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U.S. Intel: Terrorists Plotting Imminent Attacks; Four Mormon Missionaries Injured in Attacks; Trump and Cruz in War Over Wives. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 25, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:55] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Two Americans among the dead in the Brussels terror attacks. U.S. intelligence suggests that multiple ISIS plots are being planned in Europe. The question is, how concerned should Americans be here in the United States of an attack on U.S. soil?

Joining us now is Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who sits on the Intelligence and Armed Services Committee.

And, senator, I know you just returned from Europe. You were, in fact, in Paris the day of the Brussels attacks. There was a flurry of new information this morning. There's arrests in Germany, we're told, connected to the Brussels attack. There's an arrest in Paris overnight connected to the November attacks there. Give us a sense of what you're hearing right now on the scope of the investigation.

SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: Well, it was amazing. We were on a trip involving mostly Russia, when we were in Poland and Ukraine, and then counterterrorism in Germany and France. The morning of the Brussels attack, we were coincidentally meeting with French law enforcement and intelligence officials, spent most of the morning with them and with our own people.

Here's one of the real problems over there, John. There - they are where we were pre-9/11. They - their - the term is stove piped. They're in silos. They don't talk to each other, particularly between the countries, but they have open borders, where people can - you can drive from Italy to Norway without slowing down. And this is a really serious problem that manifested itself to some extent in Brussels. And that was a lot of the discussion. They're going to have to find a way to put aside their old jealousies and rivalries and do a better job of their intelligence communities and law enforcement, communicating with each other in order to prevent these kinds of attacks. And, unfortunately, you know, the reports that ISIS is planning other attacks don't surprise me. I think as Secretary Kerry said, as ISIS is squeezed down in Syria and Iraq, they're going to lash out. They're a trapped rat right now, and they're going to be doing these kinds of attacks and, of course, they're going to be trying to do them here.

BERMAN: You say they're a trapped rat, but is this contained to Europe? You said they are going to try them here. These Europeans, who are traveling across borders with countries that are not sharing information, if you have a European Union passport, you can come to the U.S. very, very easily.

KING: Well, that's right, and that was one of the things that we talked about over there, and that I'm very concerned about. We made - this so-called visa waiver program, just to put it in perspective, John. You know, all the argument and to do we had last year about 2,600 Syrian refugees, in the meantime, 20 million people passed in and out of the United States last year under the visa waiver program.

Now, we did some things in the - in the - in the budget bill in December that tightened it up, but I'm still uncomfortable about that. The problem is, a lot of these people travel, and we learned this from our counterparts in Europe, travel under assumed names and fake passports. So we can have somebody on a watch list, but then if they show up at the airport with a fake passport, they're not on a watch list, it could be that they could slip through. That's, I think, the principle concern.

I've got to say, our - our law enforcement and intelligence people are doing an absolutely spectacular job of tracking these people down, preventing these kind of attacks. But the problem is, you can be 99.9 percent effective and still have a tragedy. And so the other piece is, it's very hard to stop a lone wolf attack. Somebody that's an American citizen, they're already living here, they're radicalized online. They go out and buy a gun and they go and do what happened in San Bernardino. There's no real plot there in the sense of, you know, a lot of messaging back and forth and buying equipment and those kinds things. So it's very difficult for law enforcement and intelligence to get on top of that. So I see that - that's what keeps me up at night, is the self-radicalized, homegrown extremists.

BERMAN: Senator, you know more than we do. You're on the intelligence committee. Would you send your kids to Europe right now?

KING: Yes. Yes, I would. And I think - I don't think it's - you know, there are risks every time we walk out the door. You can get hit by a bus, and I just don't think the risk - it's there, but there are all kinds of other risks in life. And I - I would. I mean I just got back. I didn't feel unsafe. I walked the streets of Krakow and Paris and Berlin.

