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Worker Stole This Plane From The Seattle Tacoma International Airport Last Night; Woman Known As The Manhattan Madame Kristin Davis Scheduled To Testify Before A Grand Jury In Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation; White House Staffer Omarosa Manigault-Newman Has Reached A New Level; Trump on Omarosa: "Lowlife, She's a Lowlife"; Trump: Sessions "Is Scared and Missing in Action"; Trump Calls for Calm Ahead of Charlottesville Riot Anniversary; Neo-Nazi Gives Small Pennsylvania Town a Bad Image; New Mexico Sheriff Calls Men at Compound Muslim Extremists. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired August 11, 2018 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: We are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you for joining us on this Saturday. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.
We begin this hour with a truly terrifying situation, a commercial airplane stolen. Here is the video. I'll explain what happened. As you take a look at this. That plane there, the one doing flips in the air, it's not flown by a pilot. It's flown by an airline employees, a ground service agent. Those are the people who you normally see loading and unloading bags or maybe using the orange batons to direct the plane across the tarmac. The worker stole this plane from the Seattle Tacoma international airport last night. And we already have audio of the suspect talking to air traffic controllers. Part of this conversation is chilling. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have got a lot of people that care about me. And it's going to disappoint them that -- to hear that I did this. I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it until now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: CNN's Dan Simon is live in western Washington near the crash site.
Dan, what have we learn about the airline worker and how he was able to take this plane.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Ana. The details we have heard thus far are really something. Here you have this person who worked in ground support at the Seattle airport.
Now you talked about it. What does somebody in ground support do? Well, they load and unload luggage. Sometimes they tidy up aircraft. Sometimes they get in a tractor and tow the plane in the right direction. That's apparently what this 29-year-old horizon airline worker did yesterday. Got in the tractor, put the aircraft just where he wanted it, then climbed in the cockpit, fired up the engine, taxied the runway and that somehow made a successful takeoff. Then he did this incredible acrobatic maneuvers as acknowledged by airline officials.
Now under normal circumstances to get an airliner airborne you have strict protocols. Remember under normal circumstances. I want to you listen now what the CEO of Alaska airlines said earlier today. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY BECK, CEO, HORIZON AIR: Normally, you would request clearance for pushback from either your own tower or ground control. You then speak with ground controlled all the way out to the runway. They would turn you over to the tower, who would then clear you for takeoff. And I believe -- in fact I know that he did communicate on the ground frequency. And all of the communications for the entire flight were conducted on that frequency.
You are right, there were some maneuvers that were done that were incredible maneuvers with the aircraft. To our knowledge, he didn't have a pilot's license. So to be honest with you, I mean, commercial aircraft are complex machines. They are not as easy to fly as say a Cessna 150. So I don't know how he achieved the experience that he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Well, the FBI is leading this investigation. Of course they will want to talk to relatives and to coworkers. But part of the investigation is also centered about ten minutes away here by ferry at Kitron Island where investigators are scouring the scene looking for evidence -- Ana.
CABRERA: Dan Simon, just an incredible story. Thank goodness no one else was hurt.
And as bizarre as this airplane theft and crash is, it also reveals an enormous security issue. We are lucky that only that man at the controls was involved. Imagine if this commercial plane had been full of passengers.
Juliette Kayyem is here with us. She is our national security analyst. Also Scott Miller, a commercial airline pilot for more than 30 years.
Juliette, if this ground worker is able to grab a plane and take off how far is a stretch is it for someone with more sinister intentions to do the same thing.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, look. There is always going to be a risk in aviation and particularly from what would be known as an insider threat, someone who has gone through a process of security, that the company at least has sort of confidence in.
By the time a passenger airline is being filled with people it already has a cockpit staff. It already has the security apparatus surrounding it. In some ways he took advantage of the vulnerabilities because the plane was in fact empty.
CABRERA: Scott, what crossed your mind when you heard about what happened.
