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Wolf
Lawmakers Question Secret Service Director; New Details on White House Fence Jumper Incident; Support for ISIS Militants Growing in Jordan; Spanish Enclave Allows Syrians into Europe; ISIS Uses Social Media to Recruit Westerners; Congress' Handling of ISIS.
Aired September 30, 2014 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Topping our news here in Washington today, White House security breaches. Lawmakers want to know how it could happen and they're demanding answers from the U.S. Secret Service director, Julia Pierson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, (D), MARYLAND: Them coming to you and members in the agency -- that, I'm telling you, when I boil all of this down, that, to me, is dangerous. It has to go against morale. I don't even see how good decisions can be made in your own people don't feel a level of comfort that -- or they feel fear that they are going to be able to talk about the things that concern them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Representative Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the committee that's overseeing the Secret Service. Today, the Secret Service Director -- there you see her -- Julia Pierson, says she takes full responsibility for this latest incident. The committee said it would hold an executive session, closed-door secret session, following the hearing so that Pierson could address some of the sensitive questions being asked. But increasingly some members are losing confidence in her, suggesting maybe it's time for her to step down.
As we mentioned early, the head of the Secret Service faced these heated questions over those security failures at the White House. And we're only learning now more surprising and very damaging information, getting new details about one of the major breaches. Just two weeks ago, a White House fence jumper wasn't stopped once he crossed the door. He actually got a lot further than anyone knew.
Let's take you inside the White House for a virtual view on how far the intruder got and how serious the security implications are.
Brian Todd is here.
Brian, take us inside and show us what happened because this is awful.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is awful, Wolf. It's very surprising. This information we're going to show you, this animation that we're showing you, the information comes from law enforcement officials who told CNN about this and from Congressman Jason Chaffetz, who's part of the investigation on the Hill on this. This is based on what we've been able to put together, a time line and a kind of path that Omar Gonzalez, the jumper, took.
At about 7:20 p.m., on the 19th, he jumps it, sprints straight for the portico on the north side, runs up here, towards the door. And the animation takes us inside the north portico now. He gets into the entrance hallway, goes toward the cross hallway. This is where he is at this point. This is your picture of it. He runs past this hallway. When he's at this point, according to law enforcement officials, he's about to go into this hallway and take a left going down that way toward the East Room. Let's progress that way now. This is where you're looking where he takes that left looking toward the East Room looking down that way. Now, according to law enforcement officials and Congressman Chaffetz, he does get into the East Room and gets near the Green Room, the entrance to the Green Room. That's a picture of the Green Room. These are some images from the East Room. The East Room is obviously a very important room where President Obama's given many speeches. That's where President Obama told the country that Osama bin Laden had been killed. That's where he got into. He gets into the East Room. Apparently at this point, near the entrance to the green room, south side of the East Room, he is tackled, subdued by officers at that point.
There is some information from the hearing that Julia Pierson, the director of Secret Service, said a short time ago, indicating that when he went down this way, after he initially barreled past an officer just inside the north entrance here, when he went down this way, he was either chased or somehow there was another officer in that hallway going after him and got help right about here where at least one officer, possibly two, subdued him. That is the sequence. Very disturbing. Look how deep inside the White House he got.
BLITZER: That's a terrible, terrible situation.
Brian, thanks very much.
We'll take a quick break. Much more when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Tonight, in Ferguson, Missouri, the first in a series of town hall meetings to address communication between city leadership and residents. Ferguson has been in turmoil since the shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer. Long simmering racial tensions flared over the August incident, sparking violent protests. Tensions have started to calm this month, but escalated once again after a memorial for 18-year-old Michael Brown was destroyed by a mysterious fire last Tuesday.
Moments ago, the man accused of beheading a woman at an Oklahoma food processing plant was formally charged with first-degree murder. Officials say 30-year-old Alton Nolen felt oppressed at work and lashed out by beheading 54-year-old Colleen Hufford and attacking another person before being shot by the company's CEO. While his Facebook page includes photos of Osama bin Laden and an apparent beheading, officials say, at least for now, no indication of a direct link to terror. The prosecutor, though, says he's likely to seek the death penalty in this case.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie takes a strong stand on drug and alcohol addiction to a summit about to start in Newark, New Jersey. Panel discussions among treatment professionals, advocates, survivors and others are focusing in on the wide-ranging effects after addiction. Christie's labeled the so-called War on Drugs a failure. While acknowledging that violent drug dealers spend significant time in jail, he argues that non violent drug offenders and addicts should instead be given the tools they need for recovery.
Turning now to news around the world, Afghanistan has signed an historic deal that will allow U.S. forces to remain in the country after December 31st. That's the date when combat operations officially are supposed to end. The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and the country's national security adviser made it official during a ceremony in Kabul earlier today. The future of the U.S. military presence, as you all know, had been in serious doubt. Former President Hamid Karzai negotiated the deal originally but later refused to sign it. This forced the U.S. to consider a complete withdrawal of troops this year. But Afghanistan has a new government, which made signing the deal priority, and the U.S. will keep about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan.
