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AWOL Soldier Arrested; Debt Fight Continues
Aired July 28, 2011 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to all of you.
We are going to get right to the breaking news in Texas, where a soldier has been arrested suspected of plotting to kill members of the U.S. Army. We're going to get that for you in just a moment.
But again as Randi was just talking, huge day once again here in Washington. I want to let you know we are expecting a vote in really just the next couple of hours here. This is a vote on the so-called Boehner bill in the House of Representatives. So it's a bill that the House speaker was still trying to whip up support for today. And, essentially, it would raise the debt ceiling and also save some $917 billion in spending over the course of the next decade, so we're keeping an eye on that as always.
But first let's get to that developing story for you out of Texas. An AWOL Muslim-American soldier has been arrested near Fort Hood with what the FBI is saying is a large amount of bomb-making materials. Private First Class Naser Abdo is now in custody after a sales clerk at a gun shop alerted police about this suspicious purchase. FBI agents then went on to Abdo's hotel room where they found these bomb-making materials, enough apparently to make not just one but two bombs.
I will speak with the gun shop clerk, very astute man who made that crucial call to police, in just a minute. Definitely stand by for that. Also stand by for a news conference. That's expected any minute now in Killeen, Texas. We will take you there live as soon as that begins to be briefed and some of these details from police in Killeen.
But first -- and possibly FBI -- let's head to the Pentagon and correspondent Barbara Starr who has been all over this, this afternoon.
And, Barbara, minute by minute I know this story is changing, it's evolving, and you're getting more information. What can you tell us about this AWOL soldier and specifically what police found in his hotel room?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, Brooke, let me circle back for a minute. You referred to him as a Muslim- American soldier. Normally we don't talk about soldier's religious faith in the terms of a criminal story. Why are we talking about it today? This man had applied to become a conscientious objector last year to the Army. As a private First class and as a Muslim-American he said he could not in good conscience deploy to the war zone. He did not want to be in the possible position of killing fellow Muslims in the war zone, so he applied to become a conscientious objector.
Subsequent to that he was found by the Army to have child pornography on his computer and he was facing court-martial charges on that and then he went AWOL. He turned up in Texas and this very astute gun owner yesterday called police after Abdo, Private First Class Naser Abdo, came to the gun store, asked questions that didn't make sense to the gun shop owner, bought some material and went away in a taxi.
When he was finally stopped by police they found a good deal of material in his hotel room, as you said, enough to make two bombs. They found weapons, explosives, sugar that -- pounds of sugar that they thought might be used as an explosive enhancer and even Christmas lights that they thought might be used as a timing device for some potential bombs, a lot of concern about all of this, but our sources are telling us so far they do not believe there's any tie to any terrorist organization -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Barbara, let me circle back with you to the point you were making, as I do remember his story. Viewers may not remember his name, but we have some sound I just want to play. He was interviewed by a number of different media outlets, including our Nashville affiliate WSMV. We have sound of this man speaking about how he didn't want to go overseas based upon his religious beliefs. Let's just listen to that for a moment. Oh, we don't have the sound.
But, Barbara Starr, to go back to your final point being -- here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had different views on war. I had different -- I had different views on what Islam as a peaceful religion allowed and did not allow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: OK. Short and sweet. Here we have it.
Barbara, so, finally, he is not tied thus far from what you're hearing to any kind of, you know, larger terrorist organization. Do we know yet, and I know it's so, so early, whether or not he was potentially a lone wolf here, or did he have help?
STARR: At this point there's no indication that he was working with anybody, but as you say it's very early.
BALDWIN: Yes.
STARR: So I think we will all be watching this upcoming press conference from the Killeen, Texas Police Department, and we will be watching to see if the FBI is also there. What we are told is, if federal charges have been filed by the time of this press conference, which is just a few minutes away, we will see FBI officials there at that press conference, if the federal charges have -- have already been filed.
What will also be interesting to watch is who will exactly have jurisdiction over this case. The Army was already searching for him because he was AWOL. He was going to be taken back to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, if they found him, but it may now be that if there are federal weapons charges, that may supersede all of this, and he may remain in federal hands, Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK. Barbara Starr, you and I and our viewers will all be watching for that news conference. Supposed to happen any minute now. I'm told that has yet to begin. Killeen, Texas, police will be giving it, and we will be standing by for that. Barbara Starr, as always, thank you so much.
And staying on the story here, now on the line is the gun store sales clerk who so astutely alerted police to this man in Killeen, Texas. His name is Greg Ebert. He's also a former law enforcement officer.
And, Greg, quite a story here and I'm sure you're being inundated by media types like me, so I appreciate you taking the time here to tell you story.
