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Protectors Call for Police Officer to be Fired for Excessive Force Against Teenagers; Two Inmates Escape Maximum Security Prison in New York; Jeb Bush to Visit Germany; Interview with Rep. Mike McCaul; Time for New Strategy in Iraq?; Should TSA Be Overhauled? Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired June 09, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We do have breaking news for you this morning. Overnight hundreds of protesters demanding a police officer in Texas be fired. Why? Because he did this. He was pulling a gun on some teens, slamming a 14-year-old girl to the ground, all on video, all because of a pool party.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And that officer is now on administrative leave. But there are other major developments in two other high profile cases of possible police use of excessive force. So let's begin our coverage with CNN's Nick Valencia. He is live in McKinney, Texas for us. What's the latest?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Many in this community calling for the resignation or firing of McKinney Police Officer Eric Casebolt. We were there last night when hundreds took to the streets to protest against what they called police brutality and excessive force. The community divided in their reaction to the officer's actions, some supporting him, going so far as to say that he deserves a medal for what he did, justifying even his un-holstering of his weapon. The teens at the party, they see it just a little bit differently, including the young man who captured the scene on his cellphone camera who said that those teens would not have been detained if they were white.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was one of the only white people in the area when that was happening. And you can see in part of the video where he tells us to sit down. And he kind of like skips over me and tells all my African-American friends to go sit down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: We reached out to the McKinney police union and the police department. We heard back from the union saying that the actions of Eric Casebolt were absolutely not motivated by race. They're standing by the police officer. Chris?

CAMEROTA: I'll take it, Nick. Thank you so much for that.

Now for an update on the Tamir Rice case. Community leaders in Cleveland taking justice into their own hands about the shooting of 12-year-old Rice. Leaders say they don't trust the prosecutor, so they're trying to use an obscure Ohio law to get murder charges against the officers involved in the boy's death. CNN's Martin Savidge joins us live with the latest. Hi, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Yes, this is really an interesting turn in this case. And it goes like this. It's clear that the family members of Tamir Rice and those that support them are frustrated. It's been over six months and they have not seen any progress in the prosecutorial side. They want to see two officers charged with murder and prosecuted for the shooting of the 12-year-old.

So what they're doing is they found this obscure Ohio law that essentially allows any citizen to go forward who has facts or knowledge of the case to get to a judge, in this case, with affidavits and demand that there be an arrest, a charge and arrest. That's what they're going to do. They're going to ask the judge to arrest the two first responding officers and charge them with murder.

It doesn't circumvent the grand jury because in the state of Ohio under the constitution everybody has a right for their case to be heard in a felony by a grand jury. But it could mean these officers would be arrested very quickly rather than waiting for a grand jury to deliberate, render some kind of decision, and then issue an arrest warrant. We'll be following it, Michaela and Alisyn.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Be sure to stick with CNN for that. Thanks so much, Martin, we appreciate that.

Meanwhile, a former South Carolina officer indicted, Michael Slager facing a murder charge for shooting an unarmed man in the back after a traffic stop back in April. Slager is seen on video firing eight times at Walter Scott as Scott was running away from him. The officer has been fired and faces life in prison if he's convicted.

CUOMO: Two cold-blooded killers four days on the lam now after an escape from a New York maximum security prison that has officials shaking their heads. Here's the latest. A female prison worker is being questioned because she knew these cold-blooded killers, quote, "very well." CNN's Polo Sandoval is live in New York outside the prison. What are they thinking not just about the plan to get out, but the plan to stay out?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is one of the big questions right now, Chris, because while investigators are confident that they will track down these two individual and will eventually find out if this woman had direct contact with these prisoners and eventually helped them, the concern is that these two fugitives may get even more desperate and potentially hurt somebody.

But meanwhile we're also getting a better sense of what life is like behind the walls you see behind me here and even what the parts of the prison were like, they tools that were used by these two convicted murderers to escape. That's coming from a man who spent many years working here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: The intense man hunt is spreading. The fugitives could be anywhere from New York's North Country up to Canada or even south into Mexico, where 49-year-old fugitive Richard Matt is believed to have connections.

