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Man Attacks Police Station in France; Terrorism Attacks in Europe in 2015 Reviewed; President Obama Taking Part in CNN's "Guns In America"; Trump to Cruz: Go See a Judge About Citizenship. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired January 07, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- really out of precaution more than anything else. There doesn't seem to be any imminent danger at this point. It is mostly making sure that the area is clear and secured. We now know of course that the vest that the man was wearing did not have any explosives. And for that reason I think they are just making sure that everyone is safe and that he wasn't working with anyone else. At this point he does seem to have been a lone attacker, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Atika, thank you very much. Stay with us. If you hear anything else get in my ear and I'll come back to you.

Let's bring in CNN's senior European correspondent Jim Bittermann and Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorism analyst and editor in chief of "The CTC Sentinel." Jim, you've been locking down in a lot of this reporting for us this morning. There are lots of reports, a range of things. One lingering aspect is this fear that, boy, this man, maybe he was just, you know, bait, that he came with his knife and his fake vest to draw a lot of attention into this police station. Authorities worried that may have been a suggestion for an attack elsewhere. What is their concern?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: That possibility, also a second attack there. For example, one thing we've heard as the attacks have taken place is this rush to the scene by the governor and the minister, particularly the interior minister, who goes right out of the scene, sometimes putting himself in danger. And we've pointed out in previous attacks, the president and interior minister are in danger in some situations because they get out there before the area has been secured.

Today he rushed right from the commemoration at the central police station. He went straight to the scene of this attack which took place minutes after the commemoration was finished and was on the scene. So if you were a potential attacker you could say, hey, that's a good way to knock off the interior minister and perpetuate a second attack. It didn't happen of course.

So the other thing, he said one of the things we're watching for is whether this is really a terrorist attack, whether this could be a crazy individual who just decided to do this. But the Paris prosecutor who takes care of terrorist events has not far been involved. It's not to the point where he is taking the lead on this. So until that happens we won't know for sure that this was a terrorist event.

CUOMO: And the French, Paul, will have to go through what Americans have with the frustration of what's called terrorism and what isn't. For the government it's very important for making a case for what resources they use, which agencies. But to people, it's like, well, if you bring a knife and pretend you have a vest and scream "Allahu Akbar" as you walk into a police station that is good enough for me.

Now, even if he is fake and he's not a ruse, there is nothing else going on, and let's hope that that's the truth, this is still a concern about what copycats present as the threat now here in France. Tell us why.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: You are obviously speaking to officials across Europe in the past few days, and they really fear a copycat attack. They feel that based on all their monitoring of radical circles in Europe that these circles have been massively energized by what they saw play out here in Paris in November. So they fear that there may be attacks from people who want to follow in the footsteps of the Paris attackers to become, in their idea, heroes.

The bigger threat, though, still comes from ISIS directed terrorism. The group is pivoting increasingly towards international terrorism. They have all that territory and they are losing some of it, and I believe that may lead them to lash out more in the coming year.

CUOMO: If you're just joining the show now, Paul Cruickshank brought us very important breaking information on the investigation. I'm going to ask you to repeat that now. They had been looking for more. They had suspicions, certainly you did early on, that the man called the planner here, yes, he was active on the scene, but he wasn't the big brain. He didn't have the knowledge about the vests and the explosive belts that were worn. What do we know now?

CRUICKSHANK: What we're hearing from senior Belgian counterterrorism officials is that there are two operatives, senior members, they believe, of this conspiracy still at large who were in touch with the Paris attackers providing orders to the Paris attackers during the period of the attacks. They have been identified by the Belgians on the fourth of December. But this is the first time their senior role has been disclosed without black and white photographers. These independents are believed to have accompanied the attackers and are still at large. And trips to Hungary to pick up some of the attackers in September, also to have wired Abdelhamid Abaaoud, his cousin, some money to rent lodgings here in Paris after the attacks.

We're hearing there were continuous communications between Belgium and Paris before, during, and after the attacks. They made the bombs, the suicide vests in Brussels in an apartment. They actually found a sewing machine that they used to stitch together the suicide vests.