And if we can, sir, let's just go back to Tuesday. You have this AWOL soldier, little did you know, he's this AWOL soldier, Private First Class Naser Abdo, comes into your gun store. Just do me a favor. Begin with his behavior. Can you describe? Anything odd or pretty normal guy?
GREG EBERT, GUN STORE SALES CLERK: Well, the only -- the only thing that drew our attention to this young man initially is the fact that he arrived here in a taxi.
After he entered the store, his purchase raised a red flag with me, and when I say red flag, he brought six one-pound canisters of smokeless gunpowder to the counter, and then asked the manager, what is smokeless powder? I thought it kind of strange that he would be buying something that he had no firsthand knowledge of.
BALDWIN: So you thought that was odd because he didn't know what the smokeless gunpowder was. What else? What did he ultimately walk out of your store with?
EBERT: The entire purchase consisted of the six pounds of powder. He also purchased three boxes of shotgun shells and a spare magazine for a semiautomatic pistol, but his -- just his general demeanor and the fact that he showed up in a taxi caused me to be a bit concerned about what he might be up to.
BALDWIN: Why the taxi, Greg? Why is that odd?
EBERT: Well, how many folks do you see going around town doing their shopping out of the back seat of a taxicab?
BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. So that was red flag number two. Red flag number one, he didn't know what smokeless gunpowder was that he wanted to purchase and also the fact that he was in a cab. Beyond the purchasing, there was nothing odd about his behavior. Was he talking to anyone else in the store? Was he quiet?
EBERT: No, he -- very much to himself. As a matter of fact, the very brief exchanges that took place were kind of terse, to be honest with you.
BALDWIN: So, like you said, you sold it all to him. He had not done anything unlawful to prevent the sale. He leaves in this cab. You don't immediately call police. You sit on this for a little while. What happens next?
EBERT: Well, we -- after the young man left the store, we discussed the purchase amongst ourselves, and the manager, who is a wonderful woman, was just concerned that something might be afoot.
She was uncomfortable with it, so I told her, if it would help put her mind at ease, that I would call one of the lieutenants that I know at the P.D. and discuss it with him. That way, at least the authorities would be alerted to this young man, and they could take whatever action they deemed to be appropriate.
BALDWIN: So having worked, sir, with Killeen P.D. for 17 years, Waco police two years, Harrison County sheriff in Houston, I imagine you're pretty good with the details and so you were able to relay that information over to police who then potentially went on to his hotel room to find all those materials.
But I do want to point out to our viewers this same store where you work, this is called Guns Galore. This is the same store where Major Nidal Hasan bought some weapons he used in those Fort Hood shootings back in 2009.
And I'm just curious, sir. Since that point in time, did anything change within your store? Is there a heightened awareness because of what happened, perhaps surveillance cameras, et cetera, anything different?
EBERT: Well, I like to think that we're aware of all of our customers. The owner did in fact invest in a more advanced video recording system, which certainly helps us.
But we take the view that we have an obligation to the community to get the authorities involved any time we feel that something is afoot that just doesn't seem right.
BALDWIN: Well, I just want to read to you from Congressman Carter out of Texas. He says: "Thanks to a quick action by a Texas gun dealer," you, sir, "in alerting police to a suspicious character," he goes on, "we may have well averted a repeat of the tragic 2009 radical Islamic terror attack on our nation's largest military installation." Sir, I thank you very much.
EBERT: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Well, the speaker of the House says he is ready to raise the debt ceiling and a vote could happen on the so-called Boehner bill in just hours from now. Debate on the bill just opened up there on the House floor, but Senate leaders say don't waste your time. We will take you live to Washington here in just a movement.
Also ahead, a creepy story out of Florida. You have these two beautiful women just moved to the U.S. for the summer here, enjoying their new apartment in Florida until they find out someone has rigged the place with hidden cameras. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, let's go live here to Washington. And we will see. It's the House whip speaking right now, Congressman Steny Hoyer.
Just switched -- switched back -- Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland here. Now keep in mind five days remaining to a potential default of the Treasury. The House of Representatives just begun the debate there over this legislation to raise the debt ceiling.
Now this is the plan today put forth by the speaker of the House, John Boehner, and at last report Boehner continues to twist arms among his own Republicans to win enough votes to pass this thing.
Let's bring in Joe Johns here in Washington.
And, Joe, let's just both listen to Speaker Boehner. This is when he spoke just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The bill is not perfect. I have never said it was perfect. Nobody in my caucus believes it's perfect, but what this bill reflects is a sincere, honest effort to end this crisis in a bipartisan way to send it to the Senate where it can receive action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Joe Johns, just so we are all on the same page, as succinctly as you possibly can, what does the Boehner plan offer?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: OK. I will keep it short, OK, so just stay with me.
