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At This Hour
Zuckerberg, Sandberg Out of Sight as Facebook Takes Beating; Suspended Data Firm CEO Plays Up Trump Campaign Link; Parkland Students, Parents Absent after New Security Scares; Hero Officer Stopped School Shooting within Seconds; 70 Million in Path of Nor'easter. Aired 11:30-12p ET
Aired March 21, 2018 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:30:00} BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR? All right, we'll see.
Michael Moore, thank you so much.
Coming up --
MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. DISTRICT ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: Great to be with you.
KEILAR: Great to be with you as welll.
Coming up, outraged investors are now suing Facebook as the company takes a beating a mass data scandal. Where's the founder, the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg? We'll have that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Facebook investors are suing the social media company over massive stock losses in the wake of a major data scandal. Take a look at the stock since Monday. It has been tanking and it is recovering slightly today but we're still talking about billions of dollars here.
Meantime, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, the public faces of Facebook, both MIA at the company's data leak damage-control session.
CNN senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, joining me now.
It's just so odd. I think everyone expected that this might be a chance for them to make an appearance because they have been so MIA. Are there any expectation we're going to hear from them today?
[11:35:08] BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: There is, actually. Axios is reporting that Zuckerberg will break the silence today.
There's a lot of questions about trust here. That's fundamentally what this is about. When users' logon to Facebook, we know there's a tradeoff when we log on and know our data might be used to target ads, but this case involving Cambridge Analytica suggests a gross misuse of data for political campaigning. Brianna, there's an old saying that when a product is free, that means
you are the product. That's very true on Facebook. Users are the product and advertisers pay billions to target users of advertisers. And this scandal is creating more awareness of that basic fact. But in this case, Zuckerberg needs to address Cambridge Analytica and how it misused the personal data.
KEILAR: This is coming, Brian, as the CEO of Cambridge Analytica has been suspended. We're learning more about how close he says he was to the Trump campaign. Tell us about that.
STELTER: The "Washington Post" is reporting that Steve Bannon, who was on the board of Cambridge Analytica a few years ago, was also involved in this data harvesting operation. Bannon may respond tomorrow when he speaks at the conference here in New York.
But in the meantime, Channel 4 News in the U.K. has released more video from the undercover sting operation where reporters, posing as possible campaign officials, sat down with CEO Alexander Nix and asked about possible services that he could provide. Here's how he bragged about helping the Trump campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you met Mr. Trump?
ALEXANDER NIX, FORMER CEO, CAMBRIDGE ANTALYTICA: Many times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have?
NIX: All of the data, all the analytics, all of the targeting, we ran all of the -- (INAUDIBLE) -- the television and our company (ph) formed a strategy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STELTER: That's a matter of dispute. We know for a fact that Cambridge Analytica was one of the Trump campaign's data providers, one of their partners, one of their contractors, however, how invaluable Cambridge Analytica really were has been a matter of debate ever since election day.
But, Brianna, this is one of those cases where Robert Mueller knows a lot more than we do. Mueller reportedly sought out documents from Cambridge Analytica last year, according to the "Wall Street Journal," as part of the wider investigation into Russian interference. We know Mueller is looking at Trump's data operation.
KEILAR: Brian Stelter, thank you so much.
Coming up, more than 700 students that go to Florida's Stoneman Douglas High School are saying home after new security concerns. We're going to have details for you after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [11:41:44] KEILAR: This morning, more than 700 absent from class in the wake new security concerns at the Florida high school where 17 people were killed in February. The younger brother of the Parkland shooter was arrested this week for trespassing at the schooling. And meanwhile, Florida governor Rick Scott is offering to provide extra security after a deputy was found apparently sleeping while on duty at the school not long after that trespassing incident.
CNN's Rose Flores live from Parkland.
Rosa, what else do we know about Cruz' brother, Zachary Cruz, and why authorities are considering him a potential threat at this point?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brianna, in bond court yesterday, the prosecution didn't hold back talking about those threats. They, in essence, told the judge and made a very compelling argument that Zachary Cruz, the younger brother of the shooter, is following in his brother's footsteps.
They mentioned a slew of things of -- I'll share a few of them. First of all, the conversations that these two brothers allegedly had in in jail when Zachary Cruz visited his brother, talking about how popular Nikolas Cruz was after the shooting, how his picture and name were all over national media, and how this could lead to girls, and perhaps to a fan club.
Then we learned how many times Zachary Cruz breached security at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Three times. The first two times, we learned in court, the vice principal told him to leave. The third time, a deputy arrested him. And when he asked him why he was there, according to the incident report, he said he was soaking in the shooting, he was reflecting on the shooting. As you mentioned, Brianna, the judge here not taking any chances, setting bond at $500,000.
KEILAR: It's worth pointing out, Rosa, the school, Stoneman Douglas High, has had security issues since the shooting. Tell us about those.
FLORES: You know, some of the students here say that they are just tired of feeling in danger. Just yesterday, Brianna, two students were arrested for bringing knives, a third student was arrested for posting threatening messages on social media that included a picture of a gun and ammunition and threats. And then to top it all off, a deputy was found sleeping in his marked patrol car on the northwest corner of the 1200 building. This is the building where the shooting happened. Now that the deputy is on suspended pay. And parents are starting to keep their students -- their children from coming to school. Twenty percent of the population here is home today, Brianna. Just to give you some context, after the shooting, the first day the students were able to return, 95 percent of the students were back in school. So that just really tells you some of the students are tired of feeling in danger and so are the parents.
