Return to Transcripts main page

New Day Saturday

Obama Going To Saudi Arabia To Pay Respects; ISIS To Japan: Pay $200M Or Hostages Die; Divers Fail To Raise Airasia Flight 8501; Terrorists Hunted Down in Europe; Growing Uncertainty in Yemen; Deflate-Gate Scandal

Aired January 24, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We're following several developing stories this morning, Japan says it will not give up on efforts to rescue two hostages kidnapped by ISIS even though the deadline to save them has passed.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, nearly one month after the crash, divers are trying to pull Airasia Flight 8501 out of the Java Sea. Teams are using a complex system of balloons to raise the wreckage. The latest live from Indonesia.

But first, we're following breaking news, just moments ago. CNN confirmed that President Obama is cutting his trip to India short to visit Saudi Arabia. Good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

PAUL: And I'm Christi Paul. We are so grateful for your company as always.

BLACKWELL: Yes, as we mentioned, President Obama will be cutting his visit to India short to travel to Saudi Arabia. This, of course, at a time when there is great unrest in that region.

PAUL: The change to his plan comes after Saudi King Abdullah died at the age of 90, of course. The president we understand getting ready to leave this morning for New Delhi to visit India's prime minister first.

CNN White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski, is live from New Delhi. Michelle, thanks for being with us. So we know that Vice President Biden was supposed to go on this trip, why the sudden change?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christi and Victor. Right, it looks like (inaudible) was established. I mean, the first question after King Abdullah died was would President Obama be going, would he have to cancel entirely his trip to India?

But the White House came up with this plan that Vice President Biden would lead the delegation. The president would continue on with things as scheduled, but then suddenly today the change. First, the news came out of India from officials there saying that President Obama would be cutting his trip here short albeit by a matter of hours.

And then the White House confirmed it in a statement. Saying that when they looked at the schedules and they realized what time the vice president would get to Saudi Arabia, it was almost the same time that the president would be leaving India.

They then decided to change the schedule and have the president go on to Saudi Arabia to pay his respects, offer condolences and now Vice President Biden will be remaining at home. I mean, it's a testament to the strength of the U.S. and Saudi relationship.

The president obviously wants to go there because he can now. The relationship between the U.S. and India is also very important. That's why the president originally was going to continue on here. But you see how world events have changed things.

Now, it turns out the White House has decided that the president can do both. Really, only a matter of hours' difference in the time that he would have been leaving India anyway.

The question that we had was, why decide that now? And we don't have the answer to that, really. But they decided that, I guess, schedules worked out and that's the new plan.

BLACKWELL: Michele, we've got live some pictures, I believe, of other officials and dignitaries arriving there. We'll take those live. You see them on the screen. I wonder if there -- if you can tell us who you know will be attending, but if there is a bit of the rally in France, and the decision not to send a high-level official to that event, and that show of solidarity playing in the decision to elevate this to President Obama?

KOSINSKI: It's a possibility. I think that's a great question. There was talk about that incident painting other areas of the president's schedule as well. Such as, you know, would that figure into the State Of The Union address a few nights ago.

You know, questioning how the president does things from that. Not wanting to look like he wasn't really fully participating in it. So I think that's an interesting point. That may have been part of it or it might just have been nuances in the schedule that remains uncertain up until this point.

For example, the time that the vice president would be able to travel and make it there, you know, they generally stop for refueling. So it might have been just the vice president was going to arrive later than originally thought. And that's when they decided, you know what, it's going to be close enough. Let's just have President Obama go.

BLACKWELL: All right, Michelle Kosinski there in New Delhi, India, as the White House decides to cut his visit to India short so he can go to Saudi Arabia. Michelle, thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, Michelle. I want to bring in Ed Husain now. He is an adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Ed, it's so grateful to have you with us. You know, with all the

chaos in that region, a lot of people looking at this thinking it could be a dangerous trip for the president. What do you say to that?

ED HUSAIN, MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: I don't think it's a dangerous trip for the president. I think it's an important trip to make for the American president because it shows that deep level of solidarity and cultural understanding and the expectation of nuance from the Saudi royal family.

I think it's also an important trip to make in order to underscore the deep relationship that exists between the Americans and the Saudis, but also to start a new chapter of a new relationship with the King Solomon on a strong footing.

Don't forget, not just on energy supplies, we are totally dependent on Saudi Arabia for counterterrorism efforts across the region. ISIS is a common enemy both for the Saudis and for us. With everything that's going on with the Iranians, ISIS, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, this is a region engulfed in instability.