BALDWIN: OK.
JOHNS: OK. It's got two steps. There's a debt limit increase, and it would cut spending by $917 billion over 10 years. Then second step, there would be a second $1.6 trillion debt limit increase linked to $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction.
And the two-step thing is the thing that Democrats are really upset about, including the White House. They say number one that second round of cuts would be a lot harder than the first, and it would probably come around the end of the year, if not somewhere before the next election, and it would just be risky for the entire country. So that's the main thing the Democrats are objecting to, the two-step thing, Brooke.
BALDWIN: So that's the outline of the plan. As we said, in terms of votes here, Joe, Boehner is -- he is not saying whether he has got enough votes from within his own party to get this thing passed, but it does appear that he's made progress among those 85 freshmen who do tend to be hard-line conservatives. Let's listen to one of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. SEAN DUFFY (R), WISCONSIN: Today is important because this freshman class is coming together to get around a proposal, get around an idea. Is this as big as we wanted to go? Heck no. We wanted to go bigger. We ran on going bigger, but this is the only proposal on the table that accomplishes the goals that we have set out to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So, Joe, which Republicans are still holding out?
JOHNS: Well, you have some Republicans who have been around a long time. They have been conservative for a long time, and they are upset because they thought this was their big opportunity to really cut spending and downsize the government, and now it's looking like they are not going to get everything they want.
So the speaker has said himself it's those old sort of hard-line conservatives. Apparently the speaker has gotten a lot of the Tea Party freshmen we have heard so much about to go along with him, at least in the short term, but, you know, this is sort of like herding cats at the very end, and it will be interesting to see what kind of groups he gets under the tent, if he gets the bill passed at the end of the day. He says he doesn't have all the votes, but it sounds like he's close.
BALDWIN: Well, as the cats are being herded, Joe, minor detail here, and I say this facetiously, like any legislation, right, you have to clear it in the Senate, and the Senate majority leader came out, said today flat out not going to happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: As soon as the House completes its vote tonight or this afternoon, the Senate will move to take up that message that they send to us. It will be defeated. They know that. The American people now should understand that clearly.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: So, Joe, if that is what happens, here's the if. If the House passes the Boehner plan, it immediately dies in the Senate, then what?
JOHNS: Well, then you have got to figure out something else, and we do know that Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, are going to get their heads together and try to come up with something at the last moment.
And there are also some outlines, even in the Boehner plan, that they might be able to use to try to give him a little face-saving maneuver there and try to get something on the president's desk at the last moment before that August 2 self-imposed deadline. Going to be tight, but, you know, they still have a few arrows in the quiver, if you will.
BALDWIN: OK. Joe Johns, thank you.
And as we talk Republican plan, we talk Democrat plan, we talk House, Senate, what about the president? Well, the White House says the president is saying intensely involved, that's their word today, intensely involved in all of this, very much so working behind the scenes.
As to the Boehner legislation here that Joe was just talking about, the chief White House spokesman is insisting that with five days left until this potential default, House Republicans are wasting precious time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, what I know about it, the speaker's proposal in the House right now is that there are already, I believe, 55, 56, 57, 58 senators, Democrats and Republicans, who oppose it.
It ain't going anywhere in the United States Senate.
So we need to start doing things that actually can pass both houses and be signed into law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Brianna Keilar live for me at the White House this afternoon.
Brianna, it sounds as though the folks there, where you are, they are looking beyond the Boehner plan to try to influence what happens next. Is that correct to say?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is correct to say, Brooke, and we heard from Jay Carney today. He called the Boehner plan dead on arrival. He said this vote is political theater.
And the White House has long said this will never get to the president's desk, although when you heard Joe detail the Boehner plan, Brooke, the real objection here is to that second vote on the debt ceiling and how that all is orchestrated, so that really is the hiccup here, but that's also seen as really the trademark if you were to talk to White House officials of the Boehner plan.
Right now, all eyes are on Capitol Hill. The president has a very bare public schedule today. What we do know is at least publicly it's very vague, but we do know that there are a lot of discussions going on between the White House and Congress.
Here's some more of what Jay Carney said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARNEY: We are having conversations at every level. I'm not going to detail the individuals who are talking to members, but you can be sure that members of the president's team are continuing the conversations that we have been having for weeks, and months even. And that goes -- it goes on every day.
QUESTION: But there is a -- there is a plan?
