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Gunmen Attack Kenyan University; Al Qaeda Frees Hundreds of Inmates in Yemen; Iran: 'Significant Progress' in Nuclear Talks; Indiana Lawmakers to Announce Changes to Religions Freedom Law. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 02, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Terror attacks around the world this morning.

[05:59:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Garissa University is under attack. Gunmen wearing military uniforms burst onto the campus.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: In Yemen, hundreds of prisoners with a link to al Qaeda have escaped after gunmen storm a prison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talks on Iran's nuclear program.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each side blaming the other for the obstacles in the talks.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: I would have left yesterday at the deadline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are Arkansas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are Arkansas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are Arkansas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've asked that the leaders of the general assembly to recall the bill.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Whether you agree or disagree on gay rights, these laws are not the same old, same old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I choose to be heterosexual. They choose to be homosexual.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just started kissing all over my chest.

CAMEROTA: Did you actually have sex with any of these women?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira. CUOMO: Good morning. It is Thursday, April 2, 6 a.m. in the east,

and we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. We have two stories breaking on our watch.

Masked gunmen right now storming a university in Kenya. Explosions and heavy gunfire heard breaking out. They've been shooting students indiscriminately in this early morning attack. Right now, a hostage situation is unfolding at Garissa University College. Local media reporting keeps raising the number of victims. We want to be careful with this, but right now over a dozen dead, several dozen injured. The terror group al Shabaab claiming responsibility.

CAMEROTA: And then our other top story in Yemen. Al Qaeda militants storming a prison, freeing hundreds of inmates, among them a senior al Qaeda figure held for years. Yemen descending into chaos since the Houthi rebels seized control and a Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes.

We have these stories covered the way only CNN can. Let's begin with CNN's Soni Methu. He's joining us -- she's joining us from Nairobi. Good morning.

SONI METHU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh. What we have right now, the situation is still unfolding. We are yet to confirm the number of casualties, as you rightly reported.

However, Reuters, talking to the police, claim that at least 14 people have been killed. And according to the Garissa hospital, they have still about 40 people who are in hospital. And are saying that they will fly some of the critically injured to be treated here in Nairobi. So we're still waiting to see how the situation is.

According to one of my friends on the ground, they say on and off you'll hear some gunfire, and you'll also see smoke coming out. Some explosions have been heard, as well. But the quiet moments are the scary moments for them. Those on the ground, because they say they're aware that there are still some students, there are still some victims in there with their (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and they have no idea what the situation is.

The police are being very guarded with the information they've given. We're heavily relying on Red Cross, of course, and a few people who can go close to the situation. The area is still cordoned off, and according to the police, they have the gunmen cornered in one dormitory, and the gunmen claim that they have hostages in that one dormitory. We're waiting to see more.

Back to you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Soni, thank you very much. That's the concern. Please keep monitoring that hostage situation. We'll check back in with you.

Now, the group involved here, al Shabaab, they're no stranger to bloody terror attacks. What is driving them? And what is the prospect of stopping them? Barbara Starr joins us live now from the Pentagon with that part of

the story -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

The situation unfolding, just about 90 miles from the border with Somalia. And that is most interesting, because al Shabaab uses Somalia as its stronghold. They have, in the past year, staged a number of attacks on the border and into Kenya. You can keep track of some of them, or these cross-border attacks that we've seen. And back in 2013, that attack against Nairobi's Westgate Mall. This is a group very expert at doing that.

The U.S. had thought al Shabaab was somewhat back on its heels, that they had given up their efforts to establish an Islamist state, so to speak, in Somalia. They've now become somewhat of a hit-and-run terrorist group. But still, sadly, as we see here this morning, very effective at doing this. Why is the U.S. So concerned about al Shabaab? There's always concern, they have shown an ability to recruit Somali Americans, to bring them to Somalia, to bring them to East Africa, to Somalia to join up and engage in the fight with them.

And there is considerable concern that they could inspire lone-wolf attacks. You may remember in February, there was a video purported to be from al Shabaab, claiming that they would stage attacks against American and European shopping malls.

