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CNN NEWSROOM

Inside the Home of Killers; ISIS Pledge by Killers. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired December 4, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:04] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "The Situation Room." "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Wolf, thank you so much.

Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me on this Friday.

Breaking news here on CNN. As we are waiting any minute now we could be seeing the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office. They're going to be giving a media briefing there momentarily. We are learning more disturbing details today about the depraved husband and wife duo who left their baby behind and massacred those 14 people at a holiday party in southern California.

Today here this is what's crucial, a link between these two killers and the most brutal terror group on earth, ISIS. Investigators telling CNN that it is looking more likely that these two were self- radicalized and motivated by terror. Investigators finding a FaceBook post by Tashfeen Malik, the wife of Syed Rizwan Farook, pledging support to the leader of ISIS.

This as CNN cameras got an unprecedented, perhaps bizarre look inside the home of these two killers. The home where police had found the makeshift bomb lab in the garage. Thousands of rounds of ammunition. Chilling new pictures here of a crib, baby toys among the belongings ransacked already here by investigators.

So standing by I have our justice correspondent, Evan Perez. But first my colleagues Victor Blackwell and Stephanie Elam, who got this crazy look inside this home just behind them, which is now boarded up. The landlord of this property, let me be crystal clear, allowing all the reporters in. Police didn't object. So before I chat with you two, here's a look at what you saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was the first person to walk into this room and saw how it was before everyone started touching it. And you can see that police did go through and look at many things. I don't want to show you these I.D.s over here just because I don't want to show you those addresses that are on there, but I do believe that they belong to the mother of Farook based on the ages that are there. But you can see that there are some prayer books. There are also some pictures.

When I first walked in, this group of prayer beads was sitting right here on the edge of the bed when I walked in as well. Several books - several prayer books that were all around the side of the bed here. Some business cards and plenty of the normal trappings that you would expect to see in a bedroom. You have this - you know, I see receipts for stores, normal store purchases. I see lotions and creams and dressers and that sort of thing.

But one of the things, and I want - there's so much media in here, but I want to show you, one of the things that you can see here is this and this is what I was telling you about before, is this right here. If you look up here you can see where they smashed up into the ceiling to take a look to see what was up there. It does appear, based on how much debris is on the ground, that there - there was an - that there was an effort to get up there and make sure that they checked every crevice of this back bedroom. And it does seems like it may have been the main bedroom that was here.

But plenty of I.D.s. I've seen passports. I've seen driver's licenses, Social Security cards, plenty of things that are around here, as well as plenty of signs of faith. A lot of signs of faith here. You see a lot of signs of these being people who believed in their faith and also referencing it. There's stickers and so-forth all throughout the room. But a lot of paperwork and also a lot of luggage up here as well too. But it just looks like it's been stashed over in the corner. But definitely signs that this has been a room that has been ransacked by - not - before the media got here, but by the police as well.

This is a situation where the police were done with this building and the owner was coming back in and so this is the first time he walked back in as far as we understand and then we walked in after him. Everyone here getting this first look at what this house looks like and where these shooters were living before this all transpired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that is a snippet of what we're all watching, Victor and Stephanie. I mean all of us just sort of glued to this, but so totally unprecedented and bizarre. Tell me more about what you saw.

ELAM: It was very bizarre I think for all of us -

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

ELAM: Because for one thing the landlord showed up with a crowbar. He started to go in. Finally got out a drill. They took down the plywood. And at that point he let everybody in. Everyone followed behind him. And just to be clear, I specifically asked the landlord, did anyone tell you not to let this happen? And he said, no. He said that he got the clear last night that he could do this. So that's - that is something that we heard.

But it was a huge scrum of media in there, as you could probably see in that video. But there was broken glass throughout.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

ELAM: There were signs of the baby, of a crib around.

BLACKWELL: Yes, there were toys there on the first floor. I was on the first floor. Stephanie was on the second floor. There were play places there, toys there of the six-month-old daughter that we've learned about.

But shards of glass everywhere. The front door, which had been broken in half at the beginning of the FBI raid, leaning on a wall near the bathroom there. Gashes into the wall. But it was this combination of evidence clearly of this FBI raid and someone or someones who left this home in a hurry. Half-eaten food on a plate there in the - on the washing machine. Dishes still in the sink. So whomever left this home, maybe Farook's mother, we know that the child was left with her, left in a hurry and just walked out and left. You know, evidence of active life there and has not been back since.

