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CNN NEWSROOM

Heroes Hogtied Gunman on Train; Gunman Had Ties to ISIS; Standoff in the Korean Peninsula; Three U.S. Contractors Killed in Afghanistan; Actress Ellen Page Confronts Ted Cruz; Joe Biden Meets with Elizabeth Warren in Washington; 37 Million Ashley Madison Users Hacked; Police Looking Into Train Suspect's Travel; Former President Jimmy Carter Discusses His Cancer. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired August 22, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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


[13:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM. And it all starts right now.

All right. Hello, again, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. Two of three American heroes who prevented a massacre on a train in Europe are now headed to Paris to take a private phone call from the president of the United States. President Barack Obama.

Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos were scheduled to leave the French capital -- leave for the French capital, I should say, a short time ago. They'll be received at the presidential palace in Paris tomorrow as well. And Spencer Stone, the third American, well, he remains hospitalized after sustaining some injuries. So they, these three young men right here, along with a British national subdued a gunman who had emerged from a bathroom on a train from Amsterdam to Paris.

And now you're about to see exclusive video taken from inside the train. And you are going to see one person who appears fairly bloodied on the ground. That we understand is Spencer Stone who sustained injuries, and then you're also going to see someone who we now know is the gunman who is hogtied. Hopefully we can pull up that video for you. Meantime you're still looking at those three American heroes who are soon to be honored.

Well, earlier we heard from the British citizen -- the British national who helped out. He talked outside the hospital in Arras, France.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS NORMAN, SUBDUED GUNMAN ON TRAIN: I heard a shot. I heard some glass breaking, and then I saw somebody running down the aisle to the front of the train. I was facing towards the back. I then stood up to see what was happening. I saw a man with what I think was an AK- 47, anyway it was some kind of a machine gun or a submachine gun. So my first reaction was to sit down and hide. Then I heard one guy, an American, say go get him and I heard another American say, don't you do that buddy, or something like that. I think that was it. So then I decided that perhaps it was really the only time or only

chance was to act as a team and try to take over the terrorist, I suppose he's a terrorist. And so what I then did is I jumped up and I was actually the fourth person to begin working on the terrorist. The other person who was there before me was Anthony Sadler, who is the student.

I've clarified that Alek Skarlatos is from the National Guard in the United States and Spencer Stone is from the U.S. Air Force. Having done that -- sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you trained -- excuse me -- for that?

NORMAN: Was I trained for that?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes.

NORMAN: No. Not at all. I think it was actually very rapid reasoning because he had a Kalashnikov, he had a magazine full, I don't know how many magazines he had. And my thought was OK, I'm probably going to die anyway, so let's go.

What else is there to do? Either you sit down and you die or you get up and you die. It was really nothing more than that. I mean, we've seen enough of these kinds of attacks to understand that they will kill everybody once they get started. And my point of view was that two guys had already started working, doing and really started tackling him, maybe they needed some help. And my -- purely a survival. I said to myself, OK, maybe I have a chance if I get up and I help as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Incredible. That's Chris Norman there, the British national who then joined in on the three Americans that he was describing had already taken action, trying to take down that gunman. So let's bring in Nic Robertson. He's in France, outside the Arras police station.

So, Nic, what more do you know? You're joining us by phone now. What more do you know about the two Americans who'll be making their way to Paris for their phone call and where the investigation goes from there as well?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, as far as the investigation goes it's really happening not only in France where this man is now captive and taken to the French External Security headquarters in Paris where he's being questioned, the French authorities have (INAUDIBLE). They've got a name, they've got a nationality, they've got an age, 26, Moroccan, lived in Spain, (INAUDIBLE) Belgium this year. That much they've been able to piece together. They say they do need to check these details down, make sure that what they're being told by this gunman is in fact true.

What we've learned from the train company is that the gunman boarded the train in Brussels when it stopped en route from Amsterdam to Paris. And then not long after, that's when he started his gun attack.

