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Manhunt Continues for Two Escaped Prisoners in New York; Shark Attack Victim Talks about Encounter; Trump's Rambling, Unscripted Campaign Launch. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 17, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But when it comes to the search, we're also hearing from officials the acknowledgment that really these fugitives could be just about anywhere. The decision made now to remove the roadblocks that were out here near the prison. Investigators have covered 16 square miles in the nearby area, but now they say that police will pursue individual leads based on whatever information is coming in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:00:00] FIELD: After more than 1,000 leads, authorities are expanding and shifting their search around upstate New York.

JOHN CUFF: These are criminals, OK? They're going to rely on what they know best. So there's been no reports of any car-jackings, any break-ins. That's not to say they might not be holding someone at bay in a house somewhere.

FIELD: Former prison worker Joyce Mitchell who investigators say gave the inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat tools to escape is feeling the weight of her actions according to her attorney.

STEPHEN JOHNSTON, JOYCE MITCHELL'S ATTORNEY: She's distraught. She's very upset. She's very weepy.

FIELD: Mitchell's husband Lyle worked in the same tailoring shop inside the prison as his wife. Tuesday he spent an hour visiting Mitchell in jail and had a private, unmonitored conversation. Officials say she appeared to be comforted by the visit and he appeared supportive.

JOHNSTON: All I know is that he said that he's standing by her. So that's what he told me when I spoke to him.

FIELD: But Lyle's lawyer says he has no plans to testify on her behalf. While both worked at the tailor shop, Mitchell had a sexual relationship with 49-year-old Richard Matt dating as far back as 2013. A source with direct knowledge of the investigation also tells CNN Joyce Mitchell was aware of a plot to kill her husband by the prisoners and she warned him his life could be in danger. Leading up to the elaborate escape investigators say Mitchell may have agreed to be the duo's getaway driver after Matt and/or Sweat threatened both her and her husband. (END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: Investigators are now looking at the possibility that the inmates inside the prison could have created some type of distraction that may have helped the two men to be able to pull off the escape. Also at the same time they have not ruled out the possibility that there could have been other employees with knowledge of the plan. Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Alexandra thanks for all of that background.

One man who knows more than most about getting high profile fugitives is Terry Turchie. He's a former FBI counterterrorism agent who led the task force that captured the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and the Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph. Mr. Turchie, thanks so much for being here.

TERRY TURCHIE, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM AGENT: You're welcome. Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Good morning. Do you think that these two guys are still in the area of the prison?

TURCHIE: Well, again, we talked about this before. And I think that as long as they develop no information that puts them out of that area, they have a good presumption that they can continue the search there. And that's just one aspect of this. Obviously this is a nationwide manhunt and there's a lot more going on that we don't see. But tactically I think what they're doing is sound and is a good idea.

CAMEROTA: So what's going on that we don't see? And how can this be a nationwide hunt if they don't have any other clues as to any other city where they could be?

TURCHIE: Well, what you're seeing is kind of the first part of the spear that they're doing, that that is the tactical search. They're going through the woods and they're sometimes changing the grids in the area because they're looking for any sign that these men may be out there.

In the meantime they're also investigating everything they know about these people. And since they've been in jail most of their life they know a lot about their friends, about their habits, about people they've talked to, and people they might have visited or called. All of those people, wherever they are, are being contacted.

Proactively they're also trying to anticipate, if these people were trying to get out of the jail and get out of the area, then they had to have a plan to do that. So what might that plan have been? And where might they have sought transportation? They're trying to proactively look at that and place themselves in those situations.

So all of that is going on. And literally overnight all of this comes together, the interviews of Joyce Mitchell, all of that information comes together and really goes through about four or five people who look at it, get up in the morning, go out and brief these tactical teams. They start their day again and this whole cycle starts over again. So all of these things are going on behind the scenes but all we really see are the tactical people going out and searching the woods.

