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CDC Says General Public Is Not At Risk; Iraqi TV: 15 Militants Killed In Falluja; A Secret Look At ISIS From Iraqi Refugee; U.S. Military Advisers To Arrive In Iraq; Biden, Central American Leaders Meet On Immigration; Soccer Star Arrested On Domestic Violence; New Details On Benghazi Capture

Aired June 21, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. It is the first day of summer and let's look outside, shall we? Don't you wish this was your window to the world? Let's go to Lauderdale by the sea. Beach, right there in Florida. Folks are just now starting to get out there. It's a beautiful day. Mid-80s and the rest of the day looks good. Maybe a chance of thunderstorms in about an hour, but that's South Florida for you.

All right, let's take look at the top stories right now that we're following in the CNN NEWSROOM. U.S. military advisers are arriving in Iraq very soon to help the Iraqi Army. This as Iraqi security forces say they killed 15 terrorists in Fallujah. President Obama says U.S. assistance has to be met with political reconciliation in Iraq or the U.S. support will end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We can't do it for them and we certainly can't redeploy tens of thousands of U.S. troops to try to keep a lid on a problem if the people themselves don't want to solve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Plus, the suspected master mind of the Benghazi attack is snatched by U.S. Special Forces, but was the capture legal? And what about his ongoing interrogation on board a U.S. Navy ship? Our legal guys weigh in.

And unravelling the mystery of the great white shark. Scientists are searching for clues by tracking a huge great white who is right now in the Gulf of Mexico heading toward Texas.

Let's begin in Iraq where troops who are battling Islamic militants will soon get a much needed boost. Critical help from U.S. military advisers who will help provide the Iraqis with their expertise and intelligence on the enemy. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria also known as ISIS. There have been several fierce battles today.

Our Nima Elbagir joins us live now from Baghdad. So Nima, I understand there was a particularly nasty clash just about 35 miles from the capital.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Only one of some pretty significant military developments here on the ground today. The Iraqi army said that it has killed 15 militants. It's a gain in a situation where they have been in short supply for the Iraqi army. This comes as the Sunni extremist group, ISIS, has attempted to come in from the west of the capital. We already know they're on the north eastern side and now, they're moving through the Sunni areas in the west of the capital and that's where the clashes of the government are happening.

But that's not all, Fredricka. They're also re-enforcing we understand from the north and all this comes as extraordinarily strategic town on the Iraqi Syrian border, that has now fallen. It has been taken by ISIS leaving that border completely in ISIS' hands and wide open. Effectively creating one battlefield between Syria and Iraq for them -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then Nima, if the U.S. indeed gets the signed agreement from Iraq, U.S. military advisers would be arriving in Iraq soon and to your calculation, what will be the first order of business?

ELBAGIR: The first order of business actually is what we would consider to be the most basic one, which is to actually assess what is the Iraqi government capacity. They've been pretty routed in a lot of these instances. They've had to put out a very sectarian call for support from within the Shia community.

The Iraqi prime minister, of course, Nuri Al-Maliki, is himself a Shia. That has raised eyebrows coming from a government which a lot of international leaders, including President Obama, have criticized heavily for not being inclusive. Only focusing on their own Shia community, creating a situation ripe for opportunists like ISIS. They've had to go back to that support basis.

Today, we've seen thousands of Shia rallying in support of the Iraqi army, not just here in Baghdad, but across in cities across Iraq and the militant response has been pretty violent, Fredricka. Full bombs detonated up until this point in predominantly Shia communities and that really has raised the sectarian violence and brought back a lot of old fears.

WHITFIELD: Nima Elbagir, thank you so much from Baghdad. We'll check back with you.

So meantime, the current crisis in Iraq apparently isn't just a failure of the Iraqi military, but in an interview with CNN's Kate Bolduan, the president of the United States says it's also a political failure on the part of the Maliki government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Part of the task now is to see whether Iraqi leaders are prepared to rise above sectarian motivations. Come together, compromise, if they can't, there's not going to be a military solution to this problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Kate Bolduan's full interview with the president, President Barack Obama, airs Monday morning on "NEW DAY" starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

All right, now, let me tell you about one man who is one of a million people driven from their homes in Iraq by this escalating conflict. He barely escaped Mosul, but had to leave his family behind and yet, he managed to get some rare video of the ISIS militants as he ran for his life. Here now is CNN's Arwa Damon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Look at this clothes, he's not Iraqi. Raed (ph) points out, it's not his real name speaking to us on condition we conceal his identity. But his wife and children are still in Mosul and could be slaughtered. Raed wanted by ISIS just escaped with this video he shot on his phone.

