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Officials: Museum Attackers Trained in Libya; Obama Appeals to Iranian People on Nuclear Deal; Obama 'Reassessing' Relationship with Israel; Netanyahu Backtracks on Palestinian Statehood; UVA Student 'Shocked' by Violent Arrest. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 20, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does not deliver any detail or evidence to suggest that ISIS was in direct control of those gunmen.

[06:00:07] But it does contain an ominous warning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING ARABIC)

BLACK (voice-over): "This is just the start," says ISIS in an unverified audio message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING ARABIC)

BLACK: The brutal militant group claiming responsibility for the deadliest attack on tourists in the Middle East in over a decade. ISIS claiming the attack targeted crusaders and apostates.

When gunmen opened fire inside a museum on Tunisia's capital, Wednesday, the gunmen killing 23 people and injuring dozens more, many international visitors.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is the latest example of extremist terror, and we have to fight it with everything we have.

BLACK: Nine people have already been arrested, according to Tunisian authorities, four directly linked to the attacks. The prime minister identified two suspects by name, saying on French radio station ATL, one had been known to security services.

The two gunmen killed recruited at a Tunisian mosque in September and trained at a jihadist camp in Libya, according to a Tunisian interior official who spoke to Reuters.

Those attackers were carrying terrible explosives. Tunisia's president, Beji Caid Essebsi, told French broadcaster TFI the security forces worked quickly, killing them before detonation. President Obama called Essebsi on Thursday, offering continued U.S. support in the investigation.

LT. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You're going to see these low-level attacks, but high-impact attacks, this will not be long before it comes to the United States, because it is so easy for ISIS, al Qaeda, any other of these groups to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACK: Crowds marking Tunisia's independence day are already gathering in the center of the city, of the capital here. It's always a big event in Tunisia. This year many hope the rallies will also be a symbolic gesture of defiance against those they now believe threaten this country's very existence -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: We saw those march at the wake of the "Charlie Hebdo" massacre in France. We're seeing the same thing, people gathering around and rallying around their countrymen. Great to see Phil.

All right. This attack is raising fears about the Islamic State's reach. A new CNN/ORC poll finds 80 percent of Americans consider ISIS to be a serious threat to the U.S. That's up. That's way up, in fact, from 63 percent who said the very same in September.

Want to discuss this all with Phillip Mudd, CNN counterterrorism analyst and former CIA counterterrorism official; also Lieutenant Colonel James Reese, CNN global affairs analyst and retired U.S. Delta Force commander. He joins us from overseas, and there is a bit of delay, so we'll just be patient with that.

Colonel Reese, let's start with you. We're learning that the attackers killed by the Tunisian security forces, they were wearing explosive vests that did not have time to detonate. Does this fit the style of ISIS to you?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning, Michaela, from Baghdad. It does. You know, we've seen throughout the years that these attackers, they're well trained. They go to these safe havens such as Libya. They get some very good training.

But they also realize that once they get into these assaults, that the chances of coming out of there alive are slim to none. So that really -- putting the suicide vest on really is their last chance bastion to go ahead and conduct a secondary dynamic explosion when forces are coming in to wreak more havoc.

So yes, we've seen it, and yes, I believe we'll see this other places throughout the Middle East as we go forward.

PEREIRA: Phil Mudd, I know that we have learned that these two men were killed by Tunisian forces, they had been radicalized in a mosque in Tunisia. They had trained in Libya, we're finding out now. A, does this fit the profile? And B, do you believe this claim that this was is-related?

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: First of all, I believe the claim that it was ISIS related. That word "related," Michaela, is critical. Back 15 years ago when we had al Qaeda, they would have more tightly controlled this. You would have said an al Qaeda-controlled operation. Now what ISIS is doing is sort of sending out sparks of this kind of Islamist revolution to groups that don't really have close connectivity to the center. But they believe in the ideology. So I think this is a spark of ISIS. It's not controlled by ISIS.

In terms of the people radicalized in the mosque and trained in a neighboring country -- that is Libya -- think about two things here. First, the revolution in Tunisia meant looser guidelines on what people could say. Freedom of speech. I think there's a lot of Tunisians who are saying, "Wow, freedom of speech brought us the ability to have somebody in a mosque radicalize a youth," like we saw in this situation.

In terms of the training, final point. If you look at Tunisia's geography, Algeria on one side, a lot of instability for years, Libya on the other side, a lot of instability after -- over Khadafy. Boy, if you're sitting in the middle of that, you've got to be worried after this incident.

