tv The Situation Room CNN August 22, 2014 2:00pm-4:01pm PDT
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>> from his position as a leader, as a minister, as a pastor, he will prepare the way he does, look to god and that guidance to prepare him for the right words of comfort. >> the right words of comfort for a family and a community still in so much pain. >> that's it for "the lead." i now turn you over to brianna keilar filling in for wolf blitzer in "the situation room." blitzer in "the situation room." have a great weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com happening now, answering isis threats. white house warns the group, if you come after americans, we will come after you. but is the u.s. ready to take that fight beyond iraq and into syria? and isis warns america, we 30s for your blood. new details on the chilling e-mail sent to the family of a beheaded american. i'll also speak with a lawmaker who represents the family of another hostage. and au new controversy in ferguson. a st. louis county police
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officer who was involved in crowd control is relieved of duty after inflammatory statements. wolf blitzer is off tonight. i'm brianna keilar. you're in "the situation room." >> is the u.s. moving toward an all-out war with isis? the white house is making it clear that the brutal beheading of an american hostage will not go unanswered. >> if you come after americans, we're going to come after you wherever you are. that's going to guide our planning in the days to come. >> that comes a day after a stunning assessment from the pentagon brass that the isis threat is "beyond anything we've seen." the generals made it clear defeating isis would require going after the group inside syria. we're looking at au angles of this chilling new threat and we have the latest developments on the investigation of the fatal police shooting in ferguson, missouri it, including some significant details missing from the incident report. our correspondents and guests are standing by with full
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coverage including don lemon and jason carroll in ferguson. we begin with michele kaczynski. tell us the latest on this isis threat. >> today, the president's deputy national security advisor agreed that the murder of james foley is isis's first terrorist attack against the united states. and without stating it in so many words, he also said essentially that yes, the u.s. is considering air strikes in syria, but he emphasized that that would require consultation with congress, a legal justification for doing so. >> today's assessment of the isis threat by the white house is serious. >> it's not simply the threat they pose to the united states. it's the threat they pose to the entire world. >> a big jump though this talk now about how to contain and ultimately defeat isis as the lives of other american hostages hang in the balance from january when president obama referred to
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such groups in an interview as a jv team when compared to al qaeda. >> would you still agree with his assessment just a few months ago? >> as they've become better funded through various funding streams, including what they're able to sell in terms of oil and gas, the ransoms they've been able to obtain and that has developed their capacity in a way that has increased the threat and they pose a greater threat today than six months ago and we're taking it very seriously. >> the administration does agree though that isis is still mainly involved in regional operations, not the 9/11 level lanning of al qaeda. today the fbi sent out a bulletin to law enforcement across america saying there is no credible homeland security threat linked to isis. but warns isis is using social media to try to gain followers and that it's urging acts of violence against "american interests." and today, the white house would not go so far as to agree with the defense secretary hagel's
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words yesterday. >> this is beyond anything that we've seen. so we must prepare for everything. >> they abduct women and children and subject them to torture, rape and slavery. they have murdered muslims both sunni and shia by the thousands. >> in those terms, is that beyond anything we've seen? >> the president has addressed this a little bit ago. >> does he agree with secretary hagel's assessment though? >> that what? >> that this is a threat beyond anything we've seen or that isis is a force beyond anything we've seen? >> i think how it the president views isil has been articulated a couple times now. >> the white house has been saying one reason isis has been able to gain strength even over the last several months is the payment of these enormous ransoms by several countries including european nations. we know that the white house has put some pressure on those countries to stop that practice, but that some have been unwilling to do so.
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the white house today had strong words against that is saying it's the wrong policy that it gives the terrorists perverse incentives for continuing with the kidnappings. brianna. >> great questioning today. michele with the president. thank you. as isis and the united states trade public warnings, we are learning more about chilling e-mail exchanges the terror group had with the family of hostage jim foley. bryan todd here with that. what did you find, bryan? >> we have new information about those exchanges and they are chilling indeed. the last e-mail the family received from his captors before james was killed said in part we will not stop until we quench our 30s for your blood. it punctuated a series of communications between the two sides where the family appealed for mercy and foley's captors never seemed interested in that. james foley's family says they received six e-mails from his captors during the year and a half he was held. they at one point demanded more than $130 million for his
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release. according to the president of global post. the news agency foley worked for. until last week, his family had heard nothing for almost a year, then an e-mail arrived saying he will be executed as a direct result of your transgressions towards us. foley's parents had sent multiple messages to his cap tors hoping to engage them. according to the president of global post, is the family appealed to the captors to show mercy saying james was an innocent journalist and showed great empathy for the syrian people. he says the family told cap tors they had no control over the actions of the u.s. government. one expert says the family was right to engage the captors. >> i would have said tell me what i can doing, ask me to do something that i can do. you're in charge. the decision for what happens to james is completely your decision. you're completely in charge. give me something to do that i can do. and that is actually a great test to find out whether or not the other side is negotiating good faith. >> the global post ceo says he
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tried to raise money but says there was never any true negotiation between his news out let and the captors. now new questionses are emerging about the failed rescue raid to rescue foley and other americans. they revealed the mission because several news outlets were about to report it. some say that disclosure might compromise other rescue missions. >> any hostages in syria will be dispersed among several sites and more heavily guarded and may be wired for demolition and death if any sort of rescue attempt is made in the area. >> in an interview with yahoo! news, foley's brother says he wishes the united states had done more. >> you can accomplish both things. the united states could have done more on behalf of the western and american hostages over there and still, you know, dealt with the broader worldwide issue. >> u.s. government officials say
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they use all the tools at their disposal to try to bring who is tans home and stressed to us they don't grant concessions to hostage takers and under current u.s. law, paying ransoms would be illegal but in reality, no one has ever been prosecuted to are paying a ransom to a terrorist group. >> isis reaches out. they reached out to the foley family but as you look at this, are you getting the sense they were serious about negotiating? ing >> expert have told us they don't ever believe they were ever of serious about negotiation. the amount of money they demanded, $132 million was too unrealistic for anyone to come up with. even if they had come up with it, one expert told us they probably have moved the goal posts a little bit. his boss went on record saying there was never true negotiation between hisout let and the captors. at least as far pa as negotiation, they don't feel they were serious. >> bryan, thanks so much. isis currently holds three
