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Video Purportedly Shows Terrorist Leader; Washington Post: "Ordinary Internet Users" Caught Up in NSA Spying Program; Georgia Todd Hot Car Case; New Security Check at the Airport; Florida Teen Beaten by Israeli Police

Aired July 07, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: All right. Let's get to "NEWSROOM" with Briana Keilar in for Carol Costello.

Hey, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there. There's something in the water up there, I think. You know?

(LAUGHTER)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: I stopped drinking.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I think you're all right, John.

All right. Have a great Monday, you guys.

BOLDUAN: Thanks.

KEILAR: And NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar in for Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We could be getting some new clues this morning about that Georgia father accused of leaving his son to die in a hot car.

CNN has just obtained a copy of previously unseen search warrants in the death of 22-year-old Cooper Harris. The toddler's father, Justin Ross Harris, is behind bars and charged with murder. Police say Harris was sexting with six women while his son was dying. Meanwhile, the boy's mother Leanna Harris may be forced to answer some tough questions as investigators try to figure out whether she played a part in her son's death.

CNN's Nick Valencia joining us with the latest on the investigation. What are we learning from the search warrants, Nick?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Brianna. We just got our hands on these new search warrants and they seemingly lay out what prosecutors laid out in that probable cause and bond hearing last week. As you mentioned, the boy's father, Justin Ross Harris, charged with a 22-month-old's murder. He woke up this morning in a Georgia jail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): CNN has obtained new search warrants this morning about the death of 22-month-old Cooper Harris. The new documents reveal little new information but include requests for the search and seizure of Cooper's medical records as well the DVD-r and external hard drive from the boy's father, Justin Ross Harris.

Harris sits in a Georgia jail charged with cooper's murder. He denies the charges. Over the weekend, Georgia homicide detectives continue their work. Leanna Harris, the baby's mother, also part of the investigation according to police, though she has not been named as a suspect in the case.

It was just Thursday, the public learned bizarre details about the case, like the Internet searches on the father's work computer that included a visit to a Web page devoted to exploring a child-free lifestyle, as well as a search for how to survive in prison.

DETECTIVE PHIL STODDARD, COBB COUNTY POLICE: Evidence is showing us right now that he's got this whole second life that he's living with alternate personalities and alternate personas.

VALENCIA: Police say Harris sent lewd text messages while his son sat strapped in a car seat in the broiling Atlanta heat.

STODDARD: He's having up to six different conversations with different women. The most common term would be sexting.

VALENCIA: Police also testifying that the couple had done money problems and that they had both done Internet searches on child deaths in hot cars. The defense objecting to much of Thursday's testimony, and painting Ross as a loving father who made a mistake.

H. MADDOX KILGORE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's not criminal negligence. It's a horrible tragedy and accident.

VALENCIA: In court, the mother's face mostly stoic. Cobb County Police detective Phil Stoddard detailed her reaction on the day her only child was found dead.

STODDARD: In front of several witnesses, all of a sudden she states, Ross must have left him in the car. And they were like, what? There's no other reason. Ross must have -- no other explanation, excuse me, Ross must have left him in the car. And they tried to console her. They're like, no, you know, there's a thousand reasons. You know, he could have taken him to lunch or something. We don't know yet. And she's like, no.

VALENCIA: Investigators say their work is far from over. Family and friends of the couple say judgment should be reserved until all of the facts surface.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VALENCIA: And in search warrants released on Friday related to Justin Ross Harris, very damaging note there in those search warrants. One that Justin Ross Harris, after the death of his 22-month-old son, was asking and talking to family members about how to collect on two life insurance policies that totaled $27,000.

And some people may be asking what about Leanna Harris? What about the mother of this little baby?

Leanna Harris has not been officially charged or listed as a suspect, though she is part of this investigation. Earlier this morning, I spoke to the Cobb County magistrate and they were unwilling to give details on whether or not a search warrant or arrest warrant has been given for Leanna Harris -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Feels like so much more to come on this.

Nick Valencia, thanks so much.

VALENCIA: You bet.

KEILAR: Well, passengers on U.S. bound flights will now undergo a new security check. Screeners may be asking passengers to power up their electronic devices to prove they work and they're not explosives. The latest layer of security is aimed at combating potential new threats from terrorists.

