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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Police Officers Killed in Baton Rouge Shooting; GOP Convention Kicks Off in Cleveland; Six People Held in Nice Attack. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 18, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

[04:00:15] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning. Three officers killed in broad daylight in Baton Rouge. We have new information on the three officers lost and new information on just how long the killer had been planning this attack.

CHRISTINE ROANS, CNN ANCHOR: A very personal side of Donald Trump promised at the Republican National Convention beginning today in Cleveland.

But can the party's divisive nominee bring the GOP together?

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans here at the CNN Grill in Cleveland.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman live in Baton Rouge this morning. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East. I'm standing in front of the Baton Rouge police headquarters. You see the flag at half staff behind me. What you can't see here is just how heavily guarded this police headquarters is and understandably so. Why? Because three of their own daylight in an ambush-style attack. Apparently lured on to the street by a gunman wearing a mask carrying an assault rifle.

Let me tell you about the three officers who were lost. Officer Matthew Gerald, 41, he leaves behind a wife and two children. He was new to the force. He had served in both the Marine and the Army, with multiple tours in Iraq, on a helicopter crew. Officer Montrell Jackson had been with the department for 10 years. He is survived by a wife and a 4-month-old son.

In a Facebook post just this month he had written about the challenges of being an officer. He wrote, "Please don't let hate infect your heart." Sheriff's Deputy Brad Garafola, he was a 24-year veteran officer, a married father of four. He was a jack of all trades. Even working, fixing up a car for his 15-year-old daughter, who was just getting to drive.

Three other officers were wounded in this attack including one who was in critical condition, said to be clinging to life this morning.

The gunman died in a shoot-out with police officers. He's connected we think to black separatist groups. Investigators still looking for more information about this man. He did post on YouTube a violent response he called for -- to what he called bullies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAVIN LONG, BATON ROUGE SHOOTING SUSPECT: Victims fighting their bullies. 100 percent have been successful through fighting back. Through bloodshed. Zero have been successful just over simply protesting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. Let's get more on all of this from CNN's Nick Valencia.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, it has been a very dark period in Baton Rouge. Over the course of the last two weeks, this city has been strangled from within by violence. Violence that began with the shooting death of 37-year-old Alton Sterling at the hands of police officers. In the days that followed we saw massive demonstrations that nearly turned violent here.

Though no one was injured in those protests, there were plenty of arrests. In three days we saw nearly 200 people arrested. Police remained on heightened alert throughout the week. On Tuesday, the state police announcing that they had thwarted a plot to kill police officers. And there were some discrepancies in that announcement. No one was officially ever charged with that plot. But it certainly underscored the anxiety and tension in this community, especially among law enforcement.

They feared after what happened in the event in Dallas with those handful of police officers who were shot and killed. Many people here thought they would be next. And they were. On Sunday, it happened again in this city. With six police officers shot. Three of them shot dead at the hands of a gunman who had traveled from Missouri to take out police officers, it seems. The youngest victim in that shooting was 32 years old, Montrell Jackson, who just recently had taken to Facebook to talk about his fears and concerns of being a beat officer in this city at this time, saying he loved Baton Rouge, but he wasn't sure if the city right now loved him back -- John.

BERMAN: Our thanks to Nick Valencia for that.

I'm joined now by Matt Horace. He's a former executive with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and also senior vice president with FJC Security Services.

Matt, thanks so much for being with us. This killer drove 800 miles. 800 miles from Kansas City here to Baton Rouge via Dallas. What does that tell you about his mindset, his desire to travel all that way to kill officers?

MATTHEW HORACE, FORMER EXECUTIVE, BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, AND FIREARMS: John, the one thing that tells me is that he was committed to his pathological ideology. You know, we've seen this in the past and other incidents that had galvanized communities, and half of the problem that law enforcement and communities have is that people come into those communities from outside of those communities and wreak the greatest havoc and that's what you've seen in this case.

[04:05:03] BERMAN: Now this happens not two weeks after five officers in Dallas were shot dead after a protest there. Matt, you get the sense or it's understandable -- if talking to officers, you get the sense that they feel right now that they are being hunted.

