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Eighth Attacker In the Paris Terror Attacks Has Been Apprehended Alive; Mitt Romney Will Vote Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 18, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:13] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: All right. Quick reminder, we are watching and waiting to hear from Belgium authorities as they should give us some new information in the fact that we have learned in the last little bit that the eighth attacker in the Paris terror attacks has been apprehended alive, which is obviously huge, huge news, because they want him to start talking. They want to figure out exactly how he has been hiding for so long. And what more he knows. We will go to that as soon as that happens.

Meantime, and here with me talking politics. I have missed him. CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish, host of CNN's "SMERCONISH: in Saturday morning to 9:00 eastern. Nice to see you.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, MICHAEL SMERCONISH SHOW: We have been going all different directions this election.

BALDWIN: I know, lots of planes. So with this whole - we have been reporting on this closed door meeting, high-level Republicans, trying to figure out how the heck do we stop Trump. OK, they say, maybe an idea would be so-called unity ticket, a la Kasich and Cruz getting together. Do you think that's going to work?

SMERCONISH: I think that every time you mention or someone else mentioned a closed door meeting --

BALDWIN: Trump's like yes.

SMERCONISH: Absolutely. Because this is exactly what he talks about. See, they're afraid of me. It's the establishment. I'm rattling their cage which is exactly what those Trump's supporters want him to do.

I don't know how you can justify a so-called unity ticket. Unless there's some parts of the unity ticket had more delegates than Donald Trump would have. And I'm not convinced if you add together Ted Cruz and John Kasich at the end of the road that they will have more than Donald Trump has. He may not get to 1,237. But I don't know they are going to get there together.

BALDWIN: By the way, as footnote on the unity ticket notion, that would mean, had a very smart professor on last hour, saying that would mean one of these men would have to check his ego on the door and say, OK, I'll be the president. I'll be on the ticket.

SMERCONISH: Absolutely. I bet Marco Rubio wishes he had done exactly that.

BALDWIN: But we saw him yesterday saying I'm not being anybody's vice president.

SMERCONISH: Right, right, well, OK, so now you will no longer be a senator or a presidential candidate.

BALDWIN: On the notion of these delegates, come Cleveland, and you know a bit about this personally, come Cleveland, will they feel wedded to Donald Trump?

SMERCONISH: No. No, they won't. I think there are so many misconceptions about the way this process works. They will be wedded to whomever won the district the sent them and they will be wedded only so long as they are obligated by the rules which in most instances is going to be one ballot. Now, some states keep you around for many as three ballots.

Brooke, when I had hair and I was in college, I was elected alternate delegate to a Republican convention. It is not the way people think that it is.

BALDWIN: OK. I'd love to see that picture, by the way, but I love without it.

Let me go to this. Let me go to -- thank you, Michael Smerconish. We will see you Saturday morning.

This news conference now under way in Belgium.

CHARLES MICHEL, BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Three suspects, one of which is Salah Abdeslam. And I want you to understand -- I want to thank very much the security forces, the intelligence services, the police services, the magistrates, the investigators, who are all represented here as well. It is a very intense work that has been undertaken today. My detailed and professional work, which has led to these extremely important results in the context of the fight against terrorism very important results. In terms of the context of the battle for democracy and the values that we believe in and that we want to uphold against these appalling acts.

I also want to tell you in a few months, more than 100 searches have been made, often in very difficult or sensitive situations, as happened in forest, 58 people have been held as a result of these searches. Obviously, I want to highlight to you the extreme importance of the cooperation between Belgium and France. And in the few -- last few weeks, the summit, we worked together here in Brussels to fight together what we were going to do and to beef up our capacities to fight together to prevent terrorism but also to shine a light on all the different investigations. And it is only this evening -- clearly this evening shows what we've been doing together and a success in the fight against terrorism and these horrendous acts against human life.

So just a few instance to be able to -- we received President Obama on the telephone, Hollande and myself, who encouraged us and also wished and supported us to continue pursuing terrorists and also underline the values of liberty that the United States has particularly our unified fight against terrorism. So he wanted to congratulate all the different security forces of our countries. So it was a very important moment.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[15:36:55] BALDWIN: All right, so while they are speaking, not in English, let's just explain what you're looking at. Massive news conference. Tremendous for both France and Belgium. You see the Belgian pm there. He was just speaking. He was sitting next to French president Francois Hollande. We also know that President Obama has been fully briefed. He has made a phone call or a call, I should say, a call has been made between the Belgian PM and also the president of the United States. And so, as we await perhaps more information in English -- let's listen.

