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@THISHOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Fifth Westerner Beheaded by ISIS; Pope to Visit U.S.; More Cold Weather Coming; Another Norovirus Outbreak on Cruise; DEA Raids NFL Locker Rooms; New Video and Audio Show Officer Darren Wilson

Aired November 17, 2014 - 11:00   ET

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


MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Another brutal beheading at the hands of ISIS terrorists. A U.S. aid worker is the fifth Western hostage and third American slaughtered by ISIS. Is ISIS actually feeling the pain from those U.S. air strikes?

DEA agents launching surprise inspections of NFL locker rooms following the Sunday games. I'm going to tell you what they were after and what tipped them off.

Yeah. That's Bill Cosby back on stage over the weekend, his first appearance since rape allegations resurfaced. One thing he's not doing -- talking about those accusations.

Hi there. I'm Michaela Pereira. John Berman is off. We have those stories and much more for you, ahead @THISHOUR.

And we start, unfortunately, with an act of pure evil. That's what President Obama is calling the beheading of U.S. hostage Peter Kassig by ISIS terrorists. The inhumanity and brutality on this video posted by ISIS are too much to take, frankly. It shows Kassig's head, the feet of a man seen in previous videos who's become known as "Jihadi John."

Peter Kassig is now the fifth Westerner to be brutally killed by the terrorist group. This video, however, is different. It shows only the aftermath, the grim aftermath of Kassig's beheading.

For the first time, the speaker identifies where he is standing with the victim. The video also shows beheadings of other men.

Now the timing is crucial here. It comes as U.S. officials are suggesting they could send more ground troops to Iraq. In this latest video, the narrator taunts President Obama to do just that.

We want to turn to our senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns @THISHOUR.

Joe, I hate that we have to talk about this again. It's becoming far too familiar of a thing we're seeing. We know that there is significance in the fact that this video was posted while the top U.S. general, Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey, was in Iraq.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think that's true. The first thing, though, I think you have to say is it's not clear at all when the video was actually recorded. Just no way to tell when it was actually recorded. No way to tell when Peter Kassig was executed.

But what we do know is when the video was released. It was released over the weekend at a time when the chairman of the joint chiefs happened to be in the region there in Iraq.

So drawing a connection is very difficult but you can say looking at the timeline there is at least that kind of a connection in and of itself Michaela.

PEREIRA: Joe, talk to me more about -- we're getting news that the French interior minister has named a French national as having played a part in this latest ISIS video. What more do we know about this individual?

JOHNS: Well, their word is "participated," that he participated in all this. His name -- the French national's name is Maxime Hauchard. He's from the Normandy area and apparently went to Syria in 2013.

So it's not clear what participation they're talking to, but they do say they've analyzed the video, and their word is they've established with a very high probability that Maxime Hauchard was involved.

PEREIRA: What are you hearing from your sources, Joe, about efforts to find Kassig. We know that the other hostages, there had been efforts to find them, to negotiate for their release. What do you know about this young man?

JOHNS: We don't get a lot of information -- we didn't, I should say -- get a lot of information about it, other than the fact that the United States was looking for him. We know also obviously that he was a United States Army Ranger. There's certainly that concern about leaving one of your own behind.

He had gone on to become an aid worker there in Syria, but it was pretty clear that the United States had placed a high value on trying to locate him and trying to get any intelligence they could about him, clearly too late.

PEREIRA: We talk about that in such a matter of fact way, which we need to, obviously, but we must pause and recognize this is a young man cut down in the prime of his life doing good works for the world, his family obviously devastated.

It's difficult not to look at these images and remember that, the way they want him to be remembered, not the way they want him today.

Joe Johns, thank you so much for that.

So we know sadly these ISIS terrorists will stop at nothing to advance their brutal and radical agenda but are they being weakened at all by these coalition air strikes in Iraq and Syria?

We are getting some new video, this new video, strikes slamming the town of Kobani that's there on the Syrian-Turkish border. ISIS fighters have been trying to take control of Kobani for months. Some analysts say ISIS could be getting desperate and that perhaps the new beheading video is a sign of that. I wonder.

Let's talk about all of this with CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank. Also with us Peter Brookes. We jumped the gun there a little bit. Peter Brookes is here. He's a senior fellow of national security affairs at the Heritage Foundation.

Gentlemen, really, I hate saying it's a delight to have you here because I hate that we're having to talk about this again and again, another young life taken by the hands of this brutal, brutal enemy.

It's interesting, Paul, that statement that I just made there that some are seeing this as a sign of is' desperation. Is that the way this is being viewed?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I'm not so sure it's a sign of desperation, after all they were releasing these beheading videos back in August when they were definitely very strong.