HORACE: Right. Well, you can't blame them given what's happened over the past several weeks. Listen, the climate has been here. You know, John, I call it coptics. And that's the optics of policing in a digital age. Everything is on stage. It's on stage in real-time in real action. And that's what we're seeing week after week. But this has got to stop.

BERMAN: It's got to stop. This killer left a video trail, an online social media trail. He had been ranting and raving for some time. He talked about violence for some time. Going forward, what do investigators need now to do? What do you need to be on the lookout for if you are in a police force or you're a law enforcement to keep this from happening again.

HORACE: Well, you know, this is no different than what the same type of anti-government and zealotry that we've seen in other organizations. Groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and others and the intel community tracks these organizations. But you know, oftentimes these rants and these raves and this pathological behavior, whether it's manifested on YouTube or other social media sites, it's just seen as just that.

It's hard to tell when somebody is going to act or execute what they're actually talking about. But certainly in cases recently you've seen it over and over again in Dallas and now in Baton Rouge.

BERMAN: Meantime, if you are a police officer, Matt, what precautions should you take? I mean, forces all over the country are already instituting these rules where no one is allowed to go on patrol, foot or even in a vehicle by yourself. Don't go on break by yourself.

HORACE: Well, you know it's been my experience after 27 years in law enforcement that no matter what the interaction and no matter how tense things get, there are a very small percentage of people that will actually challenge us to a degree that we're exchanging gunfire, getting in these hostile situations. The rest of the world are law- abiding peaceful citizens. But when it comes to anti-government zealots like this gentleman was, or like the -- like the suspect in Dallas or other people along the way, there is no telling what they'll do or what lengths that they'll try to get their message across. And unfortunately killing police officers has become a process and a part of it.

BERMAN: But if you are an officer right now in this country, be alert. Be on the lookout. Take precautions.

Matt Horace, thanks so much for being with us.

HORACE: Have a great day. BERMAN: All right. President Obama, he weighed in -- he weighed in.

President Obama weighed in from the White House briefing room yesterday. He called on the nation to remain calm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't need inflammatory rhetoric. We don't need careless accusations thrown around to score political points or advance an agenda. We need to temper our words and open our hearts. All of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Presidential candidates also weighing in. Let me read you a couple of statements that were made on Twitter or e-mail release. First from Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton said there is no justification for violence, for hate, for attacks on men and women, who put their lives on the line, every day, in service of our families and community."

Donald Trump posted on Facebook, also on Twitter, he said, "How many law enforcement and people have to die because of a lack of leadership in our country? We demand law and order." Donald Trump also posted online. He said, "Our country is a divided crime scene."

That was Donald Trump on both Facebook and Twitter. Of course Donald Trump headed to Cleveland for the Republican National Convention. These questions of law and order. These questions of keeping police safe. These questions will be front and center all week in that city. How will they be discussed?

Christine Romans breaks it all down with the panel next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:13:11] ROMANS: Politics and protests colliding in Cleveland. This, right now, day one of the Republican National Convention. It is go-time and the city is preparing for anything here after a weekend of mostly peaceful demonstrations. Now security very tight here in Cleveland in the wake of the Dallas and those Baton Rouge shootings. But today is all about a Republican Party seeking unity. And first steps toward the coronation of Donald Trump.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is joining me this morning, live from the CNN Grill here in Cleveland. I can tell you it's pre-dawn hours right here, it is still dark, but it is very, very tight security all over the city.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it. Look, I think the Cleveland Police and frankly national law enforcement has been preparing for this for a long period of time. There is a recognition of the demonstrators that are going to be here. There's also recognition about what this event means to Donald Trump, to the Republican Party and to the election on the whole. And not so coincidently, the first theme of this four-day Republican event, safety. American security first. I mean, look at that list of speakers that

Donald Trump is putting out there. Really kind of tracks with the message that he and his new vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence, want to get across. He's got Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, obviously a top national security who was once considered for vice president. He's for Joni Ernst, the first-term senator from Iowa, former military officer, who's known for national security issues.

