Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Downtown Nashville Sealed Off after "Intentional" Explosion; "Intentional" Explosion in Downtown Nashville Injures at least Three; Happened as Police Responded to Report Suspicious Vehicle near AT&T Building. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 25, 2020 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Thanks for having me, Alison.

It is -- just from the video that we've seen so far, you clearly are dealing with a substantial device. I mean to feel the shockwaves nine blocks away, you can see the debris distribution across that several block area, some of the reporting indicates that several vehicles who are not engulfed in flames and kind of involved likely in following on explosions, that is a significant device.

And then of course the way that the local police describe coming across a device that they were alerted to by a phone call and it actually detonated as they were arriving on the scene certainly raises a lot of concerns that that sequence of events may have been timed to try to impact and injure our first responders as well.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Could you tell from the pictures what kind of explosives may have been used and how much of an explosive may have been used?

MCCABE: It would be very hard to tell that just from the pictures that we're seeing here on television. However, investigators will be able to figure out exactly what was used here. Every device leaves tell- tale kind of fingerprints or traces at the scene. Whether those are chemical residues from the materials made or actual physical pieces of the device that are left on the scene.

For example, after the Boston Marathon bombings we were -- after of course clearing the scene first was which quite dangerous, investigators very quickly were able to determine that both devices were contained inside of pressure cookers because they found pieces of the pressure cookers. They found a lid to one of the cookers on a local rooftop. So that seems sort of very particular, very forensic work will happen now in Nashville.

KOSIK: This is a business area, this is an area that does have some residences nearby, according to Shimon Prokupecz who's been reporting on this. What do you think is the motivator behind doing this? It is Christmas. This bomb went off -- alleged bomb went off at 6:00 a.m. Not many people around. What is the motivating factor here? MCCABE: It's a great question and that is one that investigators will be trying to delve into. There is the timing factor, as you mentioned it is Christmas morning. That could be significant. However, I would caution against drawing any conclusions about that right away.

I mean, you think back really echoes of the 2009 Abdul Farouk - Umar Farouk Abdul Mohammed, the Christmas Day bomber who tried to take down a Northwest Airlines flight in Detroit. He later told investigators that he wasn't really motivated by the fact that it was Christmas Day. It was simply the right flight at the right time and that is how he picked his target.

So could be the same situation here. You don't really know yet. The investigators are looking very closely at what is on that block. So there is not an obvious target like it is not in front of a police station or a house of worship or something that -- two sort of targets that we've seen in recent years but they'll look very closely at who does live there and what the backgrounds and involvement of all of those people might be.

They'll look at the businesses in the area to try to determine if any of those businesses were currently the targets of hostile activity or involved in disputes that might have gotten out of control. All of that sort of activity. They'll be looking at each and every person, and business, and entity that's in that surrounding area and trying to see if there is a connection there.

KOSIK: Shimon, I want to bring you in because I know you have a question or two for Andrew.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I do. Hey, Andrew. Good morning. Merry Christmas.

In terms of the RV, what does that tell you? The fact that this was an RV. Would that cause you any specific kind of concern? And the other thing I wanted to ask you about was the fact that someone had called this in to say there was a suspicious vehicle and as the bomb squad is responding, the RV explodes. What do you think of that?

MCCABE: Well, as you know, Shimon, the phone call alerting first responders to the device and then possibly setting it off as they arrive, if that is an intentional detonation timed with the arrival of the first responders, that starts to sound like a very - like a targeted act against police and law enforcement or maybe an anti- government actor.

The fact that they used the RV, it is actually quite ingenious. We've seen many times in the past bombers will use things like commercial vans, rider - you know rental trucks, that sort of things, simply because it is easy to construct a device in relative quiet and quite of unobtrusive way in the back of a large vehicle and then you have a perfect delivery system. You can drive that vehicle or that van or that truck up wherever you like.

[10:35:00] Now on the same possibilities obviously exist with the RV. It is not one I remember seeing in the last couple of years but it is certainly is a way to build a device privately and in a way that doesn't kind of attract any suspicion and keep it inside a vehicle that enables to you deliver it wherever you want.

KOSIK: Andrew, we're learning that dozens of buildings suffered major damage here. Most of it was glass blown out, but it really speaks to the magnitude of this blast. I go back to you know what was inside of that RV.

