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New Day
ISIS Attacks Worldwide; Documentary About Capturing El Chapo; Trump Tweet Controversy. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired July 05, 2016 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:13] ALISYN CAMEROTA, COHOST NEW DAY: Breaking overnight, French lawmakers urging a broad consolidation of the country's intelligence systems following several terror attacks there. Officials recommend a centralized, national, anti-terror agency. A special parliamentary report cites communication and logistical problems while dealing with several agencies in the face of the growing threat of attacks there.
JOHN BERMAN, COHOST NEW DAY: British parliament conservatives begin selecting a new prime minister this week. About 330 of them voted in secret ballot today. The candidate with the lowest total will be eliminated with round two voting scheduled for Thursday. Energy minister Andrea Leadsom just picked up a key endorsement from former London mayor Boris Johnson, he who had to bow out of the race himself. Home secretary Theresa may consider the front liner to replace David Cameron who announced his resignation following his country's vote to leave the European Union.
CAMEROTA: Well, some of the most skilled athletes in America humbled by a hula hoop. Glamour Magazine challenged these Team USA members with the cameras rolling from gymnasts to judo fighters. Most found the hula hoop harder than it looks. The Rio summer Olympics begin one month from today. Finally an Olympic sport I could participate in. The hula hoop.
BERMAN: Not even synchronized diving. You don't do synchronized diving?
CAMEROTA: Yes. My Ethel Merman like skills. Yes.
BERMAN: Synchronized swimming. I like when the two divers who look exactly alike jump off.
CAMEROTA: No. That one is the hardest one as far as I am concerned in all of the Olympics.
BERMAN: Add hula hoops to that. Imagine how hard it would be.
CAMEROTA: wow. That would be hard.
BERMAN: All right. Thirty-one minutes after hour. The notorious drug lord El Chapo back behind bars but not for escaping prison twice. So how did he pull off those brazen jailbreaks? Inside the chase for El Chapo. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:35:48] CAMEROTA: One of the world's most notorious criminals tracked down after years of eluding authorities. A CNN special report airing tonight, Got Shorty: Inside the Chase for El Chapo. It's hosted by our own Chris Cuomo, and it looks at how the drug lord escaped prison twice, including his first big break in 2001.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: It is December of 2000, and El Chapo Guzman has been living the high life behind bars. Essentially running the joint, with access to plenty of women and all the best foods. Even though he still has 12 more years to serve, he decides he's been behind bars long enough. On January 19, 2001, he escapes. The official story? A prison handyman rolls El Chapo out in a laundry cart. Then there is this version:
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two very high level officials of the government. They open the door and said sir, you can leave now.
BERMAN: Mexico's then president denies it. Once again, there are two stories explaining one event involving El Chapo Guzman.
UNKOWN MAIL VIA INTERPRETATION: If he escaped using corruption, then it could also have been a corrupt investigation. We do live in a country where you can alter government records from top to bottom, right? That is the truth.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Should be interesting to watch tonight. Let's bring in former US drug enforcement official at the Pentagon and Latin political analyst Ana Maria Salazar. Ana Maria, thanks so much for being here. Let's talk about, great to have you. So that time, the one Chris just talked about in 2001, they may have just opened the doors and let him out after being paid off or whatever. But the one that we know about, this most recent escape, used an elaborate system of tunnels underneath you'll remember his prison cell. It was down in his shower, and he went down into this elaborate system. It was well lighted, it was ventilated, there were tracks and a waiting motorcycle. Explain how this underground world of El Chapo's came to exist.
ANA MARIA SALAZAR, LATIN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know in the same way that Chris was asking the question what happened in 2001, the first time he escaped, in the late, in 2001, I mean we also have a lot of questions as to how he escaped this last time through this very elaborate tunnel, in part because there are still a lot of questions in regards to who may have participated or not. The way the investigation is taking place right now, and I'm sure Chris found out during his investigation, is that supposedly there was enormous negligence by at least 13 government low level prison officials that allowed him to escape.