CARNEY: Look, there are a variety of ways to achieve a compromise here. And we are obviously, as are members and leaders of Congress, engaged in discussions about what those plans look like and what the best way forward would be as -- as -- as the clock clicks down here -- ticks down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So here's what to expect in the coming days absent a deal in Congress, more details from the White House, from the Treasury Department, on who, Brooke, will get paid and who will not get paid in the actual case of a default. We have heard sort of, you know, some of the more vague details coming from the White House, coming from Treasury and I should say the White House still says, as it has for so long now, it's confident that Congress will increase the debt ceiling. We are expecting details on what exactly would happen if Congress does not in the coming days.
BALDWIN: Can't even begin to imagine what folks are thinking within the Department of Treasury right now. Brianna Keilar, live for me at the White House, Bri, thank you.
And coming up next, Texas starving for rain. In fact, the drought there is so bad, crops are dying, wells are drying up. Homes are even shifting because the ground is so baked, but relief may be on the way. Chad Myers joins me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The state of Texas -- and if you're there, you know this -- used to very long, very hot spells, but as dry as Texas has ever been, the first six months of this year are the record -- I should say the state's driest on record, driest ever. Take a look at this, crops dying in the fields. There has been no rain here in a very, very long time. What is surviving, a bumper crop of grasshoppers. Take a look at this drought map, almost every square inch of Texas covered by the deepest shade of burgundy. See that? That means that the drought in Texas is beyond bad. It has moved to the worst level, which is called exceptional, and look at this, dead fish, dead fish in a dry lake bed.
What this means to the average Texan is a shortage of water so extreme wells are drying up, forcing people to drill deeper. The state's aquifer is declining at an alarming rate and reservoirs are dangerously low. Texas needs rain, and they need a lot of it.
And that is why Texas is now watching the advance of Tropical Storm Don with great, great interest. Don is moving across the Gulf of Mexico right now.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
BALDWIN: And now take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are marshaling all resources available to us, state, federal, local, both New Hampshire and Vermont.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: An 11-year-old girl just up and vanishes from her bedroom. Her parents say they last her saw her using her computer. Now authorities are searching by air, by land, by water for Celina Cass. Those details are next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Real quickly, want to let you know we are monitoring -- that's what you're looking at in the right-hand corner of your screen here.
This is the police chief -- chief there in Killeen, Texas. This is regarding that AWOL soldier who -- who was found, who is arrested now, facing federal charges after they found a bevy of bomb-making materials in his hotel near Fort Hood. We're going to get you the question-and-answer portion of this momentarily.
But let me move on and tell you this. Parents, imagine this. You put your child to bed at night. The next morning, your son, your daughter gone just like that. Has happened to one set of parents in New Hampshire. The FBI has joined the search for a missing 11-year- old girl. You saw her picture. It was Celina Cass. She was last seen Monday night in her home in West Stewartson (ph).
Police say there are no signs of any struggle or that someone took her and no signs that she ran away.
Cass' stepfather says she's a shy, quiet girl who would not leave home on her own. The girl's disappearance has shocked the town.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCINE LEMAY, LIVES IN THE AREA: In a small town like this everybody knows everybody. And it's just devastating that a little girl that age could just come up missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody is just really worried. It's just -- everybody is in shock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That investigation is under way, as is the investigation right now in Killeen, Texas. Let's go live to this news conference. Let's listen.
CHIEF DENNIS BALDWIN, KILLEEN, TEXAS POLICE: Other leads that we have, there's a follow-up, and I can tell you today there's still quite a bit of activity in that sense so we're trying to be careful in that sense and we're just trying to be careful about what's being said publicly until we got a chance to vet those.
QUESTION: There's concern that there were two other individuals possibly involved. Is that just something that was part that have standoff that kind of got messy?
CHIEF BALDWIN: What happened was there was another incident in Killeen involving the tactical response unit, and I think some people confused the two. As for as we know, he acted alone. Again, still, we're going through that investigation process.
QUESTION: Is it military personnel? Is that both on and off the base here in?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I'm not going to get specific about it at this stage.
QUESTION: Chief, what did you find in his hotel room?
CHIEF BALDWIN: We won't be able to comment on that. Obviously, there's items there that we feel -- as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation -- feel that federal charges should be filed, and that's why it's pending the prosecutor's office review.
(INAUDIBLE)
CHIEF BALDWIN: I won't go into details. There's quite a bit of stuff going on. Remember this, just happened so we don't have -- we don't have a lot to where we can release it until those leads were followed up on. Just want to be a little bit more careful.
I'll come back over this way next. Go ahead.
REPORTER Sir, can you tell us a little bit about the tip that you got and then what was going on between the time you got the tip and the next day when he was arrested?
CHIEF BALDWIN: Well, as soon as we received the tip of suspicious activity, the officers began following up on that at the local level with Ft. Hood CID. And as a result that have activity one thing led to another, and as I spoke at 2:03 the following day he was in custody.
