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Three American Heroes Honored in France; China Losses Rattle Global Markets; Jeb Bush to Focus on Border Security in Texas; Train Attack: Lone Wolf or Planned Attack? Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 24, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was either do something or die.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't really a conscious decision. We just kind of acted.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Twenty-three-year-old U.S. airman Spencer Stone led the charge.

SPENCER STONE, HONORED FOR BRAVERY: I saw he had what looked to be an AK-47. And he -- it looked like it was jammed or it wasn't working, and he was trying to charge the weapon. And Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said, "Let's go."

ROBERTSON: Authorities say he and his two friends, college senior Anthony Sadler, and National Guard member Alek Scarlatos, along with a French and British national, prevented what could have been a bloody massacre.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I heard that they -- they were moving, that gave me the impetus to get up and do it. They galvanized me, as well.

S. STONE: Ran down, tackled him. We hit the ground. Alek came up and grabbed the gun out of his hand while I put him in a chokehold.

ROBERTSON: The suspect is identified as Ayoub al-Khazzani, a Moroccan national who boarded the train carrying a small arsenal of weapons, including an assault rifle with at least eight magazines, a Luger automatic pistol with extra ammunition, and a box cutter, which he used to slash Stone multiple times, nearly severing his thumb.

BRIAN STONE, FATHER OF SPENCER STONE: I think he's not dead because he took immediate action to take action to protect himself and everyone there. Plus, there being an angel in the room.

ROBERTSON: Stone's father believing it was destiny, the three men moving from coach seats to first class for better Wi-Fi.

EVERETT STONE, BROTHER OF SPENCER STONE: I expect nothing less from my brother. He's a warrior.

ROBERTSON: According to a senior European counterterrorism official, Khazzani is linked to investigations into radical Islamic networks across Europe, including a French ISIS cell in Turkey. His lawyer says he denies that he is a terrorist. Instead, planned to rob passengers on the train with weapons he found in a park.

One passenger was shot in the melee. Stone rushed to help another who was wounded in the neck.

S. STONE: I just stuck two of fingers in his hole, found what I thought to be the artery, pushed down, and the bleeding stopped.

ROBERTSON: Over the weekend, President Obama called the men personally, commending them for their courage and quick action.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And the French president said these men are an example for others, that when faced with a crisis -- and here he was quoting Anthony Sadler, who was asked about this, how he was impacted and how he felt about had happened. He said if faced with a crisis, one should stand up and do something. The French president quoted him by name. That, alone, a huge honor here.

The French president saying that people should do what these three young heroes did when presented with a situation of crisis, a potential terrorist like this, they should stand up and do something. A very high honor indeed -- Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And we are so proud of them back here at home, Nic. Thanks so much for that.

Well, a New York social worker witnessed the horrifying attack. We spoke with Christine Coons about what she saw as she traveled on the train for what was supposed to be her first vacation to Europe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE COONS, WITNESS TO INCIDENT ON TRAIN: So I had been on vacation in Europe for the first time ever, which is extremely exciting for me, and I was happy about it. And I was traveling with a good friend of mine through Italy and then Amsterdam; and then we parted ways in Amsterdam. And he went to Berlin, and I was to go to Paris.

CAMEROTA: So you were on that train alone?

COONS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: At what point during your ride did you realize that something was unfolding?

COONS: I was on the train doing my makeup, actually and, you know, I had -- so I had the fold-out tray table out doing my makeup and all of a sudden, around -- between 5:45 and 5:50, I heard gunshots.

CAMEROTA: You heard gunshots in your car?

COONS: I believe after, you know, just thinking about everything that went down and the other information I've gained, that I believe the gunshot actually happened in car 11. I was in car 12. But I was in car 12 near the entrance of 11 and 12.

CAMEROTA: So, when you heard gunshots, when did you realize that something terrible was unfolding and that you needed to take cover?

COONS: As soon as I heard -- as soon as I heard the gunshots, myself and everyone around me ducked under the seats. I ducked under the seat and had the tray table over my head, as well. And I was sort of doing this, and I also had my cell phone clutched in my hand underneath the seat, as well.