[13:05:04] And here -- and the Belgians as well are launching their own counterterrorism investigation. They have concerns that an Islamist network that this man may have been associating with. It was already under investigation in Belgium and also concern that this man may have tried to go to Syria.

Again this is a matter of investigation, they don't have the details on this. They don't know if he was successful in doing that. So an emerging picture of somebody with Islamist connections and known to counterterrorism officials from Spain, from France and from Belgium. Somebody of -- who was on the radar here.

For the two uninjured Americans who are part of what now described as a heroic rescue attempt to bring him down and prevent him from killing so many people on the train. They're still here in the police station in Arras, in northern France. We're told that they are going to be going to Paris fairly soon. We're waiting outside the police station, trying to talk to them if they want to say something before they leave.

And just half an hour's drive away, their good friend, Spencer Stone, injured in that attack, took the lead in the attack to bring down the attacker. His hand badly injured and thumb badly severed and he's undergone surgery today at a specialist hand clinic to try and repair that damage. Whether or not he'll have to spend another night in the hospital, that's not clear at the moment -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Incredible detail on that. Thank you so much, Nic Robertson. Appreciate that from Arras, France.

All right. So the heroes have a huge story indeed to tell. CNN's Polo Sandoval is joining us from New York.

So, Polo, what more do we know about these young men? I spoke with the fathers of -- the father of Alek who says they go way back to middle school, they are buds, they are really like brothers, and they just wanted to have some good time together in Europe.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. Even from your conversation just now with Mr. Skarlatos, who said that basically the instinct kicked in for these three guys and they quickly switched into survival mode and you can now call them tourists turned heroes. And they're really that. Not only the rest of the country but really the whole world now quickly familiarizing themselves with these two men, and obviously the other individual that remains in surgery right now.

Again it all started on that high speed train yesterday as it zipped from Amsterdam to Paris. A shirtless man armed with a box cutter and several firearms managed to fire off a few rounds, quickly getting the attention of these two individuals who quickly sprang into action a few moments ago.

We also heard as well from one of these individuals, Alek Skarlatos, who was really doing some of the speaking right now for his friend who continues to undergo some surgeries before he pulls through. I want you to listen now, Fred, as really he just gives tremendous

credit to his friend that he was traveling with on the train yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY SADLER, SUBDUED GUNMAN ON TRAIN: He just reacted so quickly and so bravely. He was really the first one over there, even after being injured himself. He went to go help the other man who was bleeding also. Without his help, he would have died. That man was bleeding from the neck.

(CROSSTALK)

SADLER: He just went over there and saved his life as he was bleeding himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Fred, right now we are waiting hopefully to eventually hear back from Spencer Stone as he continues to recover. And then you also have Chris Norman. He's the British national here, Fred, really the backup for these three guys. He used his necktie to really restrain this individual before authorities could intervene.

Let's go ahead and listen to a bit of what he had to say earlier this morning.

WHITFIELD: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORMAN: We've seen enough of these kinds of attacks to understand that they will kill everybody once they get started. I said to myself, OK, maybe I have a chance if I get up and I help as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: So it's incredible, Fred. Finally I should mention just how humble not only these three young American men are, as well as the other British and this other Frenchman that we have not yet been told exactly who he is and what role he played, but really it's interesting because they call him heroes, they're very humble about it, these two, to even almost shrug it off but call them for help, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SANDOVAL: And they will likely answer.

WHITFIELD: Yes. I love what Chris Norman said. He said, you know what, I figured I was probably going to die. I'd die doing something than doing nothing.

SANDOVAL: Right.

WHITFIELD: Pretty powerful stuff. And then in the end they all survive it which is even better of course.

All right. Thank you so much, Polo Sandoval. Appreciate it.

SANDOVAL: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right. Meantime, in another part of the world, overseas. It looks like tensions between North and South Korea may be easing today. North Korea had given the South an ultimatum to stop its propaganda broadcast by this morning. Well, now both sides are holding talks. North Korea still has its frontline troops in what's being called a wartime state. Earlier in the week there was an exchange of artillery fire over the DMZ. The heavily fortified area separating the two.

