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Source: Suspect Wrote About U.S.-born Terror Cleric; Source: Suspect's Wife Left U.S. Before Bombings; Bar Owner Sees Rahami Sleeping, Calls Police; Obama and First Lady Arrive For His Final U.N. Speech. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 20, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: CNN justice correspondent Evan Perez is working his -- sources. He joins us now with more. Hi, Ev.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Well, we now know a little bit more about what was contained in these rambling notes that were described to us previously by law enforcement officials, in particular, the fact that he mentioned Anwar Awlaki in these notes. This is in a notebook that was found on the suspect after he was arrested. Now, they also found a bullet hole in this notebook. We don't know whether or not this occurred during the firefight with police officers during -- before he was arrested. But again, this adds a little bit more context to perhaps his inspiration. We've seen multiple terrorist attacks that were inspired by Anwar Awlaki, including the Boston bombers. We know that he also mentioned them -- in his writings. This is now key part of this investigation. The investigators want to make sure -- they understand what his motivations were. They want to make sure they can try to talk to him hopefully today after he emerges from his surgeries. And they also want to try to track down his wife. We know that she left the country, she was perhaps going back home to Pakistan. They want to talk to officials there in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates where she may be right now -- to try to conduct an interview and understand what she may have known before this event. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. So, -- I'm just digesting this right now. So we have this notebook on him because we know police found him, like, sleeping in a bar vestibule, then he got into this shootout with police and he had this notebook with him the whole time?

PEREZ: That's right, he had the notebook with him and the question is, you know, when did he write these notes? Did he think about this for some time before he carried out these attacks? All of this is frankly at the top of the minds of the investigators who want to interview him, you know, when he emerges from his surgeries.

COSTELLO: All right, Evan Perez, thanks for the great reporting, we always appreciate it. We know Rahami, the suspect, he went to Pakistan recently and to Afghanistan multiple times. He is actually born in Afghanistan. Family friends now recalling those trips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't see him in a long time. So he was like, he's on vacation to Afghanistan. I was like, all right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His father wanted him to go back there and get to know his roots, you know, everything, it's just the normal things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Jessica Schneider, live in Elizabeth, New Jersey, with more on this, good morning.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We know that Rahami went overseas several times between 2011 and 2014. In fact, he spent nearly a year in Pakistan between April 2013 and March 2014. At that time, spending time in the area of Pakistan known as Quetta, which is known as a -- Taliban stronghold. We also know that he ended up marrying a woman from Pakistan in 2011 and at some point she came here to the United States. We also understand that that wife left the United States in just the past few days. So Rahami having quite a history of having traveled over to both Afghanistan, where he was born and Pakistan. Now Rahami is a U.S. citizen, a naturalized U.S. citizen and he lived right here in Elizabeth. He had a somewhat normal childhood. He went to high school here, also community college where he majored in criminal justice.

But right now Rahami is facing at least on the state level five counts of attempted murder of law enforcement officers and we understand he is not right now talking to investigators, not talking to federal agents. They're looking to glean more information as to what sort of ties Rahami had overseas, whether or not he was tied to a foreign terrorist organization. So far, the Taliban has disclaimed any connection with Rahami but of course the investigation continues. Now, Rahami did undergo surgery last night. We understand he's still in the hospital. All after that gunfight, that happened in Linden, New Jersey, just one town away. In fact, this morning, I talked to the bar owner, who actually spotted Rahami sleeping in the vestibule to the entrance to his bar. That's when he thought something wasn't quite right. He recognized Rahami from the videos that he had seen on CNN and he called police. That bartender actually came here from India 22 years ago. He became a citizen ten years ago. And I asked him what it was like to be an immigrant and to be in this situation where, now, many people may be questioning whether immigrants should be even coming to this country and he said exactly this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARINDER BAINS, BAR OWNER: These guys, you know, it's hard to reason -- I'm from Sikh faith, you know, we believe in equality, we believe in helping people out, and I think every American will do the same thing that I did as my neighbor would do the same thing, any Jew, Christian, Muslim. We cannot, like, suspect anybody just with their looks or their faith, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: And one other note in just the past few moments, the man who we believe to be Rahami's father actually came out of the residence, right here in Elizabeth New Jersey, he came out and he somewhat addressed the media but all he said was that I

[10:05:16] called the FBI and I told them he was talking to him. That's all he said. He didn't elaborate. He turned around and walked back inside the residence. We aren't sure if Rahami's father may have reached out to the FBI. We haven't gotten anything like that from the FBI. So a lot of question out here but his father did just come out and address the media very, very briefly. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jessica Schneider, reporting live from Elizabeth, New Jersey this morning. So let's talk about this, joining me now to discuss, CNN intelligence and security analyst, Bob Baer. He is also a former CIA operative. I am also joined by CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank. Welcome to both of you. So Paul, let's start with the latest information we got this notebook that was found on the suspect. And it mentioned this Islamic cleric -- al-Awlaki, say it for me.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Anwar al-Awlaki

COSTELLO: Yes, so tell us about him and why it matters.

