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Jitters Over Possible Terror Attacks; Over 700,000 Gathered on National Mall for Fireworks; GOP Concerned Over Donald Trump Fallout; Perry Comments on Trump; Letter Sent Before Prison Escape; Texas Town Divided. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 03, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR: CNN HOST: Hi there, I'm Brianna Keilar in for Wolf Blitzer and we start with the beginning of the July 4th holiday weekend as jitters over possible terror attacks are leading to major security upgrades at many cities across the country. Our Boris Sanchez takes a look.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're reaching out on social media, telling people it's a holiday, we ought to kill people.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Police and FBI on heightened alert as nearly 42 million people will travel this holiday weekend. According to AAA, the most in eight years. This amid social media chatter by ISIS supporters and calls by the terror group to strike in the west.

REP. PETER KING, (R) NEW YORK: I don't think they're capable of a large-scale attack, but certainly an attack which could kill, maim, or wound hundreds of people.

SANCHEZ (voice over): Police departments in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston and Atlanta tightening up security measures.

WILLIAM BRATTON, NYC POLICE COMMISSIONER: We're constantly seeking to be creative, to be proactive. Name of the game is to be preventive.

SANCHEZ (voice over): At the Washington Mall, they're preparing for all possibilities. New York City taking the greatest security measures in years. The city swept for explosives even out at sea where hundreds of boaters will be watching the fireworks. Snipers will be strategically placed, spotters will be inside the crowds and a hundred mobile cameras will capture the activities on land and in the air.

JAMES WATERS, NYPD CHIEF OF COUNTERTERRORISM: There's no credible threat to this event or to New York City in particular, but our operating premise is that we are the target in New York City all the time.

SANCHEZ (voice over): On Thursday, within minutes of the first report of shots fired inside Washington's Naval Yard. The entire complex was locked down as hundreds of police, SWAT teams and federal investigators swarmed the scene, blocking streets as helicopters hovered overhead. The threat a false alarm, but it reveals that law enforcement is at the ready this holiday weekend.

JOHN MILLER, NYPD DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INTTELLIGENCE: Bring your family, have a great time. You're going to be at the most well- secured event in the city.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: And Boris Sanchez joining me now from New York's Penn Station.

Also, our Rene Marsh here in Washington there on the National Mall where more than 700,000 people are expected to crowd in for the wonderful fireworks show there. Boris, you were touching on some of the preparations going on where you are. Is this response greater than what we've seen for other holidays like last July Fourth or new years?

SANCHEZ: Brianna, this is certainly the bigger -- a much bigger effort than usual. Officers tell us it's not because of any credible or specific threat, but rather in light of recent events around the world, bombings in the Middle East, the attacks last week in France and Tunisia, as well as several ISIS-related arrests here in the U.S., including one in Queens last month. Officers are asking New Yorkers to be vigilant, to keep an eye out for anything that may seem out of place and to alert them right away. Brianna?

KEILAR: Rene, Washington, obviously, standing ready. We saw that yesterday with the Navy Yard incident. You're on the Mall. Can you see the security measures?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can tell you, Brianna, just by being out here it is clear. We're in a period of high alert. Just within the last hour, we witnessed law enforcement essentially tighten their control around this area surrounding the Capitol. They have now extended the perimeter about three blocks from the Capitol. Before, earlier, we saw people kind of milling around in this area, but that is no longer the case. Again, extending that perimeter out for about three blocks.

We've seen canines out here. We know Capitol Hill police saying that they have strategically positioned their officers throughout the grounds here. You can see there's fencing up, there's concrete barriers, there are metal barriers. We also know that federal agents who are usually off for this holiday, they are on call. So we clearly feel that this is a sense or time of high alert. Tomorrow, in this very section of the capital, we know that there will be hundreds of thousands of people, weather permitting, gathering here for that Fourth of July concert and those are the sort of huge celebrations that law enforcement are really going to be paying a close eye to.

Of course, Brianna, we know the major concern as we lead up to this holiday is that lone wolf attack and it's so difficult to detect them because they're not operating within a network. Brianna? KEILAR: What about travel? How's the TSA handling this?

[13:04:53] MARSH: Well, we know that they're on alert as well. They are seeing a high volume of travelers here during this holiday season. I spoke with a government official today and he tells me at the airports alone they're seeing two million passengers per day. So, that's more than usual. Usually they'll see about 1.8 million. So, the traffic volume is high. As far as what they'll be doing, you can expect random spot checks. They may randomly pull passengers out of line to check them. So, that's what they're going to be doing and, of course, they don't reveal to us everything, but that's just one of the measures that flyers may notice. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Rene, Boris, thank you guys.

And now let's talk about preparations overseas. The State Department ordered a security review at embassies and consulates ahead of this July 4th weekend.

