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Don Lemon Tonight
Shooting at Fort Lauderdale Airport; Donald Trump's Reaction to Report on Russian Election Meddling. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired January 06, 2017 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00] MARK GALE, FORT LAUDERDALE DIRECTOR, HOLLYWOOD AIRPORT: -- those who lost their lives here today as well as their family and friends, truly horrific incident. As sheriff has said, we had a number of individuals that were not only stuck on airplanes, planes that have landed but as well as some that are on the gates that were not permitted to leave right after this incident occurred. We had a number of individuals that evacuated out of the terminal onto the apron areas. We've been working most of the day to make sure that everybody was obviously safe and secure.
Once we received that word from our law enforcement partners, we've been in the process of either transporting those individuals over to Port Everglades to Terminal 4. We've had dozens and dozens of busses transporting what we anticipate are expected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of about 10,000 folks over to Port Everglades. Broward County staff as well as the Red Cross are over there to assist those passengers and either get into destinations, assisting with hotel accommodations, providing them food and shelter.
Through this evening, we continue to work with our law enforcement partners here as we continue to try to get the airport back into an operational status, working with all our airlines, the transportation security administration and others to try to get the Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport back in operation tomorrow morning. The goal will be to have us operational at 0500 -- 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, but we're going to be encouraging all our travelers to check with their individual airlines as some may not be operating right away.
Clearly, this incident has caused a lot of disruption not only in their individual schedules but other schedules around the country, so we encourage everybody to -- to actually contact their airlines. We will continue to provide information through social media at -- through Tweeter @fllflier, through our web page and we encourage people to keep checking those sources for any changes. That's all I have for the time being. Sheriff, turn over to George.
GEORGE L. PIRO, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI MIAMI FIELD OFFICER: Good evening. As the sheriff mentioned, the FBI is working very, very closely with the Broward Sheriff's office in this investigation. We have begun the difficult task of processing the crime scene which will allow us to identify the deceased and making the proper notification to the family members.
As you can imagine with this type of investigation and this type of incident, it is a long-term very difficult complex investigation that requires us to pursue all leads and avenues. We are conducting the investigation not only here in South Florida but in several other states as we try to pursue the suspect's activities leading up to today's horrific incident. The subject is in federal custody as the sheriff mentioned, a long interview was conducted of the individual by the FBI and Broward Sheriff's office and he will be charged federally and most likely will have his initial appearance in Broward on Monday.
Again as I mentioned, with these types of incidents as horrific they are, we are looking at all avenues. We have not ruled out terrorism and we will be pursuing every angle to try to determine the motive behind this attack and any associates, any connections, communication, everything that you can imagine, I assure you we are pursuing every possible lead. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ...originally, the flight from Anchorage and then Minneapolis and then to here?
PIRO: Yes. The individual flew from Alaska to Minneapolis to Fort Lauderdale on a Delta Airlines flight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did he come here?
PIRO: At this time, it's still too early in the investigation for us to truly know why he came to Florida. So, those are some of the things that we're looking at his travel patterns, what brought him here and his connections to South Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...suspect had contact with an FBI officer in Alaska, were they aware he had weapons? Anything done to take those away (ph)?
PIRO: Yes. The individual did walk into our Anchorage office in November. He came in and spoke with FBI agents. At that time, he clearly stated that he did not intend to harm anyone; however, his erratic behavior concerned FBI agents that were interviewing him and they contacted local police and turned him over to the local police. He was taken into custody by the local police and transported to a medical facility for a mental health evaluation. We looked at his contacts. We looked at -- we did our interagency checks and everything and at that point we closed our assessment.
[22:05:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there anything you do to takeaway firearms? Do you guys know that he had firearms on him?
PIRO: That answer, I or that question I really don't have the answers for. Again, it's very early in the investigation. We are working very closely with our Anchorage field office trying to determine his activities there but I can't really tell -- tell you about his weapons there.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ...voluntarily walked into the FBI office in Anchorage homeland (ph)?
PIRO: Yes. He voluntarily walked into our office and he was interviewed by agents out of that office.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how long is he going to be (ph) in the mental health facility?
PIRO: That information I don't have. Again, it's very early in the investigation and that's something that we'll have to try to determine with our Anchorage field office. He was turned over to local custody and it was the local custody that took him to the medical hospital for evaluation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the FBI investigating at home in Anchorage, are you guys looking into a house referring there?
PIRO: We're actually looking at several investigative leads not only in Alaska but in other states that we have determined that he's either traveled to or has connections there.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...aboard on one of the flights (inaudible)?
PIRO: I'm not aware of any type of incident like that, but again this is very early in the investigation but at this point we're unaware of an incident either on on the flight or at baggage claim.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything that he had been compromised (ph) in any way. We know, he mentioned some kind of voices in his head or something like that.
PIRO: Again it's very early in the investigation. As I mentioned, we're not ruling out anything -- we're looking at every angle including the terrorism angle, but it's going to take us sometime to determine the true nature of the motivation of the individual.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).
