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The Situation Room
Terror Concerns as Obama Trip Details Are Exposed; Russian Bombers Intercepted Off U.S. Pacific Coast; Interview with Sen. Lindsey Graham. Aired 5-6:00p ET
Aired July 22, 2015 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, HOST: Happening now, trip in danger -- critical details of President Obama's upcoming visit to Kenya are exposed just days before his arrival, raising fears of possible attack by terrorists tied to al Qaeda.
How much risk is the president facing?
And Lindsey Graham fires back. We have the Republican presidential candidate's first interview since rival Donald Trump gave out his personal cell phone number on live national television. Now Trump is doubling down in a new interview with CNN. And we'll get Graham to respond.
Excessive force -- shocking new dash cam video shows a white police officer threatening an unarmed African-American woman who was later found dead in her jail cell. We see the moment that a routine traffic stop escalated into a controversial arrest, as questions swirl about how she died.
And remote carjacking -- an alarming vulnerability in many cars revealed as professional hackers take control of critical car systems via the Internet.
Could someone disable your brakes or even shut down your vehicle?
Wolf Blitzer is on assignment.
I'm Brianna Keilar.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
We are following growing concerns about terrorists. President Obama prepares this week to visit Kenya, a country that's been repeatedly attacked by a ruthless al Qaeda affiliate. Critical information about the president's trip has been exposed, including details of Air Force One's movements.
And we're also following the latest political firestorm ignited by Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, now under fire for revealing rival Lindsey Graham's person cell phone number on live national TV. Trump doubles down in a new interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
We'll get reaction from Lindsey Graham, giving us his first interview since the controversy exploded. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger is also among our guests this hour and we have our correspondents standing by with all of the latest news.
We begin now with CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara So there are and the concern over President Obama's Kenya trip -- Barbara, what are you hearing?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, President Obama may not be headed just to the homeland of his father, but right into a hotbed of terrorist threats.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Al-Shabab militants in East Africa now posing new worries for President Obama's trip to Kenya.
CNN has learns learned in just the last week, the U.S. military has conducted nearly half a dozen secret airstrikes in Somalia against Al-Shabab forces. Intelligence showed an attack against Kenyan troops there was imminent, by the al Qaeda Africa affiliate.
SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: I think this sends a very clear message to Al-Shabab not to try to attempt anything against the president.
STARR: The U.S. does not believe Al-Shabab can get anywhere near the president. But there are other reasons to worry.
JONES: What's most likely is not an attack against a U.S. government official like the president, but an attack that happens while the president is there. What Al-Shabab is likely to do is go for a soft target.
STARR: Like the Nairobi mall attack in 2013, where 67 were killed. It just reopened.
Or this April attack, when nearly 150 people were killed in an Al-Shabab assault at Garissa University. The Pentagon trying to confirm if one of their recent drone strikes may have killed the planners of that attack.
U.S. officials tell CNN in recent days, there is growing social media and Internet chatter among the Somali-based militants about the president's visit.
They all know he is coming, one official with access to the latest intelligence tells CNN.
A Kenyan flight bulletin outlining details of the president's trip has been released, including when the airspace in Nairobi would be closed because of the arrival and departure of Air Force One, but officials are brushing it off.
JOSH EARNEST, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: But the details of the president's schedule that are critical to keeping him safe are details that have not been disclosed publicly at this point. (END VIDEO TAPE) STARR: Now Al-Shabab has lost fighters,
territory and financing in recent years, but still, they have managed continuously to increase their number of attacks. And that is why there is so much worry about what Kenya may be facing as the president arrives -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thank you.
I want to dig deeper now on this with CNN national security analyst, Peter Bergen -- Peter, you heard Barbara say that there has been some losses for Al-Shabab.
[17:05:05]
But at the same time, back in April, a huge attack there in Kenya.
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, I mean they're showing the ability to attack at will against soft targets in Kenya -- shopping centers, schools. They have not shown the ability to attack hard targets. I mean the Secret Service wouldn't allow the president to travel to Kenya if there was a serious concern that he might be targeted. But as Seth Jones said in Barbara's excellent piece, it is quite within the capacity of Shabab to do some attack in a very large country, Kenya, during his trip just to kind of show the flag.
