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Manhunt for Ferguson Ambush Suspects; Report: Agents Disrupted Bomb Investigation; Kerry in Egypt Ahead of Iran Talks

Aired March 13, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No justice, no peace!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No justice, no peace!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No justice, no peace!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A manhunt is on.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: This is where the two officers were shot.

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The heinous and cowardly attacks.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whoever fired those shots...

HOLDER: This was a damn punk.

OBAMA: ... they're criminals. They need to be arrested.

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: These officers had suspected alcohol on their breath.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The new director of the Secret Service didn't even find out about this incident until about five days after it happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Secretary of State John Kerry arriving in Cairo ahead of the next round of nuclear negotiations with Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congress actually does have the ability to take away from the president the power to implement this agreement.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jurors hearing for the first time from a man who was carjacked at gunpoint by the Tsarnaev brothers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Surveillance video showing him frantically begging the clerks to call 911.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira. CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY this Friday, March 13, 6 a.m. in the East. I'm coming to you live from Ferguson, Missouri, once again, where the weather matches the mood. There is an intense manhunt under way for the suspects that ambushed two police officers. We're going to have more on that in a moment.

First, let's get back to Alisyn and Michaela in New York. Good morning.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Chris. It's great to have you on the ground there, reporting for us. We'll get back to you in a second.

But first, another developing story in the news. We now know the identities of the two Secret Service agents suspected of driving a government car after drinking right onto the White House property and interrupting an active investigation. Why did it reportedly take days for the head of the agency to find out?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Also, Secretary of State John Kerry is in Egypt, meeting with Middle East leaders before returning to the table for talks with Iran on nuclear issues.

Let's get back, though, to our top story, with Chris in Ferguson.

CUOMO: All right, Mick, the shooting of two police officers early Thursday morning still casts an uneasy feeling in this community and on these streets. There were a few protests last night, and they were small groups. The vigil for the injured officers was even smaller.

Authorities turned their focus from who was protesting, to who was shooting, searching now for two individuals who they say ambushed officers.

We begin our coverage with Alina Machado. She's looking into that manhunt. What's the latest on the investigation, Alina?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, we want to start off by saying that those two police officers are at home recovering this morning. So that's a bit of good news. But even though it's been more than 24 hours since they were shot, the search for the people responsible, the search for the shooting is still -- the shooter is still under way.

Here's what we know: authorities say they've identified two people that they are looking for. Two people they want to talk to. And one of them may be the shooter.

Just hours after the shooting, police stormed a house that's just a few blocks from here, and they took in three people for questioning. Those people have since been released.

It's also worth noting that the St. Louis County Police, as well as the Missouri State Highway Patrol, are now going to be taking over the security detail at protests. This started last night, and they want to do this to make sure that everyone stays safe. It's also worth noting, Chris, that two Missouri congressmen are now

offering a $3,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of those responsible for this ambush shooting.

CUOMO: And Alina, it's worthy of note that there was such a flood of information about where people thought the shots came from and how the description of the shooter may be, that it actually is something that's slowing down the investigation. They're getting more leads than they expected, not less. And that really is a window into this community. Alina, thank you. We're checking back with you. Very much on edge.

And now the people who live here and police here have to figure out what to do with these recent shootings. They can't just be forgotten as somehow incidental to the larger work of progress. They're very much a part of it. So how will this community react? What will it be like now on the streets of Ferguson? We have Ryan Young bringing that part of the story -- Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, I think that's a very important point. People have been talking about this shooting, saying they hate the fact that it's happened, because now it changes the conversation from one they were focused on. The fact they were talking about the Ferguson Police Department, now everyone is talking about the manhunt.

I talked to one woman who said she did not want the attention to be moved from that police department now to the manhunt; that's happening. The people are talking, and that's something that everyone here says they're happy to see the folks are getting involved.

