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Report: Paris Terrorist Sent Text To Store Gunman; Terror Group Seeing "Warp Speed" Gains; Jury Sees Video Of Hernandez Dismantling Phone; Oil Spilled Into River Threatening Drinking Water

Aired February 17, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN. We have to begin with the breaking developments here in these two terror attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead last month.

Here's what we're learning. This report coming from the French newspaper "Le Monde" indicates these attacks were indeed coordinated. Sources were telling this French newspaper, "Le Monde" that one of the Kouachi brothers behind the massacre at the "Charlie Hebdo" offices was in communication with the gunman, who commandeered that a little later.

Sources say a text from Cherif, remember he is the younger of the Kouachi brothers went to one of the 13 cell phones used by Amedy Coulibaly. Coulibaly was the one who shot and killed those four Jews inside of that kosher grocery store after taking hostages.

So CNN's Deb Feyerick is all over this one for us. Let's just begin with -- I mean, the detail that (inaudible) that Coulibaly apparently had, when was the text exchanged?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is what's so interesting because we know that two men were friends. We know that they were involved in previous plots together, but now we have physical evidence linking the two men in the hour before the massacre on the "Charlie Hebdo" offices according to an investigator who spoke to the "Le Monde," a French newspaper.

Cherif Kouachi actually texted Coulibaly. This is the first evidence showing that the two intended to carry out a coordinated attack, Cherif Kouachi on the "Hebdo" magazine and Coulibaly days later on that kosher market.

We are also learning that the text was sent to one of 13 phones that Coulibaly had. He was under surveillance for a period of time. He may have been doing this in order to avoid any detection by authorities we believed were watching him.

There's also evidence to suggest that the two men actually met, Brooke, the morning of that attack, sometime between 12:00 and 1:00 in the morning and there was some discussion that perhaps they called the attack off because the older brother, Said, appeared to have some sort of a stomach flu.

So they met and then right before the attack they texted perhaps a go that it was on as planned.

BALDWIN: A couple of points, let's go back to, you mentioned the 13 cell phones, apparently the one cell that Coulibaly had, this was the cell phone specifically to communicate with the Kouachi brothers, correct, so one.

And number two, the fact that this attack at "Charlie Hebdo" may not have happened -- I don't want to say may never have happened because they seemed held in on this, but because one of the brothers had stomach flu?

FEYERICK: Well, that's what is so interesting. That's what investigators are telling this French newspaper that they were talking about that possibility. So what's also interesting is that there is a lot of talk right after this attack about what the communication and the coordination was.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed credit for the Kouachi brothers attack. They never claimed credit for the attack on that kosher market. Coulibaly himself making videotapes saying that he was acting on behalf of ISIS.

And now, of course, we've learned that his religious wife, Hayat Boumeddien, she actually has ended up in Syria with ISIS so two different terror groups. Both ideologically connected, but these friends deciding it appears that they were going to carry this out as a coordinated attack in France.

BALDWIN: Stunning, stunning. Thank you so much for reporting all of that for me. Deborah Feyerick, thank you. Now to this --

Speaking of ISIS, right now nations across North Africa are scrambling as a frightening realization is taking hold. ISIS is not just gaining more territory. They are doing it much faster than anyone ever anticipated.

Now in their cross hairs, Libya, a failed state, fertile ground for ISIS to extend its reach, remember they're all about the geography here. So now we're seeing proof of those gains. ISIS is moving from the barren hills of Syria and Iraq to a beach on the Mediterranean coastline.

Savagely killing these 21 Egyptian Christians here in those orange jump suits, all of this is ISIS's strong hold in Libya. This is the city of Derna quickly shaping up to be the new frontline in this war 200 miles from the European coastline.

This is a place where ISIS is strengthening each and every day taking over government buildings, even taking over a radio station. Egypt, now, hitting back, dropping bombs on what we now know are these training camps and storage facilities.

So let's go to Ian Lee in Egypt for us in this hometown of many of these Egyptian Christians who were just brutally beheaded by ISIS there on the beach. And first just beginning with these retaliatory air strikes from Egypt, how successful, Ian, have they been? IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, what we're hearing is they haven't been really successful. They have hit targets. They have attacked part of ISIS control and weapons supply lines in Derna, but it's going to take more than roughly 10 airstrikes to really put a dent and stop and turn back the gains that ISIS has made.

We have seen the Egyptian president, Abdel-Fattah Sissi, asking for a larger international coalition, something that we have seen in Iraq and Syria to go after the ISIS militants in Libya. His foreign minister is in the United States right now pushing that case.

He's also talking to governments around the world trying to get them on board with this. He doesn't want to see ISIS pushing up next to the border with Egypt.

If that's the case, I talked to one retired general, he said, if ISIS starts to attack Egypt proper, attacks the territorial integrity, then we could see Egyptian troops on the ground and not just airstrikes -- Brook.

BALDWIN: Speaking of potentially stepped up measures, we're talking about some of these strikes in one part of Libya, but Egyptian forces were already battling these ISIS allied militants in the Sinai Peninsula. Did you anticipate more measures there?

