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Man Attacks Crowd in Nice, France, with Handgun and Truck; French President Francois Hollande Visits Hospital Treating Those Injured in Attack; 84 Killed in France Terror Attack; Eyewitness Describes Horror of Truck Attack. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 15, 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] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: -- if you embrace sharia or not, if you think that's OK, we're going to send you back. Is that something that Donald Trump would endorse?

PAUL MANAFORT, DONALD TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: You'll have to ask Donald Trump that. But I was very happy to hear you explain correctly Mr. Trump's position for the first time in a long time.

CUOMO: Hold on. Have I gotten it wrong?

MANAFORT: Not you --

CUOMO: You know how I feel about being blamed for everybody.

MANAFORT: Not you, Chris, but you the media. He has been saying for a long time that in areas where there's Islamic terrorism, it is very important that the vetting system --

CUOMO: I get that. But Newt said a religious test. It said in the constitution you can't do so I don't know how you get it done.

MANAFORT: I don't know what Newt said.

CUOMO: Does that qualify him from consideration of V.P. saying that?

MANAFORT: I don't know what he said so I'm not going to answer.

CUOMO: I just told you what he said. That's what he said.

MANAFORT: Maybe he said more. I don't know the context.

But here is the point. The point is the country has got serious problems dealing with terrorism both domestic and international. Leadership is failing. And Donald Trump is going to take a holistic approach to how we focus on these things, and he's not going to allow disparate activities in the communities to define everything.

So whether it is in the Muslim communities or in the Italian communities, my hometown, or other communities, he is saying we have to have leadership, we have to be cognizant of the problems going on in the country, and we have to make sure that people coming into the country are known for who they are, not just wholesale allowed in.

CUOMO: Media and Italians, imagine how concerned I am.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: Paul Manafort, congratulation on what you got done heading into the convention. I'll see you in Cleveland. You're always welcome here on NEW DAY to talk about what matters.

MANAFORT: I'll be back.

CUOMO: Thank you, sir.

MANAFORT: We have continuing coverage on the France terror attack. Let's get to it, right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

CUOMO: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. Terror has struck once again in France, once again. This time a man fires into a crowd, then plows a truck through a crowd at the national equivalent of the July 4th occasion in France, called Bastille Day. And there were people there watching fireworks, leaving the beach. And 84 of them are now dead, many more fighting for their lives, children involved as well as two Americans lost their lives there on vacation.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We are learning much more about the injured, including the children. This chaos sent hundreds and hundreds running for their lives. The French president right now at the hospital in Nice, meeting with the victims of this attack. Those people fighting for their life right now. Chris, we have the global resources of CNN across the board covering the breaking story as it continues to unfold. Let's begin with CNN international senior correspondent Clarissa Ward who is live in Nice. Clarissa?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN INTERNATIONAL SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy. That's right. We've been hearing some more details about the scale of the injuries. More than 100 people injured in last night's brutal attack, among them, 28 children. Two children now known to have died. We know two Americans have died, a father and son. And we just learned moments ago also that two Canadians have died.

Now, I'm standing here at the end of the promenade. This is one of the major tourist attractions here in Nice on the Mediterranean. It is popular with people from all over the world, also with French people. And behind me now, you can see, it has been shut off. This is now an active crime scene. There is security all around this area.

And it is a crime scene, by the way, that stretches more than a mile long. But last night, it would have been filled with thousands of people gathering to watch fireworks, because yesterday was Bastille Day, France's independence day, and all sorts of people from all over the world, many children were right behind me watching, and that's when the attack began. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SCREAMING)

WARD: A scene of horrifying carnage, bodies strewn along Nice's famed seaside promenade after this truck plows through a crowd of hundreds watching Bastille Day fireworks. A witness says the driver first started shooting into the crowd from inside the truck, right after the fireworks ended.

DOMINIQUE MOLINA, WITNESSED ATTACK: I wondered is that fireworks, but it definitely was not fireworks. And you heard screaming and you just see masses of people fleeing.

