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New Day

Obama to Lead Fight Against ISIS at U.N.; Is the White House Secure?; Hannah Graham's Parents Plead for Help

Aired September 22, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The Secret Service looking at new security measures at the White House this morning. We have brand new video of the moment a man carrying a knife made it all the way into the White House. How did this happen?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And ready to strike, the U.S. military says it's ready to hit ISIS inside of Syria, just waiting for the orders. Now, President Obama is heading to the U.N. to win support for the fight and new law he wants the world to adopt to stop recruits from getting to the terror group.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Please help us. A desperate plea from the parents of Hannah Graham. Her parents begging the public for help in finding the UVA student. And now, police have issued a warrant for the man that saw her last. What might he know?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. It is Monday, September 22nd, 8:00 in the East. Kate Bolduan out on baby watch. No news yet. We'll bring it first here, I hope.

Brianna Keilar is with us this morning.

It's great to have you.

And we're talking serious stuff this morning: American security under the microscope at home and overseas this morning.

President Obama is going to makes his case at the U.N. this week for the world to join in the fight against ISIS. Among his proposals, member nations should take legal action against citizens who try to join the terror group. This as officials try to determine if this man right here, speaking in almost flawless English, is the first American to deliver a message on behalf of ISIS.

KEILAR: And on the home front, take a look at this new video. This is a major security lapse at the White House. A man jumped the fence. You see him running up the steps north entrance of the White House. He makes it all the way inside. We will get into that in just a moment.

First, Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with the latest on the battle against ISIS -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brianna.

Well, at this hour, it is all in President Obama's hands. He has to make the decision when and if to strike ISIS inside Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): More weekend air strikes against ISIS in Iraq, close to 200 so far. And the Pentagon says it's ready to hit ISIS targets inside Syria at any moment once President Obama gives final approval. He takes his case this week to the United Nations. His U.N. ambassador arguing he has overwhelming support.

SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: We are not having problems getting countries to commit.

STARR: In a rare event, the president will chair a U.N. Security Council meeting Wednesday himself, a demonstration of his commitment to build a consensus to take on ISIS.

And CNN has now learned he is hoping to get approval for a resolution, calling for countries to crack down on citizens traveling abroad to join groups like ISIS.

Still, no Arab nations have openly agreed to send ground troops or take part in airstrikes inside Syria.

Secretary of State John Kerry is already at the U.N. lobbying allies for help, even talking to Iran.

Republican Congressman Peter King says the president should not wait to build a coalition.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: We can't be holding back. We should attack and strike and do what we can to command and control centers that ISIS has in Syria.

STARR: And no word on whether Turkey might allow U.S. planes to fly from bases there after the weekend release of nearly 50 Turkish diplomats held hostage by ISIS for three months.

Meanwhile, a mass exodus of Syrian refugees seeking safe haven in Turkey. Officials there opening eight checkpoints along the border. One U.S. official says she's seen 100,000 people cross in just two days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see them now digging their own graves.

STARR: This ISIS militant speaking seemingly perfect English in a new 55-minute long propaganda video has U.S. officials thinking he could be an American. They're still doing voice analysis, but are concerned, they say, that this could be the first time an American is portrayed as an ISIS leader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the flames of war are already beginning to intensify.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: U.S. officials say they are seeing ISIS begin to move into cities, towns, villages and change their communications, perhaps all ISIS efforts to avoid what they believe are coming U.S. bombs -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon -- thank you so much.

Now to those two scares that could change the way the Secret Service guards the president. Take a look. This is an Iraq war veteran who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress. He scaled the White House fence Friday, dashed across the lawn as you see a there, and actually got into the executive mansion. He was armed with a knife. Omar Gonzalez will face a judge today.

And as well on Saturday a New Jersey man allegedly tried to get into the White House illegally.

Let's bring in White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski.

Where does this stand, Michelle?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna.

Well, you know, for anybody who works at the White House, security is a top concern. It's something that you think about.

So, unbelievable to people here that this guy was able to jump the fence, run all the way across this lawn, open the front doors and walk inside.

Now, we expect to see more security, more surveillance outside the White House, and possibly more bag checks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI (voice-over): Security outside the White House now is visible, very visible. But it often is.

So, all the more dumbfounding that Gonzalez was able to do this around 7:30 Friday night. Take a look in this video, sprinting 20 or so seconds, to run 70 yards across the entire lawn, up the stair, onto the portico. There you see a Secret Service officer with gun drawn. Gonzalez makes it inside the White House where he was tackled.

