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Increased Security in U.S. For Fourth of July Celebrations Examined; Baghdad Hit by Massive Truck Bombing; Interview with Boston Police Commissioner William Evans; Clinton Interviewed By FBI Over Private Email Server; Bill Clinton Says He Regrets Meeting With Attorney General. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 04, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- Monday, 8:00 in the east. As you can see Chris is off and John Berman angered someone in management and he joins me now.

All right, let's get to the story so many people are talking about and feeling this morning, the beefed up security for big Independence Day celebrations in the wake of course of the terror attacks around the globe in just the last week.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll is soaring in Baghdad in the deadliest attack there in years, so what does this all say about the capabilities now of ISIS, blamed for three horrific attacks in less than a week? We're covering this from all over the globe this morning. Let's begin with Deborah Feyerick live along New York's East River. That's where we're going to get fireworks tonight, Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, 3 million people expected to be here. Happy Fourth of July to all of you. Police will be out in full force. There's no credible intelligence of any kind of specific threat. The biggest concern is the unknown threat, that self-radicalized individual that wants to make a statement. And so that's you're going to see this full force, this heavy presence of police not just here in New York, but in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, anywhere where there are going to be fireworks, anywhere where they'll be people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: After a series of deadly attacks overseas, U.S. counterterror officials heightening security measures at so-called soft targets across the country, including the July 4th fireworks displays tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a pretty tight security plan for the Fourth of July.

FEYERICK: In the nation's capital much of the dramatic increase in security will be hidden.

CHIEF ROBERT MACLEAN, WASHINGTON D.C. PARK POLICE: We do have technology that folks will not see. FEYERICK: The biggest fireworks show in America along New York City's

East River with an estimated 3 million spectators has the police in the big apple on high alert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will see a very significantly enhanced police presence in the city.

FEYERICK: Out on the water, officials patrolling the harbors around Manhattan and conducting security dives along the Macy's fireworks barges.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, (R) NEW YORK CITY: We are very, very vigilant. We'll have exceptional NYPD presence to keep everyone safe.

FEYERICK: The New York City mayor deploying 500 plus highly trained, highly armed officers ready to prevent terror, the first Fourth of July the critical response team will be out in full force.

DE BLASIO: It sends a powerful message to anyone who ight try and disrupt that we are ready to prevent that.

FEYERICK: Tensions already high.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounded like a cannon.

FEYERICK: After a small explosion in Central Park Sunday left a tourist's foot mangled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His foot is all but detached. His friends claim he's just walking down the rocks and stepped on something.

FEYERICK: That something believed to be an experiment with fireworks, or a homemade explosive set off after a young tourist accidentally stepped on it according to the NYPD.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe this could have been put here as some sort of experiment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Now, the FBI joint terrorism task force has been investigating this. They don't believe it is terror related, and the NYPD bomb squad analyzed the device, saying it was sort of basic chemistry and there didn't appear to be any sort of intent to harm. But clearly that has escalated the tensions, the worries, when you hear that kind of explosion ripping through Central Park. And that's what police are really going to be on the alert for. They're just going to make sure there are no anomalies, that people are enjoying themselves. And you can believe that police across the country are going to be in close touch with people in federal law enforcement agencies so that if there is any sort of threat stream, they will know about it sooner rather than later. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: And Deb, it is just so bizarre, such a bizarre story to have happen in Central Park and so troubling. So thank you for all of the reporting on that. Well, we have breaking news from you from Baghdad now. The death toll

soaring from a massive truck bombing in that busy shopping district. ISIS claiming responsibility. This of course is the third deadly attack around the world in less than a week. CNN's Ben Wedeman is live in Baghdad with all of the breaking details. What is the latest, Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A day and a half after that bomb blast went off at midnight Saturday night, workers are still looking for bodies, body parts still in the wreckage. People still don't know where their oh loved ones are. According to the Iraqi police, of the bodies recovered, 81 of them are so badly charred, they're beyond recognition. They're going to have to conduct DNA tests.

