Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Inside Ariel Acosta's House; U.S. Issues Worldwide Travel Alert; Edward Snowden Free In Russia; Ban Or Suspension For A-Rod; Albright From Immigration To Trayvon Martin

Aired August 02, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: The threat to U.S. embassies is real. So much so intelligence officials pushed to close down embassies across the Middle East this weekend. And just today, a worldwide travel warning issued.

And things are getting worse now for the mayor of San Diego. Yet another woman stepping forward with claims that Bob Filner sexually harassed her.

And the images nothing short of shocking. Inside the home of Ariel Castro's pictures of what three brave women endured inside that house on Seymour Street.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MALVEAUX: This is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to bring you breaking news here. If you or your family members are traveling overseas, we want to warn you here. The State Department has now issued a travel alert for U.S. citizens. Officials are warning of possible terror attacks in the Middle East and North Africa. Now, the terror threat, it has prompted the State Department to close several U.S. embassies and consulates as well.

We are covering this story from all angles. I want to bring in Chris Lawrence. He has got details on this worldwide travel alert. We've got Dana Bash, she's on the Hill, Capitol Hill. Jill Dougherty, she's at the State Department. We also have Nick Payton Walsh. He is live from Beirut, Lebanon. I want to start with you, Jim, first at the White House and then Chris and then the threat to Al Qaeda. Fill us in here. Let's start with you, Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, basically, what's happening now is that American Intelligence officials now say that they have been tracking a particular threat from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula for the past several weeks. But in the past several days, they have received additional intelligence information.

And once analyzing that intelligence, that's what pointed them to a potential attack inside Yemen as well as other potential attacks on western and American targets in both the Middle East and North Africa. That is what prompted that move by the Obama administration to close the embassies and then just today to issue the worldwide travel alert. I spoke with a U.S. official who called this threat both credible and serious saying that it could be directed at diplomatic posts but could also go beyond that.

Hence today, you see the worldwide travel alert for any Americans traveling abroad. My colleague Barbara Starr has been told that they are looking specifically at a potential threat to the U.S. embassy in Yemen between the days of August 3rd through the 6th but that also they are specifically looking at August 4th because on this year, in this time in this year, that has become a particularly special and important day in the Islamic calendar as it relates to the holy month of Ramadan --

MALVEAUX: And, Chris, tell us --

LAWRENCE: -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: -- why do they believe that it is Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda related organizations' affiliates that are going after Americans? What's the hallmark that Al Qaeda could be behind the threats?

LAWRENCE: Well, if you look -- Suzanne, if you look at the Al Qaeda affiliates that have shown both the desire and the ability to go after U.S. targets abroad, that is Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, QAP, which is based in Yemen. They were behind the plot that the CIA thwarted about a year ago, a suicide vest on an -- on an airliner trying to send a suicide bomber on an airliner bound for the United States. They're also believed to be behind those cargo packages that were shipped to Chicago synagogues also with explosive material. So, that group has shown both the ability and the desire to attack targets overseas. And that is --

MALVEAUX: All right.

LAWRENCE: -- really what the intelligence is pointing to at this point.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Chris. I want to bring in Jill at the State Department. So, Jill, essentially what can people do? They are travelling overseas. They get this warning? How can they protect themselves? What is the State Department saying?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have to be very aware of their surroundings. And they also have to know that the American embassies, and I'm looking at the list, there are 21 as they're calling them temporary post-closures. Those are embassies and consulates you can actually go on to the Web site of the State Department and find them. That those embassies and consulates will be closed.

Now, in emergencies, they might be able to provide something, but, essentially, you're not going to get there. And one of the reasons the State Department is pointing out is that they do not want people, and this would be foreign nationals, standing in line waiting to get visas. It could be an invitation, of course, to -- for a potential attack. So, they are really closing up. So, Americans have to be very aware that that's happening. They also have to be aware of their surroundings. After all, the State Department points out, there have been attacks in transportation systems and other places. And then, finally, urging people to look on the Web site of the State Department. You can register if you're travelling.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

DOUGHERTY: You can get updated information.

MALVEAUX: All right. Jill, thank you. I want to bring in Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. And, Dana, I imagine that the administration very much aware and trying to alert people as quickly as possible because there is -- there is a threat here and they want people to know.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And, in fact, the vice president himself was here on Capitol Hill, I learned earlier this week, with some senior State Department officials briefing top members of Congress. The leadership in both parties, the chair and ranking members of the key committees.