SCOTT MILLER, COMMERCIAL AIRLINE PILOT: Well, at first I thought he had to have some sort of flight experience in his background. It was curious because when I was coming up in my early 20s I was a ground service worker for an airline first at San Francisco and San Jose. And I was tow qualified on the aircraft. So I was -- at the time I was thinking in the back of my head, you know, some night if I wanted to fire this up and take it around the pattern could probably accomplish that. I never honestly even would consider doing it in real life. But unfortunately, this individual seems to have done that.
[17:05:21] CABRERA: Just how hard is it for someone to get into one of these planes and get it into the air?
MILLER: Well, as the Alaska CEO said, they are very complex pieces of equipment. But I have read some reports that this particular ground service agent was tow qualified. Probably had some, just picked up by osmosis, the proper sequence to flip the switches and get the fuel valves open to get the engine started. And it appears he had the knowledge to do that obviously.
CABRERA: Juliette, how do you see airport security procedures changing after this? Was this an employee screening failure or more of a first security failure?
KAYYEM: I think they are going to have to find out about the employee screening. Apparently there was sort of nothing to trigger this. I do want to point out some good news. I know we tend to -- obviously this was a security lapse. I don't know if we should change the airport security after this.
Part of the security is to imagine something bad happens because you can't predict everything. And then sort of, you know, have the crisis management and communications plans just in case. So a fighter jets were deployed within one minute. A communication by the FBI alerting that this was not terrorism. The airline and the airport were really aggressive on communications. And then just look at the training, clearly from that -- from between the ground control and the pilot.
Those communications saved lives, sort of -- you know, made sure the pilot who really did come to know that he was going to die did not harm anyone else. In some ways you also look at security planning is. Did the -- after the thing happens, did the system get in place to protect more people? And I have to say in this case, you know, this is a horrible story, but no one else was hurt.
CABRERA: Scott, as you point out before being airline captain you worked on the tarmac at airports like this guy did. I mean, how easy would it have been to steal an airplane if you really wanted to? Are there security protocols and barriers in place? MILLER: Well, by the nature of the system, yes, as the other guest
previously referred, there is, you know, some rigorous screening that occurs before an employee is hired and turned loose on the ramp. And employees themselves have some security responsibility. You know, we would never have thought something like this could have occurred, yet it did. I think the key to preventing this in the future is a little more rigorous screening of the employees, perhaps both before hire and during their employment as well. Unfortunately, when you have threats from the inside, exceedingly difficult to detect, as proven by the German tragedy last year. That's something that has to be looked at. You get to the point where security gets in the way of doing the job. And we can't allow that to happen. You know, there is limited time for this aircraft to be service the on the ground. And we need to make sure that stays as efficient as possible as well.
CABRERA: And we know the SEATAC airport is the ninth busiest airport in the country. And if this can happen there, it makes me wonder if smaller airports are at greater risk that something like this happening as well? And how often are airplanes of any size stolen?
MILLER: Well, I would say that the risk isn't really correlated to the aircraft -- or I'm sorry the airport size. If you have an airplane that is park and serviced obviously you have what think a very small risk but it is a risk.
And also, this is only the second incident I'm even aware of something like this happening. There was a couple of years ago, I believe, an attempt was made in Utah to take an aircraft. And that didn't -- that aircraft didn't even get off the ground. Sadly it ended with the employee li employee committing suicide before the airplane moved far at all.
CABRERA: And Juliette, real quick, as far as the investigation goes, we have learn the FBI is leading this investigation as opposed to the NTSB. How do you see this playing out?
KAYYEM: Well, I think the FBI - I think, you know, if the FBI does determine relatively quickly that this is sort of open and shut, that this was an individual who clearly had some mental issues, then the question will simply be the -- the investigation will simply go to whether there were deficiencies in the security and background checks or if others might have known of his mental issues. I highly doubt this will lead to a criminal investigation. No suspicion that others were involved. And then it will be handed over for closure.
There may be penalties also if there were lapses in security, penalties for the airline. But that's basically it at this stage.
[17:10:05] CABRERA: All right. Juliette Kayyem, Scott Miller, thank you both for being with us and walking us through the scenarios and what happened here.
