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Ahmad Khan Rahami is Suspect in NYC, NJ Bombings; Clinton Talks to Media Ahead of Speech to Millennials; Trump: Police Fear Profiling Claims in Terror Fight. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 19, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

DAVID CATANESE, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT" SENIOR POLITICS WRITER: Donald Trump because she thinks, even if it doesn't benefit her in the short-term or where people you know, want a more emphatic reaction, they trust her more in the long-term. I think -- that is her bet.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We'll just have to - we'll have to wait and see what she says, those comments coming from Hillary Clinton at any moment Nia-Malika Henderson and David Catanese, thanks to you both. The next hour of "Newsroom" starts now.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. We do begin with breaking news this morning. Officials, now saying it is possible an active terror cell could be operating in the New York / New Jersey area after a string of weekend bombing. And investigators are on the hunt for this man, Ahmad Khan Rahami. They now want to speak to him about the New York and Seaside Park explosion. Here's what we know right now. This man is 28 years old. He's a New Jersey resident. He was born in Afghanistan. He's a naturalized American citizen. Mayor de Blasio, now calling for the public to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, (D) NEW YORK CITY: I want it very clear that this individual could be armed and dangerous. He should be treated as armed and dangerous. Anyone seeing him should call 911 immediately. But we definitely have now someone that we want to get in immediately for questioning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This is a fast-moving situation, part of the ongoing investigation unfolding right now in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The mayor of that town now says a raid happening there is linked to the explosion in New York City. And we're standing by, of course waiting for Hillary Clinton to speak to reporters on the Tarmac in White Plains. We do expect she will talk about the bombings. We'll bring those comments to you live when Hillary Clinton arrives at the airport in White Plains. CNN of course is covering the story from all angles this morning. We have to go to Brynn Gingras. Does she have breaking news? Brynn Gingras? Brynn Gingras is at head station in New York City. I hope you don't have breaking news. Good morning, Brynn. BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. -- The news that we're getting right now is that Governor Cuomo is actually going to be coming down here in just a minute to thank first responders for all the work they are putting in today. And then he's going to actually take questions. So we should hopefully learn more about this hopeful investigation to the point of what he can give us, information as to that. But yes, certainly, right now focusing on the first responders, all their efforts that they are doing to secure New York City during this tumultuous time. And we're going to be learning more about hopefully, again, this investigation. We'll certainly get back to you as soon as we get those answers.

COSTELLO: Yes, I just want to ask you a few questions because I know that Governor Cuomo and the city councilmen representing the Chelsea district will be riding the subways down to where that bomb detonated over the weekend. -- Just to show people that it's safe to ride the subways, that they should live their lives as normal. Is that sort of what's happening where you are?

GINGRAS: It really is. And there are so much of all these National Guard members and all their patrols. We've seen heavily armed officers. We've seen canine units and they are not only just standing here in force, but also, like you said, Carol, riding the subways at the airport and really being just greeted by all of these commuters that are making their way to work this morning. I actually just spoke to a couple who's from Australia, they said you know, they -- traveled around the world and don't always get that feeling of being safe, but they said right here, right now, they feel very safe. And that's their job, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you so much. Brynn Gingras reporting live from Penn Station. As you can see, there's an increased police presence here in New York City. In fact, New York has decided to hold over the overnight shift so there will be more police officers on the job. You may get stopped and have your bag searched at any moment. It's just the precautions they have to take in light of what happened over the weekend. As I said, we are covering the story from every angle. Joining me now is Joseph Giacalone, law enforcement trainer, former NYPD Sergeant and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Also, Karen Greenberg is with me. She is the Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University Law School and a terrorism analyst. Thanks to you both for being with me. - So Jo, I'm going to start with you. So there's -- a terror cell. I mean, it's not lone wolves anymore, now they suspect there might be a terror cell operating within New York City. That's concerning.

JOHN GIACALONE, LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINER, FORMER NYPD SERGEANT AND PROFESSOR AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Yes, absolutely. And one thing that law enforcement is going to do is you know, put these pieces together based on you know, the phone records, Internet records, and video surveillance. And I think those three which I refer to as the forensic horseman is going to be key in this because the background checks, the locations, the driver's licenses, the registered vehicles, all these things are going to play a role in to where the guy is right now were they're looking for. COSTELLO: Karen, standby. I want to go to Shimon Prokupecz. He's our CNN investigative producer. He broke the news that police suspected terror cell now is operating in New York and New Jersey. So Shimon, what specifically can you tell us about that?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER: So the cell, I think they are running down leads right now, Carol. The FBI and the NYPD are working together along with the New Jersey authorities. And they are starting to run through some of the leads. They are running names. They are running through some of the people. Some they have sort of taken out.

