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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Funerals Underway For Baghdad's 215 Victims; Iraq Interior Minister Resigns In Wake Of Attack; EgyptAir Voice Recorder Shows Attempt To Put Out Fire; Paul Ryan Slams FBI For Not Charging Clinton; Clinton Campaign Praises FBI Decision; Hundreds Die In ISIS' Month Of Brutality; Three Suicide Attacks Hit Saudi Arabia In 24 Hours; Clinton Leaves For North Carolina With Obama. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 05, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:33:44] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Three suicide attacks in 24 hours. That's how the people in Saudi Arabia are going to remember the end of Ramadan.

Two of the latest attacks taking place just within minutes of each other. The most shocking one happening in the holy city of Medina. At least four people were killed there and these incidents appeared to be coordinated, targeting both Saudi security forces as well as westerners.

ISIS is the prime suspect after urging its followers to wage terror during the holy month. Many have carried out the Islamic State pledge. Take a look at the attacks on your map right there. They have circled the globe and they have killed hundreds all the way from Orlando in the United States through Europe and out into Asia, East Asia, in fact.

The unrelenting carnage that being waged by ISIS is also being felt in Baghdad, particularly in Baghdad. Look at this brand-new drone video. It is harrowing. Just harrowing. Certainly does give another look at the devastation that that impact was after that suicide bomb went off there, the suicide attack.

Crews are still working to pull the bodies from what is left and from beneath the rubble there. All the while, funerals are already getting started for some of the 215, yes, 215 people who died as a result of this attack.

[12:35:11] All of it happening as Iraq's Minister of the Interior has decided to step down, citing a lack of coordination among Iraq security systems. CNN is the only American network currently in Iraq and our Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman joins us live there now.

I know there's a long delay between us so I'm just going to ask you if you can give me some contours for what has happened with this extraordinarily deadly attack and now the future of any kind of governance in Iraq. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly it's shaken the government, Ashleigh. We've seen, of course, the interior minister resigning, the government is scrambling, really, to show that it can act although unfortunately I think the horse has already left the barn as far as the attack on Saturday goes.

The Prime Minister, who, of course, was chased from the scene by angry residents, has since ordered an investigation into Baghdad security. He's ordered that these devices, these bomb-detecting devices that years ago were proved to be completely bogus, no longer be used. He has ordered -- The government has also executed overnight five ISIS members bringing the number to 37, the number executed over the last month.

And the statement from the government said there are another 3,000 on death row. Not necessarily all of them ISIS members waiting to be executed and they're pushing to get the law changed so they can accelerate executions there as well.

Now, it's ironic that this attack, Ashleigh comes at a time when ISIS despite this high-profile bombing in Baghdad, ISIS is on the run. ISIS has lost a string of major Iraqi cities in the last year and a half. Most recently Fallujah and of course the Iraqi government had told to the populist that many of the car bombs and suicide bombers that were plaguing Baghdad originated in Fallujah.

Now, Fallujah is under Iraqi government control. This bomb goes off and of course it turns out that the car bomb, the truck bomb, it was a refrigerator truck didn't even come from Fallujah, it came from the east, from the province of Diyala. So, the government is scrambling to change this situation, answer a lot of questions but not many people here in Baghdad are buying it. Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Oh, Ben you're -- the images you've sent us back are just unbelievable. The drone video that shows the extent of the devastation. That is just one of the worst attacks we have seen in such a long time. Again, the death toll now at 215.

Our Ben Wedeman, thank you to you and your brave crew for sticking it out there and bringing us those reports. Thank you, Ben.

I've got some other breaking news that's just come in and I want to just update you. We've been waiting on any information potentially coming from the black boxes from the EgyptAir crash in the Mediterranean.

Remember, at first, we were told they were decimated and that the information wasn't retrievable and then they sent the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder to France and they were able to put it back in some semblance of order. And now they are getting some information and you won't believe what they're finding.

I will tell you this, it refutes some candidates here in the United States who were so, so certain that this was a terrorist attack. I'm going to give you the details when we come back.

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[12:42:58] BANFIELD: Breaking News. A senior source from EgyptAir tells us that the cockpit voice recorder that was recovered from Flight 804 crashed in the Mediterranean shows that there was an attempt to put out a fire on board the plane before it crashed into that sea. The plane vanished from radar back on May 19th plunging into the Med. It was en route from Paris to Cairo.

Everyone on board, all 66, killed. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Donald Trump tweeted out fairly quickly into this that it looked like terror but now we know that there was a fire on board. We had heard earlier, it was in the lavatory and also in the cockpit. Now, we can hear the voices. It was definitely not a catastrophic explosion of any kind according to the initial investigation. We'll continue to update you when we get more information.

Then we have this breaking story as well. An update to the FBI recommending that no charges be filed against Hillary Clinton or no charges even to be recommended to the DOJ. The Speaker of the House has now responded. Paul Ryan saying this, "While I respect the law enforcement professionals at the FBI, this announcement defies explanation. No one should be above the law.