Why is Robert Mueller meantime getting testimony from a woman known as the Manhattan Madame? We will look into that. We will breakdown what is happening in the Paul Manafort trial next.
You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:14:27] CABRERA: One of President Trump's close associates Roger Stone says he has yet to be contacted by Robert Mueller's team. But several people close to Stone keep getting called in for questioning including a woman named Kristin Davis, aka, the Manhattan Madame who went before a grand jury on Friday. So what could Mueller possibly want with a former Madame?
M.J. Lee has more details - M.J.
M. J. LEE, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Ana, we don't toe know why Mueller was interested in talking to Kristin Davis. But we do know that Davis appears to be one of several people close to Roger Stone that Mueller is interested in talking to even though as of Friday Roger Stone says that he himself hasn't been contacted by Mueller.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[17:15:09] LEE (voice-over): The woman known as the Manhattan Madame Kristin Davis scheduled to testify before a grand jury in Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Special counsel investigators could be interested in her ties to long time Trump adviser Roger Stone. She was interviewed by investigators last week. She and Stone have been close friends for a decade.
ROGER STONE, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Kristin Davis is a brilliant woman, a friend of mine, someone who made mistakes and has paid her debt to society.
LEE: Davis once ran a high-end prostitution ring and went to scale as part of the scandal surrounding then Democratic New York governor Elliott Spitzer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The remorse I feel will always be with me.
LEE: She even successfully ran for New York governor in 2010 with Stone as her strategist.
KRISTIN DAVIS, ROGER STONE'S LONGTIME FRIEND: I have redeemed myself and that I believe in second chances.
LEE: Davis has also worked with Stones more recently. In late 2016 she helped him with clerical tasks on his Web site.
STONE: She knows of no Russian collusion or WikiLeaks collaboration any other illegal activity I might part in connection the Presidential election or otherwise.
LEE: Mueller's team has been looking in possible contact between stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 campaign. U.S. intelligence concluded Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign officials and provided the stolen emails to WikiLeaks, all as part of Moscow's effort to meddle in the election. Assange deny the hacked documents came from the Russian government.
Stone once bragged about being in contact with Assange.
STONE: I actually have communicated with Assange. I believe the next project (ph) was documents pertain to the Clinton foundation. But there is no telling what the October surprise may be.
LEE: But later walked it back.
STONE: Where is the proof? There is no proof.
LEE: But the circle continuing tightening around Stone as Mueller has also subpoenaed Randy Credico to testify next month. The comedian and radio show host attorney telling CNN he intends to comply.
RANDY CREDICO, RADIO SHOW HOST: My name is out there.
LEE: Stone claims Credico was his back channel to Assange during the 2016 campaign. Stone telling CNN I have now realize that Credico source was a WikiLeaks lawyer and not Assange himself. At no time did Credico tell me what the source, content or scope of the WikiLeaks disclosures would be.
And while Davis appears to be cooperating with Mueller, another former aide of Stone's Andrew Miller did not appear for a scheduled grand jury hearing and was held in contempt. His attorney telling reporters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We supplied all the documents that they wanted. So we had to have one thing that he was refusing to do, namely go before the grand jury. And in order for us to get the contempt and to appeal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: Now as you know Rudy Giuliani has said that he hopes that this investigation is over by September 1st. It seems clear that that is not going to happen. Randy Credico's lawyer tells us that he plans to testify before the grand jury on September 7th -- Ana.
CABRERA: The plot thickens. M.J. Lee, thank you.
Joining us now to discuss, CNN legal analyst and former prosecutor, Paul Callan.
Paul, read those tea leaves for us. When it comes to Roger Stone, all these people close to him that Mueller wants to talk to what is clear.
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, Ana, you have to know the back story first on Roger Stone. He has been the sort of the king of dirty tricks for the Republican Party going back as far as Richard Nixon. As a matter of fact, he even has a picture of Richard Nixon literally tattooed on his back. So he is -- the hats aren't just the strange thing about him. He is a very, very strange guy. He pops up in all Republican campaigns. And I think now, the clear indication is that he may be the link to a lot of information, important information about the connection with Russia to the hacking of the National Democratic Committee email server that ultimately led to you know all of those Hillary emails getting leaked.
