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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Philadelphia Manhunt Ends; Terror Attack Threat; Taliban Attack School; Sony Hackers Invoke 9/11 in New Threats

Aired December 16, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're just moments away from an update, perhaps the final update on that manhunt that has paralyzed the suburbs of Philadelphia.

I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

Some breaking news in our national lead, officials about to give us the latest on the search for that man who they say killed his ex-wife and five of her loved ones, including her 14-year-old niece. Schools were closed. People locked their doors. Now another body has been found. Is this manhunt finally over?

Also in national news, what started with a goofy stoner movie and the leak of some gossipy e-mails now takes a serious turn. The hackers who hit Sony are now threatening people to stay away from movie theaters that show the movie and they are invoking 9/11.

The world lead. Unthinkable horror, more than 100 children slaughtered,some just 12 years old at the hands of terrorists, that same group of butchers who have come real close to hitting the U.S. before.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We begin with some breaking news in the national lead. Law enforcement officials have just confirmed that the manhunt for an alleged mass murderer, the manhunt that left surrounding communities living in fear, well, it has come to an end. Bradley Stone's body was found in the woods near his home in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, earlier this afternoon right outside Philadelphia.

The former Marine was wanted for the massacre of his ex-wife, Nicole, along with five of her family members. The Montgomery County district attorney will share some new details on this case in just a few moments. We will bring you that you live.

But, first, here's a look at how the horrific series of events unfolded. Police say at around 3:30 a.m. Monday morning, Stone went to the home of his ex-wife's sister, Patricia Flick. He killed Flick, her husband their 14-year-old daughter. Their 17-year-old son was seriously injured. He is still in the hospital.

Stone's deadly rampage continued. He traveled a few miles away to Lansdale, killing his ex-wife's mother and grandmother, and from there it was on to Harleysville. Police say that is where Stone killed his 33-year-old ex-wife, Nicole, and then he took their two little girls from the home.

He dropped them off at a neighbor's house in Pennsburg. That's the last time he was spotted alive.

Let's go live now to CNN's Miguel Marquez, who is Eagleville, Pennsylvania, with the new developments -- Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're expecting the DA for Montgomery County to come out here and brief us at any moment. We believe that this was a suicide, that Mr. Stone took his own life outside his home there in Pennsburg.

The body was found earlier today and then they were able to identify him and now the DA should be coming here soon to give us a few details about what they know about how all this transpired. This is a situation that has kept this entire area on high alerts over the last couple of days, certainly after the Eric Frein incident not too far from here as well.

Schools -- some schools were closed today and some others went on a modified schedule because of the search going on. They were searching in that Pennsburg area. They believe that that's where he was and it turns out that they were correct. They found his body out there today and now we're just waiting to find out how all this came to an end.

The one saving grace here is that his two daughters, his two young daughters, he did not kill. He took them to a neighbor's house in Pennsburg and the 17-year-old ex-nephew-in-law is still in stable but serious condition in a Philadelphia hospital and it is hoped that he will recover -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Miguel Marquez in Eagleville, Pennsylvania, where they are waiting for a press conference from the district attorney, we will let you know more about that when she shows up.

Stone is an Iraq war veteran, was an Iraq war veteran and he previously had minor run-ins with the law, including three DUI arrests. Court documents also show that Stone was in a heated custody battle with his ex-wife, Nicole, over their two little girls.

And according to a neighbor, Nicole was in constant fear for her life.

We're joined now by Matthew Schafte. He is a longtime friend of Bradley Stone.

Matthew, thanks for joining us.

I want to begin by saying how sorry we are about this tragedy. What was your first reaction when you heard about these killings and that your friend was the suspect?

MATTHEW SCHAFTE, FRIEND OF SUSPECT: I was totally shocked. I didn't really think that he...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Go ahead. I'm sorry.

SCHAFTE: I didn't really think that he was capable of doing such a horrific thing like this.

TAPPER: Were there any warning signs at all leading up to this, any indications that he was being pushed to the brink?

SCHAFTE: Not to my knowledge.

The Brad Stone that I know was a caring guy. You know, he would do anything for anybody. He loved his country. He would, you know, go the extra mile to help anybody out. This is just -- it's a total shock to me and to his other friends.

TAPPER: Is there ever anything he had said that maybe you didn't take seriously at the time or you thought he was just blowing off steam, but in retrospect maybe suggested that he was planning something violent?

SCHAFTE: No, never.

