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Terrorists Attack American Factory in France; Interview with Governor Bobby Jindal; ; Interview with Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley and South Carolina U.S. Congressman Jim Clyburn. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 26, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I would just add to that that the Lyon area has been a hotbed for radicalization, especially the suburbs around Lyon, in recent years.

What's interesting is he was under surveillance from 2006 to 2008 for possible radicalization. But in 2008 after no signs of any further trouble from this young man, in fact he was dropped from the surveillance rolls. And there was nothing to indicate since that he was involved with any radical groups until this morning, of course. Michaela, John?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much for those breaking details for us, Jim Bittermann.

President Obama we know has been briefed on this terror attack in France. Sunlen Serfaty is live at the White House. So the president has been made aware?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Michaela. He was briefed early this morning here at the White House by members of his national security team. As you know, that's hours before his daily presidential briefing which takes place late morning. So clearly members of his national security team believe that this information, this news about this attack in France, rose to the level to alert him ahead of time, especially noteworthy since it was of course an American company.

Now before this attack, it was just this week on Wednesday when President Obama spoke on the phone with President Hollande. They were speaking about NSA spying allegations at that time. But during that phone call, the White House said the two leaders did talk about shared threats, including the threat of international terrorism. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sunlen Serfaty for us at the White House this morning.

You know, there are a number of serious terrorist incidents dotting the globe this morning. We are following major developments. ISIS is claiming responsibility for a deadly explosion at a Shia mosque in Kuwait City. There are multiple casualties. The terrorist apparently detonated a suicide belt inside the mosque. We are learning much more about an attack in Tunisia, an attack on tourists there. Hotels reportedly under attack at this very moment in the resort town of Susa, security forces exchanging fire with the attackers. According to the ministry of interior, it is unclear how many guests have been killed or injured, but there are reports of 13 victims. This latest attack comes three months after ISIS opened fire on the Bardo museum in the capital of Tunis. More than 20 people, mostly tourists, died in that previous attack.

PEREIRA: Joining us now is Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst. Peter, obviously you've been watching our breaking news along with us. I want to turn first to the situation that we're seeing unfold in France. There are details emerging by the minute. And I also want to talk about some of the other things going on around the globe.

The latest information we're getting is that the company, the factory, Peter, that was attacked in Paris is linked to an American company. It's an American owned company, Allentown, Pennsylvania. In fact we have a statement from that company. I want to read it to you in part from Air Products. I think we can pull it up on our screen. "They say we can confirm that an incident occurred at our facility in France this morning. Our priority is to take care of our employees who have been evacuated from the site and all are accounted for." Your initial thoughts on the connection to this American company, Peter?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I was very surprised to hear about the attack on a chemical or gas factory in France because typically terrorists that we've seen with these sort of jihadist views are not attacking these kinds of facilities. Now, the fact that it's American, suddenly the mystery clears up. And that may very well have been the motivation here.

But typically when we've seen terrorist attacks in Europe, they're usually against targets that are more symbolic, whether it's the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine back in January or the London transportation system as we saw on July 7th, 2005. So this is a little bit out of the ordinary to go after an American commercial facility. One can only hope that it doesn't become a trend.

PEREIRA: Certainly. Now, our Jim Bittermann reporting just moments ago that this area near Lyon, about 25 miles, I understand, from Lyon, is known as a bit of a hotbed for radicalization, certainly on the radar for counterterrorism efforts there in France. What more can you tell us?

BERGEN: I think France clearly has a problem with a group of people. We've seen something like 1,500 French citizens travel to Syria to join groups like ISIS. It's the largest group of Europeans. There's no indication as yet that the suspect in this case actually traveled to Syria. But I think it's indicative of a larger problem in France of the radicalization that exists as we saw in the Paris attacks where three individuals killed, 17 Parisians in the course of 36 hours of attacks.

And, Michaela, a very significant statistic that is useful when we think about this is about 10 percent of the French population is Muslim. About 70 percent of their prison population is Muslim. So you've got a disadvantaged group of people who are marginalized, don't feel a part of French society. That's not of course true for all French Muslims, but that's the kind of ecosystem in which these groups and these ideas percolate.

[08:05:19] PEREIRA: Interesting concept. We're learning a few things about one of the suspects. He has been named as Yassin Salhi, 30 years old from the Lyon area. We understand he was under surveillance from 2006, Peter, until 2008, but was dropped from the program because he was not after that time showing signs of radicalization. He is in custody. They've also linked him to the Salafist movement. Tell us more about that.