[10:05:16] Some they have said, you know, maybe -- we don't think they are part of this cell. Some they are still looking to question. So they are starting to rule some things out. They do think that this man may have had some help. So they definitely think more than one person is involved. To what extent and what exactly the other people who may be involved did or how they were involved, we don't know. You know, this investigation is still going, it's still moving forward. They are still trying to sort of put everything together. And really, right now, they don't have the man who police believe is behind all the bombings, the New Jersey bombings and along with the big explosion here in Manhattan. So they are still out hunting for him. And I think perhaps, maybe once they get him, you know, some questions will be answered. But they are certainly - authorities are certainly - we've been told, looking at others that are connected to him.

COSTELLO: So -- when you say a possible cell, you know, because we always talk about lone wolves, people acting on their own, but when you talk about a cell, that's a group of people. Do we know how big this group might be?

PROKUPECZ: We don't. I mean, there are some various numbers but we don't know exactly, you know. And I think it's important for us to stress that we just don't know what their role was. There's nothing right now to indicate, certainly that authorities believe that these other people were involved in any of the explosions or the placement of these bombs in New Jersey or the ones in New York. In fact, I think the wanted posted ad has been put out by police, specifically now states that -- this man is wanted for the incidents in New Jersey and the ones in Chelsea. They don't really -- they have not released any photos of any other individuals or nor they have named any other individuals whom may be associated with him, who may have been working with him.

COSTELLO: OK. So let's talk about Ahmad Khan Rahami because that's what this man's name is. Is he the guy that was shown on surveillance video near the first explosion and of course near that second unexploded pressure cooker bomb?

PROKUPECZ: So police believe he is. Yes, they believe that he is the man in the video. Are they 100 percent certain, probably not. But -- they believe that he is the man in the video that they see on 23rd street. They also believe he's the man they see on the video on 27th street with a duffel bag that contained a pressure cooker. So that's what they're working off of. They are working off of the surveillance video. They have had other clues. You know, he left this one pressure cooker behind. So we believe there is probably some evidence and certainly authorities -- there's been progress made in the investigation because the pressure cooker was left behind. They were able to get some evidence off that which helped them identify him.

COSTELLO: There was also a flip phone, a cell phone left behind along with that unexploded pressure cooker, right?

PROKUPECZ: Yes, there was. So this is one of the first clues, I think -- one of the first clues that authorities used to link a lot of - to link the three incidents, the two pressure cookers in New York and then the seaside park bombing where in that one also a flip-flown or some sort of a cellphone was used along with the two pressure cookers in New York.

COSTELLO: OK. There are a lot of moving parts this morning, so standby, Shimon and thank you so much. I want to take you out to Elizabeth, New Jersey. Because sometime after midnight some guys welcomed by a train station there found unexploded bombs in a waste can. Later a police robot exploded one of those bombs. Drew Griffin is in Elizabeth. Do you have new information for us from there, Drew?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: We are in front of the fried chicken establishment where we believe a relative -- either his father or some relative employed this suspect. What we're watching, though, is recently just in the past five minutes really they've pulled away two cars. Police have - they've also moved a large blue tent in front of the actual fried chicken establishment. And we received a few boxes coming out of evidence. What we know Carol, is that the police have been here since early, early this morning. There's a full scaled investigation. The FBI obviously, going through this. There is a residence upstairs. It's the door you see to the left of your screen. And that police have also been coming in and out of that establishment. Also up on the roof of that actual building looking around. Not much information in terms of actual official information coming out of this scene, but the mayor of this town does believe that there is a link between this establishment and the investigation that's been going on in New York and potentially the bombs that you were discussing -- or the devices you were discussing, they were found just not too far from here, a couple miles.

COSTELLO: All right. Drew Griffin, thank you so much. I want to bring our viewers out to White Plains to the airport there. Hillary Clinton now is talking. Let's listen.

CLINTON: Our team has been in close touch with authorities in New York.

We know they're doing everything they possibly can to keep us safe in this dangerous situation. I've also spoken to the governor of Minnesota.

Like all Americans, my thoughts are with those who were wounded, their families and our brave first responders. This threat is real, but so is our resolve. Americans will not cower, we will prevail. We will defend our country and we will defeat the evil, twisted ideology of the terrorists.

