Return to Transcripts main page
CNN NEWSROOM
Boko Haram Allegedly Pledges Loyalty to ISIS; Clinton Private Email Account Stirs New Criticism; 50th Anniversary Of "Bloody Sunday" In Selma; One-Year Anniversary Of Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight
Aired March 7, 2015 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York, 7:00 Eastern.
And we begin with breaking news from the war on terror. One brutal murderous extremist group swearing loyalty to another. Boko Haram, based in Nigeria, and ISIS rampaging across Syria and Iraq, the two groups that trade on fear and cruelty in the name of faith, are apparently joining forces.
Let's go straight to London.
Our senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir joins me now. Also with me here in New York, Buck Sexton, former CIA counterterrorism official, and also retired Lieutenant General James Reese. He joins us from Baghdad today.
Nima, let me begin with you. What is the headline here?
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The headline is if this becomes what we think it is, a pledge of allegiance, the voice in the audio message claiming to be the head of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, this now means that they have an arch of allegiance that stretches from one coast of Africa to the other, and given how much propaganda, the world of propaganda has played in terms of those, the two aspects that really had been ISIS's lifeblood, foreign recruitment and foreign donations, this will only serve -- play into that mythology that ISIS is trying to create, that it has achieved a penetration that no one has had before in terms of an international scope.
HARLOW: When you look at what ISIS gets from Boko Haram, what would you say it is other than the fact that it is more support, right, in this named terror joining them, what do they get strategically, Nima?
ELBAGIR: Boko Haram does have a very high visibility, so the propaganda game is pretty substantial. Strategically, it gives them a foothold in territory. They have been solidly al Qaeda for a while, because you had al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb operating in Algeria and Morocco, and ISIS has been eroding at that support based for a while, with pledges of allegiance in Algeria and some groups seeking to align themselves but not yet quite announcing full allegiance. Now, with Nigeria pushing that clear through from the north of Africa
into west Africa, and you're looking potential at Niger where there has been a little bit of an Islamist foothold there, you're looking also into Cameroon where Boko Haram has had a loss of successes in their incursions. So, for ISIS, it really gives them more of a territorial reach than any other extremist group has managed to have in the past.
HARLOW: Buck Sexton, former CIA, when you look at the war against terror, how significant is this?
BUCK SEXTON, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: It's significant because it's a level of expansion that ISIS really wants. There has been this policy of containment for the Islamic State. That's what the Obama administration, the coalition has been trying to do and it revolves around the geography. Essentially, Iraq and Syria, we'll try to hem them in and push on further in the future.
But when you have other affiliates in Libya and the swearing of loyalty, that gets around essentially that coordinate and creates multiple levels of Islamic State jihad outside of this one theater. For Boko Haram, this is a very clear progression. They've gone from being an internal Nigerian threat, to being a regional threat, attacking Chad, Cameroon and elsewhere. And now, they're trying to step their foot clearly into the global jihadist realm.
HARLOW: So, Colonel Reese, we know coalition forces have been carrying out air strike against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Does this mean that the coalition will now start striking Boko Haram in Africa?
LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RET), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Poppy, it's possible. I mean, one of the aspects is you have the French, a lot of experience down there, especially in Mali. They're part of the coalition. So, they can definitely get involved.
But again, we start to stretch our asset too thin and those are one of the decisions leaderships have to make to decide where they want to focus their combat power for their main effort. But again, one of the little sidebar on this is Boko Haram the last couple weeks has had some defeats, some regional forces, especially up in the Northeast. So, I see this reach-out to ISIS to give them the possibility of subordinating them to Daesh or ISIS to maybe even get some reinforcements from the Algeria, Mali area to come down since they support themselves with ISIS now.
HARLOW: You know, it's interesting when the president, Buck, asked for sort of the authority from Congress, the war powers authority, they didn't limit it in scope in geography because they didn't want to let, as they said, ISIS know that, you know, you can operate in this region and not the rest if you will.
Do you think that air strikes, coalition air strikes will begin to happen against Boko Haram?
SEXTON: No. I think there is a regional partnership that Nigeria is involved in that's going to continue to try to deal with this threat, although they have been trying to fight against Boko Haram for over a decade now. It's just that the group has become much more high- profile. It's actually made an attempt to take a city in northeastern Nigeria.