CRUCKSHANK: Anwar al-Awlaki is a pivotal figure in International Jihadi. He's an American-Yemeni who played a very significant role in Al Qaeda in Yemen. His video sermons, online sermons, helped inspire a wave of attacks on both sides of the Atlantic. This is somebody with a degree of theological knowledge, and he mobilized that to send out a message that the United States was at war with Islam and that Muslims around the world needed to fight back by any means possible, deeply, deeply influential. Lots of cases in which terrorist followers in United States and Europe listened to his sermons and then moved on and -

COSTELLO: But this cleric has been dead for years.

CRUICKSHANK: No, he was killed almost exactly five years ago. And there are a lot of his followers have been wanting to avenge this. We've seen plots on both sides of the Atlantic where there's been a motivation to try and avenge his death. He was killed five years ago in just a few days later ago -- in fact, on September 30, 2011, so we're coming up to that five-year anniversary. That may be a significant data point here. But this points to somebody who was, indeed, likely motivated by extreme Islamist ideology, by an Al Qaeda cleric. But this Al Qaeda cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki has also since his death been embraced by ISIS. There's even an Anwar al-Awlaki brigade within the ISIS structure in Syria and Iraq.

COSTELLO: Interesting. So Bob, we talked to Ivan Watson our correspondent in Afghanistan earlier this morning. He says the Taliban says, hey, we had nothing to do with it, which was sort of surprising to me. Or they disavow it and he didn't. But now we know why. So what do you make of all of this?

ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST AND FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Well, the Taliban is not an international terrorist organization. It doesn't conduct operations abroad. But for me, the fact -- there's a couple things. One is the pressure cookers. He used a pair of them. Its tactics he's imitating either taking from Al Qaeda or the Islamic State, doesn't really matter. Anyhow, his presence in Quetta is a city, it's a forbidden city. Westerners can't go there. The Pakistani government deters people from going there at the airport in Islamabad. And the fact that he spent a lot of time in Kandahar. The motivations are starting to come together for me. We are in a civil war in Afghanistan. It's comprehensible what he thought he was doing. And, in fact, al-Awlaki, who is an inspiration, as Paul has mentioned much more than Osama Bin Laden, he's repeated over and over again. And I wonder about Awlaki's direct connections with the 9/11 attacks. So we're starting to get a clear picture that this man was very angry and thought he was fighting against the enemies of Islam and it's as simple as that.

COSTELLO: So Paul, what happened? I mean, this guy essentially grew up in the United States. He's a naturalized American citizen. He goes to Afghanistan to visit family and friends for whatever. He meets the wrong kind of -- what happens? Like?

CRUICKSHANK: We don't know yet what has actually happened. It may be that he met some people in the places that he visited in Pakistan and Afghanistan who brainwashed him to a certain degree and viewed him with this radical ideology. He certainly would have had plenty of opportunity to be exposed to that kind of thinking in those regions. Also possible -- that there was some triggering things here in the United States which pushed him further towards confrontation with the United States -

COSTELLO: Well, then he meets a woman in Pakistan, right? He marries her and that kind of reminded me of the San Bernardino shooter, right? He also met a woman in Pakistan, married her. It turned out, she, you know, took part in the massacre there. So is this like, you know, just something in the logical line that happens when you're radicalized?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, we've yet -- to hear from investigators whether they suspect she had any knowledge -- of this attack. They've not said that

[10:10:16] at this point. --

COSTELLO: They've not said that but she did leave the country a few days before the bombing and they want to question her. -

CRUICKSHANK: That's right, and so is that a coincidence, they certainly wanting to question her. You know this reminds me a lot of Faisal Shahzad case, the Time Square bombing in New York City in 2010. Again, somebody who lived in the United States, well integrated over here, but spent time out in Pakistan. He was actually directed and trained by the Pakistani Taliban. -- They taught him how to build those explosives. He wasn't on the radar screen either of U.S. law enforcement agencies when he came back here to the United States. And just like this bomber acted alone in actually going operational with this plot, a lot of similarities with this one. But they're still trying to figure out all this international travel. The bombs, the pressure cooker devices, what was in them very significant -- we're talking about a bomb mixture with aluminum powder, ammonium nitrate, HMTD, which is pretty posed and more powerful that the Boston devices. An HMTD is something, as Bob was saying, that is pretty tricky to make unless you've got some overseas training. We've seen a few exceptions to that in Islamic terrorist case on both sides of the Atlantic but not many exceptions and that could be a pointer towards some kind of training overseas. You need to kind of be taught generally how to make these things, to tinker with them, to experiment, to make sure, you've got it right.

