Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Girl Escapes Boko Haram, First Of The 276 taken From Their School Two Years Ago; Suicide Bombings in Baghdad Aimed At Civilians; Democratic Chairwoman Receives Death Threats Following Chaotic Convention; Mark Zuckerberg to Meet With top GOP Members; TSA Sending Additional Officers to Chicago Following Mass Complaints About Wait Times. Aired 10:30-11a

Aired May 18, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:33:10] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks for joining me. A bit of breaking news to pass along to you, and important breaking news out of Nigeria. A young girl kidnapped two years ago by the terror group Boko Haram has now been rescued by the Nigerian military. She's been reunited with her family. Let's head to Johannesburg, South Africa for more, and David McKenzie. Hi David.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. Yes this girl, Amina Ali, according to activists, was rescued by vigilante groups and then handed over to the Nigerian military. She's one of the 276 girls (saya) activists said was taken more than two years ago by ISIS affiliated Boko Haram, from their school. Which sparked the "Bring Back Our Girls" campaign. If it all pans out, it will be the first time since -- in more than two years of time, one of these girls have managed to get out of the clutches of Boko Haram.

She was found on the edges of the stronghold of their terror group. She had a child with her. And she's now been handed over to the military and in a safe place. (It will) offer a ray of hope for many of those families who've had so much heartache for all of this time. But also, already activists telling me they're angry. They want the Nigerian military, which is backed by the U.S. intelligence forces, to act now and to get the rest of those girls out. Carol?

COSTELLO: David McKenzie reporting live for us this morning. Thank you. A wave of vicious suicide attacks that target civilians in Baghdad may be a change in strategy by ISIS. Aimed at forcing the Iraqi government to shift its focus off of Mosul and Anbar Province. CNN's Senior International Correspondent, Arwa Damon joins us now live from Istanbul, Turkey with more on this. Hi Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Carol. And there has been a wave of attacks over the last few months. But really concentrated over the last few weeks, especially over the last 10 days or so. Where at least 150 people were killed in a wave of violence. Yesterday, as you were mentioning there, at least three separate attacks. All happening in the capital of Baghdad. Then over the weekend, on Sunday, you had ISIS claiming responsibility

for an assault on a gas plant just to the North of the capital. This, according to some perhaps, as you were mentioning there, an attempt to try to draw security forces away from the various different front lines. Force them to concentrate their efforts on protecting Baghdad. Or it could also be ISIS sending a clear message to the Iraqi population that its security forces still are not capable of protecting them from this kind of violence.

Plus, one must not forget that ISIS is an entity that is only too knowledgeable on how to exploit sectarian tensions in Iraq. And the country is right now in a state of political turmoil, political chaos. And that also lends itself to exploitation by an organization like ISIS. Now the U.S. military has been saying that these attacks are a byproduct of ISIS, perhaps being weakened, feeling under pressure. And yes, they have been losing key territory and places like Anbar Province.

But one also needs to look at the history of ISIS. This is an organization whose previous incarnations -- Al Qaeda in Iraq, The Islamic State in Iraq -- were ones that also, over the last decade, were declared defeated. And then we saw them regroup, reemerge, even more powerful than before, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Arwa Damon reporting live for us this morning. Thank you. Up next in the Newsroom, the woman at the center of the Democratic Party firestorm. I'll speak with Roberta Lange about the barrage of death threats she's been receiving, after a raucous convention this weekend.

[10:37:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:20]

COSTELLO: The fallout continues after a chaotic Nevada Democratic convention spiraled into chaos over the weekend. Both are Bernie Sanders supporters hurling insults at Senator Barbara Boxer. She's a Hillary Clinton supporter. This whole thing is sparking fears of a brutal convention fight in July, you know, in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention. Perhaps most upsetting, though, the head of the Nevada Democrats faced with vile messages on social media. She's gotten threatening phone calls, threats against her and her family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN CALLER: Hey Roberta Lange. This is a citizen of the United States of America and I just wanted to let you know that I think people like you should be hung in a public execution to show this world that we won't stand for this sort of corruption. I don't know what kind of money they're paying to you, but I don't know how you sleep at night. You are a sick, twisted, piece of (CENSORED). And I hope you'll burn for this, (cowardless) (CENSORED). Running off the stage. I hope people find you. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I'm joined now by Chairwoman for the Democratic Party in Nevada, Roberta Lange. Welcome.