And what I was told by -- just a few minutes ago, by a source who was in the room during that briefing is that there is an increase in chatter, very concerned about that. And specifically abroad, I asked whether or not the chatter was about targeting Americans in general or these embassies and the response I got from the source in this briefing was that it was targeting embassies, specifically, which obviously helps us understand why they're temporarily shutting these embassies down.

Now, this source said that he has been in many meetings like this.

MALVEAUX: OK.

BASH: Certainly has been up here for a while since 911 and I could even see, on the source's face, it was pretty grim. Couldn't get into a lot because it was a classified briefing but there was -- it was clear that this source is very concerned based on what they heard.

MALVEAUX: And, Dana, tell us a little about the environment here because, obviously, I mean, you remember 911. You were there on the Hill. You remember how tense it was and how concerned lawmakers were. And everybody was running around. Give us a sense of how concerned are they right now?

BASH: Well, it's sort of a haul (ph). There aren't that many people who were told about it. As I said, it just the leadership and the key members of the key committees. But those people clearly -- just the fact that the vice president, he was here already for a meeting that was already scheduled. I should make that point clear. But the fact that he decided to talk -- to talk about it with them gives you a sense of the level of concern just that in and of itself.

But also the other thing that other sources have told me and reminded me which is kind of an important point is that after what happened in Benghazi, nobody wants to take any chances. They want to absolutely clear that American personnel abroad are safe, --

MALVEAUX: Right.

BASH: -- and that's why they did this. MALVEAUX: All right. Dana, I want to focus on the embassy closures. I want to bring in Nick Paton Walsh out of Beirut. And we are being told that this threat is credible and serious. You've got embassies throughout the Middle East and North Africa who are closed on Sunday at least. What are we learning about beyond Sunday and what that could tell us in terms of those kinds of -- the level of threat that we're dealing with here?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting. I mean, where I'm standing in Beirut, the embassy is normally closed on Sunday. But the indications I'm getting is that they will open as normal on Monday which gives you an idea of how time specific they believe this threat to be. I should point out though that the Baghdad embassy on its Web site does suggest perhaps, along with a couple other embassies on the list, that they might extend this closure a few days later on. But it's remarkably broad, this warning, in terms of geography in question, stretching all the way to West Africa, Mauritania, and all the way east to Daco (ph) in Bangladesh on the other side of India there.

So, an incredibly large amount of terrain covered here. But as I say, the very fine moments of Sunday, the fourth, this coming Sunday, a key night in the religious observant month of Ramadan, edging towards (INAUDIBLE) that some perhaps may interpret those days as a time where Islamic extremists may think it was more apt to strike. But as I say, this key issue (INAUDIBLE) seemingly focused on Sunday -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you. I want to bring in Jim Acosta from the White House. And, Jim, the president we know is briefed about the embassy closures. What specifically is he saying about the level of this threat?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, no surprise. White House officials are being very tight lipped. They're not saying very much about this travel warning and list of closings coming out of State Department. But we did hear from a U.S. official who did say, Suzanne, that, yes, the president has been briefed on this. He was briefed before this morning and that he knew in advance of the plan for these closures. That really shouldn't come as any surprise. But that is the level of the president's involvement at this point.

But one thing we should mention, you heard Dana mention Benghazi, that attack. We're coming up on the one-year anniversary of that on September 11th. Very much on the minds of officials at the White House, on the president's national security team. And that is a team that he is just starting to put back in place for his second term of this administration.

You'll recall yesterday, Samantha Power, the U.N. ambassador, was confirmed over in the Senate. She is basically the final piece of the top-level puzzle for the president's new national security team. And this weekend when these closures take place, this will be a big test for that new team -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Jim, thank you very much as well as Dana, Chris and Jill. We're going to be following these travel warnings throughout the afternoon and the hour as well as those embassy closings. This threat to -- that U.S. citizens travelling overseas, beware.

Edward Snowden, he spent his first night in relative freedom with American friends in Moscow. Now, this was the first few hours, so it was outside of the airport. This is since late June. Well, he was on the run from U.S. charges of being a spy. He continues to be.

Phil Black, he is in Moscow where he actually talked to Snowden's lawyer.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, it's the face of a very happy man. The first images of Edward Snowden entering Russia show him smiling broadly as he walks out of the airport almost six weeks after he arrives. Snowden's location is now a secret but his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, says Snowden is staying with people who got in touch, reached out online and offered to help him while he was still camping out at the airport. And he says they are American citizens who live in Russia.