[14:05:33] BALDWIN: I want to keep talking to you all but I understand we just turned around some sound now. The landlord has just spoken, who allowed you all in. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you let us in, right? We have permission to go in there, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I opened the door and I'm going to -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is it shut up now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait, wait, wait, what is that, you opened the door and what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, because it's getting overwhelming right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we have permission to go in, though, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, so clearly the permission, although we did hear from some law enforcement analysts here with CNN, you know, after watching all of this and they were just almost shaking just in disbelief that this was allowed to happen. It was. And I think where there's been some confusion to both of you is whether or not, you know, this was maybe this location where this couple, you know, was preparing for this attack. But this is also clearly where they kept their six-month-old as well.

ELAM: Right. But there's one thing worth pointing out here as well. From what we have been understanding, a lot of the prep work was happening in the garage. And the garage is a place that we did not get into.

BALDWIN: OK.

ELAM: It is removed from the rest of the town home. So we could not see inside there. The garage door is down. We could not see what was happening inside there.

I actually walked around back to take a look for myself because that's where we heard a lot of this was happening.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

ELAM: Evidence of that sort of preparatory situation was not present within the town home with where I saw.

BLACKWELL: And two important things to tell you that have happened in the last couple of minutes. You see the door now is sealed again. That door was sealed by a group of people, they did not identify themselves, who came up, closed the door, came with a drill and sealed it again. That's one element.

The second, Mr. Doyle Miller (ph), the owner of the home, was escorted away in a law enforcement vehicle. It was unmarked, but there were flashing lights there on the visor. He was escorted by someone who had a badge, a clip there. No uniform. Put him into the car and drove him away. Now, I don't know what anyone can conclude from that, but he's now with law enforcement.

ELAM: And it's also worth noting too because I actually was able to get a quick question in. The woman who led the closing of the door was actually his wife.

BLACKWELL: Uh-huh.

BALDWIN: Huh.

ELAM: It's the owner's wife who came in and then she tried to get him to go with her and he said, no, you go home. I heard that myself. And then he was escorted away.

BALDWIN: It is, you all well know, you know, it is so totally bizarre to get this sort of access to a crime scene this quickly after, you know, law enforcement has gone through such a place. I really appreciate both of you just incredibly compelling pictures. Victor Blackwell and Stephanie Elam, thanks to you.

So, that's one piece of the story. So many threads we're following today.

Evan Perez, let me bring you in, our justice correspondent here on this - you know, this - what seems to be this self-radicalization angle. So I want you to talk to me about what authorities are learning about this wife being the one mid-attack to post on FaceBook her allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of ISIS.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Brooke, this is exactly what they were looking for. They were looking for any indications of what might have motivated this. And this is the first actual hard evidence that investigators have found, and that is a posting believed - that they believe was made by - by the wife, perhaps right at the start of the - of the attack, pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.

And, again, this is the first indication of any kind of - that might explain what was motivating this. Again, it's not a done deal here. They still are looking at other parts of this, including whether or not there might be some kind of workplace component, some kind of beef he had with the people at his office. Why did he choose this place, this holiday party on Wednesday to carry out this attack, the two of them?

And so what we know right now is that they don't - there's no indication that the FBI has found that this was directed by ISIS. This is not like Paris where you have a cell that was working on a plan that came from Syria. This appears to be more of the thing that frankly the FBI has been warning about and which is extremely difficult to stop, which is people who were inspired by ISIS to carry out these attacks on their own, no sign of them on the FBI radar before they carry out this attack. That's what we have here.

BALDWIN: I want to pick up my next conversation on precisely that excellent point. Evan Perez, thank you.

Paul Cruickshank, let me bring you in, our CNN terrorism analyst, editor and chief at the "CPC Sentinel." Also Graeme Wood is joining us, contributing editor at "The Atlantic."

So, Paul, correct me, but this would be the first deadly ISIS inspired attack on U.S. soil, yes?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: It would - it would be the first deadly ISIS-inspired attack, yes, on U.S. soil. Also the deadliest Islamist terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

[14:10:06] Brooke, in just the last few minutes, the Sight (ph) intelligence group reporting that ISIS, the ISIS news agency Amak (ph), has commented on these attacks. And they are saying that they were carried out by two - and the language is important here, two supporters of the Islamic State. Not two fighters of the Islamic State, but two supporters of the Islamic State. So they themselves are saying they were not directly responsible, but two sympathizers carried this out. Their claim with the details they provide closely track what has been provided by the media and follow CNN breaking this it news earlier today about this pledge to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, suggesting they were not aware that this attack was necessarily in the works.

