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Three Police Officers Shot At Freedom Of Speech Panel; ISIS Making Gains Just Outside Baghdad; Blizzard Warnings From Maine To Long Island; Up to 50 Million Being Impacted By Winter Storm; ISIS Attacks Base Housing U.S. Troops

Aired February 14, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: OK, and so now what? Now what are your concerns? What -- how do you process what just took place? You were in this building, for this forum, talking about free speech, and you would hear 30 shots fired, three police officers would be injured there in Copenhagen, you know, Denmark, now how do you process what just took place?

How does this impact your livelihood as a satire researcher, your concerns about going about your business and protecting this freedom of speech that incorporates satirical information portrayals?

DENNIS MAYHOFF BRINK, SATIRE RESEARCHER (via telephone): It worries me a lot, I must say. It's so new right now that I hardly have the time to reflect about it or process it, really. But when you're lying on a floor and you hear shots and people yelling in a foreign language and you really fear for your life then it's really serious.

And then, of course, you are scared about it. And, of course, it makes me think about what I'm working with, whether it's the satire research and that it can be very dangerous. But I hope that the Danish intelligence and law enforcement will keep us safe because that's the only way forward, I believe.

I don't think it's very healthy for any democracy actually if we stop doing what we always have been doing. The thing is with this forum and also with my own research, of course, this is not in any way something that has an aim to provoke anybody. This is simply research and research should to be done and dialogue

should be possible, I believe. So, but, of course, it gives me second thoughts and I'll be more cautious in the future.

WHITFIELD: And so Dennis, you are Danish?

BRINK: Yes, I am.

WHITFIELD: OK, so how much -- has there been dialogue among Danes about your security, your thoughts about whether, you know, your country too is a very porous European nation and do you have worries about people who may be operating with networks or perhaps they are working as, you know, with their own agendas as lone wolves and are plotting or threatening terror in your nation? How much of a concern has that been for you and for fellow Danes? BRINK: Well, there's not been a lot of concern for me and for good reason I'm not the first one anybody wants to shoot, I think. Of course, there's been a lot of concern, particularly concern the drawers and those who participated in the famous or infamous cartoons from 2005 in the newspaper which started this whole cartoon crisis.

And so this is a very debated topic and it has been for years in Denmark and has always been federal attempts to attack the newspaper and also some of the cartoonists. So it's not unusual phenomenon at all. It's an ongoing debate in Denmark.

WHITFIELD: OK, Dennis Mayhoff Brink, thank you so much. Stick around if you can on the line because I want to bring in a couple of people in on our conversation you might also want to hear.

And for those of you who are just joining us, I just want to bring you up to date on what we're talking about and why. We're talking about a shooting taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark where suspects involved in the shooting incident there are now on the loose.

Law enforcement are looking for them. They were believed these alleged attackers to have fled in a Volkswagen-like vehicle after leaving this building. You're looking at the video this shot up window very small building as I heard from my guest there, Dennis, who said it once was a theater.

Today it became a place of a freedom of press, freedom of expression forum that was organized by a committee and the namesake Larsvilk who is a Swedish artist who is known to have depicted the Prophet Mohamed and got a lot heat around the nation for doing such.

But it was the Larsvilk Committee that sponsored this free speech event. You heard from Dennis there who said he heard about 30 gun shots fired. Three police officers were shot and injured. The French ambassador to Denmark was also there at the event and ended up tweeting that he survived the attack.

And you heard from Dennis there who also said that the French ambassador had just started talking about the "Charlie Hebdo" attack in Paris and talking about the security that needed to be imposed on the freedom of speech.

So now we're going to be joined by our Nic Robertson, senior international correspondent who is joining us live from London. Nic, Dennis remains on the phone with us. Perhaps you heard some of his story, talking about being in this setting, somewhere between 30 and 80 people in a small intimate freedom of speech discussion.

And then he heard 30 gun shots fired and people started hunkering down, hiding behind their chairs, the desks and then come find out three police officers were shot. What are your sources telling you about all that took place there in Denmark?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly this sort of target where you have a lot of people in one small space like this is very, very hard to -- very hard to control the security as compared to somewhere where you just have a few people.

So anyone like Lars who has a track record of threats against them, particularly specifically on the issue of drawing pictures of the Prophet Mohamed in this type of environment is going to be exposed. There are other cartoonists in Denmark that have been a targeted by these groups in the past.

We don't know exactly who has done the targeting this time. We know where threats have come from in the past. They have targeted other cartoonists before those cartoonists have increased their security. At least one of them I'm aware of.

