Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Midterm Elections; North Korea Releases American; Missing American Teen Girls Were "Radicalized"; Lone Wolf Attack "Most Likely" Threat; Candidate Accused Of Sexual Harassment

Aired October 21, 2014 - 16:30   ET

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

TAPPER: Joining me now, president of the Center for American Progress, Neera Tanden, and editor of the Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol. Neera, a lot of Democratic candidates, the Michelle Nunns of the world, Kay Hagans, Mary Landrieu, they don't want President Obama to keep saying these are people who vote his way or his agenda is on the ballot. Why does he keep doing this?

NEERA TANDEN, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: I actually think the American people are relatively smart. They know that Kay Hagan is a Democrat and Barack Obama is a Democrat, too, they recognize they are in the same parties.

They don't want, you know, senators who are going to be just in lockstep. But Senate candidates have been talking about their differences of opinion over the last year. So I think there is a lot of hay made out of these comments here and there, but the reality is the president is also helping to turn out the base of the Democratic Party. We do want to have high -- Democrats do want to have high turnout. That really matters for these Senate candidates as well.

So I think these gotcha moments, everyone looks at, my God, the president admitted he's a Democrat, can be really overstated. The reality is people recognize they are in the same party. They have some disagreements, but yes, they have agreed on some substantive issues.

TAPPER: Bill, President Bush of course immensely unpopular in 2006, at this exact stage of his presidency, how did he and Republicans running for office manage this dance of drumming up the base but also not attaching yourself too closely to these candidates?

BILL KRISTOL, WEEKLY STANDARD: Unsuccessfully, Jake. As I recall, the Republicans lost both the House and the Senate in 2006, and I think the Democrats might be looking at a similar result in the Senate this time. It was nice of President Obama to tell all the voters in about six, seven states, where Democratic incumbents are in danger, more than six or seven even, that their senator is a rubber stamp for President Obama and a reliable vote for President Obama's agenda, which they have been, incidentally. The problem here is President Obama committed a classic Washington gaffe, he told the truth. They have voted with him on everything really.

TAPPER: One of these races, where it's razor thin, is in North Carolina, where a Democratic senator, Kay Hagan is fighting off a challenge from Thom Tillis. I want to put up a picture tweeted out by a reporter for the Fayetteville Observer. It is a flyer that reads "Kay Hagan doesn't win, Obama impeachment will begin." And it's laid over an image of a lynching.

Now, the Hagan campaign has had nothing to do with this. This is a flier that just appeared in a church parking lot, I believe, and the Fayetteville Observer reporter saw it, but Neera, similar fear-based tactics, interestingly enough, were used to rally blacks to vote for an establishment Republican earlier this year, Thad Cochran, when he was running against a Tea Partier in Mississippi. Does using -- do using the tactics, do they work?

TANDEN: You know, I actually don't know if they are going to work. It's one little group. Kay Hagan has already dismissed it, the reporter saw one flier. We're in the last couple weeks of the campaign, campaigns that have been going on for what feels like an eternity. There is going to be a lot of things done by groups. No one has claimed responsibility for this. I think there is kind of heated rhetoric on both sides, but my hope is that we can actually stay on the issues.

I do think that African-American voters really care about what happens with the president. There has been impeachment talk by Republicans, but I don't think we should use kind of the rhetoric of lynching, et cetera, in the campaign.

TAPPER: Bill, let me ask you, because a Democrat said to me that Republicans should be running away with this right now, it's the midterms, two years, President Obama's approval ratings are really, really low. Why aren't Republicans running away with this as of now, why is it still a contest?

KRISTOL: Well, there's been a ton of money on the Democratic side, and I think it's been money well spent. I think Harry Reid's super PAC, I just say this as an outside observer, watching all these different ads and different campaigns, has been very effective, they have hammered these Republican challengers, they raised doubts about them. I don't know it's going to work at the end. I think if Republicans pick up eight or nine Senate seats, ten House seats to go to the largest number in the House since 1946, I do think that would be a pretty good night for Republicans.

