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New Day

Police Identify The Men Who Terrorized London; Interview with Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut; Families Escape Horrors of ISIS in Mosul. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 06, 2017 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:36] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Big Ben sounding a moment of silence in the city of London just moments ago to honor the victims of the latest terror attack. This comes hours after police identified the men who terrorized the city. It turns out one of them was on the radar of British intelligence.

CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward live at London's borough market with the latest.

Clarissa, you've reported before that they have tremendous volume of people who are under scrutiny in the British intelligence there. This man was one of them. And they have made determinations about him in the past.

What do we know?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Chris.

I mean, according to British security sources they are currently observing or investigating roughly 23,000 people. So they do have their hands full. But one of the three attackers was quite well-known to authorities. He was part of a group, a very well-known local extremist group. I have interviewed several of them over the years and even Britain's Foreign Minister Boris Johnson conceded this morning that British intelligence services are now coming up against some really tough questions as to how he was able to plot this attack under the radar.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KHURAM SHAZAD BUTT: Because he's white and he's English, he can go, but all of us that we're just praying, we have to stay.

WARD (voice-over): Twenty-seven-year-old Khuram Shazad Butt seen her during a 2015 police search was known to British intelligence but authorities had no indication of an imminent attack.

BUTT: We are just saying we will pray, but they don't believe us.

WARD: The British national, born in Pakistan, was a brainwashed follower of the local extremist group al-Muhajiroun, who appeared in this 2016 British documentary "The Jihadis Next Door."

NARRATOR: The group displayed the black flag of Islam, a symbol associated with Islamic armies with the past 1,200 years.

WARD: Police also identifying 30-year-old Rachid Redouane, who claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan as one of the three men responsible for Saturday's deadly terror attack. He was not previously known to authorities. The third attacker has been identified, but authorities have not released his name.

According to police, Butt is believed to have lived in this apartment complex in East London, one of three areas where police have carried out raids and arrests. The neighbor, Michael Mimbo, who described Butt as a friend, tells CNN Tuesday that the attacker had recently started talking to neighborhood kids about Islam.

MICHAEL MIMBO, NEIGHBOR: His views changed, not changed but he became a bit more erratic about how he communicated wit the kids, telling them what to believe.

WARD: Just hours before the carnage, Mimbo saw him speeding down the street in a white van like the one used in the attack.

MIMBO: They're quickly speeding in the bends, it was unusual.

WARD: Another neighbor telling reporters that Butt took a strange interest in his rental van.

IKENNA CHIGBO, NEIGHBOR: He's saying to me, where can I get a van from, all these details, how much is it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD: The real mystery now is, who is the third attacker? Police have identified him but they are not telling the public who he is and how did these three individuals know each other. Still a lot of questions, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Clarissa, thank you very much for all of that reporting.

Are President Trump's tweets undermining the credibility of the White House?

We will speak with one of his critics, Congressman Jim Himes, who just called the president's behavior unhinged. That's next.

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[06:38:10] CAMEROTA: President Trump's tweets attacking London's mayor over t the terror attack sparking new criticism. One Democratic lawmaker calling President Trump, quote, dangerous, and his behavior, quote, completely delusional, unhinged and demented.

That congressman is Jim Himes and he joins us now.

Good morning, Congressman.

REP. JIM HIMES (D), CONNECTICUT: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, I mean, these words, appalling, completely delusional, unhinged, demented, dangerous -- these have a sort of "I'm fed up, I'm at my breaking point" quality. What's going on?

HIMES: Well, yes, and sadly, this is just sort of today's installment of the Donald Trump reality show, right? I mean, you know, why do I use language like that? I mean, you know, you need to be about 9 years old in your social development to understand when your neighbor, your friend, your brother, your sister, which is what the British are to us, have suffered a great tragedy. That the only decent response is to say, I'm terribly sorry and how can I help.

Number two, the president's tweets, of course, were based on a total misunderstanding of what the mayor of London was saying. He was saying, you're going to see a lot of police around.

And number three, and this is the reason I use the word dangerous. I sit on the Intelligence Committee, so I spend a lot of time thinking about those who would do us harm. And these are very smart people who watch us closely. And they just saw the president of the United States respond to an attack in Britain less appropriately than as I said a 7 or 8-year-old would respond.

So, now, they are thinking to themselves, what if we did something like this in the United States, could we count on the president to act in such a way that the American public -- you know, would he act responsibly or not? And the answer is, of course, he would not react responsibly.

CAMEROTA: You're going further than other lawmakers. Other lawmakers have criticized the president, but they've used maybe one of these adjectives, but you put them all together in this sort of tweet storm. Is that -- was there some sort of tipping point for you?