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americans, including journalist stephen sotloff shown as the end of that horrifying murder video. joining me now is republican congresswoman ilian nap ross late nen. she has been in touch with the sotloff family. thanks for joining me. >> thank you so much. i do want to say we have been helping on the case along with congresswoman debbie wasserman-schultz and congressman ted deutch. i have not had the contact with the family in the last months. they first contacted me this time last year. they're very private family. they had not wanted any attention paid to this case. why? because they believed that a solution could be found. we had reached out to the department of state, are to the white house, to reporters without borders, amnesty international, human rights watch. any organization or agency that could help. and they were certainly very aware of the case. i had conversations with the
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white house as recently as yesterday. they are doing everything possible to make sure that stephen is returned to his wonderful parents, they're lovely people. our community is praying for steven sotloff's life and also to give these wonderful parents the strength to continue with this ordeal. >> how hard is it, congresswoman, to try to make way on a negotiation or not a negotiation but on trying to get sotloff and these others released if paying a ransom isn't on the table? what specifically is being done besides reaching out to these human rights groups? >> well, i don't wish to speak for the sotloff family because they will be speaking at the proper time. they do live in my community. >> in general, if you can speak more generally. >> i would say that as a member of congress, id say never pay a ransom because it only encourages further kidnapping. as a mother and as a
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grandmother, i would have a totally different response. i would say do everything humanly possible to return my son or my grand sob to my loving arms. so this is a vet grieving situation for them. i can't fathom how difficult it would be for them to be facing this terrible ordeal with not knowing and steven's life in the hands of these murderers, barbarians. but we will pray and as one of the family members said, there's a petition in change.org and they ask for people to sign the petition and to continue praying for stephen's life but isis, heaven only knows what this group is capable of. as the mom said, he's still alive. so there's nothing to say. >> they have reached out. isis has, to the foley family and we learned from the family that isis reached out on multiple occasions. has isis reached out to the sotloff family? >> i do the know know. we just know they had received a
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telephone call from their son in december. i don't know and i don't wish to become part of the sotloff family saga because that is a very private family and they want their privacy to be respected. i can just say they're a member of our community. we have tried to reach out through many government agencies and nongovernmental organizations. and it was -- it's very difficult to deal with a group that is totally out of control but prayers for them all. >> i wonder, general martin dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs, he said that isis cannot be defeated without addressing the part of it that is in syria. do you support air strikes inside of syria? >> i do. i believe that the president should do that. i believe he should have done it when he first announced it when he said assad has crossed a red line in the use of chemical weapons. in fact, they used chemical weapons twice and sill we did not note do what we said we
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would do. it was a mistake for us not to act then. many of us were supportive of the president's actions. when it comes to isis or isil in iraq, what we have are natural allies, the kurds. they're fighters and want to defeat this horrible terrorist squlooem and they will do so if we give them the arms to fight. so the i support limited air strikes and furthermore, i support arming the kurds so that they can take isil out. we cannot let this cancer grow. >> it sounds like arming the kurds is something very much on the table there. when you did listen to dempsey's comments yesterday, did you take that, did you read that, do you get the sense that the administration will take this step of u.s. air strikes or certainly something u.s. and allies air strikes in syria? >> brianna, i do believe that the administration is seriously considering that. i think that by keeping congress in the loop, keeping us informed and maybe even going a step
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further, getting authorization from the united states congress, i believe there are many members who feel the same way. my step son and daughter-in-law served in iraq. >> do you think that would pass a democratic senate? >> well, one can only hope. isis is a real threat. it's a threat to the entire area. it's a threat to democratic allies. and our u.s. national security interests. we cannot wish it and hope it away. we need to eliminate this. let's just first try limited air strikes and helping the kurds without further involving a u.s. troops on the ground. i think that we can beat these guys back but doing nothing is it not an option. >> congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen, thanks for joining us. next breaking news. i an stunning have you development involving a police officer who was involved in crowd control in ferguson, missouri. we saw him in action live right here on cnn. we will tell you what we just learned about him and a controversial new video that surfaced.
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[ female announcer ] 4-in-1 multi-health metamucil now clinically proven to help you feel less hungry between meals. and promotes heart health. experience the meta effect with our new multi-health wellness line and see how one small change can lead to good things. we have several major developments tonight from ferguson, missouri, including a st. louis keep the police officer who has just been relieved of duty avidio surfaces of him hip making controversial comments about gay americans, women as well as president obama. and we have two reports tonight from ferguson. we will begin with jason carroll with concerns that the wounds that have been healing could be ripped open by monday's funeral for michael brown.
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there are now questions about the makeup of the grand jury and the investigation into what actually happened at the time of the shooting. let's go to jason carroll now. what are you learning, jason? >> well, brianna, certainly disappointment here on the ground. a lot of ground supporters were looking for information. today an incident report was released. and brown's supporters were looking to answers, namely why officer wilson felt as though he needed to use deadly force. >> this afternoon is, st. louis county police released an incident report in the fatal shooting of michael brown. but it reveals little information to explain what happened. due to the on going investigation, much of the details have been deredacted. accounts of the incident seem conflicting about whether or not brown threatened officer darren wilson before he was shot. >> no, want to charge toward the officer, no. >> friends of officer wilson say brown did charge at him but
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there is no known video of the shooting to show what really happened. in the future that may change. ferguson police said today they are planning to install dashcams in their patrol cars. meanwhile supporter of officer wilson say they have raised mo are than $200,000 for his legal defense through a crowd funding website. >> he's very shaken about what happened that day. and the aftermathing >> the streets of ferguson were relatively calm overnight. only eight arrests reported and peaceful protests where there was once violence and tear gas. >> we're headed toward a sense of peace for our community. >> schools here have been closed all week. the governor is now asking the national guard to draw down their deployment as streets get calmer. funeral preparations for michael brown are under way. services scheduled for monday. his parents telling cnn's anderson cooper officer wilson should go to jail but first they want a thorough investigation.
