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Dallas Police Department Under Attack; Multiple Bullet Holes In Dallas Police HQ Windows; Dallas Police Tweet New Photo From Crime Scene; Prison Worker Charged in Killers' Escape; Prison Employee Charged; Clinton to Give First Major Campaign Speech today. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired June 13, 2015 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: You know, in terms of Hillary Clinton, we heard Brianna talk about how she may have somewhat of a shift in her story today focusing more on her Rodham roots than her Clinton roots, talking about her parents, her mother, specifically, who was abandoned by her parents, we understand. Her campaign communications director said, "If you want to understand Hillary Clinton of what's motivated her career, of fighting for kids and families, her mother is a part of her story."
[08:00:03] Will that be effective? Will that be endearing, do you think?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I think so. And it is also a way for Hillary Clinton to try and reintroduce herself to voters. It seems odd that such a well-known person is going to try and put a new image of herself to the world.
But they have to try to freshen up the campaign and dwelling on her mother's struggles after the great depression in the 1930s as a way of connecting Hillary Clinton to us personally and also getting across this theme of Hillary Clinton being someone that really understands the economic struggles of every day Americans.
PAUL: All right, Stephen Collinson, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Be sure to watch Bill Clinton on "STATE OF THE UNION." That's tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Eastern with Jake Tapper. The next hour of NEW DAY starts now.
(VIDEO CLIP)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, a shoot-out and explosion in front of Dallas police headquarters. Officers say for the first time we are under attack. Right now a standoff continues with a suspect at least one.
PAUL: And the second big story we're watching today, images of Joyce Mitchell, the first ones we have seen. She is the prison seamstress who helped two ruthless killers escape. She is waking up in jail after her late night arraignment, this, of course, while Texas authorities are issuing a bulletin to lookout for the New York murders. Good morning. So glad to have you with us. I'm Christie Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. We welcome our viewers from around the world and we are starting, of course, with that breaking news in Dallas. The active standoff continues in Texas after suspects armed with automatic weapons we are told and explosives attack the Dallas Police Department Headquarters.
And we have new video of what officials say as many as four attackers are firing automatic weapons at these unsuspected officers. Watch.
(VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: OK, so, obviously, this is video somebody shot from a rooftop. You can hear everybody in the background and there they go, that is what started the chase there. You see police car after car and the ones coming in behind it to go after that van that just rammed into the car. This is what else we know at this hour. This attack started at approximately 1:30 this morning, 12:30, I believe.
BLACKWELL: Yes, 1:30 Eastern.
PAUL: At 1:30 Eastern. Windows shattered at police headquarters and bullets pierced squad cars. Take a look at some of the video or picture that is the police department there in Dallas has tweeted out. We are happy to tell you no one was injured. That is the good news.
Canine dogs, we understand, have searched the area. After more explosive devices were found, here again are some of the latest pictures we are getting. We just learned the headquarters is now all clear. Now police chased that one or more suspects inside that armored van, cornered them in a parking lot near Interstate I-45 and I-20.
And the suspects are refusing to exit the vehicle, at which point the SWAT team was called in. That standoff with police is still ongoing right now. One suspect told cops that his name is James Boulware, that he is angry because they took away his child and labeled him a terrorist.
Listen here to the news conference where police were talking to him a short while ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On June 13 at approximately 12:38 a.m., witnesses observed what they believed to be multiple suspects firing guns at the Dallas Police Department's Headquarters located at 1400 South Lamar Street. The suspects were parked in front of police headquarters as police officers arrived.
The suspects rammed the Dallas police officer's squad car and began shooting at the officers. Striking the squad cars but missing the officers. The officers returned fire at which time the suspect fled. The location of the witnesses is an armored vehicle. [08:05:13] Officers gave chase in their police car south of Dallas to a parking lot near the Jack-In-The-Box at 121 South Interstate 45 Service Road in Hutchins, Texas. The car parked and stopped there at around 12:44 a.m.
While in the parking lot, there was another exchange of gunfire between the suspects and officers. Squad cars were struck during that exchange. However, no officers were injured. The suspects refused to exit the vehicle, at which time officers set up a perimeter.
The SWAT team was called and has since begun negotiations with the suspect. SWAT officers are currently talking with the suspect by cell phone and trying to find a peaceful solution. The suspect gave a name to identify himself, but we have not confirmed that's him.