[08:05:04] They then transplanted the suicide vests nearly finished to Paris where they believe they put finishing touches to the vests in a hotel. We reported they found those syringes, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, so that is the breaking information on the investigation. But this day is important for other reasons as well. It is a day to look back and remember those who were lost, lives who were taken, but also the way of life was taken to a certain degree here, Jim. And how do you see that existing as we're going in?

BITTERMANN: The president said in his mornings in his remarks to the police officers, he thanked them for putting their lives on the line and for the sacrifices they've made in order to keep us living free is the way he said it. The problem is that I don't think that that is necessarily the way people feel these days, because on the streets it is kind of scary out there, especially after this incident, it will be once again people will be on edge because of what's happened. And you can't be quite as open about the way you live.

CUOMO: Obviously we lived it here. Jim is here. Paul is here. We were here for the "Charlie Hebdo" and of course the attacks in November. Here is a look at all that transpired in 2015 that has certainly changed the way Parisians see what is normal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: One year ago today, 60 rounds tear through the offices of "Charlie Hebdo" magazine. In just three minutes 12 people are dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a slaughter, a massacre.

CUOMO: The massacre an attempt to silence the satirical magazine notorious for printing controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed.

Do you think "Charlie Hebdo" should come back?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely.

CUOMO: A resolve masking utter shock as videos of the two suspects surfaced, two brothers brandishing assault weapons, trained and evil. A police officer shot at point-blank range, one of the men shouting "We've avenged the Prophet Mohamed," Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claiming responsibility for the killings.

Two days later a third terrorist taking hostages at a kosher market, killing four before being gunned down by police. This just the start of one of the worst years in France' history. 2015 was marred by bloodshed, a string of attacks sweeping the country. The worst of it, coordinated attacks on November 13th. A team of terrorists armed with assault rifles and suicide vests target six locations across Paris.

Who helped them? Who trained them? And who will take credit for this attack?

This time mass gunmen senselessly kill in the name of ISIS, 130 people murdered in cold blood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had huge gunshots and lots of glass coming through window.

CUOMO: Coordinated attacks unfolding almost simultaneously on a Friday night. The French president attending a soccer match at the Stade de France when explosions rocked the stadium. Around the same time gunmen unleash a hail of bullets on dozens enjoying a simple night out at local cafes and bars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people arrived were covered with blood.

CUOMO: The deadliest attack of all taking place inside the Bataclan concert hall. Three attackers opened fire as the band Eagles of Death Metal play on stage. And 89 die at the scene, many trapped inside. In the chaos a woman dangles from a window. French police storm the Bataclan killing three of the shooters. In the aftermath, France, a bastion of secular freedoms, now steeped in religious extremism, the usually open society gripped by fear in a state of emergency.

The fallout is felt across Europe. New Year's fireworks canceled in Brussels amid a foiled terror plot. In Germany two Munich rail stations evacuated, German authorities believing ISIS may have been plotting a suicide attack to go off on New Year's Eve. 2015 came to a grim close with authorities still racing to capture all involved in the Paris attacks. The 10th suspect would be arrested in Brussels, a 22-year-old Belgian citizen charged with terrorist murder.

The Paris attacks remarkable also for introducing a new terrorist tactic. The man who allegedly planned was on scene during the massacre reportedly barking orders to kill. Quick police work led to his hideout outside of Paris where a massive gunfight left him and his team riddled with bullets. Now the man believed to be the ring leader may not have coordinated the attacks after all. The French interior minister investigating linking to known jihadists and connections with top ISIS operatives. European security officials tell CNN this man, a French militant, is believed to be claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks. Fabien Clain, his name worth revealing because he is still on the loose.

[08:10:08] For most here in Paris, it seems as though they are frozen in the moment a year ago when terror stormed a newsroom. "Charlie Hebdo" however has not been silenced, now a proxy for the voice of French defiance. A special edition of their weekly magazine continuing to poke fun at religion with a God like caricature on the cover, the headline, "One year after the assassin still out there."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: In the Vatican's magazine, the newspaper came out, and they didn't like the "Charlie Hebdo" cover for obvious reasons. But that is the kind of heat that "Charlie Hebdo" is willing to take. The question that becomes what are the real threats here in Parisian society and how many can be defended against? Even if something like today, even if it is a one-off, not even a real copycat, just a deranged guy who tried to make himself look like what he thought was a bigshot, it is going to scare people here once again.

