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Two Police Officers Shot in Ferguson; Secret Service Agents Crash into White House Barrier; Kerry Slams GOP Senators Over Iran Letter

Aired March 12, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden I heard at least four to five shots rang out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bullets went right past my head.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Two police officers have been shot outside the Ferguson Police Department.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were shot just because they were police officers.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": It's alleged incident involving Secret Service agents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These two individuals may have been intoxicated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drove right through the tape and crashed their government car.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Writing this open letter to Iran hit a new level.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The message was to President Obama, we want you to obey the law.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: My reaction to the letter was utter disbelief.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

ANNOUNCER: This is breaking news.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, March 12, just before 6 a.m. in the East. And we do have breaking news: two police officers shot in Ferguson, Missouri, during protests early this morning. Both officers hospitalized, one shot in the face, the other in the shoulder. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The shots fired as police and

demonstrators squared off outside the Ferguson Police headquarters after the city's embattled police chief announced that he is resigning in the wake of a damning Justice Department report.

CNN's Sara Sidner has been in Ferguson for months reporting on the unrest. She joins us here with all of the breaking details.

Good morning, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Yes, what we're hearing is there are two officers. Both are hurt. One has been shot in the arm; one has been shot in the face. We don't know how close those shots were.

We are hearing now from witnesses, where these shots may have come from. There is a hill that is very close to the department, but on the other side of the street, and we're hearing from witnesses who I've been talking to this morning that those shots came from that hill, not in the midst of the protest, but away from the protest. How far away, we do not yet know. But I want to let you listen to some of the details of what we've been hearing throughout the morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): Breaking overnight, two police officers in St. Louis County shot outside the Ferguson Police Department. A night of protests in Ferguson winding down when shots rang out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Acknowledgement nine months ago would have kept that from happening.

SIDNER: Witnesses report hearing multiple shots and seeing one officer down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bullets went right -- really, right past my head. It was kind of traumatic. I'm still kind of in shock because of it.

SIDNER: The injuries are in serious. One St. Louis County officer was shot in the shoulder. Another officer, a Webster Groves officer, shot in the face.

BELMAR: These police officers were standing there and they were shot. Just because they were police officers.

SIDNER: Earlier, police drew their guns during a scuffle between protesters.

Police making multiple arrests. Some protesters cheered at the resignation of Police Chief Tom Jackson. For others, it comes too little, too late, demanding the entire Ferguson Police Department be disbanded.

JAMES KNOWLES, MAYOR OF FERGUSON: The chief's resignation is effective March 19, 2015. SIDNER: His resignation comes on the heels of a scathing report from

the Justice Department, slamming Ferguson officials for widespread racial bias and targeting African-Americans. Jackson now one of the six city officials gone after the DOJ's damning report.

Some are calling for Mayor Knowles to be next. He says he won't budge.

For now, a nationwide search for a new chief of police is under way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And we have more information now that we're just getting in to CNN. I want to give you some details about these officers. The St. Louis County officer is a 41-year-old, who is a 14-year veteran of the force; and the Webster Groves officer is 32 years old and a seven- year veteran of the force. Both, as we are told by the St. Louis County Police Department, are in serious condition.

Back to you guys.

CUOMO: All right, Sara, thank you very much. Webster Grove, about ten miles away. There's been a lot of community policing being done, outside forces being brought in to help control Ferguson, because it's a relatively small police force.

Let's bring in an eyewitness and someone who knows the situation very well from that community's standard. Markus Loehrer is the eyewitness to the shooting. That's who you're looking at now. Chris King is managing editor for the "St. Louis American."

Chris, I thought that we were going to be checking back in with you about progress that was being made in the community. But it is not to be. What are you hearing about what caused the shots, that hill where they came from? What should we know?

CHRIS KING, MANAGING EDITOR, "ST. LOUIS AMERICAN": I don't think it's really connected to the protests as. I think the protest was probably a cover. I'm speculating, of course. But I think the protest was a cover for someone that wanted to shoot a cop.

CUOMO: Now when we were there in Ferguson, on one night in particular, there were shots from that hill. Another time that we were in Ferguson, there were shots from that hill. What is it? Is there something about that hill, in that community, who lives there? Is it known for violence?