That name he gave us was James Boulware, B-o-u-l-w-a-r-e. He's a white male, 5'10", 200 pounds. Witnesses at police headquarters gave preliminary information that there might be more than one suspect. There might be up to four suspects.
And of these suspects, they were shooting at police headquarters and at police officers from different locations, possibly elevated locations. But we have yet to confirm that witness information.
The Dallas police headquarters and all seven of the police substations are secure. Our Explosive Ordinance Detonation Unit is investigating four suspicious bags left in front of the Dallas police headquarters.
As I was walking out to talk with you all, one of those bags has been confirmed by the bomb squad to have explosives in them. Pipe bombs is what has been described to me by the explosive unit. We are in the process of evacuating residents of the south side of the Lamar Complex located at 1409 South Lamar Street.
I reiterate, no Dallas officers have been injured. This is a preliminary investigation. This is an active investigation, meaning the police headquarter scene is an active shooter's scene until we confirm first that there are no other suspects at that scene waiting to ambush officers.
And we have ongoing discussions with the suspect in Hutchins. The suspect has told our negotiators that we took his child and we accused him of being a terrorist and that he's going to blow us up, and then cut off negotiations.
We cannot confirm a motive at this time. What we are asking for from the public, we need their support. We need information. We have learned through social media that several witnesses used their cell phones to video the suspects shooting at officers from various locations in and around police headquarters during the first gunfire exchange.
So we are asking any and all witnesses to forward any video or to contact us from social media to give us that information. I'm going to give several ways the public can do that. First, anonymously you can send us information through the iWatch Dallas app available in the app store or on Google Play.
You can use Twitter @Dallaspd. Dallas Police Department, you can also see us on Facebook. We'll be updating the public on the DPD blog.
[08:10:00] And you can e-mail our public information officer information about any information you have regarding these suspects in this incident through the pio@dpd.dallascityhall.com. Now I'll take questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The man at this point, can you confirm there is one suspect in the van?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cannot confirm there's one suspect in the van. We have talked with at least one suspect, but witnesses say that there might have been a suspect who got in the van, and then there might have been a suspect who failed to get in the van before it pulled off. So there potentially are four suspects according to witnesses.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: Joining me now Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner and CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes, it seems like -- Mr. Kerik, thank you for being with us.
It seems like the task at hand other than the standoff that's going on is trying to determine how many suspects they are really dealing with. Help us understand how they move forward at this point?
BERNARD KERIK, FORMER NYC POLICE COMMISSIONER: I think one of the most important ways is getting that video and getting the communications and cooperation from the community. And the people who have seen this firsthand, they will be doing a background on the guy that they think they have in the van.
It's strange if this guy -- listening to this story, if this guy's child was taken, he was accused of being a terrorist. But he has three accomplices. I don't know. It seems a bit strange to it. I think there's something more to it, but time will tell.
PAUL: If there are, indeed, three more accomplices. Tom Fuentes, as we look at what happens here, they are processing two scenes. They are in the middle of the standoff. They are still trying to deal with 911 calls that are coming in for other issues. They are also trying to deal with evacuees.
In fact, the department just tweeted out that they are reaching out to the Red Cross to get refreshments for those people who are evacuated in residential areas right now who can't go back yet. There is so much on their place. They are seven hours into this thing. Help us understand how the department is dealing.
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Christi, the department can just hold over the people coming off of the midnight shift and have them extend, have people that were due to come in on before the midnight shift, let's say come in early so they can -- and also bring people in off of days off and vacation time if they are available.
So there are many of their own officers that they can bring to bear at least for a short period of time, 24 hours to 36 hours depending. For the long run, they would need supplements from, you know, many other agencies, but that's not -- all they have to do is ask.
And they will have hundreds of officers from the Department of Public Safety, which is basically the Texas state police equivalent. Fort Worth PD nearby, all the suburban Dallas departments nearby. So there are many resources out there that they call on.
And particularly, ATF and FBI to help with the crime scene investigation of all the bullet holes they have in police stations and police cars, the bomb site and the explosive residue and all of that which will have to be examined and transported to a lab for further examination.
So there are plenty of resources. This is not out in the middle of the desert somewhere. They can get all the people they need.
PAUL: It is interesting, they did tweet out this is the first time Dallas Police Department Headquarters has been under attack. Those are two important words they used with that, Commissioner Kerik, that they are under attack.
