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3 U.S. Berkley Students Injured in France; 1 Missing; American Couple Talks Nice Terror Attack; More Details on Nice Terror Attack; Why Terror Attacks In France; Obama Speech on Nice Terror Attack. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 15, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00] WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 85 U.C. Berkeley students are here on a 15-day study abroad program. Really exciting to be in the south of France. They were here watching the fireworks as well. Out of the group that was attending the celebrations for Bastille Day, three of them got in the path of the truck and serious injuries. We are talking about really bad fractures. People were running. One student, a 20-year-old, his name is Nicholas Leslie, 20 years old, he is still missing and unaccounted for right now.

But to give you a sense of what it was like, we talked with a 19-year- old, another student from morocco. He was in the crowd. He said he looked behind him and the truck was right on him. So he hid in the only place he could find. He told us about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IMAD DEFAAOUI, WITNESS & U.C. BERKELEY STUDENT: Between me and the truck, there was only a Bench. So around 20 centimeters, maximum.

RIPLEY: What are you thinking?

DEFAAOUI: Well, I was thinking about my family, about my friends, about my life. I thought this was going to end there. But thanks god I survived. I look up and see all these people on the floor. It was really difficult to see broken legs, people dead on the floor. It is not even -- there was even blood people who are injured and need help. Could help them because everyone was afraid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: He mentions the broken legs and people here on the floor along this promenade. In talking to our crews talking to doctors in the hospital, that's what the doctors here were so unprepared for. A bullet wound is considered a clean wound and it is easier to treat. But when you have essentially 50 car crash victims with mangled --

RIPLEY: Catastrophic fractures. More than 200 people injured. 52 of these are critical injuries. 25 people in a coma. These are the kind of injuries you don't see from a normal terrorist attack. It is sad that we can say "normal terrorist attack." I've covered mass shootings just as you have, bombings. Never anything like this.

BALDWIN: Will Ripley, thank you very much. As soon as you get more information on U.C. Berkeley, those students, let us know.

Meantime, we're in the jewel of the French Rivera, a popular vacation destination. On Bastille Day, the seaside promenade here, it was packed with people, families, little ones taking in the fireworks display, the live music when the unthinkable occurred.

Again, the video you're about to see is very tough to look at.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now by phone, Meg and Brian Pope, an American husband and wife from the Philadelphia area. I understand they were in a car just a block here from the promenade when the attack unfolded.

So, Meg and Brian, it is Brooke, here in Nice. Can you two hear?

MEG POPE, WITNESS (voice-over): Hello. Yes. I'm on a cell phone and Brian's sitting next to me.

Hello?

BALDWIN: OK. So you all were here in Nice. I understand you've left -- yeah, it's Brooke. Can you hear me? You're live on CNN.

MEG POPE: Yes. Yes, I can hear you.

BALDWIN: OK. Wonderful.

MEG POPE: Can you hear me?

BALDWIN: We have a bad connection. We're -- yes, I can. I can.

BALDWIN: Everyone, forgive the technical issues and the delay.

But let's continue on. Tell me where you were when this truck came ramming through this promenade.

MEG POPE: We were on our way to our hotel. We were a block from the promenade when all of a sudden people started racing all around us in front of our car, all around our car. We heard the gunshots. We were able to get down to the promenade a few minutes later but we were stuck for three hours in our car at the point where they were bringing all the ambulances and taking people off of the ambulances and assessing them and transporting them to where they needed to go. So we just saw one ambulance after another after another with stretchers coming out and out and out for three hours.

BALDWIN: Had you come down here for Bastille Day? Did you take in the fireworks?

MEG POPE: No. And it was only because the line at the car rental was long that we weren't actually right in the middle of this shooting because the truck stopped right in front of our hotel. And that's where the shoot-out was.

BALDWIN: Oh, my goodness. How long -- you described hearing the gunshots. How long did it continue on?

MEG POPE: You know, it was such a strange thing because we didn't know what was happening. We thought maybe there was a fought. Maybe people running away from a gang. Then there had been fireworks. So we thought is that other fireworks or is it a gun? It took us some time before we heard the news and found out what exactly we were in the middle of.

Let me pass you to my husband.

