Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Paris, a Year After Charlie Hebdo Attacks; Details of Arrests for ISIS Support. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired January 08, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:00:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What hate us to make progress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What he has proposed he doesn't have the authority to do.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will get rid of gun-free zones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Trump Vermont. Trump ruins Vermont.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get Trump out.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: That test simply underscores America's firm and continued commitment to regional security.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: South Korea now ready to resume massive propaganda barrages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frankly, they expect more sanctions from the United States and the international community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "New Day" with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your "New Day," it is Friday, January 8th. I'm Chris Cuomo. We are live in Paris. Alisyn and Mick are in New York.

First, how is it here? How is it in Paris? Well, Paris is different sure, cafe society continues but everything is muted, less foot traffic, less tourism, less signature insouciant (ph). And certainly more fear. There's also new cause for fear on two fronts.

In the last two days we've gotten two looks at emerging threats. We have new details about Thursday's deadly confrontation between police and a knife-wielding man. It's not as simple as a deranged person doing something that was guaranteed to get him killed. He's an apparent ISIS sympathizer. There's questions about his identity. Authorities are trying to confirm how it is that he was able to keep authorities guessing about who he was for so long. There's also now new question and revelations about the planning of the November attacks, what they learned led them to what they now need to know about people still at large, Alisyn. We have a lot of reporting from here for you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We know you do, Chris. And we will get back to you very shortly.

But up first, President Obama making his case for executive action on guns in spirited town hall right here on CNN last night. The President facing off with his critics insisting he has no plans to take away anyone's guns. Did he make that case effectively.

CNN Michelle Kosinski is live at the White House with more. Hi, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPODENT: Hey Alisyn. As political as this issue always has, last night was pretty personal. You had people telling their very difficult stories, victims of crime on both sides of the debate. The President also got personal at times. But what this also showed was that one question both sides still have is, how are additional steps actually going to prevent violence?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: President Obama addressed a crowd split on the issue with a surprising story from his time on the campaign trail, going through rural Iowa. He says the first lady brought up the subject of guns for protection.

PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: At one point, Michelle turned to me and she said, you know, if i was living in a farmhouse where the sheriff's department is pretty far away, and somebody can just turn off the highway and come up to the farm, I want to have a shotgun or a rifle to make sure that I was protected and my family was protected. And she was absolutely right.

KOSINSKI: He faced tough questions from familiar faces, Taya Kyle, wife of murdered American Sniper, Chris Kyle, Mark Kelly, husband of former congresswoman and shooting victim Gabby Giffords, Kimberly Corbin is a rape victim and NRA supporter.

KIMBERLY CORBAN, COLEGE RAPE SURVIVOR: I have been unspeakably victimized once already. And I refuse to let that happen again to myself or my kids. So why can't your administration see these restrictions you're putting to make it harder for me to own a gun or harder for me to take that where I need to be is actually just making my kids and I less safe?

OBAMA: There's nothing that we've proposed that would make it harder for you to purchase a firearm.

KOSINSKI: A conspicuous no-show, the NRA itself.

OBAMA: If you listen to the rhetoric, it is so over the top and so overheated. I'm happy to talk to them. But the conversation has to be based on facts and truth and what we're actually proposing, not some, you know, imaginary fiction in which Obama's trying to take away your guns.

KOSINSKI: It was the Sandy Hook shooting that made President Obama uncharacteristically emotional this week. He watched himself make that speech.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": I think a lot of people were surprised by that moment.

OBAMA: I was, too, actually. You know, I visited Newtown two days after what happened. So, it was still very raw. It's the only time I've ever seen secret service cry on duty. It continues to haunt me. It was one of the worst days of my presidency.

KOSINSKI: And as Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz now campaigns with this image of the President alongside the words "Obama wants your guns," many conservatives were riled, offend by his calling that kind of rhetoric a conspiracy, which he somewhat testily defended.

[07:05:06] COOPER: Is it fair to call it a conspiracy? I mean...

OBAMA: Well yeah.

COOPER: There's a lot of people really believe this deeply, that they just don't trust you.

