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Manhunt for Suspects Continues; Christian Families Targeted; Sanders Campaign Strengthens. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 28, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: "Amanpour" is coming up next. For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN on this Monday. Thank you so much for starting your week with us here.

We begin of course with Europe. Europe on edge. The terror web expanding as the hunt intensifies for those responsible for the attacks in Belgium. We are now being told at least eight people are on the run, suspected in the attacks in both Brussels and in Paris. Raids now spreading across, look at this, four countries now. Nine people taken in for questioning just over this past weekend. Three of them are charged with helping terrorists.

And breaking today, a big setback. Investigators letting one suspect go. The man known as Faycal C. He had been charged with terrorist murder, but prosecutors now say there isn't enough evidence to keep him. So there's that.

Also today for the first time, Belgian authorities releasing the first video of the three airport suspects. Police apparently still have no clue who this man in the white jacket is or where he ran off to.

Let's begin with our colleague Alexandra Field. She is live in Brussels with the latest on this international manhunt. Where to begin with all the raids and the arrests over the weekend or the whoops with letting this guy go?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, let's start with Faycal C., because I think that's what everyone is talking about right now. People are wondering, what was the evidence against him that would compel prosecutors to charge him with these very serious charges, terrorist murder, attempted terrorist murder. What kind of evidence did they think they had and why wouldn't that evidence hold up with the magistrate who reviewed the case and then decided to let Faycal C. go? These are the most serious charges we've seen given to any of the suspects who have been rolled up in these raids that have been happening across Europe. Authorities had directly linked this man to the Brussels attacks. However, they had not specified what exact role they believe he had had in the attacks.

We know that when they raided his residence on Thursday, they didn't find weapons. They didn't find explosives. But they did take him into custody on Thursday. They charges him on Friday. They announced the charges on Saturday. And now, today, Faycal C., the man we only know as Faycal C., apparently being released.

Look, Brooke, under Belgian law, our understanding is that somebody can be charged. It just means that they are being investigated. And if authorities find there isn't enough evidence to hold weight, well, that doesn't mean that they will then proceed with those charges. And in this case, it means that Faycal C. has been released, much to, I think, a lot of people's surprise given the gravity of those charges.

BALDWIN: So they still don't know who the man in the white jacket is. They don't know where he ran off to. In the meantime, tell me a little bit about these three who were arrested yesterday and the fact that now we have arrests spanning four countries.

FIELD: Right. You've got these raids that have been happening, you know, not just since these attacks happened in Brussels in the last week, but really since the attacks that unfolded in Paris back in November. Over the weekend, we did see 13 raids in Brussels. They picked up nine people. Three of them now facing charges related to terror activities. We don't know if those are directly linked to the Brussels attacks. But police are looking for everyone who could have knowledge of the plots that unfolded here in Brussels and they're also looking for anyone who could be planning or plotting something in the future, not just in Brussels, but, of course, across Europe.

However, the key here, what investigators are really glued in on right now is finding the people who may have been involved in that Brussels attack. We know that there was the picture of the third man at the airport. That's the third suspected bomber, the person in the hat, who we are now seeing video of. Police have never publicly been able to identify him. We know that they are looking for him. They're also looking for somebody who was seen in the metro station holding a bag. They believe that he could have been the second possible attacker down in the metro station. So a major manhunt continuing in this city and well beyond for two possible bombing suspects, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Alexandra Field, thank you, my friend, live in Brussels, Belgium.

Listen, police are desperate to find those eight terror suspects. Their names are listed on an 11 page security bulletin that was shared amongst several European security agencies. Let's broaden this out and have a - have a conversation. I have CNN contributor Tim Lister. He is there in Europe. And CNN military analyst Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

So, gentlemen, welcome to both of you.

And, Tim Lister, to you there in Brussels. On Alex's point, can you tell us more about, you know, we know that the Belgians arrested the man who they thought perhaps was the white jacketed would-be bomber, charged him Friday. There was a government official on Twitter who essentially called him a terrorist before the DNA was even confirmed that it was not him. What do you make of that? TIM LISTER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think the prosecutors here are somewhat

embarrassed that they really threw the book at this guy. They charged him with terrorist murder, attempted terrorist murder, association with a terrorist group, and three days later, a judge lets him walk free. So how strong was the evidence? Was it basically all they had was the say so of a taxi driver who thought that he identified him correctly as one of his passengers that he took to the airport that morning? Was there more? Was there DNA evidence? Will they drop the charges? It's not clear that the charges have actually been dropped, it's just that the judge says the evidence is insufficient to keep him in custody. So that is an extraordinary development.