I mean, I know when he first met Nicole and it was the love -- she was the love of his life. And, like I said, when he was getting ready to enlist in the service, he was so proud of himself.

TAPPER: Is there anything that may have happened to him physically, mentally, whether in Iraq or anywhere else, that may have contributed in any way to this tragedy?

SCHAFTE: Not to my knowledge.

Like I said, the gentleman that I knew for years was ecstatic to serve his country, to meet the love of his life, to have children. And I had never seen any signs of this part of Brad ever.

TAPPER: Obviously, he was in a heated custody battle with his ex- wife. Obviously, he had gotten a divorce. Did this have anything to do with his behavior?

SCHAFTE: I don't believe so.

I mean, he was a gentleman that just figured that he would take care of things himself. I mean, we didn't really go into much, in fact, about the custody battle. I knew it bothered him, but, like I said, I never seen any signs that he would do something like this.

TAPPER: Tell us about the last time you saw him.

SCHAFTE: The last time I seen him was about two months ago and we were sitting and laughing and talking about good times.

We have a mutual friend that all three of us would hang out on occasions, and we would just have a great time. Like I said, he was so psyched about going into the military. And that's usually what he always talked about was the military and Nicole. The military was his passion. You know, he would do anything for a veteran. If you were falling on the ground, he would pick you up.

TAPPER: It's a tragedy and I guess also a mystery.

Matthew Schafte, thank you so much for sharing your story. We appreciate it.

SCHAFTE: Thank you.

TAPPER: We're still waiting on that press conference from the district attorney in Montgomery Count, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia. That should be happening any minute.

Our other big national story today, the group behind the massive Sony hack just hours ago threatened a terrorist attack, invoking 9/11, on anyone who goes to see the movie "The Interview" with James Franco and Seth Rogen, that movie that mocks North Korea. How seriously is law enforcement taking this threat? That's next.

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TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

More breaking news, a disturbing new warning from the same group behind the Sony e-mail hack. They are now invoking 9/11 as they threaten to attack movie theaters that show Seth Rogen's new comedy film, "The Interview," which is about an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The FBI is now investigating the threat and according to an "L.A. Times" reporter, some movie theaters are considering pulling the film. The group that calls itself Guardians of Peace posted this threatening message today.

It reads in part: "The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September, 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time."

Guardians of Peace has repeatedly claimed responsibility for the Sony hacking, now trying to intimidate you from seeing the movie that motivated the massive data dumps. "The Interview" is due out next Thursday, Christmas Day, with a premiere this week in New York City.

We joined learned that actors Seth Rogen and James Franco are canceling media appearances promoting "The Interview." Meanwhile, we have now seen loads of embarrassing Sony e-mails, movie clips, even celebrity salaries revealed online from the Sony hack.

Today, Gawker posted a 30-second clip of the scene in "The Interview" most likely to offend North Koreans. We are only showing still images of that scene, since material is of course stolen. It shows a helicopter getting blown up with the actor playing the dictator, Kim Jong-un, inside, to the beat of a Katy Perry song, of course.

So who is behind Guardians of Peace? Who are they? Today, the FBI says it's closing in on that very question.

CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown has been in touch with her sources.

Pamela, what are you hearing? Who are these people?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I first want to talk about this new development today with this message that was sent out, Jake, as you talked about, because we have learned that the FBI is investigating this threatening message purportedly from the Sony hackers, promising a bitter fate to anyone who sees this controversial North Korean comedy "The Interview" set to release on Christmas Day.

So, we have learned that the Department of Homeland Security is expected to address this matter, but in talking to law enforcement sources, it appears that that is not something that we should be overly concerned about.

Of course, first, they want to figure out if this threatening message is actually coming from the original Sony hackers and also how credible it is, similar to what they would do with a bomb threat, trying to see if this is something that we should be concerned about, Jake.

In talking to law enforcement officials, they say it's unlikely the hackers who are the ones stealing all the information from Sony are actually going to be able to cause harm, because it's likely they are outside of the United States. The concern, of course, is that people, copycats would want to maybe call in bomb threats when the movie is in theaters or that kind of thing.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Right. Of course, there's so little that law enforcement or intelligence knows about what is going on in North Korea. It's easy to say they don't know of any credible threats, if that's, in fact, what they say...

BROWN: Right, exactly.

TAPPER: ... because they don't know very much about North Korea at all.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The concern, of course, is that people, copy cats, would want to maybe call in bomb threats when the movie is in theater and that kind of thing.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Of course, so little that law enforcement or intelligence knows about what's going on in North Korea. It's easy to say they don't know of any credible threats.