BITTERMANN: Absolutely. It has the same effect. Whether or not the guy has links to ISIS or is just linked to his brother-in-law or something, it is just the idea that there is somebody out there who can attack somebody -- it just doesn't happen here. This is the kind of society where that sort of thing is, up until recently, has been totally unknown. So now all of a sudden you have got a situation where a cafe can be attacked, where a police station can be attacked in broad daylight, middle of the day, by someone. And of course it wasn't successful, but you know what, maybe next time it will be. So that is the kind of thing has people really unnerved.

CUOMO: The response heavy and hard. They closed some of the schools. They moved a car out of the way. They've cordoned it off. They've got tons of armed police around literally brandishing their weapons in an obvious show of strength. And yet it cuts against one of the lessons coming out of "Charlie Hebdo" and you could argue even November. Are the French authorities up to speed yet, Paul, with identifying threats and policing them in a way where they can prevent the attacks as we see in the United States and elsewhere?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, to the degree that they can be, Chris. But this is an unprecedented threat, and it is almost impossible to be fully up to speed with it because there are 10,500 individuals who have been flagged as radical Islamist extremists here in France. For any essentially agency that's almost impossible in terms of monitoring all these people.

CUOMO: The highest estimate in the U.S. is maybe a couple of hundred, sometimes just a dozen.

CRUICKSHANK: It's just on a much, much bigger scale here in Europe and other countries like Belgium. They don't have the capabilities of France, even more difficult for them. And we saw a lot of the planning, preparation, coordination and direction for the Paris attacks actually happening on Belgian soil. So very difficult for the French. There needs to be more cooperation between all of these security services in Europe. And there are lots of concerns about sovereignty, and there's got to be a big debate about that moving forward.

CUOMO: What's the big obvious thing is you have two different aspects. One is you have a large disaffected Muslim community in and around Paris. They're here two, three generations from northern Africa but they don't feel integrated into the society. So that creates a cultural dynamic. And then you have a physical one. The borders, Europe moves for many years they have open borders. Now it is working to their disadvantage. What do you think the chances are, Jim, that you see a change ensue?

BITTERMANN: President Hollande mentioned that this morning. He said we've got to look again, and Europe is looking again at Schengen and how this Schengen agreement which brings together countries without borders and free traffic across the borders, that is going to change. And by the end of this month perhaps European officials would redraw the Schengen agreement in such a way that when you have this sort of situation going on the borders can go back up. It's been one of the problems they have had since the attacks.

One of the things that's interesting in the reporting that's come out after November 13th was that there was this hesitancy about issuing a command. It seemed to be to us reporting behind the scenes there was a hesitancy about issuing a command that the borders be closed around France after the attacks took place. The prime minister had the authority and was going to do it, then he didn't, and then he did. He said the borders are closed.

And if it had happened slightly faster there was a good possibility that at least two of the people that were involved in the attacks would have been stopped or would have been arrested. They were stopped and weren't arrested. But in any case it was a kind of thing that now I think is going to be a different attitude about all of that. The Schengen agreement, the cooperative agreement between the European nations is going to be looked at again because I think all the Europeans now feel this, that they could be vulnerable.

CUOMO: And we see that in the response this morning as well. It's certainly heavy and quick.

[08:15:01] Jim Bittermann, thank you very much, Paul Cruickshank also. And it is important to note not only did this man attack a police station on the day of the anniversary of "Charlie Hebdo," but it is also the same time of day here and it's something that has not gone unnoticed.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right. But this time, obviously, a much, much different conclusion.

Chris, thanks so much for all of that. We'll get back to you shortly.

We do have some breaking news here at home. On those 17 trapped miners in Lansing, New York, emergency crews rescuing 12 miners in just the last hour. The group is stuck in an elevator 900 feet below ground in the Cargill Salt Mine.

A Cargill official says the miners were starting their shift when the elevator malfunctioned. No one is injured and emergency crews have been in constant communication, they say, with the miners. Cargill say they don't know how long the full rescue will take. We will keep you posted.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A Texas state trooper has been indicted in the perjury charge in the death of Sandra Bland. Bland was found dead in her jail cell last July three days after she was pulled over and arrested following a traffic stop. Police say she hanged herself but her family insists she would never commit suicide. Arresting officer Brian Encinia is facing termination after a grand jury found his statements about Bland's arrest to be untruthful. He faces up to a year in jail.