QUESTION: Sir, what caused the person to give you a tip? What did he or she se that caused someone to have been aroused, have their suspicion aroused in?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I never discussed this with the person and wouldn't want to suppose anything. And again, a lot of this is under investigation. So, while I'd love to go ahead and comment further, until we get further along in the investigation I don't think it would be appropriate.
QUESTION: You said that military personnel were -- he must have -- perhaps he gave you some sort of confession?
CHIEF BALDWIN: We have -- we have interviewed him, and we have the information as a result of that interview as well as other leads that we're following up on that --
QUESTION: During the interview --
CHIEF BALDWIN: Let me finish.
QUESTION: -- he said I'm targeting the military.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me finish my statement. That leads us to believe military personnel was targeted.
QUESTION: What do you think of the gun store clerk's behavior? I mean, he really is the key to this whole thing. What do you want us to know about what he did and how he handled it in?
CHIEF BALDWIN: Well, let's just go back to the report of suspicious activity. I think it's important for any community throughout America to be mindful of that in this day and age of what's going on in your surroundings. And when you see something that's out of the ordinary, make sure that you report that to the local law enforcement.
Every national event starts at a local level, such as this, and we want to make sure that we give that information to the proper authorities, and whether you think someone acted or not or whether or not someone else has report it had, I think it's important to go ahead and make sure that call is placed to make sure that we give them, again, that law enforcement agency what they need to follow up on.
Let me go over here because I've neglected this side completely.
QUESTION: Where is he being held, and are there plans for transfer? CHIEF BALDWIN: He is currently held in the Killeen City jail on site at this location. As far as where he'll go from here, we'll wait from the complaint to be returned from the proper -- from the prosecutor's office, and then we'll, based on that, we'll turn him over to whomever that might be.
QUESTION: What's his level of cooperation?
CHIEF BALDWIN: As far as?
QUESTION: Is he talking (INAUDIBLE) back off?
CHIEF BALDWIN: You know, that's the investigation aspect I don't really want to get into. I can say that we have interviewed him, and we've also fallen up on a lot of leads, investigative leads, and it's -- I say I mean this team that I just mentioned. There's clearly a dozen different agencies involved at the federal, state and local that's following up on these leads that's brought us to the conclusions that we have. And there's obviously quite a bit more that we would like to release but it's just not the right time for it.
(CROSSTALK)
CHIEF BALDWIN: Sir?
QUESTION: How close was he to pulling this off?
CHIEF BALDWIN: That's a good question, and I can tell you that we would probably be here today giving you a different briefing had he not been stopped.
QUESTION: Can you say there were threats beyond Ft. Hood?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I won't go into the specifics. I'm sorry, not able to do that.
Let me come back to you. Go ahead.
QUESTION: Is he cooperating in being arrested?
CHIEF BALDWIN: Given the conditions -- given the response that we provided, he didn't really have a choice.
QUESTION: What was that response? What do you mean?
CHIEF BALDWIN: Well, we had officers on the location, and he was taken down rather quickly without incident.
QUESTION: How many officers?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I -- I don't have the exact number.
QUESTION: Did he try to run, get out a window?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I don't have had a specific information. My knowledge is that he was taken down without incident, but it was not something that we were waiting around for his cooperation.
QUESTION: Do you feel confident saying that the gun store clerk saved lives?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I think the report of suspicious activity, as I spoke earlier, is so important and that can save lives, and then you go back from -- then you move to the next level of the local law enforcement that in this particular case that followed up on the leads and just didn't ignore it, and then you look at the cooperative efforts from various agencies that came to bear on this investigation makes us a better -- a safer community. And I think that's why we're here today reporting the good news that he's behind bars.
Yes, sir?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) Give us some indication. Does he have any connection between (INAUDIBLE)?
CHIEF BALDWIN: You know, all that's being vetted right now. To say anything would be premature. I don't know all the information that you're asking. Those are specifics that will be followed up on, but it's just not there yet.
QUESTION: Is it true that this is the same gun shop where Major Nidal Hasan purchased some of his weapons?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I'm not commenting on specifics on who reported what and what gun shop and what have you was involved, if any. I'm just not going down that road.
Ma'am, you had a question?
QUESTION: Would you classify this as a terrorism threat or terror plot?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I would classify this as a terror plot, yes.
QUESTION: Chief, how long was he in Killeen, do you know?
CHIEF BALDWIN: A relatively short period of time but not factual enough to say what date he got here and what date -- you know, obviously, I can tell you the date we picked him up.
QUESTION: Do you know when he checked into the hotel?