You just talked about how you have questions of them looking possibly for four suspects, but there's one man that seems to have his own issues. How could he -- coerce somebody else into this with him?
How do you think they are going to be able to determine that if they are still in the middle of the standoff with him? How do they get answers from this?
KERIK: Well, I think the most important thing right now is the negotiations. They are ongoing. They don't know what is in that van and already know he's had explosives out and around that building.
We saw to the devastation to the vehicle that was damaged by an explosion when they tried to move the package with the robot. They have to be extremely careful.
The main thing right now is to get him out of that vehicle, to determine what is in the vehicle and determine if there's anybody else in the vehicle and secure that vehicle itself because he could have explosives in there.
PAUL: Yes, Tom Fuentes, we do understand that's one of the things they were concerned about as to whether there are explosives in the van as well. Help us understand the conversation they are having to try to get him to exit that vehicle and bring this thing to a halt.
FUENTES: Well, hopefully he's still talking to police. We don't know if he's caught off. Also, if it's by cell phone with the engine disabled, he'll run out of battery at some point.
[08:15:12] Won't be able to start to engine to renew the battery in that phone. So that will be that a limitation whether he'll accept the negotiating phone to be delivered to the van, to me doubtful.
But in the negotiation itself, if it's occurring, the police will be telling him, look, you have not killed anybody. No one has died in this incident. Yes, you have a couple of bombs. You know, they'll minimize that and say let's end this thing peacefully.
You can still survive and your friends can still survive. There is no need to go down in a blaze of glory here. Let's surrender, call it a day and nobody has been harmed.
PAUL: All righty. Yes, there are seven, all of them, including the suspect, seven hours into this. We have to wonder when fatigue might finally set in and maybe that will help in some way to get him out there. Bernard Kerik and Tom Fuentes, we appreciate both of your voices in this. Thank you so much for staying with us.
BLACKWELL: All right, much more in the breaking story out of Dallas. Ahead, we just learned from a major there with the Dallas Police Department that the other packages, remember two of them were confirmed to have explosives. The other bags were filled with trash we've learned from Major Max Garen with the Dallas Police Department, again, two with explosives and others turned out to be trash.
We'll get more on that story and the other breaking news we are following this morning, new images of the prison employee accused of helping two prison escapees as she makes her first court appearance. We'll take a closer look at the charges have been filed against her and what her punishment could be.
Plus as hundreds of officers take part in a search for those two inmates from upstate New York, officers in Texas are being asked to be on the lookout for one of those convicted killers. We'll talk more about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:20:05]
(VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: This video just into CNN of an armored van slamming into a police cruiser and now you see the other officers chasing that van. We know that this is at a standoff that's been going on for several hours in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant near the interstates.
Let's go now to Tristan Hallman, a reporter for "The Dallas Morning News," who has been with us all morning and following the developments in Dallas. What is the status of the standoff now? Do we know of negotiations have resumed? What is happening there?
TRISTAN HALLMAN, "THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS" (via telephone): The only thing we are being told is that there is still ongoing. The suspect's vehicle, the van there, the armored van has been disabled so it's not going anywhere. So we are just sitting here waiting out the conclusion of it. BLACKWELL: We heard from the Dallas Police Department Chief David Brown this morning in the news conference that this suspect, one of them has identified himself as James Boulware, white male, 5'10", 200 pounds.
Police have not been able to confirm that he is indeed James Boulware. We know that there could be up to four suspects total involved. But let's talk about Boulware specifically. What have you learned about this man?
HALLMAN: James Boulware was arrested back in 2013 for making threats against churches, his family. He was wanted here in Dallas on a felony warrant. He was arrested in Paris, Texas, which is north of here, but he was arrested and he was also -- he had a possession of marijuana charge.
So he has a history that would suggest someone that would be involved in this. And from what police said, the suspect told them something about them taking his kids away from him and they had labeled him a terrorist. So this matches that story.
BLACKWELL: Again, I want to book end it here with police have not been able to authenticate the name and have not been able to confirm that the man, who they are negotiating with or attempting to negotiate with is indeed James Boulware, but it's important to add that context and we thank you for that Tristan.
The other element here is that we heard from the major there with the police department, Max Daron, that the headquarters has been cleared, meaning there's no longer a threat to that facility. However, we understand there is still a search ongoing for explosives in other locations, is that right?