CNN Global Affairs Correspondent Elise Labott joining me now on the phone to talk about this. So Elise, the question I think is what is really the threat? We know there's been some chatter, but it doesn't seem that there's a clear threat that the State Department is responding to.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, you always get these kind of threats in the lead-up to a holiday weekend, but officials tell me there's been nothing specific, nothing credible that caused them to cancel any event. Usually before a holiday weekend, the State Department does order all of their embassies and consulates to kind of review, assess their security posture and this is no different. They ask them to hold, you know, meeting of their staff. They call it emergency Action Committee and they get together, they look at the security and the threats out there and whether any new measures need to be put in place. But there's pretty much a standard operating procedure and it looks like all the embassies are ready to go. And I must say, you know, in the last year or so, a lot of the embassies and consuls, particularly in the Middle East, have been on very high alert. So, the State Department thinks they're in a very good position going into this weekend.

KEILAR: They've gotten used to some of this. And it's also worth noting Elise, that a number of these overseas installations, they've already celebrated the holiday, right?

LABOTT: That's right. Because of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that started early this year, a lot of Muslims are fasting. And also in a lot of these countries, very hot during the month of July, so a lot of folks had their celebrations last month and some of them even did the U.S. national celebrations on President's Day. So while July Fourth is certainly a big weekend for everyone here in the United States, a lot of embassies and consulates around the world try to bring in their people around other weekends, not necessarily the July Fourth because they want to be off as well with their families, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Elise Labott, thank you for the update.

And just ahead, on alert in America on this Fourth of July. Are security measures in place appropriate or are they just scaring the public unnecessarily? We'll have our panel of experts weighing in on that.

And days after presidential candidate, Donald Trump's, explosive comments about Mexican immigrants, many of his Republican competitors are now his chief critics.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

FMR. GOV. RICK PERRY (R) TEXAS: I don't think Donald Trump's remarks reflect the Republican party.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: The comments were inappropriate. They have no place in the race.

FMR. GOV. JEB BUSH (R) FLORIDA: I don't agree with them.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: When you label a group of people as rapists and drug dealers, that's more about you than it is them.

[13:08:14] KEILAR: Has the controversy hurt Trump's chances or other Republicans' chances at winning the White House? We be talking about that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:12:27] KEILAR: To presidential politics now, Republicans are concerned about the fallout over Donald Trump's comments about Mexican immigrants calling them rapists and drug dealers. And while the party worries about the political impact, Trump is paying a financial price for his remarks.

(BEGIN ADIO CLIP)

KEILAR (voice over): These words have cost Donald Trump a lot of money.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists and some, I assume, are good people.

KEILAR (voice over): The billionaire entrepreneur is now out of business with major companies.

TRUMP: You're fired.

KEILAR (voice over): NBC taking him off "The Apprentice" and along with Univision declining to air trump's "Miss USA" and "Miss Universe Pageant". Macy's pulling out Trump's signature clothing line.

TRUMP: My suits will guarantee your always boardroom ready.

KEILAR (voice over): And mattress maker Serta, which sells a line of Trump-branded beds not renewing his contract. Now the Big Apple, his hometown, also looking to dump Trump. New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, writing in a statement "we are reviewing Trump contracts with the city. Donald Trump's remarks were disgusting and offensive and this hateful language has no place in our city." Not only is the city reviewing a skating rink and carousel in Central Park with Trump's name on them, they're also looking to break a very lucrative contract at this public golf course here in the Bronx named after the presidential candidate. NYC's Parks Committee Chair telling CNN their contracts have a terminate at will clause that he believes the department should use to sever ties with Trump immediately. None of the criticism has stopped Trump from doubling down on the message.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you don't have any regrets about that word rapist?

TRUMP: Well, some are and some are good, and some are rapist, and some are killers. And we don't even know what we're getting.

No, there's no because what I said is right. I mean, what I said is 100 percent right.

PETER SHANKMAN, BRAND MANAGEMENT EXPERT: Talking has made him a great businessman, however talking doesn't necessarily make you a great politician.

KEILAR (voice over): Marketing expert, Peter Shankman, says fiery soundbites likely won't help Trump down the road.

SHANKMAN: If he continues down this path where he just says whatever pops into his brain without so much as a filter, he's going to start to anger people in much higher positions of power, people who can get him into office and they're going to start to distancing themselves if they already haven't started distancing themselves.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: Another Republican Presidential candidate is speaking out against Donald Trump's remarks. Former Texas governor, Rick Perry, says Republicans have plenty to offer Latino voters and Trump doesn't speak for the party.

[13:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think Donald Trump's remarks reflect the Republican Party.

I think we have a great message for the Hispanic community, for individuals who want to live free, who want to be able to take care of their family, who want to live in a secure world. The Republican Party is where they need to be looking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now joining us to talk more about Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race, CNN political director David Chalian and we have senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns.