Jordan, meanwhile, is part of the U.S.-led air campaign in ISIS and Syria, but as Jomana Karadsheh tells us, there is deep concern that support for the militants is growing within its own borders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Jordan has been very concerned about that ISIS threat and the ISIS expansion in two of its neighboring countries in Iraq and Syria. That is why the government here says it has joined the U.S.-led coalition in going after ISIS.
But many are also concerned about the threat from within Jordan's own borders. We've visited a southern city and found some jihadists, some supporters of ISIS here in Jordan, who really spoke out openly about their support for the group. And also driving around the city, you see pro-is graffiti spray-painted across some of the city's walls.
The government here says it has the situation under control, that these ISIS sympathizers are only a few, and most of them, they say, have been detained over the past couple of weeks. According to Jordanian officials, they say 71 have been rounded up by security forces -- Wolf?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Jomana Karadsheh, thanks very much.
Europe is trying to lock out extremist threats from its borders. But CNN has found what could be a potential weak link in the chain. Syrian refugees have tried to make their way to the continent through Melilla, a small Spanish enclave in North Africa bordering Morocco. Authorities fear this route is being used by jihadis.
Nima Elbagir has this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every day, they say, 10 to 15 more Syrians arrive, walking right past the Spanish authorities, a back door into fortress Europe.
On the mud track running past the detention center, Spanish army vehicles take up position. They won't tell us why, but tensions are high since the Spanish authorities arrested a man suspected to be the leader of an ISIS cell in Somalia last week, the latest of more than 20 to be arrested here this year on terror-related charges.
The Spanish government has admitted it's worried that not all who come here are simply seeking refuge.
For the Syrians trapped so far from home, it feels like, once more, they're caught in the crossfire of the war between ISIS and the West.
MAHMOUD BOZAN, REFUGEE FROM SYRIA: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ELBAGIR: Nima Elbagir, CNN, Melilla, Spain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: ISIS has already shown it can mount a powerful social campaign. Now they're using it to try to target young Westerners as recruits. We have a report when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Something that could only happen in the age of social media, the brutal terror group ISIS is trying to directly recruit young Westerners around the world using online enticements, telling them, quote, "Come to jihad."
Laurie Segall joins us from New York.
Laurie, this group has managed to recruit hundreds of Westerners, maybe thousands of Westerners. So how is this new campaign that you're learning about different from what they've been doing up till now?
LAURIE SEGALL, TECH CORRESPONDENT, CNN MONEY: Hey, Wolf. We've heard about them going on Facebook, going on Twitter to try to recruit people. But what's scarier is they're now actually going towards social networks specifically targeted towards teens.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEGALL (voice-over): Question, favorite dessert? Answer, ice cream on top of a hot apple pie. How do you maintain your beard? Shampoo, scented oils and a comb. Have you ever fallen in love? The day I embraced Islam. These are the questions posed for an alleged ISIS recruiter on ask.fm, a site that's popular among teens. Approachable to the curious, accessible to the masses. His tag line, "I'm just like you."
CNN cannot independently verify the man's identity. But terrorism analyst, Mubin Shaikh, confirmed this man is likely an ISIS recruiter, based on a social media presence.
MUBIN SHAIKH, FORMER TALIBAN RECRUITER: It's a recruiter who is putting himself out there to some kid who just might be trawling, looking to sigh if he can cash in on this jihadi adventure they think they're on.
SEGALL: Shaikh would know. He's a former recruiter for the Taliban who later defected to work with Canadian intelligence. Over the last few years, he's been tracking ISIS tactics on Western social networks from a variety of recruiters, collecting Instagram pictures, like this one, before it was removed. It likened the ISIS fight to the video game Call of Duty. Propaganda protesters full of heavy arms. Tweets telling readers to "put down the chicken wings and come to jihad, bro." Posts that make them look like average guys, playing Xbox. Pictures of what they ate for dinner. Curious readers inquire about ISIS married life. Do they own a house or get paid? Answer, they're paid $700 per wife. Another asks if he could join even if he doesn't speak Arabic.
In some of those answers, you'll see a kick-user name, encouraging users to message on a private app. As the process continues, some users are directed to more secure sites, like this password-protected jihadi web forum.
In a statement to CNN, Ask.fm says it's focused on being able to understand and catch specific threats. The company says it's been removing profiles aimed at recruiting young people.
Instagram says they don't allow terrorist groups like ISIS to promote causes on the site.
But Shaikh, who has been monitoring the activity for two years, says the Western world is playing catch-up.
SHAIKH: The recruitment's been going on for a long time. It will be on the decline. But it might be a little too late because now the individuals already there, they're part of the group, part of the threat. And they're welcome to bring the threat back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: It's pretty chilling stuff, Laurie.
