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New Day
Aurora Movie Theater Shooting Trial; Church Director Brings Music to the Homeless; Red Flags Missed before Paris Attack; Interview with Lindsey Vonn
Aired January 20, 2015 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go with the five things you need to know for your new day.
At number one, a new ISIS video threatening to kill two Japanese hostages unless the terror group receives a $200 million ransom in the next 72 hours. The hostages include a freelance journalist and man who was reportedly kidnapped in Syria.
Breaking this morning, a U.S. embassy car fired upon in Yemen's capital. It happened near a checkpoint in the city last night. No injuries were reported.
There is an ISIS connection to the terror cell that was raided last week in Belgium. A manhunt underway this morning for the cell's suspected ring leader, ISIS operative Abdel Hamid Aboud (ph).
President Obama will have quite a laundry list of items designed to boost the middle class when he delivers his State of the Union Address tonight. Iowa freshman Senator Joni Ernst, meanwhile, giving the Republican response.
The Air Force releasing its once top secret files on UFO sightings online. The 130,000 pages of reports dubbed Project Blue includes sightings that date back to the 1940s.
We do update those five things to know. So be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.
Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Michaela.
Jury selection begins today, more than two years after one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Twelve people were shot and killed in the Aurora movie theater massacre, dozens more were injured. And now it will be up to the jury to decide whether the shooter was insane when he opened fire. Here's CNN's Ana Cabrera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A night at the movies turns into a real life horror story. UNIDENTIFIED MALE, POLICE OFFICER (voice-over): We need rescue inside the auditorium. Multiple victims.
CABRERA: July 20, 2012. Dozens race from the midnight showing of the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, POLICE OFFICER (voice-over): I've got a child victim. I need rescue at the back door of theater nine now.
CABRERA: Terror striking hearts as one man opens fire inside the Century 16 in Aurora, Colorado. Twelve people killed, 58 others injured.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he was just shooting people left and right.
CABRERA: Survivor Pierce O'Farrill was shot twice.
PIERCE O'FARRILL, AURORA MOVIE MASSACRE SURVIVOR: We could just hear gunshot after gunshot. And I just started praying.
CABRERA: The attacker almost escapes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, POLICE (voice-over): Is that a suspect? Yes, we've got rifles, gas masks. He's detained right now.
CABRERA: Hair dyed reddish orange, eyes concealed behind black contacts and dressed head to toe in tactical combat gear, then 24- year-old James Holmes shockingly surrenders to police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, POLICE (voice-over): OK, hold that position. Hold your suspect.
CABRERA: At Holmes' apartment, police find explosive devices, chemicals and wires, elaborately constructed as bobby traps, investigators say, that proved premeditation and planning.
CABRERA (on camera): Holmes faces more than 160 charges. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, meaning he admits he was the gunman but that he didn't know what he was doing was wrong. It has been almost two and a half years since that horrific night. The theater here in Aurora is back open. And now, finally, those who survived and those who lost loved ones here will have their day in court.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the appropriate punishment for this guy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Death.
CABRERA (voice-over): Holmes has undergone two sanity evaluations ahead of a trial expected to last several months. His parents recently released a statement pleading for his life to be spared saying, quote, "he is not a monster. He is a human being gripped by a severe mental illness." Nine thousand potential jurors have been summoned, 12 will decide whether Holmes was insane the night of the crime and ultimately whether he will spend the rest of his life locked up or be put to death. Ana Cabrera, CNN, Aurora, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA: I remember how gripped we all were when that horror broke out.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
PEREIRA: It was - and the -- going to the apartment. Remember, we were waiting to find out if the place was bobby trapped. It was so horrifying. That area still needing so much support and healing.
CAMEROTA: I mean, and, of course, you have sympathy for mental illness, but why couldn't he be treated and something done before something like this happened (ph)?
CUOMO: That - that is the crux of the problem. That's why we keep seeing people who are mentally ill.
PEREIRA: Of course (ph).
CUOMO: Mentally ill people are not inherently violent.
PEREIRA: No.
CAMEROTA: Right.
CUOMO: A very small piece. But when untreated, they become unstable. I was there. I covered that. The dynamics of what happened in that theater, we will never forget. People who saved themselves, saved others. But here's the problem, is society ready to not punish someone for something as terrible as this, no matter what the reason? I don't think we are. And the test in Colorado for whether or not he's insane is going to be difficult for the defense attorneys to make the case -
CAMEROTA: Sure.
CUOMO: Because he knew what he was doing. He knew why he was doing it. It's called appreciating the nature and consequences.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: But it's a big issue for us and we keep seeing it and we don't deal to it.
CAMEROTA: Yes. We have to get to them sooner.
