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Terrorists And Soft Targets; Biden Tours Colorado Flood Damage; BlackBerry Goes Private; Apple Breaks Records; Cop Runs Over Suspect; Students Could Face Charges For Food Fight; FAA Might Relax Rules On Electronic Devices on Planes; Woman Hears Letter Written to Her by WWII Father She Never Met

Aired September 23, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

This unfolding terror attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, raising all kinds of questions about the next terror threat right here in the U.S.

So, I want to talk about some potential lessons from Nairobi with Christopher Dickey. He's the Paris bureau chief and the Middle East editor for "Newsweek" and The Daily Beast.

So, Chris Dickey, it's wonderful to have you on.

Obviously, I read your piece this morning. And I just want to quote you from The Daily Beast. "Heightening the risk -- heightening the risk is the fact that al Qaeda affiliates under pressure today no longer feel compelled to carry out such massive, complicated operations as 9/11. They know they can command the world's attention with much smaller attacks."

And you go on to say, you know, what happened in the shopping mall may be a taste of things to come in the U.S. How do you mean?

CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, "NEWSWEEK" & THE DAILY BEAST: Well, first of all, I think you have to understand that, although there are local agendas for grouped like al Shabaab, when they sign on as affiliates of al Qaeda, they basically are signing on to a global ideology in which the United States ranks as the number one enemy.

And there are certain cities like New York city, that are usually the number one targets for such people. So I think that the risk increases right there, just because of that ideological framework.

But also because in the case of al Shabaab, as I think you have probably heard from other people who have been on, you know, there are very big Somali communities with a lot of disaffected young men in them in the United States, so that's another thing that comes into play.

But basically, we're looking at a situation where the al Qaeda ideology has spread. A lot of people are signing on to it, and the United States is going to be their number one target over time. BALDWIN: Then why the focus on soft targets, Chris? Is it a result of U.S. success in preventing another 9/11, or is it because a shopping mall, you know, a shopping mall -- you talk about the Mall of America in your piece, a football game, a marathon, is more difficult to protect?

DICKEY: It's almost impossible or impossible to protect. You know, this is what happens. I think we're going to see a lot of this.

We saw it in Boston with the marathon. We're seeing it now in Nairobi with the mall. We could easily be seeing it here, almost anywhere in the United States.

You know, you have some cities that have very well organized to protect themselves, like New York. You have a lot of cities that are not.

And people -- basically, if you have a hostage situation that you can prolong over time, which is exactly what al Shabaab have done in Kenya, then you can command the world's attention. It's also what terrorists did in Mumbai in 2008.

And they learn from each other. Even if they're not directly connected, they study each other's tactics and strategies and all of that is developing.

BALDWIN: To mark the anniversary of 9/11, al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri issued a statement calling for Muslims to attack Americans on U.S. soil, and he talked about attacks could be carried out by one brother -- I'm quoting him -- one brother or a few of the brothers.

Is that what Americans fear the most?

DICKEY: Well, look, I mean, I think what's going to happen is that there will be more of these attacks.

Some of them are going to be very ugly, and eventually, Americans may develop the kind of resilience that you see in a society like Israel or that you saw in Britain during the IRA bombings.

People obviously don't accept that violence, but they get to the point where they can tolerate it and it doesn't dominate their lives.

It's funny that Zawahiri was saying that because he used to say in al Qaeda that was saying, let's not lower our sights. We did 9/11. Let's not do anything less than that.

Now they're desperate and they're going to strike wherever they can.

BALDWIN: Christopher Dickey, thank you so much.

And stay with CNN. Of course, we'll have much more on the attack in Kenya tonight and the day's other top stories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN tonight, at 7:00, "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT," an American is held prisoner. Iran says he's a spy. His family tells his side of the story exclusively to CNN.

At 8:00 on "ANDERSON COOPER 360," terror in Kenya, Anderson updates you on the aftermath of the deadly attack in a Kenyan shopping mall. Did American citizens take part in the violence?

And at 9:00 on "PIERS MORGAN LIVE," could what's happening in Kenya happen in the U.S. Piers asks, what does the Kenyan terror attack mean for American security?

It all runs tonight on CNN starting with "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" at 7:00, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" at 8:00 and "PIERS MORGAN LIVE" at 9:00, tonight on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Meantime, back here at home, communities in ruin, homes, businesses destroyed, Colorado is reeling from the devastating rainfall and the flooding.

And today, the vice president toured some of the areas hardest hit. Details of his visit, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In just a couple minutes, the vice president, Joe Biden, is set to speak in Colorado after taking a good long look at the areas damaged by weeks of extensive flooding.

So he's there. He's touring some of the state by air alongside the governor, John Hickenlooper, and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate.

CNN's Ana Cabrera is live for us in Greeley, Colorado, where the vice president is slated to speak any minute now.