HALLMAN: Right. They had their bomb-sniffing dogs out here and they are searching all around. Obviously, two bags had explosives in them. Initially they thought it was five. Two of them had trash in them, but they are concerned there could be some more elsewhere. Five were initially suspected. They only knew about four. They ended up finding the fifth one beneath a police car. So they are being very diligent in trying to find, make sure they got everything.
BLACKWELL: All right, Tristan, stay with us. I want to bring in a CNN law enforcement analyst, Cedric Alexander, who is also the chief of the DeKalb County Police Department in Georgia.
Cedric, as investigators try to learn more about James Boulware and potentially up to three other suspects here, what is the work that's being done that we don't see?
CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): Well, what you're seeing is being done certainly they are running his name. At least the name they are given, they do have to make verification. Also, they are going to be looking at particularly known persons that maybe associated to his past and present as well, too.
So there will be a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on, Victor, in terms of trying to get a positive identification of that subject or subjects that are involved in this event this morning.
[08:25:04] BLACKWELL: Last word from the chief there, David Brown in Dallas is that this man who identified himself as James Boulware, which has not been authenticate by the department, that he said that the department took his child and accused him of being a terrorist and then cut off negotiations. We don't know if those have resumed.
But what is the give and take? What could James Boulware want and what would the department or negotiators be willing to engage in to get this to end and bring it all to a safe ending here?
ALEXANDER: Well, one thing we have to be very careful of here, Victor, is we don't want to be too speculative in all of this. And we also want to be aware of the fact, too, that as this continues to unfold, and even if they have lost contact with him, there's this possibility that reengaging that conversation with him telephonically is going to pick back up hopefully at some point.
But I think it's just too many things that are happening right now that we cannot answer. And we want to be careful not to speculate too much of. In addition to that, as well, too, in your first question, a lot of behind-the-scenes work is going on.
And Dallas PD was straight-forward with sharing the information with you all as it continues to break. So I think if we give ourselves a little time this morning, the more information we receive I think we'll be better able to draw a little bit more conclusion or at least be able to speculate a little bit more accurately as we continue throughout the morning.
But this is a full-scale attack that was placed against the Dallas Police Department. And here again, we want to encourage the community here at large in Dallas, that if they have additional footage, get that to Chief Brown at which he's requesting from the community to be supportive right now.
BLACKWELL: Yes, let's talk about that support and I want to kind of look at it from that perspective. You are police chief there. We have the video here on the screen from the skies. This area appears to be shut down here.
The first daylight live video we see here from the sky of the situation there in Dallas, but we just received this tweet out from the major there thanking everyone for their well wishes. Fortunately, no officers were injured.
I mean, you have been on CNN's air talking about unfortunately several attacks on police officers in the last six months to a year. And now you see what appears to be a highly coordinated attack against Dallas officers.
Aside from the details here, back up a few steps and look at the whole picture. What is your reaction to what we're seeing play out?
ALEXANDER: Well, I mean, what we're seeing playing out, you know, normally over the last few months police have come under a great deal of scrutiny. But here again, we have this particular situation, which I don't know if we can necessarily tie to any of the past events.
But what we do know is that we have someone who is saying that he was personally affected by the police in terms of his son being arrested, if I recall correctly.
Here again, we have to make sure we look at each and every one of these situations very differently. This is a very challenging time in American policing at this very moment we are living in.
But we also have to take into account there are a lot of things going on around the country and around the globe that might be directly or indirectly related to this. We don't know as of yet.
And that's what we have to be very cautious of is to allow time for the Dallas Police Department to do their work and investigate this. They are reporting information they feel is pertinent for the public to know and are doing a good job at that.
And they continue to take that information and share as much as we can with the public. But we need to be very supportive of them at this very moment because here again, this was a full-blown attack on the American police department and that is totally unacceptable.
PAUL: Cedric, I want to reiterate to our viewers what they are seeing. This is live video, live aerial footage of what we believe may be an area where that suspect may be holed up in a van. You can see some police light there.
You can see them flickering just a little bit every once in a while on the left-hand side of the screen and it looks like a lot of police cars there as well from certain vantage points as this continues to change angles here.