I also talked just a few minutes ago with someone else, a Dane. He has sort of come to public attention because he was a jihadist turned spy after he says for the CIA. Now he's also been named and as a target by ISIS and I talked to him about this latest situation.

Of course, he's concerned, particularly following the "Charlie Hebdo" attack as well. Clearly, there is the narrative continues to exist within these radical elements who continue to want to target anyone who at any time has been associated withdrawing the Prophet Mohamed. This continues. This is the lead.

Behind that you have the very fact that Denmark per capita is a country that sends, doesn't send but young jihadists to go off from there to join Syria and Iraq and other countries per capita higher than any other country in Europe.

WHITFIELD: Really?

ROBERTSON: It's been a concern and is a concern for the Danish authorities. The Danish authorities have their own specific way of tackling this. This is an open arms policy unlike countries like Britain, who says if you come back we'll arrest you or take away your passports, removing your citizenship.

What the Danish have been doing is bringing them back and bringing them back into talk therapy sessions to try to re-integrate them and de-radicalize them.

Some of the people I talked to in the counter radicalization circles believe that this is something you have to be very cautious about as we saw with the two "Charlie Hebdo" gunmen.

They lay low for years pretending appeared on the surface not to be radical yet they were. That's a concern about all these radicals who are coming back to Denmark right now.

WHITFIELD: OK, that's the most alarming thing I've heard. That's very enlightening. Repeat that again for me to make sure I really understood you correctly. You're talking about the largest number per capita from Denmark of those who either somehow get sucked in or being radicalized, explain that one more time.

ROBERTSON: Sure, let's take the total population in Denmark. Per capita more young men going to join ISIS in Syria, Iraq, other countries, other radical groups than there are leaving any other European country per capita.

Let's remember Denmark is a small country, but we're talking about numbers of hundreds here. Denmark has had a very positive like so many of the Scandinavian countries and other European countries positive, open attitude to allowing integration of refugees into their communities.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

ROBERTSON: But what we're seeing is all these numbers going back.

WHITFIELD: OK, hold on, Nic, I want to bring in CNN counterterrorism analyst, Philip Mudd, as well into this conversation. So Phil, earlier we were talking about this and we're actually trying to explore the notion of how vulnerable has Denmark become in recent years and what is the track record of that.

And I think that explanation from Nic in large part perhaps really pinpoints that part of the discussion, which is if so many young men or people in general have been leaving Denmark and becoming radicalized to join ISIS, to join al Qaeda, then this is a very significant problem for Denmark.

And you talked about perhaps the counterterrorism efforts in Denmark may not be, you know, up to snuff compared to some other European nations or even compared to the U.S., why would that be given these kind of numbers?

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I'm not suggesting that the Danish Security Service isn't up to snuff. What I'm saying is over the course of time, especially in this age, this century of terror, the numbers of people you have to follow as a security service is unprecedented.

Denmark has had a history of violence. These cartoons were first published ten years ago in 2005. There was an attack on the Danish embassy in 2008. So the Danish Security Service has experience with this but as someone who served at both the CIA and FBI, it doesn't matter how much experience you have in these situations.

When you're dealing with the kinds of numbers that Nic was talking about, that is hundreds of people you can't mount enough security to follow that many individual targets simultaneously. You just can't.

WHITFIELD: OK, I wonder is Dennis Mayhoff Brink still with us? Are you still with us, Dennis?

BRINK: Yes, I am.

WHITFIELD: Great. You were there in attendance to this freedom of speech forum, hearing from my colleagues now also helping to paint a better picture for all of us to understand what Denmark has been up against.

So given the fact that Nic Robertson reporting that large numbers of young Danes have left to join groups such as ISIS or even al Qaeda, to be radicalized and that the Danish government has tried to reintegrate them into society.

Can you kind of express or explain what you have witnessed in Denmark as it pertains to that, if that has been frustration or if that's something that citizens have been very proud of their country to try to reintegrate, but sometimes it may not always be successful? What more can you share to that?

BRINK: Well, it's new to me that Denmark should be the country with the highest number. Actually I thought it was Belgium. It may be Denmark. I'm not certain about that. Of course, this has been a topic in Denmark, what we do with these people.

There have been some discussions about taking them to court for, I don't know the expression, treason towards the country, at least the direct translation from Danish. But the problem is that it's very difficult to prove that these people have participated in combats against Danish soldiers.