[06:05:03] PEREIRA: Well, and you look at the numbers, too. Some 3,000 Tunisian men and women have left -- or, well, we don't know if they're men and women. We know that 3,000 have gone to Libya or to Iraq and Syria.

Let me ask you about this carnage specifically, Colonel Reese. The fact that so many people were killed in what seems somewhat spontaneous. But it was clearly targeted. They struck at the very heart of Tunisia's economy: tourism. There was a real message being sent there.

REESE: Yes, there is. You know, throughout the Middle East, especially in some of these religious places around the world that have these religious historical places, this is one of the things that ISIS or DAIS can affect. They can affect the economies. They can affect the tourism of people coming in. And literally in Tunis, this is huge for the people there to affect. it affects everyone all the way down to the taxi drivers.

So this is a major effect. I think it will affect other places around the world, and governments really have to take a hard look at how they're going to stop this and put this in play.

PEREIRA: Phil, we've got some new polling out, and it really measures the temperature of American sentiment and tolerance of what's going on. Maybe we can pull some of those up.

In the last six months, the level of concern that Americans feel for ISIS, it's gone up some 12 percent. If you look at it now, back in September it was 68 percent. Eighty percent of Americans feels that ISIS poses a serious threat to the United States.

The White House has got to be paying attention to that. The concern over the Americans is growing.

MUDD: Their concern is growing. I'd watch that phrase "serious threat." To me, there's a substantial difference between concern -- I'm a professional, I'm concerned about this -- and serious threat.

PEREIRA: Sure.

MUDD: I'm part of the 20 percent; I'm part of the minority here. Let me be clear why.

Americans are responding very emotionally to this, as they should.

PEREIRA: Well, you understand we should, right. Yes.

MUDD: Yes. But, but -- if you look at the metrics, if you're an analyst as I am, you've got to be cold-blooded. And metrics would tell you, I've got ten nieces and nephews. What is the impact on an American family? And how do you rate this against things like the fact that educational standards in this country, compared to the west are OK; they're not great. We're talking about a generation of youth that might have lower life expectancy than I have, that we're talking about synthetic drugs introduced in schools that are cheaper, but they're deadlier than what I faced.

PEREIRA: You're saying compared to bigger realities that Americans face at home, we don't need to put ISIS in a category it doesn't belong to.

MUDD: Correct. You should be concerned, because we have a group that has access to westerners. They have time to plot, they've been around for years now. But if you step back and say, "How do I measure concern about things that might affect the child," I would say you might even consider not putting this in your top ten. It's not going to affect a kid in a grade or high school, and that's my metric for how to measure concern.

PEREIRA: I think that may be something that we need to hear, especially from somebody who knows what is going on and has a true read of it. You both are great analysts for us. We appreciate it, Phillip Mudd.

And Lieutenant Colonel Reese, we appreciate you joining us from Baghdad -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Michaela.

New overnight, President Obama zeroing in on Iran's youth, urging them to pressure their leaders to accept a nuclear deal with the west. The president made the plea in a just-released YouTube video. This as the nuclear talks in Switzerland seem to be hitting a road block and a deadline, just 11 days away.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson right in the middle of these discussions in Switzerland.

Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. The talks already slipping a little bit. This morning Prime

Minister Zarif, the Iranian prime minister, and Foreign [SIC] Secretary John Kerry have not sat down yet. That is expected soon. It should have happened a little earlier. President Obama's message to the Iranian people: "Now is the time to make an important choice." This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Iran's leaders have a choice between two paths. If they cannot agree to a reasonable deal, they will keep Iran on the path it's on today. A path that has isolated Iran and the Iranian people from so much of the world. If Iran's leaders can agree to a reasonable deal, it can lead to a better path: the path of greater opportunities for the Iranian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, I asked the Iranian foreign minister this morning, if there is still time to make a deal before the deadline. This is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Do you think that a deal is possible by the 31st of March?

JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I think a deal is possible any time. It depends on the political will whether it's a political will to reach one. It's possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Interesting, because his talking about political will earlier in the week, the Iranians have been talking more about the need to make ground on technical issues.

Secretary of State John Kerry has said all along that it's time for political compromise, tough choices on the Iranian side about President Obama's message.

However, Zarif also had his own message that he had tweeted earlier. He told me when I asked him about it.