[13:10:05] Well, CNN's Kyung Lah is near the DMZ.

So, Kyung, last we spoke, the talks have been going on for six hours. Where do they stand now?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have still -- they are still continuing. And these talks, and I should correct if I said six hours. It's more like eight hours.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

LAH: We're about to hit eight hours of negotiations for these discussions and they are continuing well into the night. It is 2:10 in the morning here in South Korea and there's no indication that they're going to be letting up any time soon. If history tells us how long they're going to go on, it's still going to be several more hours. There is some very -- from what we understand these types of negotiations have not happened since 2007. And these are the very first for Kim Jong-Un. To send in someone who is basically his right hand people.

So he is sending them in. He wants to have a dialogue with South Korea. We are told that 24 hours before that deadline was set to expire, South Korea got a message from North Korea. Eight hours before the deadline was set to expire. They finally agreed on the conditions and they set this meeting. The meeting still going on.

But, Fredricka, you mentioned the tensions here on the Korean Peninsula, at least the posture has not changed. People are still not allowed into this area where I'm standing and in a nearby town about two hours way from here right along the DMZ people are still in underground bunkers. So the posture hasn't changed. The reality at least between these two Koreas has not changed at all.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kyung Lah, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

All right. So let's a closer look at the crisis between the two countries. Gordon Chang is the author of the book "Nuclear Showdown." And he's a columnist for Forbes.com.

All right. Good to see you. So we're accustomed to seeing this kind of brinksmanship between the two Koreas. But while it remains unusually tense is it at all promising that when you talk about face- to-face talks for eight hours and counting now, that has to mean something.

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, "NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN": It is promising. And I think it's because both sides have a powerful incentives to keep the talks going, to try to reach some agreement to avert the worst outcomes. And so I think that we are going see if not an agreement now, probably you know, in a day or two. I'm not so sure that they can come to terms so quickly, but eventually I think that they will be able to come to some understanding.

WHITFIELD: And what would that agreement look like. I mean, what are they trying to nail down or come to terms with?

CHANG: Well, the North Koreans would like those loud speakers to be taken down. I don't think that that's going to happen. But the South Koreans might stop the broadcast.

Now what the North Koreans could do, that's another issue because there are the landmines that they planted. They want to prevent their own soldiers from defecting across the Demilitarized Zone to South Korea. So they are not really willing, I think, to take some of those counter measures out. That's going to be difficult for the South Koreans to accept. They're going to want something tangible out of Pyongyang.

WHITFIELD: And would there be a third party involved here, I mean, to kind of mediate or is it strictly the North and South, and they have to either agree or break off talks and go their separate ways?

CHANG: Yes, this is going to be North and South Korea and really nobody else. For instance, the North Korans are not going to want the Americans involved, and also the North Koreans have really cut relations with China, first of all in the diplomatic level starting from 2013, but also there's been an attempt by Kim Jong-Un, the ruler of North Korea, to cut the military-to-military ties. And we saw that with the execution of a four-star general, about six or seven months ago. And that general was killed because he did not want to cut off relations with Beijing. So this is going to be a North-South discussion and nobody else really involved in this.

WHITFIELD: Well, Kim Jong-Un feel like, you know, he is being undermine, if he were to be the one to agree to certain terms because it seems even as you talk about the executions, I mean, he wants people to fear him, and especially wants them to fear, you know, him across the border. So is there a real incentive for him to want to agree to anything?

CHANG: I actually think that he needs a victory. He, I think, created these provocations in the beginning of this month because he wanted to bolster his rule. And the problem that he has had over the last year and a half, two years or so has really been with the military. That's where we've seen the most executions recently, especially with the defense minister a couple of months ago. So it is going to be difficult for him to come to terms, but he is

eventually going to have to do it because for him I think that an all- out war with South Korea, that's not very likely. And he certainly can't have that and eventually he'll need to have something, some concession from South Korea, because he did create this crisis in the first place.

