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Defector Hopes to Airdrop "The Interview" into North Korea; Michael Brown, Eric Garner's Families Condemn Cop Killings; A German Author Spends 10 Days with ISIS; Tensions in NYC After Two Cops Killed

Aired December 22, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, North Korea openly threatening the U.S., saying the Sony attack was just the beginning all the while denying that they had any involvement in that breach. The U.S. now considering adding North Korea back to its terror list, and all this unfolding as human rights activists vow to make sure that the film that sparked it all, called "The Interview", finds an audience in North Korea.

Kyung Lah joins us live from South Korea with the latest. Kyung.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, it is a frustrating fact in dealing with the North Korea. The United States has very limited options. Well, one North Korean defector says, don't get mad, get even.

(BEBIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: Take him out.

SETH ROGEN, ACTOR: You want us to kill the leader of North Korea?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

JAMES FRANCO, ACTOR: What?

LAH (voice-over): North Americans won't see "The Interview" in theaters, but Park Sung-hak pledges North Koreans will.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: DVD?

LAH: This plastic bag is packed with western news clips about North Korea's brutal atrocities from labor camps to attacks on South Korea, and music videos of how the west views the regime. For years, Park, a North Korean defector, has launched the bags across the border. These giant balloons drop the bags into North Korea with the hope of reaching the average citizen. And when it does, it challenges the sole image North Koreans have of the regime. This is all North Koreans see their entire life. Only one state-controlled television station exists in North Korea. Kim Jong-Un is god.

"The Interview" shatters the revered image of the regime says Park: a silly comedy to the west, a powerful tool for this defector. He waits and hopes Sony releases a movie on DVD. It's deeply personal. Twenty years ago, he read a South Korean leaflet and he realized he needed to flee North Korea.

(on camera): This is how you see the regime crumbling?

(voice-over): This will change how North Koreans think, says Park, when you know the truth, it will bring change. We want North Koreans to gain freedom and topple the regime. Already heavily sanctioned and isolated, the U.S. has few options in dealing with North Korea. But Park believes he can get even. Put the very movie the regime tried so hard to block right in their own backyard.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (on camera): Now, Park is working with a New York-based human rights foundation. He is hoping that they are going to be successful in talks with Sony to get some copies of the DVDs, whenever that release is, if it releases, and he's hoping to get 100,000 copies, Chris, so he can drop them across the border. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: That will be something to see. I'm sure it will be well documented, although that may wind up hurting the mission.

Kyung, thank you very much for the reporting.

CAMEROTA: What a clever plan.

CUOMO: We'll have to see how that works out there. We'll be following that definitely.

But we do want to talk to you this morning about the situation in New York, specifically the deranged man who gunned down two police officers here. He said Eric Garner and Michael Brown were his motivation, but is that why he shot his girlfriend the day before?

We have the attorney from Michael Brown family to get his take, and the family's outraged response.

CAMEROTA: And a CNN exclusive for you, a journalist and former German politician spent an extraordinary spent ten days in ISIS-controlled territory. His gripping look behind enemy lines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: The person who gunned down two New York city police officers was a deranged gunman. He says he was avenging the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Now the families of both of those men were quick to denounce that motivation. Here is Eric Garner's mother condemning all violence in her son's name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GWEN CARR, ERIC GARNER'S MOTHER: Standing with us, we want you to not use Eric Garner's name for violence because we are not about that. These two police officers lost their life senselessly. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Joining us now is Benjamin Crump; he's the attorney for Michael Brown's family. Counselor, thank you for joining us. The family put out a statement that we will put up on the screen for people to read obviously saying that the violence is rejected. We reject any kind of violence directed toward law enforcement. Can't be tolerated. We must work together to bring peace to our communities.

And other than the incident with the stepfather of Michael Brown, there's been a consistent message that what we want is protests, what we want is change, as the Brown family. We do violence -- want violence or rioting. What does the family make of this situation?

