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Threat Against America's Malls; DHS Chief Tries to Clear Up Mixed Messages; Two Versions of Las Vegas Road Rage Shooting Emerging; Hunt to Find Teens Before They Join ISIS; Can Giuliani's Reputation Recover?; Tickets for Magic Kingdom Soaring

Aired February 23, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Security in the wake of Homeland Security secretary's warning -- in light of the secretary's warning. Law enforcement is scrambling to downplay his comments. Still Jeh Johnson isn't backing off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you regret any of the comments you made this morning?

JEH JOHNSON, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN justice reporter Evan Perez live in Washington. But let's start with CNN national reporter Nick Valencia. He's at the Mall of America.

Good morning.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Certainly a chilling message posted by that Somali terror group al- Shabaab calling for lone wolf sympathizers to help them carry out potential attacks in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Among them listed is the Mall of America here in Bloomington, Minnesota. A very famous mall and the mall is responding to that video saying they are taking extra security precautions but over the weekend it was business as usual. Shoppers were not encouraged to stay home. In fact they still showed up over the weekend.

Also reacting is local leaders in the Somali community. One local affiliate here WCCO caught up with one of those leaders to get his reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR JAMAL, SOMALI-AMERICAN ACTIVIST: We have to take a small care. And chances there might as well be a lone wolf out there, given the number of the people here.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VALENCIA: Another leader I spoke to says that the community is still traumatized after 2013 when a member of the Somali community in Minneapolis participated in the attack at the West Gate Mall in Kenya. He called it disgusting, that video, trying to distance himself saying that they do not speak for the majority of Somalis here in Minnesota and beyond.

Also reacting the Department of Homeland Security which is telling shoppers to remain extra vigilant but still at this time they say there is there is no working or credible threat -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And that's important to keep in mind. No credible threat. And I would assume that shoppers are still frequenting the Mall of America, right?

VALENCIA: They are. A local affiliate WCCO actually went inside the mall. Media at this point isn't being allowed inside. But they somehow got in and were able to talk to shoppers who are saying, you know, if an attack happens, it happens. This isn't going to inhibit us from carrying out our every day plans. There is of course this sense of nervousness you get, a sense of anxiety from those shoppers.

We heard in that -- those interviews but so far we haven't seen anything out here. Everything appears to be normal. The mall is set to open up at 10:00 a.m. local -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Valencia reporting live from Minnesota this morning.

The Homeland Security chief is trying to clear up mixed messages about that threat against malls in the West.

So let's get right to CNN justice reporter Evan Perez. He's live in Washington with that part of the story.

Good morning.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, you know, they really have a fine balance to strike here because on one hand, you know, the Homeland Security secretary did create a little bit of an alarm when he said people should be careful about going to the mall. This is when he had an interview yesterday with CNN.

At the same time, you know, the FBI and Homeland Security have sent out a bulletin, an intelligence bulletin to law enforcement around the country telling them that there is no credible threat. There's no active plot that they know of against any mall in the United States. That said, there is a danger that someone could see the threat from Shabaab and do something on their own.

Jeh Johnson, the Homeland Security secretary, addressed this at the National Governors Association meeting yesterday. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHNSON: This is one of the reasons I'm out in the communities talking about countering violent extremism and -- so it's more complex in that there could be an independent actor who could strike at any moment. And the last couple of times I've -- I'll share this with you. The last couple of times I've issued statements in reaction to an event where we're enhancing Homeland Security, the Federal Protective Service or we're enhancing aviation security in response to an attack.

I always put in there, and there's no credible, specific intelligence of a similar attack being planned here or something along those lines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And, Carol, you know, again, the issue here is that while the Homeland Security secretary wants to let people know that, look, you know, there is this possibility, he is also, you know, one of the top officials on homeland security -- national security in this country and you don't want to dissuade people from going about their business, doing what they want to do, go shopping and so on.

So he does face a little bit of an issue here in how he handles these type of threats. Because the truth is, you know, there is very little that people can do, law enforcement can do, to prevent these types of attacks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Evan Perez, reporting live from Washington. Thank you.