CABRERA: And he hasn't been interviewed himself.
CALLAN: Yes. I think any will want to interview him. And you know, we have watched Mueller work in the past. And he tends to work from the outer part of the circle first with the aides. And then he moves in toward the main target. I would really be surprised if Roger Stone was not subpoenaed ultimately before the grand jury.
CABRERA: Let me ask you about another Trump associate in the spotlight, Rick Gates. Because he testified against his former partner Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman of the Trump campaign. And Rick Gates testified this week. There was an interesting moment during the trial where Gates was asked whether he had testified to the special counsel about his campaign work for Trump. His answer was sealed because the judge said it would quote "reveal substantive evidence pertaining to an ongoing government investigation." So does this mean Gates is cooperating with Mueller on possible collusion as well?
[17:20:02] CALLAN: Well, that certainly would be one inference that could be drawn from that information. But you know something, Mueller has been so closed-mouthed about everything, I have to admire him as a prosecutor. You know, prosecutors a lot of them love to get their picture on television and their leaking information constantly. Mueller hasn't said a word. And so we can only speculate. And I would say reasonable speculation would be, yes, gates may have something important regarding collusion or a Russia connection. But it remains speculative.
CABRERA: The judge in the Manafort case has certainly been a colorful character. You have called him crusty and easily angered. Here are some of the moments caught my attention. He scolded attorneys to body language not looking him in the eye. He accuse ds of prosecutor of crying in court at one point. He even described himself as Caesar his own Rome. A lot of the time, the transcripts kind of make me laugh. But has this judge done things that could impact the outcome of the case?
CALLAN: Well judge Ellis better keep in mind the way things turned out for Caesar. I mean, he had a good run but didn't end well. And Ellis, you know, he is like all federal judges back. They get appointed by the president. They serve for life. And they are the king in their courtroom. And his reputation is that he always has to be the smartest guy in the room. And more often than not he is the smartest guy in the room. And he puts up with no non-sense from the attorneys, so.
But the real question is, is he interfering with the trial to such a degree that you might have reversible error when it gets taken up to the appellate court. And the second thing, I would say be careful what you wish for here. Because the defense which is probably amused as this pounding the prosecutor is taking. They are next up. So watch what Ellis does with them. You know, his reputation with local lawyers is that he is tougher on the defense usually than the government. So I think we are going to see some harsh words for the defense as well.
CABRERA: We will watch Paul Callan. We will have you back and we will discuss more thank you.
CALLAN: Thank you.
CABRERA: Trump had harsh words this afternoon for a former White House staffer. There she is, Omarosa Manigault-Newman. He called her a low life. We will talk about that next on CNN NEWSROOM.
CNN's Van Jones, meantime, meets comedian and "SNL" cast member Leslie Jones. Hear what she says about the silencing of comedian. How she feels about being nominated for a second Emmy. Van Jones also talks to Georgia voters about the gubernatorial race and sits down and hits the road in a van.
Don't miss the next Van Jones system here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:27:11] CABRERA: Another former Trump ally is in all-out conflict with him. And the rancor between him and his White House staffer Omarosa Manigault-Newman has reached a new level. Watch what the President said about her today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Mr. President, do you feel betrayed by Omarosa, sir?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I better not go any further. Low life. She is a low life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: The comment comes in the wake of the publicity surrounding Omarosa's new book, a salacious mostly unverifiable account of her time in the west wing in which she likens Trump to cult leader.
So let's talk about this with CNN political commentators Steve Cortes and Maria Cardona. Good to see you both.
Steve, he used to lead the Trump Hispanic advisory council.
Maria, as a Democratic strategist, and so I will start with you this time, Maria. How do you think Democratic leadership should handle this book? Just steer clear from it.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, it doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know. I think we should just ignore it.