ROBERT FERNANDEZ, U.S. MARSHAL CAPITAL AREA TASK FORCE: Anything is a possibility. We really need the public to call in.

SANDOVAL: A law enforcement source tells CNN an employee is being questioned as a possible accomplice. The woman who worked with inmates tailor and clothing new Richard and 35-year-old David Sweat. But she hasn't been charged. A man who claims to have confronted the escapees in his backyard talking exclusively to ABC News.

[08:05:07] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were looking around a little bit. As soon as I came across they ran out of the yard.

SANDOVAL: Many think the dangerous duo could not have done it alone.

RICH PLUMADORE, RETIRED PRISON MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR: They redid that wall twice since I've been working here.

SANDOVAL: Rich Plumadore worked behind these 60 walls for three and a half decades. He says he retired from his job as maintenance supervisor of the prison. His daily duties included working in the hidden maze of walkways believed to have served as Matt and Sweat's path to freedom.

PLUMADORE: There's so many tunnels and all the attics, all the catwalks. It's a big maze.

SANDOVAL: They used that maze.

PLUMADORE: They used the maze. They knew exactly where to go.

SANDOVAL: Plumadore suspects the escape plan took time and serious know-how to execute.

PLUMADORE: An inmate should never get that knowledge.

SANDOVAL: Cutting into the wrong steam pipe at the wrong time could have been deadly or at least blown the inmates' cover.

PLUMADORE: You had high pressure steam coming up this tunnel. You have low pressure. I believe they cut into a low pressure line because they couldn't cut into it. Why?

SANDOVAL: Like the rest of his neighbors, Plumadore waits anxiously for the search to be over and a pair of cunning criminals to be back behind bars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And this morning the offer, the state's offer of $100,000 reward could be working. You see, at least 300 leads have already been received by investigates, many of them coming from the regions here in upstate New York, Alisyn, others from as far as Mexico or even not far from here in Canada. But investigators say they do promise to follow up on every single call that they get here, Chris, because the main priority here is to track these two guys down.

CUOMO: You know, that's the plus-minus on that $100,000 reward also, Polo. They are going to get a ton of leads but a lot of them may not lead anywhere. But to be sure they've got plenty of questions answered already.

And they are focused on this female prison worker because she knew the inmates well. She worked with them tailoring clothes at the facility. So let's discuss what they know, what they don't know, and what they need to know with Matthew Horace, former ATF agent and senior vice president and chief security officer for FJC Security Service. Matt, it's good to have you.

MATTHEW HORACE, FORMER ATF AGENT: Great, good morning.

CUOMO: Now, it is our way to ask things as questions. But there is a certain point at which speculation becomes obvious. Do you think there's any way that these guys did this all themselves?

HORACE: No. It's impossible for them to have done this without any help from the inside and the outside. And in fact, this the whole issue polarizes the security gaps not only at this institution but it's going to cause us to look at other institutions as well.

CUOMO: How so?

HORACE: Well, they're going to have to look at best practices. Listen, there's no question in my mind that not just one person but possibly many people helped these guys pull this off. The tools, why were there power tools in the cell block, power tools? How did they get there and how did they avoid detection for so long? Personnel security, who's responsible for hiring people in the prison, and who monitors who is interacting with the inmates in an appropriate or inappropriate way?

And three, miscommunication. In the security field, that's a big deal. What are our risks, who's addressing them, and who's developing plans and protocols to mitigate them?

CUOMO: People are pointing fingers at the other inmates, saying, oh, they must of heard something. These are bad guys. That's why they're on the inside to begin with. That's not supposed to be your source. The question is, shouldn't someone else have heard a steel wall being cut through?

HORACE: Well, remember, it might not have been a thing that happened over a course of days or weeks. They may have been planning this and using those tools over a course of months, a little bit at a time, just out of a movie. But this is no movie. These are dangerous people and they are on the loose. CUOMO: And they had to know something about where they were

going. There was initial speculation that they just followed the main steam pipe down and out and that's how they got there. We're hearing more and more information. No way. It is a maze. It is a labyrinth. You have to know where to go.