He believes the man he filmed was ISIL. He said he's going from Mosul to Baghdad to Jerusalem. It's a rare glimpse into the murky world of ISIS and how it solidified its grasp. You see the kid is giving the ISIS leader a kiss.

Some of the women were even throwing chocolate on them and shouting you saved us from this sectarian army from Maliki's army. It's because the army had harmed the people, put too much pressure on them. It's those actions that turn terrorists into heroes. Raed said the people would be betrayed.

Already ISIS is implementing its harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Men who wear three-quarter pants get blast, he says. If there was internet, you would see the worst of their torture. Women can't go out without a male guardian and he is still shocked his city fell so fast.

There were only 200 to 300 ISIS fighters and 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqi Security Forces. But after fighting for three days, they appeared, he says. This is special operations for the anti-terrorism unit. After moving through, sleeper cells are activated. They are Iraqi. All the groups fighting the Americans from the start are now back and with ISIS, Raed explains.

Maliki's actions are fuelling the fire. American bombing would wreck more havoc than there already is. It's my city, he pauses, his voice starts to crack. The country is destroyed. It's lost, he said, disbelieve it, after a thousand years it won't come back. His eyes filled with tears as he adds the city of Mosul once the city of profits. And in a day and night, it turns into a city of ghosts and nightmares. Arwa Damon, CNN, Erbil, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Also up next, why a political solution in Iraq may require Prime Minister Al Maliki to step aside and later, we'll tell you why the U.S. Team is facing more than one foe tomorrow at the World Cup.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The U.S. and other countries are scrambling to help Iraq defend itself against ISIS insurgents. I'm joined now by CNN military analyst Major General "Spider" Marks and former CIA counterterrorism official, Phillip Mudd. Good to see both of you, Gentlemen.

All right, so Spider, to you first, we hear that the U.S. military advisers are on the way, but they can't do anything until there's this written agreement by Iraq. But in your view, is this a setback or just you know, go with the territory and do you have hope the advisers will be able to do much once on the ground?

MAJ. GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, there are two parts to that. Clearly, there has to be some form of a SOFA, status of forces agreement, that gives U.S. soldiers on the ground immunity from Iraqi law or any soldier outside the compound of American embassy is subject to arrest and to be thrown into an Iraqi prison irrespective of many type of due process.

I mean, it's exceptionally whimsical, yet could be very, very possible. Some form of a SOFA or bilateral security agreement that gives protections to the soldiers is a must. It's a precondition to deploying soldier number one, outside our American Embassy. Number two is once they're there, yes, they can have an impact at some of the lower levels.

These are exceptionally talented, very mature soldiers, fighting way above their weight in terms of capabilities and what they really bring is access to the entire national military capability of the United States, principally, the intelligence community right down into a very precise location.

Mission number one obviously is to assess the ISF, get our good arm -- get a good -- our arms around a good picture of what the Iraqis are up and then to further develop targets against ISIS to facilitate strike operations both on the ground and in the air by the Iraqi military.

WHITFIELD: So, Phillip, do you believe this is a smart plan that this really is the right first step for the U.S. commitment?

PHILIP MUDD, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, COUNTERTERRORIST CENTER: I think it's right first step as long as we understand the limitations of what we're up to. We cannot get in the middle of civil war and have an impact with 300 people on the ground. On the other hand, you've got to look long-term. If Iraq goes south, if we start to see terror cells form out of ISIS, that are looking to target people in New York City.

You don't want to ask six months down the road why didn't to start to build a picture of the battlefield today. So I think we can have a modest impact. We can start to build an understanding both of the Iraqi Security Forces and of the target. But let's not overstate what these guys can do. WHITFIELD: You say don't willfully engage, meaning the U.S. engage in this civil war, but do you think that there's a roundabout way in which the U.S. may find itself in the middle of this conflict especially where you have advisers there on the ground, but if they become targets, don't they have to engage and doesn't that now involve the U.S. in ground battle?