BERGEN: Salafism isn't at all necessarily violent. There are literally tens of millions of people who would describe themselves as Salafist, which basically means people who follow the example of the early companions of the prophet. They tend to be very conservative, ultra-fundamentalist, but it isn't necessarily violent.

What we are concerned about are Salafist jihadists which are a much more small group. But here's the way to think about it, Michaela -- anybody who's a jihadist is always a Salafist. Very few Salafists are jihadists. In the same way that you think about Christian fundamentalists in this country, almost anybody who attacks an abortion clinic is a Christian fundamentalist, but very few Christian fundamentalists attack abortion clinics. So that's the way to sort of think about Salafism.

PEREIRA: It's important to point out here, though, that this man had been tracked. It's an eerie similarity to the Kouachi brothers who perpetrated the horrifying attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and then killing 17 people. They had been surveiled. They'd been under surveillance by authorities, but someone had dropped off the radar. What's the disconnect in France? Why are they struggling to keep track of these people?

BERGEN: I can't think of a single major terrorism case which very few exceptions that somebody hasn't been on the radar green. Think about Garland, Texas, where we had one of the two had been the subject of considerable FBI interest and in fact had been charged with lying to the FBI about his plans to go to Somalia. And so almost invariably somebody who is a suspect in one of these crimes has come to the attention of law enforcement. Think about the Boston bombers. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the subject of an FBI investigation, the brother, and the list goes on and on.

The point is, Michaela, you can't run investigations on people for years and years and years without a real predicate. And clearly they didn't have it. This guy sort of went silent for a while and went underground, and suddenly he pops up again.

PEREIRA: Final quick thought for you. We know there are seven dead in that Tunisia attack at the beach resort. There's also multiple casualties at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait. And we see the situation at that factory in Grenoble, France. Is there some sort of a coordinated effort to this attack the today?

BERGEN: I don't know. But the attack in Kuwait is pretty unusual, but it's pretty similar to the attack on the Shia mosques that we've seen in Saudi Arabia in this last several week which were ISIS directed or inspired. So unfortunately this is a pattern that we keep seeing again and again.

PEREIRA: Unfortunately it is. Peter Bergen, we appreciate it. A tough day, and we appreciate you giving us some context. All right, over to you, John.

BERMAN: All right, Michaela, thanks so much.

At least three serious terror attacks we're tracking right now. Let's discuss the world implications, the domestic implications as well with the newest presidential candidate, Republican governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal. Governor, thanks so much for being with us.

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL, (R-LA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John, good morning. Thank you for having me.

BERMAN: We are getting news this morning of a terror attack in France near Lyon on an American company. The suspects apparently tried to drive a car with explosives into this American company. There was someone beheaded outside the factory. The head posted on the fence outdoors, a gruesome attack. Sir, you want to be president of the United States dealing with this international terror issue. I wonder if I can get your reaction this morning?

JINDAL: Sure. A couple things. One, obviously a horrific attack. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim's family. This is a company with locations in Louisiana. Obviously a horrific, horrific act.

A couple of things. One, our next commander in chief needs to be committed to truly hunting down and killing these terrorists. Our current commander in chief, President Obama, for whatever reason, does not like to name the enemy that we're facing, does not like to talk about radical Islamic terrorism. Too often he talks about in terms of containment and degradation. That's not a --

BERMAN: Sir, he has killed a lot of terrorists. He has ordered the killing with drones of a lot of terrorists. A lot of people on the left saying he's going too far on that front.

JINDAL: I don't think he's gone far enough in terms of hunting down and killing not only ISIS but other radical Islamic terrorists. We could be doing more to arm and training the Kurds. We could do more to give confidence to our Sunni allies in the region that we're in this to win this conflict. Many of them worry that if they help to beat ISIS, they fear they're just going to prop up Assad in Syria which helps Iran.

[08:10:12] Third, he's gone to Congress and said in this authorization of the use of military force, he wants a three year deadline, a ban on ground troops, maybe the only commander in chief I can remember who always tells our enemy what we're not going to do instead of saying what we are going to do.