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>> i don't want a rush to judgment. i want everyone to take they time. i want there to to be no mistakes and get it done right. >> as for the investigation, the grabbed jury handling the case is made up of nine whites and three african-americans. the outcome of that jury may determine whether or not ferguson remains calm according to the brown's family pastor. >> i've heard people in the community, we'll give you the guys the 14 days of peace but if we don't get what we're asking for -- >> and brianna the reality is no matter what the grand jury decides, it is not likely to please everyone here on the ground. the hope is whatever the grand jury decides, whenever they reach their decision, that the peace will continue to hold. brianna? >> jason carroll, thank you. now i want to get you the to breaking news. there is a new controversy erupting in the aftermath of the police shooting in ferguson. you are looking at something you
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saw live in "the situation room" this week. this was a police officer pushing cnn's don lemon during a crowd control operation. that st. louis county officer has now been relieved of duty. this all coming after there was a video that came out showing him making harsh statements against gaze, against women, against president obama. cnn's don lemon joining us live from ferguson on this breaking news. don, catch us up here. >> honestly, you know, after that incident happened, i didn't talk about it, i didn't want this to be about me. but now since this has come to light, you know, we've got to do it to put it in some context. what are the odds the officer who was involved in pushing me in that incident that happened a couple days ago, that he would be this officer? so apparently -- we got the video sent to cnn and sent to me this morning of this man making controversial statements. he is a 35-year veteran of the
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st. louis county police department. his name is dan paige. and this is him at an oath keepers's event as a speaker there, alledgedly this is back in april he was giving these inflammatory statements. the oath keepers so you know, the oath keepers is a nonpartisan, they say association of current and former serving military police and first responders to pledge to fulfill the oath of all the military police and defend the constitution and on and on. it talks about them. he made some really controversial statements and in that he talks about all men being created equal and went on to say that does not mean affirmative action. he rants about hate hate crime laws. he talks about being -- doing his fair share of killing and that's what's concerning to the police department. and he also talks about the president and his connection to kenya. let's listen and tell you what happened to this officer. >> i said i want to go find
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where that illegal a yeps -- my undocumented president lives at. so i flew to africa and right there, and i went to our undocumented president's home. and he was born in kenya. >> okay. so that was a small part of it. and i want to tell you he says the president was born in kenya. he talks about being a st. louis county kopp. he talks about being briefed situations having to do with 9/11 and he had this extraordinary clearance. he also says that people involved in domestic violence should just shoot each other and get it over with. somebody like me is going to kill you. he says i am into diversity. i kill everybody. that's what's concerning to the st. louis county police chief john bell mer when this videotape was brought to light. we sent it to him. he rushed over here to talk to us. he tells us now that this officer has been relieved of of his duty. he is on suspension now.
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he will have to have a psychiatric exam and he says beyond this, he's not sure if this officer can remain with the department. he wouldn't want to comment what would happen to this officer after this. and then' apologized to everyone. >> we have to be able to hear from me apologize to the community anybody he's offended by these remarks and understand from me that again, he does not represent the rank and file of the st. louis county police department. >> are you apologizing for the remarks? >> i am to anybody that was offended by them. certainly. >> so he is apologizing again. he goes on to just to tell us what else is in this tape. one audience member at this oath keeper's meeting says so what happens when good men like you are retiring from the military? what kind of military do we have left? he says sod dommites and female. he rants about female green berets and calls a supreme court
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justice a home sexual sod dommite. these are very controversial and inflammatory statements. the chief of the st. louis county police, you heard him apologizing to me and con filming to me that he has now been relieve of his duties and they are looking into it. and he wouldn't want to comment beyond that, but leading us to believe that either this officer will be fired or will be forced to retire. he's a 35-year veteran. let's listen to more. >> administrative leave. he's going to avail himself to administrative review that may uncli a psych. i can't speak beyond that yet but all that will be on going. >> and relieved from any duties? >> certainly. so again, he is a 35-year veteran and also a sergeant major in the army he's had nine deployments approximately 18 months each between 2000 and
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2003 and also 2008 and 2011. certainly disturbing. >> very disturb. i have a question for you. first i want to get in, we actually have a statement from that group, the oath keepers. they actually say he's not affiliated with them. here it is. dan paige is not a member of oath keepers of st. louis st. charles. it says he was our guest speaker on one occasion. il forward your request to dan page and have him.contact you. nonetheless, he was a guest speaker and got support from folks in the audience it appears. i want to ask you about this, don because what he said, i mean, i will be honest not that i you know, this is obviously not a professional assessment, but he sounded a little sort of unstable and kind of erratic and all over the place in his remarks. they were certainly. >> yeah, he does. >> he really does. they were certainly anti-gay, misogynistic, he is a birther. but i wonder. >> but brianna, the most
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disturbing things he has -- the first amendment right, right? so the police chief says yes, of course he has a first amendment right and what he says about you know, gays about, women, that's one thing. what police are concerned about is what he says about killing people because that, of course, police officers take that very seriously. that's the last thing most police officers say they want to do. he rants about -- he says negative things about police. i think we have that. >> policemen are very cynical. i don't trust nobody and i hate everybody. so i hate you all, too. i'm into diversity. i kill everybody. i don't care. >> so it's almost as if he's sort of like grandstanding or something there. then the other thing, don, aside obviously the killing comments were most alarming. but the comments where he is anti-gay or he is misogynistic, it seems we were going through some police conduct even of
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statements or really the oath and the sort of rules that these police officers agree to live by and even off duty, they're not supposed to be doing things that make people of their community feel threatened. so it just seems like you know -- >> right. >> yeah, it just seems like everything he said violated what he would have agreed to do as a police officer whether or not he was 35 years on the force. >> well, actually, brianna, i read part of the code of conduct to chief belmar. and he said, yeah, that's a good statement what you just read to me. we'll have the sound bite of that the later on cnp. he says and those statements really do not personify that. and quite frankly, the chief said he was embarrassed. he says he embarrassed the st. louis county police and every man and woman in uniform. and i think it's important to when you look at the statements and listen to them to point out
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he's going to have to undergo a psychiatric examination. that's huge considering that this person is still on the force. that we had an encounter with him earlier in the week, that what he has been on day duty for during these protests and has been in charge of corralling people and handling people when it comes to the protests here in ferguson, missouri. i also asked the chief, i said listen, this is going to be confirmation to many people of the type of person that may be employed by the county police and police in this area. he said listen, i joined this police force because i believe in the men and women here. he doesn't think it's indicative of the men and women who are in uniform here. but certainly people are going to start digging into other officers here now that this has come to light. this videotape happened in april. many are wondering why didn't the police department know about it. >> why didn't others around him know if there was something going on. stick with us. we'll talk more about this ahead
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and get in a quick break and be right back. we'we're trying ourls. best to be role models. we don't jump at the sound of the opening bell, because we're trying to make the school bell. corner booth beats corner office any day. we make the most out of our time... and our money. the chevrolet malibu. j.d. power's highest ranked midsize car in initial quality. the car for the richest guys on earth. this is the first power plant in the country to combine solar and natural gas at the same location. during the day, we generate as much electricity as we can using solar.
