Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Eric Garner's Daughter Asks for Peace; Cyber Attack on North Korea's Internet; NYC Mayor Speaks Before Moment of Silence for Officers; A Look Back at Officers Ramos, Liu

Aired December 23, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just past the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And here's a quote, "I was never anti-police." Those words coming from Eric Garner's daughter, showing her support for the families of those two New York police officers who were brutally shot and killed in broad daylight Saturday while sitting in their patrol car.

Emerald Garner quietly laid a wreath and lit a candle at that site yesterday. And she says members of her family have been in the NYPD. She understands the loss of the families of the officers. She also called on those angered by her own father's death and refusal of a grand jury in New York not to indict the officer involved, asking, pleading, not to turn to violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMERALD GARNER, DAUGHTER OF ERIC GARNER: I wanted to come out here and let the families know that I, too, understand what's going on. I lost my dad for the holiday season, so I know how they feel. I know this is a great loss. It's going to be hard this holiday season. But we're just, you know, asking everybody to stay strong, stay with us, be peaceful. This was an unfortunate tragedy that didn't have to happen. And we want to let everybody know that, you know, we're not anti-police. We just want to, you know, let everybody know that we support them and we're out here, you know, to lay the wreath and light the candles and moment of silence for the family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Emerald Garner there.

Here we have Martin Savidge, live in Brooklyn for us where those two officers were shot and killed.

And it's not just, you know, Eric Garner's daughter who has spoken about this and paid their respects there. The mayor was there this morning, correct?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife were here earlier today. They came in what was described as an unannounced visit. They spent some time, they talk to the police officers that are here that stand guard, keep a vigil. And then, they left. They were also family members of fallen Officer Ramos who showed up during the day. And there's been a steady stream of hundreds if not thousands of New Yorkers of all walks of life who have been coming here. Many of them come just to pay the respects or stand to witness, take a look at the scene. Others leave things behind that could be a candle, could be a wreath, could be flowers, could be a note. But in ways, this is the place where people want to come and gather and think about what happened.

Also today, 2:47, there is going to be a moment of silence. That would be exactly three days to the moment that the shootings took place right here on this spot. Saturday afternoon, it will be observed at New York City hall, expected it will be observed at a number of places throughout the city -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: We will take that moment and honor that moment of silence from city hall in New York.

Martin Savidge, thank you so, so much.

We'll move back to that story momentarily.

But back to another developing story here in the midst of a heated back and forth between U.S. and North Korea over the massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures. North Korea's Internet goes down. As one analyst put it, quote, "It's as if North Korea got erased from the global map of the Internet." Reports indicate that North Korea's Internet was back up after this nine hour or so outage, and then it was down again. And now it seems to be up again. All signs pointed to some sort of cyber attack.

Kevin Mitnick, let me bring you in.

You were one of the FBI's most wanted for hacking into dozens of corporations, and you're now running cyber security, this company, security.com.

Nice to see you again.

KEVIN MITNICK, CEO, MITNICK SECURITY: Hey, nice to see you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So here we go, you know, North Korea Internet back and forth back and forth. How tough is it to take down an entire country's Internet, especially a place like North Korea?

MITNICK: Well, from what I understand, North Korea has four Internet connections that goes through China. And it doesn't seem to be -- doesn't seem it would be that difficult for someone to do what we call a denial of service attack. And what is a denial of service attack? That's where you send so much information it overloads everything so nobody else could use it. Mafia Boy, this is a 15-year-old kid, took down some major companies back in 2000 by doing this from his home. So I don't believe this would be the work of the United States and their proportional response. I think it's a group of hackers that are just having fun with North Korea because of the conflict. BALDWIN: That was precisely my next question because we heard the

president say proportional response. He wouldn't elaborate on what a response would be. That was the end of the year news conference. But certainly, you know, the White House wouldn't send out a memo if, in fact, this was happening. So you believe that it could be anyone, some small group deciding to toy with North Korea?

