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New Day

Concerns Growing About Safety of the White House; ISIS Carries Out Attack Miles From Baghdad; Hong Kong Protesters Not Backing Down; Could Graham Mystery Help Solve Other Cases?

Aired September 30, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is failure in leadership somewhere in the hierarchy.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Shocking details, the man who ran inside the White House actually made it much farther inside than first reported. The head of the Secret Service gets grilled by lawmakers as we ask the questions is it time for a change in who protects the president?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, defiant protestors bracing for a crack down, refusing to leave the streets of Hong Kong. Demonstrators now setting a deadline for the government to meet their demands. We're live at the scene of those massive protests.

CUOMO: Disturbing connection. The suspect accused of abducting a University of Virginia student could be linked to a 2009 murder. A new forensic link that could solve a cold case of this Virginia Tech student and lead police to Hannah Graham.

Your NEW DAY starts right now.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, September 30th, 6:00 in the East.

Up first, the armed intruder who scaled the White House fence earlier this month and sprinted straight into the executive mansion definitely did not get stopped at the door.

PEREIRA: Turns out he got a whole lot further than the front door. He made it all the way into the east room of the White House. This shocking security breach has the embattled Secret Service squarely on the hot seat.

Its director is facing a grilling before a House committee this morning. We want to turn to our White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski. Ought to be a fly on the wall -- Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, you know, when this happened, hours later, the Secret Service really made a big deal about the fence jumper not being armed, which turned out not to be true. They said he was tackled just inside the White House front doors, now, again, not true.

More details are coming out. Some from whistle-blowers making a story that was bad enough look even worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, go back.

KOSINSKI (voice-over): It was the 70-yard dash seen around the world. And now we know Omar Gonzales, an Iraq war veteran with PTSD and armed with a knife didn't just make it over the White House fence all the way across the north lawn, up the stairs, and through the front doors.

But according to sources familiar with the incident, Gonzales overpowered the guard inside those doors, ran past the stairway leading up to the first family's residence, they weren't at home.

Through the first floor and east room, finally being tackled by an officer at the doors to the green room. None of this revealed publicly by the Secret Service, but by whistle-blowers to Congressman Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Subcommittee.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: I got deep concerns that the president is not as safe as we want and need him to be. I've got questions about leadership, protocol and training at the Secret Service.

KOSINSKI: No one was able to tackle Omar Gonzales during his run, no dog was released, and Chaffetz says the alarm inside the front door that is there to signal a breach, apparently never sounded. Silenced allegedly at the behest of the White House ushers who didn't like it making too much noise.

So that guard may not have even known immediately there was a breach over the fence. The Secret Service has said its officers showed restraint in dealing with Gonzales. It was later found to have more than 800 rounds of ammo in his car and he was arrested in July in Virginia with 11 guns in the car.

CHAFFETZ: These incidents seem to be getting worse, not better. But to have an epic failure from top to bottom begs the question, why did they decrease the number of trainings that were going on, at the same time that the House was actually appropriating even more money.

Why is it that they tout the idea that there was tremendous restraint by these officers, I want to see overwhelming force repel anybody who is trying to get into the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: The director of the Secret Service will face doubtlessly tough questions this morning from the House Oversight Committee. All this is coming out only one day after it emerged in 2011 it took the Secret Service four days to realize and investigate that shots fired here had actually hit the White House.

Back then the Secret Service staunchly defended its actions. Now while this one is under investigation, they're not commenting -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Michelle Kosinski, it's definitely getting worse, not better, we'll see what happens today. Thank you for the reporting.

Let's do a little analysis here. Let's bring in Tom Fuentes, CNN law enforcement analyst, former assistant director of the FBI. Good to see you, Mr. Fuentes. Let's deal with the news, the issue, and the potential solution.

So they're chasing this guy through the house. The door is unlocked. The alarm is on mute. He knock through one of the guys so they need basically a whole team to take him on. The explanation is -- well, the rings of security broke down.

It sounds like something that you would have as a worst-case scenario when teaching. What is your take on how this could possibly happened?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I don't know, Chris. You're right. This is a terrible occurrence for the Secret Service and do you have so many things break down. And you start right at the beginning, all these years. We have people jumping over that fence on a monthly basis and that hasn't been fixed.