KEILAR: And also, I wonder, because we've heard from the president's family in Kenya on his father's side. They, of course, would love to have him come to Kogelo, the -- where his father is from.
But does it seem that that's a safe move for him to do that right now?
It's not on his schedule.
BERGEN: You know, it's hard for me to, you know, make a security assessment without knowing the details. But, you know, here's an example, Brianna. The president has never visited Pakistan, despite the fact that the Pakistanis have been asking him to come for a long time. And I think a lot of that is about concerns about security.
So it would by highly implausible for me to think that this trip hasn't been very carefully thought through in terms of his security.
The issue of whether Shabab can attack during the trip is a separate issue. And clearly, they have the capacity to do that, and probably an inclination.
KEILAR: And we will see.
The State Department has said there could be a heightened threat.
Do you think this is an opportunity that Al-Shabab wants to take advantage of, in a way? BERGEN: I couldn't imag -- I can't imagine why they wouldn't
want to take advantage of it. I mean a -- that's, you know, they've lost a lot of control in Somalia. They used to control the whole country and the capital. And so now that they're losing control, they're much more inclined to do these spectacular terrorist attacks to kind of show that they're still relevant.
KEILAR: Peter Bergen, thank you so much.
BERGEN: Thank you.
KEILAR: We really appreciate it.
A new warning from a top U.S. military commander now about Russia, saying that its nuclear arsenal poses, quote, "an existential threat to the United States."
This coming just days after Russian bombers were intercepted off the cost of California and Alaska.
CNN's Brian Todd is working this story for us.
What are you finding out -- Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, tonight we're getting new information about a frightening incident on the Fourth of July, a confrontation in the skies between U.S. fighter jets and nuclear capable Russian bombers not far from American shores.
Now, we had reported that on that day, two Russian TU-95 bombers -- they're called the Bear -- they flew not far away from the California coast.
We'll put up our West Coast map here and show you exactly where it happened.
We now understand this was roughly, let's see, about 40 miles from the coast of Central California, right about here where that incident occurred.
Now, on the same day, July 4th, two other Russian Bears flew close to the southern tip of Alaska, not far from the Aleutian Islands. In both instances, American fighter jets, F-15s, off the coast of California and F-22s off of Alaska flew up to intercept the Russian bombers and the Russian planes turned away.
Now, tonight, we are also learning of a communication from the Russian bomber pilots toward their American counterparts in that incident over California. A spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, tells CNN that one of the Russian pilots said over an emergency aircraft channel, quote, "good morning, American pilots. We are here to greet you on your Fourth of July Independence Day."
Now, was that a threat? The NORAD official would not go that far. But he did say this
incident was, quote, "potentially destabilizing," because it was an unannounced approach and because those Russian bombers are capable of striking the U.S. with nuclear bombs -- Brianna, this all happened, by the way, on the same day, July 4th, that Vladimir Putin called President Obama and personally congratulated him on the Fourth of July holiday. Not so coincidental.
KEILAR: All right, and I wonder, though, Brian, does this highlight Putin's sort of maybe mind games and his aggression, because you have him saying a congratulatory call, but at the same time, you also have, I think, this approach by planes, which seems counter to that.
TODD: Absolutely it does, Brianna. Putin has been extremely aggressive recently. It's one of the reasons that the incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently called Russia the number one security threat to America, ahead of ISIS and North Korea. Putin has been aggressively deploying weapons into Ukraine. There's been an escalation of fighting there between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.
And he announced he's adding dozens of new ballistic missiles to his nuclear arsenal. There are also reports that Russia is threatening Sweden, that if Sweden joins NATO, they might somehow retaliate -- all part of Putin's kind of geopolitical aggression now, a big concern among U.S. officials tonight -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Brian Todd, thank you.
I want to talk about all of this now with Illinois Republican congressman, Adam Kinzinger.
He served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Congressman, thanks for being with us.
And you just heard that report from our Brian Todd, these Russian nuclear bombers flying within 40 miles of the California coast.
[17:10:00]
What is the proper reaction to this?
And how would you classify this act?
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: Well, look, it's an act of aggression. But if you ever have any doubt whether the cold war is back on, I mean these are the kind of maneuvers that show that it is.