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officer talking about really his hatred for people in his community and who he is supposed to be protecting. >> well, it's wide-ranging inflammatory remarks about a lot of people, about women, about gay people. he talks about the president of the united states. he speaks out against affirmative action, women in the military and on and on. and then he says he talks about again, i want to remind viewers, this is from a group called the oath keepers. he's speaking in front of them. we believe it is back in april. he talks about domestic violence and says people involved in domestic violence should shoot ha each other and get it over with. then he says somebody like me is going to come in and kill you. listen, we have that now. >> 1 to 65. >> when the inner cities start to ignite, people will start killing people they don't like. i'm going to warn the ladies on something. and this always gets me in
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trouble but i got it tell you, this domestic violence stuff, every time a man turns around and gets jammed up by his wife on this, you are heading for troubles, ladies. a man can be arrested for domestic property damage, domestic peace disturbance, domestic it can destruction of property. how can you do that in your own house? you can be arrested for domestic trespassing. i've seen people with a line down the middle of the house. if you don't like each other that much, just kill each other and get it over with. problem involved. get it done. don't be wasting cops' time. just shoot each other and get it over with. >> i mean, brianna, what do you say after that? there's much more of that. at least an hour's worth of him ranting about different people, different situations. what i really also i want our viewers to really listen to what the st. louis county police chief had to say. we did a long interview with him. he goes through exactly how he
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feels about this and what's going to happen to that officer. we'll have that for you, as well, a little bit later on. he is relieved of duty now. >> he goes on and on and on. we are going to break. when we come back, we'll have some reaction from a representative from the naacp. ♪ the last four hours have seen... one child fail to get to the air sickness bag in time. another left his shoes on the plane... his shoes! and a third simply doesn't want to be here. ♪ until now... until right booking now. ♪ planet earth's number one accomodation site
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we're back now with breaking news. a new controversy erupting in the aftermath of the police shooting in ferguson. a st. louis county officer has now been relieved of duty after being shown on video making harsh statements against gaze, women and president obama. let's get reaction now from naacp board member john gaskin
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there in ferguson. before i ask you the first question, i just want to tell viewers that cnn has reached out this officer, dan page. we have not heard back. police have confirmed it is indeed him. they relieved him of duty. we've been told by the group he spoke before, oath keepers he is not a member but was an invited guest. thanks for being with us. give us your reaction to what we're hearing. >> well, what is really concerning to us is the group in the audience that is listening that invited him to speak on such a really almost a very concerning topic. his message is one of the very reasons that the naacp is still relevant and is still in business. when we hear that kind of language come out of people's mouths, those types you have thoughts, that's very concerning. let's just take it a step further. this is someone that was a law
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enforcement officer, a policeman, someone that is to serve and protect here in the st. louis county community. and it's very concerning. it makes us wonder where he is mentally in terms of his capacity, especially when he's using that type of language. that's very concerning to the naacp that an officer like that is on the ground and who knows what he's already done on the ground already. >> and you know, we don't know the, he's obviously been a police officer there for decades. we certainly -- i wonder if you think this reflects some of the culture, some of the issues of the police culture there. maybe not necessarily that police officers would share his point of view but perhaps that it would be tolerated. >> absolutely. that's concerning. i would think that if you know someone has those kinds of thoughts, especially about killing people, i would hope his colleagues would speak up about that kind of thing, especially in the line of work that they're
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in. >> do you think, i mean, this is something that appears to be very extreme. do you think this is an outlier or do you think that there's something more going on here? >> well, to be honest with you, i don't know. because this is new information that's just been presented to us most recently this afternoon. so we don't know. so you know, to be honest with you, it's a good possibility he could be an outlier. it's my hope, our hope that the average american doesn't feel that way and have those kinds of almost ludicrous views. but that's -- it's still a great concern that they would tolerate that kind of behavior. >> yeah, john gaskin, thanks for joining us. coming up, we have much more of this stunning new controversy surrounding the missouri police officer relieved of duty. we will go back to ferguson and after the brutal murder of one american and chilling threats against others, could the u.s. take the fight against isis ice into syria? we have retired general mark
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the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. much more on the breaking news from ferguson. an officer there relieved of duty. but first, dire arranges about isis from the pentagon brass. new u.s. air strikes at isis targets in iraq and officials not ruling out the possibility of hitting isis in syria. we want to go in-depth now. we have retired big deer general mark kim et. he is just back from a trip to iraq. while in uniform he was chief military spokesman after the iraq invasion and also a former pentagon and state department
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official. thanks for joining us. so you just returned from iraq. what's the biggest concern that you're hearing from folks there and from iraqi security forces in. >> the security forces is a concern because i think they understand they're not capable of fighting this threat. they unts that at the senior levels the last prime minister po lit sized the military and put in leaders on the basis of loyalty. they understand that there's a threat. they've got to fix it. but they're worried that's going to take years for them to be able to address it. >> certainly i think with prime minister nouri al maliki, there was the vacuum of security but also the fracturing of the security forces and the government and isis has clearly exploited that. knowing that, what do the iraqis need from the u.s. and what are they willing to do on their own to deal with this? >> in the short term what they believe they need is more air strikes were more air support.
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they believe in general that if they've got american overhead support and american intelligence support and some advanced american weaponry that they've got enough boot power themselves, enough infantry to fight and take the threat down. >> they want the advanced weaponry that they're not getting now. we heard from the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey, he said, you know, that perhaps -- i don't know, sort of hinting, i guess, at what will happen when it comes to syria. let's listen to what he said. >> can they be defeated without addressing that part of the organization which resides in syria in the answer is no. that will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a nonexit tense border. >> will we see air strikes in syria, u.s. led or air strikes that the u.s. is doing in cooperation with allies? >> well, we'll see. that's a political decision. the military advice you just
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heard from chairman dempsey, he understands the threat that isil poss note simply to iraq but to the region and potentially beyond the region. but to take american military, to make american air strikes into syria, that's a political decision and it has legal implications as well, i hope so. >> some of the political calculation will be whether or not americans support that. they're supported the air strikes, the limited ones in iraq so far. we heard from secretary hagel, he so said we need to quote get ready for isis. what does that mean? >> what he is saying is their understandst aspirations go beyond syria and iraq. it's aspirations are region wide. it wants to take down many of the kingdoms in the region and it has aspirations to go against western powers and quite frankly to the united states of america. >> you see isis ultimately --
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clearly that's the grand aspiration of isis, to be some sort of domestic attack on u.s. soil. do you see that happening in. >> i am concerned that if we allow iraq and syria to be set up as a safe haven and sang rare for isil and the islamic group to continue their training. the way that afghanistan was for al qaeda 20 years ago, that certainly could be the case. >> thank you so much for being with us and sharing your expertise having just come back from iraq. appreciate it. just ahead at the top of the hour, we have much more on the escalating threat from isis. plus, we go back live to ferguson, missouri. ♪
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happening now, the white house says isis terrorists have attacked the united states. stand by for chilling new statements about the danger to americas, including the prospect of another 9/11. iraqi and u.s. forces open fire on sigh sis targets. will president obama give the order to expand the battle to syria in we are getting new information on that. and breaking news, a stunning new development in ferguson, missouri, involving a police officer who took part in crowd control. a disturbing new video of him has surfaced on the internet and now he's been relieved of duty. stand by to hear the video and new details. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer is off. i'm brianna keilar. you're in "the situation room." a new warning a going out to
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law enforcement across the united states to be on alert for possible terror attacks by isis inside the country. they man be planning new retaliation for u.s. air strikes against its fighter ps. three more air attracts were launched today. u.s. officials are describing isis terrorists as an apocalyptic force after the beheading of american jim foley. the execution amount to an attack against the united states and it's not ruling out the possibility that the war against isis might expand to syria. we have correspondents and news makers standing by with more on the danger from isis right now. plus, don lemon is in ferguson, missouri. the breaking news involving a st. louis county police officer relieved of dowty. we'll have that and we'll go live to him in a moment. first to our white house correspondent, michelle kosinski. more tough words from the
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administration about isis today. >> reporter: today we hear from the president's deputy national security adviser who said the murder of james foley is, he agreed, the isis first terrorist attack against the united states. >> when you see somebody killed in such a horrific way, that represents a terrorist attack, that represents a terrorists attack against our country and an american citizen. and i think all of us have the foley family in our thoughts and prayers. >> reporter: okay. so of course americans have been concerned. what threat then does isis pose to other americans who are outside the region, especially given all of the foreign fighters, people who travel to iraq and syria, they fight alongside isis. what happens when they return to their home countries, including the u.s. today rhodes was asked could isis be capable of a september 11th style attack. the answer right now is probably
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not. rhodes said that they have been mainly concerned with these regional operations. they obviously pose a big threat there. but the u.s. should be aware, should be prepared in case they choose to pivot and attack american interests elsewhere. he said they are willing to do horrific things. and it may be somewhat comforting, this bulletin that wint oupt today from the fbi to american law enforcement, said there is no credible threat to homeland security but it warned that they are using social media, looking for followers there. and they could be capable of targeting american interests. also today, the white house wouldn't go so far as to agree with defense secretary hagel's comments yesterday that this was a tlaet beyond anything we've seen. >> thank you. one u.s. general is arguing that the only way to defeat isis is to expand the battle to syria.