PIRO: I believe he is 26 years old. He was in the U.S. Military. We are currently reviewing his military records. I can't tell you that he was in the military. I believe he was in the army, but we haven't confirmed exactly his service.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What type of gun and how many shots fired?
PIRO: What I can tell you at this point is that it was a semi-auto handgun, but I'm not prepared to release the type of handgun and it's way too early in the investigation to tell you how many rounds were fired.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he try to take hostages in the shooting?
SCOTT ISRAEL, SHERIFF BROWARD COUNTRY, FLORIDA: No. He didn't try and take any hostages. As the subject, Esteban Santiago was shooting. He was as I said seconds after the shootings contacted by a Broward sheriff's deputy. Instructions were rendered. He was taken into custody without incident and was immediately interviewed by the FBI, the Broward Sheriff's office. One more question. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, can you make any statement (inaudible).
ISRAEL: Not to my knowledge. If you -- we'll be getting in touch and let you know when the next press release will be -- press conference will be when we're ready to release more information. Right now, I just ask that the prayers of the nation be with the people and the families that lost loved ones in Broward County. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Press conference is wrapping up as you can see there at the airport in Fort Lauderdale -- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport after that horrific shooting today, this is "CNN Tonight," I'm Don Lemon.
We're going to get to our panel in just a moment Rene Marsh, our Aviation Correspondent is with us, Deb Feyerick in union (ph) set in New Jersey the home of the suspect and since Boris Sanchez is live for us at the Fort Lauderdale Airport but you can see officials there from the FBI, director in-charge of that particular area, also the airport director and the Broward County Sheriff all speaking out about this 26-year-old name, Esteban Santiago saying he was a member of the military.
They are going over his -- his military records at the moment trying to figure out why he took a flight from Alaska to Minneapolis to Fort Lauderdale, a Delta Flight and then in the baggage area taking a gun out as he describe a semi-automatic handgun. They wouldn't be specific about it and then shooting people, killing five people, injuring at least eight and then of course tying up air traffic throughout the country today because of this incident.
Again, they said that they are now going over forensics as it's, you know, it's customary in this case and more information @fllflyer -- fllflyer. They said they are going to release that information through social media and they said they will have another press conference but not exactly sure what time, the latest information coming out at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In the meantime as I said, our Boris Sanchez following the story for us all evening, all day since it broke today. Boris, the suspect in custody now, what else are we learning tonight?
[22:10:00] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don. I think the most interesting thing that you just heard was the FBI, a spokesperson confirming that this suspect went to an FBI office in Anchorage, Alaska in November and talked to the officers reportedly about voices in his head. He felt that he was under the control of a government agency and they were telling him, the voices, to join ISIS.
I asked the spokesperson if any agents were aware of perhaps he had weapons on them because we were able to confirm that in the recent past. The suspect had purchased two glocks, one a glock-9 one a glock- 40. The response was that they simply don't have an answer at the time whether or not those agents were aware that he had firearms or whether or not they tried to perhaps confiscate them. The spokesperson confirmed that he was referred to local law enforcement. He did say that at the time the suspect said that he had no intention of hurting anyone, so it's really interesting insight into this person's mind. Clearly, he felt that something was out of line and we saw the result of it today. Meantime here at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Don I want you to see this huge line, there are hundreds of people still in line, waiting to leave Terminal Two -- just outside Terminal Two, I should say at the airport, these folks have been here all day long since the shooting took place.
We've seen a steady stream of busses coming down, picking them up and evacuating them -- taking them to Port Everglades where we've learned that the Red Cross and other agencies are offering helping Port Everglades of course just a short distance from here but still there are several people here who are frustrated. Some of them have actually been sitting on the tarmac since the shooting took place.
We spoke to one woman who told us that her plane was scheduled to take off shortly after the shooting and she was forced to sit in the plane up until about 9 p.m. on the tarmac. So, there's a lot of stressed people out here obviously not to mention those that had loved ones that were affected by the shooting and those that are still recovering right now. Again, at least five people killed, eight more in the hospital right now recovering, Don.
This is a day that will certainly change the outlook of this community and possibly even change the way people feel going to the airport. I spoke to one woman who is in the terminal when the shooting took place with her family. She told me that it was chaos that at one point she dropped to the ground and was overcome with emotion because she was separated from her family and wasn't sure if they were OK.
When she was finally reunited with them, she was relieved but she says that, you know, this was really something that that changed her thinking when going to the airport. She was very, very concerned. The other interesting thing that she said, you know we asked her, did you ever think this could happen coming to here to Fort Lauderdale for vacation? She said, this could happen anywhere, Don.
LEMON: It was outsider, the soft target as they call it. The interesting thing we see that long line behind you and we see lots of police activity, Boris. They're not going to open this airport -- reopen this airport until 5 a.m. so it's going to be chaotic for awhile and once it opens at 5 a.m. I don't think it's going to be business as usual.