I mean I think there has been a reestablishment, probably not to the intensity it was in the '80s, but a reestablishment of, in essence, kind of cold war principles, where, you know, at that time, it was all a show of force from both sides.
But we're seeing this literally on a weekly basis from the Russians, whether it's the U.S. mainland, whether it's parts of Europe or anywhere else. And, actually, very interestingly, in 2006, I was deployed to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. And I remember standing outside of my -- where I was living there and seeing a Russian Frogfoot aircraft buzz us -- and this was in 2006, when we supposedly had good relations. So this wasn't anything new by the Russians, but the stepped up nature just goes to prove that Vladimir Putin, sometimes a small kid in class is the biggest bully. And that's who he is.
KEILAR: He heard the incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford. He says Russia is the biggest threat facing US.
Do you agree with that?
KINZINGER: Yes, I really think so. Look, I mean, obviously, terrorism is a huge threat. You have the potential of strikes on the U.S. mainland. And it's something we ought to address in a huge way.
But the problem with Russia is it could take one wrong move, Vladimir Putin deciding that Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, he can move into and he would not invoke a NATO response, when, in fact, he would invoke a NATO response and that can lead to, you know, at best, a regional war, but potentially a world war scenario, as NATO is forced to defend its own territory.
And the problem is, again, is Vladimir Putin understands that the Russian economy is, you know, about one eighth of what the American economy is. Their military is totally incapable compared to the American military. But what he's doing is testing ours and testing the West's will. And that's why it's important for us to stand up now and make it very clear that we're not going to be bullied.
KEILAR: I want to ask you about this targeted drone strike that we saw, we learned of yesterday. It killed the leader of the Khorasan Group, Muhsin al-Fadhli.
You know, tell us how much of a threat you think the Khorasan Group poses to the homeland.
KINZINGER: It's a significant threat. This is a group that basically, it's, is essence, an al Qaeda-type group. They're using the instability in Syria not because they want to throw Assad or they want to fight the Free Syrian Army or any geopolitical reasons there.
They're using the mess in Syria to basically plan strikes against the United States and against the West. It's, in essence, how al Qaeda was in Afghanistan before 9/11.
So they're a significant threat to us. I give the president and the administration credit for going after this guy. Again, I think we need to do more. But let's celebrate victories where we have them. And it's one less terrorist, and one less significant terrorist that we have to worry about.
KEILAR: You think Khorasan, given the space, could grow in the way that we saw al Qaeda grow? KINZINGER: Yes, absolutely. You have multiple jihadist groups.
Some which right now are focused on, in essence, the near-term, destroying the government that they're hosted in right now. Some are kind of medium-term, you know, other Muslims that don't believe what they believe.
And then a group like Khorasan and al Qaeda are focused on the long-term, the long-term strikes against the United States and Western targets.
Given the room to grow and breathe, this is Afghanistan pre-9/11. They'll plan, they'll finance and they'll execute.
KEILAR: I want to ask you about this Iran deal.
Today, we heard House Speaker John Boehner saying he's going to do everything possible -- that's a quote -- to kill this deal. But I wonder if you think there really is enough opposition in Congress, certainly from Republicans, but also from some Democrats, to get a veto-proof majority to kill the deal.
KINZINGER: Look, I think we're close. This is really going to be up to the Democrats. This is a bipartisan issue. There's a lot of Democrats that have as much concern as some of us on the Republican side.
I think the final question is this. If you're a country that's not Iran, why wouldn't you build 5,000 centrifuges now, whether you're Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey or Peru, in South -- I mean every country now has the right, in essence, because of this deal, to build 5,000 centrifuges.
So you look at the precedent it's setting and everything else, there's a lot of concern it's not just a -- in fact, it's not a partisan issue.
KEILAR: All right, Congressman Adam Kinzinger, we really appreciate you being with us.
Thanks so much.
KINZINGER: You bet.
KEILAR: And coming up, Republican presidential candidate, Lindsey Graham, talks with us. I'll be asking him about Donald Trump, and, yes, his cell phone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: It's one of the most jaw-dropping moments of the 2016 presidential campaign so far. With the name-calling escalating between the Republican candidates Donald Trump and Senator Lindsey Graham. Trump took it a step farther on live national television, revealing Graham's personal cell phone number.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And he gave me his
number, and I found the card. I wrote the number down. I don't know if it's the right number. Let's try it. 202.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: I don't know, give it a shot. Your local politician, you know? He won't fix anything, but at least he'll talk to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Senator Graham is joining us now from Capitol Hill with a smile there on his face for the first interview discussing this latest campaign uproar.