So, it's been growing in strength and now, there's more seriousness among African partners as well as Nigeria to try to beat this group. I don't see U.S. airstrikes happening there but increased U.S. counterterrorism assistance, possibly. You would think that would be happening.
Just because it elevates the profile, you're not going to see people leaving Syria and Iraq to join Boko Haram, but you might see more sub- Saharan African jihadists or jihadists who might have been fold to AQIM, for example, al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, joining up with Boko Haram now because of the profile race.
HARLOW: Yes. Or Boko Haram continuing to try to recruit in the West, as we've seen ISIS do, as we've seen al Shabaab successfully do here in the United States as well.
Colonel Reese, do you think this means anything in terms of funding? We know ISIS is so well-funded, has so much money, and that has been incredibly helpful in its expansion and its success in taking territory. Do we now see ISIS funds do you believe going to Boko Haram?
REESE: No, I don't. As a matter of fact, up in Tikrit on Wednesday, what we have CNN's Ben Wedeman up there, one of the pieces we saw is that some of the monetary report to Daesh has been starting to get eroded from a lot of the coalition air strikes and that what has happened. We're starting to hear some reports from some of the signals intercept that the Iraqi forces, word that there are starting to be some fracture lines in there, especially because some of their fighters have not been paid of late.
So, that's something we need to watch closely, which could affect the outcome of how this plays out.
HARLOW: And, Nima, I know you've been tracking Boko Haram very closely, this group, a horrific group, to remind our viewers, that has taken hundreds of young girls hostage, kidnapped them, killed them, attacked school children, boys and girls. Do you believe that in part they're pledging allegiance to ISIS is because they're getting weaker and they want funding and support from ISIS?
ELBAGIR: Well, I think the colonel made a very good point, which is this comes at a time they've lost territory. Their territory has been eroded by that multiregional force. But the question is how sustainable is that unity within the regional partners.
And when this becomes a much bigger problem because Boko Haram are very well-funded. What they're getting from ISIS really is almost a smoothing of those edges. We've seen it in these last two propaganda video -- well, one audio message and one video of a beheading, announcement of a new media wing. What it really is giving them almost new horizons in which to expand their recruitment reach and their foreign donation drive, without necessarily having to dip into any kind of an ISIS war chest. So, they get that. They get the experience from is definitely and they get the ISIS brand name.
What Boko Haram are basing on is the regional partner are going to get tired and when they do, who's going to be manning those supply lines, who's going to be blocking their movement around the region. Nigeria has really focused on this threat because they have an election in a couple weeks and they can't delay it again. They've delayed it once.
But what happens once that new president is in place and will Boko Haram play on those weaknesses. For now, they're kind of falling back on asymmetric warfare, suicide attacks, but they are absolutely in now no way can they be counted out at the moment, and this will only strengthen their position.
HARLOW: All right. Nima, Buck, Colonel Reese, thank you very much.
We're going to take a quick break. We're going to be back on the other side and discuss the continuing controversy over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of personal e-mail while at the State Department. She just spoke in Florida. We'll bring you the latest, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: At the University of Miami today, former President Bill Clinton, along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their daughter Chelsea spoke at a Clinton Global Initiative event. It just wrapped up and this is the first time that the former secretary of state has made a public appearance since reports revealed this week that she exclusively used her private e-mail account during her time at the State Department. She did not address that controversy in her remarks.
So, really what we've heard is the tweet that she issued midweek saying she's going to have those e-mails disclosed.
Let's discuss it all, first, with our senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar. She joins me in Washington. Also with me, CNN political commentator and political conservative, Buck Sexton, with me here in New York, and former U.N. and State Department official, also former Obama campaign foreign policy adviser, David Tafuri.
Brianna, let me begin with you. I know none of us had any guidance as to whether or not Hillary Clinton would address this. Are you surprised at all that she didn't?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm not necessarily surprised that she did not address this. Obviously, there was a possibility, but we haven't been getting a lot of guidance from her team, which is why we were waiting to see if she would address it.
But I'm not particularly surprise and I think there are still questions that remain. She has a couple other events this coming week, Monday and Tuesday. She has public events. We'll be watching those two. But still at this point, no indication she'll address them there.
HARLOW: David Tafuri, I know you've been defending the former secretary of state throughout this, saying this is not as big a deal as you believe news reports are making it out to be. Why?