I'm the only candidate in this race who has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield. And I've laid out a comprehensive plan to meet the evolving nature of this threat and take the fight to ISIS everywhere they threaten us, including online. I'm grateful to have support and advice from a wide range of bipartisan national security leaders who've worked with both Democratic and Republican presidents.

When we met together earlier this month in New York, one of the points they emphasized was the need to support state and local law enforcement, who act as our first line of defense, making sure they have the resources, the training and intelligence they need to effectively prevent and respond to terror attacks. And this weekend's events underscored how important that is.

We should also launch an intelligence surge to help identify and thwart attacks before they can be carried out. We need to work more closely with Silicon Valley and other partners to counter terrorist propaganda and recruitment efforts online. And it is crucial that we continue to build up trust between law enforcement and Muslim-American communities.

In the Middle East, we have to smash ISIS' strongholds with an accelerated coalition air campaign, more support for Arab and Kurdish forces on the ground and intense diplomatic efforts in Syria, Iraq and across the region.

Working closely with our allies and partners to keep us safe must be the top priority for our next commander-in-chief. Later today, I'll discuss the threat from terrorism with President el-Sisi of Egypt and other world leaders.

Most of all, I want to say this to my fellow Americans. Let us be vigilant, but not afraid. We have faced threats before. If you see something, or you hear something, report it immediately to local law enforcement authorities. I know we will meet this new danger with the same courage and vigilance. We choose resolve, not fear. We will not turn on each other or undermine our values. We'll stand together because we are stronger together in the face of this threat and every other challenge.

Be glad to take some questions.

QUESTION: The person of interest in this case (ph) is an Afghan immigrant, now U.S. citizens. What do you say to voters who may see this as a reason to consider supporting Trump's approach to terror and immigration?

CLINTON: Well, it is true that a suspect of interest has been identified and we need to do everything we can to support law enforcement as they track him down to determine what role if any he played in these events.

But let us remember, there are millions and millions of naturalized citizens in America from all over the world. There are millions of law-abiding peaceful Muslim-Americans. This is the kind of challenge that law enforcement can be and is prepared to address, namely going after anyone who would threaten the United States.

So I am absolutely in favor of and have long been an advocate for tough vetting, for making sure that we don't let people into this country -- and not just people who come here to settle, but we need a better visa system. Let's remember what happened on 9/11. These were not refugees who got into airplanes and attacked our city and our country. So let's not get diverted and distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric we hear coming from the other side.

This is a serious challenge, we are well-equipped to meet it, and we can do so in keeping with smart law enforcement, good intelligence and in concert with our values.

QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, the White House has labeled these lone wolf attacks a top concern, and given these weekend events, what more specifically should be done?

And what would you do specifically beyond what President Obama has done? Is the current plan enough?

CLINTON: Monica, I think that the lone-wolf problem is one that we have to invest more time and more resources into combating.

When I met with the distinguished group national security experts, as I said -- both Democratic and Republican administration experiences -- they made a very strong point that the recruitment and radicalization that goes on online has to be much more vigorously intercepted and prevented. I have been saying this for quite some time, and I believe it's an important part of our strategy.

The other point they made is that the recruiters for ISIS and these other terrorist groups look for people who online demonstrate the mental profile, the level of paranoia, the level of delusion, the level of disappointment that then is exploited by quite able terrorist recruiters. So we've got to do a much more intensive effort, and that's why I mentioned Silicon Valley in my remarks, not only to take down terrorist propaganda but to do everything we can to intercept and prevent radicalization and recruitment.

And I think we are at the beginning of that, but there's much more we need to do, and the government cannot do this without the close participation of tech companies and experts online who can give us the tools and lead us to those who are attempting to promote attacks like we've seen.

QUESTION: Hi.

CLINTON: Hey, Jennifer.

QUESTION: Are you concerned that this weekend's attacks or potential incidents in the coming weeks might be an attempt by ISIS or ISIS sympathizers or really any other group, maybe it's Russian, to influence the presidential race in some way and presumably try to drive votes to Donald Trump, who, as you've said before, widely seen as perhaps being somebody who they would be more willing to -- or see as an easier person to be against?

CLINTON: Well, Jennifer, I don't want to speculate, but here's what we know, and I think it's important for voters to hear this and weigh it in making their choice in November. We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists, violent terrorists, people who number in the maybe tens of thousands, not but tens of millions.

