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Final Moments in Las Vegas Shooting; Hagel Defends Deal; Interview with Rep. Jan Schakowsky; Senate Passes V.A. Bill; Interview with Sen. Dan Coats; Cool Apps for the World Cup

Aired June 12, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Disturbing news coming to us out of Iraq. Hundreds of Iraqi police have reportedly been taken prisoner in the city of Tikrit. That's according to Reuters. Now, Tikrit is the hometown of the former leader Saddam Hussein. It is northwest of Baghdad. This report rather confusing because Iraqi state media was reporting earlier today that Tikrit, which appeared to have fallen to militants yesterday, is now under the full control of the Iraqi army, but now we're getting reports of those hundreds of Iraqi police officers taken into custody -- or taken prisoner by terrorists. We'll keep an eye on the situation and have more for you as we get it.

In other news this morning, it was the final desperate moment for the Las Vegas killers, lying on the floor of a Wal-Mart, guns pointed at each other. CNN's Kyung Lah has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): They're looking at each other. It looks like they're shooting at each other.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the chaotic, final moments in the shootout between the killers and the police, officers thought the wife, seen here raising and pointing her handgun at her husband, fired the shot that killed him, seen here at the top. But forensic and autopsy results show police had by now already fired what would be the fatal bullet. Both are wounded and bleeding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's knocked down.

LAH: We're stopping the video as the wife turns the gun on herself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The female just shot herself in the head.

ASST. SHERIFF KEVIN MCMAHILL, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE ((voice- over): The reason that you're not seeing the video prior to this or subsequent to this is because it is very graphic.

LAH: Investigators released this video saying it gives a window into the brutality of the killers. Minutes earlier, they had murdered Joseph Wilcox, who had tried to stop the Millers with his concealed handgun inside a Wal-Mart. At a nearby pizza shop, the couple had ambushed Las Vegas Officers Igor Soldo and Alyn Beck. On their bodies placing a swastika and draping them with the flag used by anti- government groups. The grief palpable among officers pausing on bended knee at the growing memorial outside the pizza shop. Many neighbors knew the fallen men. Some were ticketed. Some, like Angela Austin, just saw the officers walking the neighborhood constantly.

ANGELA AUSTIN, RESIDENT: When I first found this out, I was really upset, you know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touched.

AUSTIN: And I feel my deepest sympathy goes out to their families.

LAH: Officer Alyn Beck, age 41, leaves behind a wife and three young children. Officer Igor Soldo, age 31, a new baby and a wife.

LAH (on camera): Police officers also reveal that they had contact with this couple four months ago. They went to the apartment based on a phone call that the male suspect had made to the Indiana DMV, reportedly, according to the police department, he had made a threat saying that he would shoot anyone who tried to take his license. Well, officers from the counterterrorism division here in Las Vegas went to speak with him, three detectives, and they determined that he was not an imminent threat and he appeared normal.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Chuck Hagel heads to Capitol Hill to defend the White House over the Bowe Bergdahl controversy. But did Congress buy what he was selling? I'll talk with one member of the House to get her thoughts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel squaring off against the House Armed Services Committee and getting a strong defense of the Obama administration's decision to rescue Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. For more than five hours, Hagel walked through the White House's rationale and in one fiery exchange he pushed back on a lawmaker who questioned why Bergdahl has not yet returned to the United States to face questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JEFF MILLER (R), FLORIDA: You're trying to tell me that he's being held at Landstuhl, Germany, because of his medical condition?

CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Congressman, I hope you're not implying anything other than that. The fact is he --

MILLER: I'm just asking the question, Mr. Secretary. If you want to --

HAGEL: I'm going to give an answer to it. I don't like the implication (INAUDIBLE). MILLER: Well, answer it. Answer it. Answer it.

HAGEL: He's being held there because our medical professionals don't believe he's ready until they believe he is ready to take the next step to (ph) rehabilitation.

MILLER: Have you -- have you ever --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He went on to say Bergdahl is -- has psychological problems and that's really what they're working on in that hospital in Germany. Hagel also acknowledged that the failure to notify Congress for the prisoner swap for Bergdahl's release has strained relations in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAGEL: I value the Defense Department's partnership with this Congress and the trust we've developed over the years. I know that trust has been broken. I know you have questions about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Can that trust ever be restored? Joining me now to talk about that, Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.

Good morning.

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D), ILLINOIS: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So, I'll just ask you that simple question, is -- has trust been the Obama administration and Congress permanently broken?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, if it's broken, it's not been broken over this. The Republicans have been attacking every single thing that the Obama administration has done. But let's be clear, Carol, we are talking about a successful mission, a risky, dangerous mission, not only for Bergdahl, but for the team of special operators who made it happen. And yet the level of anger, the prosecutorial tone taken after this successful mission is inexplicable, really, to me.