WARD: Another eye witness capturing this video of the truck slowing approaching people on the promenade before the driver accelerates, hitting one after another.

INGA, WITNESSED ATTACK: It was a complete chaos. People were running away. One lady fell on the ground and everybody was running right over her.

PAUL DELANE, AMERICAN WITNESSED ATTACK: The music was so loud that we couldn't hear anything. I didn't really see a truck, but just people running and screaming and crying and people carrying their children.

[08:05:00] WARD: Those who survived the attack describing the chaos and confusion.

MARYAM VIOLET, WITNESSED ATTACK: I was walking amongst bodies, dead bodies, and wounded people, and families of those people just gathering on the bodies.

WARD: The truck's path of destruction over a mile long before finally stopping in front of this witness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was nervous. He was removing inside like this, like, this, and I saw he was like holding something like a cell phone.

WARD: Police circling the truck, ending the carnage by shooting and killing the driver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They shoot gun until they killed him already and his head was out the window.

WARD: Survivors desperate for help.

ERIC DRATTELL, WITNESSED ATTACK: I wasn't sure what it was and tried calling the police. The lines were completely jammed.

VIOLET: I think it took 10, 15 minutes until there were like first signs of ambulances.

WARD: Police say they found a handgun and several fake rifles and fake grenades. French President Francois Hollande raced back to Paris after the attacks, telling the world that France is strong and will always be stronger than those who want to attack the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WARD: Now we know that investigators found an I.D. card in the truck belonging to a 31-year-old French Tunisian man. His man was reportedly known to police, not for any Islamic extremist or terrorist connections, but for a criminal record, mostly for petty crimes. We're here from French media there was a series of raids on his house in a suburb of Nice. But what we don't know absolutely is if the I.D. card that was found in the truck in fact belonged to the perpetrator of this vicious attack.

And it is important to remind the viewers as well, so far no group has claimed responsibility. We have not heard anything from ISIS. That doesn't mean they didn't direct the attack. That doesn't mean the attack wasn't inspired by them. It just means that so far there has been no claim of responsibility. Poppy, Chris?

HARLOW: Clarissa, thank you. And we will take our viewers to that suburb that Clarissa just mentioned with the connection to the attacker in just a moment.

Before we do, though, I want to take you to the hospital, the hospital where the victims are fighting for their life right now. That is where the French president Francois Hollande is at this moment, meeting with the victims and their families, trying to offer whatever comfort he can. Our Atika Shubert is there right outside Pasteur Hospital. And what we're learning this morning, Atika, dozens and dozens of children among the injured, and now we're hearing some children have died.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We have confirmed with the children's hospital that two children died overnight from their injuries. About 30 children in all were brought for treatment. Most of them these sort of catastrophic fractures, the kinds of things you would see in horrific car accidents.

So it has been very difficult for doctors at the Children's hospital and here at Pasteur Hospital. Now, Francois, President Francois Hollande is inside. He's meeting with victims, with families and doctors there. It has been a very difficult night for them treating people. As you know, a lot of people were brought in with very serious injuries and unfortunately could not be saved. So it has been very difficult for the first responders as well.

We are expecting him in addition to meeting with the victims to then make a speech afterwards and to address the nation on this tragic event.

CUOMO: All right, Atika, thank you very much. As you learn more about the condition of those kids and the other victims, please let us know so we can come back to you.

Now, the murderer who did this, the man with the gun and the truck and some fake explosives in then back, what does he tell us about the threat and its evolution in France and beyond? We have CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson live outside what is believed to be the home of this murderer in Nice. Nic? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Chris, good

morning. Just behind me, there's a police line so we can't get any closer to that apartment building at the moment where this man is believed to have lived. But what there is going on beyond the police line is a forensic search by a police team. They have a small delivery truck there with the hood up, the doors opened, and a forensic team looking through the vehicle, also, looking at the apartment that is immediately next door to it.