KING: Nothing like that. It's just opportunists seeking opportunity. It was a secluded place, at some remove from the protests and from the police line. If you wanted to shoot a police officer, that would be a good place to do it, because the police are standing there for hours at a time.

CUOMO: And you're on a high ground point.

So Markus, you were there. Why were you there and what did you see? MARKUS LOEHRER, EYEWITNESS: I was there just exercising my free

rights, like I have since August 13, when I first joined Ferguson.

I was just coming back from my car after charging my battery. No more than 30 seconds, I had gotten within 300 feet of, you know, the group remaining before the shots rang out. Having been at many, many protests before, gunshots in the background weren't too uncommon. I mean, they're uncommon, but I had actually thought they were fireworks at the beginning.

But as soon as -- there was an eerie silence, and as soon as I saw the officer on the ground and the immediate reaction of everybody to run away, I knew it was a little bit -- much more serious than I had originally thought.

CUOMO: You said you'd been to many of the protests there.

LOEHRER: I'm sorry.

CUOMO: What was this night like compared to others, in terms of size, in terms of the energy there, the intensity?

LOEHRER: The energy was fantastic. We had activists who were leading the chants back in August, two revolutionary women who recently got married, Alexis and Britney (ph), fantastic chant leaders and organizational leaders from Millennial A.U. They were leading chants. We had new chants. It was a great group, great, great energy. And it's a shame that somebody had to take advantage of this, this great group to do something so despicable.

CUOMO: This happened toward the end of the protest, right? We're being told that people were starting to break up, the group was getting smaller. Is that true?

LOEHRER: Yes. At the height, I think we had about 60 to 80 people. And the end, at least when I was walking back towards the group, there was no more than maybe 20 to 30 people.

CUOMO: And that's when this happened. Now let me ask you. You said you thought you heard fireworks, but then you saw the officer go down. What was the understanding of where they had come from? Does it line up with what we're hearing, that it didn't come from the protest itself, but it did seem to come from this hill area across the street from the police department?

LOEHRER: Definitely. I mean, it was just -- the reaction of the people in the protest area, I think, flies in the face of the immediate police reaction, which was that the shots were embedded within the protesters, which I found quite offensive to be honest.

But yes, the sounds to my ear came up. You know, I was walking down to the protest from probably this -- you know, the northeast end of the parking lot, and they sounded like they came from the northwest, from up Tiffin, away from the protesters. But you know...

CUOMO: When the officers... LOEHRER: ... we'll see how the police want to spin that.

CUOMO: Was anybody else hit as far as you know? Or was it just the two police officers?

LOEHRER: The police officers, as far as I'm aware.

CUOMO: That was it. And when the police officers went down, what happened? Who came to their assistance?

LOEHRER: The other police officers, because you know, aside from the immediate reaction of everyone to either flee or hit the ground, I know I hit the ground. So the first 20 seconds after, you know, or actually the first ten seconds after it happened, I was on the asphalt before I regained my senses. But as soon as I saw what was going on, there were four or five police officers at one of the downed police officers.

And the rest, you know, who had only 20 minutes before been pushing us back and arresting us, or harassing us, had drawn their weapons. And viewing the footage, it seems like they drew their weapons almost immediately. So it was kind of shocking to see these -- this armed phalanx of officers, immediately pull their weapons and aim them right at my friends. So...

CUOMO: Look, that's very frightening for you; it's also very frightening for them. Right? Gunfire, two of their own goes down. It's going to make everybody very panicky in that situation.

Chris, let me come back to you for a second. The -- Chief Belmar, he was outside the hospital, giving the condition of the officers. He says, "I've said this is unsustainable for us. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened." Give us some context to what you think he's talking about.

KING: Well, it's interesting, Chris, because this really started before August 9, when Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown Jr. Now that we've read the DOJ report and the grand jury testimony, you can see that there was really already a war between the community and the police in Ferguson. And the DOJ pattern and practice report shows you why there was a war. Because it's basically a predatory police department, driven by the courts to raise revenue for the city.

So there was already tension on the streets. There were already, to be frank, people that would like to kill a cop; and there were already police officers that looked like they were ready to beat down some people in the community. So the tension between the police and the community is not new. It's very, very unfortunate that a police officer, two police officers were shot last night. But the tensions between the police and the community were there on August 8.