Look. I am no fan of Omarosa. And I don't think very many Democrats are fans of hers. I agree with some people in the administration that says she completely is an opportunist because if she really felt the way that she describes in her book, if she really felt that way about Trump why did it take him firing her for her to leave the White House?
Clearly she is trying to make a buck off her time in the administration. At one point inside the administration she told all of Trump a's critics we had to bow down before him. So I'm sorry I give her no credibility. Democrats, I mean I don't think anybody is going to waste their time in even reading this who are talking about this in any serious way. Frankly, I think she is somebody who, you know, doesn't really deserve the time of day. I think they deserve each other.
CABRERA: OK. So Steve, how does the President calling her a low life sit with you, especially given she is someone had who had high-level White House access previously. He didn't think that.
STEVE CORTES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR. Right. Well, and that was a mistake by the way.
Listen. I will be frank about this. She is a low life. And I unfortunately had interactions with her both during the campaign and once she was in the White House. And I have to say was thoroughly up impressed the entire time. I'm sadly not shocked now about how she is acting.
(INAUDIBLE), this is a person worked for the Obama White House, you know. This is hardly a Trump partisan ideologically. I mean, she sort of clamored to the President once she saw that he was win. And I think she used the President. She shouldn't have never been in the White House. She shouldn't have been in the campaign. That was a mistake. And the things she says now have no credibility. You know, I agree with Maris. I mean, the fact --.
CABRERA: Does is he giving -- given that he even commented on it that he is now on the attack. He is poking that bear.
[17:30:01] CARDONA: Yes.
CABRERA: I mean isn't he giving attention to her book and her?
CORTES: Well, I'm not sure he is. You know, she is going to be on "Meet the Press" tomorrow. So I don't know that he is giving it oxygen.
If what she says is true, which it isn't, but if we can pretend for a moment, suspend the reality, if she believed that he was racist, then she, as a black woman, openly worked for and promoted a racist for a heck of a long time because it suited her purposes. And if that's the case, then it's worse a besmirching of her character than anything I could possibly think of. So I think --
CABRERA: Let me move on to a tweet.
CORTES: -- you know, it's gossip non-sense.
CABRERA: Here the president's tweet today. He is on the attack against Jeff Sessions again his attorney general. He is talking about the Russia investigation, say saying Sessions is, quote, "scared stiff and missing in action."
Now, as you both know, Mueller is reportedly looking at the president's tweets.
So, Maria, the president knows this presumably as well. What do you think he is doing here?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I just don't think he can help himself, Ana. I think he is incredibly worried about the Mueller probe, which is why he can't let it go. As many times as his supporters and lawyers, I'm sure, pull out their hair asking him to please stop tweeting about the Mueller investigation, the more that he does it. And we know that he does these things when things really get under his skin, when he is really worried about something, when he is really pissed off about something. And he wears that on his sleeve. Unfortunately, that I think to me and to many of -- of the people who have always thought he was unfit to lead, proves that he is unfit to lead. He should be focusing on the bigger problems that is facing our nation. He should be focusing on trying to fix his image because people do see him as a racist. People do see him as a misogynist. I didn't need Omarosa to tell me that. People believe that already. Maybe that's something the president should work on, is an image of a leader that brings people together instead of tearing the country apart.
CABRERA: Steve, are you not concerned a tweet like that just fuels the obstruction case or the obstruction part of the investigation --
CORTES: Gosh, no.
CABRERA: -- that is under Mueller's -- Mueller's umbrella?
CORTES: I'm not concerned at all. But first, I need to address because I think now twice Maria referenced the president as - being a racist. I can't let that go. Because the more that is said in mainstream media and said as a matter of fact in almost a -- in almost an accepted way, the more absurd and insulting it is. The president is not a racist. There's zero evidence that he is a racist. I won't let that --
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: I'll send you a list I'll send you a list, Steve.
CORTES: OK. Well, please do.
(CROSSTALK)
CORTES: As a Hispanic American, as a Hispanic American, all I see is life getting better for people of color in this country, economically so, in terms of security, by any measure. And so is the approval of him from people of color from Hispanics from blacks.