HIMES: Well, you know, I criticized the president before when he has, you know, lied on Twitter in speeches for his policy.

[06:40:04] I mean, you know, we're forgetting that the Senate this week is taking up a House health care bill that would deny 24 million Americans health care insurance. I mean, this is just a moment by moment, day by day kind of thing.

But what concerns me most is, you know, you have this long conversation, you know, with whether the president's tweets are official statements or the same as policy. You know what they are? They are a window into the man's mind. And this country has challenges.

And the mind that we see in this person who occupies the Oval Office is not the mind of somebody that we want in charge --

CAMEROTA: But when --

HIMES: -- if this country is ever hit with a terrorist attack.

CAMEROTA: Why? What do you think? If you look into that window, what do you think the response would be if, God forbid, we had a London situation?

HIMES: You know, I give George W. Bush credit for the way he responded on 9/11. Obviously, I'm not politically on the same page with George W. Bush. But he responded with dignity. He urged the country to be calm.

One of his very first statements was to say that this is not about all Muslims. That we have lots of very loyal Muslim American citizens, brothers and sisters.

Now, George W. Bush responded with prudence, with dignity, with facts.

What Donald Trump did in response to the British tragedy was, again, I think inappropriate for a toddler, much less the president of the United States.

CAMEROTA: I want to read your first two tweets just so people will get an idea of what you sent out on Sunday. You've said here: Criticizing the mayor of a city recently attacked by terror appalling. Donald Trump is not qualified to be mayor of a small town.

I mean, these are very strong, vehement words.

HIMES: Well, I actually probably owe mayors of small towns apologies for that, because again -- you know, look, I understand that Donald Trump has retained the loyalty of a core group of supporters. But, you know, if you sort of step back and look at any of his daily actions and the way he behaved in Europe, that in a way that caused Germany and Angela Merkel, another absolutely critical ally that we have both against terrorism and against Russia, to say, hey, folks, it appears that we're now on our own.

And again, I could list this stuff but we don't have time. The president of the United States is damaging the national security of the United States and making us a laughingstock around the world at a moment in time when American leadership is particularly critical.

CAMEROTA: In the next tweet, you do call out this small team of advisers. Let me read this: Completely delusional. I don't know how people like McMaster, Mattis, Cohn and Powel can serve, if I may use Trumpian quotes, this man.

So, you're sending a message to them. Why did you single out these people?

HIMES: Well, I'm not so much sending a message to them as acknowledging that the president, and a lot of us took some comfort in this, appointed some good people. I think H.R. McMaster, I think General Mattis, a few others there on his economic team are very solid people. Very different in temperament, tone, knowledge and experience than the president of the United States.

CAMEROTA: What do you want them to do?

HIMES: Well, I don't want them to do anything other than reflect on what's doing to happen to their reputations because of this association with the president who is out of control.

And again, for me, it's more than just a mystery. I know some of these people. And I think they are good, solid. I may not agree with them politically, but I think they are good, solid people.

And I don't know how they get up every morning and say, I have one of the most responsible jobs I will ever hold and the president just tweeted something that I would ground my 16-year-old for saying. I just don't know how you do your job under those circumstances.

CAMEROTA: Have you heard from the White House?

HIMES: I have not -- I have not heard from the White House and don't necessarily expect to.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Jim Himes, thank you so much for being on NEW DAY.

HIMES: Thanks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Great to talk to you.

Let's get to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. The Nashville Predators turning Music City spoke hockey town with another thrilling victory. What did they do? We've got the answer in the "Bleacher Report", next.

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[06:48:05] CAMEROTA: So, break out the jackets and umbrellas. There's cool and stormy weather soaking the Northeast.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has our forecast.

This is not the summer weather I ordered.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, not yet, and not for the weekend either for you. And another cool-down there. You'll get a couple of warm days. But this isn't one of 'em.

This weather is brought to you by Purina, your pet, our passion.

Here it is the radar right now. It is raining all across the Northeast, especially up in the Adirondacks, in the Catskills, through Boston, Maine, and even into most of Massachusetts and into Vermont. The rain continues for all day long across Upstate New York. Only scattered showers for New York City, but you don't warm up today, only in the 50s today.

Heavy rainfall across the Catskills, Adirondacks, north of New York City. The heaviest rain, Chris, right where we need it, right in the pickle barrel, right where the wildfires are, right where the drought is, Florida.

CUOMO: I'll take it. You know what I mean? Even if it's doing to mean that, you know, you have an uneven weekend with something like that, you've got real problems down south there. God bless them hopefully, they get the help they need.

