Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Jakarta Terror Attack; Winning Powerball Tickets in California, Florida & Tennessee; Video Shows U.S. Sailor Apologizing to Iran. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired January 14, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:02] HUGH HEWITT, RADIO TALK HOST: So I thought the whole thing was manufactured by none other than Ann Coulter. And I told Ann that yesterday. I thought she -- she's like the arsonist who sees the, you know, building burn down and complains about the ash.

And I don't think Donald Trump and Nikki Haley have any upside in arguing with each other. They ought to be talking about what brings them together, but Donald Trump knows his campaign better than anybody.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

HEWITT: He is more skilled at this than anyone.

CAMEROTA: There you go. Hugh Hewitt, thanks so much for getting up early for us. Great to see you.

We're following breaking news this morning, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: There have been a series of deadly coordinated attacks in Indonesia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gun fights, bombs, explosions happening at the center of town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second bomb went off as we were getting out of the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look out!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a mistake. That was our fault. And we apologize for our mistake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is not clear whether those statements were made under duress or not.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the luckiest machine on the planet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd like to think I'm spring every animal out of every shelter, feed every child that is hungry. I also want a Ferrari.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We have two breaking news stories for you this morning. First, three winning tickets in that historic $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot. We'll tell you where the winners are in a moment.

But first, an ISIS-affiliated news agency claiming the terror group is behind the series of coordinated attacks in Jakarta. Terrorists targeting a police station and a Starbucks in the blast. In this amateur video, you can see the explosion right outside of a coffee shop in a bustling shopping district.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We are told the terrorists are all dead. That means the immediate threat is over. But there are big questions about the broader threat growing louder this morning, following another deadly attack at the hands of ISIS.

We have a reporter on the ground. CNN's Kathy Quiano live in Jakarta.

Kathy, the latest.

KATHY QUIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Chris. As you mentioned, police now have confirmed that the five attackers and two civilians were killed here.

What was clearly coming out of the situation here is that westerners were targeted in this attack. The first explosion happened in a Starbucks in a busy commercial district here. Two attackers then targeted two foreign nationals driving into a parking lot and killed them there.

They also then attacked a police station just across the street.

But what's coming out from this attack today, as police are going to tell us about the details, is that first, this is a planned attack with a lot of resources put into it.

And second, westerners are, again, the target of these attacks. For a very long time here, authorities felt that local terror networks were not capable of launching attacks like this one. But with this -- this attack today, this might change the terror landscape in Indonesia once again -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Kathy, thank you so much for that.

We want to bring in now Handi Corniaone (ph). He joins us on the phone from Jakarta. He was at his office about 300 feet from one of the site of one of the attacks. He was recording video from the 20th floor of his office when these gunshots first rang out.

Handi, thank you so much for joining us.

HANDI CORNIAONE (ph), WITNESS (via phone): Hello.

CAMEROTA: Can you tell us what you saw?

CORNIAONE (PH): Yes. First of all, when I was at the 20th floor, and I -- I heard the sounds of a blast. Immediately, I was confused whether it was actually a thunderstorm or it's actually something. Because now it's the rainy season in Jakarta.

But then we realized that the building was a bit shaking. So, like me and my colleagues, we all went to the glass window. And then we saw smoke. And then we realized that, hey, why are people running away?

And then what I saw, what I saw was ten -- one police came, and then all the roads are empty. Then we realized there's something wrong.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CORNIAONE (PH): And I was like 100 meter from that location, and I was at the top of the building.

So then I saw the car. And then there's another -- there's another blast. And then one car, again with the smoke. And then, because of the 20th floor, I could see that -- actually the policeman trying to move closer to the Starbucks nearby.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CORNIAONE (PH): Then -- then I saw a guy with a gun. And he's so calm, he's so calm, like he's loading his gun, and then he's like preparing himself to shoot the policeman again.

[07:05:12] CAMEROTA: Oh, my God.

CORNIAONE (PH): It was a horrible thing.