OK, so, David, you have Hispanic organizations who are complaining not just about Trump's remarks but how Republicans are responding to them, saying that they need to really respond more forcefully here. How - do you see Republican candidates having to balance how they respond to this?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, it is - it is a tricky balance. First of all, no Republican candidate wants their campaign to be dictated by what Donald Trump says. So - and yet they understand the brand problem that the party has and none of them want this to just go sort of hanging out there so that the negative reaction to the remarks sort of hang on them. So that's the balance.

Plus, remember, Donald Trump is representing a slice of the Republican Party, of the activist conservative base. There's a - there is a big chunk of Republican primary voters who are very anti-immigration reform and so the Republican candidates want to be careful offending them as well.

Now, I just will say, though, Jeb Bush, for example, has had tons of practice at this because of where his position is on the issue. He's not where the base of the party is and obviously his wife is of Mexican descent. He, right away, came out last week and said this is wrong. Now, I don't think he's going to make smacking down Donald Trump a sort of like rallying cry of his first campaign, but he quickly got out to say this is wrong.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The backlash is coming, though. I mean you can see it in the online petition from Pataki. You can see it from some of the candidates. And part of that has got to be the fact that he's doing so well in some of the early voting states in the polls. So there are some people who suggest that the farther you get into this, the more pushback you're going to see from Republican candidates.

KEILAR: He's doing well in the polls, but I also would imagine that maybe some people close to him are concerned about the backlash, especially when you're talking about the businesses that are pulling the plug on so much Trump stuff. Are they responding? Is the Trump organization responding to this?

JOHNS: They won't talk about a lot of it on the record, but you can definitely feel that there's real heartburn there, that we're talking more about U.S. - Miss USA than we are talking about the presidential campaign. There are concerns about it, obviously, and you call, they get mad. But the fact of the matter is, it's out there, what are you going to do about it?

One of the things that they do talk about, going to your point at the top about the amount of money Donald Trump has lost, the implication from them is they really don't care. I have a statement I got - KEILAR: Really?

JOHNS: From Michael Cohen (ph) over at the Trump organization.

KEILAR: It must be nice.

JOHNS: Yes. All right. I don't want to take him out of context, but -

KEILAR: OK.

JOHNS: He said, "Donald Trump is an enormously wealthy person with a net worth in excess of $9 billion. His goal is to make America great again and if that means compromising several small business ventures, he has shown he is prepared to do that."

KEILAR: "Small business," Macy's, Serta.

JOHNS: Right. Yes.

KEILAR: There's a number of these business ventures at this point.

JOHNS: Sure.

KEILAR: The thing about his talking about Hispanics is that after Mitt Romney won - or lost in 2012, the Republican Party, the RNC, did this postmortem and one of the hallmarks of it was that they needed to be more inclusive. They needed to reach out to Hispanic Americans and this is completely counter to that.

CHALIAN: Exactly. This is not at all how - if Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party, could have sort of made an entire game plan of how he wanted the nomination season to go, this was not part of it, right. This is antithetical to what they were hoping to do in terms of looking at the party and saying, where do we need to improve to actually win back the White House?

Mitt Romney himself has said and repeated again recently, unless we do better with Latino voters, we're not going to win the White House here. And this is going against the grain there. So I do think that's why you're going to start seeing - I mean George Pataki is obviously trying to get some attention.

JOHNS: Right.

CHALIAN: He's at the bottom of the polls and he's using this issue to try to get his name in the mix. But I think you're going to see some of the top tier candidates too start to step away a little bit more from Donald Trump.

JOHNS: Right.

KEILAR: You mentioned in the polls, you have Donald Trump coming in second in our CNN/ORC national poll, as well as in New Hampshire and Iowa, those being the big ones. What is it about what he's saying that is resonating with voters?

JOHNS: Well, people think he talks straight.

KEILAR: They want someone who's genuine.

JOHNS: Right. Yes. Straight talk. Another thing you see all the negative articles about Donald Trump right now, he hasn't apologized, he hasn't backed down. There's a segment of the population that likes that, likes a guy who will go and say what he thinks. He doesn't care how he says it and then doesn't back down. So there's an element of that, too.

[13:20:07] And, you know, it's one thing trying to run for the -- the nomination for the Republican Party. It's another thing to run in the general. So right now we're talking about conservative voters who make some big choices very early on. And there are - there's a segment out there that listens to Donald Trump.

CHALIAN: Part of that straight talk that they love is that it's not typical politician talk. One of his highest marks in our New Hampshire poll was that he's the least likely to act like a politician. And you know what, "politician" is a dirty word in America these days and so that is a refreshing thing for a lot of voters.