The first family was not home, but in Gonzalez pants pocket, a folding knife with a three and a half inch blade.

REP. PETER KING (D), NEW YORK: How anyone, especially in days of ISIS and concern of terrorists attacks, someone could get in the White House without being stopped, is inexcusable. KOSINSKI: Now, of course, comes the internal investigation. Why

weren't at the at least Secret Service dogs deployed. Why couldn't officers have gotten to him before he hit the doors? In a statement Secret Service admits, while the officer showed tremendous restraint and discipline in dealing with the subject, the location of Gonzalez's arrest is not acceptable.

Now, it's true officers on the roof, surely this one at the door could have shot Gonzalez. They didn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody, out! Right now, go back. Everybody into the park!

KOSINSKI: Law enforcement officials told us these things are taken in context. Gonzalez didn't appear to be armed, had nothing in his arms, no bags, nothing bulky. They also said the 42-year-old Texan who spent a decade in the military, including in Iraq, seemed to have mental issues and was known to the Secret Service. Gonzalez's family members say he had been struggling, drifting and had PTSD. He had retired from the Army with a disability.

And less than 24 hours after this breach, another man, Kevin Carr of New Jersey, tried to get in on foot, then drove to another entrance, got out of this car, and refused to leave. He too was arrested.

But some now are calling this the last draw.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: You know, the incident itself, when you look at it, you think of Secret Service having a string of things over the last couple of years affecting its reputation, starting in 2009 with the White House party crashing couple. Remember them?

Culminating in 2012 with the prostitution scandal, there had been others, too. But the White House says it has full confidence in the Secret Service, and that it is certain the review will be done with the professionalism and commitment that Americans expect, sounding almost as much like a directive as it does a statement, Brianna.

KEILAR: Sure does. Michelle Kosinski at the White House, thanks so much.

And let's dig a little deeper here with CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes, and Ronald Kessler, he's an investigative reporter and author of "The First Family Detail".

To you first, Ron. We heard from the Secret Service, this was this was unacceptable this is where the man was detained inside of the residence. Does the Secret Service have a problem here?

RONALD KESSLER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: The Secret Service is a total wreck. As your correspondent mentioned, there's been previous scandals. I broke the fact that there was a third intruder at White House, along

with the Salahis. And I also brought the story of the prostitution scandal. Each time, President Obama has said he has confidence in the Secret Service.

I can tell you, if this intruder on Friday had WMD on him, or explosives on him, which the Secret Service, President Obama could have been dead and could not have expressed confidence in the Secret Service. I can tell you that the FBI is not only horrified at what happened but laughing at the Secret Service's cover up story, saying that the agents exercised restraint.

You know, the Secret Service has much wider latitude than the FBI to take out a potential threat, because you simply can't wait to see if the guy is in the White House and blows up the White House and then decide to kill him.

KEILAR: Yes.

And let's talk about that Tom. We've talked a lot about restraint from the law enforcement perspective, particularly when we were talking about Ferguson. There was a second incident there where a lot of people wondered if the shooting of a man who is mentally troubled outside a convenient store should have happened. He was carrying a knife. He obviously was wheeling. This man was not.

But a lot of people said, why did police shoot that man? You said that this is how law enforcement operates. They're not trained to -- you know, he was a deadly threat. In your opinion, did they use too much restraint here?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, that's very possible Brianna. I don't think the two incidents are in any way parallel other than a small knife or medium size knife involved.

I think in this situation, the main issue is, an individual, unauthorized, got through the front doors of the White House. There's nothing much else you could say to say, OK, it's excusable or here's the explanation or here's what.

You know, so, you're going to start with the fence and the fence configuration, all the way to the guy runs across 70 to 100 yards of open lawn, without being in any way approached, or stopped, or tackled, or a dog sent out to get him. Gets to the front door, possibly even surprising that particular officer and then allowed to go in the door before they finally tackle him and restrain him. So, I think there's really no way you can excuse it. It's hard to come up with any plausible excuse to say that's OK for that to have happened.

KEILAR: Once the intruder was obviously there to the north portico of the White House, what is the standard operating procedure for law enforcement if he is running their direction and does not appear to have a weapon in his hand, although Ron makes the point that you never really know, Tom. You never really know whether he's got something on his body. FUENTES: That's right. Ron's point is excellent in that regard. The

Secret Service would have more latitude given that it's the White House. It's the president of the United States' residence.

