spend the rest of my life with him.
And I always told this to him at the end of our phone calls.
(SPEAKING FOREING LANGUAGE)
Which means Bart is always in Emily's heart.
GINGRAS: The horrific news delivered to the Pinczowski family as well. They were checking into their flight headed to New York. Alex and Sascha were checking into their flight headed to New York. Their family confirmed it received a list of the survivors at the Brussels hospital and the siblings were not on it.
In a statement, the family said, "We are grateful to have closure on this tragic situation and are thankful for the thoughts and prayers from all."
In a statement, the family said, "We are grateful to have closure on this tragic situation and are thankful for the thoughts and prayers from all."
This as Secretary of State John Kerry made a sobering announcement. Americans also among those killed. JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States, I want you to know, is praying and grieving with you. For the loved ones of those who have been very cruelly taken from us.
GINGRAS (voice-over): A senior U.S. official confirmed two Americans among the victims, but their yet been release. Some families are still waiting for word tonight, like those of Justin and Stephanie Shults from Tennessee who are still missing. They were dropping off Stephanie's mother Carolyn Moore at the airport. Moore was visiting the couple who live in Brussels. She survived the blast but says she has still not heard from her daughter or son-in-law.
And an emotional reunion for surviving victim Mason Wells and his parents. Wells, a missionary from Utah, is suffering from severe burns as his fellow church member Fanny Clain. This is the third terrorist attack he has survived. He remembers this one vividly.
MASON WELLS, BRUSSELS ATTACK SURVIVOR: I was looking down and a huge blast came from my right. I believe my body was off the ground for a moment. A large part of the right side of my body got really hot and really cold. I was covered in a lot of fluids, a lot of blood and a lot of that blood wasn't mine.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: I want to reflect a little more on this week in Belgium. The terror attacks saw 31 killed, 300 injured as hundreds more paid witness to the horrific events. Some have shared what they saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We knew immediately that it was an explosion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole station --
[00:25:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- was in ruin. There was soot and smoke everywhere. There was glass broken on the ground. It was clear that there was an attack.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see -- when I go out, I see all the -- a lot of people with blood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw doors flying, glass ceiling coming down and smoke on everything. And then we run away to an emergency exit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just a war zone, so to speak.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to let this take me down. I want to stay positive and not start to live in fear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: As we learn the names of those lost and Brussels returns to its new normal, the city has come together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN (voice-over): Songs, memorials and moments of silence have spread a tribute to victims and a sign of strength.
There are many ways you can help the victims of the Brussels attacks. You can go online to cnn.com/impactyourworld to find out more about how you can help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Thousands of Cubans are winding down after a rocking and historic night in Havana.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN (voice-over): The Rolling Stones flew to Cuba to give a free concert. Mick Jagger strutted across stage, starting off the night with the band's classic, "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
The British rockers are the first major international band to play in Cuba since the revolution there almost 60 years ago. The concert capped a week of the West and Cuba strengthening ties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Finally, even the most successful people have their work rejected. In an effort to comfort writers -- budding writers -- Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, posted two rejection letters she received on Twitter.
The author had sent her 2013 crime fiction novel, "The Cuckoo's Calling," to publishers under a pseudonym and she was turned down. Rowling said she posted the letters not for revenge but for inspiration to others not to give up. One publisher suggested Rowling take a writer's workshop and advised her on how to submit novels to publishers.
That is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. Our top stories are right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