The other thing that they mentioned tonight is that they're not ruling out the possibility of terrorism. We'll discuss that with our other members of the panel here. So, Boris I want you to standby, I want to bring in Rene Marsh. Rene, sources say the suspect had a gun in his check bag which we are told he declared. What are the guidelines for traveling with a firearm?
RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Hold on. By all accounts, the shooter followed all of the procedures for carrying a gun in checked baggage which by the way is legal. The airport police in Anchorage, Alaska that's where he originated said that the suspect declared the gun before the flight and had it in that proper casing. It was properly stored in his checked luggage.
We should point out, TSA has very strict guidelines for this, the firearm must be unloaded. It has to be stored in a hard side case and the case has to be locked. Only the passenger is allowed to have a key or combination to that case. And again it must be declared at the ticket counter, so all the information that we have received is that the shooter did all of that.
He followed all of the rules, but Don it appears that he took advantage of the vulnerability that we have at basically every airport across the country. You just said it, the soft target, all of those areas before the security checkpoint.
LEMON: It's interesting because I have to follow this procedure while working on a story with a gun grenade, but I had to take the gun to a special area and then pick it up, was that -- did that not happen in this case?
[22:15:00] MARSH: That word is unclear. We haven't heard, you know, did he have to show ID before he retrieved his luggage with the actual gun inside, that part is unclear. We do know that he retrieved his checked luggage. He retreated to the bathroom which was only just steps away, pulled it out and then open fire. But let's just say Don, let's just say they did take his ID, one would argue that nothing really could stop him even if he went through that check and balance...
LEMON: Through the procedures, right.
MARSH: ...from going into that bathroom and pulling out the gun just minutes later and doing what he did today.
LEMON: So, let's go over Rene some of the things that they said in the press conference and I mentioned as I was introducing you and finishing up with Boris that they say that they're not ruling out the possibility of terrorism, that was by the special agent in-charge there, George Piro, what do you know about that?
MARSH: At this point, we know that that law enforcement doesn't have him on their radar as far as being radicalized. You know, they had that incident -- they had that encounter with him in which he showed up at that FBI office in Anchorage, Alaska. They did check out his background. They saw he had a military background and so they referred him to a local hospital under the guidance of local police, but it ended there, you know.
At this point, we don't have any indication that he was on their radar for anything more than that that they were aware that he had some mental issues. His name was not on the no-fly list. So, at this point, we don't have indication to believe that it was terrorism even though there is that comment that he said that voices in his head told him to follow ISIS. I think what investigators are looking at now and really zeroing in on is that this was possibly a mental case.
LEMON: OK. Rene, also what about -- they're also talking about a fight or some sort of incident on the plane, what do you known about that?
MARSH: So, we've been hearing these reports about this alleged fight or altercation on-board the aircraft, investigators have been looking into that to see if possibly that is what angered him -- angered him enough to go and get his firearm; however, they haven't found any solid evidence to back that all up, so right now that just remains a rumor that there was an altercation that may have sparked this, Don.
LEMON: Do we know was the plane -- would the plane have been greeted differently? Would have -- something would have been different...
MARSH: Exactly.
LEMON: ...if there was an altercation?
MARSH: Exactly. If there was something that was big enough that occurred on-board this aircraft that really concerned the flight crew that they would have called for law enforcement to meet them at the gate that's customary, that's what you usually see when it rises to the level that really concerns the flight crew, we didn't see that and so let's just say maybe if he was having a small argument with someone on-board which we have no indication that that was the case, but if there was something, it clearly did not rise to the level that concerned the flight crew to the point that they will call for law enforcement to meet that aircraft at the gate because that did not happen.
LEMON: Standby, we do still have Boris, do we? Do we still have Boris there? Boris, just stand by Rene -- Boris, do we still have...
SANCHEZ: Yes.
LEMON: ...people on airplanes, I know you said that there are people in line. As I said, it's not reopening until 5 a.m. in the morning. Are there still people on planes there?
SANCHEZ: Fortunately not. From what we understand, they were able to leave the planes around 9 o'clock this evening. It's still staggering when you consider that they were essentially sitting on a plane, on the tarmac for seven to eight hours they were not allowed to move. As they were watching, people running through the runway, screaming and running for their lives as we saw hundreds of people do that this afternoon, Don.
LEMON: All right -- all right, Boris standby, Rene Marsh standby. I want to get to Deborah Feyerick. Now, Deborah is in New Jersey and that's where the FBI is interviewing the aunt of the alleged gunman. What are you hearing?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don what we're hearing is that earlier this afternoon, the FBI agents were here. We counted about eight of them. We saw some police as well. They were inside the home and this is part of the routine. I've got to go forward basically and see who they can talk to, what kind of information they can get. But the home behind me here, a number of reporters were able to go inside and speak to the aunt and the aunt actually said that her nephew had a baby, that he's the youngest of five siblings. They live both in Puerto Rico and also in Florida, which may explain why he was on his way to Florida.