MICHEL (through translator): I also want to undermine the cooperation between France and Belgium. Other elements that I wanted to tell you. I have so much pleasure to be next to President Francois Hollande, accompanied by the minister, Belgian minister. So we went through this extraordinary event. As we were together, when we were together at the European summit. So we -- the challenges that we face. So it really shows how we need to work closely together as we did this whole afternoon. And we're able to give this message together. So I want to thank my colleagues of the Belgian government who have worked in this intense way.

All of the different services linked up together. Minister of justice, the interior minister, the foreign minister, the second -- the different vice ministers. So all mobilized together so we could work in this cohesive efficient way. So that's what I wanted to tell you. And I would now like to hand over to the president of France, Hollande.

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRANCE PRESIDENT: Well, as the Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has confirmed, Salah Abdeslam was arrested with two accomplices and he was formally identified today. I think of the victims right now of the attacks of the 13th of November of Paris and in Saint-Denis. Because Salah Abdeslam is directly linked to the organization and preparation of and, sadly, the perpetration of THIS terrible attack.

I think also of the families who will have been waiting for this arrest and all of those from near or from far who have been able to, who participated in this terrible act. I want to congratulate the prime minister and the Belgian government for the various undertakings and work they've been doing for the last few weeks and, in particular, congratulates the intervention of all the special units. The role of the security and intelligence services. And also -- also the justice department who oversaw the whole action. The cooperation between France and Belgium since these attacks, but even before these attempts, has always been intense and important. Hard work.

Again, it has showed how efficient it is today. Even if it has been a long journey and it is still not finished, we have to continue to act. This cooperation is between the different security and intelligence services, between the different police units. And I remind you there were French police specialist units today and on Tuesday in forest and we have to continue, in fact, amplify this cooperation. This cooperation is equally a judicial cooperation, a legal cooperation. And Salah Abdeslam was under -- had an international arrest, a European arrest warrant. And I don't doubt that the -- the two legal authorities will imminently be asking for a request for extradition. And I know that this is not the first time we will have to be doing that. And I know that Belgian authorities will respond as favorably, and as quickly as possible. So I want to thank them, the justice men, the Belgium justice minister for this, and also the prosecutor.

We also are aware of if this arrest is an important stage. It is not the only, nor the conclusion of what we are doing. Because there have been quite a few arrested. And there will be more in the future. Because I know that the network was wide and extensive network in Belgium, in France, as well as other European countries.

And so for as long as we have not arrested each -- each and every one of those who participated, financed, supported, this terrorist network, which committed these horrendous attacks, these acts of war on the 13th of November, our fight is not finished. And from tomorrow morning, given the information that I have been given, I will be bringing together the defense committee of all our different -- the defense ministers of all our different European countries will be meeting tomorrow and we have to keep working so that this network and other networks -- because we know there are links between this network, which lead us back to Syria where it ISIS, ISIL, who wanted these attacks to be organized, financed and planned. It's their intent. And it is from Syria a certain number of the protagonists of these attacks.

And we also need to lead this fight at the European level. It is no coincidence -- well, it is a coincidence, but often as Europe produces them as we were together meeting at a summit, European summit, that this arrest took place of Salah Abdeslam. So the combat, the fight, needs to be led at the European level, and all -- and all of Europe means and methods that have been adopted by Europe have to be implemented, particularly with regard to --

BALDWIN: The French president sitting next to the Belgian prime minister. You just heard him say we're not finished. The fact that they now have this eighth attacker from the Paris terror attacks Salah Abdeslam. This is far from over. He mentioned networks, financing. It's France. It's Belgium. It is other European countries as well. We have so much we need to delve into, including new information here from Paul Cruickshank who broke this for us and has been all over this as far as how he was found. Stay with me. Much more on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:49:23] BALDWIN: All right. Now with confirmation of the capture of one of the Paris terror attack suspects, here's Salah Abdeslam. This is huge, obviously, for the coordination between France and Belgium that also leads to a lot of questions as far as this terror network that he perhaps belonged to, how he basically hid in plain sight in Belgium for so many months since that fatal attack in Paris in November.

I have Clarissa Ward, Buck Sexton and Paul Cruickshank with me.

And Paul, to you first, because you're the one with all this information as far as how this happened, how they caught him. What have you learned?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Our colleagues (INAUDIBLE) in Belgium reporting that after Salah Abdeslam and his fellow suspect got away from that apartment --

[15:50:10] BALDWIN: On Tuesday.

CRUICKSHANK: On Tuesday in the southwestern part of Brussels, got away over the roofs, they actually contacted somebody that Belgian security services had under surveilled and arranged a rendezvous in Mullen back with this individual. And of course, at that point the Belgians had them. They were able to go to that address and we've seen the operation take place now.