DAVID TAFURI, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: Well, the two most important principles are: was anything that was done illegal? And was classified information misused?
And so far, what we know the answer to both those questions is no. There was no law prevented her from using her personal e-mail when he was secretary of state at the time she was secretary of state. And there's no information to suggest that she mishandled classified information. Indeed, classified information would have been sent on a high-side e-mail system on the State Department and wouldn't have be mixed with her State Department official e-mail even if she had been using that e-mail.
So, I think we need to take a deep breath, wait for more facts to come in. She's produced 55,000 pages of e-mails that her team has said are responsive. The State Department needs to look through those and makes it sure that it agrees that those are the e-mails that are responsive. If there is any question that there are more e-mails that are responsive, that had been turned over, those can certainly be turned over too, an archivist or an independent person can look through those emails and make sure that she's complied with the requirement of providing every e-mail that was official that she sent during the time she was secretary of state.
HARLOW: And just to be clear here, the 55,000 e-mails that her team has turned over to the State Department, those are at their discretion, Buck.
SEXTON: That's why it's ridiculous. I mean, forget about the notion of classified or not and the possibility there might have been intermingling of classified information just because of the sheer usage of this private e-mail account, which, by the way, was much more open to hackers even as an open system and it would have been if it was a government account. But on top of that --
HARLOW: Some would argue with that. Some would say, look, the State Department is a pretty big target for hackers.
SEXTON: Well, but the State Department also has people who look after hackers or intrusions. And so, I think those people would be wrong.
But also, on the issue of transparency, specifically, this was designed to defeat transparency, meaning that the secretary of state, now, Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, gets to decide which e-mails get turned over the State Department which then gets to decide which of those e-mails they'll release under Freedom of Information requests.
Also, this is coming two years after she's left office. You have people looking, for example, Benghazi, who don't have a complete record of the secretary of state's communications during that period because of this.
HARLOW: Do you think we veal more information from these emails on Benghazi? Some are skeptical that we're going to learn more from Benghazi.
SEXTON: I don't know what we're going to get from the e-mails but I know that we don't get anything that's damning about Secretary of State Clinton because she's in control of what e-mails we see. And so, whether it's in the spirit of the law or the letter of law, or the letter of the regulation in this case, this was designed to make sure that Secretary of State Clinton could get away with stuff and not share information with the public that otherwise she should have had to.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Brianna, go ahead.
KEILAR: If I could just make a couple points on that. You may recall last hour, I made the point there's a different system for the classified documents and one for unclassified. We heard from Chris, he had said yes, but that means that she couldn't have maybe taken classified documents and then forwarded them using her e-mail or something. But that doesn't mean that she would not have been physically capable, although there's no evidence of this of discussing something that is classified in some sort of way.
And then the other issue of the hackers because the security is a big issue on this, and yes, the State Department unclassified system was hacked sometime recently. But we do understand, I've spoken to a number of cybersecurity experts on this, who have also worked in government, and they say that even though that's been a target, this e-mail account that she had, would have been far less secure than using the State Department e-mail.
HARLOW: Great point. Brianna, I want you to listen to this sound and get your reaction because today just in the past few hours, we've now heard from President Obama for the fist time on this in an interview he just conducted with CBS. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Mr. President, when did you first learn that Hillary Clinton used an e-mail system outside the U.S. government for official business while she was secretary of state?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At the same time everybody else learned it through news reports.
INTERVIEWER: Were you disappointed?
OBAMA: Let me just say that Hillary Clinton is and has been an outstanding public servant. She was a great secretary of state for me. The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency, and that's why my e-mails, the BlackBerry that I carry around, all those records are available and archived, and I'm glad that Hillary has instructed that those e-mails that had to do with official business need to be disclosed.
INTERVIEWER: You say that you have the most transparent administration ever. You've said it again just a couple weeks ago.
OBAMA: It's true.
INTERVIEWER: How does this square with that?
OBAMA: Well, the -- I think the fact she's going to be putting them forward will allow us to make sure that people have the information they need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Brianna, you covered the White House under this administration. What do you make of what he had to say there?
KEILAR: He's being careful, and he's certainly being nice. You heard him stress her service and saying that she was wonder during his administration.
That's partly because what's her problem right now is his problem. A lot of people in the White House see the best way to carry on his legacy is to elect Hillary Clinton to the White House.