I know he loves to wage a war on trans-fat. He loves to apologize for America, criticizing medieval Christians. I'd like him to say very directly that Islam has got a problem. That problem is radical Islam. I'd like to hear the president say that individual Islamic clerics and leaders, they have got to condemn the individual terrorist, not generic acts of violence. Make it clear these individuals are not martyrs who are going to enjoy a reward in the afterlife. Rather, they're going straight to hell.

And secondly, they embrace the religious liberty and other rights of other people of different religiously beliefs than their own. Secondly, I think there's an issue about assimilation. I was listening to your previous conversation with Peter and others about the fact that second and third generation immigrants in many of these European countries, in France and other countries, they don't consider themselves part of those societies, those cultures. We cannot allow that to happen in America. I think it is common sense to say if you're going to come to our country, you cannot use our freedoms to undermine the same freedoms we grant to everybody.

BERMAN: I know this will be a big part of your presidential campaign, your day old president campaign. And governor, we'd like to welcome you officially to the race. The good news is I think you have the best campaign sign I've ever seen. I love the "Go Bobby" sign. We have a picture of it there. Congratulations for that. That's the good news.

The bad news is you're losing to Donald Trump in New Hampshire by a lot. You're 15th in the polls there. How do you explain right now sort of how far back you are?

JINDAL: Look, a couple of things. Thank you for the compliments on the sign and welcoming me into the race. A couple of things. Polls don't frighten me. If they did, if polls scare me, I never would have run for governor. I was polling within of the margin of error of zero when I first started running for office. We won two landslide elections statewide in Louisiana, set records. If I were scared about polls I never would have privatized or charity hospital system in Louisiana, never would have cut my state budget 26 percent, never would have gotten rid of over 30,000 state government bureaucrats, grown our economy. We're a top 10 state for private sector job creation, never would have done statewide school choice, nearly 100 percent enrollment in charter schools in New Orleans. John, I think voters in New Hampshire and Iowa across the country are looking for dramatic change in D.C.

BERMAN: Let's talk about voters in Louisiana and perhaps one poll that should be a cause of concern. President Obama is more popular in Louisiana right now than you are, his job approval rating higher than yours. And this is a guy who lost by 17 points in your state. Have your own voters turned against you?

JINDAL: No. John, we call them parishes, not counties. I won every single parish in my last election in Louisiana. We set a record for the margin of vote we got. It's easy to be a popular politician. You kiss babies, you cut ribbons, you don't make big changes. We've got politicians in D.C. including the president who follow polls. That's not leadership.

Our country is in deep trouble. This president is turning the American dream into the European nightmare. We are on a path towards socialism. We've got a new entitlement program called Obamacare. We can't afford the ones we've got. You've got Jeb Bush saying you've got to lose the primary to win the general. What that really means is you've got Republicans saying we've got to abandon our conservative principles.

I disagree with that. Let's embrace what we see. Let's repeal Obamacare. Let's shrink the size of the federal government. Let's grow the private sector economy. We need a doer, not a talker. We've got a lot of talkers in this race. We've got a talker in the White House right now. He needed on the job training. We need somebody with proven results. I would put up not only my record of results in Louisiana, eight credit upgrades, more people working and living in Louisiana than ever before, record incomes, record per capita income ranking. After 25 years of out migration, seven years in a row of in migration, that's the kind of dramatic change we need in D.C.

That's why I said at my announcement I'm asking people to join a cause, not just a campaign. This is about rescuing and preserving the American dream for our children.

BERMAN: I want to talk about one of the conservative principles I know you take very seriously. In less than two hours the Supreme Court could declare gay marriage is a constitutional right. You have spoken out against this very loudly over the last several months and years. If the Supreme Court does so rule, and a lot of people expect they will, will you try to stop it somehow or get in the way in Louisiana?

JINDAL: Well, John, let's look at what the ruling is. In our state, the definition of marriage between a man and a woman is in our state constitution. It's been upheld by a federal judge. You're exactly right, my Christian faith teaches me marriage is between a man and a woman. I am for both religious liberty. I'm for keeping the traditional definition of marriage. I'm not evolving like President Obama and Secretary Clinton done with the polls.

[08:15:00] But I also think that one of the bigger issues that doesn't get as much attention in this is the potential impact on religious liberty.

Right now, you've got Christian business owners who are being discriminated against because they don't want to violate their conscience, caterers, musicians, florists, that don't want to participate in wedding ceremonies that violate their religious beliefs. I think it's very important we protect their rights.