HORACE: This prison is 150 years old and no one has ever escaped from it. They had to have help. They had to have access to the architectural drawings to the critical infrastructure inside of that prison. They had to have received that from somewhere. So it didn't all come from one person. I wouldn't be surprised if there's more than one, two, three, or five people that helped them on the inside.

CUOMO: To the urgency, not only did they find a way out, they found a way to stay out so far. Four days is no joke when you have this many people looking for you and this much media attention. What does that tell you about what they arranged for the outside?

HORACE: Someone on the outside was helping. But remember this, when you're on the run as a fugitive -- and these two guys have been in more than they've been out. So they're going to have to commit more crimes to sustain themselves for money, for food. And look at what happened with Eric Frein up in the mountains last year. People characterized him as a survivalist. He didn't go far from his comfort zone. So as we've talked about over the last 24 hours. 12 hours is a long time. They could be in Mexico. They could be anywhere through the United States or in Canada. But you best believe these are dangerous individuals to anyone that comes in contact with them and the police.

[08:10:02] CUOMO: And they're far from perfect, not just morally, but we already know they showed up in somebody's backyard. So they already showed an indication that they don't have it completely thought out. What does that tell you about how long something like this takes?

HORACE: That tells me that their escape plan wasn't perfect and maybe that had holes in it. Maybe someone was supposed to pick them up that didn't. Maybe they were looking for someone that didn't show up. So that might be the case. But you best believe the United States Marshals, the FBI, the New York State Police are on the job, and little by little they're going to follow leads. There's a reward on the street, $100,000. Whenever you put money on the street, people get answers.

CUOMO: Word is from those looking for these guys that they expect this to be violent when it ends, that these guys don't want to go back. They know what is facing them there and they've both shown an ease with killing.

HORACE: Listen, they were both in for some years to life. They both got to know each other inside of prison. One killed a sheriff deputy. The other killed his boss and dismembered him. These are the worst of the worst, and I expect an altercation when we try to take them off.

CUOMO: Matthew, thank you very much, appreciate the perspective.

HORACE: Have a great day and be safe.

CUOMO: Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, well, Jeb Bush is embarking on a six-day trip to Europe. The former Florida governor testing out his foreign policy chops with visits to Germany, Poland, and Estonia, a region that was not too fond of his brother's foreign policies. CNN's Atika Shubert is live for us in Berlin. Hi, there.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there. He is expected to speak in about four hours. He's going to be speaking to the Economic Council of the Christian Democrats. That's of course the political party of Chancellor Angela Merkel. She will also be there speaking as well, but it's not clear if she will be having a one on one meeting with Jeb Bush at this point.

Now, again, he's here to sort of burnish his foreign policy credentials, and the focal point of his speech, we understand, is urging tougher action on Vladimir Putin, on Russia's aggression in Ukraine, specifically saying, quote, "Ukraine, a sovereign European nation, must be permitted to choose its own path." This is what he is expected to say later today.

That may be all well and good for politicians here, but if you ask the average Berlin resident, they don't have any idea really who Jeb Bush is. They just associate him with his brother, former president George Bush, of course, and the Iraq war, which is perhaps not an association his campaign was hoping for here.

CUOMO: All right, Atika, I mean, that's why you grab the suds, you walk around, you shake some hands and you get some attention. Thank you for the reporting.

Here's a little one for you, literally, little piggies who had to run for their lives. They're hurting them. They're hurting them. They're not hurting them. What happened? Here's what happened -- 2,200 baby pigs were on the loose because this semi tipped over Monday own an Ohio highway. A small army of fire agencies, paramedics, officers, and just regular folks ran around trying to herd the piglets. And 1,500 were captured. That means a lot of them are on the loose. Some didn't make it.

PEREIRA: They're like the indignity, grabbing me by the leg.

CAMEROTA: That's like "Babe Two," the little one wandering down the street with the ears flopping.

CUOMO: They all know the story. It circles around the pen. They know.

PEREIRA: Aren't you glad he's not telling you your goodnight stories as a child?

CAMEROTA: I do feel as though he was telling me a goodnight story.

CUOMO: I am a great goodnight story teller. I make them up. I make up my own characters.

CAMEROTA: I can kind of tell.