WHITFIELD: All right. Gordon Chang, fascinating stuff. Thank you so much. Appreciate your expertise.

CHANG: Thank you.

[13:15:06] WHITFIELD: All right. We'll have much more from the NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Three U.S. contractors have been killed in Afghanistan today.

Athena Jones is following this story from Washington. What have you learned -- Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. Sad news. As you mentioned, three Americans civilians who are there working as contractors were killed when the convoy they were traveling in was struck by an IED in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. The coalition said that one of the Americans was killed in the actual attack. The others -- the other two died later. And they're among at least 12 people who were killed in that explosion. 66 others were injured according to Afghan officials.

A Taliban spokesman sent an e-mail to news media that the Taliban denied responsibility for today's attacks. But I got to tell you, it's been a violent month there in Kabul. Just last week a suicide bomber detonated his car at a checkpoint near the entrance to Kabul International Airport, killing four people and wounding 15 others.

And on August 10th three separate attacks in Kabul killed more than 50 people including 27 students at a police academy and one U.S. service member. The Taliban did claim responsibility for both of those attacks. And now the U.S. embassy in Kabul condemned today's attack saying, quote, "At this time our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families who suffered as a result of this attack. The United States remain committed to assisting our Afghan partners in their efforts to ensure a peaceful future for Afghanistan."

Now this just -- we're just getting this news in and so we don't yet know the names of course of those three contractors -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Keep us posted. Thank you so much, Athena Jones.

All right. Straight ahead standing up for LGBT rights. "Juno" actress Ellen Page confronting Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz in Iowa. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:20:02] ELLEN PAGE, ACTRESS: For example, still on a lot of states LGBT people are being fired for just being gay or for just being trans. That's totally illegal. I mean, how do you feel about that? That doesn't sound very American to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. "Juno" actress Ellen Page went head-to-head with Ted Cruz at the Iowa State Fair Friday. Page says the Republican presidential candidate discriminates against the LGBT community. Cruz says Christians are being persecuted for their faith.

Here's some of the back-and-forth between them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we should not be doing is persecuting people.

PAGE: Right.

CRUZ: Who follow their faith. Like, I'll give you an example. One of the couples that's going to be featured tonight --

PAGE: What about the question about LGBT people being fired for just being gay or trans?

CRUZ: Well, what we're seeing right now is actually -- we're seeing bible-believing Christians being persecuted, so for example one of the couples --

PAGE: Who are discriminating against LGBT?

CRUZ: No, for living according to their faith. So for example --

PAGE: Yes, but --

(CROSSTALK)

CRUZ: All right --

PAGE: -- argument in segregation.

CRUZ: Yes, I mean, I'm happy to answer your question, but not to have a back-and-forth debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, you don't see Ellen Page, but we're told that is the person who was having that exchange which lasted about five minutes with Cruz, and Cruz just ending it by simply walking away.

So with us now, CNN's politics reporter Jeremy Diamond.

[13:25:03] So, Jeremy, does it seem like the climate is set where we're seeing, you know, more people in there -- now you see Ellen Page there in the baseball cap, we understand, and sunglasses. But does it seem like there is a climate now where there are more people who are willing or, you know, bold enough to confront the candidates head on and challenge them whether we just recently saw with Hillary Clinton, you know, Bernie Sanders, and even Jeb Bush, and now Ted Cruz.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes. Well, this is kind of classic Iowa State Fair because, you know, it's a setting where you have a lot of photo ops, they do some grilling, they, you know, meet with voters. But it's also a setting where you have some pretty unfiltered interactions. And so this is exactly what happened with Ted Cruz.

And I think at the end of the day this was probably good for Ted Cruz. You know, this is -- he was able to lay out his argument exactly as he would to his supporters. His base is going to love this kind of stuff because they completely disagree with what Ellen Page is saying, and they believe just like Ted Cruz that same day had a rally for religious liberty. So this is absolutely going right to his base.