And America needs to be at the heart of it through its allies and Saudi Arabia is a key ally in addition to others. It's absolutely right I think that the American president is doing both things, keeping on track with the largest democracy in the world, i.e., India.

But it's also working very closely with a nation that's important to western interests and expects to be supported by the U.S. and its allies at this very difficult moment.

PAUL: He's obviously going to be going to honor, you know, King Abdullah, who just died at the age of 90. What about his meeting with the new King Salmon. What do you think the first couple of things are on the agenda that they are going to need to discuss?

HUSAIN: Great question. I think the first issue of concern on the King' Salmon's mind would be the Saudi population and the inflow of foreign fighters, who have gone out and come back. Don't forget, King Salmon was at the helm of supporting the Afghan Jihad effort in the 1980s.

He's well aware of what happens when you support Jihadists from the kingdom going outwards and then when they come back, we saw the creation of Osama Bin Laden. So he would be aware of the consequences of I think that you know about 4,000 to 5,000 people going from Saudi Arabia.

So that would be item number one. Item number two I think would be Iran. There's a real concern inside Arabia, across the gulf region about the encroachment of Iranian soft power, if you like, arguably, hard power through Hezbollah and others in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and elsewhere.

So that would be a second consideration. The third, if I may, would be issues around Egypt and relations around the broader gulf DDC and the infighting that's taking place.

I think overall the thrust of the conversations will be to continue to maintain better, deeper intelligence and military and other relationships between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, and by extension, the wider region.

PAUL: You know, the new king is 79 years old, and there have been questions about his mental acuity. How confident are you in his ability to lead?

HUSAIN: Again, another great question what we've seen when he was the crown prince he was doing much of the meeting and greetings. For example over the last four days before he became king, he met with Senator McCain and he met with the current U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Again, an indication of deep Saudi/U.S. relations, but also interesting to note that he has those meetings and he was able to hold those meetings despite allegations of dementia.

And judging by the way in which the previous king governed -- this role is so much a symbolic role. He will represent his chief of staff and those who represent him in the wider world, and it might fall on the current crown prince to do that.

Rightly, we have concerns about the ahead of state in any of these countries because I think we reflect our own expectation of our own prime ministers and presidents and monarchs. The Saudi system is different.

We may not like it. We find it odd, but that's the way in which they operate for the last 70 years and that model has held them in good stead. So he will have his crown prince heading up his own diplomatic efforts.

PAUL: All right, Ed, we so appreciate your insight. Thank you for being with us.

HUSAIN: Thank you.

PAUL: I want to show you live pictures that we have of the president as he is getting ready to depart to go to Germany first, will be his stop so they can refuel and on to New Delhi, but the president leaving at 6:09 here in the morning. This will be his trip as he goes to India and from there to Saudi Arabia. We've learned this morning.

BLACKWELL: We have a map here on the screen to show you that the president's trip from Washington, to ram stein, out to New Delhi, and then to Riyadh to pay tribute and to show respects to the late king.

Let's go to another story that we're watching very closely, the fate of those two Japanese hostages in the hands of ISIS.

PAUL: Yes, on Tuesday, ISIS demanded Japan pay $200 million or they would kill both men within 72 hours. As you know that deadline has come and gone. BLACKWELL: All right, CNN's Pamela Brown is anchoring our coverage of the terror development. She is live in Paris, but we want to start with Will Ripley in Tokyo. Will, as Christi said, that deadline has passed. What's the latest on the hostages this morning?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The unfortunate reality is that we have no new information on the hostages. And really, the Japanese government has not even been able to confirm any information with ISIS since Tuesday.

We got an update that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe just got off the phone a short time with the king of Jordan. It's the second phone call with the king of Jordan. Japan has also reached out to officials in Turkey, hoping that those countries with their sources on the ground can put them in touch with ISIS.

But the only word that we've gotten from the terror group is an e- mail sent to one of the Japanese networks saying that a statement was coming very soon. That was more than 24 hours ago, which means that with each passing hour, the families of these two men have no choice, but to wait and wonder what is going to happen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (voice-over): Just hours before the deadline, Goto's mother made an emotional plea for his son's life.

JURIKO ISHIDO, MOTHER OF KENJI GOTO (through translator): I would like to say to all the members of Islamic State. Kenji is not an enemy of Islamic State. I asked for his release.

RIPLEY: Goto's mother also noted her surprise that her son left his wife and then 2-week old child to search for his friend, Yukawa, in Syria.

