Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Man Jumps White House Fence, Runs Across Lawn; More Nude Photos of Celebrities Leaked; $6 Million of Medical Supplies Arrive in Africa; Uncertainty Still surrounds Hillary Clinton

Aired September 22, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: They are concerned, they say, that this could be the first time an American is portrayed as an ISIS leader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The flames of war are only beginning to intensify.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: U.S. officials say as they continue to watch ISIS, they see them changing their tactics, moving into towns and cities and changing their communication, perhaps an effort by the terrorist group to hide out if they do believe U.S. bombs are on the way. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Barbara, they wanted a confrontation, and now they are going to get it. That's for sure.

All right, so a security situation we have to talk about at home, specifically at the White House. We have showed you this new video that came out, decorated Iraq veteran believed to be troubled, may be suffering from PTSD, hops the White House fence, makes it across the lawn, and walks right into the executive mansion with a knife. Now, that has never happened before, actually getting into the house.

The suspect Omar Gonzalez of Texas will face a judge today. On Saturday now, another man was arrested also for trying to unlawfully enter the White House. Nothing more happened there. Let's bring in White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski. Obviously, Michelle, when your job is to not let people into the White House and they do, you got trouble.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. So now comes the internal investigation. What we will see outside the White House is more security, more surveillance, possibly more bag checks, although that's still being discussed. What is definite is how much this shocked the public and their lawmakers.

Among the unanswered questions, why weren't Secret Service dogs deployed? One official called that inexcusable. And why couldn't officers catch up with him once Gonzalez jumped that fence and in the 20 or so seconds it took to run across the approximately 70 yard long lawn up to the portico into the White House? It is true that officers on the roof, or one in the video, it looks like that was an officer with his gun drawn on the portico, they could have shot Gonzalez. They didn't. And one law enforcement official told us that these things are always taken in context and that Gonzalez didn't appear to be armed. He had nothing in his hands, no bags, nothing bulky. The Secret Service had a statement saying, yes, officers used restraint, but they admitted that the location of Gonzalez' arrest inside the White House was unacceptable. Chris?

CUOMO: That's for sure, Michelle, no question about it. So let's see if we can figure out more about why this happened and what else will need to be done. Brianna, over to you on that.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks Chris. We're going to dig deeper on this now with Dave Wilkinson. He's a former Secret Service agent and the president of the Atlanta Police Foundation, as well as Fran Townsend. She's a CNN national security analyst and former Bush Homeland Security and counterterrorism adviser. Fran is also a member of the CIA and DHS external advisory board.

First to you, Dave, what did you think when you heard that this happened? I know I personally from having covered the White House and being there for three years was so surprised that this happened. Were you?

DAVE WILKINSON, FORMER U.S. SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Well, not totally surprised. As you can imagine, the fact that the individual got all the way to the front door of course is a security breach. It's something the Secret Service will spend a great deal of time assessing and reviewing and making sure that doesn't happen again.

But first of all, there are a lot of White House fence jumpers throughout the year. Basically the Secret Service is used to dealing with this scenario. They train for this as well as every other conceivable emergency at the White House on a regular basis. So they are used to dealing with this. Basically, they responded to this quite effectively. But I was surprised they made it all the way to the front door.

KEILAR: And certainly the Secret Service, Fran, is very concerned about that. I think the fact that he made so it far, this man. What type of precautions do you think they will be taking from here on out, because they were very concerned that it got this far and they don't it to get this far again.

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It would be probably good to start locking the front door, right? Basic things. You want to release the -- why didn't they release the dog quicker, because the dog would have gotten to the guy before he got in the house, some basic things.

I think it's actually important that they not overreact to this. Yes, it's very bad, and they need to look at their procedures in place. I suspect they weren't exactly followed. But we heard talk about they are going to start searching people within blocks, push the perimeter out, within blocks of the White House. As you know, Brianna, you and I both worked on the compound, that's kind of crazy. So they got to be careful not to overreact and just strengthen their current procedures to make sure that they're followed and that they protect the first family. KEILAR: And speaking of the first family, President Obama and the

first family has left four minutes before they departed from the other side of the White House on the south lawn. Do you think, Dave, this may have ended differently if the president were still on campus as it said at the time?