So, he's already making friends and he's already received a very high- profile job offer. The founder of a hugely popular social networking sight that is often described as the Russian version of a Facebook says he would love to have Snowden come and work for him. He's proud that Russia is helping this man and he believes that Snowden may like to work for him as a star developer working to help protect the personal information of the millions of people who use the site.

But Snowden's lawyer says finding work isn't a priority right now. Instead, he says Snowden wants to adjust to his new home, to his new country. He wants to ensure his personal security and he wants to surround himself with people he can trust. Snowden won't be relying on the kindness of strangers indefinitely. His lawyer is already beginning the paperwork to get a Visa for his father so he can travel to Moscow to be with his son as soon as possible -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Thanks. A lifetime ban or hefty suspension. Well, that's what's in the cards for A-Rod. Will he actually fight the hand that he's dealt?

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADELINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think we are cutting off our nose to spite (ph) our face, to not have a generous comprehensive immigration bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: My talk with former secretary of state, Madeline Albright, on issues ranging from immigration to Trayvon Martin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Negotiations are continuing between representative for Alex Rodriguez, A-Rod, and Major League Baseball. They are reportedly trying to reach a deal on a possible suspicion. But A-Rod heading back to the field.

Rachel Nichols is in New York, and she's got the story. So, Rachel, we've been waiting for days about news on this. Do we think this will happen today?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not looking so likely this afternoon, but we could always be surprised. The problem is in these kinds of negotiations, everybody wants until the last possible moment to make their final offer. And we're just not at that last possible moment yet. Even if baseball does keep A-Rod tied to the other players involved in this scandal, there's still a couple more days of leeway here for them to make those kinds of decisions. So, they're talking.

The issue is that baseball wants this to be finished up neatly. They could just unilaterally suspend A-Rod. They could suspend him for 100, 200 games, a lifetime ban. But if they do that on their own, Alex Rodriguez is likely to appeal. He could file some lawsuits. The whole process could get messy. The dirty details will come out, and that's not good for baseball.

So, the reason they are trying to reach an agreement on a suspension is if they can come to somewhere in the middle, a little less than baseball wanted, a little more maybe than A-Rod would like, then they reach a point where A-Rod just accepts this and then they can all move on.

MALVEAUX: All right.

NICHOLS: We'll have to see if that happens, and if that happens anytime soon.

MALVEUAX: We know you'll be all over it, Rachel. Thank you. Appreciate it very much.

Edward Snowden, he is now out of Moscow airport. And we actually could be hearing from him fairly soon. We're going to get reaction from our Candy Crowley up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right. Believe it or not, today is the last day before members of Congress begin their summer recess. Analysis by CNN finds lawmakers are spending a lot less time on Capitol Hill than they used to over the last few years. Check this out: 2009, Senate met for 113 days before the August recess. That's 24 days more than the same period this year. The House met 19 more days back in 2009.

I want to bring in our chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley. And Candy, you don't get a break. We don't get a break. Just because they're taking time off -

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They get lots of breaks, that's right. MALVEAUX: You have to cover this all the time here. And it seems like they are just living up to the reputation it's a do-nothing Congress. Are they getting anything done when they leave?

CROWLEY: Well, certainly they would tell you they talk to their constituents. They hold town-hall meetings, which I'm sure we'll be hearing more about as August wears on.

I will say August 2009 was a particularly busy year because it was the year of the stimulus program, was the president's first year. He wanted to try to get a lot done so Congress was in.

But yes, this is a sign really of the inability of either House and the Senate to get along with each other and to come up with something they can pass and with the White House as well. But I just want to point out one thing because Republicans do say that it's very hard to -- you're setting aside the day, we also look at the bills passed, etc., and they say stopping bad bills as far as they are concerned is legislating. It's just not doing -- you don't have something to show for it, but they believe they've been able to stop some of the bigger things. So, that's how they look at it.

But there's no question that right now the partisanship and the huge divides, not just between Republicans and Democrats, but between Republicans and Republicans, is making it very hard to get anything done. So, they don't work that many days during the week.

MALVEUAX: And then they go home. Don't give up. We just don't want them to give up on the process here.

