Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

2 Dead, 7 Arrested in Major Police Raid that Stopped Major Terror Attack; 8 ISIS-Linked Suspects Arrest at Istanbul Airport; Attacks Mastermind & 8th Attacker Were in Prison Together. Aired 8:30- 9a ET

Aired November 18, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: And that they had booked a hotel. But police said that this appeared untrue after checking with that hotel. They were found with a map indicating a route commonly used by refugees. We're going to have more with Ivan Watson in just moments. While we get him up, we're going to discuss what has happened already this morning with our panel. We have Jim Bittermann, senior CNN correspondent, of course. Melissa Bell, you are the international affairs editor of France24. You've been covering this literally 24.7. And Fabrice Magnier, former Navy SEAL here in France and chairman of a security company.

Jim, we heard the French president giving context to what happened. This was supposed to be over in large part after Friday and yet this morning they wound up disrupting another team, according to authorities, just in time before they could attack of at least equal size, fire power and explosive capabilities of the team that launched Friday's attack.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: You were talking to the mayors of France, who are directly responsible for the on ground component of security in France. And they also promulgate the values of France. And that's what his message telling - that was the message prepared. But then it was given much more emphasis by what took place this morning because the mayors, I think, all realized that they could very well be on the front line of one of these things and they'd better be ready for it. So it was his message to them.

But also I think it was - it was kind of an admission that he needs to powers he's going to be asking for later this week. He - on Friday they're going to vote in the national assembly on emergency powers, which are going to give police the ability to stop and search people, to put people under house arrest, anybody they think is going to cause harm to public order can be taken in and arrested. So it's going to be very sweeping powers.

CUOMO: Now, Melissa Bell, let's talk about this a little bit because some have suggested it's turning emotion into law. The state of emergency under the constitution should go for 12 days as maximum. The president is asking for three months. There will be debate today, tomorrow, then the vote, as Jim laid out. What is at stake here?

MELISSA BELL, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR, FRANCE24: It is a huge - a long period that he's seeking. Three months is a long time. And these are exceptionally strong powers that he's giving - he's giving himself. And he mentioned, of course, when he was in front of (INAUDIBLE), the fact that he was also seeking constitutional change. So what he wants to do is not only seek this three month extension to this state of emergency, he wants to change the constitution so that we believes he no longer has to go before parliament in order to take these sort of measures.

So we're talking about big changes that are being considered here in France and many MPs, I think even within his own party, maybe especially within his own party, are going to be very concerned and you're going to hear a lot about it as they begin to vote tomorrow and Friday about the fact that these sorts of decisions are being made, as you say, in the heat of the moment. Of course necessarily they have to. But whether broader constitutional change should be considered at this point is pretty controversial here in France, not least on the - on the president's own (INAUDIBLE).

CUOMO: MPs, members of parliament. He's from the socialist party. Francois Hollande not particularly strong right now, up until this moment. Do you think he gets the extension to three months? Do you think he gets the constitutional power basically residing in the president unilateral authority to change policing of the state?

BELL: So far this idea of national unity has held. All the parties, with a couple of exceptions, a couple of dissenting voices, have said we're going to stand behind the changes that are required. And there is this strong sense - we're only just coming out of the period of national mourning. Everyone's still very much in shock and I think most of the parties will gather behind whatever the president is asking for at this stage. The question is, how long that sense of national unity will last. And I think you'll begin to see splits start to emerge fairly quickly.

CUOMO: Some 10 months ago a then frustrated Fabrice Magnier stood next to us as we watched the manhunt for those responsible for "Charlie Hebdo," saying we need to do more. We know what the threat is, but the politics, the society holds back policing. You believe that the way it is right now is the way it needs to be, period.