BERMAN: And --

JINDAL: You can have religious liberty without discrimination.

BERMAN: And you have signed an executive order in Louisiana to provide that right, sort of RFRA law by executive order. You talk about Christian-owned companies. You know, IBM, it is a public company with a lot of Christians who owned stocks, and they come out against your executive order down there. They say that it's "a bill that legally protects discrimination based on same sex status and will create a hostile environment for our current and prospective employees." The statement goes on.

You know, a lot of business, and I know you're a pro-business governor who say that what you're doing down there fighting same sex marriage in some cases, you know, is hurting business.

JINDAL: I'd say a couple of things. One, we already have a RFRA law. It's a bipartisan piece of legislation. We passed in our first, I did an executive order saying the state cannot discriminate against businesses for having a traditional view of marriage between a man and a woman. To me that's common sense. It's in our First Amendment.

America didn't create religious liberty. Religious liberty created the United States of America. I'm thrilled IBM is creating 800 jobs in Baton Rouge, hundreds of jobs in Monroe. The reality is, I've said very clearly to any company, they're not going to be able to bully me the way they try to bully the folks in Indiana and Arkansas to back off of religious liberty.

We can our First Amendment rights. We can have religious liberty without discrimination and grow our economy.

Corporate America needs to be careful about getting into bed with the radical left who wants to tax and regulate them out of business. The Republican Party does not need to be the party of big business. We're not a party of big government. It's a fundamental constitutional right.

So, I don't think we have to choose between our First Amendment rights and economic growth. We can have both in Louisiana.

BERMAN: Governor Jindal, thanks so much for being with us. Welcome to the race. We're about to lose our satellite feed. So I have to say a very quick goodbye to you. So, Governor Jindal, thanks so much.

JINDAL: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: All right. Let's get straight to Alisyn Camerota in Charleston.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, John.

Here in Charleston, South Carolina, the city is preparing for the funeral of State Senator Clementa Pinckney. He, of course, was the pastor of Mother Emanuel Church that you see right behind me and he was killed here last week. One of nine victims of that massacre.

Also this morning, we're learning new details about the confessed gunman. According to police, they had questioned him three months before this attack. And at that time, parts of an AR-15 assault rifle were found in his car. Police also found six 40-bullet clips of ammunition. The suspect reportedly telling officers that he wanted an AR-15 but he could not afford it.

But today, the focus here is on the victims, especially Pastor Pinckney. Hundreds of people are already in line. They're gathering here as they did last night for Pastor Pinckney's viewing. Then, hundreds of people stood in this long line that wrapped all the way around the block.

We met one family who had driven 12 hours from Mississippi to be here. They did not know Pastor Pinckney or really anyone at this church, but they felt called to be here. The mom telling us she wanted her teenage son to experience this moment in their black history.

When our live coverage from South Carolina continues, we'll have much more. And we'll ask the question of what's next? How will Charleston move forward after this tragedy? One man has been in charge of this city for 40 years and he's live on NEW DAY, next.

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[08:21:03] CAMEROTA: I'm live here in Charleston, South Carolina, where thousands will gather to honor state senator and pastor, Clementa Pinckney. But what happens after this funeral?

I want to bring in now, Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley.

You have been mayor here for 40 years. Just incredible, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for being here.

MAYOR JOSEPH RILEY (D), CHARLESTON, SC: Thirty-nine and a half.

CAMEROTA: Thirty-nine and a half. All right. You're right, who's counting?

But let's talk about what's happening in your city today. How do you explain the mood that you're seeing here behind you?

RILEY: Well, this is a city of wonderful citizens and one where we've spent years building avenues of affection and respect with each other in neighborhoods to engage the community together. So, what you're seeing over the last few days is a human infrastructure of a community that is together in support of each other.

But I will tell you, the outpouring of love and unity and the way it has manifested has been one of the most amazing and heartwarming sights of my life from 15,000 people holding hands across a bridge to unaccountable over evidence of people together and love and unity -- the opposite of that hateful man who came from 110 miles away with hate. What this community has responded to is with love. It's amazing.

CAMEROTA: We've seen it as well. It is absolutely remarkable. What we've seen here in Charleston, in South Carolina.

Let's bring in Congressman Clyburn who's joining us right now.

Welcome. Hi, Thanks for showing up.

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: Great to see you this morning.

CAMEROTA: Great to see you as well.