[06:10:00] He said that it is high time for the United States and its allies to choose, putting the choice here back on the United States, for the United States to choose pressure or agreement. The indication there, a big push-back from the Iranian side. If the United States, John Kerry wants to get a deal here, he needs to stop pressuring the Iranian side -- Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Nic, it's all so complicated. Thanks so much for explaining it to us.

And there's a new complication in U.S./Israeli relations this morning, President Obama calling Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, to congratulate him for winning re-election two days after the fact. But he also issued a warning to the prime minister that the U.S. is now reassessing their relationship.

We have complete coverage beginning with CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski. What's the word there this morning, Michelle?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this time it was Benjamin Netanyahu's turn to get schooled by the White House, which very publicly said that words matter and that there are consequences.

I mean, the president has now called Netanyahu, and there was a word of congratulations. But he also brought up these highly controversial things that Netanyahu said just before his re-election. Namely, that he said there would never be a two-state solution with Palestine while he was prime minister and that his supporters should counteract all of the Arabs going to the polls in droves, as he put it.

The White House calling this divisive, saying that it erodes the shared values between the U.S. and Israel. I mean, the press secretary mentioned no fewer than 19 times yesterday during the press briefing that, as a result, the U.S. is now re-evaluating its position, moving forward, even though Netanyahu has now walked back virtually everything he said. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Now the prime minister of Israel says -- earlier this week, days before an election this is a principle he no longer subscribes to and that his nation no longer subscribes to. That means the United States needs to rethink our approach. That this -- that steps that this principle has been the foundation of a number of policy decisions that have been made here. And now that that foundation has been eroded, it means that our policy decisions need to be reconsidered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: And part of that re-evaluation, the White House says, does include the U.S. constantly standing up for Israel in the U.N.

If any of this upsets Netanyahu, well, he always has House Speaker John Boehner to talk to, who's just announced that he is going to go to Israel within the next two weeks, and meet with Netanyahu -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Michelle, certainly one that we'll be watching.

Well, the Israeli prime minister has apparently had yet another change of heart, now that all the votes have been counted. Let's turn to Oren Lieberman. He has that part of the story, live from Jerusalem -- Oren. OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, you're absolutely

right to point out the timing or the aspect of timing to all this. It was right before the election, as Netanyahu was trying to play to right-wing voters, that he said there would be no Palestinian state. There would be no two-state solution as long as he has the premiership, as long as he is prime minister.

And he could have corrected our impression of that that night. He certainly had time the next day when he released a number of statements on Facebook, urging his voters to get out there. Instead, he waited until after the election. In terms of what Israelis think, Netanyahu was polarizing before, and he will be no less polarizing of a politician of a figure after these comments.

In terms of what the Palestinians think, the other side of this issue. We got a chance to sit down with Dr. Erekat yesterday, and he says that, regardless of what Netanyahu said or is saying, or will say, the Palestinians don't believe that Netanyahu is really interested in a two-state solution. They don't believe he's really interested in negotiations. They'll do what they've been doing over the past few months, and that's pursuing statehood through the international arena. Through the U.N., through the European recognition.

So John, we could learn what that word "reassess" means sooner, rather than later, with the Palestinians pursuing international recognition.

BERMAN: That's a very loaded word and a very long relationship. Oren Lieberman for us in Jerusalem. Thanks so much.

New developments concerning the UVA student whose bloody arrest was caught on camera. Martese Johnson is speaking out and denying claims that he was carrying a fake I.D. His lawyer says that suggestion by officers helped precipitate their violent confrontation.

CNN's Brian Todd following the latest for us from the campus there in Charlottesville.

Good morning, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

We have important new information this morning, filling in some crucial gaps in this story. Information from Martese Johnson and his attorney, giving their version of those crucial moments that occurred before that amateur video was shot. New details from them on how Johnson sustained those injuries.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL WATKINS, ATTORNEY FOR MARTESE JOHNSON: "I trust that the scars on my face and head will one day heal. But the trauma from what the ABC officers did yesterday will stay with me forever."

[06:15:05] TODD (voice-over): Twenty-year-old University of Virginia student Martese Johnson, standing alongside his attorney as he reads a statement just days after his bloody arrest by uniformed Alcoholic Beverage Control special agents, the ABC, outside of a local bar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yo, his head is bleeding!

TODD: New information this morning, Johnson's attorney giving their version of what led up to this disturbing scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED). How did this happen!