But based upon the director's own statement, it appears damage is being done to the rule of law. Declining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent. The findings of this investigation also made clear that Secretary Clinton misled the American people when she was confronted with what he's considering her criminal actions, those are his words.

While we need more information about how the bureau came to this recommendation, the American people will reject this troubling pattern of dishonesty and poor judgment."

And we also now have a statement from Hillary Clinton. I'm just getting it my screen (ph) you'll just have to bare with me for a moment. Here's what we have. Hillary for America releasing, quote, "We are pleased that the career officials handling this case have determined that no further action by the department is appropriate as the secretary of state has long said it was a mistake to use her personal e-mail and she would not do it again.

[12:45:18] We are glad that this matter is now resolved and that comes from the Hillary for America Spokesperson Brian Fallon. That's not over. The war of words probably just beginning as both of these top candidates are on the trail today in North Carolina. Donald Trump appearing after Hillary Clinton later today. Wait for it. If you think the Twitter universe is going to be electrified, wait for the rallies.

I want to turn now to the war on terror. Hundreds of people dead as ISIS has been wreaking havoc during the holy month of Ramadan. We've seen the attack from a global scale. Foreigners targeted in Bangladesh. Western interest under siege in Saudi Arabia and Muslim citizens in Iraq killed by the hundred. Those are just some of the devastating attacks.

Joining us now to discuss, this is CNN military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, CNN intelligence and security analyst Bob Baier along with senior fellow and director of development for the center for global policy, Haroon Moghul.

And if I can start with you, Rick, it was astounding to see when we just did that report from Baghdad, the level of destruction, the death toll that was exacted in Iraq, we've become somewhat conditioned to hearing about attacks in Iraq. What we're not conditioned to hearing about is attacks on holy sites. Holy sites like Medina that was attacked in the last few days. I wanted to get your take on this, just in terms of how the metric may have changed for ISIS or not.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you know, we've talked about how they're being squeezed out of their territory in both Iraq and Syria. And it's pretty much the handwriting on the wall that they are going to lose their stronghold in Iraq eventually. And they're striking out doing what they can. And ISIS has got a real calculation to make, what are they going to be in the future? Are they going to be a terrorist organization like Al Qaeda just randomly killing throughout the Middle East, trying to strike terror into the hearts of, you know, everybody there? Or are they going to seek territory?

If they truly want to be the Islamic state, if they want to be a caliphate, they need geography, they need territory. So I think they're looking at failed states, probably like Libya, for example. But in the meantime, they've got to create some space for themselves in Iraq and they're doing that by blowing up these targets in Baghdad. They've shown that the government of Haider al-Abadi is not capable of providing security. And the people in Baghdad are more concerned about their own security than the retaking of Mosul. That said, I think we're going to see more of these strikes and this attack in Medina defies logic to me.

BANFIELD: Defies logic to me. I mean I --

FRANCONA: No matter who you are --

BANFIELD: Yeah. Go ahead. Finish that.

FRANCONA: No I'm just going to say, I mean, no matter what sect of Islam you are, I mean, blowing up the tomb of the prophet is beyond the pale.

BANFIELD: It's beyond the pale and it's also just unfathomable, too. When you're just trying to get your head around. What ISIS actually wants?

Haroon, you wrote this fantastic op-ed for cnn.com today and it's required reading if you are confounded as the rest of us as to why certain people are being attacked and why we keep hearing, they just keep killing Muslims. We get it. They hate us. They hate us in the west. But we don't get it when they attack, you know, hundreds of Muslims. We can almost get it when we hear that they were, you know, the rival speck, the Shia. But in Medina, the second holiest sate of Islam, that's a mix of everyone, that Shia? That Sunni? Those are people who would ascribe to ISIS. Those are people were rejected. Why would they attack their own?

HAROON MOGHUL, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER ON GLOBAL POLICY: Look, everyone I've talked to is utterly stunned by what happened and find it hard to believe that someone would actually attack Medina, the tomb of the prophet Muhammad in Ramadan. What I would say is I would make an analogy to Star Wars, and I know it's a little bit flippant, in but I think it's true.

Religion is like a force and that you can use it for good and for evil. And when people begin to pervert their religion and it starts slowly and they gradually turn at the wrong direction. It leads them to a certain very dark places. So, it begins with the sort of maligning of people and seeing them as not fully equal to, or not fully human, and it descends to the point where now you can actually conceive a wanting to attack the tomb of the prophet Muhammad. Because you believe it represents a form of idolatry. So, ISIS in this kind of radical Hobbism is so far gone that they see the Muslim world as their principal enemy. And so this is perversely for a lot of us as Muslims is a very rare situation where it's a war on Islam, it's a war in Muslims by radical Muslims who then invite the rest of world's hatred towards Muslim general.

BANFIELD: OK, so that's the next point that I need to ask you. And that is if they happened to be inspiring people, like the guy who blew themselves -- well, who blew away all those people in Orlando and the two in San Bernardino.

