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Manhunt Underway; Returning to the Scene; Russian Jet Downed; Chicago Cop Charged. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 24, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:20] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin here on a very rainy, very cold night in Paris. And you are watching CNN's special live coverage of the terror attacks and absolutely shook this city to its core. And we have some breaking news for you right now at the top of the hour. Let me get right to it.

A couple of threats here out of Paris. One, investigators are now searching for another suspect. And they have issued an international warrant for this person's arrest. This is what we're getting actually from Belgium officials that just released these images here. This is Mohamed Abrini. They say he was caught on camera at a gas station as he was en route from Brussels to Paris along with the man everyone wants to find, Salah Abdeslam, just two days before the attacks. Abdeslam is the other suspect who is still on the run. Now, police say this guy drove to Paris to actually drop off one of the suicide bombers who targeted the soccer stadium here in the city.

Also breaking right now, the French prosecutor has just announced, confirming the attack mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud actually returned to the crime scene after the shootings. Which crime scene? We don't know. How soon after the attacks? We don't know that either. But that's significant as well. We know the visit happened some time before he was killed last week in a Paris suburb during this massive early morning police raid that lasted some seven hours.

So let's begin with these two pieces of news. Let's go straight to our CNN international correspondent Ivan Watson, who is live here in Paris with me.

And, Ivan, we have also learned, in addition to those two threads, and we know that the sense of urgency of that Saint-Denis raid, because of potentially this eminent plot, and now we've learned they wanted to take on the financial area of the city.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean this is - this was a chilling detail. Basically the French prosecutor saying that Abaaoud, the man who was killed in that raid, that he was planning an attack just five, six days after the initial attack on November 13th. That he and at least one other accomplice were planning to attack an area in Paris called La De France (ph). It's basically, you head straight down this boulevard, past the Arc de Triomphe. It's the financial district. A lot of international companies there. A shopping district as well. And so the timing there very crucial, Brooke, that they were able to intercept him before that took place.

They also noted that he was believed to have been in touch with one of the suicide bombers on the night of the November 13th attack. And then that other chilling detail that this man, who is believed to have helped organize the attack, actually returned to the scene of the crime, to the theater where more than 80 people were massacred during that sold out rock concert. Some very chilling details there.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Ah, so it was to the Bataclan specifically. Ivan Watson, thank you so much. As soon as you get more on these threads, let us know.

I want to broaden this out and bring in CNN contributor Michael Weiss.

And so let's just begin, Michael, with that final point that Ivan was making. You know, you're a senior editor at "The Daily Beast" and author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror." To think that this mastermind would have been so brazen as to return to the location that is now flanked with flowers and candles as far as the eye can see, to return to the scene to do what?

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, possibly to film the aftermath of his carnage. I mean, remember, ISIS thrives on its propaganda value. And they themselves have released videos taken admittedly from international news organizations showing both some of the gunfire that took place on that grizzly night, but also then the - you know, the weeping, the mourning by the victims and essentially all of Paris. I mean, it's brazen, but then again it's not so brazen when you consider that Abdeslam was looking to kill himself, right? I mean and, you know, quite possibly did. I mean this was a suicide mission. This ended ultimately with everybody being killed. So, you know, for him to go out and get footage and sort of upload it back to ISIS central command, whether it's in Raqqa or some other affiliate in Europe, that's his job done right there. That is a mission accomplished for him.

BALDWIN: Well, not a mission accomplished when it - when it came to this apparent plot to - to attack or to bomb the financial area here in Paris. That's what we're also learning that the mastermind, and one of the bombers who was killed in that Saint-Denis raid, that's precisely what they wanted to do. And that, obviously, would be another central part here in the city of Paris that they wanted to take on.

[14:05:06] WEISS: Right. Yes, no, of course. Look, this is - what ISIS is trying to do in the cities of Europe is essentially turn it into a province in Iraq or Syria, right? A series of discombobulating, disorientating spectaculars that essentially grinds all daily life and business to a halt, traumatizes and, I mean in the very strict sense of the word, terrorizes the local population. What they've achieved already in Belgium, which is just essentially the Belgian authorities preempting what they consider to be an eminent attack, that's a sign of their reach and capability. And there's no doubt. I mean this was - you know, if they could - if

they had their druthers, they would perpetrate an attack like they did in Paris every single day. And they would have done many in quick succession from the Bataclan and the restaurant shootings. So, you know, when I say it's mission accomplished, what I mean is, it didn't end with him kind of going back to Syria. It didn't end - it was always going to end with a martyrdom campaign of some kind. That's how you kind of write your name in the stars if you're - if you're one of these jihadists.