They want to use that to recruit more fighters to their cause by turning it into a religious conflict. That's why I've been very clear; we're going after the bad guys and we're going to get them, but we're not going to go after an entire religion and give ISIS exactly what it's wanting in order for them to enhance their position.

Secondly, we know that Donald Trump's comments have been used online for recruitment of terrorists. We've heard that from former CIA Director Michael Hayden, who made it a very clear point when he said Donald Trump is being used as a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists. We also know from the former head of our Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen, that the kinds of rhetoric and language that Mr. Trump has used is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries.

Now look, as I said in my remarks, I'm the only candidate in this race who's been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battle field. What does that mean? I was part of the national security team that worked with President Obama to develop strategies to fight the terrorists. Sometimes that involved direct kinetic action, sometimes that involved working with allies and partners, sometimes that involved capture.

I won't get into classified information, but I have sat at that table in the Situation Room. I've analyzed the threats. I've contributed to actions that have neutralized our enemies. I know how to do this and I understand how we don't want this to get even bigger than it already is.

CLINTON: So we're going to stay focused on what will work and how we deploy a strategy that will protect America, work with our allies and partners to take ISIS down, and have a strong counterterrorism effort online in order to try to defeat the ideology that stands behind these terrorist attacks.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, as you know, Donald Trump has had a lot to say about your record on this issue over the weekend. Here's one example: "Under the leadership of Obama and Clinton, Americans have experienced more attacks at home than victories abroad. Time to change the playbook."

What's your reaction to that characterization?

CLINTON: Well, it's like so much else he says. It's not grounded in facts. It's, you know, meant to make some kind of demagogic point. And -- and the facts are pretty clear: that, you know, we still have challenges. That's what I have been talking about throughout this campaign. I am prepared to, ready to actually take on those challenges. Not engage in a lot of, you know, irresponsible, reckless rhetoric, but to do the hard work, as I've done before, to put into place the strategies for local and state law enforcement, for an intelligence surge, for the kind of preventive actions that we need to take here at home, and to intensify our efforts to defeat ISIS.

You don't hear a plan from him. He keeps saying he has a secret plan. Well, the secret is he has no plan.

So let's focus on what we really can do. And what I've laid out is a path forward that will keep us safer, protect our country and go after the terrorists to finally destroy them.

(CROSSTALK)

CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you, guys.

COSTELLO: All right, Hillary Clinton wrapping up her press conference at the airport and then she's going to fly away for a campaign event later today. With me now, David Chalian, CNN political director, Nia- Malika Henderson, senior political reporter, Joe Johns, our senior White House correspondent and also still with me is Karen Greenberg, terrorism analyst and Joe Giacalone, our law enforcement expert here.

I actually just don't want to talk about politics for just a second and I want to talk about real solutions. Because you heard what Hillary Clinton said, Karen. She said she wanted an intelligent surge to stop these kinds of attacks. She wanted the increased involvement of Silicon Valley to stop this stuff online so it doesn't radicalize terrorists here on American soil. Donald Trump was on "Fox & Friends" earlier this morning. He talked about profiling. And before we get into all of this, I want you to listen to what Donald Trump said and then we'll compare and contrast. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are. But they are afraid to do anything about it because they don't want to be accused of profiling and they don't want to be accused of all sorts of things. You know, in Israel, they profile. They have done an unbelievable job as good as you can do. But Israel has done an unbelievable job and they profile. They profile. They see somebody that's suspicious, they will profile, they will take that person and they'll check out, do we have a choice? Look what's going on. Do we really have a choice? We're trying to be so politically correct in our country. And this is only going to get worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So I will get to you Karen. I just want to check in with David for just a second. So, very different messages, said in very different ways. CATANESE: Yes, Carol, there's no doubt. This is a study in contrast and that is very much what each candidate is actually, wanting to put front and center. It's their different approaches to this. Hillary Clinton, holding a press conference to display her depth of knowledge on the issue, her previous works on the issue, and we will contrast that to see Donald Trump throughout the day. You played his comments from this morning. He is going for the emotional poll here. This has been what has attracted voters to his cause, this just outright emotional response.

And she is trying to portray the experience, the steady hand, the I've been in the room for these kinds of decisions as a contrast with Trump. I will also note that Hillary Clinton did something different, a little different in that news conference than we normally see. We normally see Hillary Clinton just sort of stop with her knowledge and with her proposed solutions, if you will. Here she went on and took one of the questions that came her way to turn it to her case why she thinks she's the better candidate, her personal experience in the situation room. She had a lot of "I" in that answer. That is not something Hillary Clinton normally does. She kind of struggles with that at times and she clearly was trying to put her credentials front and center as not just the more experienced here but the better candidate for president. That is something I think Donald Trump is going to have to respond to throughout the day.