At this point the death toll is at least 200 with more than that wounded, and it is expected to rise. Now, exactly what happened is not altogether clear at this point. But what we have been able to pin together or piece together is out here in this street, a small refrigerator truck packed with explosives went off around midnight. The blast caused fires to start in all these buildings around it. There are lots of stores in this area, with clothing, computers, perfume, cellphones, all of it created a raging intern know and people were stuck on the upper floors.

[08:05:11] So it wasn't just the blast, it was the resulting fire, all of which amounts to the worst such attack in Baghdad in years. Back to you.

BERMAN: All right, Ben, thanks so much. Simply horrifying on the streets of Baghdad there.

Now let's go to Bangladesh seeing its own horror. We are learning the hostages killed in the terror attack there died minutes after the attackers stormed the cafe. CNN's Alexandra Field is live in Dhaka with more. Alexandra?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, John, police are now telling us that they have two suspects in custody. They say both of those suspects were injured inside the cafe during that attack. From the beginning, they said that one of the attackers had survived. That's one of the suspects, of course. He remains in the hospital, but two injured to speak to investigators. Police do know that all of the attackers are Bangladeshi. They range in age from 18 to mid-20s. They are upper middle class men, and they are all highly educated.

I spoke to the father of one of the attackers, the youngest attacker, the 18-year-old attacker, Meer Mobasheer, and his father said that his son had been missing for some four months. They weren't able to find him. They had no contact with him prior to the attacks. But they also said when he was living in their house just four months ago, he showed no signs of radicalization. This father learned that his son was involved when he saw photos that had been posted by ISIS showing his son with most of his head covered, but he said he recognized the boy's lips, his cheeks, his mouth, and the hands that were grasping a gun. ISIS has claimed responsibility for this attack. U.S. officials are

focusing on ISIS as the likely perpetrators, but here in Bangladesh, official say they are looking at the possibility that these were led by a network, however, they said they won't rule out the possibility of --

CAMEROTA: We're having a little bit of problems with the satellite from Bangladesh there and Alexandra Field's latest reporting.

We also want to tell you, new this morning, a suicide attack just feet from the U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia overnight. CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has the details. What have you learned, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON: Alisyn, this is deeply troubling. The bomb could have been much worse. We know that the police saw this young man walking around about 3:00 a.m. in the morning, and at this time Saudi streets would have been quite busy. It is during Ramadan and a lot of people go out at night when it's cooler to enjoy their evening.

But the police spotted him wandering around in a car park of a hospital. It was about 10 yards from the U.S. consulate when they approached him. He detonated his explosives. Two officers were injured. He died, but then when the officers brought in the bomb squad to look at the vehicle that had arrived there in, they discovered that there were three other bombs in there. The bomb disposal squad used a robot to get in and have controlled explosion, used controlled explosions to neutralize those other explosives.

So this is troubling. It is troubling at several levels, because it could have been a much bigger explosion. The whole car rigged with explosives could have gone off, that's one thing. But also we know that in recent, the last few years, Saudi officials say they've rounded up about 2,500 ISIS suspects in Saudi Arabia. This year so far we know that they've been targeting Saudi security forces, but this raises the question, though ISIS hasn't claimed this yet, but it does raise the question is there a new tactical shift to go back to try to attack foreigners, particularly places of U.S. interests, like the consulate and other potential business targets. That's going to be the concern going forward, John.

BERMAN: Nic Robertson for us in London. He talks about places of interest. What about days of interest? Today, of course, the Fourth of July, celebrations around the country. So how do the attacks overseas affect efforts here? We want to discuss right now with Boston's police commissioner William Evans. Commissioner, thanks so much for being with us and happy Fourth of July to you, sir.

WILLIAM B. EVANS, BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Same to you.

BERMAN: I want to ask first about not what's happening overseas, but what happened at Central Park, which is a few hundred yards behind me right now. There was some sort of explosive device found there. Some sort of explosion, and some poor guy stepped on it and was seriously injured. I'm just wondering, from where you're sitting in Boston, how much do you know about that? We're told here by authorities it wasn't terror related, but how many do you know about it specifically and what general concerns do you have?