I'm not sure these U.S. and coalition air strikes have weakened the group substantially. They have stalled their momentum. They've limited their freedom of movement, but this is still a very strong group.

They control much of Anbar Province. They control Mosul. They control huge tracks of Syria as well. This is a very defiant message that ISIS is putting out in this video.

PEREIRA: Defiant, well-organized, passionate, they seem to have endless resources, and endless resources in manpower as well.

Peter, do you feel they're feeling the pressure or the effect of these air strikes at all?

PETER BROOKES, SENIOR FELLOW, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: It's a very mixed picture, Michaela.

There were some successes in recent times. Now we had a strike that may have injured al-Baghdadi, the leader. Some of their other leaders were taken out in air strikes. The Iraqi army was actually able to take down the refining town of Baiji, so -- and, of course, Kobani is not a victory for them.

This has -- this is a town that's had a stalemate, so that doesn't look good for them. So it's very much a mixed picture. There's still a lot of work to do and we need to keep up the pressure and I think personally to increase the pressure on this group.

PEREIRA: Increasing the pressure. Does that mean to you, Paul, more ground forces? Is that the answer here?

I think there are people among us that will say when you take another one of our citizens in such brutal fashion we should go after the heart of that beast.

But, again, this is not what the president -- he wants to take this brutal beast out but the idea of sending more of our men and women into harm's way, that's not something he's savoring.

CRUICKSHANK: And the United States have said it's going to take more than a year to train the Iraqi army to go into Mosul to try and reclaim Mosul from ISIS

And it's worth recalling, back in 2007 at the hide of the surge when you had 170,000 U.S. combat troops in Iraq, it took them months and months and months to break the back of al Qaeda in Iraq, essentially the same group as ISIS.

Well, there are no combat troops there now and ISIS is stronger than al Qaeda in Iraq was then. It has more manpower and recruits and money.

PEREIRA: And we know they're teaming up with al Nusra. Final thought to you, Peter. This is a long haul.

BROOKES: I think so. But, of course, it will depend on our level of effort. The president, I think, should keep all options on the table because that's what he's going need, because no plan survives contact with the enemy.

This is a very dynamic situation, them teaming up, ISIS and al Nusra teaming is certainly bad news. And we're going to have to see what tomorrow comes.

We need to get more spine out of the Iraqi army and of course arm the Peshmerga, the Kurdish Peshmerga, to take this on.

And then we need a plan for Syria. I'm not sure we have a plan for Syria, which is ISIS's safe haven.

PEREIRA: Yeah. You've made that assertion before, that it's a very different proposition when we look at Syria.

Peter Brookes, Paul Cruickshank, I appreciate you joining me today. Thank you so much.

I want to give you a few other headlines @THISHOUR. The Vatican announcing that Pope Francis will make his first trip to the U.S. as the leader of the Catholic Church next September. The pontiff is coming to the World Meetings for the Families in Philadelphia, not surprising considering that he's particularly concerned about challenges facing the modern family.

We're told the pope will also hold a large, public mass in Philadelphia, September 27th. Mark your calendars. Francis is the fourth reigning pope to visit the United States.

Sorry to be the one to tell you, but look for a repeat of last week's early winter blast that covered most of the country. We won't see as much snow as last time around, but meteorologists say frigid temperatures will return once again this week.

The National Weather Service says areas from Texas to the northeast could brace for cold, and you should brace for cold. Meanwhile, the Southeast will see temperatures 25 to 30 degrees below normal. And single digits could hit as far south as Mississippi. That to me sounds like everywhere but the Pacific Northwest and California are going to get cold weather.

An outbreak of norovirus has cut yet another cruise short, this time aboard a month-long Princess Cruise to Hawaii and Tahiti. One-hundred- seventy-two people on board the Crown Princess came down with this nasty stomach illness.

As you know, norovirus causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, all sorts of other icky symptoms. You also might recall there was a similar outbreak on that very ship back in April.

Now, we know norovirus is highly contagious so the ship is docked, we're told, in Los Angeles and is being thoroughly disinfected.

And a terribly sad update for you. A doctor who arrived in America in very critical condition suffering from Ebola, he has died now. Dr. Martin Salia from Sierra Leone had been working in that part of Western Africa where the outbreak began.

He was transported to the U.S. and treated at the specially equipped Nebraska medical center where we know two other patients recovered from the virus.

His doctors say Salia was given every possibly treatment, including dialysis and plasma from survivors. However, they were unable to save him.