Because that's the point that you can prove that they have done that it's treason against the Danish state and you can put them in jail for that, of course. So it is -- it's not something that you invite them to a dialogue meeting, there's also, you also face a court case.

But the problem is that it's very difficult to find proof of that because the actions are taking place in a military zone and it's difficult to find the proof against them for that.

Everybody is concerned about the number of people that go from Denmark to participate in these fights. As far as I know, most of them are still there. So it's not that we have experienced that many coming back yet.

WHITFIELD: All right, very fascinating. Dennis Mayhoff Brink, thanks very much. Nic Robertson, if I can go back to you shortly before we take a break, so Denmark police again are not calling this a terror attack.

But I think you and Phil are also helping to underscore that either it is a coincidence, or you know there are some real common denominators as investigators try to look at what happened here and how it went about and, again, the alleged attackers are still on the loose.

ROBERTSON: And there was the attack that was attempted against one Danish cartoonist back in 2010. On that occasion the Swedish and Danish authorities worked together there tracking, I believe, it was four gunmen coming from Sweden, driving to Denmark and arresting them shortly before they reached their target.

But they had a car that had a large number of automatic weapons and what we're hearing about this attack, a lot of rounds fired, a lot of bullets fired in this particular attack. Although the police aren't talking about it in terms of terrorism, whoever had that weapon and went in there appears to have been intent on an act of terror.

We don't know the specific roots yet, but has to be perhaps for the authorities in Denmark, the first avenue for them -- for them to explore right now because this is clearly at the moment it appears the most likely rational at the moment from what we have now.

WHITFIELD: OK, and as we were talking, Nic, Denmark police confirming one person now is dead from that attack taking place earlier in Copenhagen. All right, thank you so much to everyone.

We'll continue our conversation as we get more information. Thank you, Nic, Phil and of course, our guest, Dennis Mayhoff Brink.

Straight ahead, Senator Bob Casey will be joining me to talk about the threat from ISIS, particularly the activity taking place in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, an update now on a story out of Denmark, a freedom of speech forum taking place earlier today, roughly between 30 and 80 people in attendance. In the midst of it a shooting takes place.

And three police officers are shot and wounded and now Copenhagen police are saying one person died in the attack at that freedom of speech panel. When we get more information on it we'll bring to it you.

And we're also watching a developing story out of Iraq. ISIS fighters have come within 9 miles now of U.S. troops that are stationed there seizing most of the town of Al-Baghdadi, just outside this massive Iraqi air base.

American helicopters were even being used to support Iraqi troops as they battle ISIS. Insurgents separately a key Sunni tribal leader is raising the alarm over ISIS advances. He says if Iraqi troops pull out of Anbar Province that province would quote, "Fall within hours."

Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania sits on the Foreign Relations Committee. He is joining us now. So Senator, lots of moving developments there in terms of ISIS, perhaps gaining ground that's one way of putting it there in Iraq. What are your concerns?

SEN. BOB CASEY (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, the concerns that I have and I'm sure shared by our national security officials have their origin in the failure -- the repeated failure of the Iraqi troops to take the fight on their own.

There have been some improvement, but it goes to show you the challenge we have in taking on ISIS. The most successful fighters to date in this effort have been the Kurdish forces, so-called Peshmerga.

But we have to continue to push the Iraqi forces to do the fighting and to do it effectively with our support, air support and other ways.

WHITFIELD: And I guess that's the big question then. To what extent does the U.S. support, because hasn't it been many years now, you know, up to today where so many, so many analysts, so many from the White House to Capitol Hill say the Iraqis are not able to stand on their own to fight the fight to protect their country, to really go up against ISIS. So if that's the case and everyone is in agreement of that, then what? I mean to what extent will the U.S. have to invest more to help support so that more cities are not taken control by ISIS?

CASEY: Well, I think we have to invest more in terms of training and helping. But I don't think there's any question in the long run the Iraqi forces and other forces in the region have to do the ground combat. It's their neighborhood.

If we continue to be willing as some want to do in Washington be willing to put ground troops on the ground we'll thereabout for a decade or more like we were in Iraq the last time. So it's very important that we insist that this coalition do the fighting. They have to do the fighting.

WHITFIELD: But, you know, you say it's their neighborhood, but isn't it still in the U.S.'s best interest and the interest of the coalition forces to make sure that Iraq is able to stand on its own two feet if it can't do so right now, if it's already exhibiting 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed just within the past 24 hours by ISIS.

If they can't do it on their own meaning Iraqi forces even if Kurdish troops are doing better than the Iraqi soldiers are doing, it's not too early to talk about another strategy, is it?