PEREIRA: Yes. Absolutely.
All right, moving on to this. For those without a roof over their head, it really can be almost impossible at times to stay hopeful. But in Atlanta, a church director is using his passion for music to show the homeless hope is still alive. Here's today's "Impact Your World."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Go tell it -
CHOIR (singing): Got tell it on the mountain.
PEREIRA (voice-over): Beautiful songs from men whose lives have often been anything but.
CHOIR: Go tell it on the mountain.
PEREIRA: The man behind the music is Donal Noonan. In 2013, he started the Atlanta Homeward Choir (ph), a singing group made up of homeless men. The church music director got the idea for the choir during his morning commute.
DONAL NOONAN, FOUNDER, ATLANTA HOMEWARD CHOIR: These folks were just sitting there waiting for something. And what that was, it was almost like they were waiting for a bus but the bus came and went and they were still on the wall.
PEREIRA: The Irish immigrant went to a shelter near his church to find volunteers for his new choir. Marvin Koine was one of the original members. He admits being a little surprised by the notion.
MARVIN KOINE, MEMBER, ATLANTA HOMEWARD CHOIR: I didn't know at first, but I was like a homeless choir? It was just weird. But then, once I got down there, I was like, OK, we've got a couple of guys that can sing. And I was pretty -- I was enthusiastic about it, too.
PEREIRA: Koine was offered a job by someone who watched the group perform. He's now off the streets. So what does Noonan give to the men to help them out of homelessness?
NOONAN: Confidence, self-worth and being a part of community again.
PEREIRA: The audience is also inspired.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just makes everyone, including me, I think, cognizant of the homeless problem. We have to do something about it.
NOONAN: These guys, they find that energy and they find the courage to get themselves out of their current situation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Sometimes an avenue to dignity can make all the difference.
So, when we take -- we're going to take a break. We're going to come back. We're going to talk. Hindsight's 20/20, right? It's not about blame. It's about learning going forward. Did French officials miss some key warning signs before these two brothers rampaged through the offices of "Charlie Hebdo"? We have someone who knows the answers. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CUOMO: Welcome back to your NEW DAY.
Sources are telling CNN that French authorities missed some red flags in the pursuit of the terrorists who went on to murder 12 people in the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks. So what can we learn from these overlooked signs? Are they correctible? Paul Cruickshank, CNN terror analyst, will take us through this. Also the co-author of "Agent Storm: My Life Inside al Qaeda."
All right, so, Paul.
PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERROR ANALYST: Good morning, Chris.
CUOMO: Let's take a look. We did it on a timeline. Easiest way to do it. We start, 2010. I'll push the buttons, you make the points. What happens here?
CRUICKSHANK: Cherif Kouachi, he has his passport confiscated.
CUOMO: Why?
CRUICKSHANK: Because he's implicated in a plot to free an Algerian terrorist from jail in 2010. So they actually put a control order on him, which restricts his movements, and they actually take away his passport.
CUOMO: So they take away his passport. Do they make the case against him? Does he wind up going away?
CRUICKSHANK: He doesn't end up going to jail. He - but they take his passport. He's under a control order, so they're watching him to some degree.
CUOMO: So now he's on a list, right? All right. So we then go to 2011. What happens?
CRUICKSHANK: What does he do? It's now believed he uses his brother Said's passport to go to Yemen to get terrorist training with al Qaeda in Yemen, to meet with Anwar al Awlaki, the American terrorist.
CUOMO: All right, so that comes to -- that goes to how closely do you look, you know, the similarities and that -- that game is the same everywhere. But what about this? The name's not listed in travel databases? Why not? If they pulled the passport, why wouldn't the names be listed in a travel database?
CRUICKSHANK: It's because he travels to Amman and then slips across into Yemen from Amman. So he's very smart. He doesn't go directly to Yemen. He goes to Amman for a several week-long trip. While he's in Amman, he then slips off it's believed into Yemen to go and meet with the leaders of al Qaeda in Yemen to get that training.
CUOMO: So strategy employed there. The question is, who gave him that strategy. And that's why they're trying -- keep trying to connect the dots. All right, so then we get here. Surveillance ends. Why is that relevant? CRUICKSHANK: Well, it's relevant because they're clearly still
radical, right, but they're pretending, it would appear, not to be radical. Any - any --
CUOMO: So why end the surveillance? What's the - what's the - what is the measure? What is the bar for ending surveillance? And what is to be learned from that decision?