FABRICE MAGNIER, COUNTER TERRORISM EXPERT: Exactly. We are back to the war. So we have to go forward. And the time now of change and we have to do it. And the president is strong now enough to say, OK, we have to do it and everybody is behind - in now. So we have to do it. We have no - no choice anymore. This is the only way. And the message from the president is very important today because he has to reassure the population we are strong. We will protect you. And we will do something very strong now to (INAUDIBLE) the jihadis. We will not stay without any - doing any action. We have to go forward. So it's a very strong message to the jihadis. It's a very strong message to the population.

CUOMO: And you're saying that the proof is in the productivity so to speak, that these raids are up in number, but also in quality, and that's why you stopped this team today and you really believe there may be more teams equally equipped and populated?

MAGNIER: You mean about the terrorists (INAUDIBLE)?

CUOMO: Yes, what happened today, that team -

MAGNIER: Yes.

CUOMO: You believe that there could be another.

MAGNIER: Yes, of course. We have sleeping cells and they have demonstrated they are able to do it. And we have many places like that in France. It's not only in Paris. In every big cities, in Marseilles, we have the same - the same problems. So now the government is able to increase the capability and they are (INAUDIBLE) and they will do it. Every day they will do it until they will finish to understand what's going on and done it.

[08:35:15] CUOMO: And Francois Hollande taking a little bit of playing ground here from President Obama. He wants to go and meet with the U.S. Obviously it's all been very amicable up to this point. But he's saying there needs to be an increase in the cooperation that we see in a place like Paris, but also abroad in Syria. Seems they want to up the ante, Jim.

BITTERMANN: They certainly have. I mean the Charles de Gaulle sailed this morning, which is France and it's actually Europe's only aircraft carrier. It sailed to - off the coast - we assume of the coast of Lebanon so it would be in a better strike position.

Now I think - you know, the question, the formulation of - of war, either the potential (INAUDIBLE) for the fourth time now we're at war. He said it the night of the attacks. He said it the following night when he addressed the nation.

CUOMO: And why isn't it just rhetoric? Explain.

BITTERMANN: It's not just rhetoric because, I mean, under the - under the constitution there are some powers that accrue to him by saying it's a war and by giving - declared a war with these emergency powers. And his - not only is he saying it, but all of his lieutenants are saying, all of his administers in the cabinet are saying, (INAUDIBLE) is saying, the prime minister's been saying it. So it really is strong.

Another interesting thing about his speech this morning was that he talked about where this attack was aimed. He said this was aimed at young people. And it was, of course. I mean many of the victims were young. And - but what that does, at least in terms of politics or psychology for France seems to me is to transfer this battle on to a new generation because I think up until now young people have sort of felt, well, yes, terrorism, this is something the adults worry about. I don't have to worry about this. And then you've got a bunch of people in a bar, you know, having a night out on a Friday night and all of a sudden that changed.

CUOMO: Very much hitting home for everybody, any age. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, just to show how this is reverberating out investigatively and politically, that you had what happened here Friday, led to arrests here in Paris, gunfire and explosions here this morning. Also, arrests in Germany and now word of arrests in Turkey. Were people posing as refugees trying to get from Turkey into Germany and maybe beyond? We have the latest right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:41:10] CUOMO: Major developments here in Paris and beyond. We've had a morning of explosion, gunfire and revelations by authorities. A massive operation has sent hundreds of assets into an area called Saint-Denis, it's outside Paris, to apartments. They found a team of terrorists there. A female terrorist that allegedly exploded a vest or some type of device. Two terrorists killed, others detained, officers hurt. It culminated in a bizarre moment with a team of officers breaking down the door of a church.

Now, what was the intelligence that led to this? Critical information off of cell phones taken just days ago, surveillance, and also actionable intelligence that the alleged planner of all this wasn't in Syria but right here maybe in Saint-Denis. That's what led to this operation where this team was then discovered.

Now, is this just about France? No, we know that it's also about Belgium. That there are communities there that have been all too active when it comes to terrorism. We have senior correspondent Ivan Watson there.