CAMEROTA: As we said, you spearheaded the effort for Eric Rudolph and that took a lot of time, but you knew or you at least suspected that he was in that area, because there kept being break-ins where items of necessity were taken from local homes. Why aren't we seeing any of that here?

TURCHIE: Well, that's one of unusual things about this. There's raelly been a scarcity of information at least that has been revealed to us that indicates these men are breaking into cabins or stealing things. So perhaps they are hunkering down in one place and we just haven't found them, or perhaps they have fled the area, and obviously that's a possibility.

But in the example you mentioned, Eric Rudolph, we literally tracked him across the mountains breaking into cabins and stealing everything from men's size 34 underwear to books he was going to read in the wilderness to take up the time, and of course food.

[08:05:07] Interesting to note, though, because in every one of these you're always hearing people say the trail's grown cold. But with respect to Rudolph, remember that he had murdered a police officer, Officer Sanderson, in Birmingham on January 30th of 1998, got into the woods. And even though we felt he was there, it was five months before he actually made a run for it, stole a truck, stole some food, and actually kind of confirmed for us this is exactly where I'm at, now come and find me.

CAMEROTA: This requires a lot of patience, as you point out. And similar to that fugitive hunt, this also is in a remote area where there is lots of woods around. In fact I believe you said you could hide an army of people in the woods around this prison and not find them. That is a big challenge.

TURCHIE: You're absolutely right. We actually brought a U.S. army expert in tracking and concealing troops. And he said, look, if somebody doesn't want to be found, even if they're not a survivalist, it's very, very difficult to find them. And so that's what you're seeing now is kind of a change in strategy. They're expanding the search. They're looking at different areas. And that's to be expected. And they'll probably keep doing that, because, after all, even when they decide to withdraw much of the tactical support, they're going to have to leave some proactive teams there and some people in the event that once they do pull out they get that call from the public that changes it all again and they have to get somewhere fast within those areas.

CAMEROTA: The public is so instrumental, as you point out, in searches like this. I'm always astounded when some member of the public can spot a fugitive even though they're changed their appearance. And these guys may have done that. They may be bald by now. They may have different facial hair. That's what fugitives are known for doing.

TURCHIE: Well, you're right. And that's why the media performs a great public service here in the cooperation between the media law enforcement and fugitive tracking is vital is we're going to find these people. And in all of these cases we've had, going back to Rudolph, Eric Frein in 2014, Christopher Dorner in 2013, the Tsarnaev brothers, all of those cases involved calls from the public, the local police making observations and getting in pursuits with these people at differing points in time. That's what's going to happen here.

And that's a great part of the ongoing case as well, and that is to go to the public, continue going to the public nationwide, in fact, worldwide showing these men's pictures. And eventually the cold trail, if that's what we want to call it, will turn hot again because that one call will come in that will bring all of this together.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. It always does. Terry Turchie thanks so much for all of the great information. And let's get the public involved. That's what we're trying to do this morning. If you have any information on the whereabouts of these inmates, contact the U.S. Marshals tip line at 1-800-336-0102. You can stay anonymous.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Big headline in politics. Trump went all Trump as he announced he's running for president. Never has a man had so much coverage while being so unpopular in the polls. Why? Because you watch, and he could change the game for a while. So CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is reporting on the rollout. What happens next?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, today, Chris, he goes on to New Hampshire to the early voting state where he'll be at Manchester community college for an event around 5:30 p.m. eastern. Trump's campaign kickoff speech here in New York was over the top, creating enormous buzz in social media, seizing the spotlight in the Trump way. It was about as raw an unfiltered as it gets in presidential politics, but he was just getting started. Last night in Iowa at his very first campaign stop he kept up the drumbeat, slamming President Obama for his health care plan and negotiating skills, talking tough about Republican contender, too, including a comment about how he has better hair than Florida senator Marco Rubio. And there was more on foreign policy. Listen to what he said about ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know who has the oil now? ISIS has the oil, ISIS. ISIS has the oil, and ISIS is rich. And what we should do right now is go blast the hell out of them --

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Trump's biggest problem in Iowa appears to be his approval ratings. A recent poll said 58 percent of Republican respondents said they would never vote for him. CUOMO: The question is do those number stay there. He must be

thinking something, otherwise he'd be setting himself up for great embarrassment. A big part of his selling point is his money, right? He says he's worth many times what anybody can report on, but it's kind of a selling point, isn't it, just the puffery of it.