Senator, I do want to talk to you about this feud with Donald Trump but first I want to ask you about this development that the Department of Justice has announced hate crime charges today against Dylann Roof, the alleged shooter in the Charleston church massacre.
The attorney general says this is what the DOJ has to do because South Carolina doesn't have a hate crime law. Why doesn't it? Should the state have such a law?
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, one, you don't need a hate crime law here. You'll be charged under state law with nine counts of first-degree murder, but yes, I don't mind having a hate crime law, but please don't suggest that people in South Carolina would not render justice here because we will.
[17:20:08] I think you've seen from the families of the victims the best of our state. They handled this better than anybody could have hoped to have handled it. The politicians follow the people, but please don't suggest for one moment that justice would not be delivered here without the attorney general of the United States. The local prosecutor, the local jury, the people of South Carolina will deliver justice in this case.
KEILAR: Now I do want to turn now and talk to you about this feud that we've been seeing playing out between you and Donald Trump.
GRAHAM: Yes.
KEILAR: Anderson Cooper actually sat down with him today, asked him about when he gave out your phone number. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I get called all these horrible names by Lindsey Graham, who I don't even know. I didn't start it with Lindsey Graham. I couldn't care less about Lindsey Graham. He's registered at I think zero in the polls, by Rick Perry from Texas who was up in my office a few years ago. I just posted a picture of him shaking my hand looking for money and looking for support. And he was up -- you know, people would say, you know, I would call it hypocrite. But they're saying horrible things, like I don't even know they
see people. And they're saying these -- now am I supposed to, you know, just say it's OK for them to say -- one guy, I guess it was Lindsey Graham called me a jackass, so am I supposed to say it's OK if I'm called a jackass. I'm called a jackass. You have to fight back. The country has to fight back. Everyone is pushing our country around. We can't allow that, Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Is it presidential, though?
TRUMP: I think it's presidential --
COOPER: To give out some of -- to give out a personal phone number.
TRUMP: Well, that was a long story. I mean, you have to see the whole story the way it morphed. OK? That was the whole story, the way he wanted to get on "FOX & Friends" and he called me up out of the blue. I never met the guy. Then he wanted to come in for campaign contributions. He gave me his personal -- and then he starts hitting me years later. And I happened to have this crazy phone number, and I held it up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: What do you think, Senator? React to that.
GRAHAM: Well, number one, with all due respect to the Donald, I don't need his help to get on FOX News. And he's just making that story up like he makes a lot of stuff up. I talked to him a couple years ago about my China currency manipulation legislation, which he supports where we'd impose tariffs on China that keep manipulating the value of the Yuan to create a discount for Chinese-made products.
That was how we first met and what we talked about. But the idea that I need his help to get on FOX News I don't think will withstand scrutiny. But it's really not about me and Donald. It's about what Mr. Trump said about 11 million illegal immigrants that I find offensive and not true. They're not mostly drug dealers. They're not mostly rapists. Some of them are good is what he said. They're hard- working decent people that come from very corrupt and dangerous places to make a better life. We have a ability and duty to bring order to chaos.
And when he suggested that my good friend John McCain was some kind of lesser form of service member because he was captured and that he and others like John really weren't heroes because they wound up being captured, that was a line that I could not allow to be unanswered. That's a line that I think no American wants any politician to cross.
KEILAR: And it's important to note, I think you and Donald Trump are very different, for instance, on immigration, when it comes policy.
GRAHAM: Yes. Yes. KEILAR: You're open to a pathway for citizenship.
GRAHAM: Yes.
KEILAR: He clearly is not.
GRAHAM: Right.
KEILAR: But I want to ask you because we see this recent national poll where he is just wiping out the rest of the Republican field. He's at 24 percent in this poll. You're polling in this poll around 1 percent. So I wonder, why do you think there are members of the Republican Party that are gravitating towards Donald Trump?