Ivan, we come to you as word of reporting comes of two big developments. One, that the eighth attacker that's being searched for right now in a massive manhunt was, at some point, in prison with the alleged planner of this event and word of arrests in Turkey involving the Istanbul Airport, Moroccan men who were stopped as they were about to board a flight, maybe headed for Germany posing as tourists. What can you tell us about the connection between the eighth attacker and this alleged planner and these arrests?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start with the - with the Paris attackers. I mean the most wanted man right now many say in Europe is Salah Abdeslam, who's photo has been spread by French and Belgian authorities. And we're now learning from the Belgian federal prosecutors office that at some point in the last couple of years he spent time in prison here in Belgian with the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, that Belgian member of ISIS, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. That's another link between a man - two men who were believed to be at large right now. Two men who, in fact, both lived here in this neighborhood of Brussels known as Molenbeek, that has gotten so much attention in recent days. So that is another important link now that is probably part of why investigators believe that Abaaoud had contact to this group of attackers.

And we have to also bring up the fact that it's very clear that at least some of the logistics, some of the organization was carried out from Belgium for the Paris attacks. A number of cars that were rented and apparently used in Paris, rented here in Brussels and that fugitive, Salah Abdeslam, he was last seen driving to Belgian over the course of the weekend, stopped by French authorities and later he disappeared. But the car that he was traveling in found in this very neighborhood that I'm standing in right now.

Chris.

CUOMO: And, obviously, still active there. Ivan, we know that in the wake of Friday's attacks here in Paris, that led to not just activity here in France, but activity obviously where you are, resulting in a massive manhunt. Also in Germany where there have been arrests. And now word of this other activity in Turkey. Give us some context for the urgency. Is this about things being coordinated by the bad guys in connection what happened Friday, or is this about an active response and heightened awareness that is revealing other potential situations?

[08:44:49] WATSON: You know, Turkey's come under so much criticism over the past couple of years for the movement of jihadi fighters through Turkish territory into Syria and back out of Syria. And now what we have is an announcement that Turkish authorities have made via the semi-official (INAUDIBLE) agency saying that authorities intercepted eight Moroccan suspects suspected of being linked to ISIS that had flown from Casablanca in Morocco to Istanbul, apparently posing as tourists. That is according to Turkish police.

But again, they suspect these people of being linked to ISIS and they found documents on at least one of the eight Moroccan suspects that showed that they appeared to be planning to travel via that migrant route that so many tens of thousands of people, migrants and refugees fleeing conflict have used to try to get into Europe. And that this document apparently showed that they were planning to leave the Turkish port city of Izmir, travel to Greece as many, many have done on those very unseaworthy little rafts to Greek islands then traveling across the Balkans, across Serbia, Hungary and on to Germany.

That's not the only development. We're also hearing from this semi- official Anadolu Agency that Turkish law enforcement killed another suspected ISIS member on the Turkish/Syrian border and detained at least 28 other suspects, who they were accused of trying to cross that border. We don't know if they were trying to go into Syria or if they were trying to go into Turkey.

Now let's put this into context, Chris. In the case of some of the suspects in the Paris attacks, at least one of them who was a resident of Brussels, Bilal Hadfi, one of the suicide bombers in Paris, he lived previously here in Brussels. Belgian officials say they knew that he had traveled to Syria to be a volunteer jihadi fighter. What they didn't know is that he'd somehow smuggled himself back into Europe. They only found out that he was back here that he'd evaded an international arrest warrant when he blew himself to pieces outside of soccer stadium in Paris.

And a lot of officials that I'm talking to here are saying our big challenge now is that people that were trying to monitor that are going to Syria, we can't figure out when they get back into Europe because that border is simply overwhelmed right now by the large numbers of people that have been crossing as part of that mass wave of migrants and refugees that are fleeing conflicts and poverty and trying to get into Europe. Raising some very serious security questions. Chris.

CUOMO: The biggest potential example of what you are speaking of right now would be, if it is true, as French authorities now believe, that the alleged planner of Friday's attack here in Paris is not in Syria, as they had speculated just 12 hours or so ago, but right here outside Paris.