TODD: He says that Johnson was asked for identification by an employee of the pub and that Johnson presented a valid state I.D., but officers on the scene questioned him anyway.

WATKINS: The conversation resulted in my client being thrown to the ground, his head hitting the pavement, the officers' knees pressed into his back, his face and skull bleeding and needing surgery.

TODD: ABC says Johnson was arrested, and charged with public intoxication and obstruction of justice. UVA student Jennifer Goldman saw part of the confrontation.

JENNIFER GOLDMAN, UVA STUDENT: I didn't see him resisting. I didn't necessarily see any violence. But then again, to just, I didn't see any of them trying to help him.

TODD: The governor has launched an investigation into the use of force. Students also demanding answers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're pissed. We're angry. We want answers. We want people to be punished for the mistreatment they had on the, you know, young man, Martese; and we just need, you know -- we need people to be held accountable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Officials with the ABC would not comment when we pressed them yesterday on these charges that there was some racially motivated and some police brutality engaged in here.

We have to stress that this latest version of events is from Martese Johnson and his attorney, their version of events. What do the ABC agents say? Well, that is the subject of a state investigation, a process that includes, actually, a criminal investigation into the agents' conduct -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: It will be interesting to see the results of that investigation. Brian, thank you for that.

Well, the FBI and the Justice Department's civil rights division trying to answer a very troubling question: was the hanging death of an African-American man in Mississippi a suicide or something more sinister? Law enforcement officials say 54-year-old Otis Byrd, missing for

more than two weeks, was found with a bedsheet tied around his neck and a skull cap on his head, hanging from a tree. The coroner and the FBI both tight-lipped, saying they are investigating.

PEREIRA: A stunning report by a government watchdog revealing a significant breach of aviation security. The homeland inspector general says the TSA approved a notorious felon for expedited screening at an U.S. airport last summer. That traveler had been convicted of murder and crimes involving explosives and even once belonged to a domestic terror group. The report says this highlights the need for the TSA to modify those pre-check procedures.

BERMAN: You think?

PEREIRA: Do you think?

CAMEROTA: They need to modify something.

BERMAN: Exactly.

CAMEROTA: Things don't seem to be working at the moment with airport security.

PEREIRA: And also modifying the forecast.

BERMAN: Let's do that in a big way. Why? Well, today is allegedly the first day of spring. But there's this snowstorm. There's this winter storm coming in this first day of spring. How much are we going to get?

Chad Myers, please tell us.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: For you, John, three to five, you know, and it's going to be 35 degrees, so the ground probably gets nice and pretty, but most of the roadways will be OK.

Spring doesn't technically start until 6:45 tonight. So it can snow all the way until then, because it's still winter. But it's still going to snow after that, I guess. New York, probably three to five inches for you. Baltimore, a little bit less, probably changing over to almost all rain. D.C., same story. Gaithersburg seeing some snow today, but it all will melt.

It's not going to be a warm couple of days, but there's your snow amounts across parts of the Poconos, into New York City, and we could -- some spots could see six inches of snow.

But the highs today are going to be right around 35 for New York City. It's the haves and the have nots. If you are having snow, you're not having warm weather. Below average across the east and above average in the west -- guys.

PEREIRA: So just to reiterate, it must stop by 6:45, because that's when spring happens.

CAMEROTA: Yes, yes.

PEREIRA: All right.

BERMAN: The code says it must end by then.

CAMEROTA: Michaela says it must end by then.

All right. Thanks so much, Chad.

Well, the White House and Israel at odds over Prime Minister Netanyahu's pre-election promise that a Palestinian state would never happen on his watch. He's now back-tracking on those comments. So we will talk to a top Palestinian official about that flip-flop.

PEREIRA: This is quite a story. The lifeless body of a 2-year- old toddler was pulled from an icy creek. But nearly two hours later, that child comes back to life? That miraculous story, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:31] CAMEROTA: President Obama warning the Israeli prime minister that the U.S. is, quote, "reassessing" their relationship. The White House angry over remarks made by Benjamin Netanyahu about never allowing a Palestinian state on his watch. The Israeli Prime Minister now back-tracking from those comments.

Let's bring in Palestinian legislative council member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi.

Dr. Ashrawi, thanks so much for being here. I want do get to what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been saying in the past few days. He has been saying conflicting statements.

On the eve of his re-election, let me read to you what he said about Palestinian statehood. He said, "I think that anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state today and evacuate lands, is giving attack grounds to the radical Islam against the state of Israel."

