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FBI Asks For Help Identifying Man in ISIS Video; Four Terror Suspects Arrested In London; Will Turkey Help Fight ISIS?; Spanish Officials to Euthanize Infected Nurse's Dog

Aired October 08, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Man hunt, do you know this man? The FBI asking for your help in finding an ISIS member with an American accent. Who could he be? This as Britain thwarts an alleged terror plot. New details on what they may have been planning.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking overnight, the nurse infected with Ebola in Spain speaks out. She says she did everything right and has no idea how she got infected. This as authorities say they will put her dog down. They think it may be carrying the disease and her husbands pleas to save the dog's life.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Caught on video, the dramatic moment cops smashed the windows with a family inside the vehicle during a routine traffic stop. That family is now suing. Why police say they did nothing wrong.

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, October 8th, 6:00 in the East. To my right, Alisyn Camerota. Thank you very much for the help, my friend.

CAMEROTA: My pleasure, great to be here.

CUOMO: Good to have you. Up first, please take a look at your screen.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (voice-over): Do you know this masked man? The FBI is reaching out to you for help identifying this member of ISIS who's in a recruitment video. He speaks perfect English and officials believe he may be an American.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (on camera): Despite a month of relentless air strikes, U.S. officials now say it's not if, but when the Syrian town of Kobani is taken by militants. How big a deal is this, we'll get into it.

Also definitely a big deal is that authorities in Britain say, they have foiled a terror plot. We are covering every angle of these stories beginning with CNN's Pamela Brown in Washington. Good morning, Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Chris. The FBI is turning to the public for help now after weeks of trying to figure out the identity of this ISIS militant we see in the ISIS propaganda videos speaking fluent English and Arabic. This reflects the concern in the intelligence community of Americans in Syria who may have slipped through the cracks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): The FBI is asking for the public's help identifying this Jihadi speaking in what sounds like an American accent in an ISIS propaganda video. For weeks, the FBI has been using facial recognition and voice analysis trying to trace his accent and comparing him what they find to other Americans the intelligence community has been watching.

FBI Director James Comey told "60 Minutes," there are about a dozen Americans currently fighting in Syria. He's even more worried about the Americans not currently on his radar.

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: I don't know what I don't know.

BROWN: The effort is part of a broader public appeal by the FBI to identify Americans seeking to join Jihadist groups fighting overseas. It comes on the heels of a 19-year-old Chicago man arrested Saturday. CNN has learned that Mohammed Khan wasn't on the FBI's radar until very recently.

CULLY STIMSON, NATIONALSECURITY EXPERT, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Without this digital footprint, I don't think this young man would have come on our radar screen at all.

BROWN: The FBI says Khan was in contact with someone online. He was allegedly trying to help them get into Syria to fight with ISIS. When police arrested Khan at Chicago's O'Hare's International Airport, FBI agents were simultaneously searching his house, where Khan's family members refused to talk to reporters.

Notebooks found inside Khan's home also indicated he paid $4,000 for a round-trip ticket, flying from Chicago to Vienna, Austria and then into Istanbul, Turkey.

STIMSON: It tells me probably that he was trying to evade being caught by purchasing a round-trip ticket versus a single, one-way ticket. By spending more than the el cheapo ticket you could get and also by not going direct. So that he is more likely than not, not raising a red flag for intelligence services.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: And Khan is expected to be back in court for a detention hearing on Thursday. We have reached out to his attorney and have not heard back yet -- Chris.

CUOMO: Of course, Pamela, for the fascination with this young man, it's going to be about the contacts that he may have made and obviously that's the focus of the investigation. We know you'll stay on it and we'll stay with you. Thanks for the reporting this morning -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Chris, to London now, where Scotland Yard has arrested four men on suspicion of plotting a terrorist act. The threat so dangerous that armed police, who are rarely used in London, assisted in that raid.

Specifics are scarce, but the city's police commissioner calls it, quote, "a serious case." Senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, joins us live from London with the latest. What do we know, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, the indications are that this was a terror plot thwarted in its early stages. This was an interventionist act according to the police chief here that they decided to intervene. They're not saying why these precisely why these four men were arrested.