GRAHAM: Well, some people buy into the idea that, you know, he's speaking truth when the rest of us are not and they're frustrated with a broken immigration system. I certainly get that. And apparently some people agree with the idea that most illegal immigrants are rapists and drug dealers. I don't.
So here's what I think. I think Donald Trump is a political car wreck and people slow down and look at the wreck, but they eventually move on. I believe that when it comes to winning a national election, as a Republican, Donald Trump is not the pathway forward. We have a really good chance to win as Republicans because President Obama has been a bad president, Hillary Clinton represents a third term of failed presidency.
But if we're talking about the subject matter that Mr. Trump has brought up, we're going to lose, and most people don't want to lose. And that's why he will fade over time.
KEILAR: So you have no doubt that he will fade and there's no way he could be the Republican nominee?
GRAHAM: There's no way he could win a national election as a Republican or any -- or any other title because America is a good place.
[17:25:03] We're a really good country. We appreciate John McCain and people like John McCain. We don't think they're losers because they got captured. And when they asked him, well, do you know what he went through as a POW? And he says, well, that doesn't matter. Well, I think it matters a lot. So I have a lot of confidence in the Republican Party, I have a lot of confidence in the American people, that Donald -- Donald Trump is a political car wreck. We're all looking right now, but we'll move on. But people who say the things he said will never lead a great nation in my opinion.
KEILAR: If you were to say -- see Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton in a national contest, who do you think would be better?
GRAHAM: Well, I think she would win and that would be bad for the country. I think she would be bad for the country. I think she sold Obamacare better than Obama did. Bill Clinton -- Bill and Hillary Clinton did a better job selling Obamacare than Obama. She is the architect of his foreign policy in many ways. If you're looking for something new, she's not it. And the best way for us to allow her to win is to continue to talk about Donald Trump, and not her policies and not the bad deal with Iran, so this will eventually pass.
I think the worst possible outcome for the Republican Party would be to put somebody in the ring with Hillary Clinton that wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell, and that would be Mr. Trump.
KEILAR: So you put out a video today.
(LAUGHTER)
GRAHAM: Yes.
KEILAR: With a bit of humor, how to destroy your cell phone. This comes after you tweeting, probably time to get a new phone, iPhone or Android. I wonder, you know, in fairness, I think he might have done you a favor because you're working a flip phone here, and you clearly need --- you needed a new phone, Senator, I must say.
GRAHAM: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
GRAHAM: Yes.
KEILAR: Do you think -- do you think he did you a favor? Did he give you an opportunity here?
GRAHAM: I think what happened is he did something most Americans wouldn't like, and that's to tell the whole world your private phone number. And it was my number, by the way, so I now have to upgrade my technology. That's a good thing. So I need to thank Mr. Trump for moving me into an advanced telephone. Without him, it probably wouldn't have happened.
And what I'm trying to do in this video is say, you know, don't take yourself too seriously. This is a great country. I think I have a lot to offer the Republican Party and the country as a whole. And this will all work out. And I will get a new phone, and I'll come on this show and I will show it to you, and you can call me.
KEILAR: All right. We'll take you up on that, Senator Graham.
GRAHAM: But don't give my number out, though.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: We won't. Thanks, Senator Graham. Thanks for joining us.
GRAHAM: Thank you.
KEILAR: Anderson Cooper will be joining us next hour with more from his interview with Donald Trump. And you can see the entire thing tonight at 8:00 Eastern on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." We have just heard from the family of a woman who died in her
jail cell after a traffic stop arrest in Texas. Coming up, we'll have their reaction to a newly released police video that shows a state trooper threatening her with his stun gun.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:32:27] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: There are new questions swirling about the conduct of law enforcement officers, especially after a newly released video shows a Texas state trooper threatening to use his stun gun on an African-American driver, telling her, quote, "I will light you up."
The woman, Sandra Bland, was arrested after a traffic stop, and she died in her jail cell earlier this month. Authorities say she committed suicide.
I want to get the latest now on this from CNN's Ed Lavandera -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. Well, we have a late development here coming from the sheriff here in Waller County, who confirms to us that when Sandra Bland was brought into the jail cell here or the jail here on July 10th, that as she was being processed into the jail, she told jailers that she had made a previous attempt at committing suicide. We're told by the sheriff that that information was recorded on an intake form, and that that form could be released here in the next couple of hours.