COSTELLO: OK. -- So two different - very different solutions from these candidates. So Karen, I am going to return to you. So, you heard what both had to say. Which is the best solution?

KAREN GREENBERG, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER ON NATIONAL SECURITY AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL AND A TERRORISM ANALYST: Yes. Let me just explain that we are in

[10:25:16] a different phase of terrorism than we were in the Al Qaeda days. And that's what both candidates are struggling with. -- When they used the word cell, they are not really talking about cell the way Al Qaeda talked about cells, organized, hierarchal, with a command structure. They are using the term, I think inappropriately because they have a model of law enforcement and intelligence that fits that. Both candidates know, we have had an intelligence surge since 9/11. What's happening here is that you have individual lone wolf or lone wolf groups, sort of packs, that are unhappy, that are lonely, that are disenfranchised that are finding some kind of message in ISIS and doing what they do. The good news is that these are marginalized individuals without access to the kind of professionalism, if you want to call it that, in terrorism. And that is what we are seeing. What law enforcement is really saying and what the intelligence agencies know is that until we begin to address some of these issues of alienation and disenfranchisement as a civil society is not going to work and so you can use all the Al Qaeda tactics you want, it may not work against ISIS.

COSTELLO: So Nia-Malika, you heard what Karen said, -- this is shades of grey. This is very nuance. This is a very difficult problem. But I still have this feeling that when Donald Trump comes out and talks really tough like this and says you know the solution is profiling, the solution is building the wall, these are concrete things that people can grab onto.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. The people can grab on to, that people are responding favorably to -- as well. He's talked about, for instance, extreme vetting when it comes to letting people into the country. That he morphed from the outright Muslim ban initially. So I think David is exactly right. He is appealing to emotion. He is appealing to fear as well. And so far, at least when you look at polling, people does give him higher marks in terms of dealing with terrorism, dealing with ISIS. They give Hillary Clinton a higher mark -- when dealing with foreign policy, which is much more of nuanced thing, I think in voters so far. I mean, and that's why this thing is so close. I mean, you look at these polls. These are two very different candidates. And I mean - I think two halves of the country in terms of how they are processing and registering what should be the path forward in terms of terrorism. Donald Trump saying everything essentially is awful in terms of what has happened so far in terrorism. And Hillary Clinton essentially saying more needs to be done, stay on the same track, get a little tougher, and have this intelligence surge.

COSTELLO: OK. So I'm going to take it back out to the real world for a second and talk about profiling for just a minute with you Joe, right? So, it wasn't so long ago there were two lawsuits filed against the New York City Police for profiling by the Muslim community and the police lost. So can you legally profile?

GIACALONE: No, you can never legally profile. I mean, and the NYPD have started this Intelligence Division that was going out into the public and going out to coffee shops and failed miserably, it didn't give us any hints or any clues on anything. Right now this is not the way to go. We don't need to hear that at the moment. Law enforcement is always on the ball with this. It is about intelligence. It's been going on since the beginning. I mean, the NYPD is the Intelligence Division. The JTTF and the FBI, they work hand-in-hand, unlike what you see on television where they're always fighting, that doesn't happen. They have to just be able to give - give them the right tools. -- Today's environment is about cellphones, it's about Internet access. I mean we saw the fight between the FBI and Apple. So, when we want to reach out to Silicon Valley, we already have a problem. - Who is going to be the president? (ph)

COSTELLO: I was just going to ask Joe about that. - When Hillary Clinton said, guys, we need to corporate more with Silicon Valley, right? Right, Joe? But there are problems with that idea, too.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think so. The one thing you hit on here that I think is so indicative of the country right now, the red state, blue state, the divided country, is this notion of Donald Trump being the candidate of the intuitive response, the sort of shoot from the hip response. We have seen it again and again over the weekend. Hillary Clinton is the candidate of nuance. She's the candidate who takes a question about this Afghanistan individual who is being sought and turns it into -- on one hand we have millions of law-abiding Americans who are Muslims, who are from other countries. On the other hand, we have a very difficult situation and we have to

approach it in a variety of different ways, including looking at intelligence, including looking at online, Silicon Valley. So, -- but there are huge problems there because at the end of the day, if you're reaching out to companies and Silicon Valley and trying to tell them -

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