She said that he served in Iraq from December, I'm sorry from April 2010 to February 2011 that was in Iraq. He was deployed. When he returned she said that he was really acting strangely and he was discharged in August of this past year and a couple of months later that's when he walked into the FBI agent saying that somebody from the U.S. Intelligence agency was speaking to him.
He was sort of hearing these voices and that's when he was questioned and taken to a medical facility for that mental evaluation. But the aunt said she had no idea why this happened. She said she's very sorry, she's very sad and she asked to God to be merciful. So, this is really impacting the family as well, but you've got FBI agents who are looking at places where he did is known to have served, those may include Missouri, Puerto Rico, Fort Dix, New Jersey, they're trying to put it together.
And one of the reasons, Don as you asked Rene is why haven't they ruled out terrorism and that's because look this absolutely maybe the person who had mental difficulties -- mental problems, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't contacted by somebody and they've really got to rule that out to make sure that that wasn't some sort of a trigger that sort of led to the spiral.
[22:20:02] LEMON: All right, Deb I want you to standby, Rene standby, Boris Sanchez as well. CNN is on top of this breaking news story. A press conference is being held in Florida just moments ago by officials there to explain what happened as much as they know after five people are dead eight others injured after a gunman started shooting in the baggage area at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. I want to bring in now Broward County Major, Barbara Sharief she joins me now by phone. Mayor, thank you for joining us. I know it's a very busy time for you. I'm sorry that this happened. Wish we could have spoken at a better time. You have been talking to investigators, what can you tell us about the suspect?
BARBARA SHARIEF, MAYOR BROWARD COUNTY FLORIDA: Well, at this point in time, I don't have a lot of details about the suspect other than what I've just heard you speak about on air. The FBI has stated that it is Esteban Sanchez -- Santiago and he did fly in from Alaska to Minneapolis to Fort Lauderdale on a Delta Flight.
At this time, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and the victims themselves, and hopefully the individuals that we have taken to the area hospitals will pull through. The airport status is going to remain close at this point in time and for the remainder of the evening and as expected to open up at some point tomorrow morning.
LEMON: Yes. We're told at 5 a.m., but you know, that could change depending on where they are in the investigation. Mayor, you did mention to people that your thoughts and prayers were with the injured, do you have any updates on how the injured are doing tonight?
SHARIEF: At this point in time, they have not released any further information about the injured and so I cannot give you an update on that.
LEMON: Your team oversees the airport operations at Fort Lauderdale, any indication at this point that there were some warnings that were missed about this?
SHARIEF: No, not at this point in time. As a matter of fact, our law enforcement personnel, our airport personnel and security acted exactly as they were supposed to according to their active shooter training and all evacuation in the airport went just as we plan it to be. We did have a few people however who were panicking and did ran out on the tarmac and those individuals were kept safe and we bus them over to our Terminal Four in our Port Everglades.
LEMON: Yes. I can imagine if someone is shooting people would run anywhere they could and you see these are secured areas and on busy tarmacs...
SHARIEF: Correct.
LEMON: ...as well which can be very dangerous at that time, but I mean if someone is shooting, you know, what the heck are you going to do. Mayor, do you know anything about the incident aboard the plane -- do you know that the plane was met by anyone? Was there any sort of altercation on that flight from Minneapolis to Fort Lauderdale?
SHARIEF: There were reports that there was some form of altercation with this gentleman on the flight and that it was de-escalated and there was no need for any further action. There was not any alert as far as meeting the aircraft, as far as detaining him. He was free to go and he did go into the baggage claim area and that's when this all occurred.
LEMON: Do you know if he has any connection -- what his connection is to South Florida?
SHARIEF: I'm not aware of his connection to South Florida. I was just confirmed that he was actually an American resident because earlier today someone had reported that he was of Canadian descent, so we were just trying to make sure that we had all the information correct prior to the press conference and the release and I'm glad that the FBI has confirmed for you.
LEMON: It is -- it is unfortunate mayor that this happened at your airport. Do you think airports in Florida and around the country need to rethink how they approach security specifically in the baggage claim area or those soft target areas?
SHARIEF: I'm not necessarily sure that it's just about security because as soon as the shooting occurred our BSO and all of our airport security was right there and they were right on top of it. I know that some people have said that it seemed like it took a long time but when you are in an active shooter situation, seconds can seem like minutes and minutes can seem like an hour.
[22:25:00] LEMON: Well, thank you very much, Mayor Barbara Sharief of the Broward County, Florida. We appreciate it. We are going to continue to follow this Breaking News. Coming out of Florida as you can see there are still people there stranded in some sense they're standing there on the line -- long lines. The airport closed now, won't open until 5 a.m. tomorrow if they can continue the investigation and get most of it out of the way.