[08:29:38] But I'm wondering, one of the things that need to be nailed down first and foremost to get a grip on this is how many suspects they are dealing with. There were reports, the police said a witness reported, someone tried to get in the van and was not able to do and perhaps run off.
How do they determine other than trying to talk whoever is that van right now? How many people might have been involved here? How do they figure that out at this point as they are seven and a half hours in?
ALEXANDER: Well, at this point of this very active investigation, I think it's going to be important to consider a number of things. One, they have witness statements in which they are going to use to assist them in terms of making that determination. We don't know what has been described as of yet.
Two, to the police when they had the one suspect on the telephone, but I think as things continued to unfold here this morning more, we'll learn more about what that number is. But I'm quite sure Dallas is going to look at this as being a potentially four to five people involved. PAUL: You think potentially four to five people are involved? Do you
think that because you don't believe that one person could pull off what we have seen so far this morning? And again, just let me say for our viewers who are just joining us and looking at this, you might see in the middle of your screen there, it looks like that black van. We believe that was the van that police were chasing. And you can see some police lights going off as well.
But I just wanted to give viewers some sort of context as to what we're looking at right now. But Cedric, please go ahead, what makes you believe that there may be so many suspects involved here?
ALEXANDER: Here again, here again, we are talking about witness statements very early on, police statements and, of course, witness statements that you all reported there on the scene that it may be more than one person involved. What I need to be very clear about is that Dallas police is going to approach this, I'm quite sure, that there may be multiple subjects involved until there's some verification of that. Now, what we know based on what we have been hearing and seeing so far this morning, is that they were or still are or still is in contact with one person on the phone. Should that be the case, they may have more information that we are aware of at this particular moment.
But to your question, did it take more than one person to launch that assault and to be able to put explosive devices in and around that police station. It probably took more than one person to do that. And it very well could be. It very well could be multiple subjects involved.
PAUL: Let me ask you something as we are looking at this video and we believe this is where negotiations are happening right now. Although I should say, we don't know. There are questions as to whether these negotiations are still ongoing or whether they have stopped. What happens if talks break down? What happens if whoever is in that van stops talking. Then what?
ALEXANDER: Well, it's a temporary setback. But here is the good news it's that if the van has been disabled, they are not going to go anywhere until this comes to some end, whatever that may look like. But they are not going to go anywhere. Hopefully communication will pick back up. It is not unusual in a situation such as this that communication is broken off.
We have to be patient. Those negotiators are very well trained to the situation they're in right now today. And once communication do pick back up and hopefully so it will so this will come to a peaceful end. We'll be briefed on that, I'm quite sure. But at this point, it is not unusual for communication to be broken off in a situation, something like this and to later on to be picked up again.
But one thing in all of this, they are surrounded. They are not going anywhere.
BLACKWELL: All right. I just want to get in here. We have some new information in. You see in the center of your screen live here from our affiliate there in Dallas KTVT video of the situation in the parking lot of the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant. That armored van there with police cars surrounding it.
On the left of your screen you'll see a picture of a van that was sold on eBay last week. And here's what we know about this van. A source familiar with the ongoing investigation says officials are looking into whether a van that resembles a van sold in Newman, Georgia on eBay may be the same quote/unquote armored van used in the Dallas police attack. They are investigating to see who may have purchased the vehicle.
Again, if you look in the picture on the left and it's a tiny, tiny shot that you have because it's so far off from the aerial shot that we had. But they are trying to determine, the investigators are trying to determine if the van you see live on the right here in Dallas is the van you see on the left which is a photograph from eBay, an armored van that was sold last week in Newman, Georgia.
[08:34:58] And this, of course, will be a large part of the investigation. Not only determining the purchaser of the van, but hopefully having conversations with the seller of the van on eBay.
How important of a detail will this be for the investigation -- Cedric?
ALEXANDER: It's going to be critically important. If it is determined that this particular van may have some tentacles attached to it back in my home state of Georgia. You can be certain that Dallas police will be working very closely with the Georgia authorities there in this active investigation to follow this information that you all have just acquired.
Here again, we don't know where this is going to end and what road it's going to take us down as it continues to evolve. This is an active investigation as you heard Chief Brown stated there earlier. This is a very active investigation. A lot is going to unfold over the next few hours. And we want to know more about that van and its origination as well to and how it may have been acquired and made its way to Dallas.