MUDD: Sure. I don't think that's the primary problem we face today. I don't think we're going to be seeing U.S. forces involved in any engagements. I'm sure there's a lot of -- the bases there in. The first question is starting to build an understanding not of the target, but of the backbone of the Iraqi security forces because so far, their backbone has been mixed.

WHITFIELD: And Spider, from there then, if the assessment is the backbone is weak, of the security forces to what extent should the U.S. commit?

MARKS: Well, here's the issue. The president has stated very clearly that our support is conditional on a more inclusive government. I don't know whether this is in a very trite sense, you know, the chicken or the egg. At the end of the day, the United States will not abandon Iraq. It will not allow Iraq to fall into the chaos beyond what we see right now, which is abysmal.

But it can't become a failed state. So, the United States is going to shore up, it becomes an inevitability as Phil described. We're going to shore these guys up. They have to achieve some level of success. The United States will not take its hands off and let this thing kind of roll off the rails and get completely out of control.

Some would argue it already is, but if we assess that it was too far gone, we clearly would be into damage minimization. What we're trying to do is preserve Maliki ironically at the same time, we're trying to fire him.

WHITFIELD: And best case scenario, intelligence gathering, Phil, what should be expected?

MUDD: I think there's two pieces of intelligence you've got to think about here and even before there's a status of forces agreement, you could be collecting this intelligence. I guarantee at CIA and elsewhere, they're collecting it already. They are sitting there today and tomorrow working through the weekend to build what we call target packages.

The first piece of intelligence is looking at the battlefield in places like that, oil facility, and saying can we help understand that battlefield in terms of tactics and weapons to help the Iraqis defend themselves better.

The second is more interesting. When you're looking at the terrorist organization, you want to map the leadership. That leadership is like sharks teeth. When one of them disappears, another one will come in place. Can we map the top 50 in terms of their pattern of life? So that when we start for an operation, we can start taking terrorist leaders off the battlefield because if you take them off the battle field fast enough, it's very difficult for these groups to replace that kind of leadership.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank so much, Major General Spider Marks, Philip Mudd, good to see you, Gentlemen. Appreciate it.

The U.S. says up to 80,000 undocumented children will enter the country this year alone. Can the U.S. stem the tide of illegal immigrants and how much will it cost taxpayers?

Plus, soccer star, Hope Solo. We're not talking about the World Cup, but being arrested. We'll tell you why and what police are saying, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The new plan to stem the tide of thousands of undocumented children crossing the border has been put into action on several fronts. One of them, dispatching Vice President Joe Biden to Central America. That's where the majority of illegal immigrants are fleeing for a chance to live in the United States. Here's CNN Polo Sandoval.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vice President Joe Biden meeting with leaders in Guatemala as the Obama administration struggles to deal with the growing immigration crisis. Thousands of unaccompanied children like the ones we met along the Texas-Mexico border are risking their lives to enter the U.S. illegally.

Biden's visit is part of President Obama's response to a growing problem. The administration hoping to quash rumors driving families and children north chasing a dream.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So much of what we're seeing on the southern border is the result of a deliberate misinformation campaign that is propagated by criminal syndicates in Central America.

SANDOVAL: Nearly 10,000 undocumented and unaccompanied kids are being housed in facilities throughout the U.S. according to new congressional figures obtained by CNN. They're concrete holding cells constantly full. From October to June, 52,000 unaccompanied children have been caught at the U.S. border with Mexico.

Double the number recorded in the same period last year. A two pronged approach has been ordering the Department of Homeland Security to revamp its efforts to handle the flow of undocumented kids. There's also promise to tackle the problem at the root of the crisis. The U.S. is pledging to partner up with Mexico and Central American countries, providing millions of dollars in support.

EARNEST: It is not a good idea for -- for people to make the trek through Mexico and to appear at the southern border in the Rio Grande Valley of the United States and think once they are detained by customs or border patrol personnel that they will be allowed into the country. They will not.