[14:35:11] BALDWIN: You know --

(CROSSTALK)

BRIAN POPE, WITNESS: Hello?

BALDWIN: Brian, are you there?

Hello?

BALDWIN: Brian, are you there?

BRIAN POPE: Hello?

BALDWIN: Brian. It's Brooke.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Yes, You're live on CNN.

How are you doing today after being trapped in your car for hours and just barely missing this horrendous scene?

BRIAN POPE: Well, still in shock obviously. When you see a lot of maimed people, stretchers that were right next to our car, because we somehow were allowed on the promenade. Actually they thought we were an emergency vehicle. I don't know why. So we were parked right next to all the ambulances, the helicopter and everything. And we were told just to stay in car because everybody was told to get inside. For us, because we had nowhere to go, the police said just stay where you are and stay in your car. So we just did exactly what they told us to do because we didn't know what was going on. I think it was by accident, ally, because the promenade was blocked. There was a car parked in front of us with nobody in. Then there was us. Everybody else was police vehicles, security vehicles, white mortuary vehicles. Helicopter took off two, three tiles. Then they were bringing people past our car, unloading them from the ambulances. Some in very bad shape. Some obviously had died coming in. One was obviously a child because it was small. We saw probably 40 to 50 others being transported over the next three hours. Basically they were doing an analysis of the injuries, and then seeing to switching them from one ambulance to another to get them to go to the right attention.

BALDWIN: Sure. The triage unit set up along the -- forgive me. There is a triage unit along the promenade and a lot of families and a lot --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Brian, I'm going to let you go.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for calling in. Forgive me. The connection is not amazing. But I'm glad you two are safe. Safe travels back home to the U.S.

Coming up next, the truck attack here in Nice sending shockwaves all around the world. What U.S. security officials are saying about another deadly terror attack in France.

Also Charlie Hebdo," the Bataclan attacks, the cafes in Paris, why all of these attacks in France. We'll talk to Fareed Zakaria next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:23] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN's special live coverage. I'm Brooke Baldwin live here in Nice.

Just a heads up, we are expecting to hear from President Obama momentarily. He is going to speak. He will be offering France not just condolences but also help investigating this terror attack here along the promenade.

Let's check in with CNN's chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, with more on what the U.S. Intel is with regard to this attack here.

Jim, what are you learning?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Keep in mind, Brooke, the U.S., as you know, has a very close intelligence share something relationship with France, particularly on issues of counter- terror. Like the French have said, this suspect was not on the radar prior to this attack. He was not a known jihadist, known person with ties, for instance, to groups such as is. So he is someone who's come out of the blue which is adding to the confusion of what exactly motivation was. That's one thing. What they are doing now is looking to see if there was any evidence of communication between him and other known, whether it's ISIS or other terror groups, other known jihadis, to date, I'm told, to this hour, there is no such evidence. But that's something they'll look at gathering his cell phones, computers, et cetera, keeping in mind the U.S. Has enormous capabilities, more than the French. That's the kind of help they'll be offering the French right now.

BALDWIN: We'll listen for the president speaking next hour.

Let me follow up on something we talked about yesterday. The Obama administration giving Congress the 28 or 29 pages of now declassified documents on the investigation into any sort of ties between Saudi Arabia and the 9/11 hijackers. Have you had a chance to go through this?

SCIUTTO: I have, Brooke. They came out, they were posted less than an hour ago. Myself and my colleagues, we've been reading through them. I've been speaking to people who had read them before they were declassified so I had some sense of what is inside. I'm just going to give you a sample of this. We're going to be having more complete reporting. But here are some quotes. This is the first line in fact of these previously classified 29 pages. It said the following -- "While in the U.S., some of the 9/11 hijackers were in contact with, and received support from, individuals who may be connected to the Saudi government." That is a headline that we knew about.

What the pages do is they add some detail to that, including financial transactions that were suspicious showing ties, including financial support from members of the Saudi government, that made its way to the hijackers. Whether that means they knew what the hijackers were planning or supporting what they were planning, the report does not say so. It says this information is early but there is a lot there to delve through. One more addition from this, this from -- from this report saying, "Prior to 9/11, the FBI apparently did not focus investigative resources on Saudi nationals in the u. s." I continue to quote here, "Due to Saudi Arabia's status as an American ally." This sets back to this pre-9/11 mentality that the U.S. had, one about terror threats, but, two, in particular, about Saudi Arabia. Of course, 15 of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.