OBAMA: I'm sorry, Cooper, yes, it is fair to call the conspiracy. What are you saying? Are you suggesting that the notion that we are creating a plot to take everybody's guns away so that we can impose martial law is a conspiracy? Yes, that is a conspiracy. I would hope that you would agree with that. Is that controversial?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: One point the President really wanted to hammer home is that in this country if we're OK with regulating cars to prevent traffic deaths, we're OK with regulating things like medicines, even toys, why would we not do the same with guns? Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Michelle. Thanks so much for all of that background.

Joining us now is the host of last night's town hall on guns, CNN's own Anderson Cooper. He is live for us in Washington. Good morning Anderson.

COOPER: Hey, good morning Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So these town hall meetings can always feel differently in the room than they appear on television. What was the energy and the mood inside that hall?

COOPER: You know, I think it was a serious, thoughtful discussion, which is exactly what we wanted it to be. You know, we wanted the President to be able to be asked questions by people who disagreed with him. I think a lot of people maybe going to this thought it was going to be sort of, you know, rah-rah meeting for the President. And we certainly didn't want that. We wanted, you know, people on all sides of this issue to have a chance to ask their questions to President.

We didn't tell people what to ask. And it was open to the people that we invited. And as you said we invited the NRA. They chose not to come. But a lot of gun right supporters certainly did come and NRA members did come.

CAMERORA: Did the NRA -- tell us the back story there. Why did the NRA refuse to participate?

COOPER: I mean, you'd have to ask them that. I mean, you know, I think the message that they put out publicly was that this was going to be -- that they said this was something, I think at one point orchestrated by the White House. That's obviously not true. This is something we reached out to the White House for after the San Bernardino attacks and proposed this idea. The White House thought about it and agreed to do it.

So, we were happy that the President showed up and happy that he was willing to be in room, you know, to actually just have a discussion about this. Not a lot of yelling, not a lot of, you know, name calling or anything. We wanted a thoughtful, serious discussion about it with people from -- with different perspectives which is frankly, you know, we should be having a lot of.

CAMEROTA: Sure. There was that moment that the President particularly bristled. And it was when you mentioned the, if it was fair, to call it a conspiracy theory that people believed he wants to restrict access to guns. So let's play that again for a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Is it fair to call it a conspiracy? I mean...

OBAMA: Well yeah.

COOPER: There's a lot of people really believe this deeply, that they just don't trust you.

OBAMA: I'm sorry, Cooper, yes, it is fair to call the conspiracy. What are you saying? Are you suggesting that the notion that we are creating a plot to take everybody's guns away so that we can impose martial law is a conspiracy? Yes, that is a conspiracy. I would hope that you would agree with that. Is that controversial?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, people do think that he's trying to restrict their access. What did you think of that moment?

COOPER: You know, I thought it was interesting. Obviously I'm not suggesting that there's a, you know, a conspiracy to take, you know, a huge conspiracy with all, you know, levers of the U.S. government to take people's guns. But certainly gun rights supporters, many of whom were in the room, do feel their rights gradually could be eroded. And that is a huge concern.

And, you know, throughout the evening the President talked about comparing this to cars and, you know, we restrict licenses for cars, why not for guns? Sheriff Paul Babue from Pinal County, whose the sheriff there, he's a Republican running for Congress. You know went back to the President on that and said, look, you know, the cars aren't enshrined in the constitution. The right to bear arms is enshrined in the constitution.

So, you know, I think for gun owners, this is something that's deeply felt and that they feel is in some form under assault. But, look, overall, I thought it was a very thoughtful discussion. Certainly any time the President calls you by your last name, you know, it makes you stark. You wonder if you've done something wrong there.

I give props to the President for agreeing to come. You know, a lot of presidents don't want to be in a room where they're going to be confronted by people who completely disagree with them. This President did. And I give a lot of props to Taya Kyle and, you know, the sheriff and a lot of other people who came who were able to ask questions.

[07:10:01] CAMEROTA: We're going to be speaking with Sheriff Babue soon. But you and the President did seem to be on a last name basis during much of the program last night. Where you were calling him President Obama and he was calling you Cooper.

But beyond that, you know, there's new polling out from CNN this morning and it's pretty fascinating about how Americans feel about this executive action and what they reveal is that people like the outcome, people support 67 percent of Americans favor executive orders on big guns.