Tell us how the U.S. State Department is trying to deal with this.
SEGALL: You know, they actually have a group of what they call Digital Operators who are going into a lot of these forums and they're trying to spread anti-Islamic State messages. They have a hash tag. They'll reply back at many of these messages and say, #thinkagainturnaway. This for people that are very curious. Now I will say there are about 50 folks at the State Department doing this. But you've got to remember, ISIS has been around. And they're deeply entrenched. They've been doing this for years -- Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Laurie, good report. Thanks very much.
Laurie Segall reporting for us from New York.
Up next, the politics of war against ISIS. We're taking a closer look at what people here in the United States really think about how the U.S. Congress is handling the situation and the lack of a serious debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST, ABC THIS WEEK: So to be clear, if the president put a resolution forward now, you'd bring the Congress back?
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'd bring the Congress back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: House Speaker John Boehner on ABC's "This Week," saying he'd recall the House of Representatives to debate military action in Syria and Iraq.
Let's bring in our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.
Gloria, you read a column about this on CNN.com. Congress went into recess. They're out there campaigning. They're not really debating this issue on the floor of the House or the Senate for that matter. Why?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's too risky for them, they believe, this close to an election, which is kind of ridiculous. Because, actually, what they're paid for is to vote on serious substantive issues. And what you see going on here from the House speaker as well as from the White House is a little routine, which is, you know, the House speaker saying, I'm happy to vote on it, I will bring the Congress back, but it's up to the president to request it.
BLITZER: Why doesn't he request it?
BORGER: Well, the president says he's got enough authority to do what he wants, but he'd welcome the congressional debate in the future. You know, the base of the Democratic Party is worried that they could alienate a bunch of voters if they start talking about war votes at this particular point. Republicans seem just happy to say to Democrats, you were asleep at the switch on this, on the issue of ISIS and used national security as a way to get out their base voters during the race -- (CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: So between now and November 4th, the midterm elections --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: -- it doesn't look like there's going to be a major debate?
BORGER: No, and no wonder the American public -- Congress has a 14 percent approval rating. They're earning it. They're earning it.
BLITZER: Yeah. Take a look at the new CNN/ORC poll. We asked, how is Congress handling ISIS? 33 percent approve of the way Congress is handling ISIS.
BORGER: That's right.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: 60 percent disapprove. That's not a vote of confidence in Congress.
BORGER: You know, and the president's approval rating is 45 percent. So it's, you know. So it's --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: A little bit better.
BORGER: A little bit better than that. I'm surprised Congress has a 33 percent rate on how it's handling ISIS.
Look, this is not to say that there aren't some members of Congress -- Tim Kaine, Senator from Virginia, says bring everybody back and have a vote. But who's going to call for that vote? When is that vote going to occur? I mean, you can be sure it's not going to happen until we have these --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: David Cameron brought the parliament back in London for a special vote. He got what he wanted.
BORGER: Some political risk.
BLITZER: Yeah. But we don't see that happening, necessarily, here in Washington.
In the same poll we have, only 29 percent say ISIS is the most important issue for Congress right now. 65 percent still believe it's the U.S. economy.
BORGER: Sure, and it usually is in elections. People vote their pockets. But what we're seeing in the polling is something unexpected, which is the issue of national security is obviously rising in the polls, Wolf. People are worried. Women voters, in particular, get worried when they see beheadings such as we have seen. And the question is, how does it play out? And what you're seeing is some Republicans, in their own ads, are saying, OK, you Democrats -- linking these Democrats, particularly in red states, to the president, saying you were asleep at the switch. So it's one more way for Republicans to link these Democrats with an unpopular president and in a lot of red states, in these Senate races, which are so important. The president's approval rating is in the mid-30 percent range. So the more Republicans can attach a Democrat to President Obama, the better off they think they are.
BLITZER: For viewers watching not only in the United States but around the world, they haven't been paying a lot of attention.
Five weeks from today, midterm elections. The House of Representatives will stay Republican. But the Senate could become -- leave the Democratic Party, become a Republican majority. That would be a huge vote of no confidence on President Obama --
BORGER: Absolutely.
BLITZER: -- going into his final two years in office.
BORGER: And don't forget, historically, in this country, the sixth year of the presidency in these off-year elections is not good for the incumbent president. So he has history working against him as well.
BLITZER: We'll have extensive coverage over these next five weeks --
BORGER: We will.
BLITZER: -- leading up to November 4th.
Gloria, thanks very much.
BORGER: Thank you.
That's it for me.
For those of you watching in the United States, I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern. Dan Pfeiffer, the senior advisor to the president, will be among my guests. We'll talk about the Secret Service scandal, ISIS, and a whole lot more.
For our international viewers, "AMANPOUR" is next.
For our viewers here in North America, "NEWSROOM" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.