He also his wife, Melania Trump. Somebody who you don't hear speak a lot on the campaign trail. Donald Trump taking the unorthodox idea of actually introducing his wife tonight. So I think that will be a very big moment. But I think it's also worth noting as we watched over the weekend kind of that awkward rollout between Mike Pence and Donald Trump, not your traditional 26-minute all-about-me introduction of the guy that I'm running with, it was kind of on display again last night on "60 Minutes" interview.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA: Clearly this man is not a politician. He doesn't speak like a politician.

[04:15:04] LESLEY STAHL, "60 MINUTES": He's done pretty well.

PENCE: He speaks from his heart.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think that's a good thing.

PENCE: He speaks from his heart. And --

TRUMP: Well, I do speak from my heart and my brain. Just so we understand.

PENCE: That's right.

TRUMP: This is maybe more important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: So, Christine, it was an interview where Donald Trump tended to weigh in anytime Mike Pence also started speaking. I was talking to a number of Republican officials who made clear, they don't think these two are going to be campaigning a lot with one another. They will be going out individually. And last might may be a good demonstration as to why.

But I think when you look at what happened over the weekend, even when you look at that interview, Mike Pence speaks Wednesday night. It'll be very important for him, for his introduction to the country, and for really -- for people to get their heads around what this ticket actually means for Mike Pence to have a big night.

ROMANS: Yes. MATTINGLY: But as I said, today is all about security both outside

the perimeter here in Cleveland but also on that main stage -- Christine.

ROMANS: Make America safe again. All right, Phil, I know you'll be covering all that.

And let's talk more about day one of the Republican convention this morning because there's so much to talk about here as we get underway and the security concerns also here in Cleveland. I've got a really great panel this morning.

Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst and columnist for the "Washington Post," CNN political commentator Maria Cardona, Democratic strategist, Amanda Carpenter is here, CNN political commentator and a former communications director for Ted Cruz, and John Philips, CNN political commentator, KABC radio talk host and -- talk show host and a Donald Trump supporter.

I want to start with Josh, I guess. Let's begin with you and tonight. The theme is making America safe again from Nice, from Dallas, from Baton Rouge. There's plenty of material here for team Trump.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. Well, what we're going to see is this -- a host of national security officials sort of lay out broad and big themes about why they think Donald Trump would be better than Hillary Clinton on foreign policy. Right? We're talking about he's strong. He's hardnosed. He's tough. He's going to restore American leadership. Right?

But after that, that's where the agreement between most Republicans on foreign policy and the Donald Trump campaign ends. So they're not going to get into a lot of specifics. They're not going to talk about the fact that Donald Trump and his candidate disagree about -- whether or not we should have gone to war in Iraq. They're not going to talk about whether -- the fact that Donald Trump and his vice presidential candidate disagree about trade.

They're not going to talk about the fact that Donald Trump doesn't want to support Ukraine and wants to get closer to Putin. That he doesn't want to support the Syrian opposition but he wants to support the side fighting with Assad.

So the goal here is to project the unity in the Republican Party on foreign policy that doesn't really exist and then to paint Hillary Clinton as a problem. And that means focusing on Benghazi.

ROMANS: I want to listen to a little bit because last night we saw on display on CBS, we saw this ticket. You know, we saw the ticket addressing some of these issues that you're talking about. Specifically this idea that it was a mistake to vote to go to war in Iraq which is something both Mike Pence and Hillary Clinton both did.

I want you to listen to how Donald Trump handled that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STAHL: But you've used that vote of Hillary's, that was the same as Governor Pence.

TRUMP: Many people have.

STAHL: As the example of her bad judgment.

TRUMP: Many people have. And frankly, I'm one of the few that was right on Iraq.

STAHL: Yes, but what about him?

TRUMP: He is entitled to make a mistake every once and a while.

STAHL: She's not. OK. Come on.

TRUMP: She's not.

STAHL: She's not.