However, they don't like the tactics. They don't like that President Obama used an executive order for guns which they see as sort of end run around Congress. That's an interesting split. It sort of came out last night.

COOPER: Yeah, you know, I mean, I think, look, a lot of people certainly would wish that our representatives could hammer out and, you know, could actually discuss these things, that there could actually be compromises, there could actually be discussions between various political factions in Washington and obviously that's something we see all too infrequently in Washington these days.

And I think that's not all that controversial a notion for most Americans. So I think maybe that's what's reflected in the polls. But it's, you know, a lot of the executive actions that the President is taking from the White House perspective is trying to just clarify existing laws.

It's not necessarily making any new laws. Most legal scholars will take he seems to be on pretty firm legal ground in terms of the executive actions he's taken in this, that the laws are in existence and he's actually just sort of attempting to, I think clarify the language, whether or not that, you know, that language is all that clear, that's one of the problems. CAMEROTA: Yeah. So, again, in the town hall, there's always a different feeling. And we don't always see what happens afterwards. When it finished and people are still sort of hanging around and buzzing, did you feel that any minds were changed?

COOPER: I don't know if minds were changed. I mean, look, I think this is an issue with polarizes the country. And we see that in polls, we see that in all the polls. And this is an issue in which the lines are pretty well drawn.

So I don't know that anybody walked away with a different opinion but I think, you know, certainly in the room, even though if people who didn't get to ask a question, I talked to a lot of people on both sides of this issue, and all sides of this issue afterward. You know, they liked the discussion. They liked hearing from the president directly. They liked being there.

And I think it allowed people to kind of think about these issues in a thoughtful way. I mean, look in cable news as we all know, there's often a lot of yelling, a lot of name calling, side taking. And that's not really how you're going to advance this issue at all as a country. So I think, as I said, we wanted a thoughtful night. And I think that's what we got.

CAMEROTA: I think you did too, great job last night. Thank so much for joining us this morning. Anderson, great to see you.

COOPER: Thanks Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I have to start calling you Camerota now?

CAMEROTA: Please.

PEREIRA: All right. Some other news for you, now while the President was calling for stricter gun measures. Donald Trump says more people need to be armed. Trump making his push at a rally in Bernie Sanders state of Vermont and drawing some quite vocal opposition.

Athena Jones live in Washington with more on this. Athena?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. Yeah, two very different events happening at the same time. Trump slamming the President's moves and making a pledge of his own last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? That's bait. That's like gun-free zone. I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools. You have to. And on military bases, my first day, it gets signed. OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP) JONES: Now, this point about dangers of gun-free zones is one that Trump makes often. He also likes to say they had the people in Paris or San Bernardino been armed, there would have been a lot fewer victims in those two terror attacks.

Meanwhile, and Trump's rally last night was notable because as you mentioned it was held in the heart of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders territory. And it was interrupt at least eight times right by protesters, many of them wearing Bernie Sanders t-shirts. You can see there's Trump fans were trying to shout them down. Protesters chanted things like "This is not Vermont." "Trump ruins Vermont," "Get trump out." Trump (inaudible) clearly annoyed with the protesters asking security to move faster in getting them out, so some contentious moments for him last night there. Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, it sure was, OK. Athena, thanks so much for that.

Meanwhile, South Korea sending a loud and clear message to Kim Jong-un for the first time since August and so, is resuming it's loud speaker propaganda broadcasts across the border. The move follows claims from the north that it tested a hydrogen bomb. And this all falls on Kim Jong-un's 33rd birthday.

CNN International Correspondent Will Ripley is live from North Korea, from Pyongyang. Will, what's the latest?

[07:15:07] WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we know that in South Korea they are now beefing up their cyber defenses, anticipating potential retaliation on the cyber front from North Korea which has been suspected some major hacking attacks in the past.

But the Pyongyang's regime biggest active aggression or at least perceived active aggression by much of the outside world happened when the Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un seen here on the front page of The State newspaper signed the order authorizing a nuclear test. North Korea's fourth nuclear testing, some 15 years. And the shock waves from that are still being felt.

China condemning the act which is pretty unusual considering the China and North Korea have been friends and allies for quite some time. And their relationship seems to be doing pretty well as of late.