LEE: Well, the Egyptian government has said that they are stepping up efforts to go after the militants and this comes after a very deadly attack that killed roughly 30 people in the Northern Sinai. Egyptian security forces have been bloodied by ISIS. Hundreds of security personnel have been killed in the over yearlong war.

And they really haven't -- we haven't seen that ISIS really lose any ground or lose any control, lose their violent attacks there. It's going to be difficult for the Egyptian government to regain that area as ISIS has some support from the local community there where the Egyptian government would destroy a house trying to root out these militants.

The militants compensate the people for their losses so the Egyptian government, while using their weapons to go after this, are going to have to also try to win hearts and minds on the ground.

BALDWIN: All right, Ian Lee, thank you. As ISIS gains ground, different parts around the world, more than 60 nations are gaining inside knowledge on exactly how the U.S. fights groups like ISIS.

In fact, at this moment, Vice President Joe Biden, is speaking at a White House summit. They're calling it countering violence extremism. Foreign officials are focusing on tactics used in three cities, Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.

So this summit is happening today as new CNN polls are showing mixed support for President Obama's war on ISIS. Americans do not think the current strategy is going well, but actually more and more believe this ISIS fight is a war that the U.S. needs to take on.

Let me show you some numbers and you'll see this new CNN/ORC poll finds 58 percent of those surveyed believe the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq is going badly, but the poll also indicates that 78 percent believe that Congress should let the president continue military force against the radicals.

Just ahead, new information on the shooter in the Denmark terrorist attack over the weekend including how he swore allegiance to is. Hear about the letter that was found at the scene.

Plus jurors in the murder trial of Aaron Hernandez seeing video of the former NFL star, you see this? He's at some point here taking his phone apart. Why? What would that mean?

And after the massive explosion of this oil tanker in West Virginia, the water supply is now being threatened. We'll take you there live. You're watching CNN. Stay right here.

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BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We have to talk about this fascinating piece evidence here in the murder of trial former NFL star, Aaron Hernandez, because for the first time the jury was shown video of Hernandez on surveillance tape dismantling his cell phone.

Here's Hernandez. You see his fingers and a phone in his lap. This happened in the parking lot of a police station the day after the shooting death of Lloyd and prosecutors say Hernandez is seen using a different phone to make a call to a man who is now Hernandez's co- defendant in this case.

So joining me now, I've got legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Sunny Hostin with me, and Alexandra Field, who has been at the courtroom following this trial.

So Alexandra, let me just begin with you. This piece of evidence and both sides fought back and forth over this, and ultimately the judge siding with the prosecution. Why might this be key?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, the prosecution fought so hard for this because they want to use this video to be able to raise certain questions for the jury in this case.

Why is Aaron Hernandez in the parking lot of a police station where there are visible surveillance cameras around? Why is he dismantling his cell phone? Why is he using someone else's cell phone and why is he, according to the prosecution, calling his co-accused co-bencher, Ernest Wallace?

These are all questions that the prosecution wants to get before the jury. We'll see if the prosecution can build a case here to help answer those questions.

Remember, this is all going on again in the parking lot of the police department. Aaron Hernandez is in a car with his attorney. It is his attorney, his former attorney who gives him the cell phone which he uses to call Earnest Wallace.

The attorney was not in the car at the time that phone call was made and seemingly had no knowledge of that phone call. But this is a question that the prosecution really wants to get into. They want the jurors to know that a phone was used to call Earnest Wallace and that it wasn't Aaron Hernandez's phone -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Let's pick this apart, Sunny Hostin, because again they're in the parking lot at a police station, you have to know there's cameras around. He has a phone. He's taking it apart.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Destroying it really.

BALDWIN: Destroying the phone. How, if you're the defense, how do you explain that?

HOSTIN: I think it's tough. This is one of the more troubling pieces of evidence that I think this jury has seen. The defense that I would put forth would be blaming the lawyers.

Listen, he was advised to destroy the phone because his calls were being monitored or, you know, he misunderstood our directive. Any number of reasons, but I still think that the behavior, quite frankly, is so suspicious that the jury is going to have questions about it.

The jury will have questions about I don't know that the prosecutors have any answers to it. It's a very circumstantial case. Is it proved positive that he committed this murder? No. Does it look really suspicious? Yes.

I don't know if that's enough, but the prosecution I think at this point is sort of building piece by piece that circumstantial case which is that people that are innocent don't destroy their phones. People that are innocent don't call co-defendants. People that are innocent don't behave this way.

BALDWIN: But what about the fact that this is coming from the police station and the surveillance cameras. When you look at the video, and throw it up again because it looks like it's zoomed in. Is that just because they zoomed in for trial purposes or would the police station have zoomed in?

HOSTIN: The police station actually did this. That is what is so fascinating. So many people were saying this is not fair. He's in a car. How can they video tape him?

Well, guess what, everyone. There's no expectation of privacy when you're in a public parking lot, a police parking lot even if you're in the car with your lawyer and the defense team really tried hard to get this evidence out by making those very same arguments.