Of course there hasn't been a trial, but there really hasn't been a question as to whether there was much more than that. So I'm looking forward to seeing this documentary because we still have a lot of questions as to what happened.
CAMEROTA: As am I. How confident are you, Ana Maria, that the prison that he's in now, the high security, maximum security prison, can contain El Chapo?
SALAZAR: I think it would be very hard to contain El Chapo Guzman in any prison in Mexico right now. In part because there is a lot of changing taking place in the Mexican justice system, although the prisons will not be affected. I do, however, have concerns that the legal system between the new justice reforms and a lot of pressure from very you know, very powerful, very good lawyers that he has, I'm not saying it could happen, but I'm sure there is a lot of concern that there are very interesting legal maneuvers that could take place that maybe he is not going to escape, you know, through an underground tunnel, but there are other ways that he could walk out.
[06:40:22] CAMEROTA: And what is the latest on when he will be extradited to the US?
SALAZAR: Oh, why are you asking me these questions this morning? This is, I want to watch this documentary to see if we can find out. I mean, he was supposed to be extradited at the latest by August. Now there is a series of injunctions, they are called mandatos, temporary restraining orders, that his lawyers have requested. Here at least one maybe two, may have been effective in the way that no one had expected. They are going to review the decision by which the Mexican government is allowing him to be extradited to the United States. By the way, the Mexican government already had given its ok, it's just these legal maneuvers are stopping this extradition.
So everybody is still kind of holding their breath and seeing when this could happen. El Chapo's lawyers, the latest comment he made is it could take up to three years if he is extradited. The Mexican government is hoping it's going to happen before this year is over.
CAMEROTA: Ana Maria Salazar, you always answer our questions well. Thanks so much for being with us from Mexico. And remember to tune in tonight for a CNN Special Report Got Shorty: Inside the Chase for El Chapo, 9:00 PM eastern, only on CNN. John.
BERMAN: Ok see you later. Kevin Durant, taking his talents to North Beach. Details of the thunderous move by one of the NBA's best players, man there is a lot going on in this tease. That's next. In the Bleacher Report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:46:04] BERMAN: One of the biggest free agency decision in NBA history, Kevin Durant announced he is leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors. Andy Scholes, we lived through that moment together. You are here now with more on the Bleacher Report. Good morning Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning John. This just absolutely rocked the entire NBA world. It's amazing news if you're a Golden State Warriors fan. Absolutely terrible news for the rest of the NBA. Durant decided to join the team that needed him the least. He made the announcement on the Player's Tribune yesterday, writing "It really pains me to know I will disappoint so many people with this choice, but I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career."
Now Durant had played all nine seasons of his career with the Thunder organization and fans in OKC not happy with his decision. Some burning his jersey, others blowing it up with fireworks. It's a sad Fourth of July in Oklahoma City.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just about the championship I think.
UNKNWON MALE: I'm upset that he left. Because I think he should have been more loyal to Oklahoma City Thunder like Tim Duncan is loyal to the Spurs. Because loyalty says a lot about you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's such a tragedy, you know when it hit me, I was just sitting at home, and I didn't know how to react. I looked at my friends looking for support, and they were just like well, you've got to move on somehow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHOLES: Joey Chestnut is back on top of the world after regaining his Nathan's Hot Dog eating title, downing a Nathan's record, 70 hot dogs and buns, easily beating defending champ Matt the Megatoad Stonie. This is Chestnut's ninth world title. I don't know about you, Alisyn, but I have a hard time watching the hot dog eating contests.
CAMEROTA: Yes, it is difficult, I think, to get your mind around it. It's also difficult to watch the aftermath of the hot dog eating contest, if you've ever stayed tuned for that part of the video.
SCHOLES: Painful.