I understand this idea that they wanted to be informed, but any leak would have ended the negotiations. And so maybe he should have done better, maybe we should have -- more of us should have been informed. But at the end of the day, I think Chuck Hagel is right, Secretary Hagel, saying we did the right thing and we did it for the right reasons.

COSTELLO: But so much of this controversy could have been avoided if someone in Congress had been consulted with or informed, you know, because this deal was in the works for months and months and months.

SCHAKOWSKY: I want to assure you that if it weren't this, it would have been something else. You know, they've -- Chuck Hagel talked about how offended and disappointed he was that they've -- that some people have actually treated the family so poorly, the mother and father. And then at one point in yesterday's hearing, one of my colleagues, Jackie Speier, said, can we think for a moment how we would be responding if this were our son that was being held? Again, this worked out properly. We brought home the last detainee held captive in Afghanistan. This is good news. They would have found something, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, let me just put it to you this way. Now the situation in Iraq is getting really bad and the United States is being asked to help by the Iraqi government. So, Congress and the Obama administration, I would assume, would want to work together on this problem. But now that there's this trust issue, can't you see that that might rattle some lawmakers, rub them the wrong way, because Congress --

SCHAKOWSKY: Oh, I --

COSTELLO: Congress does need to be informed of these things?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, first of all, Congress was informed. This was in the works. There were several resolutions in the House and the Senate calling on the president to do everything he could to bring this soldier home. And so there was -- there was information. Not at the very last minute.

But -- and, yes, is there a lack of trust? Yes, there is. And the Republicans have been mistrusting this president from day one. So this is not a new -- a new issue.

On the other hand, I do think, yes, certainly, with Iraq, we need to consult. We need to talk about how we end the fighting in Afghanistan. There are lots of things. And as a member of the Intelligence Committee, I assure you that those things are thoroughly discussed.

COSTELLO: I guess my last question would (AUDIO GAP) easy to say that there's this mistrust there and it's been there forever and it's this side's fault or that side's fault, but at some point doesn't the trust have to be restored, and I guess I'll ask you how you think that can be done.

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, look, Secretary Hagel actually said that he knows that there's mistrust. I think there was concern about the urgency of this mission, the danger of this mission, and the need for it to be done quietly. And so, you know, should he have informed -- is this what it's going to get down to that whether or not they feel that they were told properly? The soldier is home. The mission was successful. No one was hurt. And these -- the Taliban are in Qatar and they are being monitored. Their activities are being limited. This worked out well. Let's celebrate that and move on and, yes, establish better communications.

COSTELLO: Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Right now the House Veterans Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on Capitol Hill to try to figure out why the VA is so dysfunctional. This comes after the FBI launched a criminal investigation into wrongdoing.

The Senate just passed its own VA reform bill. Veterans waiting for care can now more easily go to private doctors and send their bills to the VA. And $500 million will be set aside to hire new doctors and nurses to work at VA facilities.

CNN first broke the story of delays at the VA seven months ago. Joining me now is investigative reporter Chris Frates in Fayetteville and Senator Dan Coats on Capitol Hill who has called for the FBI to get involved. Welcome to both of you.

SEN. DAN COATS (R), INDIANA: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Chris, let's start with you. What exactly is the FBI looking for?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you. The FBI will probably start in Phoenix, Carol. They're going to look for a number of things. We have allegations that they shredded documents, that they're covering up and hiding how bad the situation was. And while the Department of Justice hasn't called for a full- scale investigation, like some lawmakers have, I think, certainly, this amps up the investigation into what exactly happened in Phoenix and we expect that that will spread to places like Fayetteville where the Veterans Affairs Secretary will be today. We expect this will be a bit of an apology tour and to show that he's really rolling up his sleeves because here in Fayetteville, some of the longest wait times around the country.

3,500 veterans waited three to four months for care and this is the first time that the acting secretary is going to come out publicly after that very damning audit that we saw earlier this week that showed that nationwide 57,000 veterans are waiting for care.

And I think the other thing to watch today is that the acting secretary will be with North Carolina Congressmen and women and these are some of the same folks who called for his predecessor's head before Eric Shinseki the former VA Secretary had to step down, Carol.

COSTELLO: And Senator Coats you wanted the FBI to get involved. Did you ever think you'd have to move to do such a thing?

COATS: No, I didn't. I knew there was dysfunction at the VA. We have over 550 cases at Indianapolis of who is your veterans that are not getting heard and not getting their benefits or the health care that they need. But I didn't think it would be this systemic all through I think the audit proved that it is. We need, as a former veteran, I want to look out for the care of my fellow veterans; as a senator, I want to make sure we do this right so that it doesn't happen again.