CHIEF BALDWIN: We do have that information. But again, that's part of the investigation aspect.
QUESTION: A matter of days, would be fair to say that?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I don't -- Again, when someone, especially a suspect gives you information, there's a lot of verification that has to go on before we're willing to commit publicly what really did occur.
QUESTION: Do you know how he traveled here? Bus? Plane? CHIEF BALDWIN: We have reason to believe but not releasable.
QUESTION: Did he mention that perhaps his targets were because of his religious beliefs?
CHIEF BALDWIN: Again, that's not something we're going to go into today. Sorry about that.
Yes, ma'am?
QUESTION: Do you believe he's been working with anybody else?
CHIEF BALDWIN: Right now, we don't have information that he was working with anybody else. That's something that the Federal Bureau of Investigation will follow up on, as well as the various investigative units.
QUESTION: Were the possible sites (INAUDIBLE) notified that they were possible targets?
CHIEF BALDWIN: I can tell you, because military personnel were involved as far as possible target, that we've had communication with the authorities on Ft. Hood. General Campbell is very much aware of it, we had discussions personally over the phone about this incident, and so, they are aware of it. Obviously, they are a part of the investigation, and there's a couple of representatives here today as well.
Yes, sir?
QUESTION: Do you have a good sense of the time line, what he did? Have you accounted for his time from before the tip?
CHIEF BALDWIN: That's what we're doing now. I mean, we've got some pretty good information. But again, when you're given all this information and the obvious investigative efforts and teams going out collecting data, before we get ahead of ourselves we want all of that information and then we'll look at that timeline.
Again, I want to keep it into perspective. This is a KPD investigation. This is a federal investigation. We are in supporting role.
QUESTION: Chief, it's our understanding his target was not on base at all, it' very much --
BALDWIN: OK. You have been listening to the chief of police there in Killeen, Texas, and that final piece of information, that's what I have been wondering about, how he had been charged.
This is a federal investigation, so Private First Class Naser Jason Abdo is in the Killeen City jail and faces federal charges. That is the jurisdiction. There's a picture of him. He's been caught.
Two pieces of information that I gleaned out of that news conference -- as far as they know, according to police, this young man did act alone, and they are led to believe that he was targeting military personnel at Ft. Hood.
Quickly to recap: he was caught after Greg Ebert works we had on just a couple of minutes ago, working in this gun shop. This guy was apparently looking for a number of items, ammunition, and it was the smokeless gunpowder that sort of raised the red flag because this individual didn't know what it was. He just knew he wanted to buy.
So, ultimately, his gun dealer Greg Ebert, former officer of the law for some 20 years, called police. But that led police to his hotel room. And listen quickly to what they found -- pressure cooker, 18 pounds of sugar, shotgun shells, ammunition, four magazines, et cetera, as the police chief just mentioned. He's facing federal charges there.
Still to come, a story out of Florida you've got to see to believe. These two teenage girls being watched inside their own apartment with hidden cameras, had no idea, an elaborate setup. So who is behind that?
Also, what's wrong with this ad, the lovely Julia Roberts? Apparently something so bad it's being banned in Britain. Supermodel Emme joins me when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Call it video voyeurism or invasion of privacy or just plain creepy.
Two young Bulgarian women spending the summer here in the United States want to know who has been watching them after they found hidden cameras in their Florida apartments. They arrived in the States two months ago to work for a Tampa area businessman.
Josh Rojas with CNN affiliate Bay News 9 picks up the story from here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH ROJAS, BAY NEWS 9 REPORTER (voice-over): These tenants are pointing to what they say is a hidden camera someone placed in their bathroom aimed right the shower. The tenants blocked the camera view with a piece of paper.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the bathroom, you take a shower, you make everything. This is, I'm sure that there is a camera, this is the idea to show us somewhere naked and to show what we make in the bathroom.
ROJAS: Twenty-two-year-old Vanya Samokovareva and 23-year-old Ralitsa Dzhambazova point out another video camera attached to a wall in their bedroom. The cables run down to the floor underneath the carpet.
The tenants are from Bulgaria and say they have been living in the Tampa apartment for about two months.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is terrible. I never expected that this thing could happen to me or to my friend. We just came here to spend the summer in the United States, to work here.
ROJAS (on camera): The tenants say there's hidden cameras inside every bedroom of this apartment, and some of them look like smoke detectors, but a quick check of the serial number inside reveals this is a camera.
(voice-over): The tenants say they followed the camera cables to a locked up closet and broke the lock off and say they found that the cameras were feed nothing a closed-circuit TV box connected to a Wi-Fi router.