CUOMO: And now I have a new one. You know what happened to that piggy who didn't listen.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: All right, meanwhile, President Obama taking a lot of heat for saying there's no complete strategy to fight ISIS in Iraq. One of his biggest critics joins us live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:25] PEREIRA: All right. Here we go with the five things to know for your NEW DAY. Two escaped killers still on the loose after breaking out of a maximum security prison in upstate New York. Authorities are questioning a prison employee who may have been an accomplice to the two men.

There are mounting calls for a Texas officer to be fired after he was caught on video slamming a teenager to the ground. That officer, Corporal Eric Casebolt, also pulled his gun during the incident.

Former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager has been indicted for the fatal shooting of Walter Scott. Video shows Slager firing eight shots in the Scott's back when the unarmed man fled after a traffic stop.

The TSA under fire for failing to screen dozens of airport employees who were hired despite their links to terrorism. A Homeland Security report findings records used to vet workers contained incomplete or inaccurate data.

Jeb Bush arriving in eastern Europe for a six-day visit. The former Florida Governor testing out his foreign policy medal, with stops in Germany, Poland and Estonia.

And as you know, for more on the five things, be sure the visit newdaycnn.com for the very latest.

All right. I'm going to head over to Alisyn. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela. I'm going to take it from you right now. Republicans slamming President Obama for saying the U.S. has no complete strategy for Iraq. Our next guest is one of those critics and says the only surprise is that the president said it out loud.

Let's bring in the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Republican Mike McCaul of Texas. Congressman, thanks so much for being here.

REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R), TEXAS: Thanks for having me. CAMEROTA: OK. What - Let me just play for everyone, why don't we,

what the president said yesterday about the no complete strategy then we'll talk about it. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: When a finalized plan is presented to me by the Pentagon, then I will share it with the American people. We don't yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the Iraqis as well about how recruitment takes place, how that training takes place. And so the details of that are not yet worked out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Congressman, what's wrong with that answer?

MCCAUL: Well, I mean, he admits we don't have a complete strategy. That was not really a surprise because we haven't had a strategy in Iraq. Ever since ISIS popped up, all we've done is contained the threat. We have had no strategy to destroy and defeat ISIS. That's my biggest concern. As the Chairman of Homeland Security, I think the best way to protect Americans is to drain the swamp over there, rather than swat at mosquitoes here in the United States.

[08:19:57] CAMEROTA: But I mean, you heard him say when I have a finalized plan from the Pentagon, I will present it to the American public. You don't want him to come up with a plan without hearing from his generals, do you?

MCCAUL: Well, how long does it take to get a plan here? We've been dealing with this issue for how long? And ISIS now has taken over Ramadi. I was in Baghdad a month ago and Ramadi was taken over by ISIS shortly there after. They've taken over Mosul. They're taking over greater swaths of territory. ISIS is winning over there. And when they win, they also draw more recruits into the region. They can pull off external operations against the West.

CAMEROTA: But do you fault then the Pentagon and the generals or the president? I mean again, he's saying he's waiting for a finalized plan. That sounds like what a president should do.

MCCAUL: Well, I mean, I can't imagine he didn't ask for this plan a long time ago. I think we've had a failure of leadership on the part of the president and I don't fault the military or the generals. I think they know what to do to win this. I think they have had their hands tied behind their back, particularly when it comes to airstrikes. There has to be zero collateral damage. They cannot hit the targets unless they have zero collateral damage. I know, with respect to Ramadi, there was a convoy going straight into Ramadi and that we're not able to strike them because of the rules of engagement.

CAMEROTA: So what do you think the answer is? I mean, since the president says that they're waiting to figure out if they can better train the Iraqi army, do you think that that's a good plan? Or what would you like to see happen?

MCCAUL: Well, when I was there, the Iraqi National Army is almost incapable of defeating ISIS. So what are they doing now? They're bringing in the Shia militia out of Iran to fight ISIS. That's not a good answer either. I think we need to arm the Peshmerga, we need to build up the indigenous force, we need to put in our special forces to guide the airstrikes, which we're not currently doing. I think we need to be more heavily engaged in this effort, this fight, this war, if we're serious about winning it.