CAMEROTA: You had your cell phone clutched in your hand, and you were able to actually take some photos...

COONS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: ... of this entire crime unfolding. And we have those. You've shared them with us. What is this picture that we're seeing?

COONS: So, this photo is a man that, it appeared to me that his neck -- his neck was profusely bleeding.

CAMEROTA: This is the first victim, you believe, who was shot in the neck?

COONS: I believe, yes, he was the first. So he was shot in the neck, and he had come stumbling into the train. And he fell -- he had a bloody duffel bag that I also have a photo of. And he had first dropped the bloody duffel bag in the seat right across from me, essentially, and then he had collapsed to the floor very close to where I was sitting.

[07:05:21] CAMEROTA: Here's the picture of the duffel bag?

COONS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So you are under your seat.

COONS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: You're taking cover. The tray table is down.

COONS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And you see this man fall, with blood, and you see that bloody duffel bag. What's going through your head while all that's happening?

COONS: I didn't know what to think. I just thought, oh, my God, this man just got shot; he's dead. Like I thought he, like, I'm like the neck, that's a severe area to be shot at, and he might be dead right now. And I thought am I next? That was my first thought, am I next? Are we all next?

CAMEROTA: So you thought that somebody was on a rampage?

COONS: Yes, I did. Right away.

CAMEROTA: You immediately thought that that's what was happening?

COONS: I did.

CAMEROTA: Was the gunman saying anything?

COONS: No, I didn't hear the gunman. Because what I believe, at this point, is that the shot was fired in car 11 and that the man was running away from the assailant, probably into car 12 and then dropped the duffel bag and fell to the floor very close to where I was sitting. That's what I believe. That's how I believe it happened.

CAMEROTA: So you and fellow passengers are cowering under your seat with the tray table down. At what point did you figure out that there were three heroes on this train?

COONS: So I had seen at least two of them while I was under my seat still and I'm snapping photos. And just to go back to that real quick. I was snapping photos but not just snapping photos. I was on Facebook chat with a friend of mine I had been traveling with.

CAMEROTA: While it was happening?

COONS: Yes, while it was happening. I have the conversation. I said -- I messaged him and I said, "Oh my God, oh my God, there's a man with a gun. There's gunshots. A man just dropped to the floor in front of me bleeding." And I -- that's when I snapped the photo of the duffel bag. Then I snapped the photo of him on the floor. And then later on, I snapped the third photo of the assailant outside the train, being -- with his hands behind his back.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and we have that, as well. But when did you realize that there were people on that train who were going to try to save you?

COONS: So while I was under there still, I had -- the shots were fired; the man was bleeding. I didn't know what to think. And then, actually, while I was under there, I saw a large rifle. And at first, I thought, "Oh, my God, is that the gunman," because I didn't know yet who he was. And I later learned he was one of the three men that saved my life and all of our lives. I believe that that was probably what he had taken from, maybe what he had taken from the assailant. He -- I know that he had to wrestle him and take the ammunition away.

CAMEROTA: Did you hear, during the process of this, we know that there was some conversation exchanged between these three Americans. Did you hear them talking?

COONS: I heard one of them say, "I'm a paramedic. Someone get this man some help." You know, he was basically trying to come to this man's rescue. So he...

CAMEROTA: The first victim? COONS: The victim with the bloody neck, the gunshot to the neck.

The only victim that I saw was the man who got shot in the neck. And he was asking passengers on -- in my car to get like neckties, men's neckties or like a woman's scarf to try to make a tourniquet around the neck to stop the bleeding.

CAMEROTA: Could you tell that there were three Americans on your car and that they were trying to quell the whole situation?

COONS: I believe I only saw two of them. I don't think I saw three. So I -- but I did come out from under -- a lot of us came out from under our seats when we realized, OK -- they communicated to us that "OK, we have the man tied up. His ammunition was taken away." So they did communicate that. So we felt a bit safer. I was still scared and shaken up. But I felt, like, a bit safer to come out of hiding, so I did that.