TAPPER: All right. To be continued, thank you so much, as always.

An American detained in North Korea pleads for help from the U.S. government. And is released. How did this happen? We will have all the details from this dramatic overnight rescue, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to "The Lead," I'm Jake Tapper live in Florida, where this evening I will be moderating the debate between Governor Rick Scott and Charlie Crist. Some breaking world news now. He committed the crime of leaving a Bible in his hotel. Right now, an American is thankfully free and on his way home from North Korea. CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott tells us how he got out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After five months' detention in North Korea, American Jeffrey Fowle is on his way home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has been evaluated by a doctor and appears to be in good health.

LABOTT: A U.S. military plane landed in Pyongyang before dawn at the request of the North Korean government. The Koreans demanded it be a U.S. plane to pick him up and gave a specific timeframe to do so. Then, Fowle was flown to Guam before heading home to his family in the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The DPRK authorities asked the United States government to transport him out of the country, and again in this time frame, the Department of Defense was able to offer a plane.

LABOTT: Fowle was arrested in May for leaving a Bible in his hotel while touring the country, and faces trial for quote, "perpetrating hostile acts against North Korea." He spoke about the charges in an exclusive interview with CNN's Will Ripley.

JEFFREY FOWLE: (inaudible) violation of the tourist purpose as well. And I admit my guilt to the government and signed a statement to that effect, and has also put in a request for forgiveness.

LABOTT: With the North Korean minder looking on, the 56-year-old father of three from Dayton, Ohio, said he was being treated well, but he was worried about his future, and he asked the U.S. to send an envoy to help bring him home.

FOWLE: I need to let people know that I'm getting desperate, I'm getting desperate for help.

LABOTT: His release, welcome news for the White House, but not for the families of two other Americans still being held. Kenneth Bae, an American missionary sentenced last year to 15 years hard labor for trying to topple the North Korean regime, and Matthew Todd Miller, who tore up his visa seeking asylum as he passed through customs in July. Last month, Miller was sentenced to six years hard labor for trying to commit quote, "hostile acts" against North Korea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While this is a positive decision by the DPRK, we remain focused on the continued detentions of Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller, and again calling the DPRK to immediately release them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT: A lot of lingering questions, Jake, including why now and why only Fowle? As we mentioned there are three Americans being held. Fowle seemed the most sympathetic of those three. What he did was against the law, but leaving the hotel -- a Bible in a hotel wasn't seen as serious as let's say Kenneth Bae's charges of proselytizing, which is really a high crime in North Korea, so it seems like it will take a lot longer to get Mr. Bae released. Nobody seems to know why now. It came out of the blue, but it did come amid a lot of diplomatic activity with North Korea, a lot of officials traveling outside the country. So many North Korea experts believe something is up. So, watch this space, Jake.

TAPPER: Elise Labott, thank you so much.

Why would American teenagers attempt to fly to Syria to fight alongside jihadi extremists? Well, it's a disturbing trend. We have seen young people becoming radicalized, and we will have the latest story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

I'm live from Jacksonville, Florida, where Charlie Crist and Rick Scott are hitting their briefing books, preparing for tonight's Florida gubernatorial debate which can catch right here on CNN. It's all part of the mad dash to election day, just two weeks' time, voters all across the country will be filling in ballots and pulling levers or poking computer screens to decide the fate of the Senate, of the state houses, of the U.S. House, unpredictable races from Florida to Alaska. The candidates are gripping and grinning, raising cash so they can inundate your living rooms with TV ads.

Some Democrats locked in tight races are running from President Obama as if he were that regrettable ex that you run into at the class reunion. It's not a relationship that you really want to herald or talk about or even think about maybe, but there's President Obama, he keeps butting into the conversation, bringing up all the history, all the good times you shared.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bottom line is though, these are all folks who vote with me. They have supported my agenda in Congress.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining me now, president of the Center for American Progress, Neera Tanden, and the editor of "The Weekly Standard", Bill Kristol.