The suspect who is Esteban Santiago, 26 years old, former member of the military, reportedly went to the FBI just months ago saying he heard voices telling him to watch ISIS video that was in Alaska, so why was he allowed to travel with the weapon? We'll discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Our Breaking News Tonight, the gunman opens fire at an airport -- at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida killing five people and wounding eight others.
[22:29:58] I want to bring in now CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Harry Houck; National Security Analyst, Juliette Kayyem; Law Enforcement Analyst, Art Roderick; Attorney Stuart Kaplan; a former FBI special agent and CNN Safety Analyst, David Soucie. Good evening to all of you, thank you for coming in. I wish it was under better circumstances tonight.
This is just horrific, Julia, the suspect recently discharged from the National Guard for unsatisfactory performance. He wasn't on the radar by - for terror ties but he did show up at the FBI office months ago saying that he was hearing voices in his head telling him that he should join ISIS, so what do you make of this? Should he been allowed to travel with the gun?
JULIETTE KAYEEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No. Definitely not but here's the challenge for the FBI and this will shock many of your viewers. There's -- a lot of people who go to the FBI or go to local law enforcement and say they're hearing things, they're supporting ISIS, look the FBI in Anchorage responded to this sending him to mental facilities.
He also had served the American government in the military so there's circumstance that may have made them believe that, you know, he probably had psychiatric or mental disorders but as we heard George Piro in Florida, a very well respected FBI agent say they are working with Anchorage to see what they might have failed to determine.
But, a show up at the door at an FBI office is just simply not enough to do much except or to try to commit him for clear mental challenges he was having at the time.
LEMON: OK, so as I said he tells the FBI that he's hearing voices. He is taken for a mental health evaluation. He voluntarily checks himself in. At what point though is he no longer allowed to travel with a weapon or will he be on a no-fly list? STUART KAPLAN, FOUNDING PARTNER OF KAPLAN SCONZO & PARKER, PA: Well,
let's back up Don. First of all, I want to really kind of look into the local law enforcement procedure because at least here in the State of Florida if in - if in fact someone either voluntarily or involuntarily commits themselves for a mental health evaluation, there is a procedure in place that a law enforcement officer, especially if you're being committed at the direction of law enforcement, those weapons in your possession should have been seized kept in the control and custody of...
KAYEEM: Yes.
KAPLAN: ...local law enforcement and he should have had to petition a local court of competent jurisdiction to prove his competency to get those guns back. So, it's not a question of this traveling with this weapon. To me, I think there's an indication here that somewhere in Anchorage someone missed their cue to get these weapons out of his possession.
LEMON: Yes. Harry, you were shaking your head when Juliette Kayyem said, you know, people go to law enforcement all the time saying they're hearing things and then...
HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: All the time.
LEMON: ...when I asked - when I asked about the gun about why was he - why was he allowed to travel with a gun, you also had a reaction to that, why?
HOUCK: Well, basically they did not ask the right question. I mean, did -- when he went to the police department, when the FBI turned him over to the police department and then they turned him over to the mental health facility, somewhere in between there somebody should have asked him whether or not he had any weapons at home. May be he had weapons at the time maybe not. May be he bought this weapon sometime after, we don't know for sure exactly when he bought these weapons.
The fact is if the - if the mental - if the psychologist or psychiatrist who we talked to thought that there was nothing wrong with him and he was OK to be released, maybe they should, you know, they should have kept him. You know, the thing here that the psychiatrist let him go. So, apparently, they thought he was not any kind of a threat to anyone or anyone at that time.
But the police department should have probably checked to see if there are weapons at home. But like I said, when I was a cop and, you know, working in the precinct we set people come in all the time saying all kinds of crazy things and you just like scoot them out the door.
LEMON: You can't hold them just for a second...
HOUCK: You can't hold them. I mean because somebody says somebody comes in and said they're hearing voices or something like that, you can't commit them. You just like, you know, you move them out of the precinct. LEMON: Art Roderick, was something missed?
ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: No, I think not at all. I mean first of all, there's two key points here. Number one, in Anchorage, Alaska I spent two years in the military before it reaches in (ph) in Alaska which is right outside of Anchorage. Everybody has weapons up in that - in that state.
Number two, when you go to purchase a firearm, you fill out the ATF form, Form 4473 and there's a question on that form specific to being committed by -- to a state facility. Now, there's no way when ATF gets those forms, that form is really basically a criminal history check because there's no way under the HIPAA Guidelines that ATF or any federal law enforcement agency can actually check that particular question on that Form 4473.
LEMON: Yes. Can we put up this picture up, Juliette this - I have a question for you. So, in the photograph of the suspect, his finger pointing up, are you hearing anything - what's - is there any significance in that?
[22:35:00] KAYEEM: I think there is significance to this picture so I'm going to analyze the press conference as well. What was telling to me was the FBI continues to have primary jurisdiction and it's not ruling out terrorism. Social media is clearly showing pictures like this. He is in a scarf that some may interpret as being Middle Eastern. The gesture may be one that is aligned with gestures that have been seen on other ISIS photographs.