Ivan Watson, thank you for bringing us up to date on all of these developments.

We'll give you a quick break here. When we come back, we have fresh information about this massive police operation that led to explosions, gunfire, and death. And according to police, in the nick of time, stopping of a major attack here in Paris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:01] CUOMO: Significant headlines here from Paris. There's been a massive police operation in the preceding hours to right now. There have been two terrorists at least killed. Several taken into custody. Police say they arrived just in the nick of time to stop another terror team just outside Paris in a place known as Saint-Denis. In two different apartments raids were held. They found a team of equal or greater manpower, fire power, and explosive capabilities to that which did the attacks in Paris on Friday.

So that is the situation today. How did we get here?

Jim Sciutto, senior national security corespondent, this was about intelligence recovered in the last couple of days and quick police work. How so?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Particularly, cell phone surveillance. They say that they identified - they were led to this apartment based on intercepted phone calls. Among those intercepted commutations and very key to this were the cell phones found around the dead bodies of the attackers who carried out the rampage on Friday. And that was very key. And what they said is they had this apartment under surveillance just for the last 24 hours, which means that that key bit, the key clue came within that last 24 hours and they acted very quickly because, as they said, they had to. They believe that an attack was imminent. That they were prepared to carry out another attack on the streets of Paris.

CUOMO: Jim Bittermann, senior correspondent, President Francois Hollande leaning very heavily on the developments of today and saying we are at war. Matter politically, and also legally because there is a big debate about extending the state of emergency. What happens?

BITTERMANN: Exactly. He's asked for these emergency powers to be extended for three months. He automatically can do it for 12 days. But he wants to extend it for three months, they can stop and search people, they can put people under house arrest if they even suspect that they are going to cause - they're going to bother public order, they're going to have any kind of an impact on public. He was talking to the mayors this morning. He said, once again, fourth time now in public, he said we're at war. He told them we're at war. The mayors are responsible, the frontline people for some of the security in this country. So they are out there getting that message in. We've heard that he's going to ask or tell his various security services to add 17,000 people. That includes military police, but also intelligence people. And of course that is where the big leads are coming from as far as fighting ISIS.

CUOMO: Fabrice Mangier, former French Navy SEAL, chairman of a security company now, you are saying these changes aren't a maybe; they are a must. You need these increased powers in order to combat what you say is a root system of terror cells in and around France.

MANGIER: Yes. What say -- The bamboo strategy used as a terrorist to spread out in our society for the last few years now is showing us they are ready to strike. And our police forces, they did a very, very big job those last days. Imagine three hundred raids in two days.

CUOMO: Three hundred raids.

[08:54:57] MANGIER: Three hundred raids. And they got many information in what happened this morning is a result of those agencies. And we will continue. We need it. This is a great opportunity now to do it. It is a sad opportunity, but we are back -- back to the war. And President Hollande has no choice anymore. He has to go forward. He has to explain our citizens we are at war. That is it.

CUOMO: The urgency couldn't be made by better example than what just happened in the proceeding hours. Again, explosives, supposedly according to authorities, a female terrorist when confronted in an apartment in Saint-Denis detonated some type of device, whether it was a suicide vest or some other kind of explosive, we are not told yet. But at least two terrorists wound up being killed, a number wound up being taken into custody.

Police were also injured and it culminated in a bizarre scene of the police tearing down a church door on actionable intelligence that the alleged planner of what happened here Friday isn't in Syria, but may be right here in and around Paris.

There's so many developments. There are also arrests in Istanbul and also some connection to Germany that are all going as this operation took place here. We'll have all the latest for you in CNN's continuing coverage right after this break with Anderson Cooper. Please, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. Welcome to our extensive coverage of the terror attacks here in Paris. I'm Anderson Cooper. It has been an extraordinary morning. A number of developments here in Paris. I want to bring you up to speed with what we know at this hour.