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CNN NEWSROOM

ISIS Declares Victory in Key Iraq City; U.S. Raid Kills Notorious ISIS Commander; Biker Gang Shootout Erupts in Texas; Can Passenger Jets Get Hacked?; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 18, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Still questions about what caused the train to derail. Who, if anyone, was at fault? For now, Gaines is not looking for those answers.

JACQUELINE GAINES, WIDOW OF AMTRAK CRASH VICTIM: Whatever explanation the city can give, or the company, it doesn't matter. I think it's -- at this point, you know, that's not something I'm concerned about because he's gone.

[10:00:05] You know, I'm sure once we get past the initial shock of all of this, we'll want to know some answers and have some details, but will it bring him back? Of course not. So I'm just more concerned about our kids.

CARROLL: Gaines, who always gave so much of his heart to others, his coworkers now wanting to give back to his family. They've set up a memorial fund for his two children.

GAINES: The fact that we know that they're thinking of Jim and his kids is just -- it gives me a sense of (INAUDIBLE). I just feel the compassion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, ISIS with a big win in western Iraq taking control of Ramadi. Why some believe recovering from the loss of this key city could take a long time.

Plus, major arrests. A biker shootout in Waco, Texas, ends with nearly 200 taken into police custody. And a police officer cleaning up the scene calls it the worst he's ever seen.

And laughing or cringing. Comedian Lewis C.K.'s monologue on "SNL" creating some controversy. Did he go too far?

Let's talk, live in the "CNN NEWSROOM."

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin with a fight against ISIS. The terror group taking control of a key Iraqi city of Ramadi. That's just 80 miles away from Baghdad. The same place U.S. troops once fought and died to defend.

Officials say militants have used bulldozers laced with explosives and suicide bombers to push back Iraqi forces. Thousands are now forced to run for their lives. More than 500 people have already been killed in recent days.

Let's bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh to tell us more.

Hi, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, many fleeing for their lives in the past few days as well. The fear being that now ISIS seemed for the most part militarily at least to have control of Ramadi. They will begin what they normally do in populated areas which is kill those who they consider to be disloyal towards them.

The coalition has used substantial airpower in the last 24 hours. 19 air strikes around Ramadi. Perhaps trying to stem ISIS's progress. ISIS seemed to be continuing to move eastwards in the direction of Baghdad, not actually physically close to it at this stage. But the fear is at this stage quite what kind of response the Iraqi government can mount to this advance.

Now there have been a long fight for Ramadi. Iraqi Security Forces in a lengthy battle to try and hold it, but it was over the weekend that ISIS used 13 suicide bombers at least, bulldozers to barge their way in, really bloody end, it seems, and then Iraqi Security Forces pictured leaving en mass. The question being now, some of those were the most elite divisions. What were they lacking? Were they lacking numbers? Were they lacking the will power? Were they lacking ammunition to continue that fight?

Baghdad now turning to Iran, it seems. Its defense minister flying in just now to meet with his counterpart, according to Iraqi TV, and turning to Shia militia, offered them, most of them backed by Iran, too. The worry now that if that Shia militia massing its head near Ramadi do try and fight their way in, they will be working in a predominantly Sunni area, now predominantly Shia, and that sectarian loathing that we're seeing across the Middle East now could well find a very unpleasant moment there in Ramadi.

But at this stage, the U.S. I think having said Ramadi wasn't important for a while trying to catch up with itself and work out what its next stage could be. The key point here, Carol, this was supposed to be the next place that ISIS was kicked out of. Instead, it's the next place that ISIS has in fact taken -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Secretary of State John Kerry says there is reason ISIS has been able to take Ramadi. There are not enough Iraqi forces in that area yet. Kerry putting the emphasis on the word yet. And he said that this morning while talking in South Korea. The Obama administration believes it is making strides, though, against the terrorist group in other parts of the country.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is at the White House to tell us about that.