CUOMO: You had been telling me from the beginning, part of the thing that, you know, you were making sure we understood, was that "hands up, don't shoot" isn't just about Michael Brown. It came out of that, but it was about the culture there. Has the DOJ report about the Michael Brown shooting, has that done

anything to put people's feelings to rest about what happened in that incident?

KING: I don't think it has. I read every word of it, and I must admit that I was persuaded that at least the DOJ did not have a case. My conscience really rested that the DOJ had enough witnesses that corroborated Wilson's testimony, really based on the forensics inside the police vehicle, which we were told by a federal official back in August they found that.

Now the problem with the protesters, or people suspicious of the police is that police vehicle was in police custody, so it would be possible, of course, to plant forensics in it.

CUOMO: Right. But Chris...

KING: But the presence of Michael Brown Jr.'s blood makes it very -- the DOJ did not have a case against Darren Wilson.

CUOMO: Right.

KING: I wish the protesters would read that report and realize that's the case.

CUOMO: Markus, let me come to you, because you know, just a simple reading of the report, it's not simply that the DOJ said, "Based on this investigation, we've concluded that Darren Wilson's actions do not constitute prosecutable violations." Because as we've learned, that's a very high bar. They would have had to have shown that Darren Wilson didn't just murder Michael Brown; he did it because of his race.

But they say multiple credible witnesses corroborate virtually every material aspect of Wilson's account and are consistent with the physical evidence. That is a petty open statement of them saying they believe Darren Wilson upon investigation.

You kind of made a -- you didn't -- you had a negative reaction to that when I suggested it to Chris King before. Why?

LOEHRER: Well, honestly, I didn't think that was going to be part of the interview. Honestly, my opinion of that -- that report and everything that came out, I guess I have to say that I'm one of those people that is incredibly cynical of anything the police department puts out, whether it's the FBI or the county police department.

I mean, the fact that Darren Wilson was left alone in the police station for 25, 35 minutes before he was brought to hospital with his girlfriend. The fact that she handled the evidence. The fact that the officer -- the supervisor that responded to the Darren Wilson incident was the very one that sent the racist email out. I mean, I'm sorry, if I -- if these aren't the facts that line up with the DOJ, but they're the circumstantial facts that make me think that this is a little bit more racial than we think the facts all line up to say.

CUOMO: So the DOJ report hasn't put it to rest for protesters like you, that's for sure.

The incident last night...

LOEHRER: No, because -- because every -- because every 28 hours another black man dies. So Mike Brown dies; Kajieme Powell dies; Eric Garner dies; the young man in Atlanta dies; the young man in Minneapolis -- or Wisconsin dies. It's going to keep happening -- Wisconsin. It's going to keep happening, unfortunately, until we put a stop to this -- this trigger-happy police attitude.

But you know, the DOJ can clear Darren Wilson, but that won't clear Darren Wilson's conscience. And I damn well am sure that it won't clear God's conscience with Darren Wilson.

CUOMO: Well, look all we have in this society is fairness under law. The DOJ came in there to do its investigation. It's certainly worth a read, but you're right: there's a lot of healing that has to happen in that community for other reasons.

As you pointed out, Chris King, this is a horrible setback for the community and obviously for those officers and their families. Chris, we'll check back in with you. Let us know how the community responds to this and what you think is coming down the pike.

Thanks to both of you gentlemen. Markus, you as well -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris.

Another developing story this morning, there's a black eye for the Secret Service. Two senior agents, including a top member of the president's protective detail, accused of crashing a government car into a White House barricade, reportedly after a night of drinking.

CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty joins us from the White House with more.

What happened, Sunlen?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, the Department of Homeland Security has already launched an investigation. This incident happened last Wednesday evening when allegedly these two high-level Secret Service agents were drinking at the retirement party of a colleague in a bar here in Washington, D.C. That's when they got into their government cars and got into an altercation outside the White House.

Now these allegations certainly are embarrassing, coming especially at a time where the agency is trying to clean up its image.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY (voice-over): Another scandal for the embattled agency responsible for protecting the president. This time, claims two of its top officials, including the second in charge of President Obama's own personal security detail, went out drinking at a party, got behind the wheel of a government car, and plowed into a security barricade at the White House.

The uniformed officers at the scene wanted to check the officials' sobriety and make arrests, but supervisor interfered and let them off, details reported first in the "Washington Post."