JOHNS: Yes. It's interesting, four years ago Romney kind of walked away from all his money. Not so with Donald Trump. In fact, he put out a statement saying his net worth is about $9 billion. He sees this as a selling point to the American public to show people how successful he is and he thinks that will sell as something to help the country.

[08:10:15] CUOMO: Joe, thank you very much. We'll see.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Joe.

All right, other news to tell you about, a major boost to the U.S. led effort to destroy ISIS, Kurdish fighters and local rebels retaking control of a Syrian border town from ISIS. The victor is big because it chokes off the primary supply line to Raqqa, ISIS's self-proclaimed capital.

CUOMO: An Arizona man arrested in connection with the Draw Mohammed contest plot in Garland, Texas. He also talked about attacking this year's Super Bowl. That revelation comes from an FBI agent who testified at a hearing in Phoenix Tuesday. The man is charged with supplying weapons to the two would be terrorists who opened fire outside the Draw Mohammed in May. Police killed both of them before they could hurt anyone.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Encouraging developments about the teens who survived back to back shark attacks on North Carolina's coast. The family of 13-year-old Kiersten Yow say they expect that she will be able to keep her leg. Meanwhile the other victim, 16- year-old Hunter Treschl, he lost his arm and he is now speaking out about that attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: One of the victims of that brutal pair of shark attacks off the coast of North Carolina speaking out for the first time from his hospital bed, 16-year-old Hunter Treschl recounting that traumatic shark encounter that cost him his arm.

HUNTER TRESCHL, SHARK ATTACK VICTIM: I was just in about waist deep water, I would say, playing with my cousin, like I said. And I felt this kind of hit on my left leg. Like it felt like it was a big fish coming near you or something. That was the first I saw it was when it was biting at my left arm.

PEREIRA: The teen from Colorado was swimming in the waters off Oak Island when the shark attacked mg.

TRESCHL: I didn't see it coming. Like I said I felt it on my leg. And then I saw it had attacked my arm. PEREIRA: This happening a mere 90 minutes after another shark attack unfolded on the same beach less than two miles away where 13-year-old Kiersten Yow had her left arm torn off by a shark, bystanders leaping into action to prevent the victims from bleeding to death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just got his arm bit off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you with the person now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband is. He's got it wrapped up in a towel as tight as he can.

PEREIRA: Just two days after that life-changing attack, Hunter vows to remain positive.

TRESCHL: I have kind of two options. I can try to live my life the way I was and make an effort to do that even though I don't have an arm, or I can kind of just let this be completely debilitating and bring my life down and ruin it in a way. Out of those two, there's really only one that I would actually choose to do, and that's to try to fight and live a normal life with the cards I've been dealt.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: It often takes people a long time to get to this place. This attack happened over the weekend. Incredible that he has this philosophy.

CAMEROTA: It's so profound what he's saying. And to be able to process it so soon, I mean, obviously he will have ups and down. The road ahead will be challenging. But he has -- the attitude is so inspirational.

CUOMO: If he wants it, we'll give him a little boost and wait for him to get to that next phase of recovery and show people how he's doing.

PEREIRA: I love that.

CUOMO: We look forward to that. Do well, my friend. Do well.

All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, here is the question -- is Trump the trans-fat of the 2016 race? Hear me out.

CAMEROTA: OK.

