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THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

CENTCOM's Twitter and YouTube Accounts Hacked; Obama Absent From Paris Unity Rally; Terror Hunt

Aired January 12, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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


JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: New details on the twisted terrorists and how their vile plans became reality.

I'm Jake Tapper. I'm in Paris. And this is THE LEAD.

The world lead. He slaughtered a police officer, and then he held up a kosher supermarket so he could kill Jews. And then he committed suicide by cop. But she may have been the more radical one. New details on how Hayat Boumeddiene may have turned a petty criminal into a terrorist.

Plus, police looking for her virtually everywhere. They started in France, but now intel officials say she wasn't even in the country during last week's terrorist attacks. Now is this jihadi femme fatale somewhere that police can't go?

The national lead. The U.S. military branch coordinating the war against ISIS, CENTCOM, watching their Twitter feed get taken over, hackers posting ISIS propaganda and what looks like Pentagon documents. And then they threatened American soldiers.

Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper live in Paris, France, on the Champs Elysees.

We begin today with breaking news in our world lead. France still under its highest alert level Monday and now news that last week's terror may, may have only been the beginning. According to the Associated Press, two French police officials telling the AP that as many as six more terrorist cell members are on the loose, this after, over the weekend, when French authorities told CNN that a terror cell in France had been activated.

Today, as citizens here in Paris are trying to get back to normal or at least the new normal, going back to school and work, there are painful reminders of Friday's siege, families burying their loved ones, Jewish victims killed by Amedy Coulibaly.

Investigators are looking into a video of Coulibaly pledging his allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS. Today, U.S. intelligence say they are reviewing the video, but have no reason to doubt its authenticity. Administration officials also admit Coulibaly had been in the terrorist database for awhile. That's a quote.

But as police and analysts piece together how and why Coulibaly killed five people, it's becoming clearer and clearer that his girlfriend may have spurred his conversion from small-bit criminal to deadly jihadi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER (voice-over): CNN has learned new details about the lethal romance of the terrorist couple at the center of the conspiracy whose savagery has stunned the world. It turns out Hayat Boumeddiene, believed now to be on the run in Syria, was the more radical of the two, according to Georges Sauveur, who was the attorney for her boyfriend.

That man, terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, was killed at a kosher supermarket in Paris after he slaughtered four innocent Jewish men.

(on camera): It was here where Amedy Coulibaly began his evil rampage, murdering in cold blood a local rookie policewoman, Clarissa Jean-Philippe, perhaps not coincidentally, just around the corner, just steps away from a local Jewish school.

(voice-over): Today, that school was guarded by armed police. More than 18,000 French police and military troops have fanned out across the country to protect vulnerable targets, including hundreds of synagogues and Jewish schools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a crazy situation.

The president of the Jewish school told us he thinks Coulibaly intended to attack the school before he murdered the police officer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was killed, you know, in the corner, you know, not 200 meters, you know, from the school.

TAPPER (on camera): Do you think that the school was the target?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TAPPER: Do you know that or you think it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I think.

TAPPER (voice-over): We didn't talk for long. He had to run off to attend a funeral for one of the Jewish hostages killed by Coulibaly here at the kosher grocery store.

(on camera): We are being kept away from the crime scene by police barricades, policemen and by police tape, but even from this distance, you can see just how devastating the French special forces' assault on the terrorist was here at the supermarket, the kosher supermarket Hyper Cacher. The walls and windows are riddled with bullets, one window completely taken out.

(voice-over): A photograph published for the first time today shows the horror that took place inside, this group of hostages, including a mother and her infant daughter, hiding for hours from the terrorists inside a freezer.

(on camera): They were worried that the child would not survive the hours in this freezer, but, somehow, they managed to communicate that to police, who turned off the electricity, possibly in that action saving the baby's life.

(voice-over): Visitors here today prayed and lit candles for the dead. This mother, Jewish, like the four victims here, told us that France has changed.

(on camera): As a Jew in France, do you feel...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bad.

TAPPER: Well, tell me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel very bad, because we have children. We have to put our children in Jewish school because of our religion, but now we are afraid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And now we have more reporting on Coulibaly, having spoken to his former defense attorney earlier today.