CAMEROTA: Handi, what an eyewitness account you give us. You've also provided these videos, some of the which we're looking at, the one that are sort of that aerial view. And one of them, not seen before on our air or anywhere, is this scattering of people. I mean, from your vantage point, because you're so high up, it almost looks like ants. And you see people moving in all directions. What was happening at that moment?

CORNIAONE (PH): Yes, before just running -- running away from all of the direction, and then some people think that it's over. Then people started to get closer again. But then when the shooting happened then everybody went away. That's what I saw.

CAMEROTA: So, Handi, you say that you saw the gunman, you saw his approach and what looked like his attitude of being very calm. Can you describe what you saw him doing?

CORNIAONE (PH): I could not see the face, because it's pretty far away. But I can see the body, the movement.

He wore a hat. And then he wore a bag on the back. And then he -- I think there are two people. One guy preparing to shoot the police. And then one guy that's like squatting near the car, nearby, but they were together. So, I don't know what was the guy who squat there. I don't know, maybe putting a bomb or something. Definitely, there's one guy, it's very clear that he's loading his gun and he's preparing to shoot again.

CAMEROTA: Handi, you are watching all of this. Can you tell us what you and your colleagues were doing? Did you think that you were -- how did you have the presence of mind to record this? Did you think that you were in danger?

CORNIAONE (PH): Huh? Sorry?

CAMEROTA: Did you think that you -- your life was in danger?

CORNIAONE (PH): We were so scared, definitely. We were so scared. And then just would not believe that this kind of thing happened again in Jakarta. I mean, our economy started to grow. Everything is starting to be in places. And then I can't believe this thing happened again. It's really -- it's really a setback.

CAMEROTA: It is --it is truly terrible. Handi, thank you for sharing your video with us and sharing your eyewitness account. We are happy that you're safe.

Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn.

Now, what we're seeing in this style of attack, as well as the frequency, has a lot of experts very alarmed. Obviously, it looks like Paris, because it is like what we saw in November.

Let's bring in Daveed Gartenstein-Ross for his analysis on this, a terror expert, understanding these situations very well.

Daveed, thank you for coming in on short notice. Let's start with the obvious. These style of attacks do seem to be happening more, whether you look at what we're seeing here domestically. It does seem to be a wave of people who are either sympathizers or direct actors for ISIS. Is that a true statement at this point?

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, TERROR EXPERT: Absolutely a true statement. The wave, I think, has its genesis back to the Syrian conflict and the massive amount of foreign fighters that came in from multiple countries. Indonesia has long been concerned about the flow of foreign fighters into Syria. We've got 500 Indonesians going over into that theater.

What that means is that you have a lot of people who have some experience and are able to transition through borders to go back to their countries of origin and moreover, have relationships that were forged in Syria. Now, we don't know yet that these were foreign fighters, but that provides a lot of the manpower that can drive such a wave. CUOMO: Right. And we've seen them not be. I mean, the guy who just

went with the knife and the fake vest in Paris. The guy in San Bernardino. You know, these aren't people who are warriors, necessarily, but it doesn't really matter, because they seem to be trading frequency for sophistication.

Even the bomb here, I had a forencicist [SIC] tell me last night, "See the color of smoke, the range of that detonation? This is a very unsophisticated device."

But that doesn't really matter if you're standing close to it.

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Right. The area in which we would call any of these attacks, generally, that we've seen in the past sophisticated is in the coordination of the attacks.

San Bernardino had two shooters. It wasn't particularly coordinated. It wasn't a particularly skilled attack.

Paris, in contrast, was very skilled. It had a scale of attackers such that you would in the past have expected security services to disrupt them.

It's very clear that the pendulum has swung from favoring governments in disrupting terrorist plots back, at least somewhat, to the terrorists and for a variety of reasons, including revelations about the limitations of western surveillance capabilities, as well as an increase in encrypted communications that are very hard to monitor.

But these attacks which involve multiple attackers getting into the world's major capitals, that in itself is something that, in addition to this wave of individuals, gives clear cause for alarm.

CUOMO: And when you talk about surveillance, the analogy is that, when you can have multiple people working in concert to get something done, that shows, you know, how much you have to reach into people's lives, and how much you need to cover. Because if they're able to talk to each other in groups over a long period of time, it's obviously an intelligence concern.