MITNICK: Exactly. We have things called botnets. Like when people's computers are infected with malicious software and then it grows into an army of computers that some bad guys could basically take out Internet connections. This wouldn't be the work of a nation state. This is kind of the work of amateur hackers. And -- or if North Korea was not behind the attack, which I'm very skeptical they're the ones that carried out the attack on Sony, it could be the guys that attacked Sony now attacking Korea, North Korea, to actually escalate the conflict. That's a possibility.

BALDWIN: You're saying you don't believe North Korea was behind what happened to Sony despite the FBI, et cetera?

MITNICK: Well, I'm not sure.

BALDWIN: Got you. Got you.

MITNICK: I'm not sure, there were conclusionary statements. The evidence that the FBI had put out there was kind of vague and other hackers could've done the same thing. So I hope that the government is transparent. And I believe Congress has already asked the FBI to be transparent and release the evidence that really shows that North Korea was behind this attack, because before we go do something against another country, we should be absolutely sure that they did it.

BALDWIN: Final question. You mentioned China. You mentioned the fact that North Korea's Internet access goes through China. Does that make it more vulnerable to attacks like this, or not necessarily?

MITNICK: Not necessarily. I mean, just because it goes through China, I guess -- I guess the Chinese or whoever's closer to that connection would have a greater ability to cause disruption. But just because it goes through China really is not an issue.

BALDWIN: Who actually has Internet access? Such a simple question, Kevin, but it's worth reminding everyone. Who actually can jump online in North Korea?

MITNICK: You know, I have no idea.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't think the people, I think the people there are pretty oppressed, you know.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I'm guessing you're -- (CROSSTALK)

MITNICK: Yeah, horrible. It's horrible. So I assume it's maybe big business, maybe the military. But I don't think the average person like you and I are using the Internet in North Korea.

BALDWIN: OK. I'm going to go out on a limb and agree with you.

(LAUGHTER)

Kevin Mitnick, thank you so much. I appreciate you coming on.

Coming up, as we mentioned a moment ago, we were talking to Martin Savidge in Brooklyn. We will observe that moment of silence in precisely eight minutes here. Folks gathering, pictures inside of New York City hall. It will be three days precisely to the minute, 2:47 p.m. eastern time when those two officers were killed in Brooklyn. We will take that for you live.

And one of the officers had just been married only two months before he was assassinated in the line of duty. His wife, now a widow, made a heartbreaking speech on the death of her new husband. We'll hear from her next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. I want to take you straight. You are looking at the mayor of New York. This is Bill de Blasio speaking about the two police officers who were shot and killed over the weekend. We are minutes away from that moment of silence.

BILL DE BLASIO, (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: -- Officer Ramos and Officer Liu. We visited their families yesterday. They deserve our support and solidarity. They need to be first in our thoughts.

Officer Ramos and Officer Liu believed in something. Making this world better, believed in making this city better. They gave their lives to the belief we could do better, we could come together. That we could keep people safe. Talking to the families, hearing motivated these good young men to serve. We have to keep serving. We have to keep working for something better. There's a lot of pain right now. We have to work our way through that pain. We have to keep working to bring police and community closer together. We have to put the past behind us, left to all of us in this generation, and we have to overcome them. We need to protect and respect our police just as our police protect and respect our communities. We can strike that balance. We must. Right now, I want everyone to focus on these families, on their pain, put yourselves in their shoes, be there for them, and be there for the extended family of the NYPD. Every police officer is hurting right now, and the family of every police officer is hurting right now. And we have to be there for them. We have to keep them in our prayers and move forward together. Never easy to overcome this kind of loss. For the families, this will be with them for their entire lives. And we will support them for all of their lives ahead. Made that clear to both families. And the NYPD has a rich, strong history of supporting families in the hour of need and never letting them go. They will always know the support they will no longer have from their fathers who have fallen. We'll make sure of that all of this together. Just want everyone to think, what can we do to help those families, what can we do to move forward together. It's always darkest before the dawn. These families want a city filled with peace and unity. It's our job, all of us, to create that, to support them and work for a better day.

