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New Day Sunday

A Million Marchers Expected at Unity Rally

Aired January 11, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

SUZAN JOHNSON COOK, FORMER U.S. AMB. AT LEARGE FOR INTL. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: And what France is showing today is we're putting on a full-court press to let the terrorists know we'll not tolerate it. As the mayor said in Paris, says, you know, we'll not tolerate this. We're not going down like this.

So, with this being the new 9/11 for them, it means they're going to have to live life a different way than they expected. No one expected this to happen. And so on the other side of this, life will have to be different.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Suzan Johnson Cook, ambassador for International Religious Freedom, thank you so much.

CNN's continuing coverage begins right now.

(MUSIC)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, today, up to a million people are expected to attend a national unity rally here in Paris, a show of defiance. You see thousands, tens of thousands of those people right now who are gathering just before it begins. Reminder of the lives of 17 people who were lost during this week's terror attacks.

The march will be there at the Place de la Republique and from there protesters take two routes through the city.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: French President Francois Hollande will be joined by leaders from around the world, including British Prime Minister David Cameron who is already with him. We have German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, officials ramping up security for today's events as well.

As you can see here is President Hollande as he greets some of the world leaders who are coming in as they are an hour and a half now away from the unity rally.

But we do know at this rally as well more than 2,000 police officers are deployed in the city streets. Police snipers, anti- terror officers are also in place. Most likely even in this picture somewhere where you see the sea of people who are there to tell terrorists that they will not win as they wave their flags. Amongst those are some of the law enforcement officers who are going to be trying to keep everybody safe today.

BLACKWELL: And we know that those French law enforcement officers have been told to erase their social media presence. They're being told to be aware and it's a reminder of the threat that still exists. The source now telling CNN that terror sleeper cells have been activated in France.

PAUL: Jake Tapper is live there in Paris at the site where the rally is to begin.

Jake, what is it like there at this hour?

TAPPER: Well, it's moving and inspiring. I'm here in Paris at the Place de la Republique where you see this massive crowd chanting -- who are you, Charlie? Who are you, Charlie?

Charlie, obviously, the name of the magazine "Charlie Hebdo" that was so brutally attacked by terrorists, 12 innocent people killed, setting off a chain reaction of events, including the cold blooded murder of a French police woman on Thursday and then a third terrorist emerging, having killed the police woman to take hostages at a kosher supermarket here in Paris, killing four innocent French people, all of whom were Jewish and taking others hostage. Thankfully, those other hostages were able to get away after a French police raided and killed that terrorist.

We now know that is, the terrorist group, released a video in which that terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, swears allegiance to ISIS. He's given a name and is identified as a soldier of the group. This is disturbing news not just because of the brutal acts that he perpetrated but also because the other two terrorists, the Kouachi brothers had sworn allegiance to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. So, this would be the first known operation in which ISIS and al Qaeda were working hand in hand.

I want to go now to Erin McPike who is at the White House.

President Obama is not here, is not one of the world leaders that has shown up alongside the leaders of the U.K. and Germany and other European countries and Middle Eastern countries, Erin McPike. But he did send Attorney General Eric Holder, Erin.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, that's right. And also, of course, the U.S. ambassador to France, Jane Hartley, is there as well.

But also, Eric Holder is in France, as well as the deputy homeland security secretary, for this meeting that the French interior minister is holding for European leaders and other world leaders so they can discuss new counter-terrorism initiatives in order to combat these attacks that are harder to detect.

That is what we heard from the director general of security service in Great Britain, Andrew Parker. He said the attacks are really hard to detect. They've got to find a new way to gather intelligence and come together so that they can combat them.

Now also, Jake, I also want to tell that you we just got word from the White House that they will be hosting on February 18th a summit on countering violence extremism.

I want to read part of the statement that we got from the White House this morning just moments ago. It says, "Our partners around the world are actively implementing programs to prevent extremism and foreign terrorist fighter recruitment. The summit will include representatives from a number of partner nations focusing on the themes of community engagement, religious leader engagement, and the role of the private sector and tech community."

Now, Jake, back in September, the White House announced they would be holding the summit but they didn't say when and it has sort of gone under the radar for the last few months and they just announced this half an hour ago. So, obviously, it's taking on new urgency here in Washington, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Erin McPike, thank you so much.

We're going to take a very quick break and continue with our special coverage of the terrorist attacks here in France as well as, of course, the massive demonstration of solidarity and courage. You hear people chanting right now we are not scared.

We'll be right back after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to our special coverage of the terrorist attacks in France, the aftermath, today's unity rally.

I'm Jake Tapper live in Paris at the Place de la Republique.

Now, those that are left at "Charlie Hebdo," the French satirical magazine that was so brutally attacked by terrorists on Wednesday with 12 people killed, I believe nine of them were staffers or editors or cartoonists with the newspaper.

The publication is trying to move forward. They're holding their first editorial meetings now after the attack. I believe on Friday it was at "Liberacion", the French newspaper, is where they held the first meeting. They're pledging to release a new issue on time, Wednesday, I believe, is the publish date. One million copies will be printed. It will be a collector's item.