And CNN's Evan Perez has more on this story.

Evan, what's going on here?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Brianna. We're talking about flights into the United States from overseas. And the concern is that there are terrorist groups in Yemen, in particular, the al Qaeda affiliate there, that U.S. intelligence indicates is working on new bombs that could, could bypass U.S. security procedures. Now the -- the Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was on "Meet the Press" yesterday and here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We know there remains a terrorist threat to the United States and aviation security is a large part of that. So this past week I directed that we step up our aviation security at last point, at some last point of departure airports coming into the United States. This is not something to overreact to or overspeculate about, but it is something we felt was necessary. We do this from time to time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: Now, Brianna, the procedures are this. You're going to be asked to turn on your devices, your laptop, your iPhone, your iPad and if it doesn't power up, you may be asked to leave it behind. Simply because they're not sure, they have to check it to make sure that it is not -- doesn't contain any explosive -- Brianna. KEILAR: So that's pretty amazing, Evan, because let's say -- and

we've all done this before, you take your device, and maybe you leave it on the flight, and it drains, of course, because it is searching for a signal. What if you show up and it is not turning on?

PEREZ: Well, you know, the first thing they're going to do is check it to see if it has been altered in any way perhaps to do some additional procedures to make sure there is no explosives that show up. Because, you know, the intelligence shows that this is one area in which the terrorist, especially AQAP has been working on new types of bombs.

Now it doesn't mean that necessarily you're going to have to leave these behind, but you're going to be subjected to additional checks and I should add that the particular concern here is airports in the Middle East and Europe and, again, these are flights into the United States, from overseas -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, so make sure your devices are charged and turned off on the flight.

Evan Perez, thank so much.

Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling the murder of a Palestinian teenager, quote, "abhorrent." Netanyahu called the boy's father today and he promised justice for the apparent revenge killing.

All of this as shocking new cell phone video shows the boy's cousin, a Palestinian-American teen, being beaten and detained by police at a protest over the killing. This morning, a spokesman for Netanyahu talked to CNN about the alleged beating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK REGEV, SPOKESMAN, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: And if it proven -- that's still on this stage. But if it is proven that the police acted in a way that unfortunately the video indicates, that we suspect they did, they will have to pay a price. That is unacceptable, you cannot beat up a suspect in Israel, you cannot beat up someone who is handcuffed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now the violence surged last week when three kidnapped Israeli teens were found dead in the West Bank and Diana Magnay is in Jerusalem with the latest on this.

This is something that just -- it gets more and more complicated, Diana. And we're seeing it play out with teenagers here, Palestinians and Israelis.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the thing that it should be teenagers, kids, effectively who are being targeted. It is so heinous and that is why on both the Israeli and the Palestinian side from the leaders, you have seen condemnation of the killings of both these Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, and now also of this young Palestinian boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir last week, just 16 years old he was, and he was burned alive, the autopsy shows. But there have been new -- there has been some progress in his case. Let's just take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY (voice-over): On Sunday Israeli Police brought six Jewish suspects before a judge in connection with the brutal killing of Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khdeir, here in Jerusalem. This developments unfolding on the same day that Mohammed's 15-year-old cousin, Tariq Abu Khdeir, was released on bail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So how do you feel now you're out?

TARIQ ABU KHDEIR, BEATEN BY ISRAELI POLICE: Yes, I feel -- I feel way better.

MAGNAY: Tariq is an American citizen from Florida whose summer vacation turned to horror when his 16-year-old cousin, Mohammed, was abducted from his home and burned alive in the woods last Wednesday. Now out on house arrest, Tariq shows us his bruises, angry markings of the hatred bearing its head in East Jerusalem once again.

Last week Tariq was beaten and arrested by Israeli Police at a protest following his cousin's death. This cell phone video shows Israeli Police striking and kicking the boy's limp body. Now under investigation, whether Tariq physically bated the officers before the beating or if their attack was unprompted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did they attack you?

KHDEIR: I don't know. That's why I ran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said you were throwing stones.

KHDEIR: No. I jumped the fence and I tried to run away because I just saw something -- somebody running at me. So I tried to run away.