ISHIDO (through translator): My son left his very, very young baby to go and leave his family, and I asked my son's wife, why he had made this decision, and the response was that my son felt he had to do everything in his power to help and rescue his friend.

RIPLEY: Goto, a freelance journalist who frequently reported from war zones and Yukawa made for unlikely friends. CNN has learned that over the past decade, Yukawa attempted suicide and lost his wife to cancer and lost his home and business to bankruptcy.

After changing his first name to its feminine form, he believed he was the reincarnation of a Chinese princess who spied on the Japanese in World War II. In his blog, Yukawa once wrote, "I look normal outside but inside, I'm mentally ill."

But his travel to Syria appeared to be an attempt to rebuild his life. Yukawa met Goto last summer and trying to learn him from how to survive in combat. He soon portrayed himself as a soldier of fortune and the head of a Private Military Company, a security company that Reuters says existed only online.

Now, these two unlikely friends are in the hands of ISIS with the very real fear that like five western hostages before them they will soon meet the same horrific end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: It's so heartbreaking. We spoke with a family friend of Kenji Goto's wife, and he told us that even though she's surrounded by people right now, she feels isolated and alone left to care for her newborn son with no answers about the fate of her husband -- Pam.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Will Ripley, thank you so much for that reporting.

Still ahead, right here on NEW DAY, Japan and the U.S. both say they do not negotiate with terrorists, but some nations still do. Do negotiations with them in only encourage more threats?

And the U.S. has been battling the terrorists in Iraq with drones and airstrikes, but is it time to send in ground troops. A top military official says yes. Our experts weigh in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And welcome back. I'm Pamela Brown in Paris with the latest terror developments. As CNN's Will Ripley just reported Japan said it won't give up until the very end to save two of its citizens, who are being held hostage by ISIS.

A deadline for Tokyo to pay $200 million in ransom expired yesterday. CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling joins us now. It's great to have you on with us.

So I'm curious, General, if Japan is not negotiating directly with ISIS, in your view, what other channels can Japan pursue here?

LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING (RETIRED), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: There are discussions, Pamela. Whereas negotiation implies the payment of the ransom, I think just like a hostage negotiation team in any police department is trying to talk someone out of doing something, the same thing occurs in the international arena. But when it gets into the payment of ransom, that it's where we have some difficulties.

BROWN: So let's talk about the U.S. policy because as you know, the U.S. says it will not negotiate with terrorists because in its view that will encourage more kidnappings and more death threats against Americans abroad, what is your view on that? Do you think the families of hostages perhaps should have more latitude to try to get their loved one out of harm's way?

HERTLING: Well, we've seen that in the past, certainly. There have been some news organizations in the past that have paid ransom and have negotiated with terrorist organizations to get their reporters back. And it has worked.

Unfortunately, what you see on a large scale, you not only embarrass the nation that might be paying ransom, but it causes the extreme exponential taking of more hostages. You're in Paris right now. Part of implications of the Paris attack is that those individuals were paid a significant sum of money by ISIS or al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula.

That money has probably come from either oil resources or hostage taking, which is prevalent throughout the Middle East, that's a form of dealing with enemies, is taking their sons and daughters as hostages. But when you get that money, and you pay for more terrorist attacks, it just becomes an exponential circle that never stops.

BROWN: You just think about those families, I remember in the case of James Foley and just seeing the heartache that the family must go through during this time, we know ISIS has taken hostages. We know al Qaeda has taken hostages. Is there any difference between the way that they're treated by each terrorist group?

HERTLING: I think ISIS is actually using the hostage taking for their social media campaign, as we've seen, especially in this situation. I would contend that part of the reason they've missed the deadline or they are continuing to do what they're doing is they are stretching out the media campaign to get more people to -- more of their potential jihadists to see what they're doing.

But truthfully, Pamela, I've seen situations with al Qaeda, when I was in Iraq that would do exactly the same thing that ISIS is doing. They would come into a town, behead a couple of local imams as an attempt to terrorize and intimidate.

And the same kind of procedures goes on in any terrorist organization that is attempting to intimidate others who don't believe in their particular approach to doing business -- Pamela.

BROWN: But couldn't it also have the opposite effect where it just turns people off so much and there could be sort of a backlash, I mean, you know --

HERTLING: Yes, absolutely.

BROWN: ISIS right now is trying to recruit people to join its ranks, and I would think that that could have a deterrent effect at the same time?