CASEY: Fredricka, I've always believed this is a multiyear strategy meaning that we've been at this six months now. There's a fair degree of success with regard to the air campaign and other efforts. But in the long run, the Iraqis have to take on this fight and I should say the real foundation of that is a functioning Iraqi government, a government national unity.

So whether you're Sunni or Shi'ite or otherwise, you feel a nationalistic commitment to protect your country and do this fighting so a lot has its roots in government failures as well as military failures. It will be a long battle.

But if we keep inserting ourselves and say we'll do the fighting to use an old expression while other people are holding our coats and letting us do the fighting we just can't do that. We can't sustain it. That's why this debate on authorization for military force is so important.

WHITFIELD: So these suicide bombers were right outside the Al-Assad Air Base, just over 300 U.S. military are based there. What are your concerns about how to protect them and how those military personnel should either be further engaged as attacks, you know, are taking place right outside -- right outside, you know, the installation?

CASEY: Well, obviously when ISIS fighters get that close it's of great concern. But, again, I think it goes back to the coordination between and among not just American forces on the ground and the Iraqis, but the coalition more broadly.

Fortunately in this latest engagement even though there's some territory gained it looks like in Al-Baghdadi -- the Iraqis were able to push them back. As this goes day-by-day, week by week we'll have these close encounters and we need a lot of coordination and a lot of determined efforts by both Iraqi and coalition forces.

WHITFIELD: Are you ever concerned that there would be -- would it ever be entertained that that air base would be evacuated?

CASEY: I don't know for sure. That would have to be a judgment made on the ground by our military intelligence folks. But this is going to be a long battle, but that doesn't mean every time there's a crisis or a potential, you know, people gain by ISIS that we're going to be sending in combat troops.

I think we've shown when we keep volunteering to do that and actually do it these other forces sit back and say well, the Americans will do the fighting, we can't do that again.

WHITFIELD: Real quickly before I let you go. If I can have you leave Iraq and now Denmark and now the French foreign minister is calling it an act of terror of what took place there in Copenhagen at a freedom of speech forum.

We understand now one confirmed death according to Denmark police, but still unclear whether Danish police are calling it an act of terror. The French foreign minister is calling it an act of terror. What's your initial gut reaction of what took place there?

CASEY: Well, I know as much as you do and what's been reported so I have any new insight beyond what's been reported. When you have an event which is billed as a free speech event and a gunman comes in and starts shooting and then leaves I don't think there's any question that I would suspect it's an act of terror.

And it's another reminder that one of the things that the terrorists try to do is not just to intimidate folks but to intimidate free expression, intimidate the free expression that we sometimes take for granted.

So, this is just another example of how we have to be prepared for these kinds of incidents. We may have to be prepared for them here at home, which is why Homeland Security is so important here.

WHITFIELD: Senator Bob Casey, thanks so much for joining us. And we'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, more now on this breaking story we're following out of Copenhagen, Denmark. A massive manhunt is now underway as police search for what's believed to be two men who carried out an attack at a freedom of speech forum.

They opened gunfire according to eyewitnesses in the end one person now, a Denmark police are confirming was killed and three police officers wounded. Investigators say that police officers lives do not appear to be in danger at this juncture. Meantime, the French foreign minister is calling this shooting a terror attack, an act of terror. And let me explain a little bit more on the sponsoring body of that freedom of speech forum.

It was the Lars Vilks Committee which sponsored it. Lars Vilks happens to be the Swedish cartoonist who also has a bit of history with depicting the Prophet Mohamed in a satire cartoon and upsetting a number of people in the Muslim community many years ago.

Back in 2007, Lars Vilks published that cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohamed with the body of a dog which is even more insulting because conservative Muslims view dogs to be unclean.

And Lars Vilks then received death threats from around the world and is even on an al Qaeda hit list. But he admitted the cartoon was meant to elicit a reaction and it did.

In 2007, he told CNN quote, "It should be possible to insult all religions in a democratic way. If you insult one religion then you should insult the other ones," end quote, that from Lars Vilks.

All right now to another big story that we're covering for you, a massive winter storm in the U.S. closing in on the northeast in particular, a blizzard warning taking effect tonight from Long Island to Maine.

And millions of people are in the path of this wicked weather once again, the region is bracing for hurricane force winds, white out conditions, and possible flooding from storm surge. Boston, a city with snow already piled higher than car roofs in some places is about to get hit with even more.