So they still pose quite a threat. And it's worth remembering that, in the past several months, the U.S. has staged several raids inside Somalia to kill al Shabaab leaders. Today they are showing their strength again -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Barbara, thanks so much.

Now to our other breaking news, al Qaeda-linked militants storming a prison in southeastern Yemen, freeing hundreds of inmates with terror ties, including a senior al Qaeda leader. This was part of a larger assault on a port city targeting government and other key buildings.

CNN's Ian Lee has the breaking details for us from Cairo. What do we know, Ian?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, this attack took place in the early morning hours in the port city of Mukalla, al Qaeda militants seizing control of government buildings, which include the central bank, a radio station, but also the prison, the one we're watching. We're told that 270 inmates were freed in that attack. A third of...

CUOMO: All right. The shot went down. They're going to have a little communications issue there throughout the morning. We'll get back to that as soon as we can.

Let's try to understand what's going on right now. Again, we have Kenya developing with a hostage situation. And the situation in Yemen, where an al Qaeda group broke into a prison, released hundreds of prisoners, including a leader. So what's going on here? Is there any coordination to this?

[06:05:12] Senior fellow at the Foundation of Defense of Democracies and counterterrorism analyst, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, joins us; and CNN global affairs analyst and retired U.S. Delta Force commander, Lieutenant Colonel James Reese. Gentlemen, thank you.

Daveed, I start with you. Yes, Al Shabaab, meaning "The Youth." They're supposed to be the young branch of this situation, recruiting young people. We know them from that horrible mall attack in 2013 in Nairobi. What do you think is behind what's going on here?

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Since the mall attack they've actually significantly extended their operations into Kenya. We think of them as a Somalia-based organization, which is precisely where they came from. But they also have a local branch in Kenya called al Hijra, and they've increasingly been carrying out attacks there.

Last year, it didn't get much attention, but they carried out this awful series of massacres on the Kenyan coast in Mpeketoni, which had a significant effect on the tourist industry. Basically, like the mall attack, they were urban-warfare-style attacks where they just slaughtered people.

This very much falls in line and also is very much designed to maximize media exposure and thus show that, A, there aren't safe targets. I mean, when we think of things that are safe, we certainly think of university campuses. And B, to show that they're still very vibrant in the Horn of Africa and particularly within Kenya.

CUOMO: Also, we'll maximize the energy directed towards stopping them. Now they did this 5:30 a.m. local time. Is this about being caught off-guard? Or are the security forces there not up to the task of protecting the universities?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: It falls in line with the difficulty of protecting soft targets in a country that's basically free and open. Just like in the United States, you have any given number of targets in Kenya that can be attacked.

You have a very large network of support for Shabaab. I mean, don't want to overstate the degree of support that they have. But they do have a number of operatives and sympathizers on the ground. And it's a country, just like the United States, just like so many countries, in which you don't have armed guards all over the place; in which you have multiple targets, whether they're cafes or churches or universities, which could possibly be struck.

Thus, it's difficult to say that it's simply a failure or the guards or the security forces being caught off-guard. Rather, this is the kind of thing that often does happen.

CUOMO: OK. So Colonel, from the price of having a free and open society to having a society that's in free-for-all and freefall, Yemen. Now you have al Qaeda being able to just break into a prison, let out, presumably, many of their own, the prisoners who were there and one of their leaders. What's the dynamic?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RET.), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Chris, this is a dynamic and bold move and a smart move by al Qaeda. As we all know right now, Yemen has fallen into chaos. The Saudis are conducting air strikes to try to keep the Houthis at bay. But you know, if you think about where this prison break struck, it was very close to the province where U.S. Navy SEALs tried to conduct the hostage rescue of the U.S.-held and the other western hostage that were unfortunately killed.

Again, we all know Yemen, great place for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. One of the most dangerous al Qaeda elements, especially to the U.S. and the west. And right now with the chaos, it's a smart move by al Qaeda to grab some of the leaders and folks that have been in prison there. And I think this will happen in other places within Yemen.