CRUICKSHANK: They were watching these guys closely. And from everything they were picking up, they didn't seem to be radical anymore. The way they dressed, the way they spoke, the way they interacted with people, the company they kept, all of those signs suggested they were no longer radical. And, meanwhile, the French were worried about all sorts of kind of people going off to fight in Syria coming back. They'd opened surveillance files into 5,000 people suspected of Islamic extremism. A huge, huge challenge. They had to prioritize. They didn't see any signs of radicalization any more from these guys so they dropped the surveillance. Clearly a mistake, but it appears the --
CUOMO: A mistake now.
CRUICKSHANK: A mistake in hindsight, but these guys are having to operate in real time, having to make decisions about priorities every day.
CUOMO: All right, so then we get to February and they - you know, the surveillance is going on. They hit them on the phone surveillance. And they get an alert about one of the brother's phone. All right, that's what it says here. What it doesn't say here is who got the alert and what did they do with it. What do you know about that?
CRUICKSHANK: We don't know much yet about that. We just know that -
CUOMO: All right, and that's where the problem is, right?
CRUICKSHANK: Well, it would have to be, yes. One agency didn't pass on some information to another. We've seen that time and time again, particularly in France where there are sort of rivalries between the external intelligence service and the domestic intelligence service.
CUOMO: The U.S. went through this. Still working its way through it. Much more coordinated now having an agency that does all of it here, which we didn't pre-9/11. But here's the key. Surveillance alert passed on to domestic spy agency, but not really, right? It wasn't the, hey, these guys are hot again. Never really got communicated to the people who needed to hear it, true?
CRUICKSHANK: That appears to be the case. We don't know exactly what that alert was. Was it something really serious or something that could have been interpreted in many different ways?
CUOMO: But it does suggest, what, that the surveillance has ended again, even though they'd just gotten the threat, when really it should have been picked up again. Miscommunication.
CRUICKSHANK: There does appear to be some degree of miscommunication here.
CUOMO: So what do you do? So what do you do? How do you fix?
CRUICKSHANK: Well, it's hard. I mean, you know, each case is really different. I think that the one perhaps lesson with this case is, these guys were suspected of going to train with al Qaeda in Yemen. And when people go overseas to get that kind of training, that puts them in a whole new level, the new kind of lone wolf terrorist, because they have access potentially to terrorist trade craft, to bomb making, to shooting skills that they can acquire that.
These guys are much more dangerous, much more skilled. They're the kind of people that when they come back they can deliberately camouflage their radicalization, operational security. That's what they're taught in the training camps. Make sure that people have not got reasons to follow you when you come back. That's what Anwar al- Awlaki, this American cleric, was drilling into recruits that he was meeting in Yemen.
CUOMO: So, short-term behavior during surveillance not necessarily predictive of intentions, and that;s the lesson that was learned here. They seemed less radicalized for a while, but they weren't.
CRUICKSHANK: That's right, but it's awfully hard, Chris.
CUOMO: All right, and that's why we say hindsight is 20/20, but it's about figuring out they definitely have to tighten up those gaps between agencies that they had there, but that's a common problem as we know. Paul Cruickshank, thank you very much as always.
Michaela, over to you.
PEREIRA: All right, Chris. Skier Lindsey Vonn stands alone.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
PEREIRA (voice-over): The most World Cup victories of all time. How does that distinction feel, and who surprised her at the finish line? That's coming up next.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PEREIRA (on camera): Well, it is official. Lindsey Vonn is the most successful woman's skier in the history of snow. Well, at least the history of alpine skiing. She now has 63 World Cup victories, breaking the previous record, which stood for 35 years, by winning the super-G event in Italy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA (voice-over): I had a chance to speak with Lindsey about her remarkable achievement.
PEREIRA (on camera): Congratulations. How are you feeling today? LINDSEY VONN, 63 TIME SKIING WORLD CUP CHAMPION: Thank you. It's
incredible. You know, it's been a long road, especially the last two years, you know, coming back from two knee surgeries, but today was such a great win and, you know, yesterday as well to tie the record and then today to break the record, it was awesome.
PEREIRA: Well, I was thinking about the fact that as you were getting closer and closer to that 35-year record, the pressure, I had to believe, it was mounting. How did you keep that out of your head and just focus on the job at hand?
VONN: Yes, it definitely was -- the pressure was getting more and more intense as every day passed, but, you know, if I learned anything from the last two knee surgeries, it's that I love skiing. When I'm in the starting gate I'm not thinking about winning, I'm just thinking about pushing myself and skiing the best that I can, and that's all I tried to do this weekend. I tried to put the record out of my mind and,honestly, when I tied the record yesterday I felt like the pressure was completely off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two years this record has dangled in front of her, and now, yes, 62 is in her sights!
PEREIRA: Did you feel it as you were going? Did you feel that this was it?