Also instructive here, Daveed, is where and who they are targeting. Indonesia is the largest populous nation in the world. They're attacking their own. We see that, but this isn't about, for the terrorists, being Muslim or being Christian. They're just going at people who are not them. Fair?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Yes. As you said, it's the most populous Muslim nation in the world.

And, you know, the Islamic State is extraordinarily clear and actually somewhat different from al Qaeda in this regard. They're very clear that, you know, all these government are regarded as apostate governments.

The difference with al Qaeda is al Qaeda has been, at least post- their loss in Iraq back in the 2007 to 2009 period, more hesitant to go after Muslim targets. Not actually hesitant in any way that we think about it, but in contrast to the Islamic State, in contrast to their own previous behavior, they've made certain strategic decisions.

But it's very clear that the Islamic State considers other Muslims to be targets. And that was clear long before the Indonesia attacks.

CUOMO: Right. I mean, look, they kill more Muslims than anywhere else. I mean, even if you look at France, yes, it's known as being a bastion of secularism. However, who do you think was in that stadium? Who do you think was in those cafes? Who do you think was in the Bataclan? They have a huge Muslim population. They don't care whether or not they're targeting their own.

Now, the question becomes, what are we learning? What are you seeing in your world about these attacks that it is, in any way, advancing understanding of how to stop them?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: That's an excellent question. I can't say that we have, you know, a good answer at this point. There are certain choke points you could put your finger on.

Border security, especially good intelligence on who's been over to the Syria theater. There's a lot of Syria correlations of the individuals who were involved in the Paris attack.

Secondly, it's very clear that there are failures in terms of known terrorists being able to transit past borders. That was the case in the Europe attacks.

Third, I think mitigation measures is going to be an important thing, moving forward, given that we don't -- given that it's very hard, in an open society, which, you know, France and Indonesia both are to some degree, to prevent attacks against soft targets like the Bataclan, like the shopping district in Jakarta, because the more you try to secure it, the more you defeat the very purpose of that particular urban center.

So mitigation, I think, is going to be something that a lot of discussion focuses on in the coming couple of years.

CUOMO: And the concern is going up as the level of sophistication of the attacker is going down. Again, experts point out this wasn't a sophisticated bomb. The shooter seemed very desperate to close distance on their target. It shows a lack of marksmanship with the weapons. We'll see what they find out about who these guys were in Jakarta.

Daveed, thank you very much, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross -- Mick.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news of a different sort. At least three winning tickets in the historic $1.6 billion Powerball drawing last night. Those winning tickets sold in California, Florida and Tennessee. Dozens of others across the country are also waking up millionaires, thanks to smaller prizes.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live outside one of the winning locations, a 7- Eleven in Chino Hills, California.

Has anybody gone to sleep, though?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not the family that owns this 7- Eleven. Been her for 24 years, originally from Punjab, India. So excited that even the kids came out. I'll give you a quick look inside. Yes, the media is here. Everybody is here.

But if you look back here, that's all family members back there. They have been so excited they don't want to go to sleep, even those who have to go to school early in the morning. They said they'll stay up and do their studies. But they want to hang out with Mom and Dad, who just won $1 million for selling one of those big tickets.

I do want to mention what is happening with the other winners. Because it's not just those who won that -- won that $1.6 billion jackpot. It is also those who will become millionaires, because they got five of the six numbers.

There are 12 in Florida. And there are 12 here in California. And there's one extra one there in Tennessee. So, 25 people, excluding the three that won the $1.6 billion together, are going to become millionaires if they put those tickets in and check them. So that's a big thing a lot of people can do.

But when it comes to the store owners, all of them will also get some money. And we asked the store owner what he thought about his winnings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:15:06] BALBIR ATWAL, STORE OWNER: I'm very, very happy. Whoever won from here. And I'm so thankful to my team of people that support me all year long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Totally excited about it. A sweet guy. He's actually been here cleaning up the store even after winning -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Such pride. And it makes you also realize how many lives are changed by just one ticket, right? And again, we don't know if it was a pool of people that won that prize. We'll have to wait and see.