And also, they actually made us all go to the back of the car and then eventually made us go to the next car, car 13, because they didn't want so many people near this man who was on the floor bleeding.

CAMEROTA: What do you think it was that allowed these three Americans to run towards danger, when everyone else, naturally your reflex and my reflex would be to hide?

COONS: To hide. Fight or flight, right?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

COONS: So you know, I know that a couple of them have military background. And so, I mean, I guess -- I don't have military background myself, but my understanding is that, you know, if you have that training, that's probably what you are kind of programmed to do, essentially.

I don't know what it was, but I think they were very, very brave. I owe my life to them. I'm incredibly, incredibly grateful to those three men. They are fantastic human beings, and we are all grateful for what they did for us.

[07:10:10] CAMEROTA: What do you want to say to them?

COONS: Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart. I don't feel like I'm -- you know, the thoughts that were running through my mind were, am I going to die? I'm not ready to die. That's really how I felt -- thought -- I felt. Excuse me, I'm getting a little emotional.

And you know, I feel like I have so much more to do with my life. I'm only 28 years old. And I have goals, and everybody else on that train does, as well. And they saved us. You know, they are heroes. And if they don't think they are heroes, I mean, they're very humble and I respect that. But they are heroes. They're truly heroes. And my mom wanted to say thank you so much. She's very grateful that they were on that train. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: We're all so grateful they were on that train.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I keep thinking about the fact in those early moments, too, they didn't know if he was alone, if there was another gunman, if there was another assailant. I mean, all of that happening so fast with such fluidity.

CUOMO: And they knew that he had shot somebody. They knew he had the AK-47. And yet, they decided to rush him. And others. There was another American involved who got shot in the neck after disarming the man. There was somebody else on the train who helped. A lot of people stepped up.

CAMEROTA: It invokes memories of Flight 93 during 9/11, when they said, "Let's roll," and they decided -- they knew enough to know that they were going to go take care of it. And you know, we're just so grateful for people like that...

PEREIRA: Thank goodness there are heroes among us.

CAMEROTA: ... who walk among us.

PEREIRA: Yes, really amazing.

All right. In other news, breaking, in fact another brutal day for global investors. Markets in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan finishing down, way down as the sell-off we saw last week carries over into this week.

Let's turn to chief business correspondent Christine Romans with the impact it's going to have on Wall Street. That's obviously what we're all waiting for.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, big spillover here. Let me show you the world markets first, Michaela.

These are the red arrows around the world. Paris down more than 3, almost 3.5 percent. That is a big move. The spark here was Shanghai, Shanghai having this horrible day, 8.5 percent. They're calling it black Monday in China right now.

Let's look at futures here in the U.S., because you're seeing a follow-through here. S&P 500 futures are going to be down big time. It's going to be a really ugly day on top of a very ugly day Friday when the Dow lost three percent. The Dow is now in a correction. That means it's down 10 percent from its most recent peak.

A lot of ferocious selling, and some of the darling names of the year are down big. Apple is down big, Netflix, Disney. And we're seeing some big losses, again, this morning in pre-market trades.

So one of the things that's really important to watch here is oil. Oil prices down very sharply here. And this is unsettling for a couple of reasons. One, the companies, energy companies in your 401(k), they've been really hit. And all those countries that depend on oil for revenue, a lot of emerging markets, those are really getting hammered. China's growth is slowing down. Oil prices are plunging here. It's unsettling the world, and you're seeing stocks react.

We've got a couple of hours until the opening bell here. But I'm expecting, you guys, it's going to be a very ugly day for stock investors.

Some perspective: we had record highs in stocks earlier this spring, remember? So a lot of people are telling me this morning, we needed to have a correction at some point. It's pretty ugly when it happens, though -- guys.

CUOMO: Yes. Except when your money is in the market...

ROMANS: Yes.

CUOMO: ... you don't feel like you ever need to lose it.

ROMANS: That's right.