At this stage, we cannot confirm this is the apartment where the attacker is believed to have lived. There are reports, some media here are reporting that he was a quiet person, a loner. That's not something we can say it at this time. However, what we can say is that the police are here. They're investigating a vehicle that appears to be suspicious, and that they're going in and out of the neighboring apartment.

[08:10:00] This is a neighborhood here perhaps about 10, 15 minute drive from the promenade enclave where this attack took place. It is the suburbs of Nice, a sort of a river valley, the hills rise up from here. It is reasonably prosperous neighborhood. The stores are mostly closed, they're small stores. This one over here is a vegetable store. The store that the police are going to at the moment is fully shuttered. So we will get more details as this police investigation goes on and we'll bring them to you soon as we get them, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Nic, let us know. We'll check back with you when you have more information.

We do know already a lot about what happened. This is the third major attack in France in just the last 18 months. Each has been very din in terms of planning and who were the murderers involved. And we keep coming back to France for very specific reasons. Let's discuss with CNN senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, CNN national security analyst Peter Bergan, and international affairs editor and correspondent for France 24 and CNN contributor, Melissa Bell.

Clarissa, let me jump to one side issue and an important detail that I don't think we've dealt with before. In the truck were found fake explosives, we're told by the authorities, fake weaponry. How do they make sense of that?

WARD: Yes it is a puzzling one, Chris. And we don't have a lot of information about it yet. But here is what I would just explain to our viewers, particularly in the U.S. It is actually very difficult to buy the kind of heavy weaponry like rifles and certainly hand grenades here in Europe. So it is possible, and this is just speculation here, that he was using these fake rifles and fake grenades potentially to carry out some kind of a hostage attack or something later on in the evening. It is possible that there were more levels beyond just plowing that truck down the promenade behind me.

But certainly, it is an unusual one. We haven't seen an attack like this before. What it might indicate is that perhaps this was an ISIS directed per se, but more ISIS inspired, that perhaps it was more a lone wolf attack, he was watching the propaganda online and felt inspired by their message, and therefore sort of cobbled together or improvised this attack, because we have heard ISIS repeatedly, Chris, calling on its supporters to improvise, use whatever you can get. You have knife, stab someone. You have car, run someone over. Whatever you can get your hands on, use it to kill the infidels.

CUOMO: Melissa, you and I have spent a lot of time with you teaching me about the state of play in France. You told me after the state of emergency, when they started to do more sweeps, that officials there, investigators there, law enforcement there, overwhelmed with what they were finding in terms of weapons and connections to different cells and aspects of terrorism. What do you say in terms of why France keeping being a target?

MELISSA BELL, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR, FRANCE 24: Well, France has a huge number, Chris. And we've talked about this over the last few months together, a huge number of foreign theaters of operation where it is currently deployed. And they are theaters in North Africa where Al Qaeda linked groups are more active. They are in theaters of course in I think and Syria where the Islamic State group is more active. And all of these groups have France as their number one enemy. That's something that the head of France's interior intelligence services told the French parliament three weeks ago, that as far as he is concerned, France, for all those reasons, is the number one target of jihadists these days.

And of course the figures confirm that. You mentioned the three major attacks in the last 18 months, this being the third. But every couple of months, we have smaller attacks as well. I'm thinking of the murder just a few weeks ago of a couple of police in a suburb of Paris with a knife, the murder at the end of last year of a businessman who was beheaded by an employee outside his factory. These are incidents that reoccur with alarming frequency and regularity.

In France, we are a country that has become accustomed to attacks on its soil. Picking up on what Clarissa was just saying about the possibility of this being a lone wolf attack possibly inspired by that call from the Islamic State group organization, very specifically back in September in 2014 for Muslims in France to take on targets with whatever weapons they had at their disposal, that would represent something new.