WILKINSON: Well, as you can imagine when the president and the first family is there, obviously security plan is even more heightened. But let me just say when this individual jumped the fence, and, again it's a routine occurrence, these individual police officers that responded did use restraint. They officers are trained, as you can imagine, very highly trained to recognize the threat, recognize the appropriate response to this individual.

I heard you talk about why the dogs weren't released or why this individual wasn't shot. As you can imagine in any law enforcement situation the officers respond in a very measured approach, and their job is obviously to use minimum force basically to thwart the attack.

Now, obviously, they respond with heightened security and plan for the worst, but the bottom line is the vast majority of these cases the individual is proven to have a mental problem, basically. The individual is ultimately basically not carrying a weapon. And I think these officers could see that very quickly, basically, and so they responded appropriately to that. So you can imagine if they shot the individual or if the dog had mauled this individual on the north grounds of the White House we would probably be having a very different conversation right now.

KEILAR: Do you think so? He was carrying a knife. Do you think there would be a tremendous am of uproar if something had happened, especially if he had been, I guess, sort of apprehended by a dog, which would be ultimately be non-lethal. Do you think that would have been an inappropriate reaction?

WILKINSON: You can imagine, they're sniper teams on top of the roof, and they watched this individual from the moment he jumped the fence. Obviously the alarms went off. The Secret Service protocols went into place. The special response team responded immediately. It more or less became more of a scenario you see every Sunday on the football field, and that is individuals out there, officers trying to tackle this individual and he is darting across the lawn.

You mentioned earlier in your report that it's about 70 yard from the fence to the front entrance. As long as the White House is opened to the American public, if Pennsylvania Avenue is open to pedestrian traffic and the fence is built the way it is, basically, individuals will continue to jump the fence. And again, it's very important these officers not overreact, as Fran said earlier, and make sure their appropriate response a measured response basically to the threat. Typically, if that individual had come over that fence and he was clearly carrying a weapon, holding a knife in his hand or a weapon in his hand, I think it would have resulted very differently.

KEILAR: It would have been a different story. Before I let you go, Fran, I want to talk to you. I want to turn a little bit and talk about this new video from ISIS that we have seen, concerning because it's imploring lone wolves to act in Europe and the west, including the U.S., but also because there is a man, a member of ISIS in the video who appears to be American. What are you hearing?

TOWNSEND: I think that's right. It's either a western English speaker, right, it could be from the Arab world, or it is actually an American, which would be very concerning. But, look, what that's all intended for is propaganda and it's meant to appeal to western American audiences.

KEILAR: We are seeing president Obama here this week in New York at the U.N. General Assembly. He is trying to build a coalition to take on is. And that includes, really, kind of countering extremism at its source. You have your own project going on, the Counter Extremism Project. Tell us about that.

TOWNSEND: Thanks, Brianna. Yes, the Counter Extremism Project is a bipartisan effort. You will see Republicans and Democrats, Dennis Ross, Senator Joe Lieberman at the launch. The idea is to target extremism, where is it financed from? Where is it economically supported from? Create a database that supports the media, government, in the effort to actually combat this what is a growing extremist ideology.

I do think you will see this, there's been broad support for this. It's been very frustrating for those of us who have been in government, it's a hard thing to encounter when you're inside government and need outside support. And there is a real growing network of folks around the world, this will be an international effort to take this on and to counter the narrative, to expose their human rights abuses, the number of Muslims they kill. And then approach those who actually financially support these extremist ideologies, get them to stop, or shine a light on them and publicly shame them.

KEILAR: And if the U.S. has challenges, certainly many other countries have even bigger challenges in countering ISIS and other groups. Fran Townsend, thank you so much, Dave Wilkerson, I really appreciate you being with us as well. Chris?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'll take it, Brianna. Thanks, so much.