BROWN: Right, exactly. TAPPER: Because they don't know very much about North Korea at all.

But I do wonder, does the FBI or anyone in law enforcement know definitively who the hackers are and they are not saying it publicly?

BROWN: At this point, what I'm being told, Jake, is that they don't have the concrete evidence where they can stand up and say, we know definitively. Sources say that there is a strong suspicion that North Korea, the reclusive country, is the instigator of the hack and possibly outsourced it to a group elsewhere as retaliation anticipation for the controversial film. So, we know that tonight, that the FBI is scrubbing Sony's computer system, trying to gather that evidence to be able to definitively point the finger at the hacking culprit.

But remember, these investigations are complex, they are nuanced. It was very sophisticated. The hackers were able to penetrate multiple layers. And remember, by -- from the time the hackers got into the Sony systems to the time the FBI investigated was months. So, they were able to do a lot of damage and cover their tracks in that span. So, this isn't something we're going to know the answer to in a matter of weeks, even months.

TAPPER: All right. Pamela Brown, thank you so much.

I want to turn now to justice reporter Evan Perez.

Evan, what are the challenges into identifying the source behind the Sony hacks?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Jake, it's a lot like -- you know, people describe it as following bread crumbs because it's little hints that are left behind in the malware that is used to penetrate these computers, you know, there's everything from -- you know, the characters and the fonts that are used, the keyboard layout, they can study to see what keyboards were used to try to put together the malware. There's all kinds of things that they are doing right now, detective work really, to try to figure it out, just because a hack seems to have come from Thailand or China doesn't mean it came from there.

In this case, the strong suspicion is that the North Koreans had people not coming -- not doing the hack from North Korea itself but from elsewhere.

TAPPER: And what are the motivations, do we think, behind the hack? Is it just definitely they don't want this film released or has there also been, for instance, a blackmail attempt and request for money?

PEREZ: Well, there's two parts to that. The actual people who did the hack might have just been paid to do it. You know, you have people who are hackers for hire out there paid by foreign governments to do this. The motivation of the country itself, of North Korea in this case perhaps if indeed they did do it, is that, you know, they possibly just want the film to be -- to not be shown, obviously. It might be one of the biggest movie premiers in the history given the publicity that they have gotten. Now, we've also gotten a statement from DHS.

TAPPER: The Department of Homeland Security?

PEREZ: Homeland Security.

TAPPER: Is it about the hack specifically?

PEREZ: It's about the hack and it's about the threat made against movie theaters. Right here it says, "DHS is aware of the threats made online targeting movie theaters n the United States. We're still analyzing the credibility of these statements, but at this time, there's no credible intelligence to indicate that there's an act of plot against movie theaters within the United States."

So, that's the statement here from the Department of Homeland Security. That despite this threat against movie theaters obviously, they're going to work with police around the country to make sure that these places are secure and as Pamela just mentioned, you always have, in these situations, people who want to use, you know, public statements like this to make additional threats.

TAPPER: All right. Evan, Pamela, keep us posted on what you learn. Thank you so much.

How seriously should anyone take the terrorist threats from the hackers and what are the cyber terrorism, in a word, that they have already pulled off against Sony?

Joining me to discuss is CNN military analyst, Major General James "Spider" Marks. He worked as an intel officer in South Korea.

Also with me, Jamie Metzl. He served in President Clinton's National Security Council. He's also author of "The Genesis Code."

First of all, General Marks, just defining our terms properly. Is this cyber-terrorism what was done by the hackers to Sony?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I would say that it is. Yes.

Now, clearly, the definition can be as broad as you want to make it. But this clearly is a statement that would -- that clearly leads to terrorist type of activities followed up by a threat. So, this is more criminal activity. This is terrorist activity, because it allows those that are perpetrating this act an opportunity to get a response that would be out of the norm, that we would routinely see.

So, you put everybody on heightened alert. You do that very broadly. It's very indiscriminate. As DHS has indicated, there's no intelligence that they can discern right now. So, clearly, this is an act of terrorism that's taking place.

TAPPER: Jamie, the public position of the White House and the U.S. government has been to not give this much attention. What is it like behind the scenes? This was a successful cyber-terrorist attack on a major company, Sony. Obviously, North Korea, if they're behind this, they have nuclear weapons. How seriously do you think they are taking this, for instance, in the Situation Room?