They can fix it so it still meets the specifications of the Pennsylvania Avenue Beautification Committee or whoever controls that. He does the 100-yard dash across the lawn and whoever supposed to release the dog, doesn't.

We don't know where the dog is. We don't know how many dogs they have on duty. That's a whole, and they rely on the dog, they don't want the officers running out on the lawn. Because if the dog gets released as it should have, it will attack the officers, too.

So that's a reliance on an animal that may or may not get released. In this case, wasn't. Then this guy gets through the front door, overpowers a Secret Service agent with a three-inch knife. How does that happen? How does a Secret Service agent get overpowered?

So that has to be explained then enters the residence, and in this case, he runs around in circles on the main floor, around the east room. But had the first family been home, he could have run up the stairs and been in the residence, for all we know.

So this is a tremendous failure. I don't know how the director will be able to explain all this.

CUOMO: And also you have to remember who we're dealing with here, obviously somebody who is believed to be mentally disturbed. They had handled him before, but not O.J. Simpson, somebody should have been able to catch him. He was a 42-year-old guy. It's sounds like he's been training for this his whole life. So certainly some obvious breakdowns and then imagine this, if FBI field agents had done the same thing, what would have happened to them in this scenario.

You're supposed to be investigating the scene of a shooting on a house and it takes you four days to realize that seven shots hit the house. What would happen to those field agents?

FUENTES: That's pretty incredible. The discipline would be severe, that's for certain. I think that, you know, the president expresses that he has complete confidence in the Secret Service. But probably has even more confidence in housekeeping, who apparently discovered the bullet in the wall.

CUOMO: That's right. The housekeeping staff are the ones who found it, not the Secret Service. I know it's a big house, but I mean, this is their job, right?

FUENTES: Right. We can't have it.

CUOMO: Here becomes the main question, we know that lawmakers are going to yell at the head of the Secret Service, OK. We also know that that usually results in basically nothing, right?

So here's my question to you and you tell me if you think it's taken it too far. Is this throwing the baby out with the bath water or is this just looking outside the box? Do we need the Secret Service to protect the president?

Don't we have enough other military capabilities and paramilitary capabilities like the FBI and the CIA? Couldn't they put together a team of higher-trained, more responsible people to do this? Do we need the Secret Service?

FUENTES: I believe we need the Secret Service. And I think as you said, it would be throwing the baby out with the bath water. You know the training that they give those, the protection details and the amount of moving parts that we have.

We only see the four or five officers or agents that are around the president when he's moving around. We don't see the hundreds of people doing behind-the-scenes, the advance teams, the coordination.

Also the Secret Service is not only responsible for the first family and the vice president, but also any head of state that visits. So when we just had 150 or 190 heads of state at the United Nations last week, they're responsible for every single head of state that comes to Washington or anywhere else in the United States.

So they have a lot of responsibilities on the protection side. Then of course, you have the uniform detail that protects the White House. What we need to look at here is have they had reductions in resources or reductions in training or staffing?

Are they bringing in people, TDY constantly to try to supplement a lack of resources, let's say? We don't know all of that. You know we have to look at the policies, the procedures and the training. That's for sure. And to what extent leadership has been analyzing these things and requesting and managing in the proper manner.

CUOMO: Yes. It will be interesting to find out what they pick the head's brain about when the head of the Secret Service is put before the lawmakers today. I'm going to be very interested to hear, she's supposedly going to be asked about the process of who they put on the Secret Service and in what capacity.

It will be interesting to hear from what pool they're picking people. Tom Fuentes, thank you very much for helping us understand this a little better.

FUENTES: Thank you.

CUOMO: Michaela, over to you.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris, thanks so much. We turn to the latest in the fight against ISIS. Despite coalition airstrikes, ISIS continues to advance on the Syrian border town of Kobani.

There are reports of ISIS gains in Iraq with new details of deadly fighting near Baghdad over the weekend. These advances have more people asking, are coalition airstrikes enough to stop the terrorists?

Let's turn to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. She is joining us this morning with the latest. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. ISIS advancing as you say on two key strategic fronts in Northern Syria, the town of Kobani, right near the Turkish border. ISIS said to be almost ready to take that town.

There's been fighting there for days as civilians try and flee. What happens if they take Kobani? Kobani puts them right up against the Turkish border. It puts them right on NATO's southern flank, Turkey, a member of NATO.