[12:50:00] Is this the kind of grand mulching, I mean, destruction that wrecks your inspirational value? Because if they're losing their real estate, and they're going to lose the hearts and minds of Americans who just don't know what ISIS stands for anymore if you're killing good Muslims who are Shia and Sunni alike. Are they going to stop their ability to recruit around the world, because people are really going to be tuned out by this.

MOGHUL: I think Medina was kind of like the Rubicon in a way, it's the most audacious or greatest example of their violence. It is a tipping point. There's a great scene if I can, for Lord of the Rings, or Frodo is about, he's kind of sick of everything and he says, I wish it didn't have happened in my time, he's tired of the ring and Gandalf says, so do I, so do all who lives to see such times. But that's not for them to decide. I think for a lot of Muslims now, we realize that even though it's unfair that we get blamed for extremism, extremism wants to kill us. So we have to fight back because it is an existential struggle.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Bob Baier, the rallying cry, the possibilities that those who are so -- who may have been somewhat sympathetic. God knows who they are, but there are plenty. Those who might have been sympathetic to ISIS has caused before, might now, as Haroon just said, find this so audacious that they killed their own people. They killed those devout Muslims who go on pilgrimage to this holiest, the sites in their holiest of times that they then, will start leaving more of a trail in their outrage, say, online or anywhere else, and it will be easier to track them because there's going to be such loud noise about this.

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well actually, I think frankly, as the war goes on in Iraq, you know, if we do take Mosul, it will actually get worse. You'll see this politics of backlash of despair and they are able to justify the attack in Medina because they -- it was Saudi security forces they killed. And additionally, they look at the Saudi regime as usurpers, almost as apostates.

So if you're able to narrowly define Muslims, a very small group like the Islamic state, you can kill anybody you want in their terms. I mean, this is pathological for us. But as you see, you know, you'll do have to look at their statements after these attacks whether it's Bangladesh or Baghdad and they are talking about the bomb of Fallujah.

I just, you know, the fact that you can make these car bombs anywhere. You can make it at home same way with acetone and peroxide. I think until there's some better political settlement in the Middle East, this violence will continue at the same rate. It's not existential, it's not going to bring down Europe. It's not going to bring down Islam, but it just going to be very unpleasant for quite a long time.

BANFIELD: Baer, I really appreciate that. Thank you. I also appreciate Colonel Francona, your expertise and Haroon Moghul, I mean, I can draw everybody to cnn.com for your writings today; your op-ed is terrific and certainly does help to, you know, get our heads around something that really is very, very tricky. Thank you.

So I've got a little bit of video for you that is going to play into the headlines today. This is Hillary Clinton heading to Air Force One. She's on her way to North Carolina with the Commander-In-Chief. She's getting a ride on board Air Force One with President Obama as he does his first campaign stop in the race for the White House with the former secretary of state and as she boards at joint base Andrews.

There is of course this massive news that she's going to have to contend with. Into the belly of the plane but into the belly of the beast, so to speak, as she heads towards the campaign trail that will be electrified by the news that the FBI will not recommend charges in the e-mail, you know, issue. However, a scathing indictment, so to speak of her judgment from the head of the FBI. There's basically something to chew on for both parties who will chew louder and what will be spat out. It's not going to be pretty, folks. We're up next.

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[12:57:53] BANFIELD: Welcome back. Just before the break, I showed you some pictures of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walking across the tarmac to get on board, a very fancy aircraft, the fanciest of them all, that one, Air Force One. And typically, when you get on board Air Force One, you can actually have your choice of a whole lot of television monitors, some of them actually airing a live news. So Mrs. Clinton, if you're watching us, welcome aboard Air Force One. Today is going to be a hell of a day.

The FBI going up live with its director James Comey saying there will not be charges recommended in the e-mail issue. Some will call it a scandal but they're not calling it that. However, they are saying that the judgment was lacking. Those are my words, not the director's. But he did say it was extremely careless the way in which Secretary Clinton and her staff handled what is now proven to be classified information at the time of send and receive. That's significant. But the FBI director says no charges will be recommended to the Department of Justice.

Joe Johns is our Senior Washington correspondent. He's joining me now live. There is no shortage of fodder, Johns. I don't need to tell you, you're leaving that as game forever. This will plague the headlines all the way to November. And it really just depends on how each camp treats this.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I think that's totally true and it's as expected, if you think about it. The campaign, the Hillary Clinton campaign has been, you know, pushing to try to set this up as the end of the story on the e-mails but there's that question of judgment and that question of trust that continues to dog Hillary Clinton. For their part, they did put out a statement finally that said, in part "We are pleased that the career officials handling this case have determined that no further action by the Department is appropriate. The Secretary has long said it was a mistake to use her personal e-mail and she would not do it again. We are glad this matter is now resolved."

So, that's the word from the campaign. Glad this matter is resolved. Nonetheless, it will be used as a political issue and we already heard that from the Speaker of the House today questioning whether the FBI was going in the right direction on this, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Saying the announcement defies explanation, the Speaker's words. Joe Johns, thank you for that. I'm going to turn things over to our mutual colleague, Wolf Blitzer who continues our coverage.