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Holder Comments on Ferguson Unrest; Protests after Police Chief Apology; Air Traffic Control Fire Halts Chicago Flights; Iraq's President Speaks at the U.N.

Aired September 26, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

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ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are striving to eliminate mistrust and to build strong relationships between law enforcement officers and the communities that they serve so that we can defuse tensions that simmer just under the surface in too many cities and towns across our great country. And that too often give rise to tragic events like those that captured our national attention just last month in Ferguson, Missouri.

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. That was the U.S. Attorney general Eric Holder speaking before the Congressional Black Caucus about Ferguson, Missouri, where tensions again flared last night despite the videotaped apology the police chief of Ferguson, Tom Jackson. As you know, U.S. Attorney General Holder also resigned yesterday but he'll remain in office until a successor is named.

I want to head out to Ferguson right now and check in with Ana Cabrera to talk about the tension in Ferguson as the police chief tried to apologize to the community. It didn't go so well -- Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to believe, it has now been almost seven weeks since Michael Brown was shot and killed. You can see it is quiet out here out in front of the police department this morning but the unrest went well into the early morning hours.

The police chief had hoped his apology, he told us, would be the start of a new dialogue and open up a conversation -- a tough conversation with the protesters and its critics. But when he came out to talk with them here last night, things clearly didn't go as planned.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we going to do to get justice because you see the whole Ferguson is up in an uproar? The whole city, an uproar.

CABRERA: It was a tense standoff overnight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a lynch mob?

CABRERA: Protesters taking to the streets again in Ferguson, this time chanting outside the police station.

Police Chief Tom Jackson coming out to address the crowd and trying to answer their questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you all going to do to help us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are the target.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do have a job?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are the target.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do I have to die to make sure another brother don't go, I will right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you mean? What I want --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm asking you. This is a serious question.

CABRERA: The protest ultimately turning more chaotic with multiple protesters arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been out here every night. She's not a problem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to get unity and this is what y'all do?

CABRERA: All this just hours after the chief gave this apology.

TOM JACKSON, POLICE CHIEF, FERGUSON: I do want to say to any peaceful protester who did not feel that I did enough to protect their constitutional right to protest, I'm sorry for that.

CABRERA: In hopes of calming the community.

JACKSON: I want to say this to the Brown family. No one who has not experienced the loss of a child can understand what you're feeling. I'm truly sorry for the loss of your son. I'm also sorry that it took so long to remove Michael from the street.

CABRERA: It's the first time embattled chief Jackson has publicly said I'm sorry in the nearly seven weeks since unarmed teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson.

You issued an apology video.

JACKSON: I did.

CABRERA: Why did it take so long for that to happen.

JACKSON: There's been so much going on and everyday there's been a different challenge ever since August 9. But this is something that's just been weighing on me. Something that needed to be said, it should have been said a long time ago. It's never been the intention of the Ferguson police department or any police department that I know of to intentionally target individuals because of race. If there is that happening, it's a crime and it needs to be addressed.

CABRERA: Jackson had hoped Thursday's apology would lead to a fresh beginning. I know there are residents who are worried. Are you worried?

JACKSON: I'm not worried. I think that we can manage this and I think we can come out much better than we started.

CABRERA: But as last night's protests showed, this community has a long way to go toward healing.

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CABRERA: We had been told there was going to be some kind of an apology tour today where the police chief had planned to go out and actually directly talk to the public and to say he's sorry but we now have learned that that plan has been changed. We don't know exactly why but obviously what happened last night is a good indication of why -- as the city now figures out what to do to move forward -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I think we know exactly why that won't be going down tonight. Ana Cabrera reporting live from Ferguson, Missouri this morning.

As you know, there are awful delays out of Chicago's O'Hare and Midway. Take a look at the lines. We have new information on what's causing those delays. We're going to get to Ted Rowlands after a break. We'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: Flights to and from Chicago's O'Hare and Midway Airports have been stopped after a fire in an air traffic control center in nearby Aurora, Illinois. The FAA says the fire broke out early this morning and employees have been evacuated since about 6:00 a.m. Central Time. Now According to the Web site Flightaware, more than 300 flights departing O'hare and Midway have been canceled so far and flights are not expected to resume until at least 11:00 a.m. Eastern time.