They also comment on the Paris attacks in this new claim. They say that those were carried out by fighters of the Islamic State. A distinction between fighters and supporters. I think this gets us closer to a conclusion that it is looking like an ISIS-inspired attack, rather than something being organized by a terrorist group overseas, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I'm so glad you point out the language. And it's so important. You know, supporters versus fighters.

But, Graeme, to you, bottom line, this is ISIS ultimately. Isn't this them taking ownership of this, whether it's what happened in Paris or what happened a couple of days ago in San Bernardino and the next step to use this to inspire others?

GRAEME WOOD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Yes, they - they definitely have taken ownership in the sense of issuing a press release. But as Paul mentioned, the press release just has information that everybody already knew. It's a few words. And they're well-chosen words, carefully chosen words. But they do indicate that ISIS, yes, they blessed this attack. They think it was a good thing and they encourage more of it. They want to see more attacks on the west like this.

BALDWIN: I mean if you have, Paul, Paris, and you have these terrorists directly connected to ISIS in Syria and then you have San Bernardino and here they are, according to our sources, you know, this wife pledging allegiance to al-Baghdadi, self-radicalization, wouldn't that be even more troubling to counterterrorism officials that they actually can't know how many of these people who are actually in communication so they can't, you know, intercede communication and locate these people and have them ping on a radar, that is most troubling to me.

CRUICKSHANK: Oh, very concerning indeed that these two were not on the radar screen, that they may have been on the very, very edge of the radar screen that when this attack happened, they went back and established that they were in touch with people who were already on their radar screen. All of that obviously concerning in the United States. They're tracking 900 different investigations of individuals who they believe have become radicalized and have sympathy with the Islamic state and that they're concerned about from a counterterrorism point of view. The number is much, much larger in Europe.

So there's a fear from these ISIS-inspired radicals. That's probably the most immediate threat in the United States. But also right across the west, a concern now ISIS is getting into the international terrorism business. The richest terror group in history going the way of al Qaeda. And just yesterday we learned that there is significant concern that the U.K. is next. That they're aiming to target the U.K. next. They've tasked British ISIS operatives with returning to the U.K. to launch attacks in the wake of what we saw play out in Paris.

I think there's concern about all the European countries who have, in one way, shape or another, played a role in the anti-ISIS coalition. Brooke, ISIS really wants to hit back. They've got great resources. More than 6,000 European extremists gone off to fight with these groups in Syria and Iraq. A big number coming back, over 1,500. These are unprecedented times.

BALDWIN: Unprecedented times and the next wave, it's fear, whether it's France here in the United States, potentially the U.K., it's fear and that is precisely what they want.

I want to keep the two of you around. Graeme Wood and Paul Cruickshank, stay with me. Again, live pictures there in San Bernardino. Any minute now we will see the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department give a news conference, new details on what now appears to be increasingly likely this self-radicalized couple carrying out just absolute horror and bloodshed in a place you would never imagine.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:57] BALDWIN: All right, live news conference about to happen there in San Bernardino. Let's take it.

JARROD BURGUAN, CHIEF OF POLICE, SAN BERNARDINO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Again, Jarrod Burguan, j-a-r-r-o-d b-u-r-g-u-a-n, chief of police, San Bernardino Police Department.

I'm going to talk real briefly about something that came up overnight. I understand there's some things that went out on social media kind of bringing some - some concern to the area. People talking about - online about cells and law enforcement not sharing information and a potential threat at a movie theater or something of that nature. I saw at least one of the tweets. I don't know how much you guys are aware of, but I want to address that right now.

On Monday night, Tuesday morning, before the incident, so November 30th, December 1st, right around midnight, 1:00 in the morning, there was an incident at the Regal Cinema in downtown San Bernardino at 4th and East (ph) Street. And what that case was is that a gentleman that was described as appearing to be mentally disturbed came up and spoke to the security guard around the time the theater was closing and he was asking the security guard some questions about the movies and times and things like that. But the security guard kind of thought that it was odd. That person ultimately left in a silver Volvo four- door vehicle, 2012, 2013. We do not have a plate.