HERTLING: Absolutely. In fact if I can use the example again of al Qaeda and Iraq that is exactly what happened to them. The local Sunni tribes, in the awakening, a lot of people give credit to the U.S. for forming the awakening councils.

But that was actually a tribal reaction to the terrorism of al Qaeda and Iraq. They got sick of the torture. They got sick of the beheadings. They got sick of the application of Sharia law in some of their tribal societies and they just said, finally enough, we're not going to allow this to happen anymore.

I think you're beginning to see the early stages of that in Iraq or in some case where ISIS can be pushed back. It is so horrific the things they're doing and the majority of the people they're treating this way just do not want any part of these organizations.

They're very intimidating at first. But as the people they attempt to govern become more and more familiar with their methods. They begin to counter their methods and push back on it -- Pamela.

BROWN: And they need those people that they govern in order to succeed as an organization. Really, really interesting to hear your thoughts, General Mark Hertling, we thank you.

And we will continue following the latest terror developments including how authorities in Europe are cracking down on potential terror suspects.

And we're also going to head over to Yemen where rebels have left the United States counterterrorism program there in jeopardy. That's coming up in the next half hour. Victor and Christi, back to you in Atlanta.

PAUL: All right, thank you so much, Pamela.

We're also, of course, going to continue to follow this change in plan for the president this morning. He is on his way right now to Germany, which will take him to India for meetings. And his last- minute change it seems, he will be from there, heading to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to meet with new King Salmon.

BLACKWELL: Also coming up nearly one month after the crash, divers are trying to pull Airasia Flight 8501 out of the Java Sea. It seems they are using this complex system of lifting balloons, but there are some problems. We've got the latest live from Indonesia.

PAUL: We have new details as well about the final moments inside the cockpit before that plane crashed into the Java Sea. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Welcome back. Divers are hoping to raise the main wreckage of Airasia Flight 8501, of course, out from the bottom of the Java Sea. They hit a snag overnight, though.

PAUL: Yes, bad weather is partly to blame here.

BLACKWELL: Yes, they're trying to use lifting balloons to float the fuselage to the surface of the ocean. That's the same technique they used to recover the tail of the plane.

PAUL: Officials believe the doomed flight climbed rapidly and then stalled shortly before it crashed last month killing all 162 people on board.

Let's get right to CNN's Saima Mohsin. She is live in Jakarta this morning for us. So what's the problem here? Why is there a great difficulty with the fuselage that these divers and technicians did not have with the tail?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Victor, you know, the bottom line is that this is a huge piece of the plane that they're trying to lift up and the priority initially wasn't to lift it at all.

They wanted to try and get the victims out first. They're trying to get people back to their families to bury them, but they simply haven't been able to do that. The divers have been hampered along the way.

And when they got to the fuselage in the Java Sea there were wires and all sorts of debris stopping them. So they decided to try and lift this fuselage in its entirety to the top of the Java Sea by using what is a giant balloon.

That weighs ten tons. You can imagine what kind of an operation this is. They started at 6:00 a.m. local time. It took until 10 a.m. so four hours to take it down to attach it with cross-ropes and then to blow it up, to make it float.

And we thought they were really close to bringing it up. But at 10:00 a.m., four hours later, one of those belts snapped and it's gone back down. It's an incredibly unfortunate situation and then the divers couldn't get back into the water. Because as you say, they're incredibly choppy waters, they're dealing with high winds and huge wave, Victor, Christi.

PAUL: All right, Saima, is there any indication as to when they're going to try again.

MOHSIN: Yes, well, they've told us that they have stopped for the night. You can see it is nightfall here now. They are going to go back down at first light. Today, they used six dive teams between three to one diver at a time. They say they're going down again. They're confident they can do this -- Christi, Victor.

PAUL: All right, Saima Mohsin, we so appreciate it. Thank you.

We are going to show you some live pictures here as we await President Obama as he's leaving on his way to Joint Base Andrews, he's cutting his trip short to India short. He'll be going from here in Washington.

You see live pictures there as they get ready to go to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany and then to New Delhi, India, and then the big change this morning to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

BLACKWELL: And we'll take you to France as well. That's where authorities are cracking down on potential terror suspects after the recent attacks in Paris. We've got a live report just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right. Live look at Andrews Air Force Base this morning, you can see there in the center of the screen, Air Force One. We're showing you this, because the president who was on a trip headed to India, the White House announced this morning that he will be cutting the trip to India short to go on to Saudi Arabia, as part of a statement this morning, they say that the president and the first lady will travel to Riyadh to pay respects to King Salman bin Abdul Aziz. And the family of the late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Of course, after King Abdullah's death earlier this week. We'll talk more about the implications of this change at the last minute, and what that means for the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Let's go to Europe now, where officials are cracking down on terror suspects.