President Obama also spoke about what happened here and the fact that somebody needs to be brought to justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: There was no excuse for criminal acts. And whoever fired those shots shouldn't detract from the issue. They're criminals. They need to be arrested. And then, what we need to do is to make sure that like-minded, good-spirited people on both sides, law enforcement who have a terrifically tough job, and people who understandably don't want to be stopped and harassed just because of their race, that we're able to work together to try to come up with some good answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Now obviously, tensions may be high, but look, the community is telling me they want to -- they're tired of being painted in one direction. They want to move the conversation, and the shooting hasn't helped that -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Ryan, thank you for working the streets, very important perspective. We'll be back with you, as well.

Let's bring in people who understand this community and also the investigation. We have defense attorney and columnist for the "St. Louis American" Lizz Brown; and we have CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, Mr. Tom Fuentes.

Tom, let's start with the investigation. We spent a lot of time here last night. Just over your shoulders is where the officers were shot. The vantage points, they believe, could be anywhere from where we're standing right now to up the hill on this street called Tiffin. How difficult were these shots to hit, if the estimate of distance is anywhere near accurate, let's say 80 to 125 yards?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That distance is phenomenal. To shoot someone with a handgun and under the conditions at night, even with a rifle, with a scope, it would be difficult to hold it steady enough to shoot two officers standing side by side. So it's a difficult -- it's not an impossible shot. But it's a very difficult shot and would indicate somebody has had firearms training.

CUOMO: and it's not one shot, it's two. And as you know, your witnesses put the shots anywhere from three to four to five shots. But still, it's two hits on a very small number of shots. Doesn't that suggest, if anything, that this distance, that officers, you know, were not that into the investigation in terms of what they're telling us, but maybe this distance was a lot smaller.

FUENTES: It could be. I mean, it's deceptive. You could have echo off the buildings. You could have -- having checked out the site also, that the shooters could have been up on the roof of some of these strip mall buildings, putting them much closer and putting them higher, so that they're not shooting just over the tops of the heads of the protesters, but having a higher angle to shoot down on police.

CUOMO: Right. There's no question you would need trajectory. Otherwise, Lizz, you would have been hitting protesters and other people as the bullets are traveling towards the officers.

Now you could say, "Don't speculate; we'll figure it out." It matters, because if the shooters were closer, then it does put them in the thick of the protest. The protesters want to be separated from this incident.

LIZZ BROWN, "ST. LOUIS AMERICAN": Of course.

CUOMO: And understandably so.

BROWN: And they are.

CUOMO: Overwhelmingly, they're peaceful. But those shots came from somewhere, and they probably came from somewhere closer.

How do you think these shootings of these officers should be embraced as part of the dynamic in this community?

BROWN: Obviously, the journey towards justice, the journey towards -- the DOJ report demonstrated and showed America, showed the world, actually, what's going on in this community. And any time that you're headed towards fixing something like that, it's going to be a rough journey. So obviously it's part of the journey. But I don't think that that's where the focus should remain. Because

-- because it's bigger than that. What is being sought here, it's bigger than what happened a night ago.

CUOMO: Can you change the dynamic in this community if you don't address the potential threats to officers? Because to many, that's what this shooting represents. It wasn't just someone angry and randomly, during a protest that's totally righteous. It was this is the environment that these officers, police in here, that controls their mindset; it controls the policing strategy. So it's really not a distraction. It has to be part of the main conversation, doesn't it?

BROWN: Well, yes, but we also expect that all of the millions of dollars that's spent on police training kicks in here. This is where the police officers and the police chief get to demonstrate to us that they are -- they've learned their training.

It shouldn't be a surprise to a police officer. I mean, we're looking at it sometimes from the vantage point of a citizen. Look at it from the vantage point of someone who's trained to do that. We expect them to, we expect their training to kick in here.

CUOMO: Be professionals.

BROWN: Yes.

CUOMO: Now, as a professional law enforcement officer, if you know you're in a community where there is open animosity towards you and that the community doesn't necessarily back you. There was protesters out here last night; there was a vigil. That group was very small. You ask the people around it why there aren't there more people here because of what happened to the officers, they say mixed feelings. Mixed feelings about it. What does that do in terms of policing?

FUENTES: Well, it makes the police officer very defensive. Extra cautious. And that may take on the notion to the community that they're aggressive and anti-community when they're just trying to be a little more protective.