But here's a couple things that we should note as we kind of pull back the curtain on what's going on at the White House. What we've heard from a senior administration official is that for years, some White House officials for certainly aware that Hillary Clinton was using a personal e-mail address. The red flag wasn't raised about this because they assumed that she was complying by putting that in the State Department recordkeeping system.
Just this last summer August, following subpoenas that were issued from house Republicans, they became aware that indeed she was using -- that she had not turned over these e-mails and put them in the State Department recordkeeping system. We're told by this official that they became very alarmed that the point. So he's playing certainly nice will there, putting on a good public face, but there is tension between the White House and Hillary Clinton on this.
HARLOW: Yes. No question about it.
And to you, David, I think it's surprising to a lot of us why did no one flag this sooner or bring it up as maybe a concern, especially for someone who could very possibly be a contender for the White House?
TAFURI: Well, that is surprising. That's why we need more information. I take it that the president and the secretary of state never e-mailed with each other. That's why the president didn't know that she used a personal e-mail.
But certainly, some people in the White House had to have been e- mailing with the secretary of state. They must have known. Certainly, there were other folks in the State Department who knew she used a personal e-mail when they were collecting documents to be responsive to congressional investigations like the Benghazi investigation. They must have known they didn't have any e-mails from Hillary Clinton, so the State Department people who put together those documents must have known she was using a separate e-mail or I guess assumed she wasn't using e-mail at all.
So, a lot more facts need to come out. But we shouldn't presume that Hillary Clinton did this for this reason or that reason or to be secret. We need to find out why she used the personal e-mail. Maybe, it was an easier way for her to digest information. There are lots of other reasons why you use personal e-mail.
And I make one other point, which is, yes, it wasn't as protected as a State Department e-mail account, but there was a layer of protection because no one knew she was using it.
(CROSSTALK)
SEXTON: The layer of protection is that she's in control.
HARLOW: David, sorry to interrupt but I'm up against the break and I have to let Buck get in here.
SEXTON: I just want to say that this plays into a narrative that's not new, it actually stretches back to the '90s, which is the Clintons don't think the rules apply to them and a cloud of dishonesty and disingenuousness follows them everywhere and this is just another example of that.
It's not going to stop Hillary's candidacy but we're going to see a lot more of this. And I think it should make people uneasy. There's no reason for her to do this unless she was trying to hide information from public display. That's it. No other motivation.
HARLOW: So, they would beg to differ.
We're going to have to leave it there. Buck, appreciate it. David, Brianna, thank you very much.
Back in one moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: New details on a Wisconsin teen fatally shot by a police officer. Nineteen-year-old Anthony Robinson was not armed when Officer Matt Kenny shot and killed him in Madison. The police chief right now in Madison calling for calm tonight because protests broke out last night.
What the police are saying is that Robinson was shot after allegedly assaulting the officer who was responding to a reported disturbance at a home in Madison. Now, what you're looking at are pictures from last night. That is when a crowd of angry protesters showed up at police headquarters and in the streets marching and chanting "black lives matter" among other things.
Officer Kenny, the officer who shot and killed Robinson, chased Robinson into an apartment and the police are saying that Robinson attacked him. He got treated for some injuries on his head. Police are saying he fired in self-defense.
Robinson's mother is calling it senseless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREA IRWIN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: The things that are happening all over the United States, another black kid shot by the police for no reason. This has got to stop.
CHIEF MICHAEL KOVAL, MADISON, WISCONSIN POLICE: The officer involved, Matt Kenny, Matt is a 45-year-old officer and he has 12-plus years of experience with the city of Madison Police Department. He was, in fact, the primary responder to the Williamson Street address in question.
I know that using the due diligence of the fourth estate in what you guys do in journalism, that it's only a matter of time that you realize that Matt has been involved in an officer-involved shooting earlier in his career.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Well, Madison's mayor putting out this statement saying, "Madisonians honor and respect the young life of Anthony Robinson. Our community has many questions, questions that I share. There will be answers."
This is important to note. Under Wisconsin law, the investigation will be handled by an outside agency, not by the Madison Police Department. Wisconsin was the first state in this country to pass such a law. They will be doing the investigation which, of course, is in the early stages.
I want to bring in Gil Alba, joining me, former NYPD here in New York. Also with me on the phone, Kristen Barbaresi, local reporter there who's been covering this since the news broke.
Kristen, thank you for being with me.