PAUL: Yeah, Pamela Brown has all the latest details from Paris. And Pamela, I understand you've been doing some digging on this?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's absolutely right. The hunt continues, Christi and Victor for the potential terror suspects in Europe, still after the recent attempt here in Paris in Belgium, authorities are also looking for a possible accomplice of the gunman charged with killing four people in the Jewish Museum last May. Here's what they found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Belgian authorities are trying to hunt down the man seen here reportedly walking behind suspected French Algerian ISIS fighter Mehdi Nemmouche. Officials say Nemmouche allegedly killed four people at the Brussels Jewish Museum last May.

Now, the prosecutor in Brussels says this man may have been one of Nemmouche's accomplices in the museum shooting. This is authorities in Belgian continue efforts to track down Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged ringleader in a foiled attack targeting police officers earlier this month.

According to Interpol Secretary General there is increased concern of Islamic radicalization across Europe.

JORGEN STOCK, INTERPOL SECRETARY: We have independent cells within our countries, maybe not in any command and control structure, and, of course, we have the lone wolves. And we have those returning from the conflict zones and posing threats to the countries where they come from.

BROWN: In the week's following the Paris attacks, at least half a dozen European countries cracked down on terror cells, arresting associates of the French attackers, as well as those believed to be planning separate attacks.

STOCK: It's very difficult to detect plans, so identify plans before terrorists can take action against innocent people.

BROWN: In France, authorities are scrambling to prevent another terrorist attack, the FBI is assisting French authorities with their investigation into the Paris attacks, analyzing forensics, laptops, fingerprints and running names through databases as they look for other potential accomplices of the suspects, Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers. Sources tell CNN its belief several of their associates are hiding out in Syria including Coulibaly's wife Hayat Boumeddiene last seen in Turkey. A defensive Turkish prime minister spoke to CNN's Richard Quest.

AHMET DAVUTOGLU, TURKISH PRIME MINISTER: We discovered that lady. We informed France. If we ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you lost her!

DAVUTOGLU: No, because it was - we were not informed in advance. We were not informed in advance. Can you blame Spain because she went through Spain? If you cannot blame France and Spain, you cannot blame Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: All right, let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes to discuss this a little bit more. And Tom, first of, we know there had been these terror arrests as we just discussed in the piece in France, Belgium, Greece, all since the Paris attacks here a couple of weeks ago. In your view, what do you make of that? Is part of these just the fact that authorities are being hyper-reactive similar to what we saw post 9/11?

TOM FUENTES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, this has been going on since pre-9/11 in Europe. You may recall the plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris that was going to occur in September 2001. That investigation involved seven European countries including the FBI assisting, and foiled the plot, arrests were made in Belgium, the Netherlands and in France the same week as our 9/11 attack. So, these cells, al Qaeda cells in Europe have been there for, you know, more than a decade.

BROWN: Right, but what I'm asking, Tom, is that, you know, you have all of these arrests in all different countries, some of them related to Paris. Some of them involving other plots. Do you think that authorities are saying, look, we can't sit on these people anymore, because what we saw in Paris? We just - this is too much of a liability to sit on these people we're monitoring?

FUENTES: Well, it's true, but they have a little bit of a dilemma here because if they arrest people where they just don't have enough evidence, they're not going to be able to keep them in custody forever. They don't have a Gitmo-type situation in these European countries where they can just send somebody off and say, OK, we think you're going to do something terrible and we're just going to hold you and not charge you and not bring you to trial. So, really, they can pick these people up, but they've got to have pretty firm evidence that they were involved in a plot which they will be able to prosecute.

And going back to that 2001 plot, nobody of the 14 people arrested, no one received a sentence longer than ten years. And one of the ringleaders of that, Gamal Jamal (ph) in France received a four-year sentence, and he's one of the coordinators of the attack a couple of weeks ago in Paris. So, that's the problem with that, is you can pick people up, but you can't hold them, if you don't have a strong enough case with enough evidence that they were going to commit a terrorist act. BROWN: As you point out, Tom, terrorism has been an issue in Europe

for a while. But now we're sort of entering this new age of highly franchised terrorism. This is compounded, of course, of the fact, that we've seen foreign fighters return from Syria, and, you know, basically directed to launch attacks in their hometown. It is such a staggering problem. I've been speaking to officials here in Paris, I get the sense that they're just overwhelmed. I mean do you - what is your take? Do you think that European authorities are equipped and prepared to handle this huge problem that's taking place right before our eyes?