I'm being purposefully cautious because -- for two reasons, one is we need to verify and validate who he is - he is apparently talking and what his background is. And secondly as we've seen in a lot of these cases, there are multiple motivations, right? So, it maybe that everyone wants to scream ISIS but there's mental disorder, there is background issues and then of course there's ISIS.
But I'm definitely, like the FBI not closing the door on terrorism right now, and I think it's telling that the FBI very quickly said we're not ruling anything out and we have primary jurisdiction, otherwise they would not have primary jurisdiction until they could rule out terrorism.
LEMON: Well, I used to do one to do is, you know, do an internet search on ISIS...
HOUCK: Right.
LEMON: ...finger sign.
KAYEEM: Right.
HOUCK: ...you see that finger sign.
LEMON: Go ahead, Harry.
HOUCK: ...that finger sign is like the ISIS sign and the fact that he had mentioned ISIS when he went into the - into the FBI Headquarters and he had been in the military, whether he was not in the military at that time, you know, we don't know but that should have been a little bit of a red flag there. They probably - they checked - they checked him out and he was not on any - any kind of lists or anything like that so they had to turn him over to law enforcement.
LEMON: Again, we don't know, they're not confirming it at this point...
HOUCK: Yes.
LEMON: ...but again as I said all you - we do an internet search and we see the - that's...
HOUCK: Exactly.
LEMON: ...what it is. OK, that's the first thing that comes up. We'll continue with that panel right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Tonight investigators at Fort Lauderdale trying to piece together the events that have led to the airport rampage. Five people shot dead, eight others wounded. Harry Houck is with me. Juliette Kayyem, Art Roderick, Stuart Kaplan, and David Soucie and that's where we're going to start with Mr. Soucie. David, baggage claim is a vulnerable area, anybody can walk in they call it the soft target, should the security perimeter be expanded?
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: I don't think that's the right answer to it. What is important is that the procedures that are in those soft target areas are really responsive. It's an area where when you get back from traveling, you're maybe worried about what your security situation is. You get back to baggage claim, you grab your bag and you get that sigh of relief saying, oh, I'm safe. I've made it. Everything is great so your vigilance is down.
You're not as vigilant as you would have been have you been on the airplane or getting on the airplane going through security, so at that point this is a real lesson for us as traveler is to remain vigilant all the way to your home because this is something that can happen in your travels.
So, it's important to remain vigilant and protect yourself and be aware of what's going on around you even after - even at the airport at the baggage claim because it is not very well protected.
[22:40:00] LEMON: I wonder if that should be more stepped stated over because people check weapons and ammo for all sorts of reasons, should that be allowed or should there be extra steps before a person is reunited with their weapons?
SOUCIE: Well, I think so because there are extra steps to put it on the airplane. So, why would there not be the same kind of concern on the other end? Did the airplane - did the - the weapon make it through? Perhaps it was taken off during the baggage exercise during -- in the - in the control area which he put it put a weapon into that area, so there's checks and balances done I think that could be improved.
Another thing I think that's important to point out is that some airlines do not allow you to check your gun on the same or in the same bag as your ammunition. Other airlines do, so the FAA just simply says it has to not be loaded. It can't be in the chamber and it can't be connected to the - to the - to the weapon so that's a couple of things that need to be tightened up for sure.
LEMON: Look, I remember here on the panel working government or in law enforcement by showcase (ph) who travels with a weapon and had to check their weapon, Harry Houck does. OK, OK so good. So, Art, Harry, and Stuart talk to me about have you gone through this particular process?
HOUCK: Yes.
LEMON: I'm starting with - starting with Harry and then...
HOUCK: Yes.
LEMON: ...at this airport?
HOUCK: Well, not this airport here but in Kennedy. When you go to -- when you go to Kennedy Airport, I take guns to South Carolina all the time. I have a house down there. But, the fact is that, you know, when you get to the airport, you got to the port authority police got to come to see you.
LEMON: All right.
HOUCK: All right, they show you the weapon. They check the weapon and check my permit. They check my identification and make sure that's all good. All right, they make sure that the -- my gun is in a specific kind of a package, you know, a hard - a hard piece of luggage, all right and it's got two locks on it. It's got my lock and a TSA lock where the TSA can open it whenever they want to.
LEMON: Right.
HOUCK: All right, and then once that information checked with port authority police, I give it to let's say Jet Blue where I go and Jet Blue puts it to my luggage and that's it. You know, when I get to South Carolina I just pick it up and that's it.
LEMON: Stuart, same experience or is it different at every airport?
KAPLAN: Yes, in Florida same experience, almost in its entirely as just described; however, here in Florida because guns are within the possession of most citizens down here. I've never had an occasion where law enforcement officer necessarily has been called specifically to inspect my identification or the gun itself.