The security guard thought it was weird. Shortly thereafter, the security guard then noticed a red late '90s Dodge Durango driving around the area with another person that was possibly middle eastern in appearance that appear to be taking some photographs in and around the theater. So the security guard took it upon himself, notified our police department. We've gone out that day or that night and we took a report and we put that out in a BOLO to every law enforcement area - I'm sorry, every law enforcement agency in the county as just simply some suspicious circumstances that were noted. So that is all we have on that.

And then it went into the regular investigative channels and protocols where the local JRICK (ph) were notified and they're doing investigative follow-up, looking at video, that sort of stuff, to try to determine if there's a real threat or to see if there's any plates associated with those vehicles.

[14:20:09] At this point, we have zero connection that - or zero evidence or information that connects that event with what happened here at the - at the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday morning. So I want to make that clear. But as a result of what happened on Wednesday, the San Bernardino Police Department has been basically in a tactical alert type situation, meaning that we have every officer in the department working. We are on 12-hour shifts. So it's a 12 on 12 off for all of our officers. We'll maintain that until we think it's appropriate to stand down.

We don't have any credible information to indicate that there is a threat to this region right now. But I wanted to address that because of some things that came out to imply that we were hiding information. We are not hiding information from anybody, OK?

And then lastly, what I want to do right now is, this is going to be an official transfer of this investigation in terms of information and how information is going to flow on this to the FBI. We certainly talked a lot about what that partnership is. I want to make it clear that our agency, the sheriff's department, the FBI and the other federal agencies that are involved in this investigation continue to walk shoulder to shoulder in this investigation to make sure that we are doing the best job that we can. But in terms of information regarding the investigation on this incident at the Inland Regional Center, the home in Redlands, the search warrants that have been done, the officer involved shooting that occurred as a result of this, this is an FBI investigation. They will be the lead on information regarding that. Myself and Sheriff McMahon (ph) will still be the lead talking about local safety measures and security.

So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to the assistant director in charge of the FBI, Dave Bowdich.

DAVID BOWDICH, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI LOS ANGELES OFFICE: Thank you, chief.

Good morning, everyone.

First off I want to - I want to stress again to the families of the victims and to the friends of the victims, let's remember they are first in this - in this scenario. We had victims who lost - one gentleman lost six children, one gentleman lost a baby and he was taking his first trip to Disneyland next week. Other people did not have the chance to have that. Every one of those live counted. And we want to offer our sincere prayers to those families.

Secondly, I want to stress the partnership. You have seen this united front, which is incredibly important for an investigation of this complexity. This is a very complex investigation. It is a very long- term investigation. My partners here from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department, the county sheriff's department, the San Bernardino Police Department, and the ATF have been incredibly important in this investigation. And we are lock step in how we are handling this matter.

I do want to go forward today and tell you that as of today, based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism. We have uncovered evidence that has led us to learn of extensive planning. Obviously we've uncovered evidence of explosive, multiple armaments, you know that. you know the ammunition that was out there, the high- powered weapons, the explosive devices. We are continuing to go down the path to assure that - ensure that we find all of the evidence that pertains to this matter.

We have also uncovered evidence that these subjects had - they attempted to destroy their digital fingerprints. For example, we found two cell phones in a nearby trash can. Those cell phones were actually crushed. We have retained those cell phones and we do continue to exploit the data from those cell phones. We do hope that the digital fingerprints that were left by these two individuals will take us towards their motivation. That evidence is incredibly important.

I want to ensure that everyone understand that just because the FBI has now taken the leadership based on the trajectory of this case, we're not just taking this on our own. We are going to continue down the same path we have been, which is a lock step operation with these partners. That is important. They are the protectors of this community. We have the mandate to investigate terrorism to its fullest extent. We are working hand in hand with our other federal, local and state partners. We are also working hand in hand with our foreign counterparts to ensure that we find any connections that pertain to this matter.

Next, I'd like to introduce to you that we have established a national task force line - I'm sorry, a national hotline that I would like to invite the public to call if they have any information that pertains to this. Now, I would ask the public to please be judicious and make sure that even though, if it's small, send it to us. Please do not send us things that are obviously not pertinent to this matter because we've got a lot of work to do in the future. But if you think in any form or fashion what you have to offer pertains to this matter, please call us and give us that information. It's important.

[14:25:26] That number is 1-800-CALL-FBI, or 1-800-225-5324. Once you reach that number, you can choose option four, and that will take you to where you need to be in that call tree.

I want to ensure the public that your local, state and federal law enforcement officials will continue to uncover every stone to ensure that we find all the facts that pertain to these two individuals. I don't have all the answers now. I am going to take some questions.