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the white house says president obama will explore all options to protect americans. barbara starr has more on that. >> reporter: it certainly appears step by step the pentagon is getting closer every day towards the possibility of air strikes inside syria. u.s. officials tell cnn there are long standing and ongoing talks inside the administration about increasing air strikes in iraq and even the possibility of tailored air strikes inside syria against specific isis targets. but officials stress, no decisions have been made by the white house. >> we're actively considering what's going to be necessary to deal with that threat. and we're not going to be restricted by borders. >> reporter: and the pentagon is divulging nothing. >> we don't telegraph our punches. i think you can rest assured that the leadership here in the pentagon understands the threat
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posed by this group. >> reporter: talk of military options stirred. by this comment by defense secretary chuck hagel about the tlaet of isis and its ranks of 10,000 fighters. >> oh, this is beyond anything that we've seen. so we must prepare for everything. and the only way you do that is you take a cold steely hard look at it and get ready. >> reporter: officials are taking pains to emphasize that any military action would only be part of a long term strategy against isis involving diplomacy and action from other countries in the region. the pentagon is making the case that air strikes alone will not defeat isis but it's not ruling them out. brianna? >> barbara starr, thank you so much. we're joined now by the deputy state department spokeswoman, marie harf. thank so much for being with us. it feels obviously like we're
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being prefaired for an expang of the air strikes that are going on. right now limited air strikes in just a part of iraq and now we're hearing from pentagon top brass and it feels like we're being prepared for this to go into perhaps syria. is that what's happening? >> as you heard ben rhodes say today, we're continuing our action against isil in iraq, that's ongoing today. hitting isil targets and taking out their fighters. but we're activity having conversations about how we can target isil. as he said, we're not restricted when it comes to borders and defending our people. it's also about cutting off funding to isil. starving them of the oxygen they've needed to flourish and gain in strength. those are conversations that go beyond the military conversation. >> working with other country to cut off some of the money to private citizens as well associated with isis or isil as you refer to them what are some
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of the diplomat tick options? president obama will be going to the u.n. general assembly next month. this going to be top priority. what will he be asking for? >> absolutely it's top priority diplomatically for the president and the secretary and everyone at the state department. part of it is cutting off of the funding with working with countries particularly in the gulf and other places where private citizens have been sending funds to isis. how we crack down on that even more is an ongoing conversation. we're also having a conversation about how we can stop the flow of foreign fighters. isis is by and large a foreign fighter led group. these aren't iraqis or syrians, most of them. we need to work with the countries in the region to help close their borders because they know it's a threat as well if the terrorists can transit through their countries. that's part of it. >> if you're talking about stopping the flow of foreign fighters, right now they have free reign to come between syria and iraq. how do you not engage syria on that? how are they not a piece of the
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diplomatic puzzle? >> the reason isis has been able to grow and shrink and able to flourish is because of bashar al assad. he's allowed them to operate. he is not an answer to the solution. while on one hand he may take strikes against them. on the other he's allowed them to grow and at times supported their growth. they can't be part of the solution here. >> how would syria not be a part of the solution? >> when they kill tens of thousands of people in their own country, they make take a few strikes against isil, but they're not a partner we're going to be working with. we'll work with the iraqis, the kurds, all of the partners in the region. it a fight we have to take on together. >> i'm wondering if we can change topics and talk about steve sotloff. an american being held hostage by icy. it was in the video where we saw
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jim foley executed. sotloff as far as we know is still alive and sigh sis is threatening to kill him. what, without disclosing sensitive information, can you say about active plans to secure his release, whether it's diplomacy or other means? >> well what we've done since we became aware that they were being held captive is put every resource we have from an intelligence perspective, military perspective to try and bring them home. as we all now know publicly we attempted a military operation to rescue mr. foley and other american hostages. that was not ultimately successful. diplomatically we at the sate department has reached out asking anyone who may have information or influence over isis to help. but the reality is isis doesn't answer to anyone and it's been a tough path here. but we're going to keep using the intelligence resources to try and locate where they are
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and hopefully to bring them home. >> do you have any confidence that that could happen? it's not just steve sotloff, there are other americans. >> there are others. it's a tough challenge. you've seen us talk a lot about the multitude of ways we really go after this problem, try to find them, try to bring them home. but you have a terrorist group who is a very shadowy group operating in a tough place to get intelligence on. i know our colleagues across the river at the intelligence community are really focused on this, really getting any piece of information we can to try and bring them home. we'll certainly keep working on that. >> one of the reasons that isis has a toe hold and has exploited really a security vacuum as well as a political fragmentation in iraq, sunnis who have been marginalize. ed. they pulled out of talks about
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forming a new government. if that's what's happening, obviously a big piece of the puzzle in pack ling isis is for iraq to gets its political house in order, how does that indicate there's any progress there. >> you're absolutely right. there's not an american military solution here. a huge piece of this is the i q iraqis coming together putting together an inclusive government. there is a path forward here that we think they need to take. a key piece of this is having a government in baghdad that all iraqis look to and want to stand up for and want to defend and want to make very clear to isil that that they are harming the iraqi people and they're going to come together to fight them. that's what we need to see here. >> thanks for your time. now still ahead, more on the isis threat and what the u.s. will do next. plus, the breaking news out of missouri. this involves a police officer that we saw live on cnn earlier this week when we was working
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shown on video making very harsh statements against gays, women, and president obama. you saw that same officer this week pushing cnn's don lemon during a crowd clearing operation in ferguson. let's go live to ferguson now and to don lemon. don, we're not showing that to put you in the middle of the story so much as from what i recall having watched that happen live here on "the situation room," it felt that that police officer was more aggressive than the other officers who were trying to deal with the crowd. >> absolutely. and all of this new information just come in within the last hour, hour and a half or so. and you're right, we did not show that video after that. i did not talk about it because the story was not about me. what that was was an example of what the protester were dealing with. we were in a place where the police told us that the media should be. he came around the corner and was very aggressive. it was interesting because i