Ahead here, are NFL teams dishing out painkillers illegally to keep players in the game? That's the question DEA agents are trying to find out.

We'll explore that story ahead for you.

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PEREIRA: The DEA has added something new to its playbook, random inspections of NFL teams, looking for illegal prescription drug use. Agents questioned doctors and trainers from several teams, among them San Francisco 49ers after yesterday's game with the New York Giants.

Hundreds of retired players have joined in a lawsuit alleging that teams dish out painkillers like candy just to keep players in the game. They claim that these drugs are handed out without prescriptions or labels, often by trainers and not by doctors.

Former NFL player J.D. Hill told CNN "NEWSROOM" those drugs are readily available.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. HILL, FORMER NFL PLAYER: We would get injured and we would get painkillers from doctors, we'd get painkillers from the trainers, you would just go in and say you have -- you're in pain or there's an injury that you had sustained and so they would give you painkillers, not even telling you the side effects or what it was, there was no prescription that was given to you and so being an athlete, trusting the trainers, trusting the doctors, they recommended something and we would take it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Our Justice Reporter Evan Perez joins us from Washington. Boy, makes you wonder, Evan, when you hear the reports of the DEA agents swooping in and doing a spot check, if you will, of these locker rooms it makes you wonder what the future is for the NFL. Are they going to be subjected to these random checks by the DEA?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Michaela, I'm sure this got everyone's attention yesterday. In addition to the checks for the 49ers, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers also had a visit from the DEA and also the Seattle Seahawks after their games. And it's interesting because, obviously, what they were looking for is any indication that there were prescription drugs that are being improperly handled by trainers. As you mentioned, doctors or nurse practitioners are legally allowed to do this, not trainers. And so if the NFL wasn't aware of this yet, they certainly got their attention yesterday.

PEREIRA: And all of this came about because of this lawsuit, right? The 1, 300 former players. So what is the end game here? They want to put a stop to this, obviously.

PEREZ: Well, yes. I mean there's this lawsuit by, I believe, 1, 300 players who played from 1969 to 2008 in the NFL and they allege a whole raft of things, including that in the locker room there would be these bowls of painkillers that would be doled out for anybody who can take them. That you'd have trainers giving out uppers for players in the morning so they can go out and practice and play, and downers so they can sleep. So this is what's gotten the DEA's attention and this is why they're investigating.

PEREIRA: And I'm just thinking about what happens when these guys then stop playing. When they retire. You've potentially got these guys addicted, because we know how highly addictive some of these prescription drugs are.

PEREZ: That's the big concern. That's a very big concern right now because, you know, these players years later are hooked on these drugs and that's one of the things they're asking for in this lawsuit is that the NFL set up a trust fund so they can have medical care and, frankly, treatment for some of these players, some of whom don't have the money anymore to be able to pay for this and medical care so they can take care of all their pain and suffering that they've had, so we'll see where this goes. The NFL has also got the D.A. to contend with for the next few months, at least.

PEREIRA: Another bit of controversy for the NFL, somewhat beleaguered these days. There's been a lot of headlines about that league. Evan Perez, thanks so much for that, we appreciate it. We'll keep watching that story. Coming up after the break, police video shows Officer Darren Wilson shortly after shooting and killing Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. We're going to take a closer look at this, as well as listen to radio communication from the police of that fatal incident.

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PEREIRA: Residents of Ferguson, Missouri remain tense ahead of the anticipated grand jury decision regarding Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown back in August.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEMONSTRATORS: We shut it down. We shut it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Demonstrators took to the streets Sunday marking the 100th day since Brown's death. You can tell cold, wet, miserable weather didn't stop them from taking part in this "die-in," as they called it, lying down in the street.

Now also new over the weekend, new video released from "The St. Louis Post-Dispatch" shows Officer Wilson in a T-shirt shortly after the shooting as he leaves the police station for the hospital. The police radio communications immediately before and after the shooting were also released. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're taking a stealing in progress from 9101 West Florissant, 9101 West Florissant. Subject may be leaving the business at this time. Stand by for further -