CAMEROTA: Yes, very painful. All right, thank you very much for that, Andy. So I will say no more. Meanwhile we want to talk about one of our top stories, and that of course is the wave of terror attacks overseas. They are raising new concerns about the threat from ISIS here at home. So we have Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken to join us live with what's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:52:07] BERMAN: Deadly week around the world. A deadly month, in fact. Terror attacks have killed hundreds in just a few days. All appear to be the work of ISIS. So the question now, what can be done to keep us safe. Here with us now Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken. Tony thanks so much for being with us.
TONY BLINKEN, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Good to be here.
BERMAN: You put of the map of attacks either linked to ISIS directly or inspired by ISIS over the last month. It really is staggering from Orlando here in the United States, 49 dead. Iraq more than 200 were killed over the weekend, and then Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, site after site, geographic diversity there. When you look at this map, how confident are you that the United States is really doing anything right now to slow ISIS?
BLINKEN: Actually I think what we're seeing is a product to some great extent of the success we're having against ISIS. Because we are putting intense pressure on ISIS at its core in Iraq and Syria. And what we're seeing is it lashing out in other places trying to get other groups in other places. Fifty percent of the territory it held a year ago is now back with us and with the coalition.
BERMAN: What does the territory matter if they're able to carry out attacks day after day around the world with greater spread ar4ound the world, who needs the territory?
BLINKEN: Territory matters a great deal because what it does is it's the pull of the traction. It's where they get their resources by exploiting people within the territory they control. Oil, extortion, etc. It also is the pull and attraction toward the Jihadists around the world who think they see ISIS succeeding, 10 feet tall, building this so-called caliphate. If you take that away from them, if you take the foundation away, the whole edifice starts to crumble. And that's why we see them lashing out different places.
CAMEROTA: But Tony, if this is success, we'd hate to see failure. After the brutal attack, I mean Baghdad alone, 215 Iraqis, I mean Iraq says that 215 people were killed, obvious all innocent, including children, so it seems as well they don't need territory in order to perpetrate these hideous acts.
BLINKEN: They are reverting back to a different model of terrorism which are these indiscriminate terror attacks, suicide bombers, IEDs in cars, etc. And it does terrific damage. And it terrorizes people. But the more you take this territory away from them, the more you take their story away from them, the less attractive they become to people around the world. We are seeing the number of foreign fighters go down. We're seeing them cut the salaries in half to the people they are paying. We are seeing that attraction they had because they controlled territory start to erode.
CAMEROTA: But not the story. I mean the story is the ideology. So taking the territory away doesn't take the ideology.
BLINKEN: That's hurting too. You know now for every positive message about ISIL on the internet, we're seeing six or seven against it. That's a C change from a year ago where it was running about 80% in favor. The ideology is starting to erode too, and this takes time, and the problem is if you're dealing with an adversary that's willing to basically explode itself to take other people out, it's very, very hard. It's challenging. But the more you take that base out, the more you take the core away, everything else that's built upon it starts to fall away.
[06:55:00] BERMAN: So you take the land away which you're doing right now. How then do you stop, or what is being done to stop the attacks in Orlando or Bagdad, or Bangladesh?
BLINKEN: There is an intense effort. Every since the President brought people together around the UN General Assembly to get other countries and ideals. Because you have to stop the flow of foreign fighters. You have to stop the financing. We have 50 countries change their laws to make it tougher for foreign fighters to circulate. We've had more than 50 countries start to feed information into INTERPOL. We are seeing countries arrest people, bring them to justice, prosecute them. That too, is starting to take away the networks that ISIS has developed. So it's the core in Iraq and Syria. It's these networks of foreign fighters and foreign financing and propaganda.
And then it's the affiliates. These groups in different countries like Bangladesh that are suddenly raising the ISIS flag because they think it's successful and popular. So they are adopting that. These are usually preexisting groups that have been there for some time. We're trying to take all of that away, systematically cutting it off, the coalition of 66 countries, every day working on this.