And it gives them potential access to that route from Turkey, the smuggling route foreign fighters crossing from Turkey into Syria to join up with ISIS, and fight with them. There have been minimal U.S. and coalition air strikes around there. ISIS on the advance.

Baghdad, ISIS this morning said to be fighting 5 miles south of Baghdad. That puts them within walking distance of the capital. Very concerning, something that everyone is watching.

The question now may be for the Pentagon is, can these airstrikes move fast enough? We have seen for months now, ISIS move very quick, on the move, on the battlefield. Can airstrikes actually catch up with them?

The U.S., Pentagon officials say, those airstrikes are working. That they are degrading ISIS capabilities, but ISIS still has plenty of movement on the battlefield. The dynamics seem to be changing every day -- Michaela. PEREIRA: They certainly are and they're warning of a long, protracted battle. Obviously those borders are a grave concern. Barbara, thank you so much.

CUOMO: Those peaceful protesters in Hong Kong are bracing for a big crackdown from authorities. The city's chief executive says China will not compromise, urging protestors to end the demonstration for the sake of the public good and their own safety as well.

But thousands are still on the streets protesting against Beijing's heavy presence in upcoming elections. Ivan Watson is live in Hong Kong this morning with the latest. There's been a lot of action there, Ivan, what's going on now?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, you know I think it sums it up, the sign over my shoulder here, a line from a Broadway musical, do you hear the people sing? That's one of the slogans that's been out here as the demonstrators have occupied this highway running through the center of Hong Kong now for more than 48 hours.

It has been peaceful, really for 36 of those hours, and both sides in this dispute, the pro-democracy demonstrators and the Hong Kong authorities seem to be digging in their heels. That does not seem to be room for a compromise at this point. As the crowds are swelling as the sun is setting here in Hong Kong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON (voice-over): Defiant protesters ignoring the orders of their Chinese-backed leaders, who are calling the demonstrations illegal, urging organizers to stop for fear the tense crowd will get out of control. This morning, schools forced to suspend classes.

The protesters demanding Hong Kong have free and fair elections in 2017. But Hong Kong chief executive says China will not compromise.

DR. CHAN KIN-MAN, LEADER, OCCUPY CENTRAL MOVEMENT: All the candidates will be peacefully elected by Beijing. We think that it is unacceptable.

WATSON: In 1997, when Britain handed Hong Kong back, Beijing promised universal suffrage by 2017. Now, protesters say Beijing is watering down that promise. Requiring all candidates to be chosen by officials loyal to china.

Since Hong Kong has a political system separate from China, it allows its people freedom of press and the right to protest. On Sunday, protesters took to the streets. Clashing with police. Using umbrellas to protect themselves from teargas and pepper spray.

Some fear Hong Kong could face the same fate as Tiananmen Square 25 years ago, when China brutally cracked down on a pro-democracy movement.

MARTIN LEE, LEADER DEMOCRATIC PARTY: The troops are stationed in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong people I think many them will not be scared. I think they will not be scare. If I see a tank from the Chinese troops in Hong Kong, I will get myself a bicycle and stand right in front of it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Chris, it's important to stress the bulk of the protesters here are young, 18, 19, 20 years old. Born after the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. They never saw it firsthand, very idealistic. Some of them don't have the support of their parents to be out here.

And it's going to be a real challenge for their government in Hong Kong to find a way to talk to them and there has been no sign yet that the top official here in Hong Kong has sat down throughout this crisis to meet with any of these student leaders yet -- Chris.

CUOMO: Ivan, you're raising the right issue. I mean, you have to balance what appears to be a happening going on with the potential for some real danger there and violence if the next step happens. So keep us alerted to what's going on, on the ground. Ivan Watson, thank you very much.

A lot of news going on this morning so let's get you right to John Berman with the top stories.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Chris. Five weeks to go before the midterm elections, by one measure, Democrats are gaining a little bit of ground. Look at our brand-new CNN/ORC poll, when likely voters were asked their choice for Congress in November, this is the generic congressional ballot test, 47 percent said they would vote for a Democrat, 45 percent said, Republican.

That's a six-point gain for Democrats since the air campaign against ISIS in Syria began. And a majority of Americans have more confidence in President Obama than Republican lawmakers when it comes to the ISIS war strategy, 48 percent to 41 percent.