But as you might imagine, Sandra Bland's family, who has been saying consistently for several days that they do not believe Sandra Bland could have committed suicide and they're really focused on the video of the dash cam, the arrest of Sandra Bland, they spoke out a few -- just a few hours ago. And I want to show you before we get to that, that initial confrontation that led to the intense showdown between Sandra Bland and the DPS trooper here in Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you mind putting out your cigarette please? Would you mind?
SANDRA BLAND: I'm in my car. Why do I have to put out my cigarette?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you can step out now.
BLAND: I don't want to step out of my car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out of the car.
BLAND: Why am I --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out of the car.
BLAND: No, you don't have the right. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out of the car.
BLAND: You do not have the right to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do have the right. Now step out or I will remove you.
BLAND: I refuse to talk to you other than to identify myself. I'm getting removed for a failure --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out or I will remove you.
BLAND: I am getting removed for a failure to signal?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out or I will remove you. I'm giving you a lawful order. Get out of car now or I'm going to remove you.
BLAND: Then I'm calling my lawyer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to yank you out of your car.
BLAND: OK, you're going to yank me out my car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out.
BLAND: OK. All right. Fine. Let's do this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're going to.
BLAND: Yes. Don't touch me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of car.
BLAND: Don't touch me. I'm not under arrest. You don't have the right to take out of my car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are under arrest.
BLAND: I'm under arrest for what? For what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10-98.
BLAND: For what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Send another unit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car. Get out of car now.
BLAND: Why am I being apprehend? You're trying to give me a ticket for failure --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said get out of the car.
BLAND: Why am I being apprehended? You opened my car door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm giving you a lawful order. I'm going to drag you out of here.
BLAND: So you're going to drag me out of my own car.
[17:35:06] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car.
BLAND: And then you're going to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will light you up. Get out.
BLAND: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now.
BLAND: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car.
BLAND: Really? For failure to signal? You're doing all this for a --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get over there.
BLAND: Right. Yes, yes, let's take this to court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Sandra Bland's reacting to the release of that video just a short while ago, speaking from Chicago. Sandra Bland's sister is still dismayed by what she saw there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARON COOPER, SISTER OF SANDRA BLAND: Quite frankly I'm disgusted that we're even having a discussion about an autopsy because she was pulled over for something so insignificant, and because of an officer who felt like maybe his ego was bruised, and got in the way, not once did he ever say he felt threatened. But when you tell me that you're going to light me up, I feel extremely threatened and concerned, and I'm not going to get out of my car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: And Brianna, just to recap the significant development, the sheriff here in Waller County saying that when Sandra Bland was brought into the jail here, she told jailers that she had previously attempted to commit suicide, a significant piece of evidence.
The family of Sandra Bland said they have -- they are conducting their own independent autopsy. We thought that those results might be released today. We still have not heard when and if those results will be released.
KEILAR: All right. Ed Lavandera, reports there in Waller County. Thank you. I want to get some more insight on this particular case and
really its growing nationwide impact. I'm joined now by former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes. We also have "Slate" staff writer Jamelle Bouie, who covers race relations and politics. And we have former ATF special agent in charge Matthew Horace.
So tell us about Ed Lavandera's reporting here. Let's talk about this. If her death was in fact a suicide here, should it have been prevented if she had alerted these folks in the jail that she had tried to commit suicide somewhat recently?
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, most police lockups, Brianna, if they have somebody, even if it's not someone that they think will commit suicide, they have audio and video on the cells to watch what people are doing.
KEILAR: Not in this case.
FUENTES: But not in this case.
KEILAR: Just outside the cell.
FUENTES: So -- but the fact that if they had that report from her that she had committed suicide in a previous situation, then certainly she should have greater -- lots and greater scrutiny.
KEILAR: And also they were checking in on her on intercom, but not actually physically interfacing with her, right, not laying eyes on her and observing her.
FUENTES: Apparently.
KEILAR: OK. So, Matthew, I want you to listen to more of this video. This is part of an exchange earlier to what we just saw between the officer and between Sandra Bland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, ma'am. You OK?
BLAND: I'm waiting on you. This is your job. I'm waiting on you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You seem very irritated.
