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EARLY START

Terror in France: 84 Killed, No Claim of Responsibility; President Condemns Terror Attack; Presidential Candidates React to Nice Attack. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired July 15, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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


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[04:30:50] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Terror attack in France. Eighty-four people killed. Dozens more wounded when an armed driver shoots at pedestrians and then runs over them. Who is the terrorist? Did he act alone? What we've learned overnight.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman. Thirty-one minutes past the hour right now. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world.

The breaking news, tragic news. A new death toll in the terror attack in Nice. At least 84 people have been killed. More than 100 injured. This was a horrific terror attack in France on Bastille Day.

An armed terrorist, what he did, he drove into a crowd. He started out by opening fire, but then systemically driving through pedestrians for more than a mile, running down dozens and dozens and dozens on the main boulevard in Nice before police finally gunned him down. This cellphone video captures the sound of the terrifying scene.

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BERMAN: Investigators are trying to determine whether the I.D. of a 31-year-old French-Tunisian man found in the truck matches the body of the driver. Also in the truck, officers found several rifles and grenades, some of them maybe fake rifles and grenades, along with at least one very real handgun.

French President Francois Hollande declared the attack an act of terrorism. He extended the state of emergency for the entire nation of France. One witness described the truly terrifying scene in an interview with French television.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE WITNESSS: Yes, I saw him. He was nervous. He was not controlling the wheel. I looked to the girl because he smashed her. The guy -- yes, yes, yes. I didn't see behind already, but I saw once. He was driving over he smashed her all the way. He lost control and he was moving inside like this and this. I saw he was holding something like a cell phone.

I thought he would call the ambulance. Until I saw the police, he started to shoot the police because he saw the police going in a circle across the window. And in that moment, the officers asked me and the people next to me to run because it was guns shooting.

We were in the middle of the gunshots. I opened my cell phone. I took the video. I was in shock. I just took the video. They killed him already and his head was out of the window. They came close with spotlight just to be sure it is him alone and no one with him.

They thought there was a bomb maybe inside the car. Maybe a bomb around him and he could explode. In this moment, I had to run and they asked all the people on the beach to run, run, run, run.

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BERMAN: All right. Let's go live to Paris right now and bring in French 24 reporter Melissa Bell standing by.

Melissa, so sadly, we talked to you three times in the last 18 months. Three separate acts of mass terror in France. This one on Bastille Day, the French national day, think the Fourth of July here in the United States, following a fireworks celebration.

What new details are you learning?

MELISSA BELL, REPORTER, FRANCE 24: Well, just now, John, a security meeting has wrapped up at the Elysee Palace. Francois Hollande had gathered around him, his prime minister, Manuel Valls, the justice secretary and the chief of staff of French armed forces. The French prime minister has been speaking to journalists, explaining as he came out of the meeting that France was a strong country and solid democracy and would not allow itself to be destabilized by this terrorist atrocity.

[04:35:03] Also expected to learn is the most important thing from the point of view of he authorities now is helping the grieving families and ensuring they get the remains of their loved ones returned to them. He and Francois Hollande are about to step on to a plane and head to Nice. They'll be visiting the local hospitals, meeting those who survived this attack, those who are still fighting for their lives, because 18 people remain this morning in a critical condition, John. That death toll of 84 could sadly continue rising over the coming hours.

Francois Hollande and Manuel Valls who the prime minister will keep an issue on the investigation. We will learn more about the man who was involved, Franco-Algerian, and sources close to the investigation now suggests that fingerprints inside the lorry seem to confirm the identity papers found for Franco-Tunisian man do belong to the man driving the truck. Also found on his person, a bank card, a phone, and they will provide crucial clues over the coming hours that might help answer the biggest perhaps of all this morning, John, which is whether he was acting alone or in coordination with others. BERMAN: That is the key to find out if others are involved in the

attack. Right now, the identity of a French-Tunisian man found in the truck.

The French president has said they are at war, Melissa, but it's clear it's not just a war outside the country, but it's also a war within.

BELL: And this is something that French armed forces felt a great deal, John, over the last few months. They are hugely stretched outside of France, because France is involved on a number of different fronts in the Sahil region of North Africa, in the Middle East, in that campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

But, of course, here in France, 10,000 soldiers have been deployed over the last few months. This Operation Sentinel as it is called, which is designed to ensure the armed forces make sure that France stays safe. That was set up after the "Charlie Hebdo" massacre of January 15, strengthen after the November 13 attacks, slightly brought down to the 7,000 man figure. That's now been raised back up to 10,000 by Francois Hollande.

And these extra troops that are now going to be on the streets of France since he called in reservists to help those stretched armed forces. So, there is very much a sense and if you walked around Paris these last few months, you would have felt it, that France is on a war footing. There are military everywhere and we're going to see many more of them over the coming days.