[14:05:22] But we are seeing continuing raids in Belgium across the weekend, in Rotterdam. They are trying to roll up, if you like, a wider network that extended to Italy. I know the eight suspects we know that are still at large in Europe, according to security bulletins that have been circulated by the European security agencies, three of them had been in Sweden, Germany and Holland. So this just goes on expanding, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And, General Hertling, to Tim's point about how three people were arrested in raids yesterday, I'm curious, what would make these young, impressionable men, now behind bars, why would they talk?

LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, first of all, there's a lot of pressure and, secondly, it's their opportunity to talk. But, Brooke, I'll go back to your question about evidence processing. You're talking about various levels of policing going on in Europe. And I've had experience with this. We captured several terrorist cells and helped local governments prosecute them when I was commander in Europe. But it caused us to force different levels of government to come together. You have the local police. You have the federal police. You have the counterterrorism police. And some countries, of the over 40 countries in Europe, the capability of each country is different than the next. And then you have the language problem. So when you're talking about individuals who are fessing up when they're brought into custody, it's a challenge based on what they want to say versus how they're questioned and how they feel they might be treated. So all of those things are contributing to this very confused situation in many of the countries in Europe.

BALDWIN: So - and I've had so many conversations about this, and, you know, Belgium in particular has been heavily criticized for multiple reasons. But, Tim, I mean, in the wake of - the last time I saw you, we were in Paris in November. Did, in the wake of those highly orchestrated terror attacks, were changes on the way?

LISTER: Yes, changes are being made. They're not being made quick enough. And they're trying to make them on a Europe wide basis. But you're talking about 600 different agencies and jurisdictions that somehow have to be brought together in a sort of common database or some sort of way they can better communicate.

What I do think has happened is, you've got better communication now between the French and the Belgians. They see the urgency of the situation. They have the same problem. They share this influx of jihadists that uses both countries at will. And you've seen a lot of Belgium cooperation in - begin to tackle a French network, which was supposedly on the verge of carrying out another terrorist attack in France. The arrests started in France last Thursday. There have been two in Belgium. There was one in Holland. So there is progress. But the progress is only as good as the human intelligence allows it to be.

BALDWIN: Right.

LISTER: And there's a long way to go on that, especially here in Belgium.

BALDWIN: On progress -

HERTLING: Yes. And, Brooke, if I can add -

BALDWIN: Yes, please, general, go ahead.

HERTLING: If I - if I can add to that, it's not just the intelligence piece. There has to be the will to drive the intelligence. So you could have a bunch of analysts gathering information and a bunch of criminologists finding evidence, but unless you have someone in charge over multiple states, multiple countries, multiple foreign - federal agencies and state agencies, unless you have one person driving that, that creates a challenge. So someone who might have intelligence in Italy or Germany can't drive it in Belgium. If you have evidence in Paris, it can't be used in the Netherlands and so on. That's the challenge that you face in the countries and with the languages in Europe.

BALDWIN: That is the crux of so much of this. General Hertling, as always, a pleasure. Tim Lister, thank you.

Let's move on, though, for now because we're getting some breaking news here into CNN. A high-rise rescue underway now in Houston, Texas. Crews are trying to free workers trapped on the 20th floor of a building. We are told there was some kind of electrical outage. No word when the power will be restored. We're going to keep a close eye on these two and make sure they get down to the ground safely here.

Coming up next, a bomber targeting Christian families on Easter inside a park. Many of the victims, children. Parents pushing their kids on swings. See who is responsible for this horror.

Plus, they went missing nearly two years ago. Now, new fears that the kidnapped Nigerian school girls are being used as suicide bombers. I'll talk to one young woman who managed to escape.

And the world according to Donald Trump. A revealing new interview showing what Trump knows and, more importantly, doesn't know about the foreign policy. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:13:57] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. It was a spring day. Christian families celebrating Easter. Parents

pushing their kids on swings. The innocent children taking turns, enjoying rides at the park, running, laughing, being kids. And then, without warning, a blast. A suicide bomber targeting them because of their religion.

Now, 24 children, along with dozens more, have lost their lives. Hundreds are injured, many of them clinging to life in Pakistan. This horrifying attack just another around the world in recent days. One in a busy shopping district in Istanbul. Another in an Iraqi soccer stadium. And, of course, as we've been reporting, in an airport and a metro station in Brussels.

So joining me now is CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

And, Nic, let's begin with the horrifying events in Pakistan over the weekend. Tell me - tell me what you know.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's a splinter group from the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban has been decimated. It leadership has been decimated over recent years by drone strikes effectively taking out the leadership. But the effect has been that some of the fighters have gone off to join ISIS and some of them have formed more radical factions on the ground in Pakistan.

