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New Day

Army Vet Charged with Plotting Terror Attack in LA; ISIS Leader Appears in Video for the First Time in Years; Lori Loughlin and Husband Plead Not Guilty in College Scam; Measles Cases Hit 25-Year High in the U.S.; Threat of Thunderstorms and Flooding in Central U.S. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 30, 2019 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:26] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Major new developments in a suspected terror case in Los Angeles. A U.S. Army veteran, and recent convert to Islam, has been charged with plotting terror attacks designed to inflict mass casualties. The FBI says he wanted retribution for attacks against Muslims.

CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI special agent Josh Campbell joins us live now from Los Angeles to explain how this man was caught.

Josh.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, good morning, John.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force here in Los Angeles being credited with arresting a suspect that authorities believe could have caused mass loss of life had he not come on the radar of federal officials. This is a 26-year-old former Army infantryman, a recent convert to Islam, who just last month began posting in an online forum describing his desire to conduct a Vegas-style attack here in the United States, as well as describing his desire to seek retribution for the victims at mosque attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, earlier this year.

Now, after seeing these conversations, an FBI undercover employee made contact with the suspect, established a relationship with him, during which the suspect talked about wanting to attack Jews and at churches, as well as police officers here in California. Ultimately deciding to stage an attack on a white nationalist rally that was scheduled in Long Beach, California.

Now, as part of the effort, the suspect sought to require an improvised explosive device, going so far as to gather material. A device was provided to him by the FBI, an inert IED. And as he attempted to place that in a location where a crowd was to gather, he was taken into custody by authorities.

Now, authorities tell us that at no point was the public in danger. The device was inoperable. And we're also told that they don't believe that he had any associates. [06:35:06] Back to you, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: These tit for tat attacks have to stop. And thank God for good law enforcement sources.

Thank you very much, Josh.

All right, for the first time in five years, ISIS has released a new video message that it says is from its leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. In the video, the person who is purportedly al Baghdadi praises the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, which killed more than 250 people.

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is live in London with more.

What do you see in this video?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, this is significant because it's been nearly five years since we have seen that now notorious image of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, when he took to the pulpit at the mosque of Mosul and gave a sermon, declaring essentially that ISIS had established its caliphate.

Fast forward nearly five years, and a lot has changed. And Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, in this video, does concede that. He says that the caliphate has been destroyed as a result of the battle in eastern Bahuse (ph).

But he also says, this is a war of attrition. This is a long battle. You haven't seen the last of ISIS yet. He calls for more revenge attacks. He praises attacks that have already taken place. He mentions, as you said, Sri Lanka specifically, which I think gives us a good sense that this video was made within the last ten or 11 days.

And what he's essentially doing here is trying to say that you haven't heard the last of ISIS yet. The physical caliphate may have crumbled, but I'm still here, I'm still alive, notwithstanding that $25 million bounty that is on my head.

The other interesting thing to note is the difference in al Baghdadi's physical appearance. He is significantly heavier in this video. His beard has changed color. Before it was black. Now it appears to be white or gray with henna at the tips of the beard. So, clearly, some toll has been taken, but no sign, clearly, that there was any injury.

You may remember, John, there had been multiple reports that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi had been injured and even killed in battle. Here he's telling his supporters across the world that he is very much still in control.

John.

BERMAN: And for people who watch ISIS very closely, like you do, a significant marker.

Clarissa Ward, thanks so much for being with us this morning. I appreciate it.

Actress Lori Loughlin among 17 parents in the college admissions scandal who have now pleaded not guilty. Why a legal expert says those parents are on a collision course with disaster. That's next.

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[06:41:33] BERMAN: New this morning, actress Lori Loughlin and her husband have formally pleaded not guilty in the college admissions scandal. The parents are charged with committing fraud and money laundering to get their daughters into college, paying $500,000 to a fake charity and falsely designating them as crew recruits.

Joining me now is CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson. He's a criminal defense attorney.

Joey, not to put too fine a point on this, but you say Lori Loughlin and the others who have pleaded not guilty are on a collision course with disaster. Why?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I said it. I own it.

You know, look, we have a system -- John, good morning to you -- that's very equipped and highly designed to deal with people who want to go to trial. I'm part of that system. And I practice in that system. You deliver opening statements to a jury. You support -- you ask the jury to support that narrative if you're a prosecutor. As a defense attorney, you get up to do the same thing. We cross-examine witnesses. We get to the truth at the end of the day. And even prior to that, we do motion practice to exclude evidence in a courtroom. So it's fully equipped and people are absolutely presumed innocent until they are deemed to be guilty.