I think it should be noted that, when those shots rang out, two officers went down, no officer returned fire. And that might have been the intent of the shooters, to have that happen, to create a situation where the police shot into the crowd and killed protesters.

CUOMO: Right. People were commenting, somewhat negatively, "Hey, you know, every officer drew a gun after that." Of course they did.

BROWN: right. But then again the training kicked in, and fire was not returned.

CUOMO: Absolutely.

BROWN: So you know, I mean -- with respect to the people that showed up last night, I think that the community needs to be given credit for the fact that there were people that showed up. CUOMO: Sure.

BROWN: And also, people that were concerned about the danger of being here, too. So you had two different dynamics going on.

And also there is -- this is an action; this is a movement. So of course other people are going to show up, as well.

CUOMO: There's no question we've had bad apples here from the beginning. Everybody knows it who has been anywhere near the situation. And my question is, I think that this is an opportunity for part of the positive change. That this community shows its support for the police. Because you know, there are really two points of view out here on the street. Everybody knows that the culture of policing that came out of that building was negative and was targeted. The DOJ report...

BROWN: And people were making things up.

CUOMO: That's right. The DOJ...

BROWN: Like the president said, nobody is making this stuff up.

CUOMO: That's right. The DOJ arguably had no skin in the game. I know people are saying all blue is blue. They said that there's a culture here that has to change, and the chief is gone. But it's going to be more than that, right? This community has to embrace those who police it, and the police have to embrace those who they are policing.

BROWN: It's a relationship, Chris. I mean, you cannot embrace someone within a relationship if they're not performing the way that they need to be performing.

When you have a police chief whose first statement out about what happened is that the shots came from someone embedded with the protesters. That was inaccurate, and it's provocative. So it's a relationship that was not -- didn't come out of thin air, and so it's going to take some time for that relationship to get to a place where it's healthy.

CUOMO: Quick thing. We don't really know what happened yet. So we don't know that the shot didn't come from someone who was within -- among the protesters.

BROWN: And that's why...

CUOMO: A bad apple, so to speak.

BROWN: Right. That's why the chief should have been circumspect and said nothing at all until he got the facts and the evidence.

CUOMO: Lizz, thank you very much. To Tom, please.

FUENTES: Back on the day of the shooting of Michael Brown, when the crime scene investigators were trying to process the scene and the crowds were gathering, shots were fired then. And the medical examiner of St. Louis County ordered the criminal investigators to gather up their stuff and get out.

And so the history of shots being fired from an angry crowd goes back to day one, 200-some days ago.

CUOMO: That's right.

FUENTES: So that's part of the context of what their thinking would be.

CUOMO: And that's why progress is going to be so slow. Because there's a dynamic on each side of this. And if they don't come together, there will be no change. And that's the message we've all learned from being here.

Tom, Lizz, thank you very much, as always.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, thanks so much. There are also new details emerging this morning about the latest black eye for the Secret Service. Those two senior agents suspected of driving a government vehicle after drinking at a party, and reportedly disrupting an active bomb investigation. We're also learning the new Secret Service director did not learn of the incident until days later.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty joins us live from the White House with more. What are we learning today, Sunlen?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. That's right. Rather than being notified immediately, the new Secret Service director, Joe Clancy, he was not told about this incident until five days after. That means, according to law enforcement sources, that it's very possible that the director himself was told even later than the White House. This, of course, coming from the agency that the director has vowed to clean up.

Now there are still many facts that we still don't know about everything that happened last Wednesday evening. But we now do know this: In addition to these two agents, allegedly driving under the influence, we also know that they also drove under police tape, disrupting an active investigation of a suspicious package that was also happening near White House grounds at the same time.

But many sources pushing back about this notion that they barreled through a barricade, some sources now saying that they deliberately nudged an orange barrier, just moving it aside a few feet. They said that they were going slow, literally one mile an hour.