Sara, thank you so much. Exciting moments there in Chino Hills.

Coming up in our next hour, we're going to actually speak with the head of the Powerball game for an update on the big winners in last night's record-breaking draw -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. State television in Tehran broadcasting disturbing video of ten U.S. sailors on their knees, hands on their heads after being taken custody by the Iranians. One U.S. soldier apologizing for entering Iranian waters, a potentially embarrassing development.

Let's get right to CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr for the latest. What are they saying there about this video, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning.

When that U.S. sailor was shown on Iranian TV apologizing, saying it was his mistake, his sailors' mistake that they were in Iranian waters, it got an awful lot of attention. Was this apology made under duress? By all accounts, obviously, it was. They were not in control of their fate.

The U.S. Central Command issuing a statement, saying in part, "Clearly, this staged video exhibits a sailor making an apology in an unknown context as an effort to defuse a tense situation and protect his crew."

Now, this sailor, who by all accounts, is one of the commanders of the team, also went on to talk about what he says happened. Have a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Iranian patrol boat came out when we were having engine issues and had weapons drawn, so we talked -- tried to talk to them until more boats came out and took us in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, it must be said again, here we are seeing U.S. sailors on Iranian TV under circumstances not under their control. So, we still don't really know what happened.

We are told that even today, they are undergoing debriefings by U.S. military personnel.

So far, one of the big questions: we have not heard from the Pentagon. Why is there no objection to these sailors being filmed for propaganda purposes and shown on TV around the world -- Chris?

CUOMO: Well, there's nothing to like about it, that's for sure. Barbara, we are going to hear from the Pentagon. But let's remember: this got politicized in the beginning as Iran taking soldiers. Only later did facts come out about the soldier -- the sailors actually finding their way into Iranian water. Now, we're getting more facts now.

We're going to get the first reaction from the Pentagon spokesman next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:47] CUOMO: All right. So, this is a growing controversy, what happened with these sailors in Iran.

The U.S. claims the sailors were detained by Iran, but they were released quickly. It was about diplomacy. There was no danger. This wasn't about Iran's active aggression. But then we get this video. It seems to shame the sailors, show them

as weak. Plays into a lot of the concerns that politicized this in the first place.

And then one of the sailors is on camera apologizing. Was he under duress? Was he not? What is actually going on here?

We can get answers for you this morning. The Pentagon is now speaking out. Peter Cook is the press secretary for the Pentagon, joins us now.

Help us understand, Mr. Cook. The early word was this was a sign of Iranian aggression. They took these sailors. You say that's not the case. So what is the case?

PETER COOK, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Well, Chris, I don't think we said explicitly that Iran took these sailors. What we first told everyone and what we first learned was that we lost contacts with these sailors, these two ships, these two crafts, as they were doing a routine transit from Kuwait to Bahrain, part of their normal operations in that part of the world in the -- in the Gulf. We lost contact with them, and they came into contact with Iranian hands, as you pointed out.

What's -- the bottom line here, Chris, is that these sailors have now safely been returned. And we're still in the process at this moment of trying to determine exactly what happened to them, how it was that these two crafts, these riverine boats, made their way into Iranian territorial waters. Was it a mechanical issue? Was it a navigational malfunction? Were there some other factors involved that we don't yet know?

These sailors are going through a reintegration process. It's standard protocol, these kinds of situations. That means medical evaluations, psychological evaluations, and then a formal debrief by Navy investigators to determine what's happened.

And I can -- I can tell you that I know it's been some time. They are still going through that process. They went through the medical and psychological tests, if you will. And now, they're going through the process of formally debriefing the Navy as to exactly what happened.

CUOMO: Are they all OK?

COOK: Chris, as far as we know, medically, they are OK. But I can't provide you all the details we've received from those examinations for obvious reasons. But the initial indication was that they were in good physical shape.

There were ten sailors in all. And again, the most important thing for us was that this was quickly resolved and that these sailors are back in U.S. hands in a short matter of time.