TRUMP: No, she's not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So he can make a mistake, John, on Iraq. He can make a mistake on supporting TPP, but Hillary Clinton can't. How do you square that?

JOHN PHILIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. First of all, I like the relationship that Donald Trump and Mike pence have. It's kind of like Penn and Teller and Pence is Teller and Donald Trump is Penn, and will be doing the talking.

Look, vice presidents and presidents sometimes have an acrimonious relationship. Let's not forget that it was George H.W. Bush that came up with voodoo economics in that 1980 campaign against Ronald Reagan. So sometimes there are differences that get ironed out. He now believes that the way that the war was prosecuted was wrong, and they would do so in a different manner. So I think as we stand today, they are on the same page when it comes to war and peace and national security.

ROMANS: Maria? You're shaking your head.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all describing your ticket as Penn and Teller, I don't think is a good things for America. But secondly, that interview last night completely took Hillary's Iraq war vote off the table because Democrats will have a beautiful comeback. And they won't be able to say a thing. Thirdly, to Josh's point, he has absolutely zero details when he talks about national security, when he talks about and foreign policy.

He has brash statements. We're going to go to war in Iraq. Yes, we got to be tough. What does that mean? He has never ever since the moment that he got on to the national stage to then able to put details in terms of what do those proposals mean? What does it mean in terms of sending troops? He didn't answer that question last night. And so that's a big problem.

ROMANS: I think that part of what they're going to try to do this week is maybe give some of those details, and maybe, you know, fill out this picture. But it's interesting because the gravitas of the party is not here. You have two former presidents who are not here. The two former nominees are not here. The Republican governor who brought this convention to the state is not here.

[04:20:05] How will this party show unity when you have the gravitas of the party absent?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think we can call this the no-show convention. I mean, what unity you will see on display are by virtually of the only people that bothered to show up. What I'm really interested to see happen at the convention is how does Donald Trump let other people make the case for him? Throughout the entire campaign, it's pretty much just been Donald Trump.

I think it's very challenging. If I had to write a speech for someone to give on behalf of Donald Trump today, how do you write something that isn't at odds with -- his previous statements? How do you support these things? So I think it'll be a very interesting exercise to see what kind of speeches are delivered by these other elected officials.

ROMANS: And we're just beginning. And we're going to talk to all of you again in just a few minutes. So don't go away. Thanks for your expertise.

Twenty minutes past the hour here in Cleveland.

This morning, we are learning new information -- new information on the terror attack in France last week. And there are some new arrests to report for you this morning. We're going to go live to Nice next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:25:29] ROMANS: All right. Welcome back to EARLY START. New information on the Nice terror attack. There are now six people being held in the connection with the Bastille Day attack that killed 84 people. Among them, newly arrested Albanian couple. This as France ends three days of national mourning that followed that truck attack in Nice. Meantime, we now know a third American -- a third American who had been reported missing died in that attack.

CNN's Nima Elbagir live in Nice with the very latest developments for us.

And Nima, just -- it's just heartbreaking. You still have, you know, children in the hospitals, people still searching for loved ones.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And people still waiting to identify those who are lost. So many of those here searching the hospitals, reaching out to authorities. We're down at the site of one of the many memorials that have sprung

up along the Promenade des Anglais. And as you said we now have a third American amongst the dead. Nicholas Leslie, a 20-year-old student at UC Berkeley. A 20-year-old tech student at UC Berkeley. But what the victims and their families are looking for more than anything, Christine, are answers.

This is the third major attack to blight France in the last 18 months. And those six who've been arrested, well, the authorities are hoping that they'll provide some of those answers. Three of them have now been transferred to the anti-terror office in Paris to investigate their links to this -- to a potential terror network because what they're trying to figure out here is, was there a network behind this attacker. How big was it and what else is still out there -- Christine.

ROMANS: And officials are going to say he was radicalized very, very quickly. We will continue to check in with you for developments on that devastating attack there in Nice. Thanks for that, Nima.

Fears over police safety as three officers -- three officers in Baton Rouge are killed, three more injured in yet another attack on officers. We go live to John Berman in Baton Rouge next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)