** 1630

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper live in Florida where this evening, I will be moderating the debate between Governor Rick Scott and former Governor Charlie Crist.

But now, let's turn to a shocking story out of Colorado, where three American teenaged girls are back home after being stopped, purportedly on their way to Syria. Federal authorities now say they were on their way to join terrorist groups in Syria.

CNN justice correspondent, Pamela Brown is digging deeper on this. Pamela, what do we know about these Colorado teens?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we have learned that the teens are now back home in Denver after trying to follow through on their plans to fight in Syria. They joined a class of young people here in the U.S. who are, through their online activity, getting swept up in the idea of committing jihad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): The latest American teenagers drawn in by the radical world of Islam extremism, three American high school girls from Denver, only 15 and 16 years old, two of them sisters of Somali descent, allegedly with loose plans to join the fight in Syria.

According to law enforcement sources, the girls boarded a flight in Denver over the weekend and made it to Frankfurt, Germany, where police arrested them before they could continue on to turkey and then Syria. CNN has learned the teens allegedly self-radicalized online.

AKI PERITZ, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Oftentimes searching for an identity because what the Jihadis are actually pushing is a specific narrative, which is, your people are being oppressed in this place called Syria. Your government's doing nothing. We are the only ones actually going to help you out. Why don't you join the fight?

BROWN: The only reason the girls were caught, one of their parents called police and the FBI quickly flagged their passports. This latest case comes on the heels of another Denver teen, 19-year-old Shannon Connolly, who pleaded guilty last month after trying to fly to Turkey to connect with an ISIS fighter she met online.

And earlier this month, the FBI arrested 19-year-old Mohammed Khan, just before officials say he boarded a plane in Chicago with plans to join ISIS. According to the FBI, Khan met someone online who helped him make plans. Khan has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

PERITZ: Oftentimes there are people who are scouring certain social media sites for people who are interested, potentially interested in going to fight in Iraq and also in Syria.

BROWN: This Australian teenager made it much farther than the airport. The 17-year-old recently showed up in video alongside ISIS fighters in Syria, threatening to behead western leaders including President Obama. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And new concerns today in Canada after a 25-year-old man ran over two soldiers with his car, killing one and injuring another. And police shot and killed him after the incident. Canadian authorities say the man may have been radicalized and he had about on their radar -- Jake.

TAPPER: Pamela Brown, thank you so much.

So, these teenagers didn't set off the usual triggers online and were not easy to follow and that is exactly what has the U.S. enormous security apparatus worried now.

Our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, join us now from Washington. He just sat down with the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Jim, what did he have to say?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Jake, I began by asking Matthew Olsen, who stepped down a couple weeks ago from the NCTC what does he consider the most severe terror threats of the U.S., he said al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has tried multiple times to get explosive devices on airplanes.

And the Khorasan Group, which is something that the U.S. struck at the very start of the U.S. campaign against Syria, but he said that the most likely group of threats to carry out an attack on U.S. soil are actually home-grown, so-called lone wolf attacks by people radicalized here in the U.S. here's how he described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The risk of a Boston-like attack greater today with the rise of ISIS?

MATTHEW OLSEN, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: I would say the most likely type of attack is one of these home-grown violent extremists or, you know, lone offenders in the United States. And the rise of ISIS and the number of people going to Syria, fight with ISIS or just in the conflict there against Assad, the likelihood, I think, does go up because of the number of people who are there, who have gained some degree of training and radicalization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: And this is another part of that ISIS threat, Jake, and that is because of the success that ISIS is having on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq, it is, in many ways, the number one choice for potential terror recruits, the thing is they don't even have to go to Syria to carry out Jihad, they could be radicalized at home and carry out Jihad by carrying out terror attacks on American soil.