SANDOVAL: Back on the Texas stretch of the Rio Grande, the stream of people seems endless. Some of the youngest come with their families. Others by themselves. Polo Sandoval, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, so this crisis is getting bigger by the day and there are no easy answers on how to deal with it, but the Obama administration just announced that plan aimed at stopping this flow of undocumented children. Let's talk more about it. Congressman Henry Cuellar is a Texas Democrat who is from the district

where most of the border crossings are happening. Good to see you. And Wendy Young is president of Kids in Need of Defense Or Kind. Good to see you as well.

All right, let's talk about, you know, this White House plan. Let's break it down for those just hearing about it for the first time. It includes almost a hundred million dollars in aid to the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. That money is meant to help reintegrate the illegal migrants who the U.S. will be sending back, many of them children, and helping them in their home countries.

An additional $161.5 million will be provided this career for regional security programs. The White House says that money will help stem migration flows as well as address the root causes of this kind of migration. So, Congressman Cuellar, you first. That's a whole lot of money. How will the U.S. know how this money is being used? We know the promise, but do we know how it will be delivered and allocated?

REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D), TEXAS: First of all, I'm glad that the Obama administration r reversed the cuts that they had proposed. I'm on the Appropriation Committee dealing with these cuts and they had proposed to cut money to Mexico and Central America, and we had thoughts that cut. So I'm glad they have now reversed themselves, number one.

Second of all, we're not just going to giving money. We are going to be involved in making sure that money's used for security, make sure that money is used to return the kids and the families back because again, living on the border, and just this last month of May of this year, we had border patrol caught 40, almost 48,000 individuals, 9700 of them were kids with no parents.

So, we had to send that message and make sure that the message that's not only the only one hearing down there is the one from the bad guys the smuggling because the smuggling organizations are winning the message down there, saying that you can come to the U.S. And if you're a woman with a child or child, you are going to be given permit to go anywhere in the U.S.

WHITFIELD: Right, so there's that misinformation that has to be stemmed, but aside from that, this money can't necessarily address that. But when one hears about this kind of money, this kind of financial commitment, and you hear why parents are allowing their children to take this very dangerous trek, it's because of the drug violence in their country.

It's because of the lack of hope, the lack of jobs, the lack of infrastructure, so with this money help toward the commitment of rectifying, fixing those things because if you don't stem those problems, you are going to continue to have a flood of children and families who are going to continue to cross the border, right?

CUELLAR: Right and the intelligence that we've gotten from the people that have been interviewed and when I was there this last week, one of the things that, it all confirms that people are leaving there because of economics. There's really nothing up there. No jobs.

Number two, the violence. One endures and murders and Guatemala, number four, number five. There are some root problems we have to look at, but at the same time, our policies are not helping because as long as they think they can come in and be given that notice to appear anywhere in the U.S., they're going to continue working.

And plus, we have to work closely with those countries. I've sat down with all the ambassadors from those Central American countries and the ones from Mexico and we've got to develop those protocols like we have for Mexico. Mexico, if somebody comes over, we are going to have an expedited removal, of course, it's a lot easier because they are right across the river, but we've got to work those protocols with those Central American countries.

WHITFIELD: OK, so Wendy, let me bring you into this equation because it's not that simple. If it were that simple, we wouldn't be at this juncture, right? So how do you see this plan as helping or how do you see the problem continuing to worsen?

WENDY YOUNG, PRESIDENT, KIDS IN NEED OF DEFENSE OR KIND: Sure, well, the announcements yesterday were really a step in the right direction, but this is a humanitarian refugee like crisis with a heavy overlay of child protection that really requires a comprehensive solution. We need to start addressing the cause of this in Central America, which is primarily the violence being caused by gangs and other criminal elements.

These are the same groups, they are preying on these children and bringing them to the United States and feeding them misinformation about what will happen when they arrive here. When children do arrive, however, we do need to sort out who needs protection and who can go home. The only way to do that is really to -- really to resource our immigration courts and the Department of Homeland Security to provide children with lawyers to help them through this process.

WHITFIELD: All right, Wendy Young, thank you so much. Congressman Henry Cuellar, appreciate both of your time.