I know you spoke to President Obama after the massacre here. Did he tell you why it was so important for him to come here today?

CLYBURN: These are my people.

CAMEROTA: That's what he said?

CLYBURN: That's what he said to me. He remembered them when I started calling off the names and his voice cracked and he said, these are my people. And so I was not surprised when I heard that he was coming down to do the eulogy.

CAMEROTA: And we know that Vice President Joe Biden feels and says the same thing here.

CLYBURN: Sure. He and Clementa was very, very close.

CAMEROTA: Is that the right that the vice president and the pastor were?

CLYBURN: Yes, in fact, the last time -- time before last I was with Clementa, he was with Vice President Biden at a prayer breakfast.

RILEY: I was in a study a few days ago doing a church service, and had to go down to answer my phone and there was a picture in Reverend Pinckney's study of the vice president and Reverend Pinckney together. He was close with the president and the vice president.

CAMEROTA: Mayor, you said 40 years ago that you sought this job to help build a bridge between black and white people. Do you feel today, seeing what you're seeing, that you've accomplished that?

RILEY: Yes, I'm so proud. And the bridge is lots of bridges and lots of strand of affection and respect and lots of housing and neighborhood initiatives and engaging the community and people engaged, and bringing in people of every facet and working with Congressman Clyburn with building an International African-American Museum. We never let up on that. What I wanted this to be a great city, but it had to be a just city first.

CAMEROTA: And you have accomplished that. Yet, there's so much more work to be done.

RILEY: Of course.

CLYBURN: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: We have some statistics about what South Carolina looks like. South Carolina poverty rate for whites 13 percent. For blacks, 30 percent. South Carolina per capita income 28,000 for whites, 15,000 for blacks.

Congressman, after this funeral what will you go back to Congress and do? What can you change now? CLYBURN: Well, I have been working for the last four or five years trying to get some targeted formula funding into communities like the communities surrounding Charleston.

CAMEROTA: And what would they do?

CLYBURN: Well, to look at the poverty rate in these communities and fund them according to the poverty rate. I've been calling the 10, 20, 30, that is 10 percent of all the money in this account must go to those communities where 20 percent or more of the population are stuck beneath the poverty level for the last 30 years.

[08:25:10] I've written an essay on it. Harvard Law School published it. I've had a hearing before the Republicans.

CAMEROTA: And so, infusing money into the community, what would that do?

CLYBURN: You extend broadband. Not just money. We're talking about creating jobs. We're talking about health care. You start getting broadband, connecting people to the world.

You know, the school district not far from here started Brown v. Board of Education. The last time I was in that district, the adoption rate for broadband was only 32 percent. Now, that says to me too many children in that school district are still locked off from the rest of the world. So you target the resources.

You don't add one dime to the deficit. All we're saying is if you appropriate a hundred million dollars, 10 percent of it should go into these communities. We aren't talking about just black communities. We're talking about communities in West Virginia, in Kentucky where people are not black, but they are poor.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Poverty is everywhere. It's not a black issue.

RILEY: And this tragedy enhanced this is discussion which is need. There's been a relatively national pause on many of these issues. Congressman has been up there and fighting brilliantly and articulately.

But this is -- I think the president is here because he is heartbroken at the loss of a special friend, but he's here to speak to the American people about our country and what next and what more we need to do.

CAMEROTA: It's been 40 years for you at the helm. Are you sure you want to give it up? Are you sure you're ready to go?

RILEY: I love my work. I don't want to over stay my welcome.

CLYBURN: Well, he didn't want to give it up, I promise you. But he knows it's time to pass the baton. This guy has been a great mayor. I've enjoyed serving with him.

We got to know each other back in 1970, a long time before he became mayor. And we've been good friends ever since.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, thank you. Thanks so much. Pleasure to see you.

Mr. Mayor, best of luck to you.

RILEY: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: We'll bring you more from Charleston if we have it.

For the time being, let's go back to you, Michaela.

PEREIRA: Difficult to have to end his term in this fashion, but I'm glad he's there to be part of the unity that we're seeing forming in South Carolina. Thanks so much for that, Alisyn.

We're also following breaking news, two terror attacks this morning. Tourists murdered at a hotel attack in Tunisia. That situation is still unfolding, and a horrifying situation in an American owned factory in France, a beheading there. We have live reports on both of these breaking stories for you, next.

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