But those loud speaker broadcasts that South Korea is using to retaliate, those could be taken as an act of war here in Pyongyang. And we haven't received an official response from the regime yet. But the last time South Korea turned on their propaganda loud speakers, the north assembled a large amount of troops, more than usual. And there are hundreds of thousands of troops along the demilitarized zone. And the two sides almost came to the break of an armed conflict before the defused the situation. We'll see how things develop here on the ground. Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right, Will. We will. Thanks so much for that.

Two Iraqi refugees with links to ISIS are expected to appear in court this morning. These men arrested on terror charges in California and in Texas. Did they pose a direct threat to the U.S.?

Ed Lavandera is doing some digging press. He's live in Dallas with the very latest. Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Michaela. We learned of these arrests late last night. Both of these men arrested one in Sacramento, one in Houston, Texas. At this point it doesn't appear that these cases are directly related but they are similar in many ways. Both men in their early 20s. The first man from Houston Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan was arrested and charged with three criminal counts providing material support to ISIS and making false statements to immigration officials denying that they were offering material support and expertise to ISIS in Syria.

The second man there in Sacramento, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab 23- years-old. He entered as an Iraqi refugee in October of 2012. And according to the federal indictment and federal investigators, associated with terrorist organizations there, but later lied to immigration officials about it. Both men entering as refugees, Palestinian born, entered as refugees from Iraq.

The first one, the Houston man entered from Iraq back in 2009. So a lot of questions swirling around what exactly these two men were up to and also a lot of questions because of their refugee status and in their process of trying to become a U.S. citizen. So another story we'll continue to monitor throughout the day.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely, Ed. Thanks so much for that. In a somewhat similar story, the man who allegedly planned a machete attack on New Year's Eve, rebelers in the name of ISIS will be in court in Rochester, New York. Prosecutors describe the 25-year-old suspect as an ex-con, Muslim convert with mental health issues. His arrest prompted the cancellation of Rochester's New Year's Eve fireworks celebrations is a precaution.

PEREIRA: The mother of the so-called affluenza teen Ethan Couch will face a judge in Texas this morning. Tonya Couch is charged with hindering her son's apprehension. Allegedly helping him flee to Puerto Vallarta after he missed the juvenile probation meeting.

Now before heading to Mexico, you recall Ethan Couch was on probation for killing four people in drunk driving accident back in 2013 when he was just 13 years old -- or 16 years old, pardon me, at the time he was sentenced to probation.

CAMEROTA: OK, as you know it's been a significant week in Paris. And there's been all sorts of breaking news. So let's go back to Chris who is there on the ground in Paris. Hi, Chris.

CUOMO: Hey, alisyn, mick. You know, in the last two days we've seen two faces and advances of two very different threats here in Paris. They found traces of explosives and evidence of fugitives who still wanted for the November attacks, an insight into how that was planned all in Brussels.

And then we have new understanding about what happened yesterday. There's too much that's not known about this man with the knife for it to dismiss as a simple attack.

[07:19:27] We'll tell you why when we interview the mayor here, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We do have breaking news here out of Paris. And it comes from Belgium. Prosecutors there confirming traces of explosives and hand- made bomb belts were found in an apartment there in early December. They believe this was the factory, this was the planning place, the hideout for those terrorists that wound up coming to Paris and doing all the damage that they did.

They also found something there that's important to the continuing investigation, a fingerprint belonging to fugitive terrorist Salah Abdeslam.

Now, let's discuss these developments. Because there's more to talk about as well. We have the city's Deputy Mayor Patrick Klugman. Mr. Mayor, it's good to have you with us.

Out of the prosecutor office this morning came a very sober statement. He said, we have no reason for optimism right now. What does that mean to you?

PATRICK KLUGMAN, DEPUTY MAYOR OF PARIS: That we are still at risk, that the threat is very high and that now it's not only a matter of police security intelligence, it's all the population who's becoming kind of fighter terror.

CUOMO: The media, sometimes even here in Paris and certainly the United States, can sometimes exaggerate the negative, play up a wrong side of the story. But, do you agree with the idea that things are different here, yes, you have cafe society, you have Parisian doing what they do best with their signature institution but it's muted, it's different here, people seem to be worried about the new normal. Is that fair?