CAMEROTA: Some of your Republican colleagues have called for a force of ground troops, up to 10,000. How do you feel about that?

MCCAUL: Look, I don't think you take any option off the table. Would we rather rely on indigenous forces, have the Sunnis fight the Sunni extremists? Of course. I think that's a strategy that we've been trying to, or the president's been trying to implement. But it's failed. ISIS is winning this.

CAMEROTA: So you're comfortable with U.S. ground troops?

MCCAUL: I think that's an option we should keep on the table, but I think we need more of our special forces in the area and the ability to guide these airstrikes moving forward. Right now, the generals have their hands tied behind their backs.

CAMEROTA: As we said, you're chair of the Homeland Security Committee. It has not been a good week for the TSA.

MCCAUL: No.

CAMEROTA: I mean, the latest report says that the TSA airport employees, they missed. They failed to identify 73 airport employees who are on terror watchlists. How does that happen?

MCCAUL: Well, and this comes on the heels of the reports that we're missing 96 percent, a 96 percent failure rate in screening with this high threat environment that you and I just talked about, with respect to ISIS. And now we find out that 73 airport workers potentially have ties to terrorism. It is absolutely astounding. It's unacceptable. I'll be holding oversight hearings on this. TSA doesn't even have an administrator that's been nominated, that's been approved by the Senate. They have no leadership at the TSA. Quite frankly, I'm outraged about this and I think that the safety of the American people and the public are at risk right now.

CAMEROTA: I mean, what is the TSA doing? I mean, you know, we take off our shoes, we're searched, grandmothers are taken out of their wheelchairs. What are they doing? Let me put up for you, actually, some of the findings. This TSA screening database, here's the missing information that they have. 1500 records that contain just first initials instead of names. That seems easy to fix. 75,000 had no passport numbers in the database of passengers. 87,000 had no Social Security Number. This is from the Homeland Security report. The TSA can improve aviation worker vetting. These are the things that are missing from their workers. How is that possible in this day and age?

MCCAUL: Well, it's 14 years after 9/11 and the aviation sector is still a risk. We know al Qaeda is still threatening to put explosives on airplanes. And here we are 14 years later, a 96 percent failure rate, and now we found out workers have ties to terrorism. They need to be totally revamped and we need to be looking at all possible remedies to fix TSA. I'll be leading the charge on this. We can't wait. I think American lives are at risk right now.

CAMEROTA: Last security question. How concerned are you about computer hacking and getting information, like we've just seen 4 million government workers?

MCCAUL: Well, I think this one - And I talked about this on the Sunday shows -- We have 4 million federal employees compromised, political appointees. The target, I think, demonstrates in the big data theft. We know it's coming from China.

CAMEROTA: How do you know? Will we see proof?

[08:25:01] MCCAUL: Well, because I think the attribution we've seen so far ties these attacks to China. Whether it's coming from the government, I think, is a real question. But I believe it has all the hallmarks of an espionage case. They're not using this to steal credit card information. They're using it to compromise Americans and Americans in very high places in the government. So this is a new form of espionage. It's happening over the internet.

CAMEROTA: Congressman McCaul, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

MCCAUL: Thanks. Appreciate it.

CAMEROTA: Good to have you in studio.

MCCAUL: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: Well let's take a look at who I'm with. Look at this. how about this?

MELISSA RIVERS, DAUGHTER OF JOAN RIVERS: Women in white.

PEREIRA: Women in white. We're in the -- Melissa Rivers is here. We all, of course, knew and loved your mom on the stage and on TV. But we want to talk about who she was in real life and well, she just happened to write a new book titled "The Book of Joan". Melissa Rivers, so glad to have you here.

RIVERS: Glad to be here.

PEREIRA: We'll talk to you more about the book and your wonderful mom.

RIVERS: Great. PEREIRA: OK. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:29:56] CAMEROTA: Comedy legend Joan Rivers would have turned 82 years old this week. We all miss Joan's sharp one-liners and blunt fashion feedback, but no one feels lost more than her daughter. Melissa Rivers is with us to talk about her new memoir about her mom. But first, more on Joan Rivers' enduring legacy.