When you heard that before his election, how did you interpret that?

DR. HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL MEMBER: Well, as usual, it's the politics of panic, of fear, of trying to feed Israelis' sense of insecurity and, of course, pandering to a sense of racism; and therefore, presenting himself as the savior, as the security answer to Israel, and at the same time playing within an existent extremist and racist ideology and creating an atmosphere of -- or a culture of hate and rejection and distrust of the other.

It's extremely dangerous, because it back-fires, as usual.

Netanyahu first said he lied when he accepted the two-state solution.

[06:25:04] Then he said he lied when he rejected the two-state solution. So when do you believe a chronic liar?

CAMEROTA: Well...

ASHRAWI: When you assess his actions on the ground, and he has been systematically dismantling the two-state solution.

CAMEROTA: Well, last night he said something different yet again. He said in an interview on cable news, "I don't want a one- state solution. I want a sustainable peaceful two-state solution. But for that, circumstances have to change. I haven't changed my policy."

But what he's saying and tell me if there is some veracity in this, is that, given the state of the world, given all the extremism, the two-state solution is not appropriate right now.

ASHRAWI: No. I think there's no veracity whatsoever in what he said. And it would take a huge grain of salt to believe anything he says publicly. But by the way as I said, you have to assess by his actions on the ground. I think he is clutching at straws. He's using every excuse possible in order to justify his own ideological position, which is, greater Israel, superimposed on historical Palestine.

And therefore, totally undermining and destroying the chances of peace, because there is a global consensus that the only viable solution is a two-state solution. Otherwise, it becomes a de facto one-state solution, in which the issue becomes one of one person, one vote, or democratic representation and so on.

But the issue is not demographic. It's a question of right. Of justice. Of freedom, of Israel learning the concept of limits and of course acting within the law. Not outside the law as it has done so far with full impunity. That is what is needed now, not Netanyahu's verbal manipulations and spin and all sorts of acts of grand deception.

The time has come to assess what's happening on the ground, which is extremely dangerous. Because we are in a volatile area and region, yes. And Israel has contributed significantly to the language of extremism and violence and terrorism. Look at what the settlers are doing in the West Bank. Look at the whole issue of devaluation of Palestinian lives and rights.

CAMEROTA: Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu would say that Mahmoud Abbas has also been of two minds. And also of two faces, frankly, in terms of whether or not the Palestinian state would recognize Israel and the Jewishness of Israel. That Mahmoud Abbas has also said conflicting things. So where is Mahmoud Abbas on the two-state solution today?

ASHRAWI: No. Yes, he has never wavered. He has always accepted the two-state solution. He has actually withstood tremendous pressure from his own constituency in order to maintain a steady course on the basis of the two-state solution on the '67 lines. The issue is that Netanyahu keeps introducing new preconditions.

We recognized the state of Israel officially in 1991 with an exchange of letters, and that was fine. Suddenly, Netanyahu pulls out a new precondition, that we all have to become Zionists and accept the Jewishness of the state. If we don't accept an Islamic state, why should we accept a Jewish state or a Christian state? Exclusivity isn't part of our ideology. We want a pluralistic, inclusive Palestine.

And so the issue is not whether President Abbas changed his mind. He never did. He has never wavered in his commitment. It is Netanyahu that is pulling out every possible precondition in order, as usual, to blame the other, avoid any kind of accountability and persist in this dangerous policy.

CAMEROTA: I mean, the bottom line, Prime Minister Netanyahu would say, it is impossible to have a two-state solution when Hamas won't recognize Israel. Hamas, that is now legitimately part of the government. And that they want to, ultimately in their charter, get rid of Israel. So he says that that's a nonstarter. What do you want to hear President Obama or the United Nations say today about all of this?

ASHRAWI: I'd like President Obama and the U.N. -- the U.N. has done this; they have recognized the state of Palestine. I would like the U.S. to abide by international law and the will of the international community and international humanitarian law and treat the Palestinians as equals, worthy of protection of the law. And treat Israel as another state, not as a state above the law and outside the law.

So as I said, Netanyahu is clutching at straws. He's blaming Hamas now. Well, he's the one who doesn't recognize Palestinian rights whatsoever. He's the one who reneged on every single agreement. He even walked out of the talks, and he's not blamed.

But the issue is not to find any excuse to destroy peace and the chances of peace. The issue is to abide by international law and the simplest imperatives of justice and moral responsible behavior.