JAMIE METZL, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I think it's very serious for two reasons. First, this is a major attack on a major multinational corporation. And if this kind of havoc can we wreck on Sony, who we have to assume have at least decent cybersecurity measures, that means that many, many companies across the United States and across the world are equally vulnerable. And second, if North Korea is behind this, this would be another in a series of provocations. And relations with North Korea are in really, again in a critical phase, particularly with North Korea human rights situation being referred to the security council next week.

TAPPER: General Marks, Japan has announced, the government of Japan, will not release the movie "The Interview." One of the reasons speculated is that there are Japanese citizens in North Korean custody. The U.S. has one as well in North Korean custody.

How serious a proposition is it that North Korea might punish hostages if a country allows a movie to be released?

MARKS: Well, Jake, I would say that North Korea is a matter of routine punishes hostages. They have prisons that are abysmally horribly run and we have evidence to that -- to that fact, and the fact that Japanese does in fact have Japanese citizens in some of those prisons, that's an issue.

So, I think what you really see in this part of the world is the confluence of all of these influences. Japan, North Korea, the entire peninsula, you've got Russia and China in play, certainly the Philippines has a role to play in that part of the world. It is an incredible mess and it's been that way for many, many years. I've been watching this part of the world for quite some time, and the very delicate balance that takes place and the dance that occurs among these different participants, all of them giving North Korea incredible deference and within that deference, North Korea has been able to build up a capability which is now -- it's now a nuclear capability. We've not seen them merry up nuclear capabilities with delivery capabilities, but we have to take this as indicated very, very seriously.

And it's hard to do that when we're look looking at this spoof of the North Korean leader which we've seen this horrible mix of -- this nationalism that exists on the peninsula that is just perverted in its worst sense.

TAPPER: Jamie, to be frank, this seems just like a stupid stoner comedy. Why does Kim Jong-un care so much?

METZL: Well, I was in North Korea earlier in the year. You have to think of North Korea as almost a quasi-religious place with the Kim family playing essentially the role of god. So, this kind of critique is really blasphemous, according to their system. And again, we don't know whether North Korea did this or didn't do it. But, certainly, they would have a motivation to do something like this because, first, they see this as extremely insulting.

And, secondly, if word gets back to the population in North Korea that their leader has become an international joke, not just because of films like this but more because as the general was saying, up to 120,000 people in prison camps in the most despicable conditions, it's really the U.N. Commission calls North Korea guilty of perpetrating crimes against humanity. This is very, very serious.

And if word of that leaks back to the Korean population, I think they see that as something very dangerous.

TAPPER: General Marks, take a listen to Seth Rogen, one of the leads in this film. He took issue with the fact that so many of us in the media have reported on the content of the Sony e-mails. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH ROGEN, ACTOR: It's stolen information. I think it's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up that anyone's talking about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

ROGEN: And I'm OK talking about my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) honestly because I don't (EXPLETIVE DELETED) care that much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

ROGEN: And the stuff stolen from me on the grand scale of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is not that bad, but it's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) stolen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That was on the "Howard Stern Show," as you can probably tell from the bleeps.

But, General Marks, does he have a point or are we in the media empowering the next hackers by reporting on the contents of these stolen e-mails?

MARKS: Jake, I must say, I heard probably zero of what Seth Rogen heard. All I heard was a bunch of bleeps. So, it's difficult for me to comment.

TAPPER: Well, he was basically saying that it was stolen material and we shouldn't be reporting that.

MARKS: Yes --

METZL: Yes, and Aaron Sorkin said the same thing in "The New York Times."

TAPPER: General?

MARKS: My view of all of this is, this is incredibly important information. We are lucky that they did not go after JPMorgan or the NASDAQ or stock exchange, which I would imagine they have the capability of doing. They chose Sony and they get this incredible blast primarily because they understand how we respond.

I mean, this is a story that has great legitimacy to it, from our perspective, we would tend to wrap this in a stoner movie kind of a thing, and so, we might tend not to take it as seriously. But we must at our peril if we don't.

TAPPER: All right. Major General James "Spider" Marks and Jamie Metzl, thank you both of you.

Coming up, a stomach-turning scene at a school today where terrorists systematically killed more than 100 children and we're learning that the group behind the attack was also part of a failed bombing attempt in the United States.

Plus, moments of heroism during yesterday's terror siege in Sydney. A mother of three who reportedly protected her pregnant friend is remembered today for her bravery. Her story, ahead.

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