CARDONA: Have you -- have you been attacked as an illegal? Have you been told your children should be deported, that they're anchor babies?
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: I've been told that. I've been told that by Trump supporters. Thank you, President Trump.
CORTES: I haven't. I haven't.
CARDONA: Welcome to Trump's America.
(CROSSTALK)
CORTES: I haven't been attacked. I haven't been attacked because I'm not illegal and I don't believe --
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: I am not either.
(CROSSTALK)
CORTES: Stop trying.
CARDONA: I'm a naturalized citizen.
CORTES: Stop trying.
CARDONA: That doesn't matter to people.
CORTES: Yes, it does.
CARDONA: That doesn't matter to people. We know Trump is giving a green light
CORTES: Maria --
CARDONA: to wear their discrimination on their sleeve.
CORTES: -- no.
CARDONA: The way he does, frankly.
CORTES: On -- unlike the left, I don't conflate legal and illegal immigration. They are separate worlds.
CARDONA: You do though.
CORTES: I love -- no, I don't. No I don't.
CARDONA: You do and the president does.
CORTES: No, I don't.
(CROSSTALK)
CABRERA: OK. We have to move on here. (CROSSTALK)
CABRERA: I'm out of time. We have to move on.
CORTES: I love legal immigration. And detest illegal immigration.
CABRERA: Thank you, Steve.
Thank you, Maria.
(CROSSTALK)
CABRERA: Great to have both of you with us.
(CROSSTALK)
CABRERA: It was one year ago this weekend that Neo-Nazis rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia. What's changed since then?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are you a Neo-Nazi?
DANIEL BURNSIDE, NEO-NAZI: Do I embrace it? I don't try to push it away.
SIDNER: Well, you're wearing a swastika on your shirt.
BURNSIDE: Exactly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[17:35:16] CABRERA: Our Sara Sidner takes to you a small town where people say they are tormented by racists.
You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: Right now, in Charlottesville, Virginia, security is beyond heavy one year after deadly violence erupted at a white nationalist rally. Police are searching bags and keeping a close eye on marching activists tonight. Charlottesville streets are lined with temporary concrete barrier processes and metal fences designed to boost crowd control.
President Trump calling for calm. He tweeted this today, "The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division. We must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to all Americans."
Let's get to correspondent, Kaylee Hartung, in Charlottesville.
Kaylee, what's the impact of all this security on Charlottesville's long-time residents and small business owners? [17:39:49] KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, at first
glance, at the restaurant behind me, this looks like another Saturday night in Charlottesville. Patrons on the front patio. But a quick shift and you can't avoid seeing the police presence, like the state policemen you see behind me. One of the entry points into the secure perimeter created surrounding downtown Charlottesville just behind them. To my right, a state trooper car. And here those metal fences you were speaking of. Just down this way, the park where Robert E. Lee statue stands. Policemen lining the streets where we saw the violence a year ago.
This police presence, I should say, a collaboration of local state and federal assets is mixed with reactions by the people. Some, who counter protested a year ago meeting white nationalists in the streets in the clashes, some say they feel this is an overcorrection. They fault the Charlottesville Police Department, in particular, for the failure to stop the violence a year ago, failure to protect the citizens of this town. So they feel like this overcorrection isn't making them feel any safer today than they did a year ago.
Yet, you have some, particularly small business owners who I've talked to, who say they are willing to deal with the inconveniences of a security checkpoint where your bags are checked with your consent because of the security it gives them and the patrons of the restaurant.
Nearly everyone I spoke to, the residents of this town who have come out to the mall today, Ana, they tell me they came out with a purpose, to support the small businesses that would otherwise be affected by the security. But also to support each other. The wounds here still very raw. And the focus here with so much of that negative energy moving to Washington, D.C., the focus here on healing.
CABRERA: Kaylee Hartung, we know you are on the ground and continuing the monitor the events tonight as there's an event planned to get under way in the next hour and a half or so. Thanks again.
We are talking about race intolerance because of the violence that erupted in Charlottesville a year ago. But in many places, Americans have to live with hatred right next door, day in and day out.