Chad, appreciate it, pal.

All right. So, big sports story. The Nashville Predators roar back into contention for Stanley Cup. A really big and impressive win over defending champ Pittsburgh Penguins.

Coy Wire has more in the "Bleacher Report".

Hard to tell the teams apart with those uniforms.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, that is true, Chris. Good point. Good morning to you.

Doesn't get better than hockey and honky-tonk for Nashville Predators fans. Hockey is the hottest ticket going in Music City. Tens of thousands packing three city blocks down Broadway just to watch game four on television.

Who is doing to sing the national anthem? Which country star would it be?

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WIRE: That's Dierks Bentley firing up the sold out crowd with the national anthem.

[06:50:03] And then undrafted rookie Frederick Gaudreau keeping fans on their feet with this sweet wrap around goal. Only played 15 NHL games, doesn't even have his own locker. They throw a chair and makeshift stall in the locker room for him after being down 2-0 in this series. Nashville comes roaring back to tie the series at two games apiece. The team saluting the faithful fans after Florida won victory.

Nashville's Mayor Megan Barry tweeting an excuse after the game to employers, saying if their employees are late today, don't throw them in the penalty box. The whole city is embracing this team. Game five in pushing, back to Nashvegas on Sunday.

CAMEROTA: If I had known about that note, I would have shown up.

Coy, thank you very much.

WIRE: You're welcome. CAMEROTA: Up next, we have a CNN exclusive for you. Iraqi civilians risking their lives to escape the horrors in Mosul. We're going to hear their heart-wrenching stories, next.

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CAMEROTA: Now to a CNN exclusive: families trying to escape last ISIS territory in Mosul. The terror group holding civilians hostage, including thousands of children and murdering those who try to flee.

[06:55:01] CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is live in Iraq with their heart wrenching stories.

Tell us more, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn.

It's really hard to find the words that truly encompass what it is people have been through, especially the children. When you look at their faces, one begins to get an understanding of the depth of the trauma. And we do have to warn our viewers, some of the images they are about to see they may find disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): They stumble towards the Iraqi troops. They are breathless. Their voices are shaking from fear and shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): They killed my son!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): For four months, they destroyed us. We died of hunger, of fear, of strikes and mortars.

DAMON: They use single sentences that seem to hardly encompass the scope of what it is they have actually just been through.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): May God punish these infidels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): Twenty days ago we tried to escape, they caught him and shot him four times in the head. My brother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): He was 20 years old, ISIS killed him. They killed him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): We were in hell.

DAMON: And as ISIS is squeezed into even smaller territory, the civilians they are holding hostage are running out of food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): We were eating flour, just flour and water.

DAMON: It was only enough to feed the children to try and keep them from crying out. She and her husband, they weren't hungry.

On the frontline helping the Iraqi army is Dave Eubanks (ph). He's American ex-Special Forces. With his team of Free Burma Rangers, volunteer medics. Just days earlier, ISIS massacred dozens of people who were just trying to make a run for it. And Dave was called to the scene.

UNIDENTIFIE MALE: We saw these 13 bodies and we saw movement. Here they are. Look at that wall.

DAMON: A man alive and a little girl who creeps out from underneath her dead mother's hijab where she had been hiding for two days hugging her mother's corpse.

They use the tank for cover to move out, dragging those they just saved past the corpses of those who perished. The little girl, she has not yet spoken, not a single word. No one knows her name.

The next morning, they spotted even more movement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ran, got across the road, went through rubble like this. And ISIS on three sides of us. We can hear them talking, crawled through, finally get off the street ISIS is shooting. She tied herself, three days, no sleep, no water, wounded.

DAMON: Much of western Mosul is already apocalyptic. And the fight for last square kilometers, it's going to be so much worse than anything we've seen before.

There's no past blueprint for this kind of warfare. No one has fought an enemy like ISIS holding civilians hostage in a dense suburban battlefield.

We go to a clinic that's further back from the frontline. There's an old man who can't speak from the shock and a little girl. Her name is Maria. She's ten. There with her older sister.

They say a mortar hit their house just as they were trying to make a run tore it. One sister they know is dead. They saw her lifeless body. The others are buried under the rubble of their home but ISIS still controls the area.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): My family is gone, all gone.

DAMON (translated): Who is gone?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): My mother, father, sister and brother.

DAMON: The reality of what she's just said perhaps not quite sinking in or maybe she's just looking for any distraction from a loss that she cannot yet fully comprehend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: And, Chris and Alisyn, the United Nations estimates that around 100,000 children are still living in very dangerous conditions, whether still an ISIS held territory or around other parts of Western Mosul.