CAROL LEONNIG, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Our sources have said to us that the uniformed officers believed these two individuals very likely to be -- have been drinking, and that's a violation of being in a government car for the Secret Service. And that they were told to stand down when they were talking about a test.

SERFATY: The Secret Service says the agents in question have been reassigned to, quote, nonoperational positions; and now the administration is investigating the incident. Chairs on the House Oversight Committee is calling for quick action, saying, quote, "The fact that this event involved senior-level agents is not only embarrassing, but exhibits a clear lack of judgment in a potentially dangerous situation."

But it's not the first time agents have gotten in trouble. In 2012, nearly a dozen agents were accused of bringing prostitutes back to their hotel rooms in Colombia and last year, three agents sent home from the Netherlands, after they went out drinking, one found passed out drunk in the hotel.

This latest incident comes just six months after that knife-carrying man made it into the East Room of the White House, leading to congressional outcry and eventually to the Secret Service director's resignation. Her replacement, Joe Clancy, an old agency hand, has vowed to clean up.

JOE CLANCY, SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: We've got to do a better job of mentoring, coaching, teaching and training our people that this is unacceptable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And administration officials say that President Obama has been informed of this incident and is in support of a full investigation.

This is just the first test for that newly-appointed Secret Service director. And the chairman of the oversight committee, Jason Chaffetz, he tells CNN that he believes that this just shows that the agency has, quote, "a deep-seated cultural problem" -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. We'll be watching to see how Director Clancy deals with this situation. All right. Sunlen, thank you.

As nuclear talks with Iran enter a critical stage, the war of words is intensifying in Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry blasting the Republican senators for that letter to Iranian leaders, Secretary Kerry telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he is, quote, "in utter disbelief."

Joe Johns is live in Washington with more on Secretary Kerry's reaction. Joe, good morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Another real indication this morning how contentious the relationship between the administration and the Republican Congress is becoming. The ill will quickly spreading over into Mideast relations in ways seldom seen.

Secretary of State John Kerry appearing before a Senate committee to talk about the president's request for an authorization of use of military force against ISIS. But much of the dialogue was about side issues: the regional checkerboard, the strategy and of course, Iran.

And when Kerry was asked about that open letter to Iran, signed by 47 Republicans, he issued a blistering critique of it. Claiming the letter told allies that anyone seeking agreement with the United States would have to negotiate with 535 members of Congress. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY: My reaction to the letter was utter disbelief. During my 29 years here in the Senate, I never heard of, nor even heard of it being proposed, anything comparable to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The chairman of the committee, Republican Senator Bob Corker, upbraided Kerry for making what amounted to a prepared speech during what was supposed to be testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Republicans say they were trying to strengthen the president's hand in foreign policy negotiations. But it's a little difficult to see how that works.

Senator Rand Paul said the letter was actually a message to the White House, calling on the president to obey the law -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Joe, thank you very much.

Breaking overnight, joint Iraqi forces say they are winning against ISIS. The head of a key paramilitary force telling CNN Iraq now controls 75 percent of the ISIS stronghold of Tikrit. The rest is still being held by about 150 terrorists who continue to hide among the population. It's all part of an ongoing offensive to seize control from ISIS, which captured Saddam Hussein's hometown last year.

CAMEROTA: Australian authorities investigating reports that an Aussie teenager carried out a suicide attack in Iraq. In an online statement, ISIS claims foreign fighters were used to detonate more than a dozen suicide car bombs in Ramadi on Wednesday, the terror group posting one photo showing a young man who looks like 18-year-old Jake Bilardi behind the wheel of one of those vehicles. The teenager's family reported him missing last year, when he was believed to have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS.

PEREIRA: An update for you now. The father of that miracle baby who was rescued by police from an overturned car in a frigid Utah river -- look at her there -- after she was trapped for 14 hours. She is -- he is -- the father is speaking out for the first time. His name is Devin Trafny. He says baby Lily is doing great. Even though his fiance and the mother of his baby died in the crash, he says he's grateful that his daughter is alive. Take a listen as he recalls the first moment that he saw his daughter after she was rescued.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEVIN TRAFNY, FATHER OF BABY RESCUED FROM RIVER: I put my finger in her hand, and I told her that dad was here and I love her. And she squoze [SIC] my hand. And then a few hours later, she tried to open her eyes, and it was just -- I haven't left her bedside since.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So touching. Trafny also showed this video of little Lily recovering in the hospital before she was released from the hospital on Wednesday. We wish her well.