BALDWIN: Do we - do we know - let me jump - of course, of course, that's what they want.

WEISS: Yes.

BALDWIN: That's the goal. That's the dream. But do we know - we know there was such a sense of urgency in this whole massive shootout and raid in Saint-Denis at 4:30 in the morning here local time last week. Do we know if that eminent plot is precisely what we're learning about tonight is this financial district here?

WEISS: I don't know. I mean I think it's still at the level of speculation. You know, my guess is there were probably several different strands that people are going - are investigating now. One in Belgium, another one, an abortive attack that didn't take place in France. But, look, as I said earlier, it was always about doing multiple assaults, you know, within the - within very close space of each other.

And, indeed, if you look at sort of the region-wide reach of ISIS and what it's managed to achieve in the last few months, you had the Ankara bombing several months ago, followed by the Metrojet explosion in the skies of Sharm el Sheikh, followed by Beirut, the worst terrorist attack in Lebanon's history since the end of the civil war, followed by Paris. Do you think they were going to stop there? Of course not. They were - they were looking to follow on, have knock-on successes. Because, as I say, this is about ISIS showing the world that they are no longer confined to their so-called caliphate. They have - they are jihadists international. They have a global reach. And that is to sell their own propaganda really. I mean if you look at the iconography, it's always the black flag in the shahada (ph) enveloping the globe. They want us to think they're in our backyard. They want us to think they're in our capital cities. And that's what they say. I mean Abu Mohamed Alabnani (ph), the spokesperson said, stay -

BALDWIN: Sure. And now they - forgive me, there's a bit of a delay here in Paris to you.

WEISS: Yes.

BALDWIN: But, no, we were just reading in "The New York Times" the other day, they even have somebody who's specifically in charge of external operations, AKA attacks outside of Iraq and Syria. This is what they want. They must be stopped.

WEISS: Absolutely. BALDWIN: Michael Weiss, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

WEISS: Sure.

BALDWIN: And let me make this note for you. Through this investigation into the Paris terror attacks, we want to remember, of course, the victims and the survivors. And you can do so by going to our Impact Your World website. That is cnn.com/impact.

Coming up next here, we have more breaking news for you. Specifically Turkey shooting down a Russian jet. Vladimir Putin vowing serious consequences. New video now surfacing showing rebels firing shots, you see the spotlight here, as the pilots parachute to the ground.

Plus, major cities across the United States now retraining police officers to deal with active shooters. Anderson Cooper gets an inside look at these training operations.

And, breaking news out of Chicago today. Moments ago this police officer appearing in court charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of this African-American teenager. This video, by the way, could be released any moment.

You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin, live in Paris.

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[14:13:49] BALDWIN: All right. Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin, here in Paris.

You know the other huge story definitely heating up today, Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling the downing of this Russian warplane by Turkey, quote, "a stab in the back." Some stunning video captured both pilots ejecting from those planes, followed by a sound of gunshots. Watch for yourself.

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BALDWIN: This video apparently shows Turkmen rebels firing at the pilots as they tried to parachute to safety. This is along the Syrian/Turkish border. Turkey says it downed the plane after Moscow violated its air space despite warning after warning after warning. Moments ago at the White House, President Obama was asked about this. He spoke out about the Russian jet being shot out of the sky.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Turkey, like every country, has a right to defend its territory and its air space. I think it's very important right now for us to make sure that both the Russians and the Turks are talking to each other, find out exactly what happened and take measures to discourage any kind of escalation.

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[14:15:02] BALDWIN: CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is live in Istanbul.

Do we know the fate, first of all, Nick, about - of these pilots?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know that one of the pilots has now been confirmed dead, killed by fire emanating from the ground. That machine gunfire you were seeing there before he even landed himself, while he was in the air. We know that from Russian military officials now. And they've also just said in the last few minutes or so that a search rescue operation was launched with two Russian MI-8 helicopters and one of those came under attack from ground fire as well and a marine on board one of those rescue helicopters was killed.