You know, what was interesting to me is the police chief came out right away and sort of addressed the anger of the community, saying here's how we understand it happened, but we know you want answers, that you're upset in the wake of Ferguson. What has stood out to you most on the ground there?
KRISTEN BARBARESI, WKOW REPORTER (via telephone): Well, I think just what you said, that they did come out -- the police just came out today. He's identified the officer that's involved. And there is a lot of anger. You can feel it on the ground. You can feel it last night.
But what we saw, even when the issues were going on in Ferguson and in New York, is here in Madison, the local protesters have been calm in the sense that they have been very peaceful. You know? They're loud, they're out there, but they have remained peaceful.
HARLOW: Yes, peaceful.
BARBARESI: And the police chief has always said his officers' job is to facilitate the discussion and to allow those protests to continue and they blocked off streets. There's been, you know, obviously fundamental disagreements between police and protesters, but they have common ground in that they want to demonstrate peacefully.
HARLOW: And as I understand it, the police officer that shot Robinson, Matt Kenny, and other first responders tried to perform CPR on him. Is that right?
BARBARESI: That is what the police chief told us last night. It sounds like the officer began CPR when other officers arrived on scene, they took over those lifesaving measures. And as we understand it, Robinson actually died at the hospital.
HARLOW: OK. What do we know about Officer Kenny? I know he served in the police force 12 years. What else do we know?
BARBARESI: Well, we know that he's 45 years old, as you mentioned, he has 12 years on the force, and as Chief Koval came out and said, he was involved in the shooting in 2007 that was ruled justified shooting. The chief said it was suicide by cop attempt and we know right now that Officer Kenny is on paid administrative leave. He's receiving peer support and he is in communication with the department of criminal investigation who is handling the shooting investigation.
HARLOW: OK. Kristen Barbaresi, thank you very much.
Stand by as well because I want to play for our viewers an excerpt from the Madison police dispatch. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DISPATCHER: Look for a male black, light skinned, tanned jacket and jeans, outside yelling and jumping in front of cars. He's 19 years of age, name is Tony Robinson.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Copy.
DISPATCHER: Our 17 is no longer on the scene apparently. Tony hit one of his friends. No weapons seen.
I got another call for the same suspect, went inside Williamson (ph) Street, tried to strangle another patron.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Shots fired, shots fired.
DISPATCHER: Copy, shots fired.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Shots fired.
DISPATCHER: Copy, shots fired.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Shots fired. Gget an ambulance. At least one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right. So, you're hearing there from -- Gil, former NYPD, with me now -- you're hearing there from what says an up identified officer so we're not exactly clear who that is at this point in time. But all we can go on really now is what the police chief is saying and he's saying, look, this was an unarmed teenager but this was a teenager who attacked one of my officers and we're going to get to the bottom of this.
GIL ALBA, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, there's a lot of investigation that has to happen here because you have one officer and it happened in an apartment and he shot somebody else. So, he's the one telling the story.
So, is his story going to stand up for what happened? Where do you get shot? How far did he shoot him from? Where did the bullets go? What's the background of each one? What's -- any toxicology or -- anybody have any drugs or anything like that?
So, that's why all this information hasn't come out yet, because they don't really know all this stuff yet. So, this is what they're trying to put together.
HARLOW: How important do you think it is that Wisconsin as a state has this law that the Madison police cannot be the ones investigating this?
ALBA: It's not a bad law to do that, to have another outside --
HARLOW: No, I'm saying, is it a good law?
ALBA: Yes, I think it is to have an outside agency come in and investigate a shooting. And, you know, you really have to find out, you know, about the backgrounds of the officers and how they're any other complaints against them or anything like that.
HARLOW: We just heard from Kristen Barbaresi, the reporter on the ground there, that this officer, Matt Kenny, is now on paid administrative leave. Is that typical of what would happen when someone shoots and kills another person, even if they're attacked? Or is that sort of in the wake of Ferguson being very cautious?
ALBA: No. That happens all the time. Because how do you know what happened?
HARLOW: Right.
ALBA: The officer is saying that, you know, here's a white officer killing a black teenager, but --
HARLOW: He was of mixed race is what we're hearing.
ALBA: Right, what does this matter? It doesn't really. But was it justified? And who knows at this point? So why are you going to, you know, get the officer off the police department or do something? He's going to be on paid leave. That's what's happened in the police department. Unless right away if they find out it's not a good shooting.