BLACKWELL: And you know, we discussed with Tom Fuentes this morning, another CNN law enforcement analyst, kind of dissecting and taking apart these explosive devices that reportedly either detonated or were found around the police headquarters would potentially lead officers, investigators to a suspect. Now having possibly the handle, the screen name on eBay, could also not -- obviously lead them to a person, but lead them to other purchases over the last several days and weeks.
ALEXANDER: Yes, absolutely. And this is going to part of the investigation. Those explosives are going to have their own particular set of finger prints on them, meaning this. How they were designed, where they were developed -- all those elements are going to come in to play. That experts in those fields, ATF, Dallas police bomb squad -- everyone is going to play a significant role in tracing that evidence down with the help of federal authorities and local authorities in and around the Dallas community.
So there's a lot of active investigation that is actually taking place here again, Victor, as we speak. And this is going to continue to unfold throughout the morning, throughout the day and throughout the night. But this is a very active, very active investigation in Dallas this morning.
BLACKWELL: Excellent point. We heard from Major Max Geron that the Dallas police department headquarters had been cleared. But as you see on your screen, a very active situation there. A few miles away in the parking lot of a restaurant as the standoff continues.
We're not sure if the negotiations are active right now. But the standoff certainly is.
CNN law enforcement analyst, Cedric Alexander. We also want to thank alexander and Kristen Hallman, reporter with Dallas morning news. We'll be right back. Live update on the manhunt in New York and across the country for two escaped killers. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:41:39] BLACKWELL: A live look again at the ongoing standoff in Dallas. You see in the center of your screen police cars, also that blue armored van in which the standoff is going on.
We are waiting for an update from Dallas police department about the negotiations after this morning the driver of that van rammed a police cruiser, shot at officers, shot at police department headquarters, and there were two explosives that were discovered, at least one detonated.
And we just got an update from the Dallas Police Department through their official Twitter page in which they say that the suspicious package that was investigated in a dumpster at the northeast substation, that has been cleared. It was not an explosive. We know that one of the four bags that were found outside of the headquarters, one did detonate on its own. The others were trash we learned from Major Max Geron. And as this standoff goes on that major is tweeting this morning that the effort is always to secure a peaceful resolution in these situations. But that is not always possible.
We'll continue to follow this developing story. It's breaking all morning long. We are waiting for an update from Dallas police. But we should expect that in the next couple of hours.
PAUL: And we'll bring that to you when it happens, of course. And you can see there, too, a note that I-45 we understand is closed in both directions if you do happen to be in that area near I-20. They are closed.
Listen, we have to talk about our other breaking news story this morning. The hunt for the two convicted killer, escaped from that upstate New York prison. Their accomplice -- alleged accomplice Joyce Mitchell waking up this morning in jail after pleading not guilty. Here are the first pictures we are seeing of her now as she's accused of helping Richard Matt and David Sweat escape. Court documents now reveal she gave them hacksaw blades, chisels, drill bits. That's what helped them to break out of prison.
Plus new this morning, Texas police officers are asked to be on the lookout for inmate Richard Matt specifically. Why? Well, apparently he has family ties in a south Texas border city and officials warn that Matt may have intentions to cross into Mexico.
CNN investigations correspondent Sara Ganim joining us live now in West Plattsburgh, New York. I believe near one of the perimeters where they are searching. Sara what have you learned this morning?
SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christi, that's right. We are near the eastern edge of that search perimeter. There's certainly has a sense of urgency here. Every vehicle that comes through this intersection is searched by law enforcement officials. And in this search area, there are more than 800 law enforcement officials, local, state and federal searching, chasing leads. More than 700 leads so far. But those two convicted killers are still on the run. However this morning, the woman who police say helped them escape is now behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defendant is charged here with two offenses.
GANIM: Shackled and appearing terrified, prison tailor turned prisoner Joyce Mitchell was arraigned late Friday night accused of helping Richard Matt and David Sweat break out of the Clinton County correctional facility. She faces a felony charge of promoting prison contraband. And a misdemeanor, criminal facilitation charge.
[08:45:02] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bail will be set in the amount of $100,000 cash, $200,000 bond on felony. And $10,000 cash and $20,000 bond on the misdemeanor.
GANIM: The two killers have been on the run for a week but it's Joyce who now faces up to years behind bars. Authorities say she provided them lighted glasses, hacksaw blades, chisels and drill bits to cut their way out of prison. But she got cold feet, authorities say, when it came time to get behind the wheel as the getaway driver.