You know, a person may not have explosive device. They may have Ebola or some other deadly contagion that would cause the White House to be quarantined for a long time. I mean, you never know, you know, what could happen.

So, people should not be allowed through the front door. I mean, that's just a given fact.

You recall a year ago next month, the woman that ran down a Secret Service agent with her car, tried to get through the barricade, led police on a low speed chase around downtown Washington and was finally shot and killed because of potential that the car could have had explosives and she was going to detonate something.

KEILAR: Yes, it was in that case a very different end.

Ron, everyone always wonders, where was the president? Well, what's fascinating about this, the president and first family had left four minutes before this happened from the opposite side of the White House, although not far from where this man was.

When the president is gone, when the first family is gone, is the security level at the White House somehow -- does it become less? Do Secret Service agents relax?

KESSLER: No, and further more the president had just left to go to the helicopter. He could have decided to come back. There's no way to tell.

Anybody who is trying to get in the White House in this fashion is a threat to the president and therefore has to be taken out. You simply can't wait to find out if he actually, as Tom says, has chemical, biological, or radiological weapons.

But the larger problem is the agency has a problem within the culture not the management, not within among the agents, who are brave and dedicated, or corner-cutting and laxness, covering up, making excuses. You see it over and over again. They let in people, for example, without magnetometer screening. You mentioned the other scandals that have occurred in the past.

But the real problem is President Obama, because he is totally in denial about the danger to himself and to his own family because every time one of these things happens, he issues a statement saying he has confidence. He said that about Mark Sullivan who actually diverted agents from protecting the White House to protect his own assistant in southern Maryland. Now he's standing up for the new director who's a clone of Mark Sullivan.

KEILAR: He is tricky as well. The president, obviously, wanting to stand by people tasked with protecting him as well.

Good point, though, Ron. Thank you so much, Ron Kessler. Tom Fuentes, thank you to both of you. Great point.

FUENTES: Thank you.

KEILAR: And let's go now over to John, where he's looking at a lot of the other stories we're following today -- John.

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Brianna.

New this morning: Ukraine's military preparing to withdraw heavy weapons and vehicles without a buffer zone. But one military official says this does not mean all Ukrainian troops will pull out. According the official, leaders from both sides have begun to implement provisions with the ceasefire agreement. This is thousands of demonstrators marching to the streets of Moscow on Sunday, protesting Russia's involvement in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

More than 120 heads of state gathering in New York this week ahead of tomorrow's U.N. Climate Summit. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to speak this morning. Major companies including oil giants pledging to make changes to help the environment.

On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied in New York and around the world demanding action.

A new unity government coming together in Afghanistan. Former finance minister Ashraf Ghani finally declared the winner of that country's disputed presidential election. He's agreed to share power with the second place finisher Abdullah Abdullah, who will be named Afghanistan's chief minister, essentially a prime minister. This sets the stage for the departure of President Hamid Karzai.

It will also allow a new security agreement between the United States and Afghanistan that will allow U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan beyond this year.

Overnight, two American Airlines flights were forced to make unscheduled landings at Dallas Fort-Worth Airport. Flight 1539 was heading to California, but had to make an emergency landing because of a mechanical issue. The second flight was headed to Buenos Aires and return to DFW after experiencing an issue with cabin pressure. Luckily, no one was injured -- Chris.

CUOMO: Last line most important.

BERMAN: Absolutely. But two at one airport.

CUOMO: Every time we hear it, it's scary. No question about it.

All right. So, there has been a development in the search for Hannah Graham, a few actually. We have a desperate plea from her parents. You'll want to hear what they say who she is and what's at risk of being lost to the world.

And this comes as there's development on the investigative side. There's been a warrant issued for this man that you're looking at in your screen, but not in connection with the case. What happened when this man went to see police this weekend? We'll tell you, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: There are new developments in the desperate search for a missing UVA student Hannah Graham.

Police want to speak with this man. He was on surveillance video. They believe he may have been the last person to of seen her. Jesse Matthew is his name.

Now, in an odd twist, he showed up at the police station to meet with police, asked for a lawyer. A lawyer came, and then he left. Later, police say they saw him speeding and issued an arrest warrant for him because of that suspicion of reckless driving.

Now, for the first time, we're also hearing from Graham's parents, her anguish father describing the hell of not knowing what happened to his daughter, calling it their worst nightmare.

Correspondent Jean Casarez has the latest. A bizarre situation. A man knows that the police are interested in him. He shows up, but then he asks for a lawyer, he doesn't say anything, he leaves, he's speeding around. They don't detain him -- a lot of odd developments.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So many things are very curious.