BERMAN: Melissa Bell, France 24 for us, in Paris this morning -- thank you very much, Melissa.

KOSIK: All right. Let's talk more about this attack. Joining us now, CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank, live in Nice, and CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton, former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is in our Washington bureau this morning.

Good morning, gentlemen.

Paul, first to you. You know, one thing that struck me when I heard about this attack was, you know, not as sophisticated as we've seen. You know, there have been three attacks in the past 18 months in France. And although ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the particular attack that we're talking about today, we can make assumptions and look at it and look at the different tactics -- certainly not as sophisticated. There seems to be less planning in this one where it's one guy in a truck and a weapon.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: That's exactly right. A few hours ago on this very road I'm on right now, the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, a truck was driving 25 or 30 miles an hour for two kilometers plowing into men, women and children and more than 80 people being killed here.

Most people being killed from the truck colliding with people at that moment. It was a very big vehicle. Indeed you are right. This does not appear at first blush to be the sophistication of, say, the Paris attacks of last November, where you had ten gunman roam around Paris, three different teams launching attacks in three different locations, communicating with one another.

We do not know at this point whether this man was motivated by Islamic extremism. I think that is the operating hypothesis of the French government as they investigate this. I understand someone close to the investigation, the suspect that they identified was not on the radar screen as a known jihadi or a known Islamist extremist. They will be looking into his background and seeing how or when he may have become radicalized.

It is very early hours in the investigation here, but not clear at this point whether this was a lone-wolf style attack by one individual who decided to act on behalf of ISIS, for example, or whether this was a bit more orchestrated, or at least instigated by the terrorist group.

[04:40:07] The terrorist groups have called this kind of attacks. Use vehicles to plow through people and kill them.

BERMAN: Either way, Colonel Leighton, this is the third mass casualty event in France since January 2015. First, "Charlie Hebdo", and last November at the Bataclan. Why does France keep getting hit like this? Why is this such a target for jihadists?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: In many ways, John, it's one of the easiest targets for the terrorists to go after. The reason it is easy, relatively speaking, is because there is a large Muslim population in France, a large disaffected population. And because we are dealing with that issue and the French have had a difficult time integrating these people into their society.

They also have a plethora of soft targets, the targets to actually attack areas that are very difficult for the security forces to mount effective defenses for. I think the attack occurred in Nice because the Paris defenses were built up more than the ones in Nice. So, they pick the unexpected areas, an area outside of Paris that is not likely to have as much security. That is probably why Nice was chosen and, of course, now, focused on that tragedy.

KOSIK: But, Colonel, there is a state of emergency in France since the attacks in November. That by definition means there are more officers on the streets in France and how much can you really anticipate something like this or should you anticipate something like this even if it is not on the intel radar?

LEIGHTON: Well, that's a great question, Alison. The problem you have is not only can you not maintain a persistent state of high readiness during a state of emergency like the one France has had for the past several months, but the other problem is you can't get inside the heads of these terrorists to know precisely where they're going to be targeting people next. And that's the real difficult thing. You can't really anticipate the precise nature of the attacks unless you are actually inside the planning of these terrorist attacks. And the less people are involved in the planning, the less likely it is for police and other authorities to get inside those cells and actually make a difference from a preventive standpoint.

BERMAN: Paul Cruickshank, we don't know this is ISIS, but we know the battle against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the West thinks it is making progress with the forces. They are moving back ISIS, but even as ISIS loses territory there, the terror groups are reaching out elsewhere.

CRUICKSHANK: That's right. And some of this is retaliation that as ISIS loses territory in Syria and Iraq and loses Ramadi and Fallujah, in Raqqah in Syria, they are plotting with western intelligence that identified within ISIS the external operations unit. There appears to be French ISIS operatives playing a senior role in that unit.

And they are encouraging and directing French by return to France to launch attacks. I can tell you that there's been some recent interrogation. For example, a German ISIS operative who came back a while ago, and he said that ISIS sent a lot of people according from what he was told, back to France. They are trying to evaluate that information.

I can tell you that no country in the Western world is more concerned by ISIS than France and this is only accelerating as ISIS lashes out as it loses territory in Syria and Iraq.

KOSIK: Cedric, question to you. This attacker was found inside this truck. Some of the items in the truck were fake, meaning fake grenades and fake weapons. Why would someone looking to cause this much death and wreck this much havoc have fake items in this attack?

LEIGHTON: It may be, Alison -- and this is speculation obviously on my part -- but it maybe what he was trying to do was divert attention. Use these kinds of fake pieces either rifles or other weapons and grenades that have been reported as a way to divert attention from what he was actually doing. He had at least one real gun as we know and he also, you know, obviously used the truck as a weapon.