Routinely, it's a ticket agent supervisor that comes over and verifies the information and verifies the form. The gun has been checked and I pick it up on the other end of my destination. And to be quite honest with you, certainly traveling to certain locations, one of the first things that I do is after I retrieve my luggage is I retrieve my firearm, load it up and put it on my person.
LEMON: Yes, so my experience Art is from the Denver Airport to Atlanta...
RODERICK: Yes.
LEMON: ...called ahead, separate, you know, the carriage is a separate space and they give it to you in a separate location. What's your experience?
RODERICK: I mean it's generally the same. It's not 100% the same at every location and I've flown in and out of probably every major airport in the country carrying under the retired law enforcement officer federal law that was passed after 9/11. It is in a hard case as Harry had talked about but sometimes it's on the - it's on the baggage conveyer belt or sometimes I have to go to the baggage office, so it's not 100% in every single airport. There's...
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: ...Art?
RODERICK: I think picking - going and having to identify yourself in the baggage office to collect your bag, which I actually do when I fly into DCA is probably the better way - it's definitely the better way to go. It's a lot more secure and you actually have to show your identification to get your bag back.
LEMON: Good.
HOUCK: That's probably a great thing to do. In fact as you know, myself when I fly down there I just pick up my bag and that's it and I walk out...
LEMON: Yes.
HOUCK: ...with my weapon so...
RODERICK: Yes.
HOUCK: I think somebody should check when you get to your destination, you know, that you got your weapon and then show your identification...
RODERICK: Yes.
HOUCK: ...to get it. I don't think would have...
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: ...to the airport.
HOUCK: Do you think it would have helped anyway for this... RODERICK: Right.
HOUCK: ...for this incident if I wouldn't help at all?
LEMON: I don't know if it - I don't know if it would made a difference but it would have been one extra step from him...
HOUCK: Right.
LEMON: ...if he was in altercation or what have you, you know, from just going in his luggage...
[22:45:00] RODERICK: You know, Don one of the - one of the - one of the things I learned is that TSA has guidelines and then each airline also has a little tweak, a little different guideline. So, it's very difficult. You know, you can fly into one airport and have a different procedure then you get to another airport so I think that seriously has got to be looked at and I think showing your ID to pick your bag up is the way to go.
LEMON: All right, thank you panel. We'll see some of you back here a little bit later on. We're covering Breaking News and we're going to be on for a couple of hours here on CNN and then continuing with our international coverage past 1 a.m.
Coming up, much more on the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Lauderdale Airport plus more Breaking News, the declassified report release today that blames Vladimir Putin for ordering hacking aimed at hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump.
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LEMON: Breaking News Tonight, in a report released today, the U.S. Intelligence Community concludes Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign aimed at hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump.
Let's discuss now with CNN Chief National Security Correspondent, Jim Sciutto; CNN Senior Political Analyst, David Gergen; Bob Cusack, Editor-in-Chief of The Hill; and CNN Political Analyst, Josh Rogin. Good to have all of you. On Mr. Sciutto, let's break this down the declassified version. This is the classified one.
The classified version of the intelligence report on Russian hacking has been released and among the conclusion is this, it says, we assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. Presidential election. Russia's goals were to undermine public fate in the U.S. Democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency.
We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Donald Trump. It's pretty clear there. It's unequivocal that Russia did it and they did it in part to help Donald Trump. What kind of evidence did they have?
[22:50:00] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think this report it laid out the assessments, the conclusions. Frankly, it didn't lay out a lot of the evidence the explanation it gives which is expected. It gets to sources and methods. It gets to some of the most sensitive intelligence gathered by U.S. Intelligence Agencies.
There's only so much they can show to the public. The headlines though and imagine yourself in the room there Don between Donald Trump and the four most Senior U.S. Intelligence Officials in the country including the Director Of National Intelligence, James clapper having to deliver that line that you just read there that the Russians interfered in this election with the intention of helping you win the election, a difficult message to deliver.
The other headline I would get from this report is the agencies concluding that the Russians didn't just hack the Democrats, they hacked the Republicans as well. You've heard from Donald Trump and other of his supporters that the only reason this information came out about the Democrats is that the Russians only hacked the Democrats.
In fact the U.S. Intelligence Committee says - Community rather says that they hacked both parties and yet they only released material targeting one party and that is one of the main reasons that they assess that the intention here was to help one party that is the Republicans, that is Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.
LEMON: And I'll put it mildly. That's just one of the -- shall we say misstatements coming from...
SCIUTTO: Yes.
LEMON: ...the incoming administration because Bob Baer, the Intel Chief said high confidence that Russia interfere with the election. But here is -- this is the official statement in part from the Trump campaign or the Trump Administration.
While Russia, China, other countries outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democratic National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines.