However he has said that this has ties and connections going back to Iraq and Syria. The indications therefore are that potentially this is linked to the ISIS group. Of course, British officials here very concerned that over 500 men has gone to Syria to join ISIS and other like-minded radical Islamist groups.

And they may come back and pose a threat here. The men being questioned, they continue to be questioned, the police have another 14 days or another 13 days now before they need to charge them. But at the moment, the indications are that this was a plot thwarted in its early stages -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Nic Robertson, thanks so much for the update. Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, so let's a little bit more information on what's going on here with the FBI and that terror plot in the U.K., let's bring in Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, senior fellow with the Foundation for Defensive Democracies, and Kirk Lithold, former commander of the "USS Cole."

He was on the ship when it was attacked by al Qaeda in 2000. Mr. Lithold, I covered that extensively. I remember all the efforts you had done to save people on board and the follow up and secure the ship and the crew and help with the investigation. Thank you for your service.

KIRK LIPPOLD (RETIRED), FORMER USS COLE COMMANDER: Well, thank you, Chris. Appreciate it. Good morning. CUOMO: So let me ask you, what do you make of the FBI asking for the help of Americans? Does that show an inability on their part or is just the new way of terror policing? Does it tip a hand to how important this man is to them?

LIPPOLD: I think it's an absolutely right thing to do. If you look at it, the FBI has spent considerable time already trying to narrow the focus and figure out who this person is, where he might be from the United States.

Now that they may have narrowed that field within their own intelligence network and what they may know, they're asking the broader American public, by doing that, it's going to allow a number of hits across the board.

And it will allow them to narrow more within their area, get more defined, and let's face it. The FBI used the same technique when we were going after the Boston bombers. It proves effective. And I think the American people see something, say something. This is what's going to pay off and help keep us safe.

CUOMO: It seems effective from a detection standpoint, Daveed. But in terms of relevancy, why is this man so important?

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, SENIOR FELLOW, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: One of the reasons he is important is because he just showed up on a major propaganda video and he's on camera actually executing people, something which is grisly.

It's just like you had the man with the British accent who was involved in the Foley beheading, which caused a massive manhunt to try to determine exactly who he was.

They also want to determine who this man is with a North American accent who is committing battlefield atrocities on camera.

CUOMO: There's a fascination now with the recruiting of Americans. We had the director of the FBI recently say they're misguided souls seeking meaning in some misguided way. How does that play into our understanding or the United States' understanding of who ISIS is looking to find in the U.S., Daveed?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Well, a number of ways. I mean one is, it's absolutely correct that people who are searching for meaning and end up finding it in radical Islam is one of the trajectories of radicalization.

I don't think all individuals at all can be called lost souls. One can see very clearly the kind of barbarity that they're inflicting and the kind of atrocities that they're regularly committing.

A number of people who go over I think rather than being lost souls, who are idealistically finding meaning in the wrong place, many of them are much more sadistic. It's one of the more sadistic organizations that we've seen. But understanding what drives people and that not all people who go over are not inherently bad people. I think is an important part of cracking that very difficult radicalization puzzle.

CUOMO: Obviously, the hope is that the savagery of ISIS will eventually play to its disadvantage with other groups and alienate it. But we've yet to seeing that.

Kirk, let's turn to the news in the U.K. Why is it, is it proximity to the rest of the world as opposed to the United States being somewhat of a, you know, remote that we see so much terror activity there.

The head of the government saying 500 U.K. citizens may be fighting for ISIS. You know, we just had a couple of weeks ago, ten men arrested. Now four men arrested. Why so much activity there?

LIPPOLD: Well, I think what you're seeing, Chris, unfortunately, that while the British may have been one of our closest allies for decades now, you're seeing they reap what they sow.

They have allowed people in their mosques to essentially speak and radicalize a population of not only first generation but sometimes second-generation immigrants over there.

They have a much more open society when it comes to that kind of free speech and allow people to do things, less controls on them. So what you saw was a radicalization of these young men and in some cases women that have gone off to fight.

Their proximity to be able to migrate through Europe, to get to the battlefield, they're much closer than the United States. And let's face it. They did not have some of the capabilities electronically that we were exercising through the national security agents and others.