The tenants found the elaborate camera system days ago and called the Hillsboro County sheriff's office. Detectives confirmed they are investigating a video voyeur case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm feeling very bad but I'm sure that if the right people knows f or this, they have to make something to this, to not to happen to other girls and for the other people from different countries who come here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to know what happened with our videos. I want to know the whole story because now I don't know.
ROJAS: And they want the person who has been secretly watching them to be punished.
In Hillsboro County, Josh Rojas, Bay News 9.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: OK. So now the man the two women came to work for his name is Raj Armony (ph). He's not talking. But both women say Armony asked them to pose for pictures for pizza babe, a yet to be built Web site. They say that after a disagreement over how much they were to be paid, Armony fired them. So, the women are subleasing this apartment from Armony.
And when reached by cell phone, this man reportedly said he and his attorney are expected to meet with police this week. He is not commenting on the investigation until then.
Police have confiscated the cameras and are trying to track down the owner through the serial numbers.
Straight ahead. Have you seen this ad, the one with the original pretty woman? Julia Roberts looking perhaps a little too pretty. Well, the company advertising here is in hot water because of this ad. We'll tell you why and we'll see if you agree.
Supermodel Emme joins me, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: What happens when the pretty woman just isn't quite as pretty as she used to be?
Answer, PhotoShop. Take a good long look at this Lancome ad featuring actress Julia Robert. She looks magically younger than her real age, that being 43.
Is the product Lancome just that good?
Well, a British government watchdog agency says heck no. It says the ad is misleading and there's no way the Lancome product can cover lines, wrinkles, blemishes that well.
The ad is banned now in Great Britain and Lancome's parent company admits the photo has been PhotoShopped and calls the Julia Roberts picture aspirational.
So what do you think? Is it OK for a makeup company to try to return Julia Roberts to her pretty woman youth to sell its product, or has photoshopping gone too far?
Let's ask Emme. She is a gorgeous plus-sized supermodel, actress, author. She knows the ins and outs of the beauty biz.
Emme, you're laughing. What do you make of all these photo shopping here? Do you think this would fly in the U.S., just banning it outright?
EMME, SUPERMODEL: I definitely don't think so. But I have to say one thing. Julia Roberts is gorgeous today.
BALDWIN: Gorgeous. Hello, 43, 24, whatever.
EMME: I mean, you know, but I just have to say that, has it gone too far? I think it's always been this way, and it took the U.K. parliament to put their foot down. They have a ministry of equality in British parliament where there's watch dogs that say this is not advancing, you know, women and girls, and this is degrading to body image and all this kind of things. So, that's an actual huge step for the U.K.
And perhaps we on the other side of the pond need to take a look at that. There are commissions like the Healthy Media Commission that Academy Award-winning actress Geena Davis and former SEC commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate are chairing, this huge initiative with leaders in the industry of media, of broadcasters, of creative --
BALDWIN: Sure.
EMME: -- trying to get their hands around this so we can control what the heck is going on because too much is going down for children.
BALDWIN: Well, I want to get to the children because I know you have a daughter and I'm curious how in the world, you know, you give your daughter a positive body image, and I think a lot of parents struggle with that. But, first, let's just talk here about pictures, Cindy Crawford, her thighs have been PhotoShopped. Hello? Kate Winslet, she was on the cover of one magazine, I think she said her thighs were airbrushed. She wasn't OK with that. Keira Knightly became bustier in one picture. I saw even Rob Lowe admitting he was PhotoShopped for a magazine cover.
I want you to watch this image. This is an exchange he had with my colleague Piers Morgan. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT: How old are you?
ROB LOWE, ACTOR: Forty-seven.
MORGAN: You're a year older than me, and you look like this?
LOWE: Under your suit, I know you look like that, too.
MORGAN: I don't. That's the point.
LOWE: You do, too.
MORGAN: Do you actually look like that in your suit?
LOWE: PhotoShopped.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Why are we so PhotoShop happy? Is it because the companies want us to buy their product? Or do we, the consumer, deep down do we want to see this perfect picture?
EMME: There's a bit of both, isn't there? It seems like if we, as people who are the consumer, keeping on purchasing, we're letting the companies know that we approve. Basically, our money is the power. And if the majority of the power is in females' hands, we've got to stop doing this type of shows and bringing up this topic, letting women know that they actually have the power to change a company's direction, and how they go about promoting imagery is so incredibly shape-shifting.
BALDWIN: So, how do you teach your daughter? How do you teach your daughter that her thigh doesn't need to be the size of my pinky finger?