FUENTES: No, they're not equipped, and I don't believe they could have been equipped. Because they have so many. And the more they dig, the more people they're finding in this giant spider web of connections all over Europe that connect to Yemen and Syria and Iraq. And to think that, you know, as France has said, they believe they have 3,000 potential Jihadis. They don't have enough people to follow 3,000 people 24/7. And especially if they use tactics like where in this case where they hide in plain sight, you know, you have Boumeddiene walking around Paris scantily clad. She's not looking like a devout Muslim if she walks around. Those videos make her look like the average summer tourist on a Paris street. And when they do that, it really makes it difficult for the authorities to say, wait a minute, are these the dangerous terrorists that we're following or just, you know, a couple of lovers walking down a French street?

BROWN: Well, we saw in the U.S., we've seen several suspects arrested in terrorism charges that didn't maybe fit that prototype. And, you know, sometimes, Tom, you see in the U.S. different sort of - perhaps more aggressive counterterrorism strategies. We saw the man in Ohio arrested recently because an undercover informant with the FBI was working with him. And, you know, that's also an argument, should authorities sort of be more proactive in giving them something that they can buy in on and they go in to arrest them?

FUENTES: Well, you are seeing the tip of the iceberg. I mean currently senior officials at the FBI tell me there's more than 1,000 FBI counterterrorism cases going on right now. So, you don't see arrests happening right away on all 1,000 cases. Because again, they don't know what they're going to do with them. And the media will jump all over them and say, why are you picking up people when you don't have evidence? It's entrapment. You know, you're being unfair or unjust. Something like that, so, you know, really, that we have the same dilemma here in the U.S. We don't quite have as many people that have returned from the battlefield to threaten us. But it's still a challenge to keep an eye on as many people that you're aware of.

BROWN: Absolutely. Tom Fuentes, thank you so much for sharing your perspective.

FUENTES: Thank you, Pamela.

BROWN: A political coup in Yemen could leave the U.S. without critical counterterrorism intelligence. Coming up, we're going to take a look at how the U.S. is racing to keep its intelligence program alive.

And we're also keeping a close eye on joint base Andrews this morning. President Obama is leaving for India at any moment. And we've just learned he's cutting that visit short to visit Saudi Arabia. He'll be meeting with the new king and pay his respects to the deceased King Abdullah. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Good morning to you. Welcome back to "NEW DAY." I'm Pamela Brown live from Paris covering the latest on the terror front and to Yemen now. Houthi rebels and demonstrators took to the streets of the capital city Sana'a, celebrating the coup that stripped power from the American-backed government there and has left the U.S. counterterrorism program in jeopardy. Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr has more on this. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, the uncertainty about what happens next in Yemen is only growing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Yemen, a country in crisis. With the government resigning and dozens of U.S. diplomats heading home. At least publicly, the White House insists it still can go after al Qaeda's most dangerous branch.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We continue to have a strong counterterrorism partnership with the national security infrastructure of Yemen. And we continue to be very vigilant about the ongoing effort to counter AQAP in Yemen.

STARR: CNN has learned, behind the scenes, U.S. Intelligence and military officials are urgently reaching out to crucial counterparts in Yemen, trying to keep alive counterterrorism operations to track and target al Qaeda in that country. The group that claimed it was behind the Paris attacks. The-U.S. continues collecting eavesdropping satellite and other intelligence on potential locations. For AQAP's top operatives, including leader Nasr Al-Wahishi.

ROBERT MCFADDEN, THE SOUFAN GROUP: Make no mistake about it, if they have the intelligence and they have the shot they will take it.

STARR: Taking the shot could mean more drone strikes deeply resented by Yemenis. There hasn't been a strike since December. But there is also a covert U.S. military special operations, commando team nearby perched and ready to conduct a mission on the ground against AQAP if ordered.

The U.S. is still struggling to catch up to the lightning advances by the Houthi rebels this week. And is assessing what their plans may be.

REP. JIM HIMES (D) CONNECTICUT: I wouldn't say that it comes as a complete shock but, yes, it did happen very quickly, and, of course, in a pretty abrupt fashion. STARR: The unrest may reach a crisis point Sunday when parliament meets. It may reject the resignation of President Hadi, making the next step by the Houthi rebels uncertain.