In order to monitor, do some of the massive data that we were doing before, and so consequently, they weren't able to track them as well. I think that's why you're seeing the difference between the U.S. and maybe a dozen or more, versus Great Britain with 500-plus.

CUOMO: Daveed, is there any defense that can be offered up to the U.K. strategy? They are on severe now. They are restricting passports and doing a lot more aggressive maneuvers. Is proximity part of the poison for them or are they just behind the ball?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Well, the proximity, they have many more people who have gone over to Syria, which is due to a number of factors. Not only proximity, but demographics and you'll also, the climate in Britain as Kirk alluded to.

All of these are issues that have Britain very much on alert and viewing this as many other European countries do as something that's much more than just a problem and actually approaching a crisis.

CUOMO: Quick take from each of you before I let you go. Daveed, Kobani, Syrian border town, is this a key city? Does it really matter if it falls to ISIS?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: No, it's not a key city strategically. It matters because a lot of people will get slaughtered and that's an awful, awful thing. But ISIS coming to the Turkish border, it's not a major crossing and it risks drawing Turkey into the conflict.

CUOMO: That's the last point I want to you follow up on, Kirk. Why hasn't Turkey put boots on the ground when it has one of the biggest armies in the world? It has gotten authorization from parliament. Do you believe this could be a catalyst?

LIPPOLD: I believe it could be a catalyst. I would tend to disagree, I think the fall of Kobani is going to be strategic because it will demonstrate that despite the airstrikes, we have been ineffective overall in deterring ISIS from being able to make major territory grabs.

And when it comes to taking a city like this especially on the Turkish border, it is going to have strategic impact. Whether the Turks get in or not, I think they're trying to play all sides at once.

They want the fall of Assad. They want to take down ISIS. They don't want to empower the PKK there. So consequently they're indecisive right now and what you're seeing is they're not committing to action, which at some point they're going to have to do to go in and get boots on the ground themselves because being on the border is eventually going to come to their towns and cities.

CUOMO: All right, Daveed, Kirk, thank you very much for the perspective, Gentlemen. Appreciate it here on NEW DAY -- Mich.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris, thanks so much. It's 10 minutes past the hour. Let's give you a look at your headlines now. After two days of bitter debate in the House of Commons, the Canadian Parliament has voted to join U.S.-led airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq.

That clears the way for Canadian fighter jets to immediately participate in the mission. Prime Minister Stephen Harper applauding the outcome, saying, it is imperative that Canada works with its allies to stop the terror organization.

Some troubling news out of Syria where officials have just revealed that four previously undisclosed chemical weapons facilities. The U.N. Special Envoy overseeing the destruction of the stockpiles we are told three of the facilities were for research and development and one for production. The news is now ramping up concerns that the Syrian government hasn't fully been transparent about its chemical weapons programs.

All right, we've learned of the smart people who have scored the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Americans Eric Betzig and William Moerner, along with German scientist, Stefan Heil, have all been honored. The winners were recognized for their work in optical microscopy.

Vladimir Putin maybe a lot of things to many people, but in the eyes of some of his supporters, he is a God. Check this out. It's an exhibit going on in Moscow. Supporters paid tribute to the Russian president's 62nd birthday by hosting an exhibit titled "The Twelve Labors of Vladimir Putin" depicting the leader as Hercules, taking out terrorists, happy birthday music video, among other tributes.

Pop quiz -- do you know the president's birthday of the United States? Isn't that interesting that so many people know when his birthday is, of his supporters, I suppose. But no one knows when the president's birthday is.

CUOMO: I think the president maybe a Leo.

CAMEROTA: Is he making that up?

CUOMO: Only like halfway. I think that the president may be a Leo.

CAMEROTA: I think Vladimir Putin may have drawn some of those drawings on his own.

PEREIRA: You think he might have done the music video tribute his own --

CUOMO: The globe on the shoulders, isn't that Atlas?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: So he's more than one God.

PEREIRA: He was depicted as several.

CUOMO: Shirt off, killing lions. Good for leadership, bad for leadership? Michaela Pereira, what do you say?

PEREIRA: I'm going to go no.

CUOMO: No, bad for leadership? Image of strength or image of too much?