ROBERTA LANGE, CHAIRWOMAN, DEMOCRATIC PARTY, NEVADA: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Have the phone calls stopped this morning?

LANGE: Actually the phone calls have escalated. It's -- the longer this goes on and the Sanders campaign doesn't take responsibility for what happened in Nevada, I think it's going to continue.

COSTELLO: Jeff Weaver, Sanders' campaign manager, was on NEW DAY this morning. He says Bernie Sanders has condemned the violence. This is what he said, and then I'd like you to react to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF WEAVER, CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR BERNIE SANDERS: He categorically condemns any kind of threats that went on. Absolutely unacceptable. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, we could have a long conversation just about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and how she's been throwing shade on the Sanders campaign since the very beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So your reaction to what he said? He said Bernie Sanders has condemned the violence.

LANGE: Look, I -- his statement was pretty weak, that came out yesterday. And you can say you condemn the violence, but until you say you're sorry, until you say what happened in Nevada should not have happened and it was wrong, and it was fueled by your senior campaign staff people, then that's an apology. And then I think that there is some responsibility is taken. And to talk about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and to put it on her, this has nothing to do with Debbie Wasserman Schultz. It has everything to do with what happened in the -- in Nevada. And what has continued to happen to me in the days following the convention.

COSTELLO: OK, let's get more into what's still happening to you, even this morning. So threats are coming in and people are leaving phone messages? Like, describe what you're hearing this morning, and from where.

LANGE: Sure. And so calls come from all over the world. They -- a lot come from Nevada. I don't listen to the messages, my staff listens to them. Actually the message that you played I heard for the first time yesterday, and it makes me cringe, and makes me frightful every time I hear it. I mean, that kind of stuff is -- you know, I feel like the Sanders campaign thinks that that kind of stuff is laughable.

And to me, it's serious. A threat to somebody's life is serious. People were in the convention, they were screaming and hollering and yelling death threats, and vile things to me, the whole time during the convention. And it didn't stop. And when you, when you have a senior staff person that goes out and gets everybody all excited, and says we're going to take down the convention, you need to stay there the whole time. You know, we need to take down the party. Those kinds of things don't help for a peaceful convention. They in fact, make it worse.

And we -- I think we have seen what happens when that kind of activity happens before the convention, by the campaign, continues into the convention, and what has happened following the convention.

COSTELLO: I think we have what one of the senator's, one of the, one of the senator's campaign members said. Do we have that sound? We do? So this is what, specifically, you are referring to. This is a member of Senator Sanders' campaign, and this is what she said prior to the state convention. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS CAMPAIGN MEMBER: You should not leave. I'm going to repeat that. Unless you are told by somebody from the campaign, ie., probably me or David that you can leave, you should not leave. I don't care if the Chair is up there, herself -- or whoever the Chair is, and become -- whoever becomes the Chair. You should not leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So that's specifically what you're talking about. Are you planning any ...

LANGE: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... legal action of any kind?

LANGE: Look, I mean law authority has been involved with this. We are looking at all of our options, and you know -- and I think in the coming days will decide what's going to happen. But I -- you know, you have to go back to the convention (and so). I mean aside of all of the -- and what she's referring to there, "if she's still the Chair" -- they intended to remove me as Chair and put one of their people in this Chair to run the convention. And I think that all the procedural stuff aside, what really happened on Saturday is that Secretary Clinton turned out 98 percent of her delegates to the convention.

Senator Sanders left 500 people on the table that didn't show up. And so they had about 78, 77 percent of their delegates. And what happened is that Secretary Clinton's people out-organized Senator Sanders' people. And he was going to lose the convention no matter what, because they didn't turn out their people.

COSTELLO: M-hm. And just one last question for you. You say you want a public apology. What do you want Bernie Sanders specifically to say?

LANGE: Well I think, I think he should be saying, "I'm sorry for the" -- I think he should acknowledge that there were death threats to me, that there was death threats to my husband, that there was death threats to my 5-year old grandson. That they called my work and tried to ruin -- this is -- you know, like I said, this is my volunteer job, being Chair. I have a full-time job where single mothers and people trying to pay off their school loans work. And it hurt our business.