We are going to take a look at some of the headlines right now. More than 120 heads of state including Secretary of State John Kerry, well, he's not a head of state, but Secretary of State John Kerry gathered with them here in New York and headed tomorrow to the U.N. Climate Summit. The secretary of state is expected to speak at an opening event this morning. Major companies include oil giants plan to make pledges to cut carbon dioxide emissions in order to fight climate change. On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied in New York and around the world demanding action.

Three soldiers from the Afghanistan army stationed in Cape Cod or at least sent there for an international training exercise have gone missing. The National Guard says there is no indication the men pose any threat to the public. According to military, they were last seen Saturday night in a local mall. They are among more than 200 soldiers from six nations participating in training drills for future U.N. peace keeping missions.

This morning, police in Delaware investigated the cause of a bus crash that killed two people and injured dozens more. Police say the bus was heading south on Highway 1 in Wilmington when it crashed and overturned on Sunday. One of the women killed was found trapped under the bus. And 48 people were treated for injuries at area hospitals.

Another round of private photos of female celebrities have leaked online. Actresses Gabrielle Union and Meagan Good are two of the latest stars to have naked photos stolen and posted online. This comes just three weeks after hackers leaked photos of other female celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence. Many blame the leak on Apple's iCloud system, but the company denied those allegations.

CUOMO: And then make changes to iCloud's security.

BERMAN: Denied it and then change their security, to be sure.

KEILAR: It almost doesn't matter if they deny it because so many people perceive that to be the issue and that's really the complaint.

CUOMO: Why did you make the changes if you don't have security problems?

KEILAR: Just in case.

CUOMO: If you don't have a problem, what is the case? Secret Service is going to change things at the White House, right?

BERMAN: Just because.

CUOMO: He sauntered across the lawn. That's what I'm saying.

All right, so the Ebola outbreak, not easy to say, even harder to fight. We're going to go live to Liberia where the health care system and entire nation are close to collapsing. The question is, can anything be done to stop the deadly virus?

KEILAR: And it could be Bill and Hillary Clinton's best week ever. They are front and center at this year's Clinton Global Initiative as it gets under way today. I should say yesterday. Today is really the second day. We saw it start last night. The other thing is they could become grandparents any moment.

CUOMO: Huge.

KEILAR: Big. We have details on "INSIDE POLITICS."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back. In West Africa, 100-tonnes of medical supplies have arrived in an effort to fight the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, this as a second contingent of U.S. troops arrives in Liberia. They are going to focus on training local health workers and setting up treatment facilities. They really are under capacity there right now. Doctors in West Africa need the help.

That is exactly what they're getting. Six million dollars worth of medical supplies, donated by humanitarian groups, have arrived and they are going to go very quickly. One Hundred tons of gloves, masks, antibiotic, and pain medicines, they are headed to the areas hardest hit including Liberia. Let's bring in CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. On the front lines live in Monrovia, Liberia with more. What's the situation like on the ground?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, when I first arrived here, a diplomat said this is a nightmare. After spending a few days here, I can see why she thinks that.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

COHEN: An international health crisis unprecedented in modern times. Ebola, ground zero, Liberia. This city, Kakata, a hot spot. As a Sunday service comes to an end, parishioners washing up with chlorine, the threat of the virus ever present.

ANTHONY KALIAH, SCHOOL TEACHER: We are quite afraid because this is a threatening disease.

COHEN: This young parishioner, Moses Kali, lost 13 of his relatives to Ebola, including his parents. The pastor tells this congregation, no shaking hands, no hugging.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you afraid of death? No, I will die, but I don't want to die from Ebola.