I want to ask everyone assembled here and everyone watching or listening all throughout New York City, all throughout our nation to bow our heads in memory of Officer Ramos and Officer Liu.

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)

DE BLASIO: Thank you, everyone. God bless you all. And please embrace those around you as a symbol of our belief that we will move forward together.

Thank you.

BALDWIN: I want to take you to those pictures, incredibly poignant pictures of many, many of New York's finest. You're looking at the mayor, city's first lady, and a number of city officials. But the other picture, in Brooklyn, is really the picture that tells the story.

And we have Martin Savidge standing there.

And I think, Martin, to stand and watch. I'm sure you can hear a pen drop where you are right now. All of these officers paying respects to the minute three days ago when they lost two of their colleagues.

SAVIDGE: It's not just officers. It's people of the community, people who live in the area, those who have been drawn to the area. It's a very good, rich mix of all the people of New York, people of Brooklyn who have gathered here to pay their respects at this particular moment. Because, remember, Brooke, we are talking exactly three days, to the minute in which the assassinations have been described by city officials took place at this very spot. On this spot has become really the touchstone for many people. It's where they have to come, pay their respects, maybe just where they come say a silent prayer or just wish to be a part of witnessing. And that's what's been going on here. The tributes continue to grow, even while the moment of silence was being held. New wreaths were being added, more flowers, more candles and more notes that have been left behind. It's really quite an incredible sight to see, and especially how wide the variety of people who are drawn here -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Martin Savidge, thank you so much.

All those people, community, police and beyond paying their respects to those two officers, Officer Liu and Officer Ramos.

Thank you, Martin Savidge.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just one day short of her three-month wedding anniversary, the wife of murdered Officer Liu became a widow. Last night, she fought back tears as she thanked those who rallied to support her and her family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WIDOW OF NYPD OFFICER WENJIAN LIU: We, the Liu family, would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the police department, our neighbors, the entire New York City community, friends and co-workers. We would also like to express our condolence to the Officer Ramos' family. This is a difficult time for both of our families but we will stand together and get through this together. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Both police officers leave behind families who loved him dearly.

CNN's Randi Kaye looks back on the lives of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were partners on patrol. Officer Wenjian Liu, a veteran of the NYPD, and Officer Ramos, who joined in 2012. Both signed to the 84th Precinct in downtown Brooklyn.

Officer Ramos worked as a school security officer before joining the NYPD and reportedly loved the Mets. He was married with two children. On Facebook, his 13-year-old son wrote. "He was there for me every day of my life. He was the best father I could ask for. It's horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. I will always love you, and I will never forget you, rest in peace, Dad."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can say -- the heart he had was uncompared to other people's heart.

KAYE: Ramos' cousin told the "Wall Street Journal" that God was a priority in Ramos' life. The 40-year-old officer, in recent years, grew more passionate about his church. On his Facebook page, a quote reads, "If your way isn't working, try God's way." The same page said Officer Ramos had been married since 1993 and once studied at a seminary. Before his death, Ramos was studying to become a chaplain. In fact, later that Saturday afternoon, the day he was killed, he was scheduled to graduate from a chaplain program.

The pastor at his church told us Ramos had an infectious smile and loved his wife and his two boys, Justin and Jayden.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to thank all those who have shared their sympathy and support for our beloved family member, Rafael Ramos, who will always be loved and missed by many. KAYE: Officer Liu, who was 32, had been married just a couple of

months. Described by some around the neighborhood as quiet and in love. His parents are from China. And according to media reports, he was their only son. One friend of Liu's summed up his passion for police work in "The New York Times," "I know that being a cop is dangerous, but I must do it," Officer Liu had said. "If I don't do it and you don't do it, then who is going to do it?"

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)