People were calling our business so much that they had to unplug the phone. I think they owe an apology to me, and then I can give it to my -- the owner of the business. I mean, I think those types of apologies need to happen. And I think they need to recognize that this is not laughable. These are threats to people's lives that are very serious.

COSTELLO: Roberta Lange, thank you so much for joining me this morning. Still to come in the Newsroom, Facebook tries to make nice with Conservatives. We'll talk about that next.

[10:48:20]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:52:15]

COSTELLO: Facebook does damage control with the GOP. Today CEO, Mark Zuckerberg is set to meet with some of the Party's most prominent Conservatives. After a whistleblower accused the social networking site of burying Conservative news from it's trending section. Let's bring in CNN Senior Media Correspondent and Host of RELIABLE SOURCES, Brian Stelter. Good morning.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes this meeting has been hyped for days. It's a big deal for the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, one of the most famous people on the planet. To be sitting down with these Conservative leaders goes to show how seriously Facebook is taking this, or wants to be perceived as taking this.

And I've been told this is a listening meeting. He's not there to announce anything, he's there to listen to their concerns. We can show you some of the people who are attending, including CNN's own S. E. Cupp, Dana Perino from FOX, many others on this list. Glenn Beck, Jim DeMint, the former Senator. We've just learned Brent Bozell, the head of the media research center, a long time advocate who's complained about liberal media bias, will be there as well.

People like Bozell of course, highlight what they say is liberal media bias on television and in print. This might be a new form of that, a digital age form. But Facebook has said it's found no actual evidence that any Conservative stories were suppressed on the Facebook "trending" box. It's more worried about the perception that it has an anti-Conservative bias. They said there's not an actual bias in the system.

COSTELLO: So a lot of -- lot more Conservatives were invited. Did all of them accept the invitation? STELTER: Yes, there are at least a few who decided not to

participate. They feel like this is a sham, this is just a show, it's a PR move by Facebook. One of the people that is attending, Jenny Beth Martin of the Tea Party Patriots, we can put on screen what she said about this, and why she thinks this is important. She said, "Facebook's a critical communication tool and we must make sure that Conservative voices are not blocked from fully participating in the exchange of ideas."

And that is the bottom line here. Facebook has a tremendous amount of power. So whether it's about Conservative points of view or Liberal points of view, (I think) everybody wants to make sure Facebook is a neutral site. Where everything and -- anything and everything can be seen. Nobody wants their content to be blocked or hidden on Facebook. The company says it doesn't do any of that. But I think there are concerns and Facebook's trying to address them today.

COSTELLO: All right, Brian Stelter, thanks so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the Newsroom, a massive 4 alarm fire sparks a commuter nightmare in New York City.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:58:35]

COSTELLO: Taking a look at some top stories at 58 minutes past. Repairs are underway on New York's Metro North rail lines this morning. This after a 4 alarm fire broke out near the 118th Street overpass. It knocked out service last night to trains and (it thwarted) several commuters. This morning some tracks are back online but the NTA's is urging anyone who can work from home, to do so.

Look at this daring rescue in Alaska.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: 1, 2 -- you guys ready? 1, 2, 3, go! (inaudible) Go! Go!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh wow, the driver of this burning vehicle was unable to escape because his arm was pinned underneath the car. A police officer and several others were finally able to push the car -- they pushed the car just over far enough for the driver to free himself. The driver was treated for smoke inhalation and injuries to his arm. But otherwise, he is very grateful to be alive.

Despite long lines snaking through Chicago's O'Hare Airport this morning, officials say help is on the way. The TSA is sending scores of additional officers to the airport, after major delays caused nightmarish lines forcing hundreds of people to miss their flights on Monday. The bomb sniffing dogs are also set to start soon. But it's not yet clear when those additional TSA officers will report for full- time duty.

An incredible site in Maine, where a police officer hoping to catch speeding motorists caught something very different instead. A flying meteor. The American Meteor Society said the thing could be seen as far South as New Jersey.

Thanks for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

[11:00:10]