To discuss this all I want to bring in, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter.

Brian, obviously a lot of journalists rallied around "Charlie Hebdo" even if they published the kind of commentary cartoon that's most of us would not. How important is it for the cause of journalism, do you think, even if the cartoons and commentary was offensive to many, how important is it for "Charlie Hebdo" to live on?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It's really become a rallying cry, Jake, in much the same way this unity rally today will bring many members of the country together and many foreign leaders together. Publishing this magazine again is a sign of unity for French media, because now other newspapers and magazines are helping this magazine get back on its feet and get ready to come out again. They are, as you said, in editorial meetings continuing this weekend up until that Wednesday publication date.

And they've asked for some privacy. They say we don't have, frankly, we don't have many staffers left. We need to take all the energy we have, put it into this eight-page edition that they're working on but we'll see the finished product on Wednesday.

TAPPER: And there are a lot of individuals that I've heard if over the last few days talking about the decision by most American media organizations to not publish the cartoons. You've been covering that intensely.

Explain to our viewers in the United States and around the world why it is a more difficult decision than some might feel? Every ounce of my being as a journalist is people were killed over the cartoons, we should show them. But obviously, people in positions of power in media organizations see things in a much more nuanced and complicated way. Explain.

STELTER: That's exactly right. And some of the cartoons the magazine published over the years, you know, have been seen widely. These are cartoon that's make fun of various religions, various public figures. Some of them, however, are lewd or some cases pornographic or some cases racially tinged and some news organizations are not showing them for those reasons.

And then, some of them, a particular subset of them are depictions of the Prophet Mohammed. And CNN and other news organizations for years now have chosen not to show those images because they are so offensive to so many Muslims.

Because we've seen sporadic acts of violence against journalists and against these organization that's do publish these cartoons, what I've heard from CNN and other big television networks and wire services is that safety comes first. And that as you said, even though journalistically, there is that instinct to show the cartoons and to show the ones on Mohammed in particular that managerially safety concerns and sensitivity concerns about members of the audience have to come first.

But I have to tell you, Jake, we have seen these published online on a number of Web sites, a number of news web sites in the U.S. and elsewhere. They have been seen much more widely than they otherwise would have been were it not for this attack on Wednesday.

TAPPER: Brian, as a reporter, how many of the publications that have published the cartoons have foreign bureaus with employees in harm's way as it were? In other words, it might be easier to do if you are strictly an American publication than if you are, say, the BBC with staff all over the world.

STELTER: That's exactly right. The big difference I've noticed between outlets that have published the cartoons and those that haven't are what you're saying. You know, the ones that are established and old media that have been doing this for decades that have staff physically located around the world, they are the ones that are taking this position that it is not worth the risk. And that they're thinking about the sensitivity of their audience versus in you some media outlets, some new popular web sites that don't have the physical offices in bureaus and workplaces around the world. That has been the dividing line on this particular issue.

By the way, we don't know what kind of cartoons we're going to see in Wednesday's issue. We've heard from the staff that they don't want to have obituaries. They don't want this to be a tribute. They want this to be a whole new issue, somehow some of the unpublished work of the dead cartoonists. That way that will be a tribute to all of those who died last week.

TAPPER: Well, I don't know. But if I know "Charlie Hebdo", the cartoons will offend some people. That is what they like to do, be provocative, be outrageous.

Brian Stelter, thanks so much.

STELTER: Thank you.

TAPPER: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we have new images of the killers, of the terrorists that we will bring to you. We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to CNN's continuing coverage of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks here in Paris, France as well as today's unity rally.

I'm Jake Tapper. I'm in Paris. I'm at the Place de la Republique where this unity rally is set to begin.

There are world leaders here in France from all over, Benjamin Netanyahu from Israel, Mahmoud Abbas from the Palestinian Authority, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the attorney general of the United States Eric Holder is here, British Prime Minister David Cameron.

But I want to turn to some new images that we have of one of the three terrorists who was killed last week. This is Amedy Coulibaly. These are stills that I want to show you from a video released earlier today by the terrorist group is. There are stills of Coulibaly proclaiming allegiance to al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, posing in front of the ISIS flag, exercising in a different part of the video. These are stills from that video, giving a speech about his allegiance.

Coulibaly, this man, this terrorist whose images you're looking at right now, this is the person who murdered in cold blood the police officer, the French police woman on Thursday and then went into a kosher supermarket on Friday, killed four innocent people in cold blood, took other hostages. Thankfully French police were able to get into the supermarket before anyone else could be killed and they killed Coulibaly. It is rather chilling that we have this evidence released by is of one of these terrorists pledging allegiance and being identified by ISIS as a soldier, not just because this being a long time fear of counterterrorism officials, that sleeper cells radicalized by ISIS would start carrying out terrorist attacks not just in Iraq and Syria but also in other parts of the world.

But because the Kouachi brothers, said and Cherif Kouachi who attacked "Charlie Hebdo" on Wednesday, they had pledged allegiance to al Qaeda, a rival, if you will, terrorist group, and the idea that ISIS and al Qaeda terrorists are working together is one that many counterterrorism officials said would not happen, because of the rift between the two groups, but it is also one that has concerned so many people.