CUOMO: Any intelligence? Let's put up the picture of the leader that was supposedly taken out of there. Any understanding or intelligence of why they wanted this guy so much? Why he's relevant, Colonel?

REESE: Well, one of the things in Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is because of their bomb-making ability. And a lot of these guys have some great aspects. They've been trained in bomb- making. And that element of al Qaeda has used their bomb-making materials and bomb-making intelligence to try to do attacks against the west as we know. They try to get folks into Dubai to put them on a western aircraft.

So that's one of the reasons they tried to bring their leadership back in, because of their bomb-making ability.

CUOMO: All right. So now Kenya, we're going to monitor as an ongoing situation and a frontal assault on that university.

Daveed, let me finish with you here, though, about Yemen. A very different dynamic there. You know, the colonel has briefed us in the past, saying this could potentially become a terrorist devil's playground, where they're free to combine and plan against the rest of the world. When we see this, they're breaking into a prison, at what line is it just past the point of no return there?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Yemen, I think, is past the point of no return right now. You have obviously the Houthi advances. They're backed by Iran, which lends this very dangerous sectarian element to what's going on in Yemen. They already were beset by environmental concerns: running out of oil, running out of water.

And al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula admits all this chaos has been able to actually capture territory. They're a vibrant force. And in the past, jail breaks have really helped this organization.

Back in 2013, you had a campaign called "Breaking the Walls," in which they orchestrated multiple jail breaks across multiple countries for the al Qaeda organization as a whole. And at the beginning of the Arab Spring, you had prisoners released,

and who broke out of prisons in Egypt, in Libya, in Tunisia. And this gave rise to a more vibrant militant organization in north Africa.

So prisoner releases and releases from jails like this are things that we really need to watch, because they can put a very considerable pool of talent back on the streets.

CUOMO: Watching them is hard enough. Stopping them seems to be something that nobody has a solution to so far.

Thank you very much for helping us with these fluid situations. Daveed, appreciate it. Colonel, thank you very much. We'll check back with you both later in the show as we understand more -- Mick.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris. Nuclear talks with Iran extending into double overtime. Iran's foreign minister now saying significant progress has been made in another round of all- night discussions. Secretary of State John Kerry remains in Switzerland after those talks were extended again.

Let's get the very latest now from CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott, live in Switzerland -- Elise.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, all -- they worked all night, the negotiators. They took some sleep. They had a shower. And you see this tweet from acting spokesperson Marie Harf: "John Kerry and negotiators back at work this morning. #IranTalks."

Now Foreign Minister Zarif seemed to be a little bit less optimistic last night, kind of trying to show that there was a little bit of division between the parties here. Take a listen to what he had to say to reporters last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The hope that the political will by all parties exists in order to move forward. There are obviously problems that have prevented us from reaching the first stage of finding the solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: But, you know, this morning he was a little bit more upbeat, saying things are inching forward, that he hoped that there could be some kind of conclusion today. You know they've gone two days, well into the deadline. Actually, the elephant in the room, really, Congress here. But there is not a deal, Congress threatening to impose sanctions.

So the pressure really on Secretary of State John Kerry to come home with something. I think it will be something well short of what the U.S. was looking for. But certainly, they're looking for some kind of political understanding of what's been agreed to here at the talks -- Alisyn. CUOMO: Yes. It would be terrible to come home completely empty-

handed after all of this time spent. Elise, thanks so much. We'll check back with you, as well.

We have a big update now on those controversial religious freedom laws. Indiana lawmakers announcing that they will make changes to their state's new law, amid the backlash from gay rights groups and corporate America. A vote on that new language could come as early as today.

Meanwhile, in Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson also reversing course, ordering his general assembly to recall their religious freedom bill.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is live in Indianapolis. What a turn-around, Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More of a back-flip, I'd say, Alisyn.

The Republicans lawmakers here say they have the fix. At 9 a.m., they will talk about it in a press conference. And at 9:30 Eastern they will go right into debate with it, and they will probably be done with this, it sounds like, by the end of the day.