EVANS: Well, you know, our intelligence unit works very closely with the NYPD, so we've been briefed on that. And from what we're being told, it is more of a fireworks, some type of minor, you know, fireworks, so we're not real concerned there.

But obviously today is July 4th, and we have major events going on here in the city. We have over a million people coming to watch the Boston pops and fireworks.

[08:10:03] We have the Red Sox in town, we have parades. But, you know, but there is no threat to this city here. But I think what happened obviously not only in Orlando but across the world, I think we all are concerned with security, and we have a lot of officers out there, and there's no threat to any of the events here in the city of Boston.

BERMAN: No specific threats to any events in Boston right now, but obviously we have seen what's going on overseas in just the last week, whether it be Baghdad or in Bangladesh or at the airport in Turkey. So how does that affect your preparations for an event like this where you'll have millions of people, more than a million people out on the esplanade?

EVANS: Well, I think working with the state police, the FBI, partners, you know, we will have a lot of technology out there, watching the crowd. We also have undercover officers, a lot of, you know, bomb sniffing dogs, and, you know, we'll watch people closely as they move on to the esplanade. The same if they move towards family park.

It's just a lot of people come into the city, and as we've always said, we rely greatly on the public that if they see something that doesn't look right, please, don't hesitate to call. That old see something, say something, that's what we need.

Again, it is a great day not only in Boston, but across the country, celebrating our independence. So I hope people aren't afraid to come out and enjoy the day.

BERMAN: I'm sure they will not be afraid to come out and enjoy the day in Boston. There has been some concern, commissioner, that this is Ramadan and that a number of these attacks have taken place during Ramadan and some ISIS leaders have called for timing these attacks during this month. What guidance have you been given about Ramadan?

EVANS: We work very closely with the Islamic Center in the city. I was just there, I was talking to, you know, the leader of them, and obviously they're concerned with retaliation. But, you know, we're working very closely with the Muslims, and, you know, hoping they obviously are not subject to any type of retribution, but also to reach out to us if it they hear anything. Our main concern and continues always to be is that lone wolf becomes self-radicalized. I think this has everyone on edge a little bit, but we have plenty of officers out there working with all our partners to make sure these events go off without any problems at all. BERMAN: Obviously you have specific concerns in Boston because of

what happened there a few years ago at the Boston Marathon, as you say, self-radicalized individuals able to carry out attacks which caused great damage, not just deaths but injuries, to hundreds of people. I wonder if the security environment, if you have noticed changes in the international and domestic security environment since then? Are you on even greater alert now than you were then? That in some ways predated ISIS.

EVANS: We have been since the marathon bombing. We've worked very closely with a lot of the agencies in and around the city. We continually are doing a lot of active training exercises out there. You know, just two weeks ago, we were up at Fenway Park where we did an exercise very much, you know, like what happened recently with, you know, the suicide vests and individuals coming in with AK-47s.

So I think since the marathon, we've really stepped up our efforts not only here in the city, but across the country. But unfortunately it's a crazy world right now and all we can do is be prepared and respond, and heaven forbid that happened here or anywhere in the United States, like what took place in Orlando.

BERMAN: Commissioner, are you going to see the pops tonight on the esplanade?

EVANS: Yes, I'll be there. I'll be walking around. And again, it is a great city. I'm ready to go to where they will read the Declaration of Independence, the parade. We got a lot of events. And it is a fun day in the city capped off by the Boston pops and the fireworks tonight at 10:30. So exciting day and it's going to be a safe day.

BERMAN: We hope you have a great, safe day. Happy 4th, commissioner. Appreciate you being with us.

EVANS: Thank you for having me on.

BERMAN: Alisyn?