HARLOW: What do you make of the fact that we've seen police chief Mike Koval really come out and be very transparent very quickly and saying, you know, "I know what happened in Ferguson, I saw what broke out on the streets there and I see what's happening, peaceful protests on the streets of Madison" and really addressing the fact people want answers and he's going to work to get them, just coming out so quickly?
ALBA: And that's one of the things I think they learned that from Ferguson is to do that right away. Because in Ferguson, they didn't, they took their time, they didn't really communicate with the community. So I think that's what he's doing is coming out and telling them right away this is what's happening and he is really not saying anything about the demonstrators. He says listen they have a right to demonstrate. So all that is coming together. And they do have a right to demonstrate.
HARLOW: All right. I want to quickly play for you this report from our Sara Sidner talking about Ferguson and get your reaction on the other side. I think we have that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): After that scathing DOJ report we have now heard from city officials here in Ferguson. While we did not hear from the police chief himself, we were able to talk and get some answers from the mayor.
Now, we know that they have already gone forward and done some things including getting rid of three people who worked for the police department, one city a city clerk who was let go, who was actually fired, and two officers, a sergeant and a captain, who resigned after the DOJ unearthed racist e-mails sent from their department's e-mail. The city said they would not put up with that and they let them go.
But we also wanted to talk to them about the larger issue that the DOJ had brought up, their investigation showing that it seemed that the city was using its police department as a way to get revenue more so than to protect the public. Here's what the mayor had to say about the city manager and the police chief whose e-mails were inside of that report talking about trying to boost revenue through tickets.
MAYOR JAMES KNOWES, FERGUSON, MISSOURI: What was in those e-mails was, you know, absolutely unacceptable. They were horrific in some cases, I mean, it's just disgusting. It was very clear that we took action immediately to deal with those individuals. Obviously there is a lot of conversation, a lot of other e-mails. You know, the e-mails that have been pointed out by the Department of Justice obviously do not look good. There has to be a lot of followup to understand total context and in total fairness to anybody that's involved and, you know, we'll make decisions, the city council and the government will make decisions based on findings.
SIDNER: We also asked whether or not they would consider dissolving the department, if that was in the cards. The answer was an absolute no. They feel they can work with the DOJ and fix the issues that were brought up and then move forward to try and heal this community.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Ferguson, Missouri.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Right. Sara, thank you very much. What I also want to play for you is Sara Sidner talking to the Ferguson police chief about the report. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (on camera): Don't you think you should have known some of the things that came out, the racist e-mails, the numbers? Were you just trying to bill people out of money instead of protecting them, telling your department to just go ticket them?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: OK. Thank you.
SIDNER: We've been talking for days and days and days. All we want is an answer from you. What do you think of this DOJ report and what are you going to do about it? Just any idea what it is you are going to do yourself about this as the chief of the department?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: I'm going to analyze the report and take action where necessary.
SIDNER: Are you planning on resigning?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: I will let you know.
SIDNER: Are you thinking about it?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: I've told you that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: All right. Sara Sidner pressing the police chief there. This was not the moment the report came out. He had time to read the DOJ report with the horrific findings about racism in his own department. What do you do if you were the police chief of this department?
ALBA: Yes. I mean, there's a lot of things there against him, especially the revenue, because that's a bad thing. You're almost forcing police officers to give out tickets and you give out tickets in these communities where people don't have the money. So, you know, that puts a lot of pressure on the officer and --
HARLOW: Not really about giving out tickets. It was about sort of very unevenly ticketing and going after African-Americans in the community. ALBA: Yes, sometimes we have to really look at that report because if
you're in a black community and you give out all these tickets in that community of course it's going to reflect that particular thing. And they're looking -- DOJ was looking for something against Ferguson Police Department as far as what's wrong with that police department.
So it's really I think almost focused in on what are all the things that they're doing wrong instead of maybe an overall picture of, you know, you know, give me a balance to the police department. To have these guys say something on e-mail, of course they should be fired for anything like that.
HARLOW: Racist e-mails.
ALBA: Yes, any kind of police brutality or anything like that, they should be fired immediately.
HARLOW: What do you -- you know, it's interesting we didn't see the police chief of Ferguson come out and address this. Does that surprise you? Should he have said "Look, I read the report, I'm concerned, here's what x, y and z, what I'm going to do?"