WHITFIELD: And I guess, you know, as you look at this image, and now you see, you know, better shot of, you know, Ellen Page there in the sunglasses and the baseball cap, she's kind of blending in right along with the reporters, you know, who are also -- and the photographers who are asking some of the questions.

And I guess that's what might throw some of the candidates off is that they're really not sure anymore who's in the audience. Remember the soapbox moment with Jeb Bush. Someone was yelling, you know, during his presentation, his 20 minutes on the soapbox, and he tried not to be distracted but then he did end up engaging.

So for all of these candidates, are they now having to kind of go to a boot camp so to speak how to handle just people? Not just reporters but just people who have their inquiries.

DIAMOND: I think if you're in politics you're probably used to some extent to dealing with protesters and hecklers or at least you will have to be at some point.

Listen, this is what happened at the Iowa State Fair as well with Scott Walker earlier in the week. He was dealing with protesters as well who came down from his state of Wisconsin representing unions where he's been in fights with them. And then just today you saw Chris Christie on the soapbox and he had animal rights protesters actually come up on stage and interrupt his speech there.

So this is something -- you know, and they use it to their advantage. Christie said, ah, I feel right at home today. So they're able to use those interactions kind of to their advantage and it plays really well with their base which is right where they want to be during primary season.

WHITFIELD: All right. I guess they're also having to resolute that it kind of comes with the territory, right?

DIAMOND: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: You never know what you're going to encounter out there on the campaign trail.

All right, Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much. Good to see you.

DIAMOND: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Raging wildfires have prompted an emergency declaration by President Barack Obama. We'll go live to the fire zone next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Mortgage rates are down slightly this week. Here's a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:31:22] WHITFIELD: All right. Hello, again and thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. Just into CNN, we're getting new details now about a political meeting that Vice President Joe Biden is having in Washington at the Naval Observatory.

CNN's senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny is on the phone with us.

So, Jeff, what have you learned about this meeting?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Fredricka, we have learned that Vice President Biden came back to Washington. He was scheduled to spend the weekend in Delaware, this home in Wilmington, Delaware. But he came back to Washington for one single meeting, I'm told. And that is with Senator Elizabeth Warren. She is the -- of course the pride of all liberals, the darling of all liberals in the Senate, who was urged to run for president herself.

She has declined throughout -- you know, these many months but just the fact that she is meeting with the vice president certainly raises the question what are they up to. They are talking about his plans to run for president, not hers. But it certainly adds to the level of intrigue about exactly what he's thinking as he continues to weigh this decision-making process of should he jump into this 2016 presidential race.

WHITFIELD: And so, Jeff, what would be different now? Because if it's in the back of your mind or somewhere in, you know, Joe Biden's mind about thinking, you know, considering running, what potentially is that thing that went from a cavalier, you know, thought to maybe now a more serious thought if that's one way of putting it?

ZELENY: Well, Fredricka, one of the reasons is so many Democrats have approached him about, you know, should he run? Will you run? We would like to see you run. And it's happening at the same time that there are questions being raised about the long-term viability of Hillary Clinton's candidacy. Of course she's supported very strongly by Democrats across the board but there are these nagging questions, this unending controversy about her private e-mail server, and it has gotten some Democrats worried.

That is one of the reasons that Joe Biden is thinking about this, at least giving it a serious look. But I'm told it's not the only reason. Of course he's an ambitious politician. He's been in Washington for four decades. He's run for president twice before. So if you talk to his advisers, they say why not, why shouldn't he look at this? So at this point he is looking at it very seriously, more seriously than we've known at least just even a couple of weeks ago.

And this meeting with Elizabeth Warren shows that he is sounding out the liberal wing of the party. And we do not know what they're talking about specifically. We do not believe it would be something as explosive as asking her to run with him on a joint sort of Democratic presidential ticket. I think that that would certainly give a headache to anyone in Hillary Clinton's campaign. We do not have any reason to believe that he is asking for that. But he certainly is feeling her out and Senator Warren has a very big following and she's not formally endorsed Hillary Clinton. She's spoken favorably of her somewhat but she has not yet endorsed anyone in this race.