[14:45:39] That relates to where you are now, Brooke. I will often hear from counterterrorism officials that it was only recently that your peep counterterrorism agencies came to the urgency necessary to see the terror threat in terms of sharing intelligence within countries and between countries in terms of their security footing, et cetera. Seen there raising that alert in France once again.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

Jim Sciutto, thank you so much, as always. We'll continue on. Thank you.

I'm going to bring in Fareed Zakaria, host of "Fareed Zakaria, GPS," just to talk about global ramifications, what President Obama can, should say next hour.

Fareed, let me just begin with President Obama. Speaking earlier this week, delivering a eulogy on five slain Dallas police officers and not pivoting to reacting to yet another terror attack. What can he -- what should he offer up?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS: I think it is a very tough balance where what he has to do is to some way reflect the emotional mood of the country, of the world. And in some ways the revulsion at this kind of barbarism stand very strongly in alliance with France, our oldest ally, the oldest ally of the United States. And talk about how this kind of barbarism will not prevail. To point out maybe that in such kinds of barbarism and attacks on civilized society, and they did not prevail, they will not prevail. You know, a kind of fighting spirit is probably what you need right now. I don't think people need to get into details of policy. At the end of the day, we know that this is a long war. We know that the solution to it better surveillance, greater cooperation with communities that can provide intelligence, local Muslim communities, understanding where this kind of radicalization comes from, supporting the moderates who are fighting these extremists. That's all -- we've gone through that. But at this moment I think what people just want to hear is a sense of surety, of sobriety, and a fighting spirit.

BALDWIN: Beyond that though, I mean I was just standing in Istanbul not two weeks ago talking about terror attacks in an airport, and here you have -- I'm sure you've been to Nice, walked along this promenade. Talk about a beautiful soft target along the Mediterranean. People have now criticized President Hollande that the state of emergency was about to expire in the wake of the attacks in Paris saying he could have done more here. At the same time you had a mega soccer championship, Euro 2016, being played out in Paris. Unscathed. How do you balance it out?

ZAKARIA: I tend to believe that we are being very unfair to governments when we look at a terror attack and say you could have prevented this. Remember, there are an unlimited number of these targets. Yes, it is -- this is one that was completely soft. But there are so many gatherings on Bastille Day in so many cities all over France. We forget how many times they are successful. Remember, every time you have good security, good protection, and some crazy person, some Islamic terrorist, some fanatic does not go ahead with some plan, is deterred, we don't know about it. That's the terror attack that didn't happen. Those are deterred every day. The law enforcement often points out they have to be right every time. 99 times out of 100 the terrorist only has to be right once.

So I think if we can find the specific flaw, a specific breakdown, a specific warning that was not taken, that's fair. But right now, people are reacting emotionally. I think the reality is we live in open societies in which there are going to be lots of targets. It is unfortunate. But do we really want to become a society in which every time you have a small group of people gathering to celebrate you have to do it under police barricades and with security screens and metal detectors? I don't think so. And I think we should recognize that this is a very tough job for law enforcement and they get it right every day, all the time. Rather than focusing on the one case that happens.

[14:50:20] BALDWIN: Right. You're right. There are a lot of cases that we don't talk about, terror cases, that are thwarted. It is an excellent point. But you also can understand the emotions from people here in Nice. People keep on saying you never would have thought.

Fareed Zakaria, thank you so much.

Reminder, we are watching and waiting for President Obama in a matter of minutes. We'll take that live.

Meantime, when we come back, we're getting new information on that Orlando terror attack. New details from when dozens and dozens of people were murdered in that nightclub in Florida weeks ago.

Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We're back here live in the French Rivera in Nice, in France. It is just about 9:00 at night here. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me. You're watching CNN.

I want to pivot though away from France and talk about the terror attack in Orlando, Florida, from just a couple of weeks ago. 49 people lost their lives there and many questions about how the Orlando police responded to that, if they gave too much time in taking down that mass murder.

