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Clinton Slams Trump & Cruz Over Terror Response; Trump Won't Rule Out Using Nuclear Weapons On ISIS; Witnesses Recount Brussels Terror Attacks; State Department Warns of "Near-Term" Attacks In Europe. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 24, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

Aired 7:30-8a ET>



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[07:33:00] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're turning our back on our alliances. We're turning alliance into a protection racket. Would reverse decades of bipartisan American leadership and send a dangerous signal to friend and foe, alike. Putin already hopes to divide Europe. If Mr. Trump gets his way it will be like Christmas in the Kremlin.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton taking aim at Donald Trump, warning of serious consequences if the U.S. pulls back from its NATO commitments as Trump suggested. He suggested about reducing payments, at least. Hillary Clinton also taking Trump and Ted Cruz to task for their responses to the Brussels attacks.

Here this morning, CNN political commentator and Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany and CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist and Hillary Clinton supporter, Hilary Rosen. Kayleigh McEnany, in addition to suggesting that the United States should perhaps, or musing that maybe the U.S. should reduce its payments to NATO and get more people to pay out more, Donald Trump also wouldn't rule out the possibility of using nuclear weapons to battle terrorists. Listen to what he said.

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JOHN HEILEMANN, CO-MANAGING EDITOR, BLOOMBERG POLITICS: But you would rule in the possibility of using nuclear weapons against ISIS?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I'm never going to rule anything out.

HEILEMANN: Right.

TRUMP: And I wouldn't want to say -- even if I felt it wasn't going, it wouldn't want to tell you that --

HEILEMANN: Right. TRUMP: -- because at a minimum, I want them to think maybe we would use them.

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BERMAN: How do you use nuclear weapons against terrorists, Kayleigh?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, TRUMP SUPPORTER: You use them as a deterrent, and I think what he said there at the end is telling where he said at a minimum he doesn't want ISIS to think we would never use it. The point of having a nuclear weapon is mutually assured destruction.

The idea that, yes, the United States in some circumstance could use a nuclear bomb. We can't imagine that circumstance now, but we also don't know what's coming down the road. That's the whole point of nuclear weapons. It's, yes, it's there. It could be used but that's why you don't attack the U.S. with a nuclear bomb. It's, let's say, a rogue terrorist group captured a nuclear, let's say, from Pakistan.

[07:35:00] BERMAN: At the same time he is musing about reducing the U.S. contribution to NATO. Is the timing on that suspect, Kayleigh?

MCENANY: I don't think so because Secretary of Defense Robert Gates pointed out -- and I think this is an excellent point -- the United States contributes nearly one-fourth of NATO's budget and this comes at a time when we see European countries reducing their defense budgets.

So essentially, you see Europe taking down the amount they're spending personally on defense while the United States is disproportionately funding a security mechanism for all of Europe. So I think is a fair point that we need to reassess, financially, how we contribute to this organization.

BERMAN: Hillary Rosen, Hillary Clinton sees an opportunity here, no doubt. She gave this speech yesterday at Stanford talking about foreign policy and she's looking probably at the new poll numbers from CNN-ORC which compare her and Donald Trump on some of the issues.

Let me show you some of those numbers right now. Look at commander in chief. Fifty-five percent say they prefer Hillary Clinton -- 36 percent say Donald Trump. But if you look at strong leader it's tied, 45 percent to 45 percent. Pretty interesting, no?

HILLARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CLINTON SUPPORTER: You know, I think Hillary Clinton has proven herself this week to be the grownup in the room. You've got Donald Trump talking about nuclear weapons and reducing funds to NATO, an alliance that has never been more important when we're looking at the crisis in Europe right now.

When we're looking at real solutions -- when we're looking at what experts think actually will continue to keep Americans safe, Hillary Clinton is really the one who is talking about practical, real things that can get implemented, and Donald Trump is just all over the place. I think it's quite clear to the American people that he's digging his own grave here in terms of his ignorance.

You never want to take something off the table in terms of a strategy, but talking about nuclear weapons just shows the ignorance of the situation right now in the Middle East and it's crazy for people to think that those are the alternatives. And then, we haven't even talked about the racism involved in the anti-Muslim attacks.