WHITFIELD: Right. And nor has he nor has the White House as a whole. So that is all very interesting stuff.

All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

All right. 37 million users on cheating Web site Ashley Madison hacked. An enormous security breach. Can the Web site and its users recover? That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Breaking news. New details now about that train attempted attack in Europe. Paul Cruickshank is with me now with new details on the suspect that was taken down by these three Americans and at least one British national.

What do you have?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Fredricka, according to a senior European counterterrorism official, there are strong indications that the gunman travelled to Turkey from Europe, travelled to Turkey between May and July of this year. Strong indications that he was trying to do that in order to join up with the ISIS terrorist organization. It's not known at this stage whether he actually managed to reach Syria. But the fact that he travelled to Turkey apparently trying to join up with ISIS is very significant because ISIS itself has a significant presence inside of Turkey.

There's been growing concern that ISIS operatives inside Turkey are trying to orchestrate terrorist attack back in Europe. There was a recent case where somebody was trying to attack a church in Paris. He actually was a French national who travelled to Turkey earlier this year and connected with French ISIS operatives in Turkey who encouraged him to go back and launch an attack in France.

And over Internet communications in the weeks afterwards they actually encouraged this suspect to launch an attack on a train, so evidence in the past several months that ISIS is encouraging its supporters, people it's connecting up with, to launch attacks on trains in Europe. Those details about the church plot in April coming from "Le Monde" newspaper in France -- Fredricka

[13:40:08] WHITFIELD: All right. Fascinating detail.

Paul Cruickshank, thank you so much for that detail.

All right. The cheating Web site Ashley Madison is in full damage control right now. Issuing copyright takedown notices to multiple Web sites in an attempt to stop the spread of stolen crucial information of 37 million people that hackers have released, including 15,000 government connected e-mail accounts which has the military now looking into employees with sensitive jobs who may have used that site.

Joining me right now is HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson and security consultant and CEO of TrustedSec, David Kennedy.

All right. Good to see both of you.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Hello. Good afternoon.

DAVID KENNEDY, CEO, TRUSTEDSEC: You too.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, Joey, you know, let's talk about the legal end of this because, you know, the hacking is a crime regardless of whether people, you know, like or don't like the idea of this Ashley Madison Web site. So talk to us about how investigators are going about finding out who's responsible, whose personal information may have been compromised.

JACKSON: Sure. There's so many layers to this, Fredricka, and the one very critical ones is the one that you mentioned. And of course hacking is a crime. And it's so interesting because despite hacking being a crime, it appears as though the government can't get its arms around it. We see hacking not only as it relates to private places like this but the government itself.

You remember, Fredricka, we talked about the IRS, 300,000 people who are, you know, exposed there. UPS 800,000, Office of Personnel Management and the federal government itself, you know, 22 million, and so -- and the list goes on and so certainly investigators have an interest in prosecuting it. Very serious crime, you know, up to 20 years in jail, but the issue is, how can you find the people? And if so, you know, will you be able in that circumstance to bring them to justice? And so notwithstanding, Fredricka, hacking being a very serious crime.

There are federal statues dealing with the issue, there are state statues dealing with the issue. The question becomes, will there ever be a prosecution because will the people responsible ever be brought to justice.

WHITFIELD: All right. So then, David, maybe you can fill in the blanks from that end. Those who may be responsible for, you know, penetrating this, you know, site, getting everyone's, you know, personal information, et cetera. Does this essentially mean or exemplify that there is no safe place for your personal information?

Well, there isn't. I mean, if you do this type of behavior online, you're inputting information in the systems that, you know, contain sensitive data. And companies are getting hacked all the time. So whatever you're doing on a technology side, you know, there is a possibility of that type of information becoming breached, being stolen and seeing exactly what you had happen here occur.