Forgive me. Let's pivot now to President Obama.

[14:53:03]

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon, everyone. I just had the opportunity to greet each of you in person. And we welcome all of you. Each year, the diplomatic corps comes so that we can say thank you for the partnership between our nations and our peoples, and reaffirm our shared commitment to promoting security and peace and human dignity around the world.

Obviously, we come here with heavier hearts than normal. Overnight in Nice, we witnessed another tragic and appalling attack on the freedom and the peace that we cherish.

Today, our hearts are with the people of France and with all the innocent men, women and so many children who were hurt or killed in this sickening attack. This includes Americans that we know of -- a family from Texas, a father and young son, just 11 years old, who were there on vacation. Their family, like so many others, are devastated. They're grieving. They need all the love and support of our American family as they grapple with an unimaginable loss, and try to get through what are going to be very difficult days.

And so on behalf of all of us, I think, I want to welcome our friend, Ambassador Araud of France. And I had a chance to meet with him right before I came out so that he knew that it's not just the United States of America, but the entire world that stands in solidarity with the people of France during this difficult time.

I spoke with President Hollande earlier today. And in addition to conveying deep condolences, I reminded him that France is America's oldest ally and one of our strongest. We owe our freedom to each other. Americans and French have stood together for two centuries. And I told President Hollande that we will stand united now -- in our grief; in our praying for the many who are injured, many of whom are fighting for their lives. And we pledge to stand with our French friends as we defend our nations against this scourge of terrorism and violence.

And this is a threat to all of us. We don't know all the details, but what we know is the capacity of even a single individual to do extraordinary harm to our people, to our way of life. A lot of nations represented here today have been impacted this year and in previous years. In recent weeks, we've seen heinous attacks, inspired or directed by ISIL, here in the United States, in Turkey, in Iraq, in Bangladesh, in Saudi Arabia. And these terrorists are targeting and killing innocent people of all backgrounds and all faiths, including Muslims. And I know I speak for all of us when I say that these individuals and these networks are an affront to all of our humanity.

Many of the nations that are represented here today are part of our global coalition against ISIL. And I want to take this opportunity to say once more: We will not be deterred. We will not relent. We're going to keep working together to prevent attacks and defend our homeland. We are going to keep taking out ISIL leaders and pushing ISIL back in Syria and Iraq. We're going to keep standing with our partners, from Africa to Afghanistan. And we are going to destroy this vile terrorist organization.

And in contrast to these terrorists who only know how to kill and destroy, we're going to win this fight by building; by never giving up on diplomacy to end the Syrian civil war; by working with partners around the world, including Muslim communities, to push back against hateful ideologies that twist and distort Islam -- a religion that teaches peace and justice and compassion. We will defeat these ideologies by offering a better vision of development and economic progress, so people, especially young people, have more hope and opportunity and are less susceptible to extremism and violence in the first place. And we will continue to promote political opportunity and democracy so citizens have a say in their future.

And we will win this fight by staying true to our values -- values of pluralism and rule of law and diversity and freedoms, like the freedom of religion, freedom of speech and assembly -- the very freedoms that the people of Nice were celebrating last night on Bastille Day. In the wake of last night's attacks, we've heard more suggestions that all Muslims in America be targeted, tested for their beliefs; some deported or jailed. And the very suggestion is repugnant and an affront to everything that we stand for as Americans.

We cannot give in to fear, or turn on each other, or sacrifice our way of life. We cannot let ourselves be divided by religion -- because that's exactly what the terrorists want. We should never do their work for them. And here in the United States, our freedoms -- including freedom of religion -- help keep us strong and safe, and we have to be vigilant and defend our security and our freedoms.

And all of us -- whatever nations we represent here -- I think have to step back and reflect on what we are doing to eliminate this kind of chronic violence. It's been a difficult several weeks in the United States. But the divide that exists is not between races and ethnicities and religions; it is between people who recognize the common humanity of all people and are willing to build institutions that promote that common humanity, and those who do not -- those who would suggest that somebody is less than them because of their tribe, or their ethnicity, or their faith, or their color.

[15:00:04]