CUOMO: Right. Now, look, that's certainly the top-line consideration, but then once that's cleared, you now get into the politics of it. And to be very clear, Mr. Cook, I did not mean to suggest in any way that the Pentagon said that the Iranians had taken them. That was the political play, that this was a sign of Iranian aggression. And then, as the facts came out, it seems to seem less like that.

Now, look, I am not military trained by any stretch. But I do do a lot of navigation on the water. And I don't understand how it would be a mystery as to how the sailors went into the wrong group of waters.

Obviously, they would have sophisticated equipment that would tell you pretty quickly how this happened. Why don't you know?

COOK: Well, Chris, again, this is part of the investigation that's going to be uncovered. Was there a mechanical issue? Was there a navigational issue? Was there something that prevented them from maintaining the course that they had original plotted, that they planned to take, within the Gulf region?

[07:25:15] Again, these craft operate in that part of the world all the time. They come in contact with Iranian ships and the Iranian navy on a fairly regular basis.

This clearly was a different circumstance. They went into Iranian territorial waters. We still needed to determine exactly why. And, again, this was a circumstance which, had it not been for the quick diplomatic work of Secretary of State John Kerry, may have played out differently.

They're back in U.S. hands now. We're trying to answer some of those difficult questions, even as we speak.

CUOMO: The secretary made a point yesterday of saying, "Look, a few years ago, it wouldn't have happened this way. I wouldn't have been able to get my counterpart in Iran on the phone four or five times. It wouldn't have been resolved this quickly. And who knows it if would have been resolved this well?" Fair point.

But on the other guy, you have these guys on camera, shaming them with their hands over their heads. You have an American soldier -- sailor who is giving an explanation and apologizing and saying it was a mistake to Iranian media or whoever was taking that.

What do you make of those situations? It's certainly not friendly. Iran is not a friend. But is that an act of aggression?

COOK: Well, Chris, part of our investigation as well will be to find out exactly what happened to the sailors while detained and the circumstances surrounding that individual is one of the situations we want to determine. What were those conditions? What were the circumstances like? What else was happening in that room when the video was shot? And that particular sailor, what was the intent of those comments?

These are again, questions, Chris, that we'll only know once we have a full debriefing with all ten of these sailors, a better assessment of not only how they got into this situation in the first place. But also the conduct of the Iranians once they were put in that situation.

Again, the Iranians did honor the assurances that they provided to the secretary of state. They were conveyed to the secretary of defense that they would be returned in a short amount of time. And that's what happened here. But we do have questions about what happened to the sailors in the first place to get in this situation. And again, importantly, what happened to them while they were detained.

CUOMO: Well, and that's a point of criticism, right? Is that people say you know enough already to have been more outspoken, more outraged about American sailors having their hands over their heads and being treated like criminals by the Iranians, if they're supposed to be on better terms with the U.S. And there was no outrage, and that's a projection of weakness by the United States.

COOK: Well, Chris, again, we have concerns about what we see in that video, but we have to find out exactly what took place there. And the circumstances, those sailors who were involved will be able to tell us exactly what happened.

The most important thing for us was the safety of those sailors I can assure you that the U.S. military, when we first lost contact with them, did everything at that time to try and determine what had happened, try to recover those sailors.

They were recovered in a short amount of time, thanks again to the solid work to the secretary of state and the diplomatic efforts that ensued.

But we have -- this is a place in the world. This is a dangerous part of the world, Chris, where we're going to continue to operate on a daily basis. And these kinds of encounters, we want to do everything we can to try and avoid these kind of things in the future. We're going to learn from this. We're going to find out exactly what happened to those sailors, both getting into the situation in the first play and what happened behind the scenes, as well.

CUOMO: Appreciate you being on, Mr. Cook. It is very good to hear from the Pentagon on this. You know, there had been some criticism about how long it would take for the Pentagon to talk about it. But it's great to hear that the sailors are OK. And we await further information.

Thank you, sir.

COOK: You bet.

CUOMO: All right -- Mick.

PEREIRA: All right. To politics: fresh meat for detractors of Ted Cruz. Unreported loans from two big banks, including the bank that this wife works for. What effect will this have on his run for the presidency?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)