However, at the end of the day, I think, there is, from what we know and see, a bevy of evidence here that's going to be presented to the jury. Three things. The first thing is, these are an egregious set of facts as are laid out. They have a timeline that, as prosecutors do, in terms of payments that were made, in terms of knowledge that the couple had, of what they were doing. And that's problematic, OK. So you have that. You have the e-mails. You have the phone calls.

In addition to that, you look at step two, John, and what that would be is, you are grouped into a variety of other people who have troubling facts like you. And so in the absence of getting out from under the other people who are there, you're grouped into this.

And then the final thing is, is that it's a very relatable narrative. We have people around this country who have worked very hard to instill values in their children to do the right thing. To say, you know what, you're not going out today, son, you're not going out today, daughter, because there's time to work and you're going to do that. You're not going to the party. You're going to write the essay. You're going to do this. Parents fight every day in terms of, you know, making their sons and daughters wanting to do the right things, get on the debate teams, do things the right way. And so I think after all is said and done and the presentation of that

evidence, it's a high bar to climb, to see yourself as being found not guilty by a jury in a court of law.

BERMAN: People close to Lori Loughlin and her husband say that they feel if they sign the plea deal, they were definitely going to jail. So the only chance they have not to go is to fight it. You know, based on your years as a defense attorney, that make sense?

JACKSON: Well, it's misinformed. And let's understand that we're a far ways from this being over. Oftentimes what prosecutors will do is what's called a reverse proffer. And what that means in English is, they invite you to their office and they invite your client to the office and they say, look, we have a, b, c, and d. Let us show you the e-mails. Let us show you the timeline. Let us show you the cooperating witness information we have. Don't show you all of it, but they show you just enough so that you know and understand that this is the compelling evidence that's going to be presenting to the jury. You want to fight it? You're welcome to do it. That's what our system is about. But we're warning you and telling you that that's not going to happen.

Now, the way the system works is not, hey, if I don't plead guilty, you know what, I'm definitely going to jail. The way the system works is that you negotiate a resolution to the case that's favorable, that is, it doesn't give prosecutors all they want, it doesn't give you all you want, but it does what we call justice. And if you could do that, I think you're in a good position of resolving a case in a very amicable way.

[06:45:03] BERMAN: Joey Jackson, this is not the last time we're going to talk about this case. Every day there's a new twist. Thanks so much for being with us.

JACKSON: Thank you, John.

CAMEROTA: All right, John, it is a record-breaking year for measles in the U.S. Why doctors say there is no sign of the outbreak slowing down, next.

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CAMEROTA: Well, the number of measles cases in the U.S. has hit a 25 year high. The Centers for Disease Control says there are now 704 cases nationwide, and 71 percent of those affected were not vaccinated.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us now from Atlanta.

So, Sanjay, any sign that this is slowing down?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the numbers are still going up, as you know, Alisyn. You may make the argument that, in fact, the rate at which the numbers are going up may be slowing down or at least plateauing a bit. A little bit of good news out in Washington. You remember Clark

County, Alisyn, we talked about that outbreak quite a bit? That outbreak has now been declared over. So there's some good news. But, as you know, there's still many places around the country, many separate outbreaks that are happening.

And one thing I want to point out, we're getting a better idea, Alisyn, who is actually getting the measles in terms of their vaccination status. If we could take a look quickly. We know out of those some 700 cases, 71 percent, unvaccinated. That's no surprise, right? Eighteen percent unknown vaccination status and 11 percent probably received one vaccination instead of the standard two shots.

[06:50:09] And, you know, people are asking, you know, all the time, like, what does that mean for me? Am I protected? Let me just show you quickly here. We put this together last night to give you an idea.

If you were born before 1957, you likely had the measles, therefore, you're protected. 1963 to 1989, that's sort of this gray area here. You likely had one shot only, and you may not be as protected. After 1989, you should be protected if you got the measles vaccine because you had two shots. So that's something to keep in mind as you think about your own immunization status.

CAMEROTA: So if you were born in the one shot zone, should you go get another shot?

GUPTA: Yes, that -- well that --

CAMEROTA: And does it matter where you live?