COSTELLO: And you're very involved in this Senate reform bill. There are certain things in it that you like and some things that are not in it that you wish were. Can you explain?

COATS: Well, it's a great first step but I think we need a total look at the whole system. It's another government bureaucracy run amuck. It doesn't efficiently do its job, spends a lot of money that doesn't go directly to veterans' care. I think we need a scrubbing from top to bottom. It's not just simply firing the top guy.

This bill gives us the opportunity to provide the investigations the outside information and reports that we need to make better decisions. Most importantly, it gives those veterans who need healthcare now the opportunity to get that from the private sector instead of waiting for months and months and months and some of them not dying in the process or their illnesses getting worse.

Those are two very important steps, but it's just the start of the process where we have to reform the entire V.A.

COSTELLO: And Chris, a final question to you. Is there a timetable on this criminal investigation?

FRATES: Well, not yet, Carol. In fact, the DOJ hasn't opened a full- scale criminal investigation. They generally like to let the Office of Inspector general that's the V.A.'s own independent investigatory arm. They like to let them finish their investigation. And if there's anything that indicates there may be something criminal that happened, that's generally when the FBI and the DOJ will step in.

COSTELLO: All right. Chris Frates, Senator Dan Coats, thanks so much for being with me. I appreciate it.

I'm back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking some "Top Stories" for you at 54 minutes past.

The truck driver in the Tracy Morgan crash has pleaded not guilty. Kevin Roper was arraigned in New Jersey on Wednesday on charges of vehicular homicide and assault by auto. Police say he was awake for 24 consecutive hours before his big rig slammed into Morgan's limo, injuring four and killing comedian James McNair. Morgan remains in critical but stable condition.

New details in Tuesday's deadly Oregon school shooting; police have now identified the suspect as 15-year-old Jared Michael Pagit. They say he was heavily armed carrying a military style assault a rifle in a guitar case along with a handgun and several hundred rounds of ammunition when he killed 14-year-old Emilio Hoffman and wounded a teacher before turning the gun on himself. Investigators say he got the weapons from his family home.

Amazing video, a driver slams into a gas pump after blacking out. It just so happened the guy filling his tank at the time was an off-duty police officer. With flames engulfing the scene, John Vescio pulled the driver from the car to safety. Vescio says he's no hero. He was just doing his job.

World Cup fever is out of this world. The International Space Station crew is showing off some sweet moves in their weightless soccer match. The most-watched tournament in the universe begins back on earth today. U.S. fans are showing their pride and well, lots of other things. But if you can't make it to Brazil or watch it on television, there are still ways to keep up with the action.

CNN's technology analyst Brett Larson is here with some cool apps to follow the World Cup. Good morning.

BRETT LARSON, CNN TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: Yes, hey, good morning, Carol. You know we have to realize, not everyone, who works in a building where there are TVs at every single desk where you can tune into almost anything. So we dug up a couple of apps for you and some Web sites where you can go to get in on all the fun happening at the World Cup.

One of them I love. It's called OneFootball. It is -- there's multiple apps, when you search for it in the app store, you're going to -- you're going to come across both of them. And you want both of them.

There's OneFootball Player, that shows you official clips of the game so you can watch it throughout the day. And then there's the other OneFootball Brasil, which is more targeted towards everything that's happening in Brazil right now. You get the latest details on all the games and of course, all the scores.

And then there's ScoreMobile FC. Now, that gives you a list of teams and scores. I'm actually looking at it right now because you can go in and basically watch all of the scores as they come in based on the teams that you like.

Now, the first time you launch one of these apps, you tell them which is your favorite team or which country you're rooting for, and then it kind of keeps tabs on it for you. And then it will send you a push notification every time that you need to check in, take a moment, tell the boss you've got a spreadsheet to look at. I don't know.

COSTELLO: Yes, that will work.

LARSON: Yes. Isn't that how it works?

COSTELLO: Yes.

LARSON: We also found this great app, it's called Player. I've got it here on my -- on my iPad. And it's just a whole bunch of video that's coming in throughout the day and throughout the course of the World Cup.

And also, this is something pretty cool. Google has gotten in on the action. You can go to Google Maps, you know, we love the street-level maps. But on Google Maps, they actually let you take 3D kind of interactive tours of all of the World Cup stadiums down there in Brazil. So if you can't get there, you can get there virtually from your desk.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Thanks. I'm going to -- well I have those TVs at work so I'm lucky.

LARSON: Yes I can sit at my desk and watch it, yes.

COSTELLO: Brett Larson -- thanks so much. I appreciate it.

LARSON: Thanks Carol.

COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break -- yes? Starts now.