He was labeled by his own mother as a juvenile delinquent. Coulibaly was something of a run-of-the-mill criminal, convicted of armed robbery five times and drug charges once, nothing related to terrorism. But then while in prison, Coulibaly met this man, Djamel Beghal.

He was an Algerian terrorist and his radical mentor, according to Coulibaly's lawyer. Beghal, seen here with Coulibaly, was serving 10 years for plotting to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris. And according to Georges Sauveur, the attorney, Beghal introduced Coulibaly to Cherif Kouachi, the other terrorist group -- from the other terrorist group.

Now, eight months ago, Coulibaly was released from prison and he went back into the arms of his even more radical girlfriend, according to the lawyer. Now, Coulibaly suggested that the arrests of the extremists -- I'm sorry. Coulibaly's lawyer suggested that the arrest of extremists in December may have sped up the timeline for attacks.

Now, in the chaos today, authorities initially thought that Hayat Boumeddiene may have escaped that Paris supermarket scene, she slipped through the hands of French forces with the mass of frightened hostages. That was the theory.

But now that doesn't seem to be the case. There seems to be mounting evidence that Boumeddiene was not even in the country.

CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto is just a few blocks away.

Jim, authorities obviously want to detain this woman. They want to get intelligence from her. Now there is new video showing where she might be headed. And it seemingly could shut down the possibility of apprehending her at all, right? JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, no

question.

The lingering question since these attacks began on Wednesday here at the "Charlie Hebdo" offices was, were there other accomplices involved that got away or other members of a terrorist cell that helped them and are still at large? We got that answer today. The French prime minister confirming it's highly likely there were accomplices. They are still searching for them.

Meanwhile, one accomplice that we know to be tied to the attacker at the kosher market escaped the country. And we have video proof of that today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO (voice-over): One of the Paris suspects caught on camera on the run. This is surveillance footage showing Hayat Boumeddiene, wife of the kosher shop attacker, Amedy Coulibaly, entering Turkey from Madrid just five days before the attacks. Accompanied by an unknown man, she hands her passport to an immigration officer and continues on her way. From telephone logs, Turkish authorities say she stayed in a hotel, then crossed into Syria January 8, one day before the siege.

Today, French authorities made clear she is not the only suspected accomplice still at large.

MANUEL VALLS, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): There was complicity and networks and maybe finance also. I don't really believe in the idea of a lone wolf.

SCIUTTO: Which terror group, if any, ordered these attacks remains a mystery. Kosher shop attacker Amedy Coulibaly pledges allegiance to ISIS in a video circulating on jihadi Web sites with a chilling warning for the West.

AMEDY COULIBALY, ATTACKER (through translator): You attack the caliph, you attack ISIS, we attack you.

SCIUTTO: However, U.S. officials believe at least one of the gunmen in the attack on "Charlie Hebdo," Said Kouachi, trained in Yemen with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, and may have met with one of the group's leaders, the radical American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, before he was assassinated in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.

Today, France remains on its highest alert level, with officials concerned that additional terror sleeper cells may have been activated.

JEAN-YVES LE DRIAN, FRENCH DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): The president of France asked the armed forces to help secure vulnerable areas of France due to the scale of the threats which exist for our country.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SCIUTTO: The initial connection between the attackers at "Charlie Hebdo" here behind me and that kosher market, it started as something very innocent, a group of young men who met on athletic fields to play soccer.

That group grew into something much more dangerous, a number of them being radicalized. A great deal of attention focused on that group. There are more members of it still at large today, Jake, and French police have their work cut out for them, capturing not just this cell, but some 5,000 other suspected terrorists in and around the country.

TAPPER: Jim Sciutto, thank you so much.

Let's bring in Alain Bauer. He's the chair of criminology at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts in Paris and a former adviser to French Prime Minister Michel Rocard.

Mr. Bauer, thanks so much for joining us.

Authorities think this woman, Boumeddiene, may be in Syria. Is that it? She gone forever? Is there any way to get her?