GUPTA: Yes, I think the answer to both those questions is, yes, and it does matters where you live. I don't think everybody in the country needs to be running out and getting a second shot if they fall in that middle zone between 1963 and 1989. But if you live in an area where measles is circulating, and maybe we can show the map quickly about where we're seeing these outbreaks, if you live in one of these areas and measles is circulating specifically where you live, you might want to consider going out and getting another shot.

Now, this isn't an official recommendation. I want to make that clear. The official recommendations probably won't come out until later this summer. But if you are living in one of those areas and you're not sure, getting another booster can't hurt.

CAMEROTA: Yes, talk to your doctor.

Sanjay, thank you very much for bringing that to our attention.

GUPTA: Yes. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: John.

BERMAN: All right, our brand new CNN national poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden with this new, big lead in the Democratic race. And now he really is getting the president's full attention. That's next.

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[06:56:16] BERMAN: A large part of the central United States could see severe storms, heavy rain and flooding.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has that in the forecast.

Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A big day today, John. Big, severe weather possible. Even tornadoes in big cities today. We'll have to watch that.

This storm is now still out into parts of the Midwest, right over Kansas, Oklahoma, and that's where the storms will develop again this afternoon.

This weather is brought to you by Allegra-D, 24-hour relief of your worst allergy and congestion symptoms. Use as directed.

So let's get to it. Here's your bulls-eye. If you're in the yellow or know someone that is, there will be severe weather. If you're in the orange, there will be tornadoes there.

This is how the day is going to shape up. We're going to be calm in the morning hours, but then the sun's going to come out and that's bad because that heats the atmosphere and then all of a sudden these storms are going to be intense and they're going to rotate. There's going to be wind damage, there's going to be hail as well.

And then we move you through the overnight hours, where it rains all the way down to Arkansas. But because of this area of sunshine tomorrow morning, we're going to redevelop in the same area.

Now, storm after storm, going to put down between two to five inches of rainfall in these spots. So even if you don't get severe weather, you could certainly get some flooding with this. Warmer in the northeast. Maybe Thursday could be a golf day. We'll see, John.

CAMEROTA: All right, thank you. We'll take off. Thank you very much, Chad.

BERMAN: If only I golfed.

CAMEROTA: That's right.

BERMAN: Right.

CAMEROTA: I'm not letting that stop me.

BERMAN: I do like the shirts.

CAMEROTA: OK. Good to know.

BERMAN: Just saying. CAMEROTA: Comics are mocking President Trump's trouble with the truth. Here are your "Late Night Laughs."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Trump has passed 10,000 lies. Man, I've got to tell you, if Trump had a dollar for every lie he's told, he would say he had $1 billion.

JAMES CORDEN, HOST, "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN": President Trump just told his 10,000th lie since taking office. Yes. That -- that is a lot of lies. Especially since that doesn't include any of the times he told Eric and Donald Junior that he's proud of them.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": In the first 24 hours of his campaign, Joe Biden raised $6.3 million. And he did it in a very interesting way. He stood outside of a movie theater and said, give me $1,000 or I'll ruin the "Avengers" for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. There you go. I have seen it, by the way, and I'm willing to ruin it for you.

CAMEROTA: No, no, don't do that, because I really am going to go.

BERMAN: I don't believe you.

CAMEROTA: As soon as possible.

BERMAN: Thank you to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN "TALK" is next.

For our U.S. viewers, a big headline for Joe Biden in our new CNN national poll. NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our political system is broken. The moral obligation of our time is to restore the backbone of America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The former vice president, he will be headed to Iowa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Biden way out in front. This is about out of his rollout.

BERMAN: President Trump and his family suing two banks to prevent them from complying with congressional subpoenas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrats will take anything out of context to embarrass this president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The American public has a right to know whether the president is acting on his behalf or on their behalf. DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The asylum program is a scam.

CAMEROTA: President Trump taking aim at migrants seeking asylum with a new plan to overhaul the nation's immigration system.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The president has opened up a whole new front, trying to speed up the process on asylum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

CAMEROTA: Hi.

BERMAN: Hi. How are you? I didn't know you were going to be here.

CAMEROTA: I guess it's my cue.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY.

You're so polite.

BERMAN: Apparently you didn't know you were going to be here either.

CAMEROTA: That's right.

But we do begin with breaking news.

A new CNN national poll shows former VP Joe Biden with a commanding lead in the race for the Democratic nomination. Thirty-nine percent of potential Democratic voters say Biden is, today, their top choice.

[07:00:04] BERMAN: Senator Bernie Sanders, he is in second place right now, a full 24 points behind Joe Biden.

END