Fair to say they think that no one is going to be happy in Indiana with what they come up with. The "Indianapolis Star" saying that there is language in this new fix that would recognize same-sex couples. That will be a concern for religious businesses here that were hoping that they could use the law in order not to provide services or carry out services for same-sex weddings. All of this being felt heavily across the country.

In Arkansas in particular, talk about back flips. Asa Hutchinson, the governor there, who said he would sign it if they got it to his desk. They got it to his desk, and he said, "Nope, not going to sign it. You take it back, lawmakers, and get me something that's closer to the federal law." Asa Hutchinson, the governor there, was even lobbied not to sign it by his own son -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Miguel, thank you. We'll be checking in about that all morning long.

We have more breaking news for you, as well. At least 54 people are reportedly dead after a Russian fishing trawler sank in the western Pacific in Russia's far east. Officials say so far, 63 people have been rescued, but there's still ongoing efforts to locate 15 others. It is not known at this point what caused the vessel to sink. Reports say it just went under; it took less than 15 minutes.

PEREIRA: Big move by California's governor, Governor Jerry Brown imposing the state's first ever mandatory water restrictions, Governor Brown ordering cities and towns to cut water significantly, by 25 percent, to deal with a crippling four-year drought in the state. Officials say 11 trillion gallons of water are needed to rescue California from its current emergency. CAMEROTA: Listen to this: 11 teachers convicted of racketeering in

connection with a cheating scandal rocking Atlanta's public school system. According to prosecutors, some students were given correct answers to statewide skills tests. Investigators say educators even held cheating parties, where incorrect answers were erased and corrected. The cheating may date back to early 2001, when scores on statewide skills tests began to turn around.

[06:15:14] PEREIRA: My goodness.

CAMEROTA: That really defeats the purpose of the standardized testing. It's supposed to gauge where the schools are and see which schools are troubled, and to infuse more resources into those.

PEREIRA: Chris and I are children of educators, and this is just one of those head-shakers.

CAMEROTA: Let me -- may I say, so am I? The daughter of two public school teachers, yes. And this is...

PEREIRA: Shocking.

CAMEROTA: Astounding. It really is.

CUOMO: Well, this is the tension that's going on there. This is inexcusable.

PEREIRA: Absolutely. This idea of, "Well, hey, do these tests let us know how our kids are doing? Aer they just punishing teachers? Is it really about the kids?" It's going back and forth. We haven't gotten any solution, but it just shows...

PEREIRA: And it's so annoying. You know, the kids are the ones that we are failing here.

CUOMO: Cheating parties?

CAMEROTA: Wow.

CUOMO: Dumb.

All right, so another situation for you to watch this morning. The battle to define who we are as people in America. It is continuing in two states, struggling to rework religious freedom legislation. But will Indiana and Arkansas's revisions be enough to silence critics, who claim these laws give businesses the right to discriminate against gays.

CAMEROTA: And a bombshell from guru Bikram Choudhury, yoga guru. Six women claim he raped or sexually assaulted him. Now he's making some stunning claims of his own, in our exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIKRAM CHOUDHURY, YOGA GURU: Loss of them to mind (ph), they commit suicide, because I will not have sex with them. CAMEROTA: Wait. You're saying that students of yours have committed suicide?

CHOUDHURY: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:33] CAMEROTA: Religious freedom laws being revised in two states this morning. In Indiana lawmakers set to announce changes to that state's controversial new law. And in Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson backpedaling on his pledge to sign their measure into law.

So what happened? Let's turn to Joe Salmonese. He's the former president of the Human Rights Campaign. And Tim Swarens. He's the opinion editor for the "Indianapolis Star." Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here.

Tim, I want to start with you. You were part of the editorial team that published this front-page ad. Let me put it up. It says "Fix This Now." You must feel a tremendous sense of satisfaction today.

TIM SWARENS, OPINION EDITOR, "INDIANAPOLIS STAR": We're hopeful. We're hopeful that the -- that the general assembly will move swiftly to enact legislation that will help fix this now. The state has been in turmoil for the past week or so. We think we're on the verge of finding a way out. The -- both sides have given quite a bit here. And we'll see what happens later today.