[08:35:23] It is a risk, but I - that's - if I answered yes to that question, that would be the victory of the terrorists and I don't think we can do that. We can't be intimidated. We have to maintain who we are. We are asymmetrically vulnerable because we're asymmetrically free and we want to stay that way. So I think law enforcement, intelligence.

But the other problem, John, is, we've got to get at the core of this. One of the law enforcement people we met with in France said, we're not going to arrest or kill our way out of this. We've got to figure out how to get at the - at the motivation of these young people. What's the problem? And one of the problems they have in Europe that was identified over and over is the ghettoization of their Muslim communities. They're sort of all by themselves and it's a cauldron of resentment and just ill-feeling.

BERMAN: Senator -

KING: But one final point, and this goes to why we can't marginalize and discriminate against all Muslims. Most of these arrests have taken place because of tips that have come from within the Muslim community. That's why this - we - we just can't say all Muslims are bad. We're not going to talk to them. That's exactly what ISIS wants us to do.

BERMAN: And when these tips come in, when these tips come in, the authorities have to act and act fast, and there have been some issues of that in Belgium.

Senator Angus King, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

Up next, we're going to hear from a woman who was heading to the United States on a mission from her church when the Brussels airport bomb went off. A gripping story of survival. You don't want to miss this.

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[08:40:59] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to bring you a CNN exclusive now. This is the moment when the parents of a Brussels terror survivor, Mason Wells, an American, got to see their son for the first time since the attacks. The Mormon missionary, he's from Utah, he suffered shrapnel injuries and burns, but watch this reunion.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got some visits for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mason.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey. Hey.

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love you, son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Unbelievably, this was Mason's third brush with terrorism. Mason was injured when dropping off his colleague, Sister Fanny Kline (ph), at the Brussels airport Tuesday morning. And the story of Fanny is just as remarkable. Fanny is 20 years old. She was inside the departure hall feet away from the blast. She was badly burned, but she spoke to us from her hospital bed last night. She had come out of surgery. She was, as you'll see, sleepy, sedated, but felt strongly that she wanted to share her story.

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SISTER FANNY KLINE: We found a place to check in, and it was big and glass part. So we went through and we start the line in front of the, like computer where you put your passport in. And behind us starting the line a woman carrying this newborn baby in one hand and in the other hand pushing the -

CAMEROTA: Stroller.

KLINE: The stroller, yes. And then I - then I head back and I was starting to talk to something and it was a black - (boom) - and I was laying down on the ground. It was all ashes all around. It was all gray. It was really stinky because of the burn and I was all brown, on my coat it was like a sticky brown thing and my hands was burned and my head. So - so I quickly then I realized that it was - I realized it was a bomb then I was laying down. Then I opened my eyes, and woke up and go away, so I walk as fast as I can crying.

CAMEROTA: How do you make sense of how people could have done this?

KLINE: Yes. To me sounds like craziness. I don't know what happened in their childhood, but I'm pretty sure that it was really weird and it's like uh brainwashed maybe. I don't really know. I think it's just sad people and other more sad people who came together and wanted to make something huge. But all this sadness became into craziness and then they want all the world to be sad as well as them.

[08:45:05] CAMEROTA: Have you been able to talk to your family and your friends and your loved ones?

KLINE: Yes, I've talked to them. They were all shocked and kind of panic.

CAMEROTA: Have you been able to talk to your family, your friends, your loved ones?

CLAIN: Yeah, I talked to them. They were all shocked and kind of panic.

CAMEROTA: Of course.

CLAIN: It's normal. They were not there and my family is very far away so understand that it is kind of complicated to handle the situation.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

CLAIN: But I'm okay. The doctors are really nice with me and I don't feel so bad. I don't have to much pain. Sometimes yeah, but it's normal.

CAMEROTA: But you're going to get better?

CLAIN: Yeah.

CAMEROTA: Thank you for sharing your story. It means a lot to everyone to hear from the survivors and to hear how well you're doing, and you're doing amazingly well.