EVANS: John, a U.S. senator is OK, after his small plane ran off the runway Sunday night. Bad weather forced Senator Jim Inhofe to land at South Grand Lake regional airport in Oklahoma. The FAA says the Republican lawmaker told them he veered into some brush to avoid striking a deer. There were no passengers in the plane. Senator Inhofe was not hurt.

BERMAN: Deep space drama as NASA's Juno's spacecraft closes in on Jupiter today. Mission controllers have one shot to get the speeding probe into Jupiter's orbit. They're going to hit the brakes by firing Juno's main thruster at just the right time. That should slow the craft down so Jupiter's gravity can catch it. But if the timing is off or the engine fails, the probe will zip past the planet, hurl into space, and the whole mission fails. So no pressure at all there.

[08:15:03] CAMEROTA: All right, either one is going to happen. A stunning sight for beachgoers in Lake Travis, Texas. A small plane crash landed into the water, right near the shore this weekend. Oh, my goodness. The video captures the plane hitting the water and flipping over before becoming submerged.

Boaters and people on the shore rushed to help and incredibly, all three people inside the plane escaped with just minor injuries, thanks to some heroic efforts by everyone else.

BERMAN: Wow. Obviously the pilot did a good job of getting that craft down and people on the shore helped as well.

CAMEROTA: Indeed.

BERMAN: All right, Hillary Clinton's e-mail controversy, interviewed by the FBI for more than three hours this weekend. What damage has it done to her perceived honesty and trustworthiness?

That plus Bill Clinton's meeting with the attorney general, giving the Republicans plenty to talk about. A Hillary Clinton supporter joins us next to address these issues, that, on this special 4th of July edition of NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton's campaign looking to move past her e-mail controversy. Sources tell CNN it is expected that she will not face charges related to her use of that private e-mail server as secretary of state. However, last week's unplanned meeting on the tarmac between her husband and Attorney General Loretta Lynch continues to raise questions.

Joining us know is former Department of Justice spokesperson, Matt Miller. He is a Hillary Clinton supporter. Good morning, Matt.

MATT MILLER, FORMER DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SPOKESPERSON: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Happy 4th of July to you.

MILLER: Same to you.

CAMEROTA: Given your experience at the Justice Department, what do you think happened during the three-and-a-half-hour meeting with the FBI?

MILLER: You know, I think this was really the last step in the FBI's investigation typically in a long investigation like this. After you have completed your entire review available evidence, you've interviewed as many people as you can, you bring in the key principal if they're willing to come in and talk to the FBI, and a lot of people in these situations aren't.

[08:20:04]So I think they brought her in, she came in voluntarily, and talked about why she set up her e-mail account the way she did, and I would imagine talked about the fact that she never knowingly sent or received any classified information.

And I think that this is really the last step in what hopefully you'll see now is the FBI and the Department of Justice bringing this to a close and really wrap things up. CAMEROTA: What would the timeline be, do you think?

MILLER: It really ought to happen in the next few weeks. This is, you know, the way these cases work, the FBI goes out and conducting a full investigation, and then the FBI and prosecutors together make a decision about how they want to proceed.

With the investigative phase finished, if they are not going to bring charges, and that appears to be the case, both from all the available evidence and as you noted from CNN's reporting, it really is incumbent upon the Department of Justice to wrap this up in a matter of weeks and announce it is at a close because they need the uncertainty that has shadowed the campaign from the beginning.

CAMEROTA: But Matt, what if her testimony doesn't jive with what they've learned from the other witnesses? I mean, bringing in the principal as you say as the last person, doesn't that open it up if she doesn't -- if somebody doesn't corroborate what she says or if there is some sort of incongruity then what?

MILLER: You know, I think that's very unlikely to be the case. We don't have any evidence that that's the case. Look, a lot of people in these situations as I said don't go talk to the FBI voluntarily.

And when someone does, as she did, I think it is a pretty good sign that they want to be open, they want to be cooperative with the investigation, because they don't feel there is a likelihood any charges. They're not in jeopardy.