So I think there's been a lot of airtime on this in the last couple of days. Having said that, I just think that people see Hillary Clinton as somebody who knows what's she's doing and is ready to be commander in chief.

BERMAN: Hilary Rosen, just one quick question about President Obama, though. President Obama in Argentina dancing the tango. He went to the baseball game in Cuba.

ROSEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Do you think Hillary Clinton ought to come out and make a statement about whether or not she thinks the president should have cut his trip short or should be dancing the tango in Argentina in the midst of these terror attacks?

ROSEN: I'm going to give the president a little leeway on this one from all the pull reports. He was sort of a little forced into this by his Argentinian hosts, so that's something that's just going to go.

BERMAN: You say he was forced into it. Do you think that's a bad picture? Do you think it's a bad picture, though, if you're saying he was forced into it?

ROSEN: Yes, I don't think it's a great picture but I also don't think that a president can afford to just turn over everything that's happening and run home to a place that is not really the site of the terror attacks. He travels with his national security team. He's been in touch with the Belgian and French presidents. There is no doubt that our president has been in touch -- has focused on what has gone on in Brussels.

The folks in Belgium do not want the president to come to Brussels now. That is a distraction that is not helpful. What is helpful is for him to pledge full American support for our allies, something that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are too busy screaming about Muslims and racism to do.

BERMAN: Hillary Rosen, Kayleigh McEnany, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

MCENANY: Thanks, John.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, back to our coverage of the Brussels terror attack. Ahead, we're going to speak with two people who survived that carnage at the airport. You'll hear their emotional firsthand accounts when NEW DAY returns with Alisyn live from Brussels.

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[07:42:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Two days after the attacks here in Brussels the survivors are still trying to figure out how they survived and where they go from here.

Ketevan Kardava is a photojournalist. She captured this emotional photograph that has been plastered on front pages worldwide and she joins us now, along with Rocky Gathright. He dropped his friend off at the airport moments before the blast and then he spent hours helping the victims after the attack. Thank you both for being here.

Let me start with you, Ket. You took the photograph that has become this sort of iconic image of the horror and the aftermath. Can you tell us about the scene -- these two women who you captured in this photo? What was happening at that moment?

KETEVAN KARDAVA, WITNESSED BRUSSELS AIRPORT ATTACK: I captured this moment and this very first photo at 8:03. It was after two explosions.

CAMEROTA: Just in the seconds afterwards.

KARDAVA: Seconds, seconds -- because as my iPhone shows it's 8:03. I took eight photos and my last photo is at 8:04. So less than a minute I had and then they forced us to leave the place and --

CAMEROTA: To evacuate.

KARDAVA: Evacuation, evacuation.

CAMEROTA: How did you have the presence of mind during all of the chaos and not knowing if you, yourself, were hurt to go into journalism mode and take pictures?

KARADAVA: No, I was standing in the passport photo booth. It was a shelter for me for two minutes. And when I realized that everything has finished so there's no blast anymore -- an explosion -- and I was looking around and saw everyone on the floor with injuries and blood. And first what I saw was this woman.

CAMEROTA: This woman -- there's a picture that you brought --

KARADAVA: Yes, yes, yes.

CAMEROTA: -- and the blood, and one is on the phone. Do you know that status of these women today? What's happened to them?

KARADAVA: I know today that her relatives are arriving in Brussels from Mumbai and it was news for me I read yesterday.

CAMEROTA: So this woman here -- here relatives are arriving --

KARADAVA: Today -- today they are arriving from Mumbai and yesterday I read the article in the USA Today that her brother recognized her sister --

[07:45:00] CAMEROTA: From your photo?

KARADAVA: From my photo.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. I want to show another photo, Ket. It's so important. This is where you were. I hope that our viewers can see this. You were standing here checking in at the counter. That's the number one --

KARADAVA: I was -- yes, yes, yes, yes.

CAMEROTA: -- right here that is circled. And this, the number two that is circled in the photograph that is a few feet away from you, is where police told you the explosion went off.

KARADAVA: Yes, and the second explosion was here, so I was in the middle.

CAMEROTA: How are you standing here? How did you survive?

KARADAVA: I don't know. I don't know. We're talking now but it's unbelievable that we are alive.