Good morning.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, U.S. officials have recently been taking pains to downplay the significance of Ramadi saying that they're just not all that focused on this one city and certainly U.S. officials are downplaying the significance of ISIS advances there over the weekend. A Pentagon spokesperson saying that this doesn't mean that the tide of the campaign has shifted noting that there are always ebbs and flows in their words on the battlefield and Secretary of State John Kerry traveling in South Korea. He said in essence that it doesn't mean that this fight for Ramadi is over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:05:09] JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: It is possible to have gun attack we've seen in Ramadi but I am absolutely confident in the days ahead that will be reversed. Large numbers of Daesh were killed in the last few days and will be in the next days because that seems to be the only thing they understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And on Friday before ISIS really took over the majority of control in Ramadi, the White House did announce, Carol, that they were expediting weapon shipments into Iraq. That in addition to these coalition airstrikes will continue.

But I should point out, just Friday the White House spokesperson also said that the momentum of ISIS has been blunted. This certainly undercuts that argument -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty reporting live from the White House this morning.

U.S. Special Forces takes down the so-called money man of ISIS. The Pentagon says Abu Sayyaf was among a group of militants killed by the Army's elite Delta Force during a daring weekend raid in eastern Syria.

Here's what we know. Commandos dropped into the target area with the help of Blackhawk helicopters. That's when a fierce firefight took place on the ground. It's believed militants tried to use human shields. No civilians were killed. And officials say Sayyaf's wife was captured. She's now being detained in Iraq for interrogation.

So let's talk more about this operation with former Navy SEAL and former FBI special agent, Jonathan Gilliam.

Thanks, Jonathan, for being with me this morning.

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So some people say these targets were worthy and others say they were not. What do you say? GILLIAM: Well, I say that it's a worthy target. What is bothering me

that a lot of people are not talking about, though, is that as JSOC goes forward and starts hitting these leaders of ISIS and those are key people. The CFO of ISIS can cause a lot of problems. Whenever you mess with the money that is involved in operations and large scale operation, you cause major issues in the enemy's ability to wage warfare.

But what confuses me greatly is the rest of the war plan. What we see in Ramadi, what we've seen in Yemen recently, all these different things. It doesn't seem like there's a coordinated war plan and listening to Secretary of State Kerry there a second ago didn't fill me with any confidence whatsoever, especially when you have such incredible talent as JSOC shows as opposed to what's happening not that far away in Ramadi where a complete loss of a city.

COSTELLO: I thought probably many people would agree with you. Let's concentrate on what happened in Syria. Supposedly Delta Forces took out these two great targets, right?

GILLIAM: Right.

COSTELLO: Something else happened over Syria that I found kind of interesting. This is according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. That's an organization. They started dropping these leaflets over Syria threatening ISIS, and the leaflet said, quote, "We kill a lot of your leaders and countless fighters. We can wage you anytime and anywhere. You are powerless to stop us. We're not going to stop and your destiny is to lose this war. Your end is approaching and zero hour is very close."

Does that sort of stuff work?

GILLIAM: It does work. It's very effective also for the surrounding communities to realize that when we're coming in, that they better take cover. You know, you have to realize in those areas superstitions and stories that are a thousand years old really lead a lot of the things that these people do on a daily basis. So when they know a mighty fighting force is coming and they see these types of leaflets, psychological warfare, you know, ISIS isn't the only one that plays that game and probably nobody plays it better than we do.

And when you follow that up with a very strategic hit, which we just had, it does send ripples through the whole system of ISIS and that is one of the things that really stands out about this operation, these incredible individuals going in and just taking out --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Absolutely. But Syria seems to be an insurmountable mess at the moment.

GILLIAM: It is. And that's why you see pinpoint strikes like this where they go in and take out a portion of the leadership rather than go in and waging a full combat war. We don't -- obviously that's not part of the strategic plan that they have as we were just talking about. So it's very important for these key figures to be taken out and nobody will do that better.

COSTELLO: Do you believe they are key figures? I mean, one of the targets died, right, this Abu Sayyaf. Right?

GILLIAM: That's right.

COSTELLO: He was supposedly in charge of selling oil and gas on the black market. But there would be many, many others in charge of doing that as well, right?