Ana, tell me where the vice president has been this morning. What has he seen?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, there are 17 counties here in Colorado that are affected by this flooding, so he went to the hardest hit areas like Boulder County, Larimer County, Weld County, where we are now, and places we've been reporting from for the past week and a half since the flooding began.

We know he toured areas like Jamestown as well as Lyons as well as Larimer County where the Bog Thompson River over spilled its banks.

These are areas where we know many people lost major property, and many of them don't have homes to return to after the flooding where their walls collapsed and the roads were completely washed away

So we expect him to arrive here in Greeley at this FEMA disaster assistance center within the next 15 minutes to talk more about what he witnesses and how the federal government will be working with the state in order to help all the Coloradans affected by the floods recover.

Brooke?

BALDWIN: We'll be watching that closely with you, Ana Cabrera for us in Colorado. Ana, thank you.

And now to something you have definitely heard before. Will Hillary Clinton run for president?

She gives us some clues in her first sit-down interview since leaving the State Department.

Plus, just in, big news from the world of business, BlackBerry makes a major announcement about its future and a specific group of customers they want.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Ah, yes, another day, another discussion about a possible Hillary Clinton presidential run.

This time, the former secretary of state is sending political pundits into a frenzy because she sat down with "New York" magazine, said she wrestles with the idea.

Clinton goes on to say she's pragmatic and realistic and will continue to weigh factors that would influence her decision.

Jake Tapper, let me bring you in on this one because the political world likes to jump in, is she, is she not running? And every time she's asked about it, we have the same conversation.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE LEAD": Yes, but it's a little different this time because Secretary Clinton gave this interview to "New York" magazine.

It's not just people in the Beltway who are bored talking about 2016 because it's easier than covering actual news.

BALDWIN: Oh, Tapper.

TAPPER: Hillary Clinton herself and her team putting it out there.

What's really interesting about this story is there's a clear subtext, which is she's probably going to run, and they understand, and she understands what went wrong last time, and she's not going to have those mistakes happen again.

BALDWIN: Meantime, there was another runner-up in the polls because he's in Colorado as we speak, Vice President Joe Biden. Why aren't people all atwitter over that?

TAPPER: Well, who's to say what people will be -- how they'll view the presidential campaign landscape in 2016 or 2015 I think Hillary Clinton, there is first of all half the Democratic party almost exactly half who wanted her to be the nominee and wanted her to be the president, so you start off with all those individuals who are still excited about her candidacy.

Joe Biden has been a loyal vice president, but he obviously has -- he's run two times before.

You might be too young to remember this, Brooke, but when I was in college, Joe Biden ran for president. Then of course he ran in 2008. Now he's possibly going to run in 2016. He's not as fresh a face. Let's just put it that way.

BALDWIN: Yes. I'm going to keep my inner dialogue to myself, my friend, Jake Tapper.

TAPPER: You shouldn't. No, share.

BALDWIN: Jake Tapper, I'm going to leave it there. We'll see you at the top of the hour on "THE LEAD." Thank you very much.

TAPPER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: All right, big news today, BlackBerry is going private. It has agreed to be acquired for nearly $5 billion.

Last Friday, BlackBerry confirmed its quarterly earnings plummeted $1 billion and it would lay off 4,500 workers.

Now its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial hopes to buy it for $9 a share. It will focus on corporate customers.

Better news at Apple. If you raced to snap up one of the new iPhones over the weekend, you were not alone. Apple says it broke all kinds of records, selling over 9 million of the new phones in all of three days.

So there's this Boston mobile analytics firm, and they say that the sales of the 5S outpaced the less expensive iPhone 5C by more than three-to-one, and Apple stock doing great today. Shares are up by more than three percent.

Coming up next, this police officer in his car chases a suspect trying to run away. He ends up running over him and killing him. It is all caught on video.

The question the family is asking is, should the officer face charges? Because they say, yes. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A Florida family is going public, releasing graphic video of their loved one being run over.

Why? Because the police officer behind the wheel is not going to be charged. A grand jury just recently made this decision, but the family here of Marlon Brown believes the video shows criminal charges are, in fact, warranted.

So we will show you this video. This is from May 8th. A warning, as you can imagine, it is incredibly difficult to watch.

Officer James Harris of Deland police pulled Brown over because he was apparently not buckled up. And understand the thud you hear is the car hitting him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sixteen seconds later, you hear a voice in the background.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And then about a minute later, minute and a half, officers tried to get Brown from underneath this car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you hear me? Hey, man. Hey, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you pick it up? Put it in neutral.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now is Lynn Berry. It's horrible, and as we mentioned off the top, this officer is not facing charges. We should say that he's not on the job. He was fired. Correct?

LYNN BERRY, ANCHOR, HLN: Exactly. The police chief saw that video, said he did not follow protocol, and he was fired that day.