But the real issue driving voters, they say, is the economy. About two out of every three Americans say the economy is more important to them than any military action. Remember, the only poll that counts is the one on Election Day in addition to all the other CNN polls.

An unidentified patient who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus is being treated this morning in an isolation unit at a Dallas hospital. Test results to confirm the presence of Ebola are expected back from the Centers for Disease Control sometime today. Officials at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital would only say the patient was admitted based on symptoms and recent travel history.

Afghanistan's new government set to sign a long delayed and key security agreement with the United States today. This pact allows about 10,000 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan to train and advise and assist Afghan security forces beyond this year. U.S. and Afghan officials had agreed on the terms of this accord more than a year ago, but former Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, refused to sign it. New details in the deadly car accident that seriously injured comedian

Tracy Morgan. Walmart says that Morgan is responsible for his own injuries, because they say he was not wearing a seat belt. Morgan and others are suing Walmart after one of its trucks slammed into the comedian's limo bus, killing a passenger causing serious injury to Morgan. Walmart has denied allegations of recklessness and negligence.

Not over yet.

CUOMO: It seems insensitive what's going on. But you have to remember, one, it's litigation and in a lot of states, I have to check that one, they have what they call comparative negligence, which is where both parties kind of blame the other one a little bit just to get the percentage right of it was 90 percent me, only 10 percent you.

So, it's a little bit of this.

BERMAN: It factors into the dollar figure at the end here, which is where this all may end up.

CUOMO: Yes.

PEREIRA: A man lost his life. Tracy Morgan has a long recovery ahead of him. It's hard not to let that emotional part of it play into it as well.

CUOMO: Civil lawsuits are about this at the end of the day.

All right. So, we want to tell you about a shocking development in the case of the missing Virginia co-ed Hannah Graham. We've been following this story, so of you I'm sure. Police say the suspect in her disappearance may be linked to the death of another young woman in the area, five years ago. What happened to her?

We're going to break down the new evidence, explore the possibility. Maybe there are more victims out there. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We have a big break to tell about in case of a missing Virginia co-ed, Hannah Graham. Police investigating her disappearance say forensic evidence links the prime suspect, Jesse Matthew Jr., to the 2009 murder of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington. So what does this mean for both investigations?

Let's bring in Athena Jones. She's following the latest developments for us from Charlottesville.

What do we know?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Well, this forensic link police have discovered appears to confirm the fears of a lot of folks around here that Hannah Graham's disappearance was part of a pattern. While it's too soon to know, for sure, this new development has people asking if police has a serial killer on their hands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): Police are calling it a, quote, "significant break", evidence that could link the suspect at the center of Hannah Graham's disappearance to another missing female college student, Morgan Harrington, who was later found murdered.

GIL HARRINGTON, MORGAN HARRINGTON'S MOTHER: There's a suspect in a link to Morgan's murder. And I am so pleased that that has happened. But it doesn't change a lot for us.

JONES: State police say forensic evidence found in the course of three separate searches links Jesse Matthew, who is facing charges in the Graham case, to Harrington, found dead in 2010.

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN: Cops have confirmed that human remains found on a Charlottesville, Virginia, farm are indeed those of the beautiful 20-year-old co-ed.

JONES: A 20-year-old Virginia tech student, Harrington vanished after a Metallica concert on the University of Virginia campus in October 2009. The pair are among several young women who have disappeared in the area in recent years, raising questions about whether the cases are linked, including from Harrington's mother.

HARRINGTON: I really don't know if it's a cluster phenomena that just is kind of a coincidence, or if it's actually a pattern of a predator.

JONES: But until now, police resisted making the connection.

CHIEF TIMOTHY LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE POLICE: It's easy for me to understand why people would ask that question and have their mind go in that direction, I don't have enough facts before me to make that determination.

JONES: Now Virginia state police are pursuing unspecified forensic evidence linking Harrington and Matthew. If that holds up, there could be another victim linked to the suspect. According to an FBI statement from 2012, the suspect in the Harrington case matched the DNA profile from a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: Now, Morgan Harrington's remains were found on a farm about 10 miles away from where she went missing. Authorities are still searching for Hannah Graham. And they have no idea where she is -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. So, there's a big lead, a development here, but still waiting for the most important discovery at least in the Hannah Graham case. Thank you to Athena Jones.

Michaela, over to you.