CLAIN: Simple, God is with us.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CAMEROTA: The doctors tell us that Fanny will be okay, physically. They expect her to get out of the hospital in about a week, but obviously she has a long road ahead, emotionally.

And John and Michaela, as I wrap up my almost week assignment here in Brussels, I just want to share what seems like a fitting end to this. There's a group of students sitting behind me on the steps of the Plaza (inaudible) here in the public square, and they just sang a beautiful song, and there was a round of applause when they sang the song and it's just such a symbol of the togetherness and the love and the healing that this city of Brussels, and of course, the whole country of Belgium will have to face. But they are on the road to recovery here.

So it's been a real eye-opening experience and I'm grateful that I've been here. Back to you guys.

BERMAN: Your strength, their strength is everyone's strength. Thanks so much, Alisyn.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Back here at home, Ted Cruz not playing any punches now with Donald Trump. The latest salvo in their war of words over the Republican candidates' wives.

A quick programming note for you. In the new episode of "THE WONDER LIST" this Sunday, 10:00 p.m., CNN's Bill Weir travels to Iceland checking out a different definition of family.

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BILL WEIR, HOST, CNN'S "THE WONDER LIST" (voice-over): Everywhere you turn there are coupling like Brindice and Siggy (ph). Together they have four kids from three other partners and not a drop of guilt or regrets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very common in Iceland to be an unmarried mother, and people go a long time, no, they live together and they have children, and then maybe they get married, you know? And you have this horrible term in English, like broken families.

WEIR (on camera): Right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Which basically means just, if you get divorced, and then something's broken, but that's not the way it is in Iceland at all. I think it's because -- because we live in such a small and secure environment, and the women, they have so much (inaudible) so you can just -- you can choose your life.

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[08:50:37] TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not easy to tick me off. I don't get angry often. But you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that will do it every time. Donald, you're a sniveling coward. Leave Heidi the hell alone.

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BERMAN: That's Senator Ted Cruz ripping into Donald Trump after Trump retweeted an unflattering photo of Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi. Want to talk about this. Bringing in CNN commentator Jeffrey Lord, former White House political director for Ronald Reagan and a Trump supporter. Also with us, CNN commentator Tara Setmayer, former communications director for Congresswoman Dana Rohrabacher.

Tara, Jeff, we've all been through this discussion now multiple times in the last 24 hours. I want to try to push it forward a little bit, Tara. I want to talk about the Ted Cruz response. Has Ted Cruz now said enough and is it time for Ted Cruz to move on, or risk being distracted in this campaign?

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. I think he should move forward. He said what he had to say. He was very forceful about it. And I think that he needs to continue to draw the contrast between him and Trump on policy issues, on temperament, on qualifications to be president of the United States. Real issues that are facing this country.

Look , all of this, what Donald Trump is doing, he's deflecting from the fact that he is wholly unqualified to handle the real issues facing America. We just had an awful terrorist attack happen in Brussels. Americans died there. People died there. And what is Donald Trump doing? He is up late at night tweeting about -- you know -- insults about women.

He also had a disastrous "Washington Post" editorial board meeting on Monday that's kind of gotten buried in this whole conversation where he was -- his answers to very serious questions were unintelligible, and people need to really pay attention and look at the future of the country. You want to put it in the hands of someone who's a misogynist and who can't get past their impulses to lash out on not only women, but other people? That's scary.

BERMAN: But even if you buy your argument (ph) that all this is getting buried, part of the reason it's getting buried is because Ted Cruz has chose to engage in the back and forth and back and forth.

SETMAYER: He needed to defend his wife. I mean, what Donald Trump has done is pretty despicable. But it's part of a 30-year pattern he has with lashing out at women when he doesn't get his way.