CAMEROTA: Strength, I think. Slaying the lion? Sure, why not. Compare it with the golf club in your hand? It's different.

CUOMO: Obama is a Leo. It was verified in my ear, which means it is fact.

All right, the nurse in Spain, new developments for you, she is saying she did nothing wrong. She followed all of the safety protocols. So how did she contract Ebola and what does it mean about how to control the spread?

Meanwhile, insult to injury, authorities in Madrid are about to kill the couple's family dog. Why? We've learned that pets can carry the disease. A desperate play is being made right now to get the dog out of quarantine and hopefully save him.

CAMEROTA: And a key town in Northern Syria as you've heard is on the verge of falling into ISIS hands. Some analysts say it would be a critical victory for the terror organization. So why is the White House downplaying this development?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: She followed protocol and has no idea how she became infected. This, as Spanish authorities getting a court order to euthanize her family dog, fearing it might spread the virus to humans.

The nurse's husband also under quarantine, pleading to spare his dog in a video posted online.

Joining us to talk about this is Al Goodman, who's live in Madrid, outside that hospital, CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, and Dr. Alexander Van Tulleken, senior fellow at the Institute for International Humanitarian Affairs.

So, first, let's start with Al.

Al, what is the latest today from Spain?

AL GOODMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn.

Well, the nurse's assistant and her husband are both in this facility behind me, the hospital, Carlos III. She's the only confirmed case with the Ebola virus. He's there as you said, on suspicion he might get it.

But their family dog is about 30 minutes south in a southern suburb where they live. Excalibur is the dog's name. And we're told at this hour by -- that there are some 20 people outside the house, chanting, Javier, Teresa, the dog Excalibur is not alone.

So, there is a campaign which these people have been promoting to try to save their dog. Officials are saying they may want to put it down because the dog doesn't get Ebola. But the dog getting the fluids from them in their kitchen, on their couch, wherever, this is the concern that anything in that apartment could be a problem and that's what's happening right now -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Al. Thanks so much.

Dr. Van Tulleken, how big of a risk do animals pose to spread the disease?

DR. ALEXANDER VAN TULLEKEN, SENIOR FELLOW, INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: Well, the dog is a really central issue. This isn't some story that's trending on Twitter because it's a popular cute dog. We know that Ebola poses a great threat to the great apes, gorillas and chimpanzees, such a significant threat, you can wipe them out. We know you can catch it from porcupines, and fruit bats, from armadillos, from deer, so lots of animals.

We don't know about dogs, I would say that's one of the reasons to keep this poor dog alive, is you want to -- it's easy to quarantine a dog. We're good at quarantining dogs, take blood samples, find out what's happening. You know, it would be very useful to know this. We haven't got lab studies. CAMEROTA: That's a great point.

Elizabeth, in fact that is what the husband is pleading for, he's saying the dog is basically quarantined right now. He's alone in their apartment. And the husband said, that's, that was my situation, are you going to put me to sleep, too?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, it's certainly an interesting question and I think Dr. Van Tulleken -- you know, Dr. Van Tulleken has an interesting point, why not keep him alive so that we can keep looking at him and studying him.

You know, I think, Alisyn, it's really important to point out that, you know, as Americans we think that our doctors know everything. And scientists know everything and the CDC, that they know everything.

But that's not the case with something like Ebola. We don't know what risks this dog poses. We just don't know. There are so many questions.

And so, some authorities will you know sort of take the extreme and say, let's just kill the dog. There's no sort of right or certain answer here.

CAMEROTA: You know, it's not just the vigil that people are holding outside of the apartment trying to block authorities from getting in to euthanize the dog. There's also an online petition, 86,000 signatures to spare the dog.

What about the authorities' contention that if he is infected, the dog, that he is spreading it within the apartment and they would never be able to go back to the apartment? Wouldn't the virus die in there?

VAN TULLEKEN: First of all, it does not seem to be a virus that survives well outside of the body and certainly on skin, even on dog skin, your skin is covered with enzymes and anti-bacterial agents. It seems very likely the dog is running around covered in someone else's Ebola for a long period of time.