OFFICER DARREN WILSON, FERGUSON MISSOURI POLICE DEPARTMENT: 21. Put me on Canfield, with two. And send me another car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get us several more units over here. There's going to be a problem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are there any available Ferguson Units who can respond to Canfield and Copper Creek? Advise.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Earlier this morning on CNN's "NEW DAY," the attorney for the Brown family said the audio shows that Officer Wilson never identified Brown as a suspect in the convenience store theft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL BROWN'S FAMILY: Clearly, as demonstrated from the audio, that the initial encounter between the police officer and Michael Brown, Jr. had nothing to do with the incident that happened at the convenience store. And when you listen to the remainder of it, you -- there's nothing to establish that any interaction he had between Michael Brown, Jr. related back to the incident at the convenience store.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PEREIRA: Again, that's Attorney Benjamin Crump. CNN Legal Analyst Paul Callan joins us, also our Stephanie Elam joins us now from Ferguson. And Steph, I really want to begin with you. Obviously some key developments over the weekend, including the demonstration we saw. Give me and give us, our viewers, a sense of what the mood is like on the ground in Ferguson now.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Michaela, definitely everyone is waiting to hear what's going to come out of the grand jury. Whether or not Officer Wilson will be indicted. But for everyday folks here, for people who may not know either party involved, Mike Brown or Officer Wilson, the concern here is not so much on whether or not he's indicted, but the response that comes after it, whether or not there will be the violence that we saw in August in those first few days after Mike Brown was killed, where we saw buildings looted, businesses looted, we saw damage, and a lot of those buildings now, when you go by there, they are boarding up and just writing in fluorescent letters that they're open but they just want to be prepared in case this ruling comes down and it's not what people think. And there's a lot of people here that don't believe that Officer Wilson will be indicted.

PEREIRA: You've obviously been talking to a lot of people and families, they're concerned about their children. What is the primary thing that they're saying to you as parents and residents of that community?

ELAM: It's really wide ranging, Michaela. I've had so many people willing to talk to me on the phone, but afraid to get in front of a camera because they simply think that there's going to be blowback. They're afraid that protesters are going to come after them. Some people saying that they're not worried, but they're concerned about what's going to happen. They want to make sure that the schools stay open because in August, the schools did close down for a week after Mike Brown was killed. They want to make sure that their children are safe, making sure that they're able to get them to and from school is also a huge concern here. Where other people are just saying that they are very concerned about the small businesses that are up and down these streets and whether or not they'll be able to conduct business and the safety of their own family and they're just buying up groceries and planning to stay in their house until any potential unrest is over, Michaela.

PEREIRA: They're caught up in the middle of it. Steph Elam, thank you so much. Paul Callan here in studio with us. I want to kind of go back to what we were letting our viewers listen to and watch, the police radio communications, that video of Officer Wilson after the shooting. As an attorney, tell me what you see through your attorney eyes.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, It's a fascinating look, now, in real-time and hearing the real voices involved in the incident, we're starting to see. But bear in mind, we're dealing with scraps of information here and we're trying to stitch together what really happened that night. And I think what Officer Wilson's attorneys would ultimately argue is that Wilson had arrived on this sick baby call at noontime, and he was in on that call. As he was going into the building, in the background, the call was coming out about a stealing in progress, which was the convenience store robbery that involved Michael Brown and possibly -- Dorian Johnson was there, but he was never charged with it. He then comes back out to the car, Wilson, gets in and he sees Michael Brown and Johnson walking in the middle of the street. He pulls up to them and says, according to Johnson, "Get the F on the sidewalk," and then that would seemingly be the end of the incident and he starts to drive on his way. He suddenly stops, though, this is Wilson, and backs up quickly. And now, the second encounter is when everything happens.

PEREIRA: Is it significant to you what we heard Benjamin Crump say, the attorney for the family, saying that Wilson did not I.D. Michael Brown as a suspect in the convenience store robbery? Significant to you?

CALLAN: No, I disagree with his analysis on that because he suggests that he never identified him. I think in the second encounter he did. I think the first encounter he just sort of thought these were two kids in the street, but I think as he pulled away, as we often do sometimes, something clicked and he said, wow, he had cigars in his hand, the description had swisher cigars in the suspect's hand, and he was dressed in a certain way. So I think he did know that he was confronting a potential person who was wanted.

PEREIRA: And are these things -- and many things that we don't have access to, that the grand jury is considering now, in terms of whether they're going to indict or not?

CALLAN: Well, they are. And I think it's a big mistake for us to second guess whatever they're going do. And I say this about the street demonstrators, as well, because nobody knows how much information has gone into that grand jury. They've been sitting for a long time. It's a secret proceeding. Now, there have been some leaks, but lots of witnesses we don't know about.

PEREIRA: Well again, their deadline is January 7, we're told it could come down imminently. We don't know. You'll be part of this conversation in our coverage when it does come down. Stephanie Elam, Paul Callan, our thanks to you.

Ahead @THISHOUR, decades-old sexual assault allegations resurfacing against Bill Cosby. The comedian, for his part, refusing to comment. But the question is, will his silence cost him?

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