MAGNAY: Tariq's release and the arrest of six suspects in his cousin's death now just small comfort for Mohammed's grieving parents. His father says those arrests won't bring his son back.

His son's murder widely believed to be a revenge attack for the killings of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last month, prompting the worst clashes the city has seen in a decade.

Both Palestinian and Israeli officials have condemned the killings and called for maximum restraint. The fear in these passionate times that the blood of the murdered teenagers could lead to the spilling of more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY: And, Brianna, we -- Brianna, sorry, we are now seeing ominously familiar pattern of events, especially around the Gaza Strip. Today alone there have been something like 25 rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel, Israel has responded with air strikes. Hamas says that eight of its militants have been killed in those air strikes and it is promising revenge. It says that Israel has crossed a red line and that it will -- that it will pay the price.

And that is very worrying rhetoric at a time when the Israeli government has been saying that it wants to keep a lid on this situation, on these simmering tensions. And when de-escalation has been its priority, you only need to have a rocket go as far as Tel Aviv, all kills -- civilian casualties in Israel, and you can be sure that their policy towards Hamas and Gaza will change and change for the worse in terms of military escalation -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Certainly, Diana. And back to the case of Tariq Abu Khdeir, they're investigating if he did bait Israeli Defense Forces or Israeli Police. But even if he did, the fact that he appeared to be unconscious in this video that we're seeing, wouldn't that obviously -- I mean, you would expect even if there was some baiting that this is something that Israeli Police would be held responsible for if they're investigated for this, right?

MAGNAY: Absolutely. I mean, once you're detained, and he clearly was, there is no excuse for police behavior, the likes of which that cell phone video shows. So there is now an investigation into the Israeli Police, not an internal investigation, but one that's been conducted under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice.

So there is a criminal case apparently or criminal investigation into what Tariq was doing there. But there have been no charges leveled against him and frankly, as Mark Regev was saying and as you point out, once you're detained, there is no excuse for that kind of -- for the kind of behavior that we saw from police in that video.

KEILAR: All right, Diana Magnay, thank you.

Still ahead, the NSA scooping up personal information from ordinary Internet users, like baby photos and medical records, all in the name of tracking potential terrorists around the world.

I'll be discussing that with the former CIA operative coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Let's check our top stories now.

A scary sight over a runway in Barcelona, Spain, this weekend. Two huge planes there coming dangerously close. An Airbus jet that was taxiing across the runway there. There is that Russian 747 was preparing to land.

The pilot of the Russian plane pulls up just in time, barely missing the other jet, and it is unclear how this mix-up even happened, but airport officials told a Spanish newspaper there was never any danger of collision.

So, in just a few hours, the saga of billionaire Los Angeles clippers owner Donald Sterling enters a new phase. A California probate court is set to determine if Sterling's estranged wife Shelly can legally sell the NBA team to former Microsoft exec Steve Ballmer for $2 billion. Donald's legal team filed a last minute motion just before the July Fourth holiday to move the case to federal court, saying that his privacy rights were violated when his medical tests were released.

And more than 60 girls and women kidnapped by militants in Nigeria had escaped. They were taken by Boko Haram and had gotten away when their captors left to launch another attack. Those escapes are not part of the 200 girls kidnapped in April. Sadly, that group has not been recovered.

And authorities are looking into a video which purportedly shows the alleged leader of ISIS, the terror group fighting for control in Iraq. The video surfaced on various social media sites tied to ISIS and it shows a man conducting a sermon at the great mosque in Mosul. It would be one of the first known appearances of the militant leader and that's why this is so significant.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr here with us now.

This is a really big deal. We don't see this leader very often.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. Good morning.

Only a couple of images of him have appeared in recent years. And that's one of the reasons both Iraqi and U.S. authorities are scrutinizing this videotape to try and determine if it really is him. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the man that is now the self-proclaimed leader of ISIS, the militants making that sweep through northern Iraq.

There are so few images of him in the past, nobody can be absolutely sure just yet that this is him. But what happened in Mosul on Friday, according to eyewitnesses, is a large security convoy of vehicles rolled up to this mosque, this man got out, conducted the service, claimed to be al-Baghdadi, many people observed all of this and what was so interesting is during this time that this convoy was in Mosul, cell phone service went down, somehow it all got jammed. Nobody entirely clear on how, why or who made that happen.