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woke up this morning to this video in my e-mail and other cnners as well. we vetted it. i immediately called the head of the st. louis county police, the chief, he came -- he dealt with the situation, came out and spoke to me about it. first i want you to hear some of the inflammatory statements that this officer made. he's a 35-year veteran of the st. louis county police department. he has now been relieved of his duties, going to have to undergo a psychiatric examination and there's more that the chief will explain when you hear that. this is him talking about what people who are involved in domestic violence should do. >> when the inner cities start to ignite people are going to start kill people they don't like. i'm going to warn the ladies on something. and this also gets me in trouble but i got to tell you. this domestic violence stuff, every time a man turns around and gets jammed up on his wife by this, you are heading for troubles. a man can be arrested for
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domestic property damage, domestic peace disturbance, domestic destruction of property. how can you do that in your own house? you can be arrested for domestic trespassing. i've seen people with lines down the middle of the house. if you don't like each other that much kill each other and get it over with. problem solved. get it done. don't be wasting cop's time. >> reporter: he goes on talking about president obama being from kenya, says more disparaging thing about women in the military, about gays. there's so much. there's an hour's worth of inflammatory comments. he speaks out against affirmative action. so when i saw this videotape and i saw the link to it, i sent it to the chief of the st. louis county police, john vel mer. he immediated responded and ran over here to speak to us. here he is. >> it's embarrassing when you
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find out about stuff like this. it was up loaded in april. i don't do facebook. i don't surf youtube. these things can be difficult to unearth at times. >> reporter: this is a part of your code of conduct and it says police officers will behave in a manner which does not bring discredit to their agents and police officers mu police officers. that's an outstanding statement. >> reporter: do his statements do that? >> not at all. they're not indicative of the st. louis county police department. they're not indicative of the officers he works beside. and frankly he's let them down. the internal affairs is not the hard part. i think the issue with it is we have to be able to hear from me apologize to the community, anybody he's offended by these remarks and understand from me that again he does not represent the rank and file of the st. louis county police department. >> reporter: you're apologizing
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for the remarks? >> i am to anybody that was offended by them, certainly. >> r. >> reporter: are you embarrassed by this? >> i joined this police department 28 years ago because it was a professional organization. i believe today that it still is. but that profession lichl can be perishable and i never want to walk away from that. >> reporter: so again, a 35-year veteran of the police department, name is dan page. he's been on deployments. as you heard the chief say, this is an embarrassment. he was concerned about all of it but he said the thing that gets him as a police officer is when this officer talks about killing people indiscriminately and appeared to be glorifying killing people. here he is talking about it. >> i personally believe in jesus christ as my lord and saver but i'm also a killer.
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i've killed a lot. and if i need you, i'll kill a whole bunch more. if you don't want to be killed, don't show up in front of mep. it's that simple. i have no qualms with it. god did not raise me to be a coward. >> reporter: it's so disturbing to hear that, especially coming from a member of the police department, especially considering what just happened here with michael brown. and then also the other incident in st. louis city with the man who was killed. to think about an officer saying, you know, if you don't want to be killed, adopt come in front of me. it is explosive, it is inflammatory, it is disheartening and i asked the chief, i said, this is confirmation to many that there may be members of the police department who have the same sort of attitude as this officer. and he said he didn't -- he hoped that that was not true. but it's certainly understandable if people wonder about that especially since this tape is out there and he has to,
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at some point, have expressed some of his views to someone he works with. we don't work around people -- it's not in a vacuum. i know a little bit about my colleagues and their views just from being around them every day. >> if it was tolerated by those around him, big question. don lemon in ferguson, thanks so much. just a reminder. we've reached out to that officer, dan page. he has not responded to our requests for comment. as you saw, his police department is apologizing. they've relieved him of duty. and i also want to mention that the group that he spoke with, which is called oath keepers, has told cnn that dan page is not a member. that he was an invited guest speaker. we're joined now by congressman emmanuelle cleaver of missouri. congressman, thanks for joining us. first, tell us your reaction to what you heard there. >> well, i was mayor of kansas city, i was the head, president of the police board at one point. most police officers are good and decent people.
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the overwhelming majority of them. we shouldn't be completely surprised to know that they are infiltrated like all other professions with some people who frankly are sick. i mean, listening to this officer, a lot of people might feel anger. i felt pity because i think he's a sick person. it is also foolish for us to believe that there are not others who think that way. i'm pretty sure there are. and it's going to be the responsibility of people like the chief there to get rid of those people as quickly as they can. >> it only takes just one person who feels that way. i also want to talk to you about an issue that is very important to you. a lot of military that has been going from the defense department to police departments across the country. you actually met with defense secretary hagel yesterday to talk about this. what changes specifically are you hoping that the pentagon will make?
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>> well, we had a good meeting yesterday with secretary hagel. he understands the problem. he's been in the senate. he actually voted on what's called the 1033 program, the excess property program where police are able to get through an application process access military equipment, most of which was left over from iraq. the program actually started when the military gave major cities equipment in the drug war, which was appropriate at the time. and then after 9/11, it exploded. we started giving equipment all over everywhere to everybody. in fact, 8,000 agencies have received military equipment. and so i asked the secretary, along with congressman lacy clay, if they would, you know, do a study, review of what that program is all about. because there are some communities that can't afford
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the training. it makes so sense to give that to a community who can barely afford to make police payroll. we don't think the program needs to be discontinued all together. but there are some communities that just shouldn't get the equipment. >> do you think that some of it, aside from getting the equipment, i mean, for instance, i think of something like a newtown or columbine and there being certain situations where some of these equipment in an active shooting could be necessary, even if it's in a small town. but do you think part of it has to do with also how it's deployed? i mean, the officers there in ferguson didn't necessarily need to use these military resources the way they should have and the way that so many law enforcement experts have said was really inappropriate. should they just be deployed differently? >> well, ferguson has a few humvees. the st. louis county police were given even more sophisticated
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weaponry. and most americans, we found out since this tragedy started in ferguson, are completely opposed to seeing heavy military equipment rolling down the main streets of their cities and towns. republicans, demeanors, tea party, libertarians are all saying something is wrong with this program. new york, los angeles, chicago, the major centers of commerce in our country probably do need that kind of equipment. but if a community doesn't -- small communities are struggling as it is. many communities cannot afford to train the officers. they shouldn't have the equipment. and the other thing i think that is really troublesome is that because of the requirements you have to use the equipment, people are figuring out ways in which they can justify keeping the equipment by using it.