Sara Sidner went to a small town in Pennsylvania that has a resident Neo-Nazi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (voice-over): In the calm of this rural northern Pennsylvania town, a sign that hate lives here.
(on camera): Are you a Neo-Nazi.
BURNSIDE: Do I embrace it? I don't try to push it away.
SIDNER: Well, you're wearing a swastika on your shirt.
BURNSIDE: Exactly. SIDNER: And you've got swastika flags. Why the flags? Why the
shirt? Why these hateful symbols in this town?
BURNSIDE: I don't think they're hateful. I think it's an ideology that has been completely misinterpreted since the Third Reich.
SIDNER: I have to stop you.
(CROSSTALK)
SIDNER: Misinterpreted, misinterpreted six million Jews killed?
(CROSSTALK)
BURNSIDE: No, no. You'll never sell me on that.
SIDNER: I'm not trying to sell you.
BURNSIDE: Yes.
SIDNER: It's reality. It's history that cannot be denied.
(voice-over): Daniel Burnside is lightning rod of discord in Ulysses, Pennsylvania, population 690. With the help of the Internet, his message has spread far and wide, giving his town attention it doesn't want.
BURNSIDE: Rural America spoke up when he they elected Trump. Rural America.
SIDNER: And by rural America, he means white America.
BURNSIDE: We are staring down the barrel of a gun in white America. There's still 193 million white Americans. Yes, the vast majority of them are in their 60s and 70s, will be in the ground in the next 20 years and, therefore, we have the possibility of becoming a minority in our own country. A possibility --
SIDNER: It sounds to me --
BURNSIDE: -- of becoming a minority.
SIDNER: -- like you're afraid of being me. And being me --
BURNSIDE: It's my country.
SIDNER: -- is great. This is also my country.
BURNSIDE: You guys didn't win the culture war.
SIDNER (voice-over): He invited us on the property to talk, but when he doesn't like the conversation, he explodes.
BURNSIDE: Get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of here now!
SIDNER: We do. Just down the street, we're met by a dozen residents who say Burnside
does not speak for this town.
(on camera): There are families in this county that blame politics are for people like him being able to come out and be very loud. Is that fair?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our president we've got right now hasn't helped the situation a whole lot. You know, he has done a lot of the same believes. He won't speak against them, OK. This guy feeds off that stuff.
SIDNER (voice-over): Among the crowd, many with grandfathers or fathers who fought the Nazis in World War II.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're good people and he is stepping on all of us. We are all one -- we're all one tribe. Who does he think he is?
SIDNER: Teacher, Debbie Hamilton says she returned from touring concentration camps in Poland.
DEBBIE HAMILTON, TEACHER: One of the things we spent a lot of time talking about was passive resistance versus active resistance.
SIDNER: So far, they have chosen passive resistance with Burnside.
On the other side of Potter County, Joe and Lashina Leshner (ph)are convinced passive resistance is the wrong choice.
JOE LESHNER (ph), ULYSSES RESIDENT: I'm not saying go to their house with pitch forks and guns. I'm saying hold protests against them.
BURNSIDE: Traditionalists, American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan neighborhood watch.
SIDNER: After seeing KKK flyers appearing in their neighborhood and Burnside decorations in the county, Joe did protest only to receive a threat by one of the supremacists he stood against.
[17:45:07] LESHNER (ph): They looked at me and gave me the finger and even make little gestures they were going to shoot me.
SIDNER: Joe says the racial hatred intensified with the appearances of his Jamaican bride.
LASHINA LESHNER (ph), WIFE OF JOE LESHNER (ph): In Walmart, I get a lot of that. It's (EXPLETED DELETED).
SIDNER: In their minds, if more people stood up against hate, the racist would be forced to leave and let love stand.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Ulysses, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Another disturbing story we are following. What did investigators know about the conditions inside this New Mexico compound where 11 starving children were found? A live report from New Mexico live, just ahead live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:50:15] CABRERA: Welcome back. We are learning more about the New Mexico compound where 11 starving children were rescued during a raid earlier this month. Authorities say they found numerous firearms on this property. And that at least one child was being trained to carry out school shootings. Also the body of an unidentified child found in a tunnel under human waste. The town's county sheriff claiming the people at the compound were Muslim extremists.