CAMEROTA: Well, Republicans chalking up a minor victory in their attempt to overturn the nation's health care law. The House joining the Senate in approving a measure to repeal Obamacare. Speaker Paul Ryan describes this as confronting the president with the hard, honest truth. Despite a formal bill heading to the president's desk, the gesture is mostly symbolic. The President Obama will certainly veto this.

PEREIRA: Tonight, President Obama will join Anderson Cooper for an exclusive live town hall on "Guns in America". However, the National Rifle Association will not be there. The NRA, America's largest gun rights organization, declined CNN's invitation to take part.

White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski joins us live now with a preview -- Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Michaela.

President Obama's executive actions on gun control don't go nearly as far as he would have liked. So, now, the goal is to as the White House puts it inspire passion among people who feel the same way so that they can influence lawmakers and make even make changes within their own communities.

And that is why President Obama agreed to do this town hall tonight. He said the goal is to have good people open to the issue on both sides of the issue and an open discussion that you don't need to be disagreeable to disagree. You don't need to talk past each other. But he feels though you do need to have a sense of urgency about the issue.

The White House has some broad support on background checks. I mean, 80 to 90 percent of Americans agree with them, even Republicans, even gun owners. But when you look at the broader issue, the latest poll shows that 62 percent of Americans disapprove of how the president is handling gun policy. And just over half oppose stricter gun control. So, it is always complicated. We'll see how it goes tonight.

But, interestingly, America's biggest voice on gun rights, the NRA, doesn't want to be a part of it. They said this was a PR spectacle organize by the White House but, of course, the White House did not organize it. In fact, President Obama was invited by CNN to take part -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Michelle. Thank you for that.

So, be sure to tune in tonight for a special town hall on "Guns in America" with President Obama, moderated by our Anderson Cooper, 8:00 p.m., right here an CNN.

CAMEROTA: OK. Time for CNNMoney now. U.S. stock futures sharply down this morning minutes before the opening bell.

Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here.

What is going on, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is treacherous out there. Fear and anxiety spreading around the world, before the opening bell here.

Let me show what's going on here. The world is selling stocks, buying gold, buying bonds and selling stocks to -- really big time.

This all started in Shanghai. Look at this. The Shanghai market fell 7 percent and they halted trading. They traded for half an hour and shut the market down and now, you have all of this fear spreading around the world. European stocks really in bad shape here right now.

Here are the Dow futures, down 393 points. The Dow has lost 518 points just this week. Put another 300 or 400 on there, a thousand points in less than a week. That's a really, really tough situation here.

Let me show you here some perspective. Looks like markets are very soft because of these concerns about China. China's growth. Now the troubles in the Chinese stock market in particular. You are back here to these levels we haven't seen since last fall.

Remember all that certainty? That was China back then, too. Everyone looking outward right now, this is about global growth slowing. It is about a collapse in oil prices and what that is going to mean overall.

So, look, the oil price being low is very good for drivers but it's really causing uncertainty around the world. Add on China and you have a lot of trouble here for stock markets today, guys.

PEREIRA: All right. We'll be watching it with you. Thanks so much for that.

[08:19:51] All right. Donald Trump not letting the Ted Cruz birther issue go. What he told our Wolf Blitzer the Texas senator needs to do to put that controversy to rest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump giving Ted Cruz a suggestion and that is to go see a judge to determine once and for all if he is a natural born citizen and therefore eligible to run for president. The Republican front runner also tackling the North Korea issue and the Iran-Saudi Arabia conflict in a wide-ranging one-on-one interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Let's talk about another issue in the news right now. Senator Ted Cruz, he's your main rival in Iowa, according to all the polls right now. All of a sudden, this whole issue of the fact that he was born in Canada has come up, whether or not he's a natural-born citizen. We know the Constitution says no person, except a natural-born citizen shall be eligible to the office of President.