PEREIRA: Yes, let's talk more about this big lead, we want to bring in CNN commentator and legal analyst, Mel Robbins.

I was watching you watch piece. You're shaking your head. You're visibly upset. I know you've got some theories about what we're looking at here.

Go ahead, talk to me.

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Michaela.

Yes, I mean, as a mother of two daughters, one who is approaching college age, this is just the kind of story that is every parent's worst nightmare, Michaela. So, I'm shaking my head, because I have a pit in my stomach. Knowing that this guy is not only linked now to a 2009 murder, but also to a 2005 rape, and there's even allegations that he was accused of raping a student at Liberty University, but those charges were dropped.

So, I think that we are just at the tip of the iceberg, Michaela.

PEREIRA: What's also really interesting, we've been doing a little digging, I know you have and several other people have been as well, that there's an area of Virginia, Route 29, that has seen its share of disappearances, abductions, even homicides.

I mean, there are women -- Morgan Harrington, as you mentioned, 2009 disappeared. Her body was found on a farm later. Another young woman, Samantha Clark, 19, disappeared in 2010. Lauren Smith disappeared in 2011, Sage Smith disappeared in 2012. Almost every year, Alexis Murphy, 17, a senior in high school disappeared in 2013.

This looks like there's something going on on Route 29.

ROBBINS: There's definitely something going on. I mean, the second -- when we all heard this, you know, you've got the Dashad Smith, all these young ladies, as you pointed out Michaela, same age, same general time period, every single year seemingly vanish off the face of the earth. And when you've got now the man last seen with Hannah Graham before she disappeared, you've got his DNA linking him to 2009.

And let me just put it into perspective -- DNA evidence is the single best evidence that you can have other than a videotape, it's like a marker, a genetic marker of the people that were there, of what happened and so in my mind, they've got this guy, Jesse Matthew, on the Harrington murder for sure. There is no way that they're going to be able to refute the DNA evidence, there's also some outlets reporting that there's physical evidence that was found in his apartment connecting him to her.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: So they're obviously -- they're obviously going to take his DNA and look at some of the other cold cases, other outstanding cases, correct?

ROBBINS: Yes. And, you know, there's a federal database, that the FBI maintains and I am certain that they're going to take his DNA, Michaela, and they are going to try to match it against cold cases.

The local authorities are going to do the same. This guy isn't going anywhere. He's been extradited back to Virginia. He's due in court on Thursday, they will remand him while they wait to indict hit on the murder charges in the Harrington case.

And that will give the FBI and the local authorities a chance to really now, go back and take a hard look at (AUDIO GAP) disappearances.

PEREIRA: You know, I was just thinking. I was watching the heartbreaking interview with Mrs. Harrington. Just heart-breaking to listen to this woman. You know, some of these families still don't know what happened to their child.

She mentions the fact they know, and they can have a measure of peace, which I don't even know how you could. But they have a measure of peace knowing that their daughter, where she is she's there with them.

So, these families don't have that yet. And these investigations are ongoing. In a way, I was thinking about how you need to have a really good victim advocate to keep these stories alive, do you not?

ROBBINS: Yes, because, you know, one of the interesting things that was also so sad is that you you've got families like Alexis Murphy's family. She went missing in 2013. She actually had somebody convicted, but they never found her body. So I would imagine they're going to run his DNA in this case as well.

Dashad Smith, Samantha Ann Clark, all these families have been in the press, saying, you know, is it because we weren't out there, is it because of who are families that these cases didn't stay in the limelight. And, you know, it's all in our hope we're going to find Hannah Graham alive.

But, you know, in this kind of case, without -- I mean -- it's so hard to even talk about it when you have kids at home, when you think about that press conference of the Graham family. And how just heart- breaking it's, it rips your heart out to see what these parents are going through. And what Harrington's mother said, it's like -- at least now they can move to the stage of grieving. The not knowing is so painful.

PEREIRA: Is the worst part. Mel Robbins, we appreciate you helping us shine a light on it and hopefully, more light will stay on these stories, and we can find some hope and peace for those families. I appreciate it.

All right. Just over a month until midterm elections, a new CNN/ORC poll shows the Democrats may be gaining ground but can they stop Republicans from taking control of the Senate? And are both parties overlooking the issue that matters most to voters? We're going to take a look at the surprising results, ahead.

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