But this video getting scrutiny, frame by frame, while authorities try to determine really is it him or not? This is someone the Iraqis would like to get their hands on.

KEILAR: And that's a pretty -- I mean, jamming of cell phones, that seems like pretty, I guess you would say serious security measures that might be taken on behalf of this person if you're sort of putting two and two together there.

But I'm wondering as you talked to Defense Department officials, how are they reacting to this?

STARR: Well, you know, if it turns out to be him, and this is something the U.S. intelligence community will determine to the best of their assessment. This is the kind of work they do, facial matching features, forensics, that sort of thing. It will then give the U.S. an idea of how Baghdadi moves around the Iraqis as well and perhaps a sense of his sense of zone security in Mosul, because he came out in broad daylight, spent a period of time in this one location, made himself vulnerable potentially, but obviously if it is him, he felt self-confident enough to come out in Mosul in this area that currently remains somewhat of an ISIS stronghold, didn't feel that the Iraqi forces could muster in time to come after him.

So, a lot of -- a lot of things to be determined here, a lot of sort of determinations about how ISIS is doing and how their leadership is doing if this is really him -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be waiting to figure that out. Barbara Starr, thank you so much.

And still to come, for first time, Pope Francis comes face to face with victims of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. We have a live report from Rome, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The NSA may have your selfies, your baby photos, your medical records. This is some of the most startling information yet about what the NSA has collected and who they're collecting it from in their controversial program.

"The Washington Post" reporting that 90 percent of the people whose information was obtained are not federal agents. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden provided "The Post" with more than 100,000 intercepted conversations, among them e-mails, instant messages and real time texts.

Bob Baer is a CNN intelligence and security analyst. He's also a former CIA operative and he's joining me now to explain this.

Because, Bob, people look at this and it concerns them. They wonder, OK, am I caught up in this?

So, you know, we look at the analysis here that's done by "The Post". It found some of the people visited online forums used by targets. Some exchanged e-mails with the targets.

So, should people who "The Post" call ordinary Internet users be concerned about this?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, they should be very concerned. Because the federal government, the national security agency, is collecting the information in vast databases to be used anytime it wants.

And, you know, it's easy to get on one of these. You could be on a chat room, they start collecting everybody on that chat room. And from there, it goes into cell phones, it goes into e-mail, the rest of it. So, the government effectively has a file on you and it has opened this file again without probable cause. And it's the ability of at some point in the future the government

misusing this information to, you know, put you under a formal investigation.

KEILAR: I wonder, because President Obama, in the last several months, talked about intelligence reform that would be taken --

BAER: The line is cut.

KEILAR: I think we might be having a technical difficulty. Bob, can you hear me? Can you hear me, Bob?

All right. Unfortunately we lost Bob. We are going to take a short break here.

And still to come, we actually have a story about the Obama administration under fire for members of both parties for its handling of the immigration crisis. Jim Acosta will join us live on that story from the White House.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. A fellow Democrat, Henry Cuellar, congressional district Democrat from down near the border, going after the president, saying he's one step behind in dealing with this border crisis. We'll have details in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: I want to bring Bob Baer, former CIA operative back into the conversation.

We were just having about this report that we're seeing this morning in "The Washington Post", Bob that says NSA spy programs have scooped up a ton of information, not of terrorist targets, but of pretty -- some ordinary Americans who are not really under investigation for this, we're talking, everything from, like, fitness selfies to baby photos, resumes, you were saying you think ordinary Americans should be concerned about this.

BAER: Well, more than concerned. Let me explain, when I was in the CIA, if I saw a reference to an American, all I had to do was call up the National Security Agency, say, hey, give me the identity on this person. It is that easy.

So, you can imagine with this vast database that is sitting out there in Utah and in Maryland, somebody at the FBI or the CIA may have a suspicion about an American and all they have to do is call the NSA and get into the database. And this database wasn't created by probable cause that you may or may not have committed a crime.

So, yes, innocent Americans can easily be targeted with the database like this.