CAMEROTA: Yes. What an update.

All right. Well, more on that new Secret Service scandal. Two agents crashing a government car into a White House barrier, allegedly after a night of drinking. Why weren't they arrested? Why were they allowed to go home?

CUOMO: And that letter to Iran is tearing our political parties apart. Secretary Kerry lashing out about how it could compromise U.S. safety. Are we closer now to peace or war with Iran?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Another embarrassing scandal unfolding at the Secret Service. Two senior agents, including a top member of the president's protective detail, crashing a car into a White House barrier. They're suspected of driving drunk after a late-night of partying.

Let's bring in investigative reporter, Ronald Kessler. He broke the Secret Service prostitution scandal, and he's the author of "In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect." And his latest book, "The First Family Detail."

Good morning, Ron.

RONALD KESSLER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER/AUTHOR: Great to be with you.

CAMEROTA: You say you are not surprised by this latest incident. Why not?

KESSLER: I actually wrote an op-ed when President Obama appointed Joseph Clancy as the director, saying that these fiascos are going to continue under this director, Mr. Clancy.

This incident shows that the culture within the Secret Service management of covering up and condoning negligence, continues. And Clancy comes from the same culture. He's a long-time career agent. He -- you can see when he testified on the Hill that he was obfuscating on key issues. He was asked whether anyone would be held accountable for issuing a statement claiming that Gonzales, who was the shooter at the White House, had been stopped at the White House gates and that he was not armed.

And Clancy said, "Well, that was just an error." And then he was asked, "Well, how do you know?" And he said, "Well, I really don't know. I don't know," because it was a lie.

And there's been much in the press about the fact that Clancy has gotten rid of several top managers within the Secret Service. But the inside story is that he's replaced them with managers who come from the same culture. And so President Obama really is fooling himself and the public by claiming that Clancy is going to shake things up.

CAMEROTA: Well, let's -- and Ron, let's talk about that. Because you know, Department of Homeland Security panel, after the embarrassing prostitution scandal, suggested, urged even, President Obama to put somebody in as director, not Joe Clancy. A new person, new blood to shake up the organization. But he didn't do that.

KESSLER: Exactly.

CAMEROTA: Why didn't the president do that?

KESSLER: Well, I think the president is deluded into thinking that Clancy, who was in charge of his detail, is a guy who could be trusted to change things. It's colossal lack of judgment, colossal lack of management judgment to ignore Obama's own panel, not to mention my own book, which recommended an outside director; for example, a former FBI official would be ideal. And we're going to have one calamity after another. That's what I said in my op-ed when Clancy was appointed.

In this case you saw not only these high-ranking management agents engaging in this outrageous behavior, crashing into a barricade, drinking, using their flashing lights when there was no emergency. But a Secret Service supervisor in the uniform division overruled his own officers who wanted to arrest him, which is what would happen with you or me...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KESSLER: ... after we crashed into a barrier and were drinking.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KESSLER: And to give them a sobriety test. Overruled them and said, "No, let them go home."

CAMEROTA: Right.

KESSLER: That is the culture that's led to all these problems.

CAMEROTA: That part in particular is gone. They were not given a sobriety test. They were sent home. Are these two senior guys going to be fired?

KESSLER: I don't know if they'll be fired. They certainly will be severely disciplined. But they could be fired.

But you know, it's not going to change things to -- to take action against offenders, including the agents who hired prostitutes in Colombia, the story that I broke, as you mentioned. Because it's this culture that punishes agents who report problems, report threats, and promotes into management agents who pretend that the Secret Service is invincible and ignore the problems.

That's the culture that's led to all of this. And that's the culture that Mr. Clancy is going to perpetuate. And, you know, agents I talked to say it's a miracle that there has not already been an assassination, given all of this corner-cutting negligence and cover- up mentality.

CAMEROTA: That is a chilling not to end on. Ron Kessler, we know you've been reporting on this for years. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us on NEW DAY.

KESSLER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn. Back to our top story. Violence erupting in Ferguson, Missouri. Two officers shot just hours after the city's embattled police chief steps down. We're going to give you the latest on those officers' condition and who may have fired those shots.

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