CAMEROTA: Rocky, I want to talk about what you were doing. You had dropped a friend off at the airport. You were in your car driving away when you heard and felt the explosions and you then did the unthinkable. Instead of driving as fast as you can away, you parked your car and you ran towards the explosions. What were you thinking?

ROCKY GATHRIGHT, WITNESSED BRUSSELS AIRPORT ATTACK: Well, I was really concerned about my friend. I had a great concern that I might have to pull him out of the building or drag him out of the building. I couldn't imagine dropping him off and just driving away. I felt like I had to do something.

CAMEROTA: And so, did you find your friend?

GATHRIGHT: Yes, about 12 minutes later, searching through the crowds, I found him. He had made it out safely.

CAMEROTA: And not only did you help your friend, you helped other people. What was the scene like and who were you helping?

GATHRIGHT: As soon as I got out of my car a teacher was covered in blood. She was coming away from the building but she was saying I have 50 16-year-old students and I can't find any of them. None of them are with me, so she was in a panic.

CAMEROTA: Did she find them?

GATHRIGHT: I haven't been able to find her since, so --

KARADAVA: Thirty-one people are still missing, you know?

CAMEROTA: They believed killed. I mean, 31 and there are some people that -- most of them they have not been able to identify.

KARADAVA: Yes, yes, yes.

CAMEROTA: We also know there are some people they believe who are in comas who can't respond. Who they might not know the identity of and that's why your photograph is so important. The photos that you took that day that did help people piece together things.

KARADAVA: Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: But Rocky, you've been here. You've been working here in Brussels as a missionary.

GATHRIGHT: Yes.

CAMEROTA: How do you make sense of what you saw on Monday?

GATHRIGHT: This is nonsense. This is really fighting innocent people to further a cause. It's very detrimental to their cause, and I'm just calling on the Muslim community to really have a voice and speak against this atrocity because you're murdering innocent people, and I feel like they should --

CAMEROTA: Isn't the Muslim community here doing that?

GATHRIGHT: I don't know. I don't hear them loud enough speaking against this. Maybe the Imans need to stand up and really speak to their people and say what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong, and this is clearly wrong. If they can say that then I think there's a working relationship for the community.

CAMEROTA: Ket, you were trying to leave that day at the airport, but now here you are in Brussels. What is next for you?

KARDAVA: What I think about since the day that it was the worst thing in my life. It has changed a lot for me and it will be very, very difficult for me to go next time to the airport, you know? And to see the building and the departure hall and everything. But we have to overcome. We have to overcome. We have to leave here and we love Brussels, yes --

GATHRIGHT: Yes, yes.

KARDAVA: And we want to be safe in this city.

CAMEROTA: Of course. We all want that, too. Ket and Rocky, thank you very much for coming in --

GATHRIGHT: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: -- and sharing your stories. Well, Americans are being warned about traveling to Brussels and traveling to Europe over concerns of more terror attacks. Can authorities prevent another attack? Next, we assess the threat with the former of the House Intelligence Committee. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:53:00] CAMEROTA: For the Belgium-wide manhunt underway at this hour, for now two bombing suspects on the run here from Brussels, there are concerns also about more attacks across Europe. The U.S. State Department issuing a warning for Americans about traveling to Europe.

Joining us now is CNN national security commentator Mike Rogers. He's the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Mike, thanks so much for being here.

I want to start with this warning issued by the U.S. State Department -- this travel advisory. They warn of "near-term attacks" throughout Europe and are warning Americans about travel, but what does that mean? Should Americans not be coming to Europe right now?

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Well, I think you have to gauge your level of acceptance of risk when you go to Europe today. For the State Department, Alisyn, to come out and say that there are near-term planning events, meaning there is intelligence or chatter through all the channels of which intelligence services collect information, that there is another phase of attacks.

I've never seen the State Department be that aggressive in a notice, so certainly you have to reconsider it. I think the odds are you're going to be safe to go to Europe. Clearly there is going to be a lot of pressure put on all of the places and individuals that they've already identified as possible terror suspects.

But I will say I was a little surprised to see the level of aggression in the State Department's position that there are likely planned near- term events. That, to me, was a really big departure from things they would say in the past.