TAPPER: And Jim what did Olsen have to say about the current war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria? Is the U.S. preventing the next terrorist attack or inspiring it? SCIUTTO: Well, it's interesting, because we remember the night that the air campaign started in Syria, U.S. officials were talking a lot about the Khorasan Group and that was one of the targets, in addition to ISIS, but talking about the Khorasan Group in particular because they said that they were plotting an imminent attack on U.S. soil.

They were in the final stages, so I said, has the air campaign made that threat any less imminent and he said, no, in fact, it has not. It remains as much a threat today as it was a month ago when that air campaign started and in light of how far along he and others have said that that plot is, that's concerning.

TAPPER: Jim Sciutto, thank you so much.

Explosive allegations involving a Republican congressional candidate in California and his former campaign aide, we will have an update about the claims of sexual harassment and breaking and entering. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. More politics now with a story we reported right here, a case of he said/he said. Two weeks before Election Day, California House race is being overshadowed by claims and counterclaim, some sordid in nature.

Voters will have their say on November 4th, of course, but first, it was up to authorities to try to sort through this case. CNN investigative reporter, Chris Frates, who uncovered this case, joins us now with the details -- Chris.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Jake, this is a very tight race, two weeks to go before the election, not the kind of thing any candidate wants to talk about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRATES (voice-over): Carl DeMaio's race for Congress has been mired in charges of sexual misconduct and counter charges of burglary. It all started when a former campaign aide accused DeMaio of sexual harassment. Both men are gay.

TODD BOSNICH, FORMER DEMAIO CAMPAIGN STAFFER: He reached over into my lap and grabbed my crotch and I flipped out and I pushed his hand away. He progressively and progressively, inappropriate touching and incidents continued from there.

FRATES: In response, the Republican congressional candidate said the allegations were made by a troubled man, who broke into the campaign office after he was fired.

CARL DEMAIO (R), CALIFORNIA HOUSE CANDIDATE: He got caught for the damage that he did to the campaign and now he is manufacturing in essence a cover story to explain away his actions.

FRATES: DeMaio said then he had evidence, but on Monday, the San Diego district attorney said the campaign worker, Todd Bosnich, will not be charged with a burglary and DeMaio won't be charged with sexual misconduct. DeMaio claims the D.A.'s findings exonerate him.

DEMAIO: This is a happy day because this confirms what I was told long ago, that there was not a shred of merit to these allegations. I am disappointed that not enough evidence existed to beyond a reasonable doubt, convict him of his crime against our campaign.

FRATES: Legal analysts say even though both men were cleared, Bosnich came away with the bigger victory.

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: In a way it's a bigger deal that the alleged burglary was forgiven in a way by the prosecutors than the alleged sexual assault because burglary has a strong potential for being a felony.

FRATES: It's not the last we will hear from Bosnich. His attorney tells CNN he plans to sue DeMaio for sexual harassment, retaliation and maybe even defamation. Despite all the allegations, political analysts say the race is still a tossup.

NATHAN GONZALES, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT: Because this has been a tossup race, neither candidate could afford an error, and I think this has kept me DeMaio on the defensive and I think that he might be a slight underdog in the race.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRATES: Political analysts tell me the allegations are less damaging to DeMaio than they would be to a first-time candidate. DeMaio served on the city council and he lost the 2012 Mayor's race to Democrat Bob Filner, who you might remember, was forced to step down after his up problems with sexual harassment. So, this race is still very, very close -- Jake.

TAPPER: Chris Frates, thank you so much. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @jaketapper and also @theleadcnn. Check out our show page at cnn.com/thelead for videos, blogs and extras. You can also subscribe to our magazine on Flipboard.

And course, this evening, join me at 7:00 p.m. Eastern for the Florida Governor's debate, Rick Scott versus Charlie Crist waging one of the nastiest and most expensive races of 2014. That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. I now turn you over to Wolf Blitzer. He is in New York, but he is still in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.