[14:15:09] And this faction, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, have said that they've targeted Christians here, but also in a place that is the heartland of support for the government for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to send him a message, because the government has been cracking down on terrorists like them. It's reinstituted a program to hang terrorists. It's cracking down in the tribal areas where they're at their strongest. And this is a backlash, they say, against Christians and against the government to say that they're not beaten and they're going to continue to fight. The beginning of a new campaign. And the hospitals there were literally overwhelmed by the numbers of dead, dying and injured arriving last night, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So, you know, you talk about this splinter group there in Pakistan. I mean as you well know, you've covered so many of these conflicts around the world, the global terror threat is expanding. We have a map. We have - you know, it's the Taliban in Afghanistan, in Pakistan. It's ISIS in Iraq and Syria. We're reporting later in the show a little bit more about Boko Haram in Nigeria, al Shabaab in Somalia. And then there are splinter groups themselves. And my question would be, I mean, talk about the challenge for these counterterrorism officials in addressing so many brands of terror.

ROBERTSON: You know, one of the challenges that faces counterterrorism officials, whether it's in Nigeria, Boko Haram, whether it's in Ankara, in Turkey, with ISIS elements there, whether it's in Iraq and ISIS elements there, wherever these terror groups are, and this was typical of what we've seen in Brussels and the network having its root in the Molenbeek neighborhood and a couple other neighborhoods where the police didn't feel they were able to go into, it's not just the terrorists themselves, it's the facilitators and, in a way, the parts of the community that turn a blind eye.

And in Pakistan, that's a massive, massive problem because there are areas in the country that the government literally can't go into the tribal regions. There are areas that are very religiously conservative. And it's in those types of areas where authorities can't go, where a conservative view of Islam takes hold, where people are poor and they feel disenfranchised, that ISIS and these real ugly terror groups, like the one that struck in Pakistan, are going to be strongest. And that's the common thread here when you talk about tackling them, that it's not just the people and the organizations, but it's getting to the communities and breaking them away from the communities and losing that community support so that they become more isolated and easier to catch.

BALDWIN: Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

Coming up next, how would a President Trump handle these different attacks we're speaking about? The Republican frontrunner giving his world view in a new interview that is definitely getting some backlash. Hear why he says Americans are not safe here at home.

Plus, Bernie Sanders has won five of the last six contests against Hillary Clinton. So what is he doing now? He is challenging Hillary Clinton to a debate, but her campaign says, well, that depends on one thing. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:22:48] BALDWIN: For Bernie Sanders right now it appears he has the momentum, but does he have the math? The senator clobbering Hillary Clinton in three western states. Swept Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, each by a massive margin of at least 40 percentage points. And now he's making a new case for how he can win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are making significant inroads in Secretary Clinton's lead and we have - and we have, with your support coming here in Wisconsin, we have a path toward victory!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's get some response to that with Hillary Clinton's press secretary, Brian Fallon.

Nice to see you back on the show, Brian.

BRIAN FALLON, PRESS SECRETARY HILLARY CLINTON FOR AMERICA: Hi, Brooke. How are you?

BALDWIN: I am - I am excellent. But let me ask you, so you just heard Senator Sanders, also noted just a short time ago the Sanders campaign apparently called Hillary Clinton a weak frontrunner. They're saying that your delegate lead comes only from the states where she faced little or no competition. Care to respond to them? FALLON: Well, look, first I want to acknowledge that they won three contests over the weekend, and we tip our cap to them. There are states that we expected the Sanders campaign to win because they're caucus states. They're states that are very progressive. But it doesn't change the delegate math. And Hillary Clinton, right now, is still up by 230-some odd delegates, far more than President Obama ever led Hillary Clinton by in 2008. She leads him by more than 2.5 million votes in terms of the popular vote. And so in light of those numbers, you're seeing the Sanders campaign start to flail as they try to explain what their path forward is. And I think as a result, they were sort of straining to come up with arguments on this conference call they just hosted with reporters. There seems to be a lot of skepticism from the reporters that were listening to it. As you mentioned, they argued that - that only states that Hillary Clinton has won so far are the ones where they didn't contest. I think that would come as a surprise to the voters of states like Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Massachusetts, all of which Hillary Clinton won after a very spirited fight was put up by Bernie Sanders.

BALDWIN: On the delegate math, and I hear you loud and clear, and if, you know, I imagine you would argue she's really the one just based upon those numbers, you know, that she would be - that the powerhouse candidate here. But then if that's the case, shouldn't she be winning more or at least competing a little bit more in some of these states, especially over the weekend?