[11:44:38] KEILAR: Can't blame them.
Rosa Flores, thank you so much for that.
Now, turning to the serial bombings in Austin. This just in, CNN obtained a picture of the suspected Austin serial bombing. A source with direct involvement in the investigation says Mark Anthony Conditt, the person you see here, has been identified as the suspect. He died this morning after setting a bomb inside a car during a confrontation with police.
And coming off, a school shooting stopped within seconds, thanks to the heroic actions of a lone school resource officer. We're going to tell you what happened inside that Maryland high school, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: In Maryland, a school resource officer who stopped a school shooter is being hailed a hero. Deputy Blaine Gaskill reacted moments after a student opened fire at Great Mills High School yesterday. Police say the gunman shot a female and a male student with a handgun. Gaskill rushed to the scene and exchanged fire with the shooter. The shooter died. It's not clear if he died by Gaskill's bullet or if he killed himself. That's still under investigation.
But Maryland Governor Larry Hogan praised Gaskill's rapid response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[11:50:15] LARRY HOGAN, (R), MARYLAND GOVERNOR: It sure sounds like this is the way it should have been handled, and a very capable school resources officer that also happened to be a SWAT team member. This is a tough guy, who apparently closed in very quickly and he took the right kind of action. I think, while it's still tragic, he may have saved other people's lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Joining me now to discuss is Mo Canady, the executive director of National Association of School Resource Officers. He served as a school resource officer for 10 years.
Mo, thanks for being with us to talk about this really important thing.
I wonder, as you saw all of this play out, from what you can tell, it seems like this scenario is, I imagine, textbook for how you expect an SRO to respond.
MO CANADY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS: Absolutely. I think the governor was spot on with his comments. There are a lot of us SRO's in this same mind set. Certainly, we are proud of the SRO's actions. They are very heroic. It's exactly what SRO's are supposed to do when they are properly trained and selected.
KEILAR: These are police officers assigned to schools, just to be clear. We have to be very, very clear about that. They have a different jurisdiction, in a way, as they are providing security and outreach there at a high school or another school.
What we saw in Maryland was so much in contrast -- I think a lot of people are focusing on this -- to what we saw in Parkland, at Stoneman Douglas High School. We have video now of the officer in Parkland, remaining outside the school during the shooting, not just during the shooting, but more than 20 minutes after it stopped and after the shooter had exited. Rosa Flores reported a sheriff's deputy was caught sleeping in his patrol car in front of the school on Monday.
When you look at Parkland, what needs to be done there to provide proper security for these kids?
CANADY: First of all, I have to say that Florida is one of the few states where we do very little training. As a matter of fact, we have done no training with the Broward County Sheriff's Office in terms of their school resources officer program. I say that to say I don't know exactly how they are trained. Maryland is a different issue for us. We do a lot of training in Maryland. We have trained with the department involved in the incident yesterday. There are a lot of things that need to be done, obviously, and, you know, starting with proper selection and proper training of SRO's everywhere. So, that's important.
SRO's are one layer of security. But target hardening is something we have to look at as well, as well as the mental health issues. We want SRO's more engaged in understanding mental health issues as well so they know how to deescalate situations.
KEILAR: Because they can engage ahead of time proactively with students and be able to identify potential issues. That's an important part of being there day in and day out. We know that.
The president, himself, Mo, has been critical of the SRO in Parkland. The president has proposed arming teachers as a potential solution here. What is your response to arming teachers? I know that's something you are not in support of.
CANADY: We've called on federal, state and local government to find a way to find at least one school resource officer in every school in this country. We would like to see that happen ahead of the idea of arming teachers.
Look, we understand there are states where teachers are already armed, and we can't ignore that. But we would prefer to see SRO's, trained law enforcement officers in that environment, armed and trained, as opposed to going direct to arming teachers.
KEILAR: Mo Canady, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your expertise.
CANADY: Thank you.
[11:54:18] KEILAR: Spring is here. Well, apparently, winter didn't get the memo. You are looking at live pictures coming from the White House. You can barely see it from that snow. Right now, millions of people from Washington to Boston are dealing with the blast of snow. We are going to have the latest on power outages and travel delays, next.
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KEILAR: The winter is not quite ready to leave the northeast. Right now, more than 70 million people are under a winter storm watch as another nor'easter with snow in Washington and up to Boston. There are thousands without power today. Schools are closed in New York, Philly, Washington.
Let's check in with our CNN senior national correspondent, Alex Marquardt, in New York.
Tell us about all this snow.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPODNENT: Yes, Brianna, how is this for a first day of spring? It looks very pretty. The forecast looks very serious. The snow has been coming down in New York City all morning. New York is supposed to get some of the worst snow in the area. Got about three to four inches right now. It's expected to grow throughout the course of the day. The snow is going to get worse throughout the course of the day, to around 12 to 15 inches here. The problem is it's not the light, fluffy snow we all enjoy. This is wet and heavy. When it weighs on the trees and branches, it can cause them to break and fall on power lines, creating added chaos in this situation.
The governor of New York says this is going to be a severe storm, but one they are fully prepared for -- Brianna?
KEILAR: Let's hope.
Alex, thanks for the beautiful scene in New York.
Thank you so much for joining me.
"INSIDE POLITICS" with John King starts right now.
[12:00:13] JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Thank you, Brianna.
And welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King.