CNN's Scott McLean spoke to the sheriff. He's joining us now.
Scott, what more did you learn in that conversation?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ana. We got a lot of new information coming out of it. We learned that, of course, these people on the compound, they were quite well armed. There were seven guns found in total, two long guns and five pistols. But the sheriff says there's nothing at this point to indicate that any of those guns were purchased illegally.
We also learned, as you mentioned, that the deputies had searched an underground tunnel on that property that stretched for about 40 yards the first day they searched. They left the compound, turned it back over to the owner, and then two days later, they went back to the compound with, searched that tunnel again with new information, and they found the remains of the missing 3-year-old child buried until human waste inside an alcove in that tunnel.
A lot has been made about the accusation that the adults on this compound had been training some of the kids to become school shooters, future school shooters. Well, the sheriff says that the FBI now has that information from a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old who lived on that compound.
But it's important to know, Ana, the sheriff didn't know that at the time he put out his original statement calling these people Muslim extremists. I asked him why was it relevant to include it, since he said he didn't mean to imply that they were violent. And he said, quote, "Why would it not be?"
CABRERA: Wow. I know according to the recording you've been doing there, there have been, there were red flags that something was not right on this property. Why didn't authorities act sooner?
MCLEAN: That is the question that the property owner continues to ask of the sheriff here, Ana, because they say it was months before this compound was raided just over a week ago, that they alerted the sheriff and other law enforcement that they spotted that missing 3- year-old and his father a two missing occasions. But it was months before they actually raided it. The sheriff says that information never actually landed on his desk. The compound, it was absolute squalor, and the question is, why didn't they go in and take the kids out of that environment? What's amazing here, Ana, a sheriff's deputy went to that property in June to serve court papers to see it for himself. I asked the sheriff why nothing was done at that time, and he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: CABRERA: But the sheriff's deputy who went there didn't observe the
filthy conditions, those really --
(CROSSTALK)
JERRY HOGREFE, SHERIFF, TAOS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: No, he didn't go into the inner part of the compound. He met Mr. Louis at the front of the compound, looked around and he didn't see children. I've already answered that.
MCLEAN: But there's nothing about that, that said this is not an appropriate place for a child to be living?
HOGREFE: What child was living there?
MCLEAN: You knew there were children there, because the FBI had seen them.
HOGREFE: At those particular times, but not in front of him on June 18th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: He said the FBI also spotted a child that walked with a limp that may have matched the description of the missing child.
One more thing, Ana, when I pressed the sheriff on this issue and why he couldn't search the property, given that he had the property owner's permission, he said there was simply nothing he could do, and then walked out of the interview.
CABRERA: Those poor children.
Scott McLean, in Red River, New Mexico, thank you.
We want to take a moment to honor this week's "CNN Hero." Neal Bermas trains at-risk young adults for a career in the booming culinary and hospitality industry in Vietnam. And if you are visiting, you can experience a taste of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
NEAL BERMAS, CNN HERO: We developed this Oodles of Noodles. It's not quite a tour. It's not quite a cooking class. It's not quite a demonstration.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We show the guests how to cook rice noodles. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SHOUTING)
BERMAS: They're practicing their English, and they're developing their confidence, and their tableside with the guests, and they're tasting and having fun. It's a very, very uplifting experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[17:55:11] CABRERA: Every single student in Neal's program has found a job after graduation. How about that? You can see their stories at CNNheroes.com.
I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York. I'll see you back here at 8:00 Eastern live from the CNN NEWSROOM.
"SMERCONISH" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:59:57] MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: I'm Michael Smerconish, in Philadelphia. We welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.
Should the media stop broadcasting President Trump at every rally and responding to his every tweet because it is just feeding the beast? "No, keep it coming," says three times Pulitzer Prize-winner --