Since then, Joyce has been cooperating with police. She told investigators that Matt made her feel special, but sources tell CNN she had a relationship with both prisoners.
And it gets even more complicated. Joyce is married to a fellow prison worker who is now also under investigation. Lyle Mitchell worked in the maintenance department of the same tailoring block that his wife worked and where both fugitives worked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have information that is coming through interview interviews through our investigation that he possibly could have been involved or at least had knowledge of what was happening. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any idea what his role might have been?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have information on what part of his role would be. And I hate to keep saying this to everyone, but this is an investigation that not only is focusing on, obviously, taking Matt and Sweat back into custody but pursuing other people that were involved.
GANIM: Blood hounds picked up a fugitive scent Wednesday night -- a mile away at a gas station but nothing has panned out despite hundreds of leaks and an intense manhunt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GANIM: Now, this is the eighth day of the search. That's eight days that this town has been shut down. And residents here say they are tired of this and they're scared. Quite frankly, when this first happened, they believe that these two would be long gone, far away from the community by the time that law enforcement officials realized that they had escaped.
But now evidence seems to show that they are probably still in this area. That there's a strong possibility. And they are nervous about that. This is a highly wooded area. Now yesterday the search seemed to intensify for a few moments when a woman posted to Facebook that two men were seen scaling a wall near her parents' house and authorities responded with ATV -- Altering vehicles and other equipment, but ultimately Christie and Victor Nothing was found.
PAUL: All right. Sara Ganim, we appreciate the update, thank you.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk more about Joyce Mitchell. What's next for her? Let's get some insight into the charges against her. We have with us HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson. Joey -- good to have you with us this morning.
Let's take a look at the charges here. Pleaded not guilty to both felony and misdemeanor charges with the most serious being promoting prison contraband. How do you start to build this defense with a client who has been so forthcoming with the information about what she is handing over to these escapees?
JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Sure. Victor -- good to be with you.
And, you know, that certainly will play in her favor, ultimately. And just taking a step back, Victor, before moving forward, there are very strict rules in prison regarding even, you know, speaking with inmates, establishing relationships with inmates. And that goes for correction officers who I represent in my other life in addition to any civilian employees who are there. It is for this reason because the closeness of that relationship makes you vulnerable.
So here we have a woman charged with these charges, which we should look at and examine, but the question then becomes how does she get out from under this and what the potential penalties will be. You know, it's a felony, a d felony. The way it works in New York State anyway is you have eight felonies -- most serious, 25 to life; e felonies, no minimum in jail. But she's facing a d felony which she could get up to seven years with. And that's for promoting prison contraband.
Whenever you introduce prison contraband, that's something that would be illegal into a facility that could otherwise injure someone or worse help a prisoner escape from a prison, you have to be somewhat accountable for that, very accountable for that because we see what it could lead to.
I think what the defense team will do is continue that cooperation with the authorities in an effort to mitigate and lessen her punishment and to give them each and every bit of information that could be helpful to their capture.
I think the defense will also speak to issues of her psychological state. I'm not at all giving the indication that she's damaged or crazy, there's no such information out there like that. But certainly I think they preyed upon her vulnerability and preyed upon perhaps her naivete in order to say hey listen, you help me, I love. You know, who knows what they were telling her.
And I think that because they took advantage of her and because she was so vulnerable, I think certainly the defense will use that to their advantage in addition to the fact that she's going to be helpful. That can lead to a plea deal.
[08:50:03] The final thing also is remember the other charge, Victor, and that's criminal solicitation. What we should remember about that is whenever you provide material aid to someone and give them the means and opportunity to commit a crime you're on the hook for that.
So I don't know that she'll escape liability here and criminal responsibility; she shouldn't because there has to be a deterrent to others. But I think her continued cooperation could bring them in, you know, and potentially find their whereabouts. And so she's a valuable witness at this point.
BLACKWELL: Yes, I'm sure you'd make criminal solicitation there -- someone hearing solicitation probably thinks this is going in a different direction.
JACKSON: Exactly. Facilitation -- thank you.
BLACKWELL: Yes, to clear that up.
Joyce Mitchell is back in court on Monday. What should we expect at that appearance?