COSTELLO: So this suspect, this Rahami, Bob, he had family in Afghanistan, so was there any reason for authorities here to suspect the number of times he visited that country or suspect why in the world he would go to Pakistan?

BAER: I would have stopped him, giving him a secondary, Carol. No doubt about it. In fact, he has been in Quetta, is a red flag for me, you know, all in Kandahar as well. But at the border, we don't really recognize these local conflicts. We're looking for other indicators like net activity, what site he's looking at. Apparently, I've seen no -- nothing coming out saying he was on net looking at how to make bombs. So, I mean, Paul is absolutely right, he probably went to that area, whether he was sponsored or not, learned how to make bombs. Think of Tamerlan Tsarnaev (ph) to Dagestan disappears. That bomb was fairly complicated as well. The wiring in the pressure cooker in Boston was modified from the "Inspire Magazine." -- There were a lot of indications that he had some sort of knowledge of explosives and didn't get it in the United States. So we're seeing this pattern of going back to Pakistan, going to the Caucuses where people become determined in their war against the West, against the United States and it doesn't -- the self-recruitment doesn't entirely happen here and they get some sort of aid overseas, whether it's directed or not, there's no evidence. --

COSTELLO: OK. I'm going to interrupt you for just a second because you can see the president and the first lady now arriving at the United Nations, President Obama set to address the United Nations General Assembly for the very last time in his presidency. Let's head out to the United Nations and Michelle Kosinski, she is covering this for us. Good morning Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Right we're going to hear from him in just a few minutes. He'll probably speak for about 35 or 40 minutes. -- We're going to hear him point to the bigger concept of the U.N. itself, how working together solves problems. We feel like that's going to be his theme here. He wants to review his record, his push, his approach for deeper international cooperation, his push for diplomacy. But he also can't ignore the huge problems in the world right now where diplomacy, however many efforts have been made, simply hasn't worked. I mean Syria is the glaring example. But also look at North Korea, Russia having taken over part of its neighbor, and these are problems that the world has been dealing with for years now. It's been a difficult slug trying to get diplomacy to work. But I feel like the president is going to try to make the case that doesn't mean that the world should give up trying to work together to solve these problems peacefully. And that's a tough case to make right now, especially in an election season in the U.S. Where you have Republicans really criticizing President Obama's approach and saying you know efforts at diplomacy have not been enough and are not going to be enough. That includes the refugee crisis and that includes the threat of terrorism both at home and abroad. So the president is up against a lot, the world is up against a lot of problems, but you're going to hear the president again, forcefully make that case. And that's what we've heard in the past two years too. Making the case for why diplomacy has worked in the past and why it would work again in the future, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Michelle Kosinski, you stand by. I'm going to take a quick break and when the president begins speaking, we'll be back. Catch you on the other side of the break.

[10:15:16]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just moments ago, you see the president and Mrs. Obama arriving at the United Nations here in New York City. It's likely Mr. Obama will recap eight years of sometimes rocky diplomacy while underscoring his commitment to multilateralism and dialogue. At least that's what the president's people are telling us. It will be an interesting speech. Michelle Kosinski is covering this for us in New York. Let's head out live to her once again and good morning.

KOSINSKI: Hi, Carol. Yes, I mean, this thing, his last speech here, essentially speaking to the world, his farewell. You know he's going to want to speak to his legacy too. He's going to want to review how he feels American leadership has shaped the U.N. Over the last eight years and also shaped solutions to problems. He's of course going to want to emphasize the positive. He's going to say look where we were eight years ago at the height of the economic crisis globally. Just coming after, you know -- around that same time though, a poor world response to Ebola. He's going to want to say look how the U.S.' leadership and his own leadership helped solve those problems.