People are chanting here at the Place de la Republique, they are chanting, we are Charlie, who are you? I am Charlie. Who are you? I am Charlie. Liberty Charlie, they're singing the French national anthem.

I also want to share some reporting from our own Nick Paton Walsh who says according to a French source close to the French security services, at this time, it's not believed that Amedy Coulibaly actually went to Syria any time recently. He pledged his allegiance to ISIS, but according to the source who told Nick Paton Walsh he did not go to Syria but the sources did tell Nick that Cherif Kouachi is thought to have gone to Syria last year, seen near the Turkish/Syrian border, that is the last location according to intelligence sources telling CNN of Hayat Boumeddiene, the woman who was the girlfriend of the terrorist, Amedy Coulibaly.

We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, more coverage of the terrorist attacks in France, more coverage of this unity rally which is starting to get really exciting here with a lot of people very inspired.

We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to CNN's continuing coverage of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks here in Paris, France.

And right now, of course, this massive unity rally being held in Paris. I'm Jake Tapper and I'm standing at the Place de la Republique.

You are seeing images from there, people are chanting expressions of solidarity, expressions of support, who are you, Charlie? Who are you, Charlie?

Charlie, of course, standing for "Charlie Hebdo" the French satirical magazine whose members were so brutally slaughtered in a terrorist attack on Wednesday which set off this aftermath of events -- 17 innocent people have been killed this week, in addition to three suspected terrorists.

Earlier before the break, you maybe heard some chants, in case you were wondering what they were saying, it was when I turned there was a helicopter they were saying, merci a la police, they were thanking the police. It was a helicopter up above.

I bring in now, Philip Mudd, former CIA counterterrorism official, to talk about the images we saw before the break, images of one of the now dead terrorists, Amedy Coulibaly, talking about from still images from a video released by the terrorist group ISIS, and in the video, we're not showing you the video but we are showing you stills and telling you what's on the video, Coulibaly pledges allegiance to al-Baghdadi.

Philip, are you surprised that we are now seeing terrorist acts carried out by two individuals who pledged their allegiance to al Qaeda, the Kouachi brothers who carried out the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks, and this one individual who pledged allegiance to ISIS? Does that surprise you?

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I don't think so for a couple of reasons, Jake. The first is this is a numbers game in terms of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. We've heard for months or maybe more that the estimates of people who have gone from North America, Western Europe to join ISIS -- sympathizers, if you will -- number in the thousands.

Let's just take a guess. Let's guess one-half, maybe 5 percent of the those people make their way home. If you do those numbers quickly, Jake, you're already talking into the dozens or many dozens of people who potentially are coming home. Some of them may reintegrate into society, but you have to judge some of them are going to have been trained to attack here.

Second and finally in the case of Yemen, we already saw the Yemeni organization of al Qaeda having the capability and intent to train somebody to attempt to take down an airliner over Detroit. To me, it's not surprising six years after that event they might find somebody to stage an attack in Paris.

TAPPER: No, of course not a surprise that we're seeing sleeper cells and not a surprise we're seeing individual terrorists carrying out their nefarious acts, pledging allegiance or having been trained by groups like ISIS or groups like al Qaeda. I'm wondering if the fact that these individuals, these different terrorists work together is a surprise to you at all.

MUDD: I think we have to parse this for just a moment, Jake. This is not about ISIS in al Qaeda in Yemen, what we call al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula formerly integrating to train a team. I think what you have here is both of these organizations providing training to independent groups of individuals. When those individuals come home, when you use the term sleeper cell, I wouldn't believe at least from the outset that they are in sort of daily or weekly communication with their home organizations in Yemen and Iraq about how to stage an attack.

They might have come home, in other words. They have a fuzzy affiliation with the group to train them. They meet each other and then they decide months or years later to stage an attack.

So, this is interesting. It's curious. I think there's a lot of intelligence work to do.

But I don't take that ISIS in al Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula are cooperating. I take it there's a fuzzy group of people in France who met there, who received training overseas and came back and staged an attack.

TAPPER: All right, fair enough.

Philip, I'm wondering what you make of the fact that apparently American law enforcement officials are describing the attack on the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" last Wednesday as sophisticated and efficient enough while obviously evil and brutal to merit extra vigilance by Americans both in the United States and abroad.

Was the attack on the "Charlie Hebdo" headquarters the editorial offices more efficient? Were those terrorists better trained than intelligence and law enforcement in the United States would expect such an attack to be?

MUDD: If you look at what most of what we face in the United States -- and I'm going back 10, 15 years, Jake, I'm going back to hundreds of plots that I watched -- this is at the higher end of the scale.

Now, let's be clear here because I've seen a lot of misinformation in the media. There is a difference from people showing a pretty high level of capability in a basic level to people who are professionals. These are not professionals. They're simply in my world, probably top five, top 1 percent of the unprofessional sometimes trained people that I saw at the head of plots.