CUOMO: He makes things tasty, but bad for your heart. Why the media loves a man who's so low in the polls, and what serious impact he might have on other candidates, all ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[18:17:15] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have an incompetent president. We have pundits that sit around and, you know, theorize all day. And, oh, Donald Trump shouldn't be in the race. I mean, he built one of the great companies, one of the great real estate companies of the world, and I don't qualify. But some third rate senator that hasn't done a thing qualifies for an election. Give me a break.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: What company is that? Trump discussed.

Here to weigh in on what is happening in the campaign, CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp, and CNN political analyst and editor-in-chief of "The Daily Beast", Mr. John Avlon.

What's your takeaway? Is anything he said sustainable and/or true?

CAMEROTA: John?

JOHN AVLON, THE DAILY BEAST: Sustainable, yes. True, no. Our long national nightmare is just beginning, people. Look --

CAMEROTA: Something he said is true?

AVLON: He clearly has a truth-telling problem. But more importantly, it is all about him. This is a massive ego, who calls anyone who disagrees with him an idiot or a loser.

And it was basically a 45-minute rambling infomercial yesterday for his company. This is a marketing exercise, people. This is not a presidential campaign. But he will crowd serious candidates off the stage because he will get some Tea Party support, and I think S.E. will back me up on that.

CAMEROTA: S.E., I watched your response to his press conference yesterday. I think it's fair to say you were gobsmacked.

AVLON: Are Americans ever gobsmacked?

CAMEROTA: I know, she was. What's your takeaway, S.E.?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I was sitting right here in this studio yesterday watching it.

CUOMO: She hasn't moved.

CUPP: Yes, I haven't moved in real time. I'm hoping he'll come back and talk some more. I experienced what has to be the greatest day of my political career and a day that will never be topped.

I mean, it was entertaining. It was a mess. Jonathan's right. It was a rambling mess.

What's sad is Trump is right. He is qualified. He has qualifications that would make him an interesting person to run for president. I don't know why it seems as though he's decided not to run as a serious candidate. Instead he's running as a marketer. That's a decision.

But he could -- he could run a serious campaign. CUOMO: Why?

CUPP: I think he's decided not to.

CUOMO: How? On the credential basis, the shady money, the not wanting to be clear about what he's worth, how he makes his money. How does that make you real?

CUPP: I don't think that makes you real. I think being real is coming out and sounding like a real person.

One of my favorite radio shows is the "Bobby Bones Show". It's country show. Big listenership, and I was listening to it today coming into work. And they were talking about Trump.

And they said, look, we're not going to vote for Trump, but he is the only guy that sounds like a real person. Now, like they said, they're not going to vote for him, but what they're hoping is that he signals to the other serious candidates that you've got to start talking a little more straight.

[08:20:02] You've got to sound less like a politician. And when Donald Trump is pulling no punches and calling it like it is, even if it's crazy, and doesn't sound right and coherent, it might make someone like Scott Walker or Chris Christie or Marco Rubio have to sound a little less packaged.

AVLON: I totally agree that authenticity is what people want from their politicians and they congenitally can't do it. But we're through the looking glass here when Donald Trump who is a caricature of a caricature, someone who is so comfortable with his shamelessness, is the actual standard bearers for straight talk. That's not what's happening here. It's shameless self-promotion on the biggest stage the ultimate marketer could ever find.

CAMEROTA: But in terms of his effect on other candidates, let's listen for a second to what he had to said about some of his competitors yesterday. Listen to Donald.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: All of these politicians that I'm running against, they're trying to disassociate -- I mean, you look at Bush. It took him five days to answer the question on Iraq.

Then I looked at Rubio. He was unable to answer the question.

How are these people going to lead us? How are we going to -- how are we going to go back and make it great again? We can't. They don't have a clue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: See, John, people do think he's the nonpolitician candidate, John.

AVLON: Yes. He's a reality TV star running for president.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Having any of this.

AVLON: No, ma'am. No --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: First of all, you're wearing the same outfit he is. You've trumped out already.

AVLON: I'm working on that comb over. We shall overcomb, one of his possible slogans. They'll be hell toupee. We've been doing this for a while, we're very excited.