Joining me right now CNN's Ryan Young in Boston and Will Ripley in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, both right there being engulfed and enveloped by a whole lot of snow.

Ryan, you first, let's talk about the danger with the snow that piles up on the roof tops.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is a big concern here, along with that wind because power hasn't been knocked out just yet. What they are worried about is with that heavy wind coming power could be affected in this area.

But look at all the snow that we're talking about. You can see it's been piled up. This is more than six feet high in this area. Some of this has been sitting on roofs. In fact, as we look across the street, there are several roofs that we can see from around this area that have snow on them.

That's what officials are worried about. They want to make sure it gets knocked off. In some places they've actually had snow eight feet high on top of schools. In fact we talked to a mayor who said he had to shut the schools down in this area because he wanted to make sure all the kids on the inside were safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I said before, can I guarantee that a roof was going to collapse? We weren't willing to take that risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: So look, they have been making sure that they've been calling people to make sure some of these roofs have the snow knocked off. Now when you see a slant like that they are not worried about that because they've been designed for the snow to roll off.

But they are really talking about those awnings and those car ports. That's what they are worried about. But look, people have been shoveling out, talk about 10 to 12 more inches coming, you have to think about the roadways.

And everything that we've seen so far with the roadways, that's been OK, but when you think about safety especially when people are crossing the street, how do you see me if the snow drift is taller than I am.

That's some of the things they've been worried about with the kids, but there is also cabin fever setting in and that's something that the mayor talked to us about and the fact that everybody wants to get the kids back to school.

WHITFIELD: Right, and if kids want to be out there and they want to play in the snow, but even these kind of conditions there's so much snow it too like you described, Ryan, is kind of dangerous because it's not like they have a whole lot of, you know, areas of flat snow in which to play in and drivers can't see folks and it is potentially dangerous.

YOUNG: It's happening over and over again. That's the thing they are worried about. Not the first one, the second one, it's the fourth one that's coming.

WHITFIELD: Gosh, OK, thanks so much, Ryan. Let's check in with Will Ripley in Cape Ann, Massachusetts. What are they expecting? Particularly the storm surge is what they are most concerned about, right?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they absolutely are. In fact, we're standing on the beach. There's a lot of concern. Doesn't look like the beach right now. It's a big pile of snow, but there is a lot of concern about beach erosion as a result of all of the driving winds that are expected.

But another big problem that they are dealing with as I try to climb down this pile is where are they going put this snow? In fact, if we pan over here, I'm going to show you what they are doing here. This is the beach parking lot.

We've seen a steady stream of trucks like this. The back of that truck was piled high with snow a few minutes ago. These trucks keep coming in. They dump these huge piles and then drive out and go around town and collect more snow.

But the problem is a park about a mile down that way is already filled up, full up higher than this. This is the beach parking lot. It's almost full. They are wondering where they will put it, Fred.

The EPA has given towns permission to dump some of this snow in the ocean, but the problem is a lot of it is dirty. It's contaminated. There's salt and chemicals from the road and so they can't dump this snow.

They have to dump virgin snow, which they are going to get plenty of in the coming hours as this storm approaches -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's quite the undertaking. Will Ripley, thank you so much. You say it doesn't look like the beach. It does. Looks like a lot of sand, but it's dirty snow. Thank you so much, Will Ripley and Ryan Young also in Boston. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, we're following a developing story out of Iraq, ISIS fighter have come within nine miles of U.S. troops stationed at a major Iraqi base.

Separately a key Sunni tribal leader is raising the alarm over ISIS advances. He says that if Iraqi troops pull out Anbar Province will fall within hours. This comes as President Obama is asking for war powers to fight ISIS.

Joining me right now is Christopher Hill, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq. He is joining us from Denver today and in Washington, D.C., CNN global affairs analyst and "Daily Beast" contributor, Kimberly Dozier. All right, good to see both of you.

So Kim, you first, so what are these war powers going to do any differently than what the president or what the Department of Defense has allowed U.S. military to engage in already with Syria and Iraq?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, right now the U.S. is operating under two of what's called an authorization of use of military force. They are laws that allow the U.S. one was passed after the attacks of 9/11 that allows U.S. forces to go after al Qaeda.

And then the other one was passed in 2002 to allow U.S. forces to go after enemy forces inside Iraq. The problem with using the AUMF from 9/11 is that if you try to use it against ISIS, ISIS or the so-called Islamic State group and al Qaeda are at odds. They are at war with each other.