BLAND: I am. I really am. But I feel like I can't stop you from give me a ticket. So I'm getting out of your way. You've been speeding up, tailing me, so I move over. And you stop. So yes, I am a little irritated, but that doesn't stop you from giving me a ticket, so --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you done?
BLAND: You asked me what's wrong, and I told you.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: OK, Matthew. You hear that, and what she is explaining
is that she says the trooper, Brian Encina, was behind her and that he was sort of speeding up, so she was actually trying to get over to get out of his way. She apparently did not use her blinker, and so she's a little irritated here. Is the officer reacting to her here even initially? Do you think his behavior was appropriate?
MATTHEW HORACE, FORMER ATF SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Well, Brianna, this is -- this takes command presence to a whole new level. I don't think that anything that happened on this traffic stop was appropriate. I have to tell you, I've worked with DPS in the past. They're a great outfit, but -- in this case, this traffic stop went far too far, far too fast, and for all the wrong reasons.
KEILAR: And you, Jamelle, look at this. You call this needless officer aggression. You have a lot of backup here, I think, on this panel, but explain that.
JAMELLE BOUIE, STAFF WRITER, SLATE: So she -- at that point he's giving her the ticket this time. The stop is pretty much over. When he asks her to put out her cigarette, you know, she could have done it as a courtesy, she could have not. Either way he could have just walked away. There is no -- at that point, absolutely no reason for him to escalate the situation. And that's what's striking to me about this entire encounter. At every single point he had to de-escalate the situation, he decided to escalate it. And I think the officer is what made this a potential dangerous situation for himself.
KEILAR: So this is -- this is supposed to be the end of it, and yet it kind of becomes the beginning of this altercation.
BOUIE: Right. Right. When it didn't need to. He could have given her the ticket. She was signing it. And if she didn't want to put out her cigarette, it's not illegal to smoke in your car.
KEILAR: That's a good point.
All right, Jamelle Bouie, Tom Fuentes, thank you so much. Matthew Horace, really appreciate you talking with us about this.
[17:40:04] And coming up, a member of North Korea's top ruling family is gathering power but we aren't talking about Kim Jong-Un. Does he perhaps have some competition?
And later a scary look at how your car could be hijacked by remote control.
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KEILAR: We're learning new details about what you might call a rising power behind the throne in Kim Jong-Un's North Korea.
[17:45:05] Brian Todd here with the story. And this comes at a time as Kim is really clamping down.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. And tonight we're told that he's continuing his campaign of purges and executions, taking out key figures in his military. And we're told Kim is relying increasingly on two women to navigate this very dangerous path. The women are his sisters, and they may be the only ones close to Kim who he can really trust.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): A seemingly routine tour and photo op for North Korea's young dictator reveals a tantalizing clue of who's left in his inner circle. As Kim Jong-Un visited a locomotive complex recently, North Korea's government news agency reports his younger sister, Kim Yo-Jong, was with him. She's 27 years old, increasingly seen as a rising star, said to be Kim's closest adviser.
Kim Yo-Jong is believed to be taking on key roles in her brother's security agencies, gaining huge influence over who gets appointed to top posts. And that's not all.
KEN GAUSE, NORTH KOREA LEADERSHIP EXPERT, CAN: Kim Yo-Jong supposedly now has her fingers on the royal economy, where money that is coming directly into the Kim family.
TODD: That's not only black market currency, cigarettes and medicines, but legitimate businesses like building statues in Africa, according to analysts. They say Kim Yo-Jong's influence is becoming more like that of their aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, sister of their late father Kim Jong-Il. Kim Kyong Hui had enormous power until Kim Jong- Un turned on her husband, Jang Song Thaek, and had him executed in 2013. Now it falls to Kim Jong-Un's younger sister to help him navigate the dangerous halls of power in Pyongyang.
GAUSE: She is the person the Kim Jong-Un would reach out to and expects to have his back, inside the blood sport that's politics inside the regime.
TODD: But because she's so young, Kim Yo-Jong likely needs her own protector. Analyst ken Gause says that's likely the role of another shadowy older sister, Kim Sol-Song. She is the purest of the pure, Gause says, because she's the only one among Kim and his siblings ever officially recognized by their grandfather, North Korea's found, Kim Il-Sung.