MCCABE: Yes, you know, so initially it is an RV, you think maybes it an accidental detonation of a propane tank or you know cooking fuel, things like that, that you normally find inside an RV, but one look at those photographs and the extent of that damage and the size of that blast, I would expect is causing investigators to believe that this was an intentionally constructed explosive device.

You don't get that same sort of explosive concussion from you know a tank of LP gas like you would use on your backyard grill that goes off accidentally. So, this thing was physically large. I wouldn't want to speculate on what the construction was because we just don't know that yet. But it was likely a large, powerful device, that is clear from the damage.

KOSIK: There are three injuries that we know of. We're hearing from authorities that they are thankfully not critical. But does this show you, Andrew, that maybe the intention wasn't to hurt people?

MCCABE: It is certainly possible. That and the early morning, obviously 6:30 a.m. on Christmas morning is not a time that you're going to catch a lot of people out walking on the street. So, if you compare it to things like on the one hand somebody like Faisal Shahzad who was the Time Square bomber, obviously, built a device in the back of his Nissan Pathfinder, left it on the street at an incredibly busy time in New York City for the intent of kind of getting as many innocent victims as he could.

This almost seems more in the other direction. If you think back to the terrorist activity fueled by the IRA in Ireland years ago, so many of the explosive devices that the IRA said, they actually would leave them on streets and in places where there was low traffic and they would call the authorities first to alert them that the device was there. Another way to kind of minimize collateral damage. This situation seems almost more like that. Simply because of the time and the location that they picked. But obviously we'll have to wait and see what the investigators uncover.

KOSIK: Shimon, I know you have a question for Andrew.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, Andrew. The only thing, given the climate that we're under right now, there is a lot of concern for domestic terrorism. Obviously way too soon to make any kind of assumptions regarding that or would this look more to you just given what just little that we know that this would be more act of some kind of domestic terrorism or would you suspect that there's some kind of international connection here?

MCCABE: Really hard to speculate on that yet, Shimon, as you know. I think the initial matter is a, an explosive device that authorities believe was intentionally set. That is inside of the FBI any way handled as a presumptive act of terrorism. So, I could tell you that the full force of the FBI counterterrorism division is being brought to bear on this problem set right now.

We don't know who is behind it. We don't know if it is a domestic group or an anti-government group or perhaps somebody who's been motivated by or directed by a foreign terrorist group. Those are all details that we won't have until investigators have an actual - have people that they could associate with that act and able to trace those links and those associations back away from those people. But I could tell you at this point, an explosive device of this size is going to be treated as presumptively as an act of terrorism.

KOSIK: And Andrew, Downtown Nashville has been blocked off for this investigation which is once again the radius of this explosion is huge. How long does it take for authorities to painstakingly go through each and every area of that to get those clues necessary to find who is responsible?

MCCABE: Well, the forensic examination of the scene, Alison, this is going to likely take days. The first thing that investigators and authorities are going to do is they are going to look at the area around that scene to ensure there aren't any secondary devices. I mean, particularly in a situation like this where you have a perpetrator who may have been trying to lure first responders in to be caught in the blast of this detonation.

[10:40:08]

You want to also make sure that they haven't set up a second or third device somewhere in the area knowing, you know anticipating a sort of response that we would have and lots and lots of law enforcement folks kind of flooding the area. So, they'll look extensively at the area to make sure there aren't any other devices.

Then they'll begin the painstaking process of going over literally every inch of this crime scene, be it two, three, four, five blocks, half a mile, whatever they decide the parameters of that scene are, and they will examine every inch of it for physical traces of the bomb, chemical traces of the bomb, materials, evidence, indicators that might have been left by the bombers or other co-conspirators near the scene. They'll pick over the carcass of that RV and any other vehicles that might have been involved.

That work takes a long time. You'll see a large number of FBI and other federal agencies and other local and state agency personnel flooding that area with lights and equipment and all sorts of gear necessary to really go over that with a fine-tooth comb.