One person believed to be an employee is suffering from cuts to the wrist but Ted Rowlands has new information on what exactly happened at this air traffic control center that the FAA runs. Indra Petersons will be along in just a second to talk about airport delays. But, Ted -- let's start with you. What happened at this air traffic control facility?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it appears as though this was a suicide attempt by an employee at this facility and there is speculation, obviously, that this employee also set the fire or fires inside this control facility which has, take a look behind me, absolutely disrupted air traffic here in Chicago at both O'Hare and Midway and across the country because, obviously, with all these planes here stuck it is impacting nationwide air travel at this moment.

And at this time there is no clear indication of when the plan B kicks in and what I mean by that is that when the responsibilities that normally are held with this Aurora facility can be diverted to other facilities in Indianapolis, Kansas City, Minneapolis -- that is a process that is ongoing right now but there's no clear indication of when flights will start resuming here.

But the new information is this appears to be a suicide attempt. The individual is still alive, an employee at this air traffic control facility out in Aurora, Illinois, about 40 miles outside of Chicago and they're investigating -- the FBI and the ATF are investigate whether or not this individual is responsible for the fire.

COSTELLO: Sadly, supposedly the employee -- and we don't know whether this employee was an air traffic controller or some other kind of airline official -- went into the bathroom, slit one wrist and wet fire to the bathroom. Is that essentially what happened, Ted?

ROWLANDS: That's what investigators are saying happened at this point. A source tells CNN's Evan Perez that basically that's the scenario. They're still looking into it. The FBI and the ATF are investigating. The man is still alive, this is an employee so they are interviewing this individual presumably and we'll get more information in terms of his motivation as this investigation continues but the results of his action this is morning you can see behind me literally thousands of people, this entire terminal here at O'Hare is completely packed with people with nowhere to go.

We've seen people crying literally in line. I talked to one person who is missing her best friend's wedding tonight and you can just imagine what these people are going through trying to start their weekend.

COSTELLO: We've all been there, unfortunately. So let's head to Indra Petersons to talk about air traffic delays and when things might ease.

INDRA PETERSON, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is such a tough day because you can actually look at the satellite, the radar -- you know that it's supposed to be clear, not supposed to be a problem today. Unfortunately we know how many flights continue to be canceled here. These numbers keep climbing. I keep trying to update them before I got up here.

We're looking at about 300 if not more now departing that have been completely canceled out of O'Hare. Also looking at 208 flights trying to come in, canceled.

Of course, you have Midway as well, same thing. These numbers seem to be climbing by the minute. We know what a huge hub this is. Of course, the effects will be devastating. You can see the region they're responsible for so nothing really moving in this region. And the regions of the yellow, these are the regions that are going to be effective as things just kind of go in that domino effect there. This is the concerned there that will be affected.

This is the concern, very easy to see once you look at Flightaware how many flights are almost a big hole -- the big gaping gap here that we're seeing in the middle. This is only bound to get worse until they get a hold on to the situation Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm on Flightaware right now and I think the latest figures are 700 flights canceled at O'Hare and 150 at Midway. So it's going to be an ugly, ugly day all over the country.

PETERSONS: Right. It's going to affect no matter where you're flying today with such a major hub.

COSTELLO: Indra Petersons thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, now that Attorney General Eric Holder has announced he's stepping down, speculation is ramping up. Who will replace him and can that nominee ever hope to be confirmed? We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: Moments ago, Iraq's president Fuad Masum spoke before the United Nations' council on foreign relations. I want to bring in CNN's Poppy Harlow. She joins us live from the U.N. What did he say, Poppy?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. He talked a lot about ISIS and the threat of ISIS but specifically he was asked here by the press about that comment yesterday from his prime minister, Prime Minister Abadi of Iraq to a group of journalists yesterday saying that there was, indeed, a plot against subway systems in Paris and in the United States and if he knew anything whatsoever about that since so many U.S. officials swatted that down immediately after those comments saying that was not the case.

What he said -- and we're trying to quickly turn the sound around so you can hear for yourself -- but until we do that what he said is that he does not have any information about this. He has not yet been able to speak to the prime minister about this. He said he tried but the prime minister is on a plane to Baghdad and he essentially said all I know is what you know which is what is in the newspapers.

We were pretty surprised to hear that. I followed up with a question to him saying are you concerned at all this was said to the press before it was said to any U.S. Government officials? Also are you concerned about what that might do to U.S./Iraqi relations considering how closely the two countries are working right now to fight ISIS?