ALAIN BAUER, NATIONAL CONSERVATORY OF ARTS AND CRAFTS: There are various ways to get her. First, she may come back. Second, you may ask by various ways Syria to make her come back. Otherwise, you go and you try to catch her.

TAPPER: But in all practicality, it's a black hole right now in Syria and Iraq, especially that area that is controlled by ISIS or al-Nusra Front or other groups. It seems very likely even if -- you are talking about getting Syria to help bring her back. The United States does not have the greatest relationship with Syria.

I think France has a much better one, but still not a fantastic one. Can they really be counted on to extradite this woman?

BAUER: No, but it's always a way for Syrian power to try to make a gesture and say, look, we are fighting the same enemy and we are not the enemy you think, and the enemy which is real is not us. And maybe Russia, they say, by the way, try to give the accomplice, supposed accomplice. So you have various ways.

TAPPER: That's right. There's an accomplice, an apparent accomplice on that videotape with her.

Let's talk about accomplices, because the French police are now saying, at least according to the Associated Press, that there might be six other terror cells -- six other terrorists out there. French police told CNN over the weekend terror cells had been activated. The prime minister just told our own Christiane Amanpour that he does not think this was a lone wolf attack with just these four individuals.

What are you hearing from your sources in terms of how complex this plot might have been, how many other people may still be on the loose?

BAUER: No, in fact, French police is looking on the old Buttes- Chaumont cell from Farid Benyettou, the one where they met 10 years ago.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: This is a specific neighborhood that the Kouachi brothers were in.

BAUER: Nineteenth district of Paris.

TAPPER: Right.

BAUER: This is where everybody -- everything began.

And the imam at this time was Farid Benyettou, who was condemned and just get out from jail. So, they are looking on everybody else that was on the list at this time. There was like maybe 20 or 21 members.

TAPPER: When you say looking at them, what does that mean? They're arresting them, they're trying to find them, they're detaining them?

BAUER: No, they are checking on them. They are looking to see if they have got the good address, looking on any connections they may have during the last few months with cell phones, meetings, connection, e-mails, whatever they may find. They are looking on the files and try to make them speak. So, this is a huge net cleaning.

TAPPER: And what do you think? Do you think there are still terrorists out there that are part of this plot?

Obviously, there are people who wish countries ill in every country, but do you think people actively involved in this same plot that was inflicted upon the people of France last year -- I mean week -- is that still in flux?

BAUER: I think there may be some supporting members of this operation, but I don't think there's more active members.

But the real thing now is to find who is the real brain. We almost -- we are now almost sure that the boss was Coulibaly.

TAPPER: You really think that Coulibaly was the boss?

BAUER: Since we said two days ago, and that is now confirmed by Coulibaly's video himself.

And now we want to be sure that he's the real brain, and that there's not somebody else that was there 10 years or five years ago that may have synched the plot and let them do it.

TAPPER: Interesting.

Alain Bauer, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time.

In our national lead, Twitter and YouTube accounts for U.S. Central Command have been hacked, tweets sent out claiming to be from ISIS threatening American soldiers and detailed documents posted with contact information for certain members of the U.S. military. How is the United States government planning to respond to these threats?

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper reporting live from Paris.

In our national lead, the United States military hit by a cyberattack from apparent ISIS sympathizers. Defense officials shut down the Twitter account and YouTube channel for U.S. Central Command after strange messages began appearing online and the account's profile was changed.

CNN's Barbara Starr joins me now live from the Pentagon with all the latest -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jake, the claim is by those who are affiliated with is that they conducted the hacking attack, but that may be far from certain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): "ISIS is already here. We are in your PCs, in each military base," the hijacked central command account reads. "In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful, the cyber caliphate continues its cyber jihad," the posts continue. But is this group the cyber caliphate really is?

MARK RASCH, CYBER & PRIVATE EXPERT: It could have been anybody. It doesn't really matter that much that it was is. It does matter that a group calling itself ISIS is taking credit for it. The goal here is to cause fear and overreaction. We need to react appropriately to it but not overreact to it.

The fact that the Twitter feed from CentCom was hacked is not that significant. If the documents themselves were stolen from CentCom, that is significant.