We saw back in January of 2015 with the attackers linked to an Al Qaeda group, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. We saw in those November attacks we covered together, Chris, the Islamic State group organizing, coordinating, orchestrating a very well-planned attack on French soil. If this is a lone wolf carrying out a new kind of attack, then that is something quite different, even if he has been inspired by the Islamic State group, and it will be worrying to French authorities, because that's we've been saying throughout this morning.

[08:15:08] How do you prevent a man from renting a truck and plowing it into a crowd of people. I mentioned the head of France's interior intelligence a few weeks ago, that's the other thing he told parliament, that this kind of attack, a step up toward either cars, suicide car bombings, or cars being plowed into groups of people were something we could expect.

CUOMO: So, Peter, 2010 is when I saw the first guidance from the DHS, Department of Homeland Security about look out for trucks. We understand why the U.S. isn't as vulnerable to ISIS planned and on the ground operated attacks as France maybe just for simple reasons of geography, as opposed to all the other features. But what just happened here, what we call lone wolf, Phil Mudd said we should call these guys deranged sheep not lone wolves because -- for obvious reasons. But this could happen here just as easily as it happens anywhere else.

So, what do you do?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Chris, I think this changes the calculation about what a lone terrorist, if indeed he is a lone terrorist, and there seems to be no evidence that he isn't. This is the most deadly attack in the West by a single terrorist, with 84 dead. The previously, the most deadly attack was a series by Anders Breivik in Norway when he killed 77 people, and, of course, we had the Orlando attack just a month ago here in the United States, in which 49 people were killed.

But the fact that you can kill 84, at least with a truck, I think will change the way that people think about how we protect people at large crowded public events, because just like school shootings in this country, the perpetrators of school shootings study other school shootings when they do their own. And people are inclined to do these acts also study successful terrorist attacks as a matter -- and think about the methodology going forward.

CUOMO: And also, this set of murders, you say the most in the West by a single killer, is in a deranged way, inspirational as success to others who want to do the same.

Clarissa, Melissa, Peter, thank you very much for insight as always.

Pop?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming up next, we're going to talk to one of the survivors. I mean, so many people ran for their lives and the survivors of this attack in Nice say that most people didn't know what was happening when the chaos broke out. Remember, this was in the middle of a fireworks celebration for Bastille Day, their independence day. What they did know was to run for their lives. We will speak with one of those -- two of those survivors, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:16] CUOMO: All right. We are anticipating French President Francois Hollande to come and speak after meeting with victims at a hospital here. We just received reporting of the worst kind, hearing that 84 people are dead, well over a dozen still fighting for their lives, in critical condition, and then the kids came up.

As we want to go to that hospital, we have Atika Shubert there. And again, after the French president meets with people there and comforts the victims, he's going to address the world and we'll carry that.

Atika, what's the latest?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, French President Francois Hollande is inside meeting with victims, their family, and also the doctors that were up all night in these incredibly difficult conditions, treating these horrific injuries. A lot of the adults were brought here, children were also transferred to a specialized pediatric surgery unit to a different hospital. Two children died overnight. Twenty-eight are still in hospital now, with critical injuries.

And the types of injuries we've been talking about, we've been speaking to some of the hospital staff, these horrific catastrophic fractures, the kinds of things you would see in a horrible car accident and it really is traumatic to see these kinds of scenes, and that's one of the reasons we've been seeing a psychological trauma unit here helping people to deal with this kind of a horrible event.

HARLOW: It is heart breaking. Atika Shubert, thank you so much, live for us at the hospital. Again, that's where the French president is, as soon as he comes out, we do expect that he will address the nation, address the world. We will carry that for you live.

Let's talk about the survivors here, people who witnessed this, who experienced it, and what they're thinking now.

Joining us, an American man, he's lived in France for 25 years, Paul Delane.

Paul, thank you so much for being with me. I know you and your partner were out with thousands of people, enjoying Bastille Day, the beautiful fireworks. And then, all hell broke loose. Take me back to the moment for you as you reflect on it now, what stands out to you?