ALBA: Definitely. He should have come out and really took charge of that whole thing because it's against his police department and the Ferguson Police Department and it wasn't a good report. It was all against the Ferguson Police Department. You know, and to everybody, they asked should they disband the police department, that should never happen, but there should be a balance there.
HARLOW: Should there be more officers representative of the community they police? By that, I mean, you got only eight percent of the Ferguson Police Department that is African-American in a community where 67 percent of residents are African-American. ALBA: There's no doubt that that should be -- of course. You know,
the people -- the police should reflect their community, of course. That's one of the things they were lacking. They only had three or four officers that were, you know, black. It should never be. That should never happen.
HARLOW: Thank you, sir. Good to have you on the program. Appreciate you coming in.
ALBA: Thank you.
HARLOW: Coming up next, we're going to talk about missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370. Can you believe it has been a year since that plane disappeared and the 239 souls on board? We're going to talk about specifically the families and how they're coping. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Tomorrow marks a year to the day that Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared, after all of this time and all of those tears, the mystery really. No closer to being solved. Here's Jonathan Mann.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JONATHAN MANN, CNN HOST (on camera): Since MH-370 went missing on March 8 of last year, authorities have searched more than 4.6 million square kilometers of the Indian Ocean hoping to find any sign of the missing airliner. At first they focused a surface search in the South China Sea, in the Strait of Malacca, near where the last contact with the plane was made.
A week later they shifted the search south to the Indian Ocean based on radar information and where the plane is believed to have veered off course. A few debris sightings in March shifted the search under water. Sonar and ocean floor mapping technologies started soon after. All in all 22 planes and 19 ships could not find any trace of the aircraft.
So authorities went back to the data and analysis of radar and satellite communications indicated the plane was likely along a specific arc in the southern part of the Indian Ocean. The search area was redefined. A deep underwater search was launched in early October in the new search area.
How did they come to that? MH-370 used a INMAR satellite system to transmit its position. Each time a handshake with the satellite is established a ring of possible locations equidistant from the satellite in space can be plotted on the earth's surface. Authorities believe plane was on autopilot throughout the mysterious flight, the whole time sending out these electronic handshakes to satellites.
After adding aircraft speeds and altitude to the data and accounting for when the plane would likely have run out of fuel, the search was then focused on this region along the seventh arc. The wider search area spans 60,000 square kilometers along the arc. Authorities hoping to finish mapping the entire area by this May and hope even more so to end one of the great mysteries in aviation history.
Jonathan Mann, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Jonathan, thank you very much.
For the families of the 239 people on board that flight, the mystery surrounding the fate of their loved ones and their grieving has become even greater. As you're about to see, every single day is a struggle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANICA WEEKS, WIFE OF PAUL WEEKS: He was my best friend. He was an incredible husband, an incredible father, so devoted to us. We did everything together.
GRACE NATHAN: Almost one year on, I still don't know where my mother is or what happened to her and all of the other passengers that were on MH-370. I come home every day and I miss my mother. I miss seeing her sitting at the dining table, I miss seeing her laugh, I miss watching movies with her, I miss doing everything I would have had the chance to do with her. BIAN LIANGWEI: (Speaking in foreign language)
JACK SONG: I want to say to my sister I still waiting for you to come back. I love you. And I believe one day you will come back to see your second granddaughter.
WEEKS: I want to say I softened him and he hardened me up. So, you know, together we were an effective team that, you know, just loved life and loved being together and with our boys. And we just miss him immensely. Our world is shattered. And it's in pieces that may never be put back together.
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Enrique miss having his dad at home when he comes back from school. His father misses him so much because he was his playmate. They used to play badminton, football. They had lots and lots of fun. It shouldn't have happened. You should be at home now. You should be with us now. We'll wait. We'll wait.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: We're going to talk to a lawyer representing a number of those families next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: The story and the mystery behind the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH-370 continues to baffle experts and of course is incredibly painful for the relatives of the 239 on board.
Justin Green, aviation attorney, represents about 24 of the families of those victims. Incredible to think tomorrow marks one year. What do the families want most?
JUSTIN GREEN, AVIATION ATTORNEY: The families -- what the families want more than anything else is their loved ones back, but the second thing, since that can't be guaranteed, is that the search, which is right now scheduled to be completed in May, continues.