Talk a little bit about this, because the White House certainly looking at this very closely. You have this rift between the United States and Russia. This is over the NSA leaker Edward Snowden, the temporary asylum that Russia has granted him now. I understand that the Obama administration very much angry and frustrated with what's happening here. We know the president is supposed to meet with President Putin in the next month in Moscow. Do you think that trip -- are they thinking of cancelling it, or do they think that trip will do something, accomplish something?

CROWLEY: Well, say they do, in fact. That they are in fact thinking about cancelling the Putin one-on-one meeting. There's also a G-20 meeting in St. Petersburg. Some people who think they ought to cancel that too because it's in Russia. The Olympics are coming up in Russia. Some folks have said cancel the Olympics.

I think here is the main problem for the president. Long before Edward Snowden you know, illit (ph) in Moscow, Russia was a problem. The whole resetting of the relationship really never worked. They weren't helpful in Iran. They are helping the government of Syria, which the U.S. wants out. They are not really cooperating, at least in any way that shows any progress when it comes to bringing down nuclear weaponery in both Russia and the U.S. So, there are plenty of places where they were arguing with Russia anyway. This is just kind of the most visible icing on the cake. But you know and I know this is a president who campaigned saying it's no good just to sit down with your friends. You have to sit down with your enemies. And so I think that kind of mindset is still there. And I'm not altogether sure they will cancel it.

MALVEAUX: All right. Candy, we'll be watching for all these developments and of course, we'll be watching this weekend on Sunday, "STATE OF THE UNION." Always good to see you.

CROWLEY: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: We'll take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MALVEUAX: We have breaking news. A threat of possible terror attacks has now prompted the State Department to close U.S. embassies and consulates in the Middle East and North Africa. We're talking about almost two dozen U.S. facilities across the region. Many of those diplomatic posts are closed on Friday and Saturday for the weekend, but they are not going to open on Sunday as some would normally do. They might remain even closed longer if necessary.

Now, the terror threat has also prompted the State Department to issue a worldwide travel alert for U.S. citizens. So, if you or your family members, if you're traveling overseas, you'll want to listen to this carefully here because we've got all the information that you need to know, and this is breaking news.

I want to bring in Dana Bash. She is at the Capitol. Jill Dougherty, she is at the State Department. Chris Lawrence is at the Pentagon. We've got national security analyst Fran Townsend on the phone. Fran, tell us what this means.

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (on the phone): Well, to take such a dramatic action, -- you know, we've seen worldwide and region threat warnings before, most recently in Europe in 2010. You see the threat warnings; the closure of so many embassies and consulates that makes this different. And what it indicates to us, Suzanne, is that they believe in the credibility of the source. Folks are saying inside the government that this is not a specific nor corroborated threat.

But I wouldn't underestimate. For them to take such dramatic action, they clearly have a good deal of credibility and confidence in the sourcing of this information.

MALVEAUX: When was the last time that something like this happened, Fran? I mean, this seems like this is -- when you talk about two dozen embassies in this region and you're also talking about a worldwide travel alert, this seems like this is very significant.

TOWNSEND: I think, Suzanne, it's unprecedented. Look, it comes - they've mentioned -- we've heard reports concern on August 4th. That's the end of Ramadan. It's typically a celebration. And I've got to believe that's got to do with why they're worried about that particular day.

I'd also say we understand from the warning that it's emanating out of an al Qaeda-linked group and in the Gulf region. This has got to be al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, presumably although officials aren't saying that. And the service we work most closely with who have helped us to disrupt prior plots is the Saudi intelligence service. So no doubt we're working with our partners in the region to better understand and try to get the sort of specifics we need to understand and avoid the threat.

MALVEAUX: All right. I want to bring in Chris at be Pentagon for those specifics. Chris, what have we learned about this particular alert, and what have we learned about the link to al Qaeda? What kind of threat are we talking about?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, we have now learned that U.S. intelligence officials have been tracking a growing threat from al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen for the past several weeks. But it's only been in the last several days that they received and analyzed additional intelligence information that pointed to a potential attack in Yemen as well as threats to American and Western interests in North Africa and the Middle East. That's what led to the State Department closing the embassies and then finally issuing that travel warning for Americans abroad just today.

A U.S. official tells me that the threat is both credible and serious, that it could go beyond diplomatic posts. And a separate official tells my colleague, Barbara Starr, that they are specifically looking at a threat to the embassy in Yemen between the dates of August 3 and August 6.