Still to come, a female U.S. soccer star arrested, so, what are the charges? And on the eve of the second World Cup match for the U.S., the players aren't preparing just to take on Portugal. What else they might be facing. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. CNN has just learned that soccer star, Hope Solo, has been arrested on two counts of domestic assault. The former Team USA goaltender is charged with hitting her sister and nephew. Nick Valencia has been tracking the story. He is with us now with more on this. What happened?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just got a statement from the police that sort of lays it all out. About 1:00 a.m. on Saturday in a suburb of Seattle and Kirkland, police were called by a male at a residence. That male said there was a female in the residence who was assaulting people in the house and they were trying to get her to leave the home. She would not.

They were trying to get her to stop, she would not. An officer eventually arrived on the scene and saw what appeared to be an intoxicated Hope Solo. That's according to a police statement. They saw visible injuries on Solo's 17-year-old nephew and on her sister. Solo was arrested after it was determined by police that she was the instigator and primary aggressor.

Now she's been booked on two counts of domestic violence and has a court appearance on June 23rd, on Monday. That's all we know right now.

WHITFIELD: My gosh, and no comment coming from her or her camp, any representation?

VALENCIA: We haven't seen anything released from her camp, not yet.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Valencia, thanks so much. Lara Baldesarra is in Brazil of course covering the World Cup. Lara, you can join in on this conversation, what, if anything, is being said by the soccer community there about these charges involving this Team USA star, Hope Solo?

LARA BALDESARRA, CNN SPORTS: Yes. Well, I will say that unfortunately, it comes as really no surprise and that's by no means because she's a physical or aggressive person. It's because Hope Solo has always been sort of that bad girl of U.S. soccer and things that she said in the memoir she wrote, if this was going to happen, it was going to happen to her.

She is the person that really moves the needle for women's soccer and really women's sports in the USA. So obviously no one here is happy to learn of this whatsoever, but I can't say that there's all that much surprise.

WHITFIELD: Really, so help me understand what that means. Meaning there have been other situations involving alleged assaults or conflicts or confrontations involving Hope Solo? I need you to help me understand what you mean by that.

BALDESARRA: Yes, well, in the past back in 2012, there was a big of an incident that she was involved with, an assault type of incident, with her now husband, Jeremy Stevens, however, those charges were dropped and they actually got married the day after the incident. However, it's more of just her off field things and what she says.

On Twitter, she'll call people out. She said Brandy Chastain, a legend in women's soccer, had no business doing commentary for the women's Olympics back in 2012. She is very aggressive in her words. She is in the past alleged that one of her former coaches hit or shoved her, which she denies.

One of the "Dancing with the Stars" cast mates, she alleged that he slapped her and he denied that as well. But there is sort of this bad girl thing that always does surround her.

WHITFIELD: That's unfortunate. Let's talk about Hope in a different way there, the World Cup in Brazil. Let's talk about Team USA getting ready to take on Portugal and people are very thrilled that they got past Ghana and now, Portugal. So, help us understand. Chance is good?

BALDESARRA: The chances are pretty good. I'd say they're boosted after what we saw from the USA after beating Ghana. We now see that the USA, they have the ability to do well in this tournament and their confidence is certainly sky high. A lot is really going to come down to conditioning. We've talked a lot about this humidity because they're playing in the Amazon rain forest. We'll have to really just wait and see to see which team either USA or Portugal is conditioned the best for this environment.

WHITFIELD: OK. We've got our fingers crossed. We're wishing to Team USA the best, of course.

BALDESARRA: I believe. I believe.

WHITFIELD: I believe, too, and that's what it takes. It has the start there. So, together, we believe. Lara Baldesarra, thanks so much in Rio and of course, Nick Valencia, thanks so much for bringing us the story about the other hope. All right, appreciate it.

All right, watching the violence now escalate again in Iraq, is a very personal experience for veterans who served there. What did they say the U.S. should do now?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Watching the crisis in Iraq unfold feels very familiar to the veterans who served there. A few sat down with our Alexandria Field and shared their views on the militants closing in on the capital of Iraq and they also expressed concern for America's involvement. Here's their conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FORD SYPHER, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: Yes, we had a plan for you know, governance and development.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But you don't seem that surprised to hear that plan --

DANIEL GORMAN, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: No, of course not. I don't think anyone there at the time would seem surprised.

ANDREW BARTHOLOMEW, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: Everyone knew that when the U.S. withdrew from Iraq, it was going to spiral out of control quickly.