COHEN: In the capital, Monrovia, a prayer before the dead body management team winds its way to the city slums to retrieve cadavers. But even these suits can't protect their hearts from what they see on the job, like a baby hungry for his dead mother's milk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I took the key and opened the door and I went in I saw a six-month-old child licking on the mother because the mother died she was lying on her stomach like this and they were licking on the mother. So right away, I started shedding tears --

COHEN: The woman inside this bag, one of nearly 1, 500 people suspected of dying from Ebola. The number of cases here up 52 percent in just three weeks. One major reason, many hospitals have closed down, afraid their staff will contract Ebola. So the sick are forced to stay at home where they can infect others.

This new clinic opened just Sunday. But when we arrived, no one comes outside to bring these patients in, to weak they fall to the ground. Inside this ambulance, three people make a seven-hour trip to get here and die outside the hospital.

Back in Kakata, Father King does his part. He stopped giving everyone communion from the same cup.

By stopping this practice, have you saved lives?

FATHER KING: Yes. Definitely.

COHEN: His congregation awaiting the help promised by President Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The news that American was coming in, that America was coming with a huge numbers of personnel, and material, that is a relief to Liberia and Liberians.

COHEN: They know relief won't come quickly. For now, Ebola is here to stay. The major hurdle to solving this problem, to contain this outbreak, is to have more places where you can isolate sick people. If they are not isolated they will continue to spread the disease. In Monrovia, alone, they need 700 beds, Brianna, Chris.

CUOMO: Elizabeth, you made it very clear, we are all so worried about the spread, obviously, coming here to the U.S. From the beginning, you said if you want to stop it from coming here you have to stop it where it is right now. So hopefully, that is being done. Please stay safe there and we will check back if with you.

KEILER: Do you know what time it is?

CUOMO: What time is it?

KEILER: CNN money time. Let's go now to chief business correspondent Christine Romans, she is in our money center. What is going on?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, nice to see you, Brianna. What is going on? Well stokes around the globe are down this morning. And U.S. stock futures signaling a bad day on wall street. The Dow ended at a record high Friday thanks in part to that big IPO. Alibaba's record breaking IPO, it popped about 40 percent. But the hype is now dying down and we are back to business in the market. Markets are facing growth concerns around the globe.

Here is a really interesting story this morning, mortgages are becoming cheaper and easier to get if you are rich. A race on jumbo loans, if the mortgage is over $417,000, those rates are lower than congressional loans -- conventional loans rather, plus getting that low rate is getting easier with lenders reducing down payment requirements and credit standards for those jumbo borrowers. They're looking for the big business from people who got money and they're giving them cheap mortgages to lure them in. It could be the cheapest fall for gas prices since 2010. The current average for a gallon of regular has fallen to $3.33 a gallon, lowest since February. Experts at Gas Buddy say prices could keep falling, $3.15 to $3.25 is their forecast..

KEILER: I still paid $75 bucks to fill up my car the other day.

ROMANS: Did you? Here is the subway. Welcome to New York, take the subway.

CUOMO: She is driving that hum-vee.

KEILER: It's a mini keeper, no, it's not. Just kidding. All right, thanks, Christie.

CUOMO: Jury selection begins to start for a second time there in Florida's loud music murder trial. Second time, remember, because the first trial didn't go so well. Michael Dunn, already convicted of attempted murder for the shooting of the death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, but there was a feeling that there had to be more justice here. And the question will be can a new jury find enough evidence to convict him of first degree murder.

KEILER: And with just six weeks to election day, some pollsters are thinking that the race for control of the senate may be a lot closer than previously thought. What is happening in these races and why do they matter? John King will explain Inside Politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY everyone. Lets take a look at the top stories right now. The U.S. in Iran going to head start discussing Tehran's Nuclear program ahead of the U.N. general assembly. John Jerry sat down with his Iranian counterpart on Sunday. Talks have been stalled for months over Iran's refusal to slow uranium enrichment. Senior Iranian officials tell Reuters flexibility on the Iranian issue could make Tehran more likely to work with the United states in the fight against ISIS.