CUOMO: But we'll keep watching it. Christine, thank you very much.

So a big boost for President Obama's Iran nuclear deal. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid says he strongly supports it and will do everything in his power to see that it stands. Now, remember, the president needs at least 34 senators in his corner to thwart an override if -- of his veto, if the agreement gets voted down. Now so far, 27 Democrats have publicly supported the deal, but senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez oppose it. So some work to be done.

PEREIRA: Jeb Bush is taking his campaign to the Lone Star State today to talk border security. The GOP contender facing some backlash over recent comments that he made about immigration, looking to turn things around to get rival and frontrunner Donald Trump, who was recently in Texas, off his back.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux live in Washington, D.C., with all of the latest today. Good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Jeb Bush, he is trying to recapture the tone and the substance of the immigration debate by making his case at the border today. He's going to be in McAllen, Texas. That is where his campaign handlers say that he's going to this closed meeting with local officials to discuss border security issues, as well as economics.

Now, Jeb's message is going to be that his plan is in stark contrast to Trump's $500 billion immigration plan, which is going to require big government spending. And Bush's trip follows Trump's own visit to the border where he touted his plan to force all illegal immigrants out of the country, to deny U.S. citizenship to babies born in the U.S. of undocumented immigrants.

And Trump used the offensive term "anchor babies," as did Bush. Now, this got a lot of criticism last week. Bush refused to apologize for it. Many Hispanic Republicans, however, said they did not think that it would have a long-lasting impact, given his close connections to the Latino community.

[07:15:10] Well, over the weekend, Trump kept up the criticism of his opponent that is closest at his heels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via phone): We need a person with a lot of smarts, a lot of cunning and a lot of energy. And Jeb doesn't have that. I think he's a very nice person. If he became president, good luck. It's another Bush; it's going to be the same old story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So again, the visit at the border, it is meant to really regain, recapture control over this who immigration issue -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. We'll see how that goes. Suzanne, thank you for that.

Well, an Indy car driver is in critical condition and a coma this morning after this flying debris from the crash hit Justin Wilson directly in the head. He lost consciousness, sending his car into the wall. Wilson has a severe head injury. The driver of the first car was visibly shaken by what happened. He left the wreck under his own power with an injured foot.

PEREIRA: So excited about all the fast-paced racing and such. And the danger is definitely real.

CAMEROTA: It's -- I think it's very nerve-wracking to watch go that fast.

Well, back to our top story. What do we know about the man that those three American heroes took down? Was he just a train robber, as his lawyer suggests, or was he part of a larger terror network? We'll tell you the latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:20:19] ALEK SKARLATOS, HELPED STOP GUNMAN: The gunshot was one of the -- pretty much the first thing that came to our attention. I didn't know it was a gunshot at the time. But that was the first thing I did. It was behind me. So I had no idea what he was in -- or what intended to do but, yes, that was the first thing that happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CUOMO: Alek Skarlatos, one of a group of Americans who became

heroes, taking down a gunman on a Paris-bound train. Officials say they had the suspect on their radar, suspected of terror links. But his lawyer says he's just hungry, homeless, found the weapons and was looking to rob passengers.

Let's bring in Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism analyst and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Daveed, first the easier question: Do you believe there is a likelihood that this man is what his lawyer presents him to be?

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Not in the least. I mean, he came into the train with an AK-47, nine magazines, a pistol and a box cutter. If you're coming on board a train just to rob it and then to leave, you're not going to bring that much ammunition, full stop.

CUOMO: And not usually what you find hiding in a park somewhere, which was also suggested.

So then we go to the reality, which is he was on the radar, but obviously not close enough on the radar to be monitoring his movements. Is that a window into a deficiency or the reality?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: It's a window to the reality. If you look at the number of people in Europe who are being monitored in light of this conflict in Iraq and Syria, that strong (ph) 70 foreign fighters over to that theater, there are thousands of people on the radar of authorities.