BENJAMIN CRUMP, BROWN FAMILY ATTORNEY: It's tragic, Chris, and they reject it as they have rejected it yesterday. They reject it today. They will reject all forms of violence in the future. They really want to express their heartfelt sympathy because it's Christmas time and it's just tragic. All our hearts break for the families of these police officers. Protesters, all the protesters that were heartbroken for the deaths of Ferguson and Staten Island, are heartbroken over the deaths of these police officers. This is just a terrible, terrible thing.

CUOMO: Look, it's easy to dismiss the man who did this. He had problems. He had a police record. His mother said she was afraid of him. He will probably wind up having some history of mental illness that was ignored by people in his inner circle. And yet the tone that we have seen that's become somewhat pervasive in the last couple of months, do you think it is time to check that tone, for someone like Reverend Sharpton and other leaders of the protest to come forward and clarify what they mean by what they want to see change and not direct hostility towards police but focus on policy?

CRUMP: I don't know civil rights leaders that have talked about doing anything irresponsible like this here. Everybody has tried to promote positive change. Trying attribute the senseless acts of violence of this one individuals onto thousands of people who protest peacefully all across America is analogous to trying to contribute the attacks of Lee Harvey Oswald, when he assassinated President Kennedy, to Martin Luther King in the civil rights non-violent protests. That's just ridiculous.

We need to use this as an opportunity to elevate the conversation as a society to pay the proper legacy to all of those individuals we lost to this senseless violence, and especially with these two innocent police officers, to say their legacy is we're going to do better as a society to prevent anybody from having something like this happen again.

CUOMO: Right. That is the right message, Counselor, obviously. But there's a different perception out there as well. Listen to the head of the union for the New York police department and his feelings about what's been going on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PATRICK LYNCH, PATROLMAN'S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT: There is blood on many hands tonight. Those that incited violence on this street under the guise of the protests that tried to tear down what New York City police officers did every day. That blood on the hands starts on the steps of City Hall in the office of the mayor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Do you think that some of the rhetoric went too far?

CRUMP: I do. And I think it was Mayor Guiliani who said that's not the right tone as well. So we have to use these watershed moments in our modern day history to elevate the conversation, the leaders have to lead to bring people together, not to divide people. And we have to say that we respect all life. The tragedy in Ferguson, the tragedy Staten Island, we don't want to see those repeated out we want to see the policies and procedures. But the tragedy that happened in Brooklyn over the weekend, we want to say to the citizens everywhere that we respect our police officers. We understand they have a very difficult job. And we want citizens to understand that it's tough and we want to make sure that no acts of violence are brought against the police. And in the same tone we want them to use their training and their supervision to make sure no sense of violence is brought against citizens. It's a two-way street. We all have to work together to make it a better America, and we use these tragedies, Chris, to hopefully pay legacy to the individuals, to say we are going to do better.

CUOMO: Do you think that the protesters should calm down for the period of the funerals and allowing there to be some healing in the city right now?

CRUMP: Certainly, I think the protesters have been very respectful. I got a pit in the bottom of my stomach when I heard about the slaying of these two officers, just like I got a pit in the bottom of my stomach when I heard about Michael Brown laying on the ground at Canfield community and I watched the video of Eric Garner. This is hurtful to anybody that says they love America, any of these tragedies.

And the protesters, I am sure, will be as respectful and mourning the loss of these officers as they were respectful and mourning the loss of these citizens. You know, it's just sickening when you have these violent acts happening over and over again. And Dr. King says that hate can't drive out hate; only love can conquer this hate and this senseless killing.

We have to, as a society, say we're going to respect each other --the community respect the police officers and the police officers respect the community. I know there are so many people who marched in protest also laying flowers at the memorial in New York. So we're not isolated from one another. They're not incompatible saying that we want to respect all life.