But the district attorney decided to let a grand jury decide whether or not charges should be filed. They said as many members of the community to weigh in on this would be the best way to handle it.

A grand jury heard two days of testimony. They decided to not file any charges, but the family is hoping by releasing this video, it will create some outrage and people will see that this warrants vehicular manslaughter charges.

Now keep in mind, for those charges, you don't have to show intent. You have to show reckless driving.

So they're hoping that by -- even though it's disturbing to watch this, they're hoping that people will say, what's going on here? There have to be some sort of charges filed.

BALDWIN: Let me back you up a couple steps, though, because my first thought when you see this man, Marlon Brown, running, you wonder, why was he running?

Do we know? BERRY: That's the big question. He's not alive to answer that question, but we do know that he has a long criminal history.

He was arrested over two dozen times in the last 20 years. He was just released from prison on drug possession charges in April.

So could that be motivation? We don't know. But it could be.

BALDWIN: Tell me about the settlement the city reached with the family.

BERRY: Yeah. The city did decide to give the family $550,000 as a settlement.

The family's saying they want justice through charges. They are also considering a civil lawsuit against the officer.

But they really feel like the charges are warranted, and this is why they're releasing this video.

And it's hard to watch, Brooke. We actually blacked out the actual point of impact because I have to say, having seen it, it is really just too difficult to watch and isn't appropriate for television.

BALDWIN: Just hearing it, though, and hearing the aftermath.

Lynn Berry, thank you.

BERRY: Thank you.

BALDWIN: A group of Texas students could face criminal charges after a food fight at a burger joint in San Antonio Saturday. This happened after a football game between these two rival high schools.

This was caught on camera, posted online. School officials say the students could also face suspension.

And it appears the FAA might get a little bit more friendly when it comes to using those portable electronic devices on planes. There is this major vote to relax safety rules. That's coming this week.

Possibly passengers would be able to keep the iPads, the Kindles. up and running throughout the flight.

Starting next year, they would be able to read e-books and listening to podcasts and watch video from the moment they sit down to when it's time to walk off the plane.

Aviation experts say most portable gadgets don't use enough power to interfere with aircraft electronics. That's obviously the important part here.

But bans on using cell phones to make phone calls, to send text messages and e-mails, that will most likely stay in place.

Coming up, a story almost seven decades in the making, you have to wait for this. A 69-year-old woman, she gets a letter written to her when she was a newborn.

This is from her father. He was a soldier. She never got to meet him.

And coming up next, we will tell you how his words finally made it into her hands. You don't want to miss this.

But, first, computers powered by your thoughts? That is on this week's "THE NEXT LIST."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This week on "THE NEXT LIST," Dr. Miguel Nicolelis on the cutting edge of neuro- prosthetics.

DR. MIGUEL NICOLELIS, NEUROBIOLOGY PROESSOR: The person wears the robotic cast and he or she will use his or her brain activity to actually control the movements directly of these, and the vests will provide some sort of tactile feedback to the person, like temperature, fine touch.

The concept is to get the signals translated into a language, electrical signals, that the brain can interpret.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It went from an idea that was impossible when I was first injured 10 years ago to probable to inevitable.

GUPTA: And designer Diana Eng melds high tech with high fashion. Using laser cutters and conductive threads, Eng lights up the showroom with her interactive designs.

Their stories on "THE NEXT LIST," this Saturday, 2:30 Eastern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, the NHL season hasn't even started, but hockey fans and fights are in full swing.

A major, major brawl hit the ice during last night's preseason matchup between the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Fists started flying. This is the third period, and it gets worse. More fights break out. In fact, at one point, there were at least four scuffles going on at once.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scott went after Kessel and Kessel is giving -- whoa, this has brought something on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kessel is now fighting with Brian Flynn. Goaltender Bernier is out there as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Look at that. They were all over the ice.

This added up to 201 minutes of penalty time, and at least one possible 10-day suspension for a player who left the bench.

My goodness.

Before I go, I have to share this story with you. Seventy years ago, an American soldier was killed while serving his country in World War II, but before he died, he wrote a letter to his newborn daughter, just four months old, a daughter he never had the chance to meet. And that letter never made it to her until now, because several states away, a woman recently found a box belonging to this soldier. It was full of these mementos, Purple Heart and, of course, that letter.

So the woman found the soldier's daughter, her name, Peggy Eddington Smith, now 69-years-old. She read Peggy the letter at a ceremony honoring her dad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your daddy loves you very much and always will, no matter where I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Peggy says her mother actually rarely spoke about her father because it was just too hard. She was too heartbroken.

A patriot guard escorted her to the ceremony. Peggy says she cried the entire way there.

All these years later, finally, here's the words meant for a daughter from her dad.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me.

Let's go to Washington. "THE LEAD" starts now.