MCFADDEN: The Houthis, have been very consistent for years that they're dead set against any foreign presence in Yemen. Regardless of the mission, and that would certainly include the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And there could even be more trouble ahead. There are reports of fighting between al Qaeda and Houthi rebels in Yemen's oil-rich areas. It's the last thing this very fragile country needs. Pamela.

BROWN: Barbara Starr, thank you very much. Victor and Christi, back to you in Atlanta.

BLACKWELL: Pamela, thank you.

We want to get our viewers an image we just saw moments ago of President Obama there at joint Base Andrews, arriving at Air Force One. The breaking news this morning is that the president is cutting his trip to India short to go on to Saudi Arabia, to pay respects to King Salman, the new King Salman, and the family of late King Abdullah.

Now, initially, this was a trip that was scheduled to have been made by Vice President Biden. Now, though, the Vice President's office announced that the vice president would be leading out this delegation. But you see now, the president and the first lady boarding Air Force One. This was changed according to Press Secretary Josh Earnest at the White House, after they looked at the schedules that the president, his schedule in India would have allowed him to be there, instead of sending the vice president there. The vice president would have been on the ground in Riyadh, the president could have made the trip, he is unable to visit Agra as part of his trip, but he's going on to Saudi Arabia, of course, this has implications on the relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Obviously, the U.S. relies on Saudi Arabia heavily for its fight against ISIS and terror in the Middle East. And there's, of course, that entire oil thing that we've discussed lately as oil prices have continued to drop. But we'll talk more about this change in the president's schedule throughout the morning.

PAUL: And the significance of it, yes.

BLACKWELL: Also, the NFL, they are talking now about Deflate-gate. Hear what the league has to say about their ongoing investigation into the New England Patriots.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Round of 16 at the Australia Open is set. But if you've watched it, and it was certainly on at my place. There were a few close calls on women side. PAUL: Yeah, it took three sets for Venus Williams to win a match, but she did it. She lost the first set before rallying to defeat Italy's Camila Giorgi. And then her sister Serena survived what some are calling a lackluster start to win in three sets over the 26 - to fight in the world. (INAUDIBLE).

BLACKWELL: All right, still let's go to the men's side now. Defending champ Stan Wawrinka has made it out of the round of 16, or made it to the round of 16, but he's not ready to consider himself on the same level as some of the other top players in the game. His story in this morning's "Open Court."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big four of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have dominated men's tennis for the last decade, winning 38 of the previous 42 grand slams. Switzerland Stan Wawrinka defeated Djokovic and Nadal on his way to last year's Australian Open title. But he's not ready to put himself among the elite just yet.

(on camera): I mean a lot of people talk about the big four. Do you regard yourself as one of the big four?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not? I mean ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, because I'm not there. OK, I'm on the grand slam, but that's it. I mean it's been one amazing year for me. I was rated player top 20 for four or five years. Top ten one years. And now top five for one year. But the top four if you look now, especially the three first guys, Novak, Rafael and Roger, they've been winning every single tournament every - long term, every - since ten years. More or less so, so it's a different level.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right, nine minutes till the top of the hour. We're coming up on the biggest game of the year. At least in football, maybe in all of sports. This Super Bowl, it's rapidly approaching. But there's another story overshadowing the big game. Of course, that is Deflate-gate.

PAUL: Did you ever think you'd be saying "Deflate-gate"?

BLACKWELL: I don't know if it's a gate, but we'll use it.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: The NFL has finally responded to an ESPN report that 11 of the 12 AFC championship game balls were indeed underinflated.

BLACKWELL: OK, so over the past several days nearly 40 interviews have been conducted including Patriots personnel, game officials and third parties with relevant information and expertise. We've obtained and are continuing to obtain additional information. We take seriously the claims that those rules have been violated and will fully investigate this matter without compromise or delay. That's part of the statement.

PAUL: Let's bring in somebody who knows this game inside now, former NFL player Coy Wire. Thank you, Coy, for being with us.

COY WIRE: Thanks for having me.

PAUL: So, what are you - you think we are going to hear that punishment this week, do you think we are going to hear about the investigation?

WIRE: I think chances are slim to none, and slim - left a couple of days ago, when they made this announcement because the guy who's conducting this investigation, Ted Wells, and that may sound familiar, this is the same guy that did the investigation for the Miami Dolphins bullying scandal. When he did his report, when he released his report, it was three months after the investigation started.