KENNEDY: And so, I mean, with, you know, the OPM hacks and the other ones, oftentimes it's very difficult to go after them because they are coming from different countries like China or other -- you know, Russia, Eastern European areas. So a lot of the times it's very difficult to even find these folks let alone go after them from a legal standpoint. So this is something that we're going to have to, you know -- it's kind of the wave of the future, I suppose. Expect more of this to happen over the next few years.

WHITFIELD: All right. So is this kind of the end of this Web site kind of business, Joey?

JACKSON: Well, you know, it may be and here's why I say that. Now you know the lawsuits are coming and so there's two critical questions, Fredricka. Number one, will the lawsuits come and if so how many, and number two --

WHITFIELD: And who would dare to? OK.

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: That's the point so because --

WHITFIELD: I mean, there's a certain admission that comes with that, right?

JACKSON: Well, you could file under seal. OK. That's number one.

WHITFIELD: OK.

JACKSON: Number two, you can ask the government to say that you're anonymous and the government will weigh the factors to see whether that will occur. But even the threat we see in Canada, you know, some class action coming up, and so on the issue of will there be lawsuits, the problem is you have this Web site that's operating and it has customers in 46 different countries. So the sheer volume of potential litigation could bankrupt it. And

then when you get to the defending of the actual claims and the merits, we don't have to talk about the damages that something like this can certainly have on people. And so will it survive? That's the open question but certainly there could be many legal problems in the future.

WHITFIELD: So, David, is it -- is it in your view just, you know, a given that the information that was retrieved they're going to use that -- you know, they're up to no good and they're going to use that to, you know, compromise people's bank accounts or steal their identity or is this just kind of a game being played?

KENNEDY: I think it was probably -- you know, if you look at it, the name of the hacker group was called Impact Team. And you know, they have said, you know, that they're doing this for moral high grounds and the company itself need to shut itself down and that they had a $15 and extra that you could pay, you know, a month or whatever to have your information deleted and once it was actually gone. So, you know, that wasn't even working, they weren't even using that. So, you know, Impact Team had a lot of issues with the company itself.

[13:45:01] And they just posted yet last night all of the CEOs' e- mails dating back to 2012. So, you know, this is far from over. There's probably be a few more dumps that we see of information. But you know, from a 38 million, you know, account perspective, I mean, that -- you're talking first name, last names, you know, addresses, last four of credit cards, you know, zip codes that they're at, and e- mail addresses.

So these absolutely can be used for other, you know, nefarious purposes like targeting, you know, personal information or going after e-mail accounts. There's a lot more damages that can be done after this and -- you know, definitely the lawsuit perspective, there's going to be a lot of lawsuits against them. I don't think they're going to make it through this.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, David Kennedy, Joey Jackson, thanks so much.

JACKSON: It's a different world, Fredricka.

KENNEDY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: It sure is.

JACKSON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Take care.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Some horrifying pictures today out of England, where a military plane crashed into vehicles on a major roadway. Seven people died and the entire crash is caught on tape.

[13:50:05] Take a look at this video of the historic jet. It was attempting to perform a stunt loop at the Shoreham Air Show near Brighton when it plummeted to the ground, as you saw there.

All right. For more now, let's turn to our Ian Lee, who is on the road and on the phone for us.

So, Ian, what's your understanding about what happened here?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, from the video, as we see, this plane is taking off. It looks like it's going up, it looks like it's performing its first trick of its performance, and when it comes down, it is just unable to pull up quick enough, hitting the A- 27, a major highway here in the U.K., killing seven people, injuring 14 others. There's still a person who's in critical condition.

This plane is an older plane, it's from the 1950s, a Hawker Hunter jet airplane. The pilot just unable to maneuver, to pull the plane up in time, and really just some horrific video coming out of this. People filming it. And as you see, there's that moment of impact, there's a large fireball that goes up.

Paramedics on the scene say that the majority of those casualties were people in their cars, traveling on that highway. It has been closed. And the investigation right now to determine exactly what happened and how this could happen.