But sources are saying that Congress wants answers here. The question is why no sobriety test was given; why these agents were allowed to go by the supervisor. And one top Republican in Congress saying that he believes that this agency has now put the jeopardy and the safety of the first family in question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: If it's true that these officers had suspected that these people had alcohol in their breath, that they were driving, that they impeded and got in the way of an active investigation, a potential bomb on the White House grounds, and the supervisor just decides to let them go? I mean, this is what is so terribly frustrating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: The House Oversight Committee has called for Clancy to turn over all photos, surveillance videos and audio recordings of the night. They also want him to appear before Congress early next week -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Words, context matter. We're going to dig into the topic a little later in the show. Thanks so much, Sunlen.

Secretary of State John Kerry is in Egypt attending an economic summit and meeting with senior officials on a range of security topics, including the ongoing battle against ISIS. This trip coming ahead of new talks in Switzerland Sunday on Iran's nuclear program.

Let's get the very latest from Ian Lee live from Cairo with all the details -- Ian.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, he's talking to the President el-Sisi just right about now and really two things on the agenda.

First, repairing relations between Cairo and Washington. Things have cooled under the current president, although the fundamentals of the relationship remain fairly strong.

Also talking about security. Egypt battles ISIS-aligned militants on its own soil. In fact, roughly 200 miles from where the conference is being held is where they're fighting them. Although security is very tight in that city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

But Egypt, what's keeping them up at night isn't those militants in northern Sinai, but their western border with Libya. Egypt wants to take a more direct approach when fighting ISIS in Libya, arming the internationally recognized government and setting up blockades so weapons can't go into the other parts of the country. Washington does not see eye to eye with them. They want a diplomatic solution -- a diplomatic solution to solve the problem. They think a united front is the best way to defeat ISIS. Those two, Secretary Kerry and the president talking about this very important issue, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. And we'll be getting analysis of that deal coming up on the program. Thanks so much.

Also breaking overnight, a medical helicopter crashing in Oklahoma on its way from Tulsa to McAllister. The FAA says it went down in the town of Eufaula. It's unclear what caused this crash. Three employees were

on board. No word yet on any injuries or fatalities. A new unverified audio message from an ISIS spokesman says the terror

group accepts Boko Haram's pledge of allegiance. This development comes as both groups are dealt setbacks on the battlefield. ISIS militants are fighting Iraqi forces to recapture Tikrit, while Boko Haram has killed thousands in its bid to impose Islamist rule in Nigeria and neighboring countries, military forces have driven them from dozens of towns.

CAMEROTA: Another chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, under fire for alleged racial slurs. The University of Washington investigating claims the SAE members hurled racist comments at black students during a protest march last month.

Meanwhile, the SAE chapter that was booted off the University of Oklahoma campus plans to sue the university and possibly its president, David Boren. On Thursday, the O.U. football team staged a silent arm-in-arm protest to condemn the racist chant video that has rocked their campus.

All right. So ahead for you, we will have a lot more from Ferguson, Missouri. That's where Chris is. But up next the United Nations talking about lifting sanctions against Iran as nuclear talks resume Sunday in Switzerland. So we're going to take a closer look at the key players in this deal. Who exactly are they?

Also, gripping testimony in the Boston Marathon bombing. Trial jurors hearing from the man who was carjacked by the Tsarnaev brothers. We're going to tell about this daring escape. You'll see it, too, next.

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CAMEROTA: U.N. Security Council members have quietly begun talking about lifting sanctions against Iran if a nuclear deal is struck. This Reuters report comes just days before nuclear talks are set to resume.

So let's take a look at the key players involved in these high-stakes negotiations. Who exactly are they?

And let's bring in Peter Beinart. He's our CNN political commentator and contributor -- contributing editor for Atlantic media. Peter, great to have you here to walk us through all this.

First, let's start with this Reuters report out this morning that they're considering as part of this deal lifting sanctions against Iran. Wasn't that always part of the deal? Or is something bigger happening?

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, there's two sets of sanctions to be concerned about here. First of all, American sanctions that could be lifted by President Obama himself to some degree and by Congress. And then there are also multilateral sanctions through the United Nations. The Iranians want relief from both.

CAMEROTA: OK. So that's a bigger deal and the U.S., that would be a deal-breaker for the U.S.? Or that's part of this negotiation?