STARR: The tweets threaten U.S. troops and their families, including posting the document with names and addresses of U.S. military officials and documents related to North Korea and China. American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back. We know everything about you, your wives, your children, the hackers warn.

The Pentagon says so far, it does not appear anything classified was posted and one U.S. military official said some of the information has already appeared online elsewhere.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can tell you this is something we are obviously looking into and something that we take seriously. However, just a note of caution to folks as they're covering this story, this is a pretty significant difference between what is a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account.

STARR: The FBI is assisting the military with the investigation of the hacking of both its Twitter and YouTube accounts. It's the latest in a string of online hacks by people claiming to be is. Last week, several local media organizations had their accounts hacked and similar threats were posted.

And all of this comes as ISIS in the wake of the Paris attacks is also finding itself targeted online. The hacker group Anonymous says it's targeting is.

RASCH: What's more concerning is not what they actually stole and posted, it's what they might have stolen and might be able to steal in the future. But this was a shot across the bow, basically saying we can steal things from you, take a look.

STARR: The attack on Central Command came just as the president took to the stage to push for greater cybersecurity. As the hackers were posting the threats, the White House was sending out a message from the president on its own Twitter account. "If we're going to be connected, then we need to be protected."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And there's a couple of lessons here, officials will tell you. First, this may not have been a hack into classified systems. Maybe it was just Twitter and YouTube but always that worry that hackers could get into the classified arena. And military commanders, again, always reminding the troops, be careful about their social media presence. All of us, be careful about what you do post online -- Jake.

TAPPER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you so much.

Coming up, this was the scene in Paris yesterday: leaders from around the world walking arm in arm in unity. Some critics asking, where was President Obama or Joe Biden or Mitch McConnell or John Boehner? The White House doing some damage control today. That's next.

Plus, they're condemning the terror attacks in Paris while punishing journalists for speaking out back home. The double standard, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper reporting live from Paris.

More than a million people and 40 world leaders marched in yesterday's unity rally in Paris. British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, all of them here.

Noticeably absent were President Obama or Vice President Joe Biden or Secretary of State John Kerry or Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and on and on.

In fact, the highest ranking U.S. official in France was Attorney General Eric Holder. Pretty good, but he was here for a terrorism summit that had already been scheduled and he did not attend the march. The U.S. ambassador was the only U.S. official.

Now, the White House spent much of today's press briefing answering questions about criticism that there should have been a higher ranking, higher profile U.S. official.

And CNN's senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta joins us live from the White House to talk about this.

Jim, what did the White House have to say?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, something amazing happened over here at the White House today. The White House admitted it made a mistake in not sending a higher level official than the U.S. ambassador to France, Jane Hartley, to that rally in Paris yesterday. But White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest would not say how that mistake was made or who made that mistake.

As you mentioned, there were ample officials who could have gone. Secretary of State John Kerry was in India.

The Attorney General Eric Holder was in Paris for meetings with French officials. He did a round of Sunday talk show appearances but did not attend the rally.

And then, you have to add that to the fact that the president and vice president were at their respective homes. The president was in Washington here at the White House, the vice president I should mention was at his home up in Wilmington, Delaware.

But here's how White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged the error on the part of the White House at today's White House briefing. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EARNEST: And some have asked whether or not the United States should have sent someone with a higher profile than the ambassador to France, and I think it's fair to say that we should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there. That said, there is no doubt that the American people and this administration stand four-square behind our allies in France.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, Josh Earnest went on to say that the security factors in planning a presidential trip within 36 hours' notice to Paris would have been a daunting challenge in that that was part of the reason for the White House decision.

But, Jake, I just talked to a Secret Service official within the last several minutes who said that the agency was never contacted or asked about a presidential trip last week, so if the White House was thinking through the security options of sending the president to Paris, they did not contact the Secret Service according to the Secret Service and according to a Secret Service spokesman who would speak on the record, Brian Leery. He said it would have been challenging given what they know about that rally but he did not say it would have been impossible.

So, theoretically, Jake, a trip could have been made. But we should also point out the White House said earlier today this was not a decision made by the president. This was made by other staffers. They just won't say who -- Jake.