KLUGMAN: It's true. But I have to say that of course Parisian are worried, but they don't renounce to going to cafe. Here you have the winter market, on the Champs-Elysees is just (inaudible).

[07:25:11] CUOMO: 50 percent off. I hope my wife didn't hear that.

KLUGMAN: Yeah. But, you know, it was full of people doing all the Saturday's evening, full of Parisian and any terrace you go we see still people. So I didn't see any change in the behavior of the Parisians. And this is a constant signal. You know, January 7th, after Charlie Hebdo, at the evening, the terrorists were still in the city, there were thousands of Parisians (inaudible) in public shouting we're not afraid. And I think we're not still not afraid of.

CUOMO: There's no question that there is something uniquely Parisian, French about the defiance in the name of liberty. No, question. Certainly that something the United States borrowed. And it's inception. However, then we have...

KLUGMAN: This present in something we share.

CUOMO: Absolutely and we got it from you.

Yesterday, we see this man, he seems derange, he comes with a knife, to a police station. He had to know that would end badly and it did with he's own dead.

Now investigators say slow down, we don't know who he is, he has hidden his identity several different times, there's a sophistication here. And maybe he had a plan. Maybe he was going to use his fake explosive to gain access, to do more damage, that this is a real threat that can continue. How do you handle that?

KLUGMAN: We have to be very cautious, both about what happened yesterday and also the information about that. I don't have any data more than just what to say. But still, the symbol on the anniversary to go in a police station and enter, shouting Allahu Akhbar with a knife is in itself an act of terror and other act of terror in Paris.

CUOMO: And he did it at almost the exact same time.

KLUGMAN: Exact.

CUOMO: That the Charlie Hebdo also started.

KLUGMAN: Even his expression was mad or insane, it is still an act terror.

CUOMO: You can be sick and evil. You can be sick and a terrorist.

(CROSSTALK)

KLUGMAN: But still the action this is an act of terror.

CUOMO: Something else we're hearing here from Parisians, authorities, investigators, they say don't look at Paris as if it is unique with what's going on. Paris is what all big cities will become at some point in the future as you have more Muslim immigration, as you have more terrorism groups popping up. Do you see it that way, that this is something of the new normal, well beyond France's borders?

KLUGMAN: Well, the threat has double. The threat aims any democracy, any like living and vibrant democracy. And I mean, the states know it, other countries also. But I think that is still Paris is unique, because I can feel it, as Deputy Mayor that when something happened here, it has makes a great noise outside of France and in the world and every democracy. And this is specific and, unfortunately, it creates a supplementary risk because the terrorists know when they hit very symbolic city as Paris, they have a lot of echo.

CUOMO: Now, if you talk to the investigators, they say we need this state of emergency. We can do raids now, we have policing powers we didn't have before. We're able to do what we need to do to stop people to get warrants that we couldn't before. But there's a growing feeling among Parisians even after yesterday that this is too much of an intrusion on liberty, that it's not only signature Parisian lifestyle but it's not getting anything that makes the infringements worthwhile. Should it end?

KLUGMAN: Well, as you know, I'm also a lawyer involved in terror cases for the victims. So, I would say that we need these measures because it was really necessary. Of course, we're in the France, like in the states, of the defense of their freedoms, of the civil liberties are very cautious and are right to be cautious. But at the end of the day today, I think that we didn't go too far but only to what is strictly necessary to fight terror.

CUOMO: And the question becomes for how long? Mr. Mayor, thank you very much.

KLUGMAN: Thank you so much.

CUOMO: Good luck. God bless the people here. Good luck going forward.

KLUGMAN: Thank you so much.

CUOMO: Thank you for having us.

All right, Alysn back to you in New York. And one other thing, you know, this is a shopping capital of the world, there's no question about it. And there are these ridiculous sales right now. And you do see people trying to encourage one another to go out and enjoy life. It's hard to though after something like yesterday.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. I mean, we saw that indomitable spirit there of the Parisian. Chris, when we were there together after the November attack, so thank you for that. We'll be back with you shortly.

[07:30:01] Meanwhile, an Arizona sheriff who said Americans should arm themselves after the San Bernardino attack had a spirited exchange with President Obama at last night's town hall on guns.

We'll talk to the sheriff, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)