KOSIK: OK. Andrew McCabe and Shimon Prokupecz, thank you. We'll continue to follow this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:46:02]

KOSIK: Welcome back. We are continuing to follow breaking news out of Nashville. Authorities there say a massive explosion in Downtown Nashville appears to be intentional. Multiple buildings were damaged in that explosion. Three people with minor injuries so far. We are continuing to follow this, and we'll bring you updates as we get them.

But first, this Christmas dampened by a worsening pandemic. Millions of Americans honoring the holiday in a new way this year as experts warn against large family gatherings. On Christmas Eve alone, the U.S. reported over 192,000 new cases of coronavirus and 2,899 deaths.

Also, this morning, the CDC says it will require negative coronavirus tests for all passengers traveling to the U.S. from the UK. The new policy is set to take effect on Monday in response to a new strain of COVID that is said to be more transmissible.

Meantime, California's health secretary warning resident this is morning that, quote, "hospitals are full, ICU beds are full, people are dying."

CNN's Dan Simon is in San Francisco this morning. Dan, good morning. What is the latest?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison. Well, everyone of course is extremely grateful for the arrival of the vaccines, things remain very problematic in California. Hospitalizations, cases, deaths, they are all up.

Let's first look at deaths. Yesterday the state recorded 351 deaths. Now that is the third highest number for the pandemic. The record was actually set a week ago with 379 deaths.

Now in terms of the cases, nearly 39,000 cases yesterday, those are huge numbers, although it is an improvement over last week.

And Alison, we should also point out that 98 percent of the state remains under the stay-at-home orders. And when you have that going on, you have a lot of businesses that have been shuttered including hair salons.

I want to show you what happened in Stockton, California, when state authorities went into a hair salon that remained open. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arrest me for -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arrest me for working on December 23rd.

DINO BALLIN, STYLIST: This salon which is a highly regulated environment one-on-one with your client, sanitized areas, there is masks at all times, social distancing is respected and observed and they're coming after hair salons and personal care industry and I just don't understand why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Several citations issued at that salon, that pop salon in Stockton, California. And Alison, it just goes to show you how some folks and business owners are continuing to defy the rules. This is an occasional circumstance, not happening too often but some folks defying the rules in the wake of this very challenging situation. Alison?

KOSIK: So many businesses are so desperate. We can at least understand that. Dan Simon, thanks.

And we continue to keep a close eye on the breaking news out of Nashville. An explosion that police calling intentional. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:53:28]

KOSIK: Welcome back. We are continuing to follow breaking news out of Nashville, Tennessee. Authorities there say a massive explosion in the Downtown area appears to be intentional. At least three people were taken to hospitals with nonlife threatening injuries. We are continuing to follow this, and we'll bring updates as we get them.

But first, Russian police have raided the home of an opposition activist taking her into custody. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is following the developments. Fred, this activist is an ally of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she certainly is. And all this happened, Alison, at around a little past 7:00 a.m. early this morning. In fact, Alexei Navalny's group, they released some video of how this actually happened.

You can see some of those officers showing up at the apartment of Lyubov Sobol. You can see some of the investigators there but also it seems like cops and almost SWAT team outfit. They seem to be carrying a crowbar and something like a ram in case they would have had to knock down the door. But of course, at some point she opened the door and that's exactly when the video cut out.

Now Alexei Navalny's group is saying that she was obviously questioned by the police and that all this is in relation to the fact that Lyubov Sobol tried go and went to the apartment of one of the FSB agents allegedly involved in trying to poison, or in poising Alexei Navalny and trying to kill him.

This is Konstantin Kudryavtsev and of course, who was shown in a CNN exclusive report that Alexei Navalny was able to contact this FSB agent by phone, pretending to be someone who's very high up in the intelligence apparatus of Russia.

[10:55:03]

And this man essentially admitted to the plots to try and kill Alexei Navalny with Novichok of course saying that all of it went wrong because the pilots on the flight that he was on took action immediately and did emergency landing with that plane.

Now as far Lyubov Sobol has continued to try to go to the house. And we've just heard from the investigative committee here and Russia that she's now being investigated for trespassing, using violence or the threat of violence. Alison?

KOSIK: All right. Frederik Pleitgen, I know you'll stay on top of this changing story. Thank you.

And thanks for joining me today. I'm Alison Kosik. NEWSROOM with Amara Walker starts after a quick break. Merry Christmas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)