BEINART: No, I think the Obama administration probably envisages that if they get the deal they want, there would be relief from the U.N. sanctions, as well as the American sanctions. Whether Congress wants that is a different question.

CAMEROTA: Got it. Let's talk about the key players here. Let's start with the ayatollah here. This is the person who -- well, you tell me, what is his role in negotiations?

BEINART: Ayatollah Khamenei is the -- not directly involved in negotiations, but he would be the final authority. He's the most powerful political leader in Iran. Traditionally considered a hardliner, but recently has been giving, rhetorically, his blessing to these negotiations. There are also reports, though, that he's very sick. We don't know what his health is. We don't even know whether he will last as long as these negotiations do.

CAMEROTA: That's interesting. He's also just recently in the past 24 hours, talked about the letter from the 47 GOP senators. He's called it U.S. tricks. So rhetorically, he's not always conciliatory.

BEINART: No. This is a man who's been very hostile to the United States his entire political career. And yet, he seems to be giving the negotiators the room, at least for now, to potentially cut a deal.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk about this man. This is President Rouhani. What's his significance in the negotiations?

BEINART: So, President Rouhani was elected in a surprise victory, primarily to relieve the sanctions and the economic pain that was really, really hurting the Iranian economy. And Rouhani seems to believe that the only way to restore the Iranian economy he was elected to try to fix, is to cut a deal with the United States and the other major powers to lift some of these sanctions.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk about this person. This is the foreign minister. This is Secretary Kerry's counterpart in these negotiations. What's his role been?

BEINART: His role has been very important. He and Kerry have spent a lot of time together reportedly developed quite a good working relationship, and Zarif is himself a western-educated guy, somebody who presents a better face for the regime than they have in the past. And he's going to be a really critical player in terms of whether they can actually iron out these details.

CAMEROTA: He's also the one who said that he was astonished by the GOP letter. Those were his words. Let's talk about Benjamin Netanyahu. He is opposed to this deal. How much sway does he hold in all of these negotiations?

BEINART: He holds a considerable amount of sway. He's a very popular figure in Congress, especially among Republicans. You saw when he spoke there last week. Benjamin Netanyahu has always said that an Iranian nuclear weapon would be an existential threat to Israel. And Israel is also a nuclear power himself. He doesn't want to no longer be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East.

CAMEROTA: OK. King Salman of Saudi Arabia. What's he doing with these negotiations?

BEINART: The Saudis have reportedly been very skeptical of these negotiations and very concerned about Iran getting near a nuclear weapon. Saudi Arabia is the most powerful, in some ways, Sunni country in the Gulf, has been a traditional rival of Iran's. They're concerned about Iran -- Iranian power, and they're concerned about the United States, which has been a very close ally with Saudi Arabia, no longer being as dependent on Saudi Arabia if we grow closer to Iran.

CAMEROTA: So how is Secretary Kerry navigating that, the Saudi Arabian concerns?

BEINART: Secretary Kerry has been spending a lot of time with the Saudis and other Gulf leaders trying to reassure them. There's also been talk about what kind of additional security guarantees the U.S. might offer to Saudi Arabia to protect them from the Iranian threat.

CAMEROTA: OK. One last interesting person here. Obviously, we know who President Obama is. We know that this is the author of the letter of the 47 senators. But how about Senator Bob Menendez? What has been his role in all of this?

BEINART: Very interesting. Bob Menendez is the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's a Democrat, but he's been a real thorn in President Obama's side, because he's been a critic of these negotiations and has pushed for sanctions, which the Obama administration doesn't want.

Interestingly, he's also now facing an investigation, a corruption investigation, and so his role politically, whether he survives this and whether he continues to rally Democrats against the Obama administration, will be something to watch.

CAMEROTA: Peter Beinart, thanks so much. Great to get all of your information.

Let's go over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: Excellent context there. Thanks so much for that.

Ahead, we're going to head back to Chris in Ferguson, but first, we have riveting testimony in the Boston Marathon bombing trial. The man who was carjacked by the Tsarnaev brothers tells jurors about what he says was the most difficult decision of his life. We'll have his harrowing story, next.

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