GILLIAM: Sure.

COSTELLO: So they've taken his wife as well. We don't know what her real name is.

GILLIAM: Right.

COSTELLO: Abu Sayyaf isn't his real name, right?

GILLIAM: Right. Right.

COSTELLO: So they are getting set to interrogate her. Will she be willing to impart information?

GILLIAM: She eventually will be willing. I mean, you know, one thing I say is when -- if somebody has never been in a firefight before and then we find this with people that we interview is that once they go through something like that, they are already somewhat broken down especially when there's been tragedy around them and somebody has gotten shot that they, you know, were with. And so you take them out of the battlefield, you put them into a situation they never have been into that you're handling.

[10:10:10] And we're not talking about, you know, using torture on people. We're talking about interrogation and interviewing. And you can, you know, fluctuate the whole system that they're in, whatever is most effective in order to get the information out of them. So I have no doubts in the experience and expertise of the people that are interviewing her.

COSTELLO: So she's going to be questioned in Iraq. She's an Iraqi citizen. So why Iraq? Why not some other place? You couldn't do it in Syria obviously. Right?

GILLIAM: Exactly. You know, the system that they have in place is one system that we don't have to turn around and start reacting like saying we have this person, what do we do? We have a system in place of where and when we interview and interrogate people that is already set in place. You know, Guantanamo now is closing. That system is closing down. There's other systems that are still in place that work very well.

After an operation like this, it's less reactive and more active because we've had 15 years to re-evaluate what works and what doesn't and we're getting very good at that. And that's why you see these missions turn around because, you know, parts of the mission are very fluid. What happens before the mission and what happens after the mission are very regimented in what we do in order to create a mission and turn a mission around.

COSTELLO: Jonathan Gilliam, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

GILLIAM: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a deadly biker brawl. Nine dead. More than 150 people in custody. The latest on the investigation next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:28] COSTELLO: Nine people are dead and more than 150 in custody following a deadly gunfight in Waco, Texas. Police calling the scene gruesome. Rival gang members shooting at each other and then opening fire on officers. The chaos unfolding outside a busy restaurant before the bullets, fists, clubs, even chains were used as weapons.

Nick Valencia is near the active scene, the active investigation this morning. What are you seeing, Nick?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Still a heavy police presence here. An active crime scene. We can spot also, you know, heavy presence from state police, everyone from local, state and federal agencies all playing a part. We also know right now just a short time ago those 170 people, about 170 people have been arrested. They are currently being processed in the local court. All of them will be charged with engaging in organized crime. Some will face capital murder charges.

Police tell me that this whole incident started about 12:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon inside that Twin Peaks Restaurant and quickly escalated spilling onto the parking lot. Police knew that there was going to be a meeting of these motorcycle gangs. That's why they anticipated trouble. They were still on site but that didn't stop the gangs from shooting at each other and engaging in this mealy.

Also a concern today is a threat against law enforcement. Credible threats, police say, against their lives, hits being put out by local biker gangs, they say. They spoke about that earlier at a press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. PATRICK SWANTON, WACO POLICE DEPARTMENT: We are working with many partners in law enforcement here. One of those partners is our TABC, which is our Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Those officers are here and assisting and running in a parallel investigation, a separate investigation. They have confirmed with me this morning that they are doing a shutdown of Twin Peaks for seven days.

This is a very important part of being able to keep our community safe. We were receiving information that individuals may be on the way here to try and back up their motorcycle gang brothers. We have been made aware of that. We certainly think that is credible information and we're on the lookout for that as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Now to limit that threat, Carol, they've established a pretty secure perimeter around this strip mall only allowing law enforcement and media inside. And while they say there is no threat to the public, they are concerned about the threat against police officers. You heard the officer, Sergeant Swanton, say that the Twin Peaks Restaurant will be closed for the next seven days. All of these businesses here in this strip mall around us are also closed for the time being -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Valencia, reporting live from Waco, Texas, this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, we know hackers can take control of things like your computer and your smartphone. But now a cybersecurity expert claims he's figured out how to hack into passenger jets.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:21:46] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories at 21 minutes past the hour. It's still not clear what caused a military aircraft to make a hard landing at an air force base in Hawaii. One Marine is dead, 21 others injured in Sunday's accident. The crash sent thick black smoke into the air. The Marine Corps says the members were taking part in routine training.