FIELD (voice-over): Andrew Bartholomew served in Iraq in 2009 with the Marine Corps. Ford Sypher deployed there with the Army three times. Daniel Gorman, a National Guardsman did two tours in Baghdad and then returned to work with security teams. They served in different times, in different capacities and different parts of the country. As veterans, they have a vested interest in how the United States will respond to the crisis in Iraq and they agree on this point.

BARTHOLOMEW: I think any intervention needs to be extreme, controlled, transparent. There can be no question about exactly what we are going to do for how long we are going to do it.

FIELD: After eight years in Iraq, the last U.S. troops withdrew from the country in 2011.

MATT PELAK, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: It's a sigh of relief to not ever have to see another news clip that says soldier killed in Iraq from a roadside bomb and to finally see if the Iraqi government was capable of organizing itself.

FIELD: Watching the violence escalate again feels personal for Army veteran and National Guardsman, Matt Pelak.

PELAK: To see what our friends died for, what we fought for, what we worked so hard for so long, blood, sweat and tears go sort of to waste.

FIELD (on camera): What do you want to hear the president say right now?

BARTHOLOMEW: I want to hear President Obama acknowledge that America has moral obligation to that country.

GORMAN: Yes, I believe President Obama should stay engaged diplomatically, humanitarily.

BARTHOLOMEW: If it manifests in the form of air strikes or boots on the ground, when we disengage, the problem is still going to be there.

GORMAN: Yes, we are not going to solve that problem.

SYPHER: I think one thing is clear is though we have different experiences in Iraq and different experiences within branches, we agree that the Iraqis deserve peace.

FIELD: Alexandra Field, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Powerful stuff. Coming up, the president says the suspected master mind of the Benghazi attack should be tried in federal court. But some say send that person to Guantanamo. Our legal guys are on the case next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: FBI interrogators are questioning the suspected master mind of the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya nearly two years ago. It's happening aboard the USS New York as the ship slowly makes its way to the U.S. Meanwhile, we are learning more about how Ahmed Abu Khatalla was captured. Here's our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New details emerging about his capture of Ahmed Abu Khatalla, a senior law enforcement official tells CNN. U.S. Special Operations Forces including members of the FBI arrived by sea over the weekend. The official tells CNN Khatalla was lured to a villa south of Benghazi when U.S. Forces swooped in Sunday.

We're told Khatalla tried to wrestle with the troops. The key operative in Ansir Al-Sharia, the group the U.S. blames for the 2012 attack on the compound in Benghazi was quickly apprehended and we are told no shots fired, no one hurt. The official also tells CNN, U.S. Special Forces did recover some form of media at the villa. Investigators are analysing that.

After the capture, Special Forces whisked Khatalla to the USS New York in the Mediterranean, where he is undergoing questioning.

ROBERT MCFADDEN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, THE SOUFAN GROUP: The main thing is to get the detainee to a safe environment with a minimum of distractions, in this case, in likely international waters.

STARR: Khatalla will be brought into the United States via helicopter once the ship is within range of the mainland according to the official. It is unclear where he will be held before facing trial.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: The big question now is will Khatalla offer any intelligence, any information about other perpetrators in the Benghazi attack. Barbara Starr, CNN, The Pentagon.

WHITFIELD: All right, so let's talk now about all the legal issues involving this capture and interrogation. I'm joined now by our legal guys this weekend. Richard Herman is a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor. Good to see you, joining us from Las Vegas there.

And Avery Friedman is off this weekend so we're welcoming Eugene Fidel. He is a military law lecturer at Yale Law School and former president of the National Institute of Military Justice. So, welcome.

All right, Richard, you first. "The New York Times" reports that Ahmed Abu Khatalla is talking freely with American interrogators. That's one advantage of using this U.S. military Navy ship in the Mediterranean, but can that also backfire?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: People are calling for him to be tried in Guantanamo. Some are calling for him to be shot now with no trial, but the point is this administration has not sent anybody new to Guantanamo. He will be tried in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. As that trial will take place, he has this little thing called the institution on his side.

So he has certain rights and the government has a burden to establish a case beyond a reasonable doubt. I don't know why he's on the ship right now. I don't know why he wasn't flown home right away and if he's talking freely --

WHITFIELD: International water, you don't have the same kind of limitations that you would in country so you can ask him anything.