So it was the fact that they actually got in touch with somebody they had under observation. They were listening in to that led to this major operation Mullen Back today. They came very close, that it would appear, on Tuesday. But they didn't know there any terrorist inside that apartment. And one of the terrorists inside, a guy called Mohammed (INAUDIBLE) who is a senior planner, senior coordinator in the Paris attacks, provided covering fire as soon as police arrived. Not suspecting that to be anybody there and providing covering fire so the other two guys, (INAUDIBLE) and the other terrorists managed to get away over the roofs, scamper across to another location in Brussels. But according to (INAUDIBLE) there, when they contacted this guy the Belgians had under surveillance and were listening into, that's when they knew where he was going to be at a certain point in time and were able to move in with a lot of advanced intelligence. Knowing where he was going to be at a particular place in time and that is in (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: They were waiting for him. We should also add that we learned from the news conference it's not just two that they have captured, it's Abdeslam and then two of his associates so three altogether.

Buck Sexton, you were sitting here watching all of this unfold as well and you offer sort of a different perspective as far, as you, you were saying why was it only four members of law enforcement sort of binging down the door? But again, you know, they were doing so many raids, how would they have known?

BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's not that the four that were there, it's how quick the reaction response would be once somebody with an AK-47 opened up on them. It's a little surprising to me that in this neighborhood, you would think that people would have the ability to call the authorities when people are scampering over roofs.

Look. It is a tough situation and I don't want a Monday morning quarterback. And it did certainly take them a long time to find these individuals. They were not hiding in a compound in (INAUDIBLE). They were hiding in the middle of Brussels. And we knew not only where, not just that it was Brussels, but essentially what neighborhoods to be looking in.

I do think, though, that the idea of how they were actually caught shows that there was a high level of operational security that these three individuals had. Essentially they were flushed out and that's when they made the critical mistake, the error that led to this, which suggests to me that they had a pretty good understanding of the fact that they would have associates who would be under surveillance and essentially they were desperate because they knew if they couldn't get to a secondary safe house kind of location they were going to get found out so they had just to rolled the dice and in these days it worked out for the authorities and were able to find them.

But these guys were trained. They knew what they were doing. So that also factors into to how they were able to hide in this place so long.

BALDWIN: Just a quick note from you and then we got --.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it is also speaks to the issues in these communities. There isn't a lot of trust between people living in these communities outside Paris, outside Brussels and the authorities. And this is a very real problem the French and Belgian and all European officials are going to be dealing with quite some time. Because as you heard from President Francois Hollande, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This network was bigger, it was wider and deeper and there will be many more arrests to come, Brooke.

BALDWIN: He says we are not finished. Thank you all so much.

I have just heard we now know who Mitt Romney will be voting for. The answer, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:57:56] BALDWIN: An elite chef with a passion for helping former inmates. This week's CNN hero once had a brush with the law. Now Brandon (INAUDIBLE) is using his second chance to help other ex- offenders get back on track.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming home from prison after someone has done their time, everyone deserves that fair and equal second chance.

So my left hand moves, my right hand follows. I see that opportunity that someone deserves. I can see it, I can

feel it. I've been given the gifts to fight to make sure that that door does get opened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: To find out how Brandon opens that door, watch his story. Go to CNNheroes.com. While you're there, please nominate someone you think is extraordinary who should be the 2016 CNN hero.

Before I let you go, major news in the political sphere here. We have just learned former Republican presidential nominee, former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, has just now said he will be voting for Texas senator Ted Cruz, Ted Cruz.

I have Tim Naftali with me right now just to talk about this in my final sort of 60 seconds. I mean, Ted Cruz, the person who is the face of the government shutdown, filibustered "green eggs and ham," talking on the floor. This is somebody who, you know, finally Lindsey Graham yesterday, we kept talking about pigs flying because he was supporting him. What's happening?

TIM NAFTALI: The Trumptastrophe (ph) is making strange bedfellows in the GOP. Listen. Trump represents a threat. If you look at his platform, to the orthodoxy of the GOP, the principles the GOP has been running on since Reagan. Mitt Romney is the elder statesman of the GOP, and he is saying we have to have a regular republican, even though many don't like Cruz but a regular conservative Republican represent our brand. That's what this means.

What it doesn't mean for sure is that it will succeed. But it means that Cruz becomes more competitive in the west and will pick up more votes in the northeast when the primaries move over there. So this makes for a much more interesting competition. And for Trump, a real problem.

BALDWIN: Tim Naftali, thank you. Do not miss Tim and his phenomenal series "the Race for the White House" Sunday night 9:00 here on CNN.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for watching. "The LEAD" starts right now.