New developments in the case of missing UVA student Hannah Graham. Police want to speak with the man in this video, identified as Jesse Matthew, he is believed to be the last person to have been seen with Graham. Matthew showed up at a police station this weekend to meet with a lawyer. Officers later saw him speeding. So now an arrest warrant is out for Matthew on suspicion of reckless driving. Graham's parents are speaking out calling this ordeal their worst nightmare.

Authorities in Pennsylvania say they are closing in on the man suspected of killing a state trooper. Eric Frein has been on the run since the deadly ambush ten days ago. Police say they found an AK-47, ammunition, and other items they believe Frein hid in the rural Pennsylvania woods. Although Frein is considered armed and dangerous, police believe he is only a threat to law enforcement. But some schools in the area will be closed again today as a precaution. A lot of nervous people there.

So the numbers are still being tallied this morning, but Apple could be looking at a record breaking opening weekend for iPhone 6 sales. So analyst predict that customers bought close to 7 million devices. This year's model has not even debuted in China yet, where I am told there are quite a few consumers. Actual sales figures could be released today.

KEILER: Just a few.

BERMAN: I am told. Big market they say. Christie Romans tells me that occasionally.

CUOMO: Aren't you getting the iPhone 6?

BERMAN: I am not, although I did put IOS 8 on this device which I like very much.

CUOMO: Did you?

BERMAN: I did.

CUOMO: That has the super battery also.

BERMAN: It does, you need it.

KEILER: I have none of these things.

CUOMO: John Berman, always prepare. You must. You must have them all.

A lot going on in the world of politics. It will be a big day. This U.N. Assembly starts going on, you must dissect it Inside Politics, on New Day, with Mr. John King. Happy Monday.

JOHN KING, Happy Monday. Chris, Brianna, John, seeing the lines outside the Apple stores, maybe we can get those lines outside polling places in 43 days? What a shock that would be, right? Forty-three days until the mid-term election. Lets go Inside politics.

With me this morning to share the reporting and their insight, Jackie Kucinich of the Washington post, Olivier Knox of Yahoo! News. Let's start with the most important story in politics. The Clinton baby. The price of milk, who wins the world series, all will be determined by this magical baby. I am making light of this. But we have been watching. Chelsea Clinton is pregnant, one thing we haven't had is a due date. Listen to Bill Clinton here with Fareed Zakaria giving us a clue.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: Do you have any specific thoughts about being a grandfather?

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't wait and we're on watch now. I hope by the 1st of October I'll be a grandfather.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KING: That's a little more than a week away. The 1st of October. First and foremost, we wish Chelsea and Mark our best. They are in our thoughts and prayers as this plays out. A lot of people will talk about this. Hillary Clinton said she will take a break. Once this happens, then she'll make her big decision. Are there politics with the Clinton grandchild?

JACKIE KUCINICH, THE WASHINGTON POST: I think the politics of it boils down to whether it will be my granddaughter or grandson in applause lines when Hillary speaks next year.

OLIVIER KNOX, YAHOO! NEWS: In fact, she mentioned having a grandchild may be the one thing that will keep her off the trail. That is the one thing that she has really alluded to several times now. I think her decision is still whether she wants to stop running. I think the grandchild might mean a hiatus --

KING: It gives you a great thing to say in a speech. This is for our children and our grandchildren. All right. We had to get that one out of the way. October 1st, lets watch this, but, look the Clinton global initiative is in New York this week. If you are watching any of the events and all of a sudden one of the Clinton's is missing, it might give you a clue. We will keep an eye on that. In that same interview, Bill Clinton talked about something that gets a lot of buzz in Washington. Remember Hillary Clinton said when she was secretary of state, she wanted to arm the modern Syrian rebels. The president said no, I don't think that is the way to go. People have said this is a huge foreign policy difference between them. Before we talk about how big it is, listen to Bill Clinton who says, not surprisingly, I agree with my wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CLINTON: I agree with her. I would have taken the chance. I also agree with her when she said we can't know whether it would have worked or not. And that's why you have to careful when you make these commitments, because you can't know.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KING: A former President, and I think smart advice from a former president, you don't know, you are never sure.