Kim Sol-Song is said to possibly be mentoring her younger siblings, helping them build relationships and sever their ties to their father's old cronies.
PROF. BALBINA HWANG, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Kim Jong-Un cannot afford to have any kind of swaying to his loyalty by those that might automatically look to the older, more experienced leaders of the past. He's clearly much more young and robust than these decrepit 80-year- old generals, and so Kim Jong-Un has to make sure that they look to him for leadership and not his elders.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Who's the target of Kim Jong-Un's deadly purges these days? A U.S. officials tells us he is focusing on replacing military figures, but analysts say he's got to tread carefully and not create too many enemies along the way, and he seems to be increasingly relying on his two sisters to help him do that -- Brianna.
KEILAR: But it's interesting. He has two older brothers, and yet they were passed over.
TODD: That's right. His oldest brother is Kim Jong-Nam, he was -- he embarrassed the family when he got caught trying to sneak into Tokyo's Disneyland on a fake Dominican passport. He's believed to be spending his days gambling and traveling. He lives in Macau.
Another older brother, Kim Jong-Chul, Kim Jong-Chul, excuse me, he was passed over by their father. He was thought to be too weak. He is involved in North Korea's black market economy. He spends his time traveling around the world to Eric Clapton concerts.
KEILAR: Really?
TODD: Yes.
KEILAR: All right. I wasn't ready for that, Brian Todd. Fascinating. Thank you so much for the report.
And coming up, a frightening look at how the high-tech conveniences in your vehicle could actually give carjackers an opening to take it over while you're behind the wheel.
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[17:53:10] KEILAR: A major vulnerability could allow criminals to remotely hijack and disable your car while you're driving it.
CNN's Rene Marsh reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight alarming vulnerabilities have been exposed in vehicles on the road right now. Two professional hackers armed with only laptops and an Internet connection remotely broke into the internal system of this 2004 Jeep Cherokee. They took control of the Jeep's locks. The steering. The speedometer. Even disable the brakes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Hold on one second. Hold on.
MARSH: Hackers tapped into the car's entertainment system through its cellular connection. From there they rewrite the car's code, giving them near complete control of the vehicle. Anything from windshield, wipers and radio to the engine and brakes.
CHRIS VALASEK, HACKER: We don't have to be in the car, we don't have to be connected. We don't even have to be in the same state.
MARSH: It's all the work of two researchers, who wanted to alert automakers today's high-tech interconnected vehicles need better protection. Wired.com senior reporter Andy Greenberg volunteered to be behind the wheel of the commandeered Jeep for their exclusive report.
ANDY GREENBERG, SENIOR WRITER, WIRED: It's an incredibly unnerving feeling to realize that this two-ton machine that you're used to being an extension of your body almost is completely out of your control.
MARSH: Last year the researchers looked at 11 makes of cars, all of them had some level of vulnerability, but the 2014 Jeep Cherokee and 2014 Infiniti 250 were rated the most susceptible.
VALASEK: We're not the bad guys. We're trying to point out flaws so you can get them fixed as opposed to keeping them to ourselves.
MARSH: An estimated 417,000 Chryslers, makers of Jeep, are vulnerable to attack. But Chrysler likely isn't the only automaker with the potential problem.
GREENBERG: I didn't even accelerate it. It worked again.
[17:55:04] MARSH: Lawmakers on Capitol Hill just introduced legislation that would protect drivers of all vehicles and their personal information.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: Drivers generate data if they visit a Starbucks or shop at a supermarket or go to a clothing store. People are opening a window to their lives simply in driving their cars.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARSH: Chrysler, the maker of Jeep, acknowledged the problem to CNN and explained it left an unused computer communication channel open that unknowingly allowed outside access to the car's controls. Chrysler is now offering a software upgrade that it says consumers should install at their earliest convenience but this vulnerability could be much broader. The researchers as we know they only tested one vehicle so there are many other makes out there.
KEILAR: So many questions.
MARSH: Yes.
KEILAR: Great report, Rene. Thank so much.
Coming up, growing terrorist chatter on social media ahead of President Obama's trip to Kenya. And Donald Trump talks to CNN's Anderson Cooper about the latest campaign controversies he's ignited.
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