[04:45:01] And there may have been a cover that he was transporting toys or something of that type. But that's, of course, something the investigation will have to finally determine. And I think what he was trying to do was perhaps this was a target of opportunity. It was something that he was prepared to execute on and perhaps he did not have all of the equipment he needed to do that. But this was one way of getting the goal that he wanted to achieve.

BERMAN: Paul Cruickshank, what are French authorities saying now? They have been in a state of emergency for some time. So, how do they prosecute this case? How do they battle terror in their country going forward?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, they are already in a state of emergency. They're already in the state of maximum alert. There is not much more they can do at this point.

And as the soldiers and police at the point across the country, this really a sense of fatigue, which is creeping in. They just don't have the manpower and resources to adequately deal with this threat. Even if they have triple the number of intelligence officials, police officials, and triple the number of resources, they still would not be able to deal with the sheer volume of threats that they are facing.

There are 11,000 people in France that are on the radar screen because of their suspected jihadi sympathies. John, that is an astronomical number. There are 2,000 of those who have been connected to networks linked to the jihad in Syria and Iraq. Up to 1,000 have traveled to Syria and Iraq. More than 250 have come back. Those are the ones they know about.

So, this is an unprecedented terrorist threat that is starting to face France. ISIS is singling out France right now, for attacks. There appear to be a number of French operatives playing a senior role in that external operation division who have made this a very big priority. And they are able to dispatch wave after wave of recruits back to France.

Now, we do not know what this attack was at this point. Was it a lone-wolf attack? Was it indeed ISIS? Could it have been al Qaeda or another group? We don't know those answers yet. There has been no claim of responsibility by any jihadi group. As the hours tick by, that will become a bit of a deafening silence. If it is indeed ISIS, I think we can expect them to claim the attacks very soon.

They claimed the attacks in Paris last year. We saw the claim of responsibility coming from ISIS. So, we go through today and no claims of responsibility, that puts you more into the idea this was perhaps a lone-wolf operation and perhaps al Qaeda or ISIS did not know this was coming.

BERMAN: Paul Cruickshank for us in Nice, Cedric Leighton for us in Washington -- thanks so much, gentlemen.

KOSIK: All right. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both offering condolences in the wake of a terror attack in France, but with very different ideas of what to do next, after the break.

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[04:52:32] KOSIK: President Obama condemning the terror attack that killed more than 84 people in Nice. Directing his administration to help the French investigate the attack and bring those responsible to justice.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has more from the White House.

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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Alison.

President Obama was notified just moments after this attack in Nice by his national security team getting updates throughout the evening and early morning. The president releasing a statement, I want to read it in part for you, saying, on behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed and wounded dozens of innocent civilians. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved ones of those killed, and wish a full recovery for the many wounded.

The president also directing his national security team to offer any kind of assistance to French officials when it comes to the investigation into the terrorist attacks and vowing solidarity with the French people. Now, you might recall back in April that we saw President Obama with French President Francois Hollande here at the White House, vowing to work together to fight terrorism.

It was in the days following the Paris attack in November where President Obama said, "We are all French now", and that is when the two leaders vowed to take the fight against ISIS, that they would increase the air strikes in Syria and Iraq. That they would bolster intelligence sharing, as well as try to take away the funding of ISIS.

Now, U.S. officials are saying it is much too soon to say whether or not this is ISIS driven. But certainly, that's one of the questions that they'll be looking into in the days ahead -- John, Alison.

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BERMAN: Suzanne Malveaux.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, they responded to the attack overnight. Though there have been no claims of responsibility, Trump told FOX News he would seek a declaration of war against ISIS and would bar most immigration from what he called terrorist nations. Clinton, meanwhile, called for an intelligence surge, ramping up intelligence gathering against terror groups.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (via telephone): I would not allow people to come in from terrorist nations. I would do extreme vetting. I would call it extreme vetting, too.

And, you know, our country has tremendous problems. We don't need anymore problems. Right now, we have more investigations of this kind going on than we ever had in the history of our country. And we're going to allow thousands and tens of thousands of more people coming in. And then you see a situation like in Nice, France, it's a horrible thing. And we better get awfully tough.

[04:55:01] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (via telephone): I said when it comes to refugees, we should only let people into this country after we have thoroughly screened them, no matter how long that takes. So, we've got to be smart about this. Not get pushed or pulled into taking action that doesn't have the positive effects it needs to have.

So, I would be very focused on intelligence surge. I would be very focused on working with our partners and allies and intensify our efforts against the ideologues who peddle radical jihadism online.

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KOSIK: Just a horrific attack. No other way to describe it. Eighty-four killed, 18 others in critical condition after a terror

attack in France. We've got live team coverage right after this break.

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KOSIK: Terror in France. People running for their lives as a gunman shoots and drives over dozen of pedestrians.