Under Armour is pulling its Iwo Jima T-shirt off store shelves. The controversial shirt dubbed "Band of Ballers" depicts basketball players raising a hoop in the style of the famous photograph of Marines lifting an American flag during the battle of Iwo Jim 70 years ago. The apparel maker has also apologized for invoking the World War II battle in which thousands of Marines were killed.

Experts say hackers can potentially take control of passenger jets. Seriously. And one man claims he's already done it nearly two dozen times. The FBI now investigating a cybersecurity consultant who says he hacked into computer systems aboard airliners and actually managed to take control of the aircraft during a flight.

CNN's justice correspondent Evan Perez live in Washington with more on this.

This is disturbing, Evan.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It almost makes you not want to fly anymore, Carol. Chris Roberts is the name of this cybersecurity researcher. He said that modern airplanes have a huge vulnerability from hackers. Now Roberts says that a security hole in inflight entertainment systems aboard three types of Boeing aircraft and one model made by Airbus. Now he says that hackers could actually take control of the aircraft and the FBI now says they're investigating him for potential computer crimes aboard flights.

Now this is all according to a search warrant application that was filed in court. Roberts told the FBI in February and March that he hacked into planes up to 20 times including at least once making a plane do a lateral move. Now no one has verified whether Roberts actually did any of this. He's not been arrested. And Boeing says there's actually no danger to passengers. We have a statement from them that says inflight entertainment systems on commercial airplanes are isolated from flight and navigation systems, and Roberts himself has now gone back on Twitter this weekend. He says the FBI has got it all wrong and, quote, he says, "Over the last five years my only interest has been to improve aircraft security. Given the current situation I've been advised against saying much." We'll see where this investigation goes -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So what should we believe? Did he take over the airplane or not?

PEREZ: You know, that's -- I've been asking people all weekend long. They say technically, technically now it is possible. And you know, the GAO, the Government Accountability Office, even warned about this possibility several weeks ago and just out of an abundance of caution the FBI has told airlines to be on the lookout for people trying to tamper with some of these controls onboard the planes.

The fact remains, though, that they don't know whether Roberts actually did this, which is why he's still free and still under investigation.

COSTELLO: Evan Perez reporting live from Washington. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, still to come in the NEWSROOM, the FBI arrives at the scene of that Amtrak crash and investigators will focus on this round crack on the right-hand side of the windshield. I'll be right back.

[10:25:04]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. A busy morning in Philadelphia where the deadly crash of that Amtrak train is developing on several fronts. Today FBI investigators will be on the scene to study a fist-sized spider web of shattered glass. One theory is the train was pelted by something, maybe a rock. Maybe a bullet. Who knows. Before it derailed.

In the meantime, funerals are scheduled today for three of the eight people killed in that horrifying crash. And after around the clock repairs, Amtrak resumes service along its Philadelphia-New York route. More than 300 workers also installed new safeguards including speed controls in the very same area where that train barreled off the tracks.

So a question this morning, was the Amtrak trip at risk from the minute engineer Brandon Bostian took the controls? The "Daily Beast" says Bostian considered by many to be a model employee was wrapping up an exhausting shift plagued by problems and delays.

Michael Daly is a special correspondent of that article for "The Daily Beast." Michael joins me now.

Welcome.

MICHAEL DALY, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE DAILY BEAST: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: So tell us the problems that Bostian was having on a previous train trip.

DALY: Well, I'm told by someone who swears that's the case and is in a position to know that when he was -- prior to the deadly run-up, he made a southbound run from New York to Washington in an Acela train. And I'm told that in the course of that trip, they had something called a cabin signal failure. I mean, who would know what that is, right? You talk to an engineer. The cabin signal failure means is that generally --