So, guys, I think this is going to be quite some time before we hear what they find and what the punishments may be.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's have the barbershop conversation. I mean you're not there that often, neither am I ...

PAUL: That's what I was going to say, but let's have the conversation that guys are going to have this morning as they go and get their hair cut. Belichick and Brady, they spoke this week. Let's listen to some of the sound. And then we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BELICHIK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: My entire coaching career, I have never talked to any player, staff member about football air pressure. That is not a subject I have ever brought up. I have no knowledge of anything -- I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing of -- yeah, I'm very comfortable saying that. I'm very comfortable saying that nobody did it, as far as I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: As far as I know.

Coy, in that news conference, Brady said that he likes 12.5 psi, that's ideal for him. Very specific. But then minutes later, he said, I can't tell the difference. How can both be true?

WIRE: I don't know that they can, right?

BLACKWELL: OK, I mean - that's what I'm thinking.

WIRE: And I don't know that he's telling us the truth here. I don't know if they've given us the benefit of the doubt given they had been caught cheating in the Spygate scandal in the 2007.

PAUL: Right.

WIRE: I talked to equipment manager, the head equipment manager in the NFL, he's been equipment manager for 20 years, and he said that he really thought Tom Brady was going to take the fall for this because those equipment guys and the quarterbacks have an intimate relationship when it comes to the specifics of how that quarterback likes the football. And you heard had Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman came out and also said there's no way Tom Brady didn't know that his equipment manager or one of the ball boys was going to make that football exactly the way he liked it on game day. And again, this was AFC championship game. They are not going to have done that for the first time in that big game.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

PAUL: That's a good point. And well, the wording was so, I had no knowledge of.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: Not saying absolutely didn't happen. But I had no knowledge of it. Just sounded - you know.

BLACKWELL: If it matters enough to go and check the ball before the game, it matters how the ball, the condition of the ball at halftime. Just saying. Coy Wire, thank you so much.

PAUL: Thank you, Coy.

BLACKWELL: We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: A brutal nor'easter is hitting much of the northeast today.

Ivan Cabrera is live in the CNN weather center with the forecast. All right. So, who is getting hit the hardest?

IVAN CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's Boston right now. Snowfall rates, one to two inches an hour. That is a mess out there. So, really - you shouldn't be out on the roads.

PAUL: Yeah, that doesn't look good, that map.

CABRERA: Unless you have a plow in front of you or you're in an emergency vehicle. It's really kind of a mess here. So, we have to be careful. Now, New York has already picked up a couple of inches here. But the issue is, is now we have some warm air aloft that has changed things over to some - a little bit of freezing rain. So, that's going to be an issue with some icing. But the biggest snow is now to the north and east. Connecticut River Valley, and Boston getting hit with very heavy snowfall at this hour. So, we're talking about the snow that's going to continue to accumulate here. Some places picking up as much as four to eight inches.

So, here's our nor'easter, something we haven't been talking about over the last several weeks. Here we are in late January, and we're finally getting a big snowstorm here where I think the accumulations, even in the big city, will be an issue as the low continues to track up to the northeast. Yeah, by tonight, we'll be done with the storm. And then, on the back side of it, just some cold air.

But watch this, one storm at a time, as I like to say. But this one is going to come in. And I think this one actually will be worse because it will be coming in on Monday, which is, of course, the Monday commute. And that's going to be a problem here. But this was the- this is the storm system that was impacting Texas where we had shovels of snow down there.

And now we're talking winter weather advisories that extend from Tennessee all the way up into New England, through Pennsylvania, New York, and into Boston where the bull's-eye there will be anywhere from four to eight inches of snowfall. And frankly, I think a little bit further north and west through the Merrimack Valley, you may be picking up as much as ten per inch, as much as a foot of snowfall here as the accumulation is a pretty big swath in the next few hours here.

So far, the totals, Pennsylvania, seven inches, and we are still snowing there. So, we are not done with these totals, but look at New York City, big enough, upwards of three inches. I think we may get up to four or five inches, so pretty good snow for them up there. So, it's a weekend. So, that's a good thing.

PAUL: That's true.

CABRERA: I think a lot of people are still in bed, stay there if that's the case. Otherwise, you're going to have to deal with a big mess on the roads.

PAUL: All righty. Thanks so much. Appreciate it, Ivan.

BLACKWELL: Next hour of NEW DAY starts right now.