That's not exactly true because if you read the report and I've read it, page six says specifically we did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The U.S. Intelligence Community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities and actions of foreign actors. It does not analyze U.S. Political Processes or U.S. Public Opinion, so what's the truth here, David?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Listen, I don't think we - I think we do know that the basic truth here is that this report has taken us further than anything we've seen so far. It pins responsibility directly and personally on Vladimir Putin for ordering a massive interference in American election trying to denigrate Hillary Clinton and at the end trying to help elect Donald Trump president. And we've had various reports about the celebrations on Moscow's part since the results came in.
It's totally understandable that Donald Trump would be very angry at all of this because it does - it does undermine the legitimacy of his election and I think he appropriately said it didn't change the outcome but even so the way this is unfolded, it has been very painful to watch. We just never had a president-elect have so little confidence in massive intelligence operation.
We pay billions of dollars for and he basically is saying, you know, OK, I respect what you say but I really don't believe in it. And by the way, I told the "New York Times" just before you released it this is a political witch hunt.
LEMON: Yes. But again for me, I mean Josh for me for what it says there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines and then the report says itself that it did not make that assessment.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. So, Donald Trump has now gotten all of the information that the U.S. Government has and decided that he still doesn't believe it and he's putting out information about that meeting that is incorrect and has nothing to do with...
LEMON: That is a lie. I mean we've been nice here that it's in fact a lie because that's not what the report said.
ROGIN: It's just unprovable that there's no evidence of it, right. Yes, you can call it a lie. You can call it a mistake. It's spin, whatever it is, it's not part of what he heard in that briefing and he said - he said to AP afterwards, I learned a lot and they did too, OK. So, he still thinks that it's his job to tell the intelligence community what they're supposed to be telling him and I mean let's take a step back here. Now, we're -- he's going to be president. He's going to have the power to tell that Intelligence Community to do whatever he wants, right. And what does he tweeted today that he's going to - the first thing he wants them to do is to do a leak investigation but who leaked the details of this report, right.
[22:55:00] LEMON: Who leaked the details to another news organization...
ROGIN: To another news organization...
LEMON: ...which is a declassified report which is meant for public consumption.
ROGIN: So, his priorities are totally out-of-whack here and he's working on, you know, an agenda that has nothing to do with what's good for our national security, what do we do to make sure this never happens again and what do we about the fact that the Russians according to this report are doing this all over the world?
LEMON: Bob, you know, Donald Trump has been questioning the Intelligence for months and hours before he was briefed. He told the "New York Times" his rivals are behind the whole investigation. He's concluded they've got beaten very badly in the election. I won more counties in the election than Ronald Reagan. They are very embarrassed about it. To some extent, it's a witch hunt. They just focused on this, is he still questioning the Intelligence Community's motives here?
BOB CUSACK, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE HILL: Well, yes I think so. I mean I do think that maybe he changes his tune when he gets his guys in there. Mike Pompoe has picked for the CIA as his confirmation hearing next week, that's going to be a fascinating hearing because he's going to be overseeing officials who help put this report together.
So, it is really unusual and I do think that maybe after Trump is inaugurated the talk of well, they're trying to take away my victory will go away. But at the same time, you know, Don these investigations are - they're ongoing. I mean The House and the Senate are doing investigations. We're going to see a lot of data and get information leaked or not over the next six-nine months to year.
LEMON: OK, I want to get back to Jim Sciutto because Jim this report pointed a finger straight at Vladimir Putin that says Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin ordered campaign aimed at the U.S. Presidential election to further influence efforts worldwide including against U.S. Allies and their election processes. So, Trump has said, you know, very flattering things about Vladimir Putin wants to reset the relationship, does the report undercut that now?
SCIUTTO: Well, it's up to him frankly. I mean from his own party, we know that there's enormous trepidation about the idea of becoming friendlier with Vladimir Putin. Russia, you have many Republican Senators pushing not just for sanctions but for tougher sanctions even than President Obama ordered. So, you're going to have a clash within his own party if he holds to this line.
Couple other takeaways, one you reference there Don, I mean the intelligence community said Russia learned from this. In fact that they can have an effect on an election and the U.S. Intelligence Community expects them to do it again. In Europe, you've got big elections coming up in Germany but also here in the U.S. because in effect it worked. And this is a point...
LEMON: Yes.
SCIUTTO: ...that Senators Graham and McCain have made. Listen, you know, it was the Democrats this time. It could very well be the Republicans next time and that's the attitude they have. To this point, that's not - that's not a step the president has taken to say this is attack -- an attack on the country. We have to come together and defend against future attacks. He's taking it as a personal attack against him it seems and therefore it seems very reluctant to accept those conclusions.
LEMON: It says a lot about the person, the current president, President Barack Obama saying, "Vladimir Putin is not on our team". Thank you. I appreciate it gentlemen. Recon my back, much more on our two Breaking News stories tonight, Donald Trump's reaction to today's report on Russians election meddling and the latest on the investigation to the deadly rampage shooting at Fort Lauderdale Airport.
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