Look, this will be fun to watch. But there is a civic cost. And don't -- let's not mess around with that.

CAMEROTA: OK, the cost is that you think he will shunt out --

CUOMO: Cheapen.

CAMEROTA: Cheapen other legitimate --

(CROSSTALK)

AVLON: Look, he will probably be on that stage and a three-term governor of New York, George Pataki, probably won't.

CAMEROTA: OK.

AVLON: So, careful what you wish for.

S.E., do you see it that way?

CUPP: Yes, like I said, there's an appeal there. I think while voters like straight talk, they also want to see someone that is capable of a little discipline. That's where Trump I think frightens most people. There's no discipline there.

So, I think it's going to be fun to watch. And I think there is an opportunity for him to pull the other candidates toward reality and less about the political packaging of how everything is usually presented.

The interesting thing I will say is I don't know how fact checkers are going to deal with Donald Trump, a man who speaks almost entirely in hyperbole.

I mean, you know, America has stupid people. Zero Pinocchio, that's true.

CUOMO: Expect stern legal letters.

CUPP: America has never beaten Japan at anything? That's not true. CAMEROTA: All right. Well, speaking of reality, Jeb Bush was doing entertaining reality last night. He was on Jimmy Fallon and he slow jammed the news. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We face an important election in 2016. Whoever we choose will be tasks with changing the course of our country and whipping America into shape.

JIMMY FALLON, TV HOST: You hear that America? Jeb Bush said he wants to whip you "50 Shades of Grey" style.

BUSH: Jimmy, I think I speak for all Americans when I say ew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jimmy just got bush whacked.

BUSH: America needs a bold new vision.

FALLON: It's time for the country to make a decision.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boldest election, the country's direction is still 16 months until we have the election, in 2016, who will we choose --

FALLON: And that is how we slow jam the news

BUSH: Oh, yeah!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: John, what's happened to our country?

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: What's happening right now?

AVLON: What's happening to us? I feel creepy.

No. Listen, that, look, I you know, S.E. is making an important point last segment that applies to this, which is the risk of authenticity, the risk of intimacy is actually the most powerful thing a politics can do in an era of over spin, right? And doing it with humor and actually showing a sense of humor about yourself is actually very powerful.

When Jeb slow jammed the news in Spanish last night, that's actually a pretty good move, because it's this kind of canned I can reach Hispanic voters. But self aware, as well as reaching out.

And there are two different ways to do that. There's the actual straight talk and then there's the canned unhinged rambling. I think it's important to make that --

CUOMO: But, S.E., you're making a very valuable point. I mean, part of me hates that you're right about it. But these people up on the stage, they're going to want to stay in lock step on what their message is. And Trump will be very disruptive on that score if he's allowed to be up there because he does say a lot of things that people in this country feel.

CUPP: Yes. And he says it in a way that normal people talk. I mean, Trump looks a lot like our uncles or dads. You know, we go home and they say, one other thing --

CUOMO: Not my family.

(LAUGHTER)

CUPP: Right?

I mean, you know, this is how people talk, love it or hate it. And certainly it's not a qualification to run a serious campaign for the presidency. But there is an appeal. And I think other politicians would be wise to remember that along with the disciplined and the canned messages and the unwillingness to make mistakes, people also want the straight talk.

You have to have both. The most successful candidates have a combination of the two and know when to turn which one on.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's look at the clock, S.E. Cupp, John Avlon, thank you for this. We have a lot of time to be entertained by this, 509 days, 16 hours, 34 minutes. Time is flying, 12 second now.

AVLON: Twelve seconds --

CUOMO: It really does.

Thanks so much, guys. Great to see you.

CUPP: Thank you.

CUOMO: Let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: Gosh, I remember when it was 511 days just like two days ago. So weird.

All right. Still ahead here in the news -- a really tense encounter with police in Nashville. A group of teens were taunting officers trying to make an arrest. Was the force used by these officers justified? We've got the video ahead.

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