[10:20:16] He's going to want to say, look at the Paris climate agreement. Look at the Iran nuclear deal. Look at other ways that U.S. leadership has brought solutions by involving other nations and by using diplomacy and avoiding war. That's not always the case. - I mean the war against ISIS is ongoing. But he's going to want to point to the fact that it's not just the U.S., it is an international coalition. In reviewing that, he wants to then look forward and say look at the inspiration we can draw from times when that approach has worked, even though there are big problems that, you know, where solutions are not working right now. These are still examples that could be a template and a reason to move forward in that way, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Michelle Kosinski, you stand by. I want to turn my attention now to Jeff Zeleny. So President Obama will speak before the general assembly and he'll outline all of his successes on the international front. So how important will this speech, do you think, play into Hillary Clinton's run for president?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think it is important. As Michelle was just going through sort of the list of accomplishments, I'm also struck by I think back to 2009, his Nobel Peace prize. He started his presidency with that which we often forget. I remember traveling with him Oslo. Everyone was astonished that he got that. But now he's ending his term not quiet and as peaceful of a way of course. But both candidates here are focused on what is coming up. And both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, also taking advantage of these U.N. meetings to look presidential, if you will. Last night, Hillary Clinton for more than three hours met with the Prime Minister of Japan, the President of Ukraine and also the President of Egypt. Making the point that she is a -- ready for these meetings, but with the Ukraine president, she's trying to draw a distinction with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin of course. She said that there are very real problems with Russian aggression. Now Donald Trump for his part, after he came back from Florida last night, he also met with the Egyptian President who is dealing with an activist situation of his own in Egypt here. So, the U.N. always a chance for these presidents in waiting to look presidential as well but all eyes on President Obama today -

COSTELLO: Were there photo ops?

ZELENY: There were photo ops. Of course, they let the photographers in. Donald Trump doesn't always let the press come in with him. But he did last night in that meeting with the Egyptian President. And Hillary Clinton did as well with her three bilateral (ph) meetings last night as well.

COSTELLO: So Michelle, can you tell us anything about those meetings with the candidates and the Egyptian President and the Ukrainian President, the Japanese Prime Minister?

KOSINSKI: I mean, we saw some readout of those, talking about the problems that exist, those parts of the world and the difficulties in the relationship. Hillary Clinton of course wants to show that she has deep and long-standing ties with these countries. That she's done the work and she can easily call these meetings. And then you know, Donald Trump obviously wants to show that well he can too. Even though he didn't have the same number of bilateral meetings that Hillary Clinton had. He wants to show that he too can make that happen, can have these tough discussions and that he's going to be a player on the world stage. It was interesting when we heard of the announcement of these meetings, how kind of, dueling bilateral meetings. And there's that kind of air of presidential authority when you call a meeting with a leader of another country especially in this venue. And, you know, we haven't heard the White House weigh in on the candidates meetings. But we may later on today. There's a briefing tonight with the White House, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. All right, I'm sure you'll be covering it. I got to take another break. We'll be back with much more. And hopefully President Obama will begin his speech before the general assembly when I come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:16] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we are still waiting. President Obama, to make his remarks before the United Nations General Assembly, we expect him to do it any moment now. I'll bring you back to New York of course when he does begin speaking. But right now, we do have new details to share with you. On how officials tracked down and captured the alleged New York / New Jersey bomber Ahmad Rahami. Police in New Jersey taking him down after an intense gun battle, but before the standoff, there were inadvertent heroes. Heroes like Jane Schreibman, who found this second device, the pressure cooker that did not explode in Chelsea on Saturday night. She noticed it, she called police. I talked with her last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE SCHREIBMAN, CALLED POLICE FOR 2nd BOMB IN NYC: I think anyone would have done what I did if they had seen a pressure cooker bomb in front of their house. It looked peculiar, but I thought, there's a lot of a strange thing on the street. And it looked sort of like a science project that someone had dumped on the sidewalk. -- And I went to 23rd street, I was -- I heard there was a bomb, so I was going to see what had happened. And I couldn't get close. I didn't really know what had happened. And I was coming home. And I wanted to take another look at that object because it had been lingering in the back of my mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right, let's go to President Obama. He's now beginning his remarks in the assembly.

(BARACK OBAMA SPEECH)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Ladies and gentlemen, as I address this hall as president for the final time. Let me recount the progress that we've made these last 8 years. From the depths of the greatest financial crisis of our time, we coordinated our response to avoid further catastrophe and return the global economy to growth. We've taken away terrorist safe havens, strengthened the nonproliferation regime, resolved the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy; we opened relations with Cuba, helped Columbia, and Latin America's longest war.