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so in that way you're going to have cities trying to roll out that equipment at every opportunity, you know, if you have a hammer, everything is a nail. so we've got to try to figure out how to reform that program. and frankly, secretary hagel understands that. so he is in communication with the president. we hope to hear something soon, that that will in fact reform the program and bring it in line with the things that are american. and that is not the things that happen in teeian man square. >> we will be watching toe see what the result of that is. congressman cleaver, thank you. >> thank you. just ahead, we'll talk more about the shocking video of a st. louis county police officer and the potential fallout in ferguson in the hours and days ahead.
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county police officer has been relieved of duty after being shown on video making harsh statements against gays, women and president obama. it's the same officer who you saw this week pushing cnn's don lemon during a crowd control operation in ferguson. and joining me to talk about this is cnn law enforcement analyst and former fbi assistant director tom fen tes. and my question to you, sunny, what's your reaction to that this? >> i think that people are going to be very concerned because we know that the ferguson police department handed over the investigation to the st. louis county police department so that there should be some sort of distance so that the ferguson police department would not be investigating its own, which would be officer darren wilson. you see something like this, you wonder is this emblem mattic of the st. louis county police
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department and if so, should they be investigating the ferguson, missouri incident. i think we should be mindful of the fact that the department of justice as sent so many fbi agents down there, the attorney general has visited. and what generally comes from something like this is an investigation of not only what happened to michael brown but after the police department as a whole. are we going to see a police monitor appointed the way we've seen in detroit and california, when you have the rodney king incident? this is something that is really, really concerning, not only for the michael brown investigation, of that shooting, but also just the police department in general. >> sure. and you know, tom, when you look at this incident, you hope dan page, this man who has now been relieved of duty and who his police chief has apologize on his behalf. you're opening he's an outlier but even if he is, do you think
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there's a concern about the police department? >> i think there has to be a concern. i find myself in agreement with sunny. is there indicative of a greater problem with that department? it's hard for me to believe that someone could rant like that in a public place in front of a group of people, whether he's a member or not, but make that sear series of statements and no one in the department has a clue that he has these attitudes about killing everybody? i can't believe a department is unaware of it in the first place. and if they were aware of it, failed to take action. that would certainly affect their insurance policy, their liability if he goes out and u shoots somebody as we're already investigating a shoot and it comes up. and st. louis, the department has come up under the criticism. it was their policy to bring out the military equipment the first day and not maybe stage it at a rear place, to have officers on top of the trucks looking through scoped rifles right at the people.
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so there's been a series of these type of events. you know, we haven't heard much of the chief of the county in terms of the investigation. that's just the investigation. that has in large part has to be secret. but in terms of the deployment. in terms of what happened day after day when st. louis's tactical people, running the show. >> you spoke with the st. louis county police chief, right? >> reporter: i certainly did. i called him up and made him aware of it. his representative said he would make him aware of it and have him reach out to me. immediately he called me back and said, where do you want to do this interview? so he met us here and talked to us about it. he's saying that it's not indicative of the men and women in uniform in the st. louis county police department. but i said this video has been out there for a while and this apparently happened back in february -- i mean back in april that he made the speech in front to have oath keepers. how could you not know about it?
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he said i'm not on facebook or social media. i didn't see that. but the question is, it's what the panel has been saying. i work every day with sunny hostin. our offices are right next to each other. sunny and are aren't best friends but we're friendly and we know something about each other's views on things. we know something about each other personally. we overhear conversations that we have in the office. and if you're a police officer and you're working with, you know, maybe you have a partner who works in a police car in a squard car, you're out on duty with people all the time. and so it's hard to believe that others around him, his colleagues did not know about it. the other thing is that this man is on duty here doing crowd control for protesters who are upset about police profiling. >> yeah. >> reporter: about and about what they consider to be police racism. he's out here doing that and is
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having to deal with those people. it's quite disturbing to a lot of people. there are a lot of questions that need to be answered here. >> a couple of note to our viewers that i want to put out there. as we know the police department is apologizing for the opinions expressed by this man, dan page. he's been relieved of duty. the police did confirm that it was indeed this person. the group oath keepers telling cnn he was not a member. he was there as a guest speaker. i want to ask you, tom. it is exactly what don said. it's hard to believe that people didn't know he felt this way. i mean it felt like he was grand standing on the video. it's hard to believe they didn't know that he had some of these opinions. knowing that, there is, therefore, a culture of tolerance in that police department. how does that police department need to overcome that? >> well, you know, there's a great deal of things that have to do to try to overcome that.
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it's too late in the selection process if they already have people like that. this officer was selected 35 years ago. we have no clue how diligent the process was there. but the officers that are there now need to be trained that these kind of attitudes have no place in modern law enforcement and professional law enforcement. and a situation as politically charged and under the public skrutty such as this, other people in the department had to know that he had this kind of attitude and would possibly, you know, break bad in a difficult situation under stress, as he did. you know, i commented the other night when don went through that, this was horrible judgment to be shoving a reporter who's addressing 2 billion people worldwide. you know, it could wait two minutes. >> we do wish it were that many. no, addressing a large audience. >> reporter: tom and brianna, can i jump in. i want to say this. i addressed it with the police
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chief that everyone has a first amendment right. some of the things you're saying is way beyond the pale. he's not hiding it. he's saying it in front of a group of people on videotape. >> posted on facebook. >> who said he was hiding it? i didn't say he was hiding it. >> reporter: no. i'm saying that people didn't know. i think we're all on the same page here. how could people not know. >> that's something that the police department is going to need to get a handle on. i want to mention to our viewers before we wrap up here, we have actually reached out to this officer, dan page, and he has not gotten back in touch with us for comment. thank you so much to tom and sunny and don. we're going to continue to monitor the breaking news out of missouri just ahead. should americans as well, should they be worried about the isis threat in the country right now after a new alert was issued by federal authorities?