HERMAN: He's going to be tried in a federal district court in the United States. He has Miranda Rights. Yet he's talking freely. I'd like to see the video of this discussion he's having right now.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. Eugene, you see this as a problem and that's not Vegas, that's New York City behind you.

EUGENE FIDELL, MILITARY LAW ATTORNEY, YALE LAW SCHOO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: You're at home, finally. I'm so used to you being in Vegas. So, what's the problem here or does it serve as a great advantage?

FIDELL: I'm actually in New Haven. That's New Haven behind me.

WHITFIELD: I used to live there. Go ahead.

FIDELL: The danger as Richard suggests is that there may be a claim when this case really gets into litigation, that the rule was violated. That statements were obtained from him as a person in custody without being warned that he had a right to make those statements. That he had the right that to counsel and so forth.

Now the government's position has been that it's entitled to conduct interrogations for other purposes and then sort of segregate the result of those interrogations in a way that never gets into the bloodstream so to speak of the actual criminal prosecution. Doing that and they do this by having a sort of what they call the clean team.

In other words, a second group of interrogators that interrogate after the intelligence interrogation is done. They had another team, this is the first intensive operation that survived the give and take of the criminal prosecution and federal district court. Another matter and we'll have to see.

WHITFIELD: So, that's the interrogation and if we back up further, Richard and we talk about how he was apprehended in the first place, at least some sources are saying we didn't give the U.S. Permission to swoop in and just abduct him and take him. In other words, kidnap him in the view of the Libyans, but the U.S. is saying well, we have the right to do this because this involved U.S. Personnel. It involved the U.S. Mission. The U.S. Mission kind of represent U.S. soil? I mean, why is it the U.S. was able to do this?

HERMAN: He's a terror suspect and Libya can rant and rave and object all they want, but it's too bad. We have him. He's ours right now and we're going to watch how this unfolds, but just now if he is going to be tried in federal district court where they say they're going to try him, he has the right to what's called exculpatory evidence and Brady information. There's going to be a lot of disclosure the government's going to have to make to his side here and it's going to embarrass a lot of people. This is going to be quite interesting how it unfolds.

WHITFIELD: All right, 5 seconds or less, Eugene, is this going to embarrass a lot of people or is this a clean cut case?

FIDELL: I don't think it's going to embarrass anyone other than Mr. Khattala and in this case it will be worse than embarrassment.

HERMAN: Facing the death penalty if he's convicted on count one.

WHITFIELD: All right, we shall see. Eugene Fidell, Richard Herman, thanks so much from your respective cities of New Haven and New York City. Thank you very much. Good to see both of you. Our legal guys tackle the most intriguing legal cases every weekend, every Saturday at about this time. You don't want to miss them.

Straight ahead, something dangerous spotted in the Gulf of Mexico. Do you hear the music? A great white right there and it's got everyone talking about asking, where is this great white headed?

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WHITFIELD: Time for our science behind. Our weekly look at the why behind the what. Researchers are tracking the progress of a great white shark named Catherine. So far, her journey has been nothing short of amazing. Alina Machado explains how far this shark has traveled and to where it's headed next.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not just scientists who are interested in knowing where Catherine is headed, she has thousands of followers on Twitter who are eager to find out where she's going next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The shark is named Catherine.

MACHADO (voice-over): Fourteen feet long, 2,300 pounds, Catherine is a great white on the move, and a team of researchers from O-Search are able to track her in real time. By the looks of it, she's got her sights set on Texas. Last summer, Catherine was tagged and outfitted with a locator in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, then clocking in pings all the way down of Mexico, possibly arriving in Texas in the coming weeks. That's more than 4,000 miles. (on camera): And the reason they're doing this is because they're trying to unravel the mystery behind the great white shark in the Atlantic Ocean. They want to figure out where and when these sharks are breeding and also where their nurseries are located so they can protect these areas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It says it's very large.

MACHADO (voice-over): Very few get the chance to come this close to a shark of this magnitude safely. People across the U.S. are fascinated with following this ocean giant, just as vacation season heats one plans to venture out into the ocean water. Earlier this month, a 22- year-old woman was bitten by an unidentified shark while tubing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in the water. She's bit by a shark and she's bleeding everywhere. There's nowhere for me to go. I'm right next to her. I could be next.