Do you believe Senator Ted Cruz is a natural-born citizen?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know, to be honest. And I like him a lot. And I don't like the issue, I don't like even bringing it up. And, you know, it wasn't me that brought it up. It was "The Washington Post" during an interview --

BLITZER: They asked you a question --

TRUMP: -- and one of the questions they asked me was this question. And, you know, they went with it, and I wasn't very aggressive with the answer, except for one thing. You can't have somebody running if the Democrats are going to, at some point -- and one of them threatened to bring a suit a long time ago.

But how can you have a nominee running, you know, against a Democrat, whoever it may be, probably Hillary Clinton, because she'll probably escape the email problem, which is disgusting that she's able to, because other people have -- for doing far less, have had a very, very major consequences.

[08:25:10] It's been terrible. But it's probably going to be Hillary.

So how do you run against the Democrat, whoever it may be, and you have this hanging over your head if they bring a lawsuit?

A lawsuit would take two, three years --

BLITZER: He says he's a natural-born citizen because his mother, was U.S.-born, a U.S. citizen, and as a result, he's a natural-born citizen.

TRUMP: Well, I hope he's right. I don't -- you know, I want to win this thing fair and square. I don't want to win on this point.

What the Democrats are saying, though, is he had a passport.

BLITZER: He says he didn't have it.

TRUMP: He had a Canadian passport.

BLITZER: He says - his aides say he didn't have a passport.

TRUMP: Well, I have heard that he had a passport --

BLITZER: He may have been eligible for a Canadian --

TRUMP: I think that's wonderful if he didn't, and I never understood how he did. But everybody tells me he had a joint passport --

BLITZER: He had a Canadian birth certificate because he was born in Canada.

TRUMP: Well, here's what I think -- what I -- what I think I'd do. I'd go and seek a declaratory judgment if I was Ted.

BLITZER: Would you consider a preemptive strike to destroy North Korea's nuclear capabilities?

TRUMP: No, because China has total control over them, and we have total control over China. If we had people that knew what they're doing, which we don't. We have no leadership in this country.

We have China because of trade. They're sucking our money out of us. They're taking our money like, like candy from a baby. And China can come out and frankly they will -- you know, they say they don't have that much control over North Korea. They have total control, because without China they wouldn't be able to eat.

So China has to get involved, and China should solve that problem, and we should put pressure on China to solve the problem.

BLITZER: But, as you know, there are, what, almost a million North Korean troops north of the Demilitarized Zone, almost a million South Korean troops south of the Demilitarized Zone. Seoul, the capital --

TRUMP: We have 28,000 soldiers right in the middle.

BLITZER: Right in the middle.

TRUMP: By the way, we get paid nothing, we get paid peanuts.

BLITZER: Would you pull them up out?

TRUMP: Well, I would want South Korea to pay us a lot of money. We're doing a lot -- what are we doing? I just saw that 4,000 television sets, 4,000, they come from South Korea. South Korea is a money machine. They pay us peanuts. We're defending them, and I have many friends from South Korea. They buy my apartments, I do business with them, but South Korea should pay us, and pay us very substantially for protecting them.

BLITZER: So you want China basically to handle the North Korean problem.

TRUMP: They can handle it so easily.

BLITZER: Let's talk about some other tensions. As bad as the Middle East is, it's getting worse right now. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the execution of the Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia, the ransacking and burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

First of all, would you condemn Saudi Arabia for the beheadings of these clerics and these terrorists?

TRUMP: I don't like it, I mean I don't like it. They're supposed to be our, our, you know, our great ally. I don't like to see it. They, you know, they executed all of these people. Who knows?

I mean, here in this country, if we execute like one person a year, it's like a major event. They do it like routinely. Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia is sort of the one that we picked and we are there. I have many friends from Saudi Arabia, very good people.

But Saudi Arabia's got to pay. If we're going to protect them from Iran, which we made a super power, you know. We gave them $150 billion. We essentially gave them the right to make nukes, because that's what they're going to do. And if we don't make them, they'll just buy them because they have so much money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. We will get back too politics here shortly. But there is been breaking news in Paris this morning. So, let's go back out to Chris in Paris -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn. Of all days, on the anniversary of the "Charlie Hebdo" attack, a report of someone trying to attack a police station in northern Paris. Officers were able to take the man down right away. Experts were there to find out if they had a real explosive vest on now.

But just the report of this attempt has shaken people in Paris once again. We have all details when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)