QUESTION: How are these two individuals linked to terror (ph)?

QUESTION: Are there other suspects, sir? Are there other suspects that you're looking at?

BOWDICH: Sorry.

QUESTION: How are these two individuals linked to terrorists?

BOWDICH: We don't know all those answers yet.

QUESTION: Can you give us an example of some? Now it's widely been reported some of the links to terrorism. We - obviously CBS News, we've confirmed it with our own (ph) law enforcement sources, communication with the people (INAUDIBLE) the U.S. communications with people overseas. What of that are you ready to confirm publically.

BOWDICH: What I'm ready to confirm is there are some - some telephonic connections between these two individuals - at least one of these individuals and other subjects of our investigation.

QUESTION: Was anything said inside the room during the shooting that led you to believe this was terrorism?

BOWDICH: We still don't have the answer to that, but so far the answer is no.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) by a terrorist organization.

BOWDICH: I'm sorry.

QUESTION: Is there evidence they were linked (ph) directly by ISIS or al Qaeda or something like that or if they were inspired by ISIS?

BOWDICH: I don't have the answer to any direction. Were they inspired? We do not yet know the answer. I'm aware of the post that you're going to ask me about that's out on the - on the FaceBook and I'm aware of it. We're looking into it. But we don't know all the answers to that question yet.

QUESTION: Can you confirm the post?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE). You said (INAUDIBLE) -

BOWDICH: Yes, I'm not going to confirm that at this point.

Yes.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

BOWDICH: There's a number of - there's a number of pieces of evidence that has - has essentially pushed us off the cliff to say we are now investigating this as an act of terrorism.

QUESTION: Is there other suspects -

BOWDICH: No, I'm not going to get into that today.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) suspects currently under arrest?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) preliminary investigation previously?

BOWDICH: There are no other suspects currently under arrest. It is possible there may be some in the future. We don't know.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) the digital information that they may have found in the home?

(CROSS TALK) BOWDICH: Sir. QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) the computers at the home. Can you talk about that? Were they damaged? And also potentially for (ph) any investigator, how important is potentially information you can find on a hard drive, on a cell phone, in an investigation that now is focusing on terrorism?

BOWDICH: Good question. Yes, some of the digital media was damaged, as I disused before. And, yes, that is - we are - as I said from day one, we are continuing to go down the path of what was the motivation for this attack, because that will tell us a lot. As important, if not important is, are there others and are they based in the U.S., are they outside the U.S.? We don't know the answers.

QUESTION: With so many questions, why was the media allowed into the apartment with so many questions still remaining?

BOWDICH: Well, because last night - so we executed a search warrant on that apartment. And last night we turned that over, back to the residents. Once the residents have the apartment and we're not in it anymore, we don't control it. We did leave a list of items seized that I know some people have and they're asking, why do we give that? We didn't get - we have to give that out by law. We leave - any time we execute a lawful search warrant, we have to leave for the residents a list that lists all the items seized during that search warrant.

QUESTION: With all the ammunition that they had -

BOWDICH: Yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: With all the ammunition that they had on them, do you believe they were planning a second attack somewhere?

BOWDICH: I don't want to speculate. It's certainly a possibility that we are looking at.

QUESTION: Sir, do you believe that reporters -

QUESTION: That this was -

QUESTION: Where did they get their orders from? Were they acting independently just with the idea that they were going this crisis (ph)?

BOWDICH: That goes back to the direction question I took earlier. We do not know that, but we are looking very carefully into that.

QUESTION: Sir, do you believe -

(CROSS TALK)

BOWDICH: Do I believe travel was a big part of this?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) overseas travel (INAUDIBLE) part of this?

BOWDICH: I don't know. He traveled overseas in 2013.

QUESTION: Any kind of money angle, where the money came from for this?

BOWDICH: Remember, folks, we're in day three. We're in day three. And I don't even - we're barely 24 - two full days into this. So we'll - we'll get there. We're not there yet. Remember, all these resources you see back here, that's why we're utilizing all of those in partnership to try to find every piece of evidence that's out there, from digital media, which should lead us, hopefully, to motivation, to connections via phone, e-mails, anything like that, to human intelligence that may give us some, that's where we're going. But that takes time. That's not a three day process.

[14:30:08] Yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: Looking at other people -

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) cell phones, (INAUDIBLE) that they tried to destroy.

BOWDICH: I was told they were in a nearby trash can.