HARLOW: Right. But it's interesting because Tony Abbott of Australia said -- you know, he didn't say, yes, this is definitely ending in May. He seems very committed to it.
GREEN: He didn't say yes it's definitely ending but he did raise the question about whether it could continue indefinitely. He talked about a decision that has to be made, and Malaysia has basically -- is putting out a report today or probably on the anniversary over there, and Malaysia really hasn't told the family, look, we are 100 percent committed to continuing the search until your loved ones are found.
HARLOW: I also wonder if they want change in the airline industry. There's been a lot of talk about why there is not realtime tracking data required on all commercial planes. Interesting in Canada, an airline called First Air has actually started to do this and they're a very small carrier. Do the families want to see that realtime tracking so they don't lose a plane like happened in this instance? GREEN: It's not just the families. I think aviation safety specialists all over the world want that as well. If I pulled out my phone I could track where my kids are, but this is a modern airplane flying in the 21st century and today at airports all over the world, airplanes are taking off and they could become lost like Malaysia Airlines 370 is.
HARLOW: Right. There's a new CEO, incoming CEO into Malaysia Airlines. The current CEO is leaving the company. Are the families encouraged about that leadership change? I know there was a real concern about lack of communication.
GREEN: Well, I saw that you had some of the families on a piece before and I'm really happy because their voices are way more important than my voice or anyone else's voice. But Malaysia Airlines, Malaysia, the government have not really treated the families the way that they should be treated. It's a learning -- you know, they really weren't prepared for what happened in the same way the U.S. because we learn over time how to treat families, how to release information, make sure you get it right before you release information.
The families are one change with a new leadership and hopefully they'll get change.
HARLOW: Tell me about Voice 370.
GREEN: Well, Voice 370 is a family group. Voice 370 is basically trying to speak not just to the survivors but for the missing. What they want more than anything else is a commitment to continue the search. Make sure that the loved ones are found and make sure that this is not forgotten. Right now, one of the things that the government said in January when they made an announcement saying "look, the plane crashed, your loved ones are dead. This is good because now you can move on with your lives." Their families are saying "Look, I'm not going to move on with my life until I know what happened." And so let's keep the search going until we know what happened.
HARLOW: Are they confident that the plane will be found?
GREEN: No, they're not. They're not. What they're very concerned with is that at some point people will basically say "look, we have given it the college try. We've gone a year now. We searched 60,000 square kilometres of the ocean floor and you know, if something pops up maybe we'll restart the effort." That's what they're afraid of.
HARLOW: Malaysia, the government releasing this report in a matter of hours what will be the anniversary over there, what do the families want to know and see from this report?
GREEN: Well, the families don't expect to see anything from the report, and the report releasing it on the anniversary is probably not the best idea for Malaysia. If there was information that would actually help the families, if Malaysia came out with a statement on the anniversary saying we honor the families and we're telling the families, say we're going to continue the search, but this report is a recap of historical information about what has been done. It is more of -- in the families' opinion, more of a P.R. report and a report that's really about aviation safety and about the search effort.
HARLOW: Justin Green, thank you very much.
GREEN: Well, thank you, Poppy.
HARLOW: Good to have you on the program. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: President Obama crossed a bridge today figuratively and literally. Leading a crowd that included people who were brutally beaten by state troopers on that very bridge 50 years ago in Selma, Alabama. The president walked in the footsteps of those who pushed forward the American civil rights movement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: The Americans who crossed this bridge -- they were not physically imposing. But they gave courage to millions. They held no elected office. But they led a nation. They marched as Americans who had endured hundreds of years of brutal violence. Countless daily indignities but they didn't seek special treatment, just equal treatment, promised to them almost a century before.
What they did here will reverberate through the ages. Not because the change they won was preordained. Not because their victory was complete. But because they proved that non-violent change is possible. That love and hope can conquer hate. As we commemorate their achievement, we are well served to remember, that at the time of the marches, many in power condemned rather than praise them.
Back then they were called communists, or half breeds or outside agitators, sexual and moral degenerates and worse, they're call everything but the name their parents gave them. Their faith was questioned. Their lives were threatened. Their patriotism challenged. And yet what could be more American than what happened in this place?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Just a bit from the president speaking today in Selma, Alabama.
I'm Poppy Harlow, thanks so much for being with me this evening.
A marathon of "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