And this is someone who'd gone to Syria. But unless you go to Syria explicitly to join a jihadist group, that's not against European law. And so they didn't have a reason to arrest him. They faced a surveillance problem, a problem of potential radicalization, people associated with jihadist movements, that's so broad that they simply cannot surveil them all.

CUOMO: And then we get to the reality of what happened on that train. You're not always going to have this group of men. We have the three that we know were awarded. There's another one in the hospital who took a bullet to the neck after disarming the man. He's a French American citizen. He's a doctor. There are other nationalities involved that stepped up. Doesn't always happen.

Trains are vulnerable. We've known it here since 9/11. You can buy a ticket 30 minutes before you get on the train. There's no security going on and off. Should that change, or do we choose convenience over 100 percent safety?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: It's a great question. And certainly, you're not going to see train stations in Europe move towards airport style security. They can't afford to do that.

But the Belgium prime minister has already called not only for urgent discussion with other countries about increasing rail security, but also has called for a review of what's called the Schengen Zone, which is the zone that throughout Europe provides for passport-free travel from one country to another.

Now, Schengen is very hard to modify, but there's going to be a lot of discussions about, No. 1, can you increase the ability to look at people's identification documents? So, for example, you can see if someone who is a suspected terrorist is getting on board a train.

No. 2, searching people's bags. In this case, looking at the attacker here and the large amount of ammunition and weapons he got on board the train. There's going to be some discussion, isn't this the kind of thing that you could have stopped? So you're looking at measures like airport security, but rather, you know, more police presence that can interrupt plots that are in progress.

CUOMO: Let's just think through it for one second, though. We don't want to do what we do on airplanes, for one simple reason: convenience. That's the only reason. Europe has 40 million a day. We had Juliette Kayyem reporting for us earlier on the rails. The U.S. doesn't have as much volume, but similar volume per capita. We don't do it, because we don't want to do it, not because we can't do it, not because we shouldn't do it, right?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Well, there's another -- there are other reasons besides convenience. Convenience obviously is high on the list, and conveniency (ph) is tied in with economics. That you just need to be able to move people rather efficiently. If you slow down their day, and then you're taking away large amounts of man hours from the day.

But a third thing is cost. If you were to implement TSA-style security throughout Europe, it would be extraordinarily expensive. That's another reason that they're hesitant to do so. And it lends itself to a fourth concern, which is efficacy. That if you're going to do TSA-style security, bringing in all these people, do you have enough qualified individuals?

Because right now, as you certainly know, give that your report on TSA, when people try to test the TSA system by, for example, sneaking bombs across, more often than not, they're able to get them across. Even though TSA is very expensive, it's not clear that it's actually doing its job of preventing, in crisis situations, those bombs from going through.

CUOMO: As we both know, though, you better than I, these were the same questions that used to be asked before 9/11. And then everything changed with respect to air travel. And hopefully, we don't have a similar situation on the rails.

But Daveed, thank you for helping us understand who this man is, who he isn't and what the considerations are going forward. Appreciate it.

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: My pleasure.

CUOMO: Mick.

[07:25:16] PEREIRA: All right, Chris. Could another billionaire raise a challenge against Donald Trump? That's what Murdoch says he'd like to see. So who would he back? We'll let John King explore all of that, "Inside Politics."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: An honor they won't soon forget for three American heroes. French President Hollande presenting Knights of the Legion Medals for bravery to Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos for taking down a gunman on a high-speed train. That gunman is now being linked to ISIS fighters in Turkey. He and his lawyer claim he was only on the train to rob passengers, because he was hungry.

CAMEROTA: Investigators are trying to figure out what caused a massive explosion at a U.S. air base in Japan. The blast triggered a raging fire that destroyed a warehouse filled with canisters of nitrogen, oxygen and Freon. The facility is located about 25 miles southwest of Tokyo, and it took hours for firefighters to put out these flames. No injuries reported.

CUOMO: A Louisiana state trooper is fighting for his life this morning. Authorities say Senior Trooper Steven Vincent was trying to talk a DUI suspect out of his crashed truck when the suspect shot him...