So that's two confirmed dead Russian soldiers now. The first openly acknowledged fatalities the Russians have had here. And it comes at the hands of a NATO member. Turkey, who says quite bluntly that they warned that Sukhoi-24 jet to clear its air space 10 times in five minutes. That's the result it seems that caused those pilots to eject, although they were killed, it seems, by Turkman rebels on the ground shooting up at that pilot. And, subsequently, the rescue operation, it appears those similar rebels in that area attacked those helicopters.

So beginning with this instant involving Turkish air space, which Russia denies it violated, which Russia says, in fact, it is blames Turkey for violating Syrian air space. Still a dispute about the precise elements of the events here, has massively escalated tensions along this already very volatile border. So many air forces in the air there. So many efforts of de-confliction. The Turkish and the Russian speaking just weeks ago to try and stop instances like this from happening because Turkey had accused Russia of violating its air space many times. Those efforts really have to be put aside now. It is clearly going to be a very challenging time ahead here.

Russia, I think, to some degree, humiliated that it's had this occur through its air force. You may not see a military response. We'll see a lot of diplomatic anger back potentially and sort of their bitter economic sanctions. But Russia and Turkey so starchily on the other side of the war inside Syria and some say frankly in their approaches to how to deal with ISIS, that that difference has flared up now into this military altercation.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: The potential escalation that could be forthcoming is incredibly significant. We'll get with that - get to that with my next panel.

Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.

Let me bring in here, I have from Washington, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. He is CNN's military analyst and a former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Also Ben Judah joining me from London. He is the author of "Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin."

So, gentlemen, welcome to both of you. And, colonel, here's my first question to you. You know, when we hear

Turkey saying that they warned these pilots 10 times within a span of five minutes, tell me about those warnings. How would that have been communicated?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Brooke, normally what they do is they do it over a common radio frequency. And so the Russian pilots should have been able to hear the Turkish air controllers telling them that they have violated Turkish air space and that they need to turn back. That's normally what happens. There are international procedures for that. Barring that, then the other way to communicate is visually. But it sounds like they didn't do the visual part at all.

BALDWIN: So I'm also just curious, staying with you, colonel, would there have been anyone back in Russia monitoring those communications who could have heard the warnings, who could have, you know, overridden that and told these pilots to get the heck out of there?

LEIGHTON: It's possible, but generally that kind of control would have happened at their control center, which is in Syria. Obviously, they also have control centers in Russia itself, but the controlled the more (ph) effort from Syria and they're supposed to actually communicate that. That control center should have had had that information as well.

BALDWIN: OK.

LEIGHTON: Ideally, there would also have been a hot line between Turkey and Russia, but apparently that did not work either.

BALDWIN: All right, Ben Judah, the next question. When you hear Vladimir Putin saying serious consequences in Turkey, this is a stab in the back, what do you think his next move is?

BEN JUDAH, AUTHOR, "FRAGILE EMPIRE": Russia can do a lot of damage to Turkey. Sixty percent of Turkey's gas comes from Russia, 20 (ph) percent of Turkey's total energy supplies. And the whole stretch of the Turkish coast depends on Russian tourism. Four million Russian tourists came to Turkey this year. So that's a lot of sanctions that Putin can play with there.

And just to make matters worse for Ankara, Turkey is supposed to have Russia build a nuclear power station for it. So lots of levers that Putin can press there. And I think Putin's waiting to see what comes out of the NATO Summit today. It was very interesting earlier on to see Putin's first response, trying to divide NATO, saying that Turkey, in fact, been abetting ISIS.

[14:20:15] BALDWIN: You talk about the levers that Putin could pull. Let me ask you this. You know, we see the - the pilots coming down. You heard Nick Paton Walsh reporting the deaths. How much would it matter, from a Putin perspective, if these - if this plane was shot out of the sky or these pilots were shot as they were coming down or on the ground? JUDAH: I don't think that matters anymore because Russian TV

propaganda has already gone into override, painting Turkey as the financier, the ally and the abettor of ISIS. So we're already past that point.