So I think we should read this as Secretary Clinton really feeling good about the likely outcome of the investigation, and if that's true, if the department isn't going to bring charges, what they shouldn't do is let this linger for a long period of time now. They need to wrap it up and bring it to a close.

CAMEROTA: Will her testimony to the FBI or even others be released to the public to see?

MILLER: No. Certainly not any time soon. Sometimes long down the road, the FBI will release the summaries of interviews, but that comes much after the fact. The FBI and Department of Justice maintain confidentiality for these matters, and that's certainly appropriate so they can make decisions free from public pressure, free from political pressure.

CAMEROTA: But I mean, after the fact, let's say there are no charge brought, isn't this a special circumstance? I mean, because she is running for president, doesn't the public deserve to know what the questions were and her answers to them?

MILLER: I think it is unlikely the FBI will have asked a lot of different questions and what we've seen publicly. Hillary Clinton has answered so many questions about this from the press. The Department of Justice's job is not to conduct public inquiries.

They're not supposed to leak information, although there have been many leaks in this case and really didn't make a decision about -- on the facts and the law.

If they are going to bring forward charges, then of course, they have a responsibility to air everything about those charges and prove them in a court of law, but if not, they need wrap it up quietly and announce that there really is no basis to move forward.

CAMEROTA: Matt, if this does go a different way than what the leaks have suggested, and charges are brought, what is the campaign's plan?

MILLER: You know, I think it's so unlikely that it would go a different way. Look, we haven't seen a grand jury empanelled here, and before you could bring any charges, there would have to be a grand jury.

You're talking about a situation that I think is so outside the realm of possibility that I doubt there is a campaign plan for it because there shouldn't be. It's just simply not going to happen. It is really, even from the beginning of this investigation, never actually been in the cards.

If you look at the substance of the investigation, there is nothing here that rises even close to a criminal act. I think --

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, look, on the other side, people say that there was classified information. It was not marked classified, however, there was top secret and classified information that should not have been dealt with on her private server.

MILLER: That's right. I can tell you as someone who worked in the government, if you went through and looked at the e-mails that every senior official received on their unclassified accounts, as has been done for Hillary Clinton's e-mails, you would find classified information. It is just the way the system works unfortunately.

I actually think if her name wasn't Hillary Clinton, this never would have even been an FBI investigation. And so, you know, the likelihood of criminal charges were very slim from the outset and I think we're not going to see them.

CAMEROTA: Matt, very quickly, I want to ask you, because it does continue to be talked about, the inappropriate meeting that happened between the attorney general, Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton.

[08:25:00]We also learned this weekend that Mrs. Clinton said she learned about this meeting through press reports. That seems like a communication breakdown with the campaign. Shouldn't somebody have given a heads up that this meeting on the tarmac happened?

MILLER: Probably. I think what that shows is it really was a kind of light and social meeting that President Clinton and the attorney general had. I think they both said now it was a mistake. I think we can certainly all agree that it was a mistake.

I don't think it was actually a mistake for the attorney general in terms of substance. It doesn't change her ability to conduct a full and fair review and make a decision based on the facts. But it certainly raised questions publically and that's something you want to avoid.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, you know, the Republicans have called for a special prosecutor as a result to oversee these final steps. So what about that?

MILLER: No, look there is no reason for there to be a special prosecutor. Like I said, it did call into question things from a public perspective in a way that's unnecessary, but it doesn't change Loretta Lynch's ability to review this investigation.

I think it is very unlikely that the recommendation from career prosecutors is going to be anything different than what the attorney general and other senior officials would agree on. If you look at Loretta Lynch's entire career and her entire history there really is no reason to doubt her integrity.

CAMEROTA: All right, Matt Miller, we will see what the investigation holds in the next few weeks and if your predictions hold true. Thank you very much for being on NEW DAY.

MILLER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to John.

BERMAN: All right, thanks, Alisyn. Donald trump, under fire. How will the Trump campaign explain this controversial tweet? We're going to speak to a former Trump advisor who paid the price for a tweet of his own. That's next.

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