[14:25:20] FALLON: Well, look, these - we have to make strategic decisions. And we always knew that there were going to be a set of states in this - during this month that Senator Sanders was going to be favored in. And, you know, looking ahead to the schedule in the coming weeks, we also know that he's probably going to target the state of Wisconsin. And to be frank, he'll - he's probably well positioned in that state. You know, he won in both Minnesota and Michigan and Wisconsin is nestled up there in that same region. It's a very progressive state, less diverse than some of the other states where Hillary Clinton has won. And so Senator Sanders is probably going to target that state and fare well there too. But this is a state - a contest, rather, that is won over the course of many months in terms of who can build a delegate lead among the pledge delegates and that -

BALDWIN: But on that, let me jump in, because on the delegates, we know that the race is tighter without the super delegates going your way. Senator Sanders is saying that they'll switch sides. How do you keep them from doing that?

FALLON: Well, we're confident that the elected leaders in the Democratic Party that are worried about the high stakes in this general election and the possibility of Donald Trump being elected president are going to continue to believe as they have for a long time now that Hillary Clinton is the best candidate Democrats can put forward to take on Donald Trump.

But, look, I think that this is just another example of the Sanders campaign having to reach to come up with arguments to justify how they have a path to the nomination. Tad Divine is one of the creators of the super delegate system and he has long argued - Tad Divine is a top adviser to the Bernie Sanders campaign, and he has long argued that the role of super delegates should be to ratify the choice of the voters, the choice of the candidate that gets the most pledge delegates. And that, right now, is clearly Hillary Clinton. And that lead is going to be very hard for Senator Sanders to overtake. So the idea that he's now going to try to make appeals to get super delegates to overthrow the will of the voters as expressed through the pledge delegates just shows how much they're stretching to try to come up with a justification in terms of how they have a path to victory.

BALDWIN: All right. Brian, what about this debate? We know that the Sanders camp has challenged Hillary Clinton to a debate here in New York. You know obviously the question is will you. We heard from Joel Bennington (ph) earlier today, he was on CNN, you know, chief strategist for the Clinton campaign, and he told us essentially that, no, there would be no debate unless Sanders changed his tone, meaning, you know, they say that - you guys are saying the Sanders campaign has gone negative. Do you agree with that? Do you think that unless Bernie Sanders changes his tone, and you tell me how you want him to, you won't debate?

FALLON: Well, look, it's still only March. So there's plenty of time to consider a potential debate in April. And if we have one, where the site for it would be. The Sanders campaign sent us a letter over the weekend, which I consider to have been a stunt. You know, we're coming off a week last week where we had very serious issues being debated. There was a huge contrast on display between very careful -

BALDWIN: Why was it a stunt?

FALLON: Well, look, as I was saying, last week you had a very important debate on national security that Hillary Clinton laid down a plan to defeat ISIS that was true to our values. You had Donald Trump going around talking about closing off the borders and banning Muslims from entering this country, bringing back torture. I think that the Sanders campaign is struggling a bit for attention. And in the - and even in the aftermath of the three wins on Saturday, I think the delegate math being what it is, people sort of realize that the Sanders campaign has an uphill climb. And so I think that this is an attempt by them to get back on to people's radar. And, look, we're going to be campaigning heavily throughout New York. Hillary Clinton thrives in these debate settings. So we have no issue with debates. But I think that the Sanders campaign is increasingly telegraphing that they're going to be spending the next three weeks on the attack against Hillary Clinton. It was on display in the pages of "The Washington Post" over the weekend that -

BALDWIN: So if - if that doesn't change, am I hearing you say, the no to a debate?

FALLON: Well, there's plenty of time to consider it. We have more than three weeks between now and the New York primary. So there's plenty of time to consider that. We've put together debates on much shorter notice than this. But we are carefully watching the fact that the Sanders campaign is saying that they're poll testing new lines of attack on fracking and Wall Street to try to campaign negatively against Hillary Clinton throughout New York.

BALDWIN: OK.

FALLON: We don't think it will work. We think we're well positioned in New York, albeit by - it will probably be a close contest, but we think that Hillary Clinton has a great deal of experience to draw upon and a lot of good will among New York Democrats. So we think we're in good position there. But the Sanders campaign is clearly trying to create issues and run negative attacks to try to get attention in light of the fact that the delegate math is pretty well stacked against them at this point.

BALDWIN: OK. Brian Fallon, thank you. We'll see you back here in New York.

Let's take you now from the Dems to the Republicans. Ted Cruz is speaking right now live in Wisconsin. Let's dip in.

[14:29:55] SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The things we're seeing here in Wisconsin is that conservatives are coming together, Republicans are coming together. And when it comes to civility, there have been other candidates who have demonstrated a willingness to go to the gutter, to make personal attacks, to make sleazy attacks. I think the people - the American people