But if Putin wants to pursue kind of a sort of low level aerial warfare with Turkey, it's important to remember that Turkey could also do quite a lot of damage to Russia. Not only along this border region with Turkman rebels sort of answering to Ankara maybe quietly, but also in Crimea, where you've got a (INAUDIBLE) ethnic minority, about 14 percent of the population, ethnically (ph) Turkey, linked to Turkey, could Turkey play with them? That's a possibility. Right now, Crimea has actually got its electricity completely cut off by Tartar (ph) protesters in the Ukraine.

And that's not the only pressure point. The other pressure point is Abharsia (ph), a Russian occupied area of Georgia, where, again, the ethnicity there in that part, very linked in to Turkey and lots of possibilities for Turkey to sort of play with things there. Turkey's also got the option to try and blockade the Black Sea, of course, through the straits, Istanbul. And Turkey was very quiet and held back from any kind of sanctions on Russia during the war in Ukraine. That's all going to be different now if Putin's going to go for the conflict path, which is sounds like he's up for.

BALDWIN: So if even some of those items that you just described happen, Colonel Leighton, how would all of that then affect, bigger picture, the war on ISIS?

LEIGHTON: Could significantly, Brooke, affect the war on ISIS. It would basically put any efforts to bring all of the different coalition players together with Russia to go after ISIS. ISIS, of course, is not Russia's main goal in Syria. They want to preserve and protect the regime of Bashar al Assad. That's their primary goal. And that's why, when they were flying over this area on the Turkish/Syrian border, none of the targets that they were going after, the Russians were going after, had anything to do with ISIS. Those were all those Turkmen groups that we've talked about.

BALDWIN: Colonel Cedric Leighton and Ben Judah, thank you both.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brooke.

JUDAH: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, Donald Trump making a new claim about what he says he saw on 9/11. Does the truth matter, this is what one columnist is asking, when it comes to the Republican frontrunner. We will talk to him, and one of our political reporters. Also ahead, we'll take you to Chicago. This police officer has now

been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 17-year-old. We will tell you what just happened in court as that city is bracing for the release of the video, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:27:33] BALDWIN: Moments ago, a Chicago police officer in a case that some say threatens to tear the city apart was charged with first- degree murder.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you could, would you take back what happened that night?

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BALDWIN: Officer Jason Van Dyke turned himself in this morning. Minutes ago, a judge denied him bond. On October, 2014, Van Dyke shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, firing 16 times. An autopsy shows some bullets entered the teen's back. The teen, according to police, was wielding a four-inch knife, acting erratically, and had even slashed a patrol car tire.

Protesters have demonstrated in the wake of this killing, but Chicago city leaders are worried about what could happen if the video of McDonald's actual killing is made public, is seen. The city, under court order, must release the police dash cam footage by tomorrow. It has been called, in a word, graphic. The officer's attorney just spoke saying this should not be considered a murder case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HERBERT, OFFICER'S ATTORNEY: It's certainly everyone's right to make a judgment about it, but I would just state that the judgment made by individuals that have viewed this tape from the comfort of their living room, on their sofa, it's not the same standard as the perspective from my client.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ryan Young is live outside of that Chicago courthouse.

Tell me what happened first at that hearing.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, well, let's break this down just a little bit. Some people may be wondering why we're not showing video from inside the courtroom. Here in Cook County, in Chicago, cameras are not allowed inside court proceedings. So we're not actually able to record what was going on. And currently right now, the state's attorney is upstairs doing a play-by-play of some of the information that was given in court.

Of course, we were there in the court, but now they're telling the public a breakdown of the timeline of why it's taking so long for this video to be released. Honestly, I can tell you, what we've learned so far, though, is that Officer Van Dike, apparently six seconds after getting out of his car, opened fire on Laquan McDonald. And we learned that only two of the shots hit him while Laquan McDonald was standing. The next few shots, the next 13 seconds, the next 14 bullets hit Laquan McDonald as he was on the ground. [14:30:00] Other officers report to the state's attorney's office,

they didn't feel like Laquan McDonald was a threat. Now his partner walked over after Laquan McDonald was shot and kicked the knife out of his hand.