JACKSON: Well, not much at this point. Because remember what's happening is that there needs to be after the charges the matter would be presented to a grand jury. We are not there yet. And so certainly there'll be a conference before the court. I'm sure her attorneys will be speaking with and continuing to speak to the prosecutor in terms of how she could further cooperate, whether they should even indict it. In New York State, you can waive indictment that is not even you're your case presented to the grand jury.
If you are cooperating, so I think they want to continue to keep her close, continue to keep her in custody and continue really to keep the pressure on her so that she to give all the information available. Because at the end of the day certainly she needs to be held accountable. But the bigger picture is capturing these fugitives so they do not endanger the community any further than they potentially have.
BLACKWELL: All right. Joey Jackson, thank you so much.
JACKSON: Thank you Victor.
BLACKWELL: We'll of course, follow that case and the search for those two escaped inmates.
We are also following the developing story, the breaking news out of Dallas. We have a live picture of the standoff continuing there between the driver of that armored vehicle who attacked officers this morning and police officers. We do not know if negotiations are ongoing at this time, but the standoff certainly continues. We just learned from the Dallas Police Department that they will hold a briefing at 9:30 Eastern Time, so about 40 minutes from now we're expecting to get the very latest on this situation. We will bring that to you live here on CNN. Stay with us.
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[08:56:21] PAUL: All right. We are going to get you back to the breaking news and continue to watch what's happening in Dallas today.
But we do in a couple of hours want to talk about what's happening with Hillary Clinton here, in a few hours, making her first major campaign speech, since she announced her presidential run in April. The former secretary of state speaking on Roosevelt Island in New York.
We understand Bill and Chelsea Clinton also will be there. Brianna Keilar is there as well.
So Brianna, I that understand she's going to have a little shift in her story. She's going to be talking more about her Rodham roots, Senator Clinton roots. What's the strategy here?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. She's trying to show that she's a candidate in her own right. And she's really defining herself. Not so much in the shadow of her husband but with her own accomplishments and also with her own story.
This is really the first big pitch that she is making to a wide array of Americans since she declared her candidacy a couple of months ago. She's been going through these early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Having the small roundtables, this is a rally of not the biggest size of rally venue I have ever seen, but this is going to have the real campaign feel as you can see behind me. And we will see, we're expecting to see Hillary Clinton really looking
back in time. Talking about her mother, Dorothy Rodham, who since she last ran for president has passed away. Dorothy Rodham had some hard scrabble roots and really relied on other people and certainly on herself to get by and succeed in life.
She'll also be talking about certainly the message of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. This is, after all, Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island. So that imagery of the Roosevelts fighting for the middle class is going to be something we expect her to evoke.
But this is certainly an inspirational message she's going for at this point and trying try to pull that focus away from what would be a Clinton dynasty, Christi, if she is to become the nominee and perhaps to be elected.
Because here you said Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will be here. Bill Clinton is not going to speak. This is the Hillary Clinton show here today. And even though she's the frontrunner, she's not without challenges. A lot of Americans in recent polls show they believe she's very competent but she has an issue when it comes her trustworthiness, her honest. And so she's trying to kind of inspire people here.
PAUL: And I understand that she is going to be outlining her rationale for running. Why she wants to run for president, provide voters with reasons to elect but she's not going to in deep into policy with this one, is that right?
KEILAR: Yes, that's what we're expecting. That's what we have heard from the campaign, so I think we are going to hear some policy items, but I think they are managing expectations. The question is: is there going to be enough meat on the bones? There are a lot of Americans who want to hear what her policies are going to be.
If she doesn't outline them very detailed today, we expect that that's something that she'll do in the coming weeks and the coming months Christi.
PAUL: All right. Brianna Keilar -- looking forward to it. Thank you so much.
BLACKWELL: And of course, we'll following the breaking news that's happening out of Dallas. We have a live picture here of that ongoing standoff. You see in the center of your screen that blue van that's been described as an armored van. You see the flashing lights of Dallas police cars. This is happening after 12:30 local time this morning the reports of shots fired at the police headquarters. Then the driver of the van rammed a cruiser.
There was a chase to this location. There has been a stand off there, every since, for more than seven hours now. We're expecting a news conference at 9:30 Eastern. We will bring that to you live.
PAUL: Stay close.
BLACKWELL: "SMERCONISH" starts right now.
Michael Smerconish, welcome to the program.