PAUL DELANE, AMERICAN WHO WITNESSED NICE ATTACK: Well, already just coming back to the place where it all happened, kind of touches me. It's unbelievable. I -- it almost feels -- it almost feels unreal.

We had just finished watching the show, and decided to go into the center of it all and go near the deejay station and listen to the music, because it was on the way home. But we decided to stop and listen a little bit to the music, and just all of a sudden, you heard screaming, thousands of, it seemed like thousands of people running towards us. And if you didn't run with them, then you would have been just trampled yourself, so we just ran along, not knowing anything. Not knowing what was even going on, but just, just trying to escape.

At the same time, I was thinking, well, maybe I shouldn't be running. Maybe I should be looking for a place to hide, because we couldn't hear any bullet shots. The music was so loud that it was literally just screaming and running that we saw. So it was just mass confusion, and we both felt very afraid for our lives.

HARLOW: Of course, you said that you and your partner, John Pierre stopped and listened to the music. Do you think that stopping and listening to the music and staying where you were at that moment saved your life?

[08:25:06] DELANE: Yes. Because I had just -- I said to him after, imagine if -- because normally I don't like crowds, I don't like being in the middle of all of that kind of folly. I decided it was so festive, and I felt reasonably safe, so we did stop and listen for a while. I said afterwards, imagine if I wanted to leave and go immediately home. We could have been crossing the street, and could have been one of the victims.

I would also like to say I'm sorry to France. I love you. And I wish you courage for the future and for all the families that were affected. God bless you.

HARLOW: I remember so well, Paul --

DELANE: We are one of the lucky ones.

HARLOW: You are. I remember so well-being in Paris in November, when that city was so brutally attacked, and what stands out in my mind so much is the remarkable resilience of the French people, as they came out, even when the government said stay at home. We don't know if it is safe. Everyone came out to Plaza de la Republique and bound together as best they could.

This nation is so close to your heart. You've lived there for 25 years. This is the third attack in France in the last three months, the third major attack, claiming dozens and dozens of lives, each one. We asked the experts why France, but I want to ask you as a French citizen, why do you feel this is happening in your country?

DELANE: Well, just like it is happening everywhere. There are people out there who don't even understand their religion. They're just haters. And, unfortunately, the world is filled with a lot of them at the moment. It's the revolt ever where.

People are unhappy. People are using the wrong excuses, the wrong reasons to express themselves, and certainly, the wrong way to express themselves by violence is not going to solve any problem. But I feel like in France, like you said, they're very, very solidare. We all stick together here, and when one of our brothers are hurt, we go by their side to comfort them.

HARLOW: So what now? Right, as you go home, and you and your partner and all of France tries to process what happened, there will be the political fights, there will be increased security. What now is a society, what now as a civilization? What is next for you as you continue to fight this on a personal level?

DELANE: What is next for me and what should be next for most people is to just carry on. We have to go on. We have no other choice but to go on. We cannot let this take over our lives. We cannot let this control our freedom. For me personally, of course, it is changed my life. I'm shocked, it is a memory I'll keep for the rest of my life.

But at the same time, this is not going to stop me from living. And this is not going to stop me from doing what I want to do, and go what I want to do and support the people I want to support.

HARLOW: One of the things that we've learned, Paul, is how many children? How many children were attacked? We know 28 are in the hospital, fighting for their lives. We know at least two children died.

Did you witness any of the children and their families last night? What can you tell us?

DELANE: No, I honestly, I -- when it all happened, we started running, and we literally ran all the way home, which is up near the train station, a 15 minute walk, it took us five minutes to get there. It was such a shocked feeling and we were terrified. We were very afraid.

So, going back to see anything was really not on our agenda. We thought it would be safer to just go home and turn on the news, and to share my story.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Paul Delane, thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. It is heartbreaking, and traumatizing. Thank you very much for being with us today in Nice.

DELANE: Thank you.

HARLOW: We've gotten word that French President Francois Hollande has left the hospital. We believe he is going to the site of the attack where you just heart from that man Paul.