So Pentagon lawyers have been scratching their heads trying to figure out, OK, how legally can we send special operations forces in to attack them? That's why every single time there's a major operation like a hostage rescue the president has to sign off.

This new AUMF would make that basically unnecessary and it would take the gloves off and allow special operations forces to do these targeted raids or do targeted intelligence missions inside Syria.

At this point, they are basically relying on proxies like the Kurds and talking to them through cell phones to coordinate some of these missions. This would expand their powers.

But the Obama administration wants to put a three year limit interest so that this can't be used by the next administration without going back to Congress to extend it.

WHITFIELD: So, Ambassador Hill, how do you see this use of these expanded powers, necessary and vital?

CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Well, I don't see them as necessary or vital. Obviously, we've been carrying on all kinds of operations in the last year. But I think it is necessary to update authorities that were created back in 2002 in very different circumstances.

I think it's also important to get Congress's, the current Congress thoughts on this current war. I think the president is also putting down a marker, which is he is not going to be pushed along to have, you know, U.S. combat formations on the ground and I think that specifically in there to be ruled out.

So, I think it's an effort, really to try to get the U.S. and to get the administration and the Congress together on this, but obviously he's going to have a tough fight in Washington, meanwhile there's obviously a tough fight on the ground and I think that's specifically in there to be ruled out.

So I think it's an effort really to try to get the U.S. and -- to get the administration and the Congress together on this, but obviously, it's going to have a tough fight in Washington and meanwhile, there is obviously a tough fight on the ground specifically in Anbar today.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ambassador Chris Hill and Kimberly Dozier, thank you so much. We'll be right back with so much more news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: More details now coming out of Denmark, Copenhagen where a shooting tack place. A massive manhunt now is under way as police search for two men believed to have carried out the attack. One person was killed and three police officers wounded. Investigators say the police officers' lives are not in danger. It's

being called by the French foreign minister an act of terror after this freedom of expression forum called art blasphemy and freedom of expression taking place there when these alleged gunmen walked in. Somewhere between 30 and 80 people meeting and opened fire. We'll have much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, what happens when you pit CNN anchors against each other and test their knowledge on American president? Well, guess what, you get one very intense quiz show. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": If you want smack talk you go to Chris Cuomo.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Some people believe they will define themselves by how many questions they can answer.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "THE LEAD": You're going down.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": My sense is the other teams will cancel themselves out with the hubris.

TAPPER: He went to Harvard where like every president went. That's a problem.

BERMAN: Dead weight, Jake.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, "OUTFRONT": Dead weight, Jake. Then there's Cuomo. There's the testosterone overload.

CAMEROTA: You guys are going down so hard.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: No. Guess what? We are going to win. What are you talking about?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, good luck. Tune in to see who won the CNN Quiz Show this Monday night, President's Day, by the way, 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

All right, checking our top stories, an Argentina prosecutor says he has enough evidence to continue an investigation into whether the president hid Iran's alleged role in a deadly 1994 bombing.

The probe was postponed after another prosecutor was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot wound to his head the day before he was to testify about the allegations.

Oregon's four-term governor has resigned as a criminal investigation continues involving his fiancee and her consulting work. The governor acknowledged he had become a liability to his state, but asserted his innocence of any wrongdoing. Oregon's secretary of state assumes the governor's office next Wednesday when the resignation takes effect.

At the NBA All-Star Weekend, Team USA fell 121 to 112 losing to the world team in Friday night's Rising Stars Challenge at Barclay Center. The Canadian who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves was named MVP. The challenge is the opening game of all-star weekend which pits U.S. players against players from around the world.

Now it is time for this week's Open Court Report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): After reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open last month, Madison Keys has announced herself as a rising star in American tennis. Her win over Venus Williams in the quarterfinals was made even more special because it was the Williams sister who provided the spark for her own interest in the sport.

MADISON KEYS, 20TH RANKED PLAYER: When I was 4 I turned on Wimbledon and Venus was playing and she had a sun dress. I cannot tell you what it looked like. I liked it. I decided I wanted a tennis dress.

So my parents told me if I played tennis they would buy me a tennis outfit. So 16 years later here I am still playing tennis and playing against the very person who is wearing that outfit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She lost to Serena in the semifinals, but the 19- year-old didn't let that dampen her mood.

KEYS: I definitely remember packing for trip and things like that. Just thinking, I hope this is a great tournament. I hope this goes really well. I have a good feeling about it. It ended up a lot better than I could have ever imagined.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keys ranked 20th in the world and looking forward to continuing her upward trajectory.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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