KEILAR: Yes. And I will note, Bernie Sanders, who's gaining steam on Hillary Clinton, opened one of his events yesterday saying, "I'm going to tell you something that a politician wouldn't tell you," and then he was very frank with them and it does resonate with voters on the left as well.

Joe Johns, David Chalian, thanks so much, guys.

And coming up, new information on a letter escaped killer Richard Matt sent to his daughter before he broke out of prison. We'll be showing that to you.

Plus, despite a Supreme Court ruling upholding same-sex marriage, counties in several states still have not granted couples marriage licenses. Why the legal battle may be far from over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:29] KEILAR: A prison riot could have exposed Richard Matt and David Sweat's escape plans a week before their breakout at New York's Clinton Correctional Facility, but their honor block was not included in the resulting lockdown. And shortly before the escape, Matt wrote a letter to his daughter saying that he'd see her on the outside.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick joining us now live from New York with more on these new revelations.

This is fascinating stuff, Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it really is. So let's start with the letter first.

This is a letter that Richard Matt is believed to have written his adult daughter and "The Buffalo News" received information from unnamed law enforcement sources that, in fact, she had received this letter about three days after Richard Matt broke out of prison. And the letter apparently said, "I also promised you I would see you on the outside. I'm a man of my word."

Now, there's no indication, according to reports, that the daughter knew about this prison breakout and clearly she was very concerned that, in fact, her father might seek her out. Matt also has a half- brother and interestingly enough, he also lives in the Buffalo area, and the two other times that Matt - one of which he was - he had broken out of prison, he found his half-brother the second time before he fled to Mexico. He also made contact with his half-brother. So clearly authorities were very concerned that that might be one of the ways or one of the - some of the people who he made contact with.

The thing we can tell you about the prison riot is this happened just a week before Richard Matt and David Sweat broke out of prison. It was a partial lockdown. The superintendent had called for a full lockdown but headquarters in Albany said no. There's - there are - there are reports that perhaps if the honor block had been searched, people would have found this hole that they had cut in order to break out. But that's sort of 20/20 hind sight. So, again, very fascinating letter and a prison riot that could have perhaps exposed this getaway.

Brianna.

KEILAR: And he - he wrote this letter to his daughter and yet we're learning that his family doesn't want to claim his body, right? So what happens to it?

FEYERICK: Well, it's interesting. The family initially said, no, they didn't want anything to do with his body. They changed their mind.

KEILAR: OK.

FEYERICK: And so although they did not go to pick up the body, the funeral home did transport the body from Malone County, which is where he was shot and killed, to an area just outside Buffalo, New York. So we understand there's going to be no sort of service, but they will at least know where the body's buried.

KEILAR: OK. So it's not a - it's not basically anonymous or just in a different plot there.

OK, Deb Feyerick, thank you so much.

A sign in a Baltimore police van could add to simmering tensions between law enforcement and the community. It's a sign that was posted on the inside of a door and it reads, "enjoy your ride, cause we sure will." This incident comes on the heels of protests and riots that erupted after the death of Freddie Gray. He suffered a critical neck injury after being handcuffed and shackled inside a police van in April. Six Baltimore police officers have been indicted in connection with Gray's death.

It's been a week since the Supreme Court made marriage equality a reality in all 50 states, but a county in Texas is having a hard time accepting it. The Hood County clerk initially said she would not issue licenses to same-sex couples because of her religious beliefs. And as CNN's Ryan Nobles shows us, that has left many upset and disappointed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This may be the epicenter in the fight over same-sex marriage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do we want?

CROWD: Marriage equality!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When do we want it?

CROWD: Now!

NOBLES: Granbury, Texas, a small town roughly 65 miles southwest of Dallas, boasts the first town square in Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to God's country.

NOBLES: The town may be the last to issue marriage licenses to same- sex couples.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's one man and one woman. That is how marriage should be.

NOBLES: Jay Kato (ph) and Joe Stapleton have been together for 27 years and were prepared to get married on Monday. It was their first opportunity after the Supreme Court declared gay couples have a constitutional right to marry. They want their license to read "Hood County" where they live and pay taxes, but so far the county's clerk, Katie Lang (ph), is holding up the process.

JOE STAPLETON, GRANBURY, TEXAS, RESIDENT: We wanted to be the first people in Hood County to get married. We thought we would be married on Monday. But not going to happen.

NOBLES: Lang initially said she would not issue the licenses because of her own religious objection, but then later in the week she said she would allow other members in her office to do so. But couples like Jim and Joe have been told the proper paperwork has not arrived. But in similar small counties like San Saba, Texas, the logistical issues have been worked out and gay couples like Jonathan Means (ph) and Jason White (ph) successfully obtained a license, while Jim and Joe continue to wait.

[13:30:13] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When do I - when do I come in your office? She said, I don't know.