CUOMO: It is sad that a community that had become part of the division in the city about the protests and the needs for what has to change and who's at fault was very much together last night. But it is sad it took a tragedy like this to bring them together, but at least they were together.

Benjamin Crump, thank you very much for offering your perspective on the show as always.

CRUMP: Thank you for having me.

CUOMO: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK Chris, we have a fascinating segment coming up. It's an exclusive look at the world's most brutal terrorist organization, a never before seen glimpse of what life is like under ISIS. One author going inside ISIS territory, speaking directly to ISIS fighters, and living to tell us about it. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: What is it like to be inside the ISIS terror network? The terrorist operation largely hidden from direct exposure until now. One author venturing inside ISIS, documenting it with unprecedented clarity and living to tell about it.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has our exclusive look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an extremely rare glimpse into the inner workings of the most dangerous terrorist network in the world. German author Jurgen Todenhofer managed to visit ISIS territory both in Iraq and in Syria.

JURGEN TODENHOFER, AUTHOR: They are only 1 percent. It's a 1 percent movement in the Islamic world. But this 1 percent movement has the power of a nuclear tsunami. It's incredible. I was so amazed. I was -- I couldn't understand this entity.

PLEITGEN: Todenhofer spent several days in Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city conquered by ISIS in June. He even visited the mosque where ISIS had Abu Bakr al-Baghdidi give a speech earlier this year. He also met with child soldiers.

TODENHOFER: How old are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): I am 13.

PLEITGEN: Todenhofer managed to get access to a Kurdish prisoner in the hands of the extremists.

TODENHOFER: What did they tell you? What will happen to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): Our captors said that we have Islamic State fighters imprisoned with Kurdish regional government. You are prisoners here and we will trade you back for our fighters. They didn't say they would kill or slaughter. PLEITGEN: Todenhofer says people living in ISIS controlled areas are

in fear of the harsh penalties for infringement of the stringent laws. But there's a sense of order and stability. According to Todenhofer, fighters say they often managed to defeat much larger armies, like the Iraqi military, because they're not afraid to die.

Todenhofer: It took you how many days to conquer Mosul?

Four days?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): We didn't kill 24, but we killed a score of them so they got terrified and ran away. We don't retreat. We only fight and God Almighty will victor us. Those who have reverted from Islam do not have a solid ideology so they ran away. They came to fight for the tyrant, fight for money.

PLEITGEN: During battle, he learned many of the ISIS fighters wear suicide vests, willing to blow themselves up rather than be captured.

In one interview, a senior ISIS fighter warns the U.S. and Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): We'll conquer Europe some day. It's not a question of us wanting: we will. We'll kill 150 other million, 200 million, 500 million. We don't care about the number.

PLEITGEN: Atrocities ISIS has already committed suggest they're serious about their threats. This German author's visit to the Islamic State shows a brutal, merciless group, but also one that won't go away anytime soon.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Munich, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Riveting to see that up close and personal.

CUOMO: People will say why do I want to let them speak? I don't want to hear what they have to say. But you want to understand what's going on because so much of what happens seems senseless when we hear about it. But that was a really brave thing to do, for that German author. I don't know what arrangement was made to get in there but that's --

CAMERTOA: I'm sure he might have thought at some times that he wasn't coming out. It was fascinating to see one of the ISIS leaders without his -- his identity exposed, without his face covered. We rarely see that.

CUOMO: And you'll also get a sense of the consistency of what they believe and you'll get to judge what really is motivating their actions.

All right, we have a situation back here at home that there's just no escaping. We have trouble in the United States now with the culture of policing and attention. So what do we do about it? We have two men coming up on the show who know more about policing and certainly the NYPD than just about anybody. What do they think is the way forward? You're going to want to hear from the city's former police commissioner Ray Kelly, there he is, and we have former mayor Rudy Giuliani who will be here as well. Our thanks to the gentlemen. An important conversation coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two officers assassinated.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New York City police on high alert, facing a new thereat.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY: It is an attack on all of us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to take back our community. This can't happen. Where's your humanity?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know who in the heck got the impression that this community is not behind their police department.