Listen, this was a legal advice kind of situation. Obviously, it didn't work with the judge. BALDWIN: Alexandra, let me go back out to you because the court today heard from an electronics expert, who installed this home surveillance system at his house and apparently, Hernandez said to this guy, I don't want surveillance video, you know, in my basement. They had a conversation surrounding that. Tell me more about that.

FIELD: Yes, this is a guy, who had 11 surveillance cameras inside of his home, Brooke. It's been a really big part of this case. There's no murder weapon that's ever been recovered here.

There is a surveillance image of what the prosecution says is Aaron Hernandez holding a gun they say after Odin Lloyd was killed that was caught on his home surveillance cameras.

So today they had the man who installed and wired those cameras come in to talk about what is was like to be in there, to talk about how this system works and the one thing that he really reflected on for the jury was the fact that before he left, Aaron Hernandez said to him, I don't want my fiancee watching me while I'm hanging out with my friend in the man cave downstairs.

So can we do some things so that camera doesn't record on the DVR and the technician showed him what he could do, which was to unplug the camera if he didn't want to record whatever activities were going on in the so-called man cave.

But Brooke, before you leave me, I want to squeeze in one more point that the defense did make inside the court room today about this cell phone because we are seeing that video of the phone pulled apart in three pieces.

The prosecution wanted it in. The defense didn't. OK, so the defense when they got the cross-examination they tried to make another point, which was to say all you see in that video is Aaron Hernandez taking the back off of his phone and taking the battery out.

Now they're trying to say that's innocuous, destroying the phone, taking it apart. So that's the distinction. They are trying to make in defense of Aaron Hernandez.

BALDWIN: OK. Alexandra Field.

HOSTIN: I like that one. That's not horrible.

BALDWIN: OK. There you go. Sunny Hostin, thank you very much, Ladies, both of you. Let's move on next, fire balls exploding in the sky over West Virginia. Have you seen these pictures today? This train carrying crude oil derailed in the midst of a snowstorm. We'll look at the lasting impact and whether the spilled oil here poses a threat to the community's water supply.

Plus experts say ISIS terrorists want to see the apocalypse. Hear from one writer who dug very deep on their aspirations and finds out where they may want to go, next. Don't miss that conversation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: A thousand people had to get out, leave their homes after the terrifying train derailment in rural West Virginia set off these massive explosions, shot pillars of fire clearly up into the sky.

This is video that we've just around for you here at CNN. The searing heat we're told could be felt a half a mile away and was so hot that firefighters had to keep their distance. Explosions continued even ten hours after this derailment.

Crude oil from ruptured tank cars float into a river that supplies drinking water to people in the area. The governor and other officials are expected to be at the scene shortly. This accident happened in the town of Mt. Carbon during a major snowstorm about 30 miles south of Charleston.

Marcus Constantino is a reporter with the "Charleston Daily Mail." It's a newspaper there. Marcus, first let's just -- the pictures tell the story and I would love to share a picture you uploaded to your Twitter feed in which you see these firefighters -- where is this, right along the Kanawha River?

MARCUS CONSTANTINO, REPORTER, "CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL": That's right on the Kanawha River, Brooke, right near where the train went off the tracks. Initial reports were that oil was leaking into the Kanawha River and there have been no confirmed reports of how much could have escaped from this derailed train.

But as you can see from the pictures the firefighters are putting those boons into the Kanawha River and you can see that there is oil there in the water.

BALDWIN: So when you see there's oil in the water and I'm glancing down to my e-mail, this is from West Virginia Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, results from two preliminary market samples have come back clean. What are you hearing about the water there, Marcus?

CONSTANTINO: Well, the latest news as of 1:00 p.m. today is that three rounds of water quality testing in and around the Montgomery have come clean for hydrocarbons and so they have actually restarted that water system in Montgomery that serves around 2,000 customers and so customers in that area should be getting water back in the next several days.

Of course, they're still under a boil water advisory, but they have given the OK for them to go ahead and restart that water system. It will be closed through Monday due to the water situation.

BALDWIN: And then all of this as we're looking at the pictures in the middle of all of this snow your way. I was reading the newspaper earlier this morning and someone described it as an atomic bomb going off. How did emergency responders fair getting folks out of there and folks to shelter with the roads covered in snow?

CONSTANTINO: Well, yesterday, much of West Virginia was under a winter storm warning, about a foot of snow fell around the area where the train derailment occurred so obviously that made it difficult for first responders to get to the scene.

The roads were a little bit better this morning and some of the residents actually kind of bucked the evacuation order and went back last night and then a train car exploded around 11:30 last night.

One firefighter said he was 5 miles south of where the derailment happened and he said the sky was lit up so bright he could have turned his headlights off and driven.

BALDWIN: Stunning and that these explosions continued up to 10 hours after this train derailed. We're going to stay on this with you. Marcus Constantino, thank you so much.

CONSTANTINO: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up next here on CNN, as ISIS wages it's deadly battle of terror, the question remains what is their ultimate goal? My next guest says part of the answer is the apocalypse, the end of days.

Plus a family torn apart after a road rage incident turns tragic leaving a mother dead and a suspect still on the run.

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