CAMEROTA: Agreed. That did seem to have a more specific ring to it than we had heard. I also want to ask you, Mike, about something that we just heard from two of our terrorism experts. They live here in Brussels and they told us something really remarkable. That in Belgium there can be no raids. Police can do no raids from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. It's the law. So the very time in the United States when police do raid -- nighttime, where they can surprise people -- that is off limits here. How can that be?

[07:55:00] ROGERS: Well, think about the culture of the laws in Europe, and this is what they're suffering now with all of the debate between security and privacy and what the government can and can't do, Alisyn. They're still suffering that World War II culture and for good reason. And so the laws are always written to tell you what the government can't do. To keep the government back. To keep the intelligence services or law enforcement back. And that's what that 9:00 a.m. (sic) to 5:00 a.m. rule is.

I think they're discovering that the rules have to be written for their law enforcement, their intelligence services, to actually target terrorists and have the freedom to go after them and that debate has already begun. If you saw the debates in the United Kingdom about all of this and what that means for them staying in Europe and information sharing, the laws are all over the map across Europe. I think depending on where they were in World War II.

That culture -- that we're going to have a cultural shift for these governments to realize that you can still have privacy but your laws have to allow your intelligence services and your law enforcement the ability and give them the tools to legally go after these terrorists groups and identify these cells and try to disrupt their activities.

CAMEROTA: Right, because here in Brussels we see scores of police officers and soldiers. They're fanning out in the streets. They're checking bags before people get on the subways, yet, if their hands are tied in terms of raids, how effective can it be?

Furthermore, we've also learned this morning from our Arwa Damon, who is in Turkey, that the Turkish officials tried to share intelligence with the Belgian officials but something got lost in the communication. They tried to warn the Belgian officials about one of these brothers who is believed to have blown himself up at the airport, but we don't know if the Belgian officials ignored it or where the disconnect was. What do make of the lack of successfulness of sharing of intelligence?

ROGERS: Well, especially in Belgium, they have these very different police districts. I think there's nine. Some of them don't even speak the same language. They have cultural differences in each of these different districts. They don't share very well and they have an awful -- I would say bad, but it is awful -- signals intelligence capability.

As a matter of fact, Belgium relies on the West. They rely on Great Britain, or used to. They rely on the United States and other intelligence services to help them through their signals intelligence, meaning can I get an e-mail, can I figure out where a phone is. And you start adding up all of those -- I think, substandard for 2016 -- positions for their intelligence and law enforcement services you're going to get gaps just like this.

And that's what the rest of Europe is considered about, Alisyn, is they don't know where the Belgian effort is going to be on identifying for the rest of the Europe these terrorist cells, and that's what's so concerning here. It's because they're not doing well in the information sharing piece, they have very limited signals intelligence, and it's clear that even when they get information from the outside they're not able to process it in a way that allows them to target the individuals -- in this case the subway bomber. The name was provided to them by Turkey.

CAMEROTA: Mike Rogers, thank you for sharing with us all of the challenges that lie ahead for Belgian authorities here. Nice to talk to you.

ROGERS: Thanks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: We'll have much more on the massive manhunt for those two unidentified suspects here connected to the Brussels terror attacks, so let's get right to it.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brussels is now a major hub for Jihadists.

CAMEROTA: The manhunt here now expanding to two unidentified terror suspects.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Until now, these Belgian-born brothers had been linked to violent crime, not terror.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN REPORTER: An apartment in the district of Schaerbeek was used as the main bomb-making factory.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Authorities really looking at a two-headed monster here.

CLINTON: If I'm president the United States will not condone or practice torture.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The father of Sen. Cruz escaped for America, the land of the free.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Democrats are more concerned about political correctness than they are about keeping us safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The phone sounded like it had went underwater and then it went dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No -- no one's killing us.

EMILY EISENMAN, BOYFRIEND MISSING IN BELGIUM: It's been the worst days of my life.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your new day. It is Thursday, March 24th, 8:00 in the east. I'm Alisyn Camerota. I am live in Brussels for you this morning. Michaela and John Berman are in New York, and here we begin with breaking news on the terror attacks. Sources telling CNN that a second man is suspected of taking part in that Metro station bombing here in Brussels.