And he didn't directly answer my question but he did talk about the importance of strong U.S./Iraqi relations. He said we need the U.S. military advisors who are on the ground there and we are eager to have the help of the United States. That relationship is strong he said and will continue to be -- Carol. The issue here is that Prime Minister Abadi yesterday said these very concerning comments to the Associated Press then later in the day had a meeting with U.S. officials. U.S. officials came out yesterday on "THE SITUATION ROOM" and told our Briana Keilar -- no he was actually, speaking in general terms there is no attack plan on the United States.

And there's a lot of confusion between those two statements and which one it really is -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I would have to agree with that. Poppy Harlow, many thanks to you. I appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: A warning to 29 teams in the NBA. The league's best player says he's even quicker now. LeBron James is talking about losing weight and revealing what might have kept him in Miami. Rachel Nichols host of CNN's "UNGUARDED" has the interview with LeBron since he signed with the Cavaliers. I can't wait to hear this.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Yes, absolutely. And it's great. He lost about 20 pounds by giving up pretty much everything -- cookies, sugar, dairy. He said that at some point he was being chased by Cookie Monster in his dreams because he was so desperate for any kind of chocolate.

But we also talked about more serious issues. We talked about the racism scandals that have rocked the NBA this year and he also talked about Ferguson. That's been on his mind. Take a listen.

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NICHOLS: We've had the incidents in Ferguson, Missouri in the past few months. Aside from the specifics of the situation, it did spark this national conversation on the way America sees young black men. What do you think about where we are right now?

LEBRON JAMES, NBA PLAYER: Well, I definitely voiced my opinion on the Trayvon Martin piece and I related to the Ferguson incident. I mean having two boys of my own, just one day my kids left home to go anywhere, you expect your kids to return. You expect your kids to return home unless they're off to college.

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NICHOLS: Yes, I mean he gets into a lot of serious issues in this interview -- parenting, the domestic violence crisis in the NFL and also talks about his own absentee father which he's very rarely discussed. It should a great interview.

COSTELLO: It's a great interview and it's really important because people listen to LeBron James. That's a good thing.

Rachel Nichols, many thanks.

We have breaking news -- oh, you can watch "UNGUARDED" with Rachel Nichols tonight 10:30 p.m. Eastern time.

As I said, we have some breaking news. I was a little confused there but we'll go to the border between Iraq and Syria right now. Phil Black is there. Amazingly enough, ISIS fighters are fighting over the hill there, Phil? Where are they?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me just set the scene here, Carol. I am just north of the Syrian border in Turkey. You can see I'm surrounded by a crowd of people here watching the events across the border in Syria. We're going to show you why, now. We're going to zoom across the border, to a ridge line in the near distance and you should be able to see in just a few moments if not already some men at the top of that ridge line.

Those men, we're pretty sure, are ISIS fighters. What you are watching now live is ISIS fighters in action. Now, the reason why they are here in this region of northern Syria right near the Turkish border is because for the better part of a week they have been mounting an offensive to try and move through this territory which is mostly ethnically Kurdish. It has sparked an enormous wave of refugees, some hundreds of thousands moving across the border into Turkey seeking shelter because fighters like those which you are watching live now have been moving towards this region from the East where we are, from the south and from the west to the main town in this region, Qaddani. This region for the first time is coming under threat from ISIS fighters like those that you are seeing right now.

And this is interesting because what it means is that in other parts of Syria, in Iraq where ISIS is recoiling from coalition air strikes here they are on the move. They are on the offensive, advancing and not being interfered with by that U.S.-led air power. It has not struck here so far.

So what you're seeing are those is fighters there on the ridge. They have been battling with their opposing local Kurdish forces on an opposite ridge and those Kurdish forces have actually driven them back up that hill. The ISIS fighters have moved some where down the hill earlier, some incoming fire forced them to seek shelter further back up that ridge there.

It's really quite an extraordinary sight to see that in action even at this distance. It is, as I say, on the way to Qabbani, this major town which has triggered this refugee influx into Turkey. And if these fighters make progress here they get past this high ground then really it's a flat run into the Qaddani from here and the humanitarian crisis we're already seeing on the ground in this region with these hundreds of thousands of refugees seeking shelter in turkey could potentially get worse indeed.

COSTELLO: We know how dangerous it is for journalists in that part of the world so promise me you'll be careful.

BLACK: Of course.

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Black reporting live with amazing pictures this morning. Thank you for joining me today, I'm Carol Costello. "@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA after a break.

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