Chris, I want to tell you that we are here right here in the downtown mall area. These are the last steps Hannah made before she disappeared. But yesterday, when we were here in Charlottesville and we heard there was going to be a press conference and update to the investigation.

But once we got there and got the update, suddenly there were unexpected guests at press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN GRAHAM, FATHER OF HANNAH GRAHAM: Hannah is also our little girl. She's our only daughter, and she's James's older sister. She's also -- Hannah is the oldest granddaughter to my parents and Sue's parents. She's my parent's only granddaughter. She's enormously precious to us all.

CASAREZ (voice-over): The parents of Hannah Graham spoke publicly for the first time Sunday pleading for help finding their daughter.

GRAHAM: We know Hannah was downtown early Saturday morning. We know Hannah was distinctively dressed.

Did you see Hannah? Did anybody see Hannah? Who saw Hannah? Somebody did.

CASAREZ: The family thank ago the public for their help in the search and sharing insight into who Hannah is as a person.

GRAHAM: She likes to help people. She's interested in a career in helping others.

Just as a little example, last spring break, instead of hanging around on the beach like other students may have done, she spent a week in Tuscaloosa rebuilding houses and helping the recovery from the devastating tornado. That's Hannah.

CASAREZ: Hannah's father sharing a message the family received from one of Hannah's teacher who is hopeful that she will soon be found.

GRAHAM: Hannah is brilliant resilient, determined, and loves life more than anyone else I know. Everyone agrees, if anyone could get through this, it is Hannah. I've been trying to frame my thoughts with the idea that every moment that passes we are one moment closer to having Hannah back. Let's hope today is the day.

CASAREZ: At a press conference Sunday, Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo, in an unusual move, publicly pointed fingers.

CHIEF TIMOTHY LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE, PA POLICE: I believe Jesse Matthew was the last person she was seen with before she vanished off the face of the earth, because it's been a week, and we can't find her.

CASAREZ: Law enforcement says Matthew was seen on surveillance video walk behind Hannah at the downtown mall. Members of the community look for Hannah this weekend. Jesse Matthew walked into the Charlottesville police department.

LONGO: Walked right through the front as couple of family members. He got inside and he asked for a lawyer, and we found him one.

CASAREZ: Still, law enforcement admits they don't have probable cause to tie him to this case.

GRAHAM: I think the reason Hannah has such marvelous support is because this is every parent's worst nightmare. I'm certain that everybody in this room and those watching knows that what happened to Hannah could happen to their child. We need to find out what happened to Hannah and make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else.

CASAREZ: An emotional plea to help push this investigation forward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: And the police chief does tell me today is an extremely important day. He is waiting for the results of the forensic investigation on the car of Jesse Matthew and also his apartment. He says that if he doesn't get those results by this afternoon, he's going to call the Department of Forensic Sciences here in Virginia.

And, Chris, one remaining question, are police going to execute that arrest warrant they have for Jesse Matthew on reckless driving? I asked the chief of police that very question, he said, well, we are making an aggressive attempt, to locate him, find him, secure him if he doesn't come forward, then we will arrest him on those misdemeanor warrants -- Chris. CUOMO: Look, I mean, legally, it's an interesting situation, because

that has nothing to do with Hannah's disappearance. The problem with not grabbing him in Hannah's disappearance is that he hasn't been named even a person of interest. If you do that and can't make a case against somebody, you may be prejudicing the case going forward, not to mention the right of the individual.

So, we have of this keep watching this situation. And to hear those parents, just to see the mother's face. The father was doing the talking. But you could see the pain on that mother's face.

So, we'll stay on this story. Jean, thank you for being there in the middle of all of it. Let us know what happens.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

CUOMO: All right. President Obama has a big week. He has a crystal clear agenda ahead with the U.N. General Assembly -- stop ISIS. He's trying to build this international coalition we keep hearing about. But it's been going slow to say the least. We're going to speak to the congressman on what the president can do next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Big, big week for President Obama. He's meeting with world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He's going to chair a Security Council meeting, all in the hope of forming this coalition to challenge ISIS. The president will propose member nations join America in prosecuting people who try to join the terror group.

Let's bring in Democratic Congressman Jim Hines. He's from Connecticut. He sits on the House Intelligence Committee, and most relevant -- Congressman, good to have you this morning -- you voted no to arming the Syrian rebels.