BERMAN: Jeffrey, one of the things that Donald Trump needs to be doing right now is trying to bring the party together. Right? I mean, if he thinks he is going to be the nominee, if he wants to be, you know, the ultimate -- and inevitable nominee in his mind, he's got to unify the party. This doesn't seem to be unifying the party now, particularly Republican women. I mean his unfavorable ratings among Republican women are especially high right now. 74 percent unfavorable in the latest CNN/ORC poll. Doesn't he have to turn that around in the next few months? JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure. John, as you know,

I've said, let's move on here. Let's move on. There are really serious issues here. What happened in Brussels is incredibly serious. So I think, you know, enough is enough with all of this kind of thing.

That said, look, he was defending his wife. His wife was under attack. He defended her. I find that very strange that for a man to defend his wife from a political attack is somehow anti-women, but there you go.

BERMAN: Do you think it benefits Donald Trump, Jeffrey, to distract like this? To give away two days on the campaign trail to an argument about candidate wives instead of focusing on the issues? Is this part of a greater strategy?

LORD: I don't -- I don't think defending his wife is seen as a strategy. I think he sees it as defending his wife, period. And in terms of unifying the party, you know, that process was begun on -- or continues --was on Monday in Washington when he met with a number of Republican members of Congress, other members of the media. I know that my editor from "The American Spectator" was in on that meeting, Bob Tyrrell. So he is doing this.

BERMAN: Tara, I know you feel strongly about this.

SETMAYER: Yeah. I do.

BERMAN: Ted Cruz has been asked if he could support Donald Trump if he's the nominee. Up until yesterday he said, you know, indicated, yeah, yeah, he would. Yesterday when he called Trump a sniveling coward, he was asked directly, he wouldn't answer the question but he's not flat out saying no. At a certain point, doesn't a candidate who calls another one a sniveling coward have to come out and say a sniveling coward isn't my nominee?

SETMAYER: Yeah. I mean, I don't -- I don't understand how they reconcile that. You know, these kinds of -- What they're attacking Donald Trump on is -- they're very legitimate arguments, and I don't know how you turn that around moving forward. So I --

BERMAN: He has to reconcile that, in your mind?

[08:54:55] SETMAYER: Well either that or he just -- or beat him flat out. Which seems to be his answer to Donald Trump here. But just -- I have to address something that Jeffrey said. This is not how a man defends his wife. You don't defend your wife by objectifying another woman. This isn't seventh grade where you go, my girlfriend's hotter than your girlfriend.

We're talking about the leader of the free world potentially. The next leader of the free world. So you lash out, you objectify -- He's already objectified his wife by comparing -- by retweeting something like that, and then you -- then you turn around and we're supposed to think that, oh, he loves women, he respects women, and this is the way a rational leader of the free world handles situations like this? That is not how a real man, who's comfortable in his own skin, handles a situation like that.

LORD: Oh --

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BERMAN: Tara Setmayer -- Tara, Jeffrey, we got to end it there. Let me say happy Easter to both of you and I --

LORD: Happy Easter.

BERMAN: Hope we're not talking about this on Monday.

LORD: Happy Passover.

SETMAYER: Me, too.

BERMAN: Michaela.

PEREIRA: Well given all the craziness and violence in the world, we need heroes, right? Do you know someone who's leaving an impactful, powerful, inspirational fingerprint on the world? Now's your chance to tell us about someone who could become a CNN Hero. Anderson Cooper has got the details.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Just got to CNNheroes.com on your laptop, your tablet or your smart phone, click nominate, fill in the form and tell us what makes your hero extraordinary. And be selective. Those honored as CNN Heroes are truly dedicating their lives to serving others. When you're finished, click submit. You'll see this message that confirms we received it.

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PEREIRA: Every year we receive thousands of nominations. So to make yours stand out, you'll find helpful tips along with the nomination form right there at CNNheroes.com.

All right. Our continuing coverage of the Brussels terror attacks continues when Carol Costello picks up with "NEWSROOM" right after this break. Have a great Easter.

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin with breaking news out Belgium.

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[08:30:55] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Two Americans among the dead in the Brussels terror attacks. U.S. intelligence suggests that multiple ISIS plots are being planned in Europe. The question is, how concerned should Americans >