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right now u.s. officials are ratcheting up their warnings about the dang from isis terrorists. the fbi open the department of homeland security has issued a new bulletin for law enforcement warning of a possible attack here in the united states. let's bring in cnn law enforcement and cyst tom fuentes back with us along with counterterrorism analyst, philip mud. and phil, you have the fbi and the department of homeland security issuing this bulletin to law enforcement algencies asa reminder to be aware of threats from isis. what do you make of this? >> i wouldn't read too much into
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the bulletin. this is standard operating procedure. but the backdrop is significant that ask a backdrop of magnitude that is different than what i've witnessed in 25 years in this business. this is like triage in the hospital. if you have 25 people coming into the emergency room, you can handle it. if you've got 300, that's a problem. at the fbi, if we had five or six major cases at the threat briefing in the morning, that's a pretty significant workload. you're talking about 100, 200, 300 kids from america in iraq potentially with good document to come home. that's a significant problem for a long period of time. >> is that what yes ear seeing here with this bulletin? we shouldn't worry about some sort of eminent thing. and yet is this putting it on law enforcement's radar to say hey, this is something you may have to deal with and it's something you need to start thinking about? >> yeah. but i don't think law enforcement needs to have it put on the radar. it's been there for years.
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i completely agree with phil. but what makes this different is when we had the al qaeda attack on 9/11, that was held pretty close to the vest by ben laden. in this case you have these war after war areas involving extreme islam, whether it's be ka haram in nigeria, yemen, libya, egypt, all over and then of course isis in syria and iraq. and the problem is that it does, as phil mentioned, it attracts americans that won't to go there and join the cause, or europeans who want to go there. and europeans or americans can come to the united states without on -- obviously american consist. but even europeans don't need a visa. so that ku learn how to do everything they need to do, go back to their count dri in europe and they're six hours by air from jfk or washington, d.c. that's a problem. the second problem is not knowing -- you know, obviously the government or the fbi would
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neutralize a cell. if they knew they had it, they're not going to brag about it on television. they'll take care of it. that's not an issue that they haven't identified a known cell. they ale do with that in secret. but the big deal is that these terrorists don't need bomb making skills, done skills, how to fire a mortar any of that. they don't have to. they're reading "inspire" magazines. and it constantly says if you don't know how to make a bomb or anything, fine, drive a car up on a sidewalk in washington, d.c. and mow down people having lunch outdoors. you'll probably kill an important person. derail a train. hi jack a tanker truck. >> showing people how to be a threat. >> we don't need war fighters that have this attitude. we need people bent on doing death and destruction in the u.s. or western europe. >> yesterday we heard secretary
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hagel saying that the isis threat is beyond anything that we've seen. do you agree with that? >> you know, i think 13 years into this we've got to take a cold shower here and get some perspective. 13 years ago we had an adversary that had the advantage of surprise. a huge advantage. the taliban was carrying the fight 13 years ago in afghanistan. isis doesn't have that luxury. they've got f-16s bombing them and whatever else we've got bombing them in iraq and they don't have as much time as al qaeda does to. there's a third piece that i point out that nobody seems to consider, the blue time, the home team, the americans and the brits and everybody else. we're much better than we were 13 years ago. i agree with the white house and the pentagon, we need to be prudent about an expanding threat. but before we hyper ventilate we need to put 13 years of practice
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into practice and ten america that we've seen stuff like this before and we've seen it worse. >> it sounds like, going back to wrote what you were saying before, the real concern is the lone actor inspired by isis. >> lone actor, self radicalized at home or watching internet accounts on what's gipg on in these and that person if he doesn't share the information. and we're so far more alert to people returning to the u.s. who have been there and involved in this effort but the ones here who self radicalized and can do an attack here with no special training or assistance and if they keep it to themselves and don't tell another person or tweet it and facebook it and everything else it's almost impossible for law enforcement to stop an attack by a so-called lone wolf and a lone wolf can do a lot of damage. we don't have the large exhale
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effort of an al qaeda attack. i agree they're not going to pull that off. >> still very real. tom and phil appreciate you being with us. just ahead, shades of the cold war, a disturbing close call between chinese and u.s. military planes. first though we have an nfl star fighting for his son's life. >> when you look at gunner esiason he seems like a typical 20 something. but he has cystic fibrosis. a life threatening lung and digestive disease. that includes twice daily treatments to clear his airway. and medication before eating anything. >> i have to do these therapies. i have to take my medication every day if i want to survivor. >> gunner was diagnosed at two. >> when you get that news you
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think the worst. >> boomer was just traded to the jets. he realized that football gave him a national platform. >> figuring i'm in the media capital of the world and how i could use that to leverage who i am to raise money and awareness of the disease. >> that year they launched the boomer esiason foundation. >> we support hospital development. >> in two decades they have raised more than $100 million. >> it's not easy. it's pain staking and time consuming. but sitting next to me i have a passion for it.
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aircraft was buzzed by a chinese fighter jet in international air space this week. pentagon officials are calling it dangerous and unprofessional. >> this was an extremely close call. just three days ago, between two state-of-the-art military aircraft. there can be little doubt about the intent. china clearly meant to shove back against american surveillance and this was a dangerous maneuver. these pictures taken show just how close the chinese fighter
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jet came. close enough for the americans to see details on the chinese craft and the pilot inside. >> it's difficult to say with precision, but within 30 feet. of the p-8. very, very close. very dangerous. >> reporter: it didn't happen just once. as the american plane flew on a routine patrol mission repeatedly the chinese fighter roared over, under, and beside it. >> it was under to make a point of showing its weapons. >> reporter: the incident occurred in international air space 135 miles east off the south coast of china. america and its allies are clashing with the russias and
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chinese over surveillance in the region. the u.s. moved two large drones to japan. they are called global hawks and are used for surveillance and north of japan, a russia jet buzzed another u.s. plane designed to track radar signals. the pilot came within 100 feet and flashed his weapons at the american plane. the u.s. officials see a pattern of pushbacks continuing with this more recent encounter. >> obviously, a deeply concerning provocation and we have communicate to the chinese government our objection to this type of action. >> the chinese have been conducting large scale military drills and they consider the presence of american spy planes a provocation. they have no business spying on chinese affairs, that's their opinion. but the planes were close. it's like that movie "top gun"
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they were right at each other. >> it is unbelievable. thank you for explaining that to us. you can follow us on twitter. just tweet the show @cnnsitroom. erin burnett, "outfront" begins erin burnett, "outfront" begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com a major development, the white house calls the beheading of an american a terror attack. is a strike next? and why isis why the u.s. demanded her release. and we now know the racial breakdown of the grand jury. is there any chance of a fair trial? let's go "outfront." and good evening, everyone, i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, the obama administration calling the behead o
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