VONN: No, I didn't, honestly. You know, when I got to the finish I was pretty shocked, you know, that my time was so fast. I don't know, I was kind of on the limit the whole way down the run, and sometimes I was a little bit off line, but I was still, you know, pushing things really hard, and sometimes that's fast and sometimes it's not. But, yes, when I got to the finish I was definitely a little bit surprise.
PEREIRA: I want to talk about this road you've been alluding to several times here about your knee surgery. How are the knees doing first of all?
VONN: My knees are doing great. Both of them are a little bit achy after the last couple of days, which is to be expected. But, yes, I mean, I made a documentary over the last two years and it was supposed to only be one year because I was supposed to come back for the Olympics, but unfortunately it was over the course of two years and two knee surgeries.
VONN (voice-over): I've crashed many, many times. Just this one tore my knee apart.
VONN (on camera): But it was, you know, a really long but incredible journey, and I learned a lot about myself and , you know, how much I can overcome.
PEREIRA: I'm really curious, though, 63 World Cups. I mean, does it feel the same at 63 as it did at, let's say, 37, or even number 2?
VONN: No, not even close. I mean, it's -- it's crazy. You know, even at 50 I didn't really think that I could make it, you know, past 60. I don't know, I just -- it kind of all of a sudden came to be 63, and it's amazing how time goes by so quickly. And, I don't know, every win was different, every win was special, but as it's come closer, you know, to the record, I don't know, it feels so much more emotional. Maybe it's because I have come back from so many injuries, but I just -- I don't know. It feels incredibly special.
PEREIRA: Or maybe it's because you had a certain special skeleton at the bottom along with your family that surprised you there. I heard that was quite a surprise for you.
(LAUGHTER)
VONN: Yes, it was. It was a really big surprise. I had no idea he was coming. Everyone kept it a secret shockingly for my family, but it was so cool. You know, I was down in the leader box waiting in the finish, you know, to see if I had, you know, actually won the race and my dad said, hey, look who I found. And there he was in the skeleton mask.
PEREIRA: Oh, I just think that's great and I can hear the joy in your voice. There's nothing more special than sharing a momentous occasion like that with somebody that you deeply care about. Lindsey Vonn, our congratulations to you.
VONN: Exactly.
PEREIRA: Well done. We'll be watching, okay?
VONN: Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA: Yes, the guy in the skeleton thing? That was Tiger Woods, her boyfriend. A documentary on Lindsey's rehabilitation, "Remarkable Comeback," premiers this Sunday on NBC and then she'll be back in her hometown of Vail, Colorado, in February for the world championships. Great to talk to her.
CUOMO: All right, so here's the proposition. You spend thousands on a car and the dealer shows his gratitude by giving you a free trip to Hawaii. We like that, right? So, what do you do? Pack your bags, get ready to go? Not these people. They turned it into the Good Stuff right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: The world is a tough place so we need the Good Stuff. All right. What would you do, car dealer gives you free trip to Hawaii with the purchase of a new car. You buy the car, you get the trip. Yes, let's go.
CAMEROTA: I'd go.
CUOMO: You'd go? That's the difference between you (INAUDIBLE) the Good Stuff.
CAMEROTA: Exactly, and this person we're about to meet.
CUOMO: This person who you're about to meet, they gave it - - they think it should go to the most deserving person they could find.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAP)
CUOMO (voice-over): That's what this couple in Alberta, Canada, is doing.
PEREIRA (voice-over): Good province.
CUOMO: They just bought a Ford Escape, it's not, you know, a representation of the car itself, but that's what they did. They're donating their free trip to the quote, "most loving person in central Alberta." They got a Facebook page and they're taking nominations.
PEREIRA: Love it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just amazing all of the emails that I'm getting it's just, wow. It's going to break my heart to choose just one, because I've been getting a lot of people that really deserve it. I feel like I'm getting more to this than even the people who are going to be getting the trip.
PEREIRA: Isn't that what we always find?
CUOMO: Giving is getting. Any way I can say that you're from Albert by any stretch?
PEREIRA: I lived there for two years.
CUOMO: There it is, nominate her. They whittled down the contest to ten finalists, until we just included Michaela.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO (on camera): The final is this Friday, we'll tell you who won. But that's why they're the Good Stuff.
PEREIRA (on camera): I love it, what a great story.
CAMEROTA: You're right, he's much better than me.
CUOMO: Yes. Low bar, but yes.
CAMEROTA: I mean, he's much better. Even that sound bite.
CUOMO: Very nice. All right, there is a lot of news going on right now, back to the serious. Let's get you to the "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello, because we do have word, Carol, according to "Reuters" of new arrests in southern Paris. What's going on?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're going to tell our viewers about it shortly. Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.