In any case, you can clean the dog. You can isolate it. And they're going to have to sterilize the apartment anyway. No one is going to be moving back into this apartment very quickly. So, it seems to me, I think Elizabeth's point is exactly right. The dogma about Ebola we should be very suspicious of. I think we know enough to be confident to say certain things, but we still don't know a lot of things.

CAMEROTA: Elizabeth, we talked about how the nurse is speaking out today. What has she said about how she thinks she contracted the disease?

COHEN: You know what? She really doesn't know, Alisyn. I mean, she and authorities have said that she took all the steps she was supposed to. You know, she had in some ways a relatively pretty dangerous job as a nurse's assistant. She was cleaning up fluids. She was in the room when the priests died. She cleaned up afterwards. That's -- I mean, it's very, very brave to do this work. And the

problem is with the protective gear, you make one mistake, you do one thing wrong putting it on or more importantly, taking it off because at that point, it's contaminated and something can go wrong.

We've seen hundreds of health care workers become ill and we really don't know in each case what exactly has gone wrong.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Al, in fact, somehow, a local reporter, a print reporter from "El Mundo" was able to contact the nurse, she's in isolation in the hospital behind you. He was able to make a phone call and she somehow picked up. He said that she sounded very weak.

Do we know what their exchange was?

GOODMAN: Yes. He's published a written report of that exchange and an audio report of that exchange in Spanish. He said she gave very short sentences, basically what Elizabeth is saying, she doesn't know how she got it and she's not aware that she did anything wrong, and that is to how she's doing and what's happening with her, she didn't want to talk about that.

So, it was a relatively short interview. But "El Mundo" was the first one to get it a day after they talked to her husband -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Doctor, she took care of two missionaries, she is the first person outside of Africa to have contracted Ebola. Those two missionaries have since died. She says that she followed all the protocols.

Does that mean when she taking care of them would have been wearing a head-to-toe full protective suit?

VAN TULLEKEN: So, it's a very interesting question. It sounds like the gear she was given was permeable, the wrist attachments were not that good. So, we don't know whether it was -- it doesn't sound like it was the WHO criteria suit for handling Ebola. That's as far as we know.

CAMEROTA: What does that mean, wrist attachments?

VAN TULLEKEN: So, you have to attach your gloves to your suit so that you can't get any leakage between.

What's very interesting is here, the CDC are actually saying at the moment if you're nursing an Ebola patient or someone suspected of having Ebola. You don't want to be wearing the full hazmat suit because it's terribly hard to work in. And the way this virus spread, you can actually protect yourself fairly well with an impermeable gown and eye protection and mask and gloves.

So, there's a real balance to be struck here being between experienced enough wearing that suit and wearing gear to deliver care, and actually doing something that's practical, but most people can do.

CAMEROTA: Clearly, something went wrong. Dr. Van Tulleken, Elizabeth Cohen, Al Goodman -- thanks so much for all the information. We'll be checking back in with you. Thanks.

Meanwhile, members of the U.S. Navy working frantically in Liberia to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. They are setting up clinics and labs under desperate conditions. CNN takes you to ground zero of the battle to stop the outbreak.

And the U.S. conceding the key Syrian town of Kobani is about to fall to ISIS. So, why is the White House saying it's not a major concern?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Here's what we know: the Syrian town of Kobani is about to fall to ISIS. It is near the border with Turkey. And ISIS has advanced despite heavy coalition airstrikes.

So, Turkey has put 20 tanks on their side of the border to keep ISIS out. But they aren't otherwise using their ground troops and the U.S. is playing down the potential victory's significance.

So, the question is, is this just another town? Or is that just spin and that would be a key loss?

Let's bring in senior international correspondent Arwa Damon. She is reporting live from the Syria-Turkey border, where she just witnessed a giant explosion near the town.

Arwa, why don't you tell us what's going on? And also, a little bit of context -- people are saying, well, there's a lot of media around Kobani. So, you're giving it artificial significance. What's your take?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot of media focus on Kobani, but giving it artificial significance, that I think the people that have been trying to push ISIS back and the civilians that are forced to flee will find that incredibly insulting.

Now, you can see the remains of a plume of smoke rising into the sky. Just a short while ago, we witnessed a massive explosion. We have been hearing fighters jets overhead. This explosion significantly louder than anything we have been hearing or seeing over the last few days.