EMME: Right. You have to walk the walk and talk the talk. You have to hang with wonderful women who feel the same way about talking -- the first thing you say to one another is how are you doing, instead of, oh, you look like you've lost weight? That is the lookism. All the kind of self-defeating topic when you're eating at a dinner table, instead of enjoying this wonderful meal that's beautifully balanced, and saying I shouldn't have this or shouldn't have that.
So, getting rid of that kind of behavior is breaking beliefs and breaking habits, really. It's really organic, small little steps you need to take. But the bigger part is jumping on social media, letting the mom bloggers know that this is how you feel, taking it one step further and reaching the company and saying, this went over the line, don't do this.
BALDWIN: I like that suggestion, though -- not you look great, you look thinner, but how are you?
EMME: How are you? What movie have you seen? What book have you read?
BALDWIN: I like that. Emme, thank you so much. I know you're on social @EmmeNation. Also, I want to just tell everyone, you're a member of the Healthy Media Commission, promoting positive images of women and girls. If you out there would like information, you can check it out GirlScouts.org/healthymedia.
Emme, thank you very much.
EMME: Thank you so much.
BALDWIN: And now, Wolf Blitzer just scored a big interview at the White House. We'll check in with Wolf, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Time to go to Washington, checking in with Wolf Blitzer with a look on what's happening on the Political Ticker today.
And, Wolf Blitzer, let's begin with this great get you scored at the White House, chief of staff Bill Daley. And hopefully, the longer we talk, the longer time it gives them -- to get that sound byte roll so we get a preview.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": Yes. Well, let me tell you, can you hear me OK, Brooke?
BALDWIN: Yes, got you.
BLITZER: All right. Let me tell you some of the headlines that emerged. I just came back from the White House. I had a chance to speak, as you say, with the White House chief of staff, Bill Daley. He's still optimistic that there will be a deal by Tuesday that will avoid the United States going into default or anything like that.
He's confident that in the end, after the House goes through, its legislative activity today, the Senate does something today and tomorrow -- the two chambers, the leaders of the House and the Senate, they'll all get together and they'll work something out.
He told me it's been a few days now -- a few days in his words -- since the president spoke directly with the House Speaker John Boehner. He does expect this process to get going. Even though he was optimistic, by the way, Brooke, that there would be a deal to avert default by Tuesday -- that's the Treasury- imposed deadline -- he couldn't guarantee that the credit ratings would reduce America's AAA rating, which has been in business for decades and decades, I think going back to 1917. He says that's going to depend on what happens over the next few days. Those credit rating agencies are going to be looking very, very closely to see what the United States Congress, he says, does.
He does support, as does the president, as we all know, the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's separate proposal that's going to come up in the Senate. I don't know if that's going to go anywhere in the House of Representatives.
What's critical, he says, is to avoid any vote in a few months, at the end of this year, early next year that would put the country through this kind of wrenching debate one more time. He wants whatever they can get through, some sort of trigger to go through a process down the road.
BALDWIN: Yes.
BLITZER: But if you go through the same process right now, that's simply going to be a disaster once again. So, they want to avoid what the Boehner proposal has, which would be another vote on further raising the debt ceiling in six or eight months or whatever.
BALDWIN: Let me ask you this, back to one of the points you're making, that they're, you know, confident that a deal will be reached, that the leaders of the two chambers will eventually work something out. Is that working under the presumption on behalf of the White House that this Boehner deal will be tabled in the Senate and that the Reid deal will be tabled in the House?
BLITZER: Yes, even if Boehner -- and it looks like he will have the vote necessary, 216 votes, in the House within the next couple hours to get this passed, even if it passes the House, they don't have the votes to get it passed in the Senate. The Senate is going to immediately table it. Meaning, they're going to put it on the sideline and reject it in effect -- at which point, the Senate majority leader's proposal could come up for a vote, but they would need 60 to pass it if one of the Republican senators invokes what's called cloture. Then you need a supermajority, 60, not just 51 votes to approve it in the Senate.
So when all is said and done, this is my takeaway from what's going on right now, Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK.
BLITZER: When all is said and done, we're all going to be working this weekend, we're all going to be watching closely what's going on. It's going to go down to the wire Monday night or early Tuesday. This is not going to be resolved until then.
That's my fear, not necessarily because I don't like to work, I like to work, I love what I'm doing. But my fear is it's going to be a nail-biter.
And even William "Bill" Daley, the White House chief of staff, is upbeat, optimistic that in the end, they'll come up with some sort of deal -- you know, I personally not all that optimistic. I hope he's right.
BALDWIN: Well, get your good sleep tonight, Wolf Blitzer, because, as you mentioned, you and a lot of good folks will be working around the clock this weekend in Washington.
Wolf, thank you very much. We will forward to that interview with Bill Daley on "THE SITUATION ROOM."