PATRICK LYNCH, PATROLMAN'S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT: Blood on their hand starts in the office of the mayor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have not caved in. We have not given in. We have persevered and we have not backed down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As responsible for the Sony hack --

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can not have a society in which some dictator can start imposing censorship here in the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They must be incredible happy in Pyongyang.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. It's Monday, December 22nd just before 8:00 in the East. I'm Chris Cuomo with Alisyn Camerota here.

And here's what we know. The gunman who shot two defenseless New York City officers as they sat in their patrol car this weekend was by all accounts deranged. He had a long history of violence and mental issues. And then on Saturday he told two bystanders to follow him on Instagram and watch what I'm going to do before he opened fire.

CAMEROTA: Well, now the city police union making accusations against Mayor Bill De Blasio, claiming he created an anti-cop culture by backing protesters over police in the wake of the Eric Garner grand jury decisions. We will discuss all this in a moment with the city's former police commissioner and the co-chair of the president's task force on policing.

But first we want to get to Alexandra Field. She is live from Brooklyn, New York, this morning. Good morning, Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Those two officers, they were executed on this corner. They never saw the gunman coming. But the NYPD is on the lookout for the next attack. They have a team working around the clock to scour social media trying to find the next threats that are out there, and they've got investigators who are out looking for people who are making those threats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): Breaking overnight, officers on heightened alert, following a few online threat. In Brooklyn, police are searching for an alleged gang member who posted a threatening message toward officers on Facebook with the photo of a police vehicle. And in Memphis, police questioned a 26-year-old man after he posted on Instagram "#shootthepolice, two more going down tomorrow."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't mean it like that. It got mixed up.

FIELD: Investigators scour social media on the lookout for copycats after 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot and killed two NYPD officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, execution-style Saturday afternoon.

Police looking into more than 15 online threats according to a law enforcement official.

Family and loved ones mourning the loss of officers Ramos and Liu at an evening vigil in Brooklyn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope and pray that we can reflect on this tragic loss of lives that has occurred.

FIELD: Earlier Sunday, New York's commissioner and mayor attending mass at New York's historic St. Patrick's Cathedral, where the congregation stood in applause for the slain policemen.

This, a stark contrast today from the NYPD turning their backs on Mayor Bill De Blasio at a news conference Saturday, angered about his support of the protests for Eric Garner, the unarmed Staten Island man who died after an apparent chokehold by NYPD officers.

The shooter's onslaught began Saturday morning. He posted this ominous warning on Instagram, "I'm putting wings on pigs today." Accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore, the 28-year-old then traveled to New York, murdering Ramos and Liu with his semiautomatic gun before taking his own life.

The scene horrific.

(on camera): When you walked up and you saw that patrol car, what was going through your mind?

TANTANIA ALEXANDER, FIRST EMS RESPONDER ON THE SCENE: He has a family and you don't know if you're going to make it to your family. I mean, this job, you put your life on the line every day for people. FIELD (voice-over): Brinsley also posting before his rampage, "They take one of ours, let's take two of theirs." His postings make references to Michael Brown and Eric Garner, according to police.

Garner's mother heartbroken all over again.

GWEN CARR, ERIC GARNER'S MOTHER: We want to not use Eric Garner's name for violence. We are not about that. These two police officers lost their lives senselessly.

FIELD: Officer Ramos' son posted this message on Facebook: "This is the worst day of my life. Everyone says they hate cops, but they are the people they call for help." He writes, "I will never forget you. Rest in peace, Dad."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (on camera): A 13-year-old bringing the senselessness of all this into focus. These families have questions that of course will never be answered. But we are learning about the gunman. We know that he has extensive criminal record. He was arrested 19 times, spent two years in prison. And, Chris, he had admitted in the past to a judge to having mental health issues.