CUOMO: OK, Joe, let's talk about those fixes. What are they going to do in Indiana and Arkansas to fix these laws?

JOE SALMONESE, FORMER PRESIDENT, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN: Well, as you reported in the previous segment, you know, they're making all sorts of concessions. But as you said, I don't think anything they do is going to make either side particularly happy. You know, the substance and the spirit of the law remain, and I think the reputational damage to Indiana, at least, is going to be in place for some time to come. So...

CAMEROTA: But Joe, what if they do a carve-out, where they say you cannot discriminate against same-sex couples or homosexual people?

SALMONESE: Well, you know, I think it remains to be seen, you know, how the law is applied, and what the substance of the law ends up being, then. If you go back to the fact that, really, these laws are moving in these states in a response to the success we've had on marriage equality. And as an effort to sort of mollify or appease folks out there who are opposed to it. As a way to say, here's a way to sort of help you opt out.

So if what that does, you know, as you're suggesting, is sort of empty out the law, you know, I guess I'm not quite sure then what the law does. CAMEROTA: Tim, let me talk to you about what Governor Asa Hutchinson

said yesterday in his announcement. Basically, he said that he had a change of heart because he was lobbied by a very powerful lobbyist, namely his 31-year-old son, Seth. Here's what the governor said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON (R), ARKANSAS: It has divided families. And there is clearly a generational gap on this issue. My son, Seth, signed the petition asking me, Dad, the governor, to veto this bill. And he gave me permission to make that reference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: And I mean, Tim, that's the crux of the matter, isn't it? That there's this generational divide. In fact, we have a new poll that illustrates just how differently the generations see this.

Let me just show you: 18-29-year-olds see this issue in the complete reverse order than people 65 years old and older do. When asked, "Should businesses being required to serve same-sex weddings," 18-29- year-olds say sure; 62 percent say yes. Whereas, if you're over 65, 60 percent say no. Therein lies the whole heart of the matter, Tim.

SWARENS: Unquestionably, there's a generational gap. It's playing out here in the state. It's playing out here in political circles in the state. We have younger Republicans who have been involved in the process of trying to find a fix. They're very passionate, very upset by what they see happening in their own party.

CAMEROTA: Joe, it sounds to me, from reading your notes, that you think that the reference to his son, Seth, was a nice touch. But really, what swayed Governor Hutchinson was the businesses, businesses like Wal-Mart saying that they can't support this.

SALMONESE: I think it was both. I think certainly, Governor Hutchinson learned a lesson from watching Governor Pence. And I think attempted to sort of, you know, inject some common humanity and some acknowledgement that he sort of stands in opposition to young people.

And those numbers, by the way, are true for, as Tim referenced, Democrats, Republicans, even you know, Christian evangelicals under the age of 30.

But it's true that I think one of the great successes of the LGBT movement over the last decade has been the partnership that we've had with corporate America and our understanding that, in situations like this one, we do well to lead with one of our strongest assets, which you know, in this case are our corporate allies, whether it's Tim Cook or whether it's the CEO of Wal-Mart.

[06:25:15] CAMEROTA: So Tim, last, how does governor Pence recover from this today?

SWARENS: It's going to be very difficult. He is faced with a very difficult choice. The economic fiscal conservatives in his own party desperately want him to sign this. The social conservatives are going to be upset with him. He's losing both ends of his base.

CAMEROTA: Tim Swarens, Joe Salmonese, thanks so much for your perspective on this.

Let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn.

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez indicted on bribery charges, accused of trading political favors for luxury vacations and campaign donations. Well, he's in court today, his job on the line, yet he believes this is not the way his career is going to end.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We are following breaking news this morning. Gunmen storming a university in Kenya. The attacks still ongoing at Garissa University College. The terror group al Shabaab claiming responsibility and right now, holding hostages on the campus, as security forces have cornered the gunmen. One terrorist was arrested while trying to escape.