CAMEROTA: Obviously since the attacks on Benghazi there has been renewed focus on diplomatic security. So what's happening in countries like Saudi Arabia, in Turkey, in Iraq to protect any Americans?
BLINKEN: This is something we're on every single day at the State Department, both protecting our own people, and making sure that American citizens who live in these countries, work in these countries, study in these countries are protected. And literally the day starts at the State Department with a report on the desk of every senior official at state of any threats to our positions in different countries and to American citizens there. And then are working across the government to make sure we're defending our people.
BERMAN: Can I ask you about emails? I'm sure it's a subject you love to talk about. The State Department has asked for a delay now in releasing thousands of emails that many of us thought were going to come out this summer. The delay will take it to 2018, past the 2016 presidential election. Do you feel the State Department is being transparent enough? Judge Richard Leon, US District judge says it leaves the appearance that the State Department is trying to run out the clock right now.
BLINKEN: I think we've made an extraordinary effort to provide all of the information that we have, to provide it as quickly as we can, but you know this goes through a significant review process to make sure that the information provided is appropriately cleared. There is a big effort underway. We have provided a large amount of information and we will continue to do that.
BERMAN: But should you release some, or what you can, before 2016? I mean voters have a right to know what's been transpiring in the State Department.
BLINKEN: It's not something I'm focused on directly, but to my knowledge we've thousands, tens of thousands of pieces of information already.
CAMEROTA: But what takes so long? Why does it need two years?
BLINKEN: You have to have a clearance process. You have to make sure that the information you're putting out in public for example isn't classified, you have to make sure it may not have some implication on your relation with other countries. Make sure you have time to do something about that. All of that just takes time. You have got to have people review it.
BERMAN: Tony Blinken thanks so much for being with us.
BLINKEN: Great to be here.
BERMAN: All right, we're following a lot of news this morning, including Donald Trump's campaign defending a controversial Tweet. Let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The star is a star which is used on Sheriffs' badges around the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump firing back at critics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The trump campaign has invoked bigotry, anti- Semitism, racism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: the Tweet is a simple star.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A big moment for Hilary Clinton, her first joint campaign appearance with President Obama.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fire is massive and horrifying. A massive truck bomb killing more than 215 people. It's the deadliest single attack in a country since the American invasion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are trying to show that hey, we're still a viable threat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On a 1.7 billion mile journey tonight through tomes. Juneau sang to us, and it was a song of perfections. To put a spacecraft in orbit around the most intense planet in the solar system, that's not easy.
This is New Day with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CAMEROTA: That is very cool. Are you a space geek? Are you geeking out over the whole Juneau experience?
BERMAN: I'm a big fan of Jupiter. I'm very pro Jupiter, just for the record. Anything we learn about Jupiter, I'm interested. Saturn, not so much.
CAMEROTA: That isn't the planet I thought you were going to go with, but I'm glad you did. Good morning, welcome to New Day. Chris is off this morning. John Berman joins me. Meanwhile Donald Trump pushing back against criticism over that deleted tweet with a graphic that many felt was anti-Semitic. He is blaming the "dishonest" media for a narrative he calls false.
BERMAN: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. They both ahead to the battleground state of North Carolina today. Hillary Clinton has a special guest for the first time, President Obama will be by her side, and you know he is gearing up for a fight.
Let's begin with Twitter and Jason Carroll. Good morning Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning John, and Donald Trump weighing in on the issue of that controversial Tweet. The presumptive nominee is not apologizing for what happened, but the campaign did offer up an explanation of who posted the image and exactly how it came to be.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROLL (voice-over): Donald Trump firing back at critics who say the star shape in his Twitter campaign posted anti-Semitic imagery, calling the attacks "false and ridiculous". Trump, singling out Hillary Clinton's campaign which calls his tweet "blatantly anti- Semitic and part of a pattern."