WHITFIELD: Horrible situation. All right, Ian Lee, thank you so much for that detail.

And we'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:23] WHITFIELD: Former president Jimmy Carter revealed his battle with cancer this week. In an incredible news conference at the Carter Center in Atlanta, the nation's 39th president, now 90 years old, gave detail about the discovery, his diagnosis and prognosis, all the while showing remarkable grace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: At first, I felt that it was confined to my liver and that they had -- the operation had completely removed it, so I was quite relieved. And then that same afternoon, we had an MRI of my head and neck, and it showed up that it was already in four places in my brain. So I would say that night and the next day, until I came back up to Emory, I just thought I had a few weeks left. But I was surprisingly at ease.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's talk more about the news, the demeanor, even his smile throughout. Presidential historian and American University distinguished professor Allan Lichman joining us from Washington. Good to see you.

ALLAN LICHMAN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Same here.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder throughout all of that, it was riveting, I think. You know, you could hear a pin drop in the room and anywhere you were where that television set was on. In your view, did President Carter now rewrite how he will be remembered?

LICHMAN: I don't think he's going to rewrite how he will be remembered. Jimmy Carter, look, was not the greatest president. But he is a great man. And the great man was on display, showing grace under pressure, which Ernest Hemingway described as the highest form of courage. And showing how real and genuine his faith is. And again, showing his ability to connect with ordinary Americans. You know, in many ways, Jimmy Carter is the greatest former president we have ever had.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, let's talk about that, because even he -- you know, he volunteered some information, and then he was asked, you know, a lot about his years after leaving the White House, working in 80 countries with some of the poorest of the poor. And this is one of his responses when asked about his accomplishments post-presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: We actually interact with families and with people who are going blind, or who have lymphatic filariasis, which is elephantitis, or who have Guinea worm, and so forth and going into villages and learning about them and what their actual needs are, and then meeting those needs with the superb Carter Center medical staff I think has been one of the best things that ever happened to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So one of the best things that ever happened to him and that he impacted the lives of millions of people. He talked about more than 70, you know, million people. He really does exemplify the power of the presidency, post-presidency, doesn't he?

LICHMAN: Absolutely right. You know, in some ways, as he said, maybe it was a good thing he wasn't elected to a second term because it enabled him essentially to do three extraordinary things as an ex- president. You heard about the amazing charitable work that he did. He also promoted democracy worldwide through his Carter Center, and he was an incredible diplomat at large promoting peace and diplomacy. Sometimes at the behest of a sitting president. Sometimes perhaps a bit unwanted by a sitting president.

But Jimmy Carter was always guided by his own muse and his own faith. And you could never say Jimmy Carter was a man who was swayed by the politics of the moment.

WHITFIELD: And he was also asked during that press conference, you know, if he had any regrets, and this is how he handled that.

All right, well, we don't have that sound, but he said --

LICHMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: He did regret -- you know, he wished that he had sent another helicopter, you know, to pick up the hostages, and you talk about, you know, he wasn't a great president. Is that what people think about most? You know, your phrase of he wasn't a great president, but people, you know, remember the Iran hostage crisis, and, you know, and there's a sentiment that they wish he had done more.

LICHMAN: Yes. Yes. I think people remember two things. One is very positive, of course. The Camp David accords that established peace between Israel and Egypt. And the other is he seemed overmatched by the Iran hostage crisis, as exemplified by this failed rescue mission that cost American lives and never even got to the site of the hostages.

So you have the alpha and the omega of the Jimmy Carter presidency. He said, if I had sent just one other helicopter, I would have rescued the hostages and been re-elected. Maybe that's a bit of a rewriting of history. He had other problems as well, including a very sour economy and of course the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

[14:00:05] WHITFIELD: But if anything, people are really going to remember the grace that he just displayed this week.

LICHMAN: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: And the heart as well that he has displayed.

All right. Thank you so much.