The teenager charged in an alleged road rage incident in Las Vegas is expected in court at any moment now. 19-year-old Erich Nowsch is set to make his first appearance on a number of charges including murder and attempted murder. He will not be arraigned today, however.

Nowsch is accused of gunning down a mother of four in the driveway of her home but was this really a case of road rage?

CNN's Sara Sidner has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Husband and father Robert Meyers embraced his family members near the driveway where his wife was murdered. The traveling businessman still in shock over his wife's death, still blaming himself for being away when it all happened.

The Meyers family is also struggling with the backlash from some in the public and media who have called his son, Brandon Meyers, a vigilante, for being armed and going out with his mother to find the road rage suspect.

ROBERT MEYERS, VICTIM'S HUSBAND: Every day you guys go in there across -- I've got people threatening to kill my son because of things you guys have said. SIDNER: But there are now two different versions of events emerging.

The family says after the first confrontation on the road, Tammy Meyers picked up her son who has a concealed weapons permit and routinely carries his gun with him. They found the road rage suspects in the neighborhood and the Meyers family tells us one of the suspects fired at them.

But a newly released police report tells a slightly different story. One of the suspect's friends telling police it was one of the Meyers who brandished the gun first at the suspects before anyone fired.

Ultimately the police say suspect Erich Nowsch did go to Tammy Meyers' home and killed her. According to the police report, Nowsch fired 22 times outside the home.

And in another twist, police were unaware that the family knew the suspect until the day of the arrest.

We did not know that.

SIDNER: Robert Meyers did suspect that Erich Nowsch had something to do with it, telling us his wife used to counsel the young man in the park just down the street where neighbors told us drug deals frequently go down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He hung around with the wrong people. I'll tell you that. He was at the park at lot.

SIDNER: Nowsch's Instagram account showing pictures of what looks like pot.

To give you some idea of just how close these two families lived with one another?

(On camera): This is the Meyers home.

(Voice-over): Where Tammy Meyers were shot and killed.

(On camera): And this is where the suspect lives. Less than a two to three-minute walk from the home.

(Voice-over): Sara Sidner, CNN, Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And we'll talk about the legal challenges of this case with CNN legal analyst Paul Callan and criminal defense attorney Page Pate. That's in the next half hour of NEWSROOM.

Still to come, he was America's mayor after 9/11 but now some Republicans are keeping their distance from Rudy Giuliani. Can he recover his reputation?

We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: The international manhunt continues for three missing teenagers feared to be en route to Syria to join ISIS. Missing for six days now, the trio of British girls ran away from home and flew from London to Istanbul.

A spokesperson for the Turkish president tells CNN that Turkish security forces and intelligence service workers are working together to find the missing girls.

This comes as the family of one girl continues imploring her to come home and calling ISIS evil for their efforts to recruit young foreigners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RENU BEGUM, SHAMIMA BEGUM'S SISTER: She's an A-star student. To convince such young girls at that age that are so vulnerable and so -- it's just wrong. It's evil. It's a really evil thing to do. You're breaking up entire families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Atika Shubert is live in London this morning with more.

Hi, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. You can hear from the sister there just how heartbroken the families are. And for many of them, they're completely shocked that this would happen. They had no idea that their daughters were even interested in politics in the Middle East. One of them said they were going to a wedding. The other said they were going to study for extra classes.

But they never came home and it turns out they were on a plane headed for Turkey. And the reason the families are speaking out is precisely because British police believe they may still be in Turkey. They're hoping to get the message across to prevent them from crossing over the border into Syria. But it has been several days now. So it is possible that they may already be in Syria.

COSTELLO: So Turkish officials say they're doing everything they can to locate these girls. Do you think -- I mean, I don't think there's much hope in that, right?

SHUBERT: It seems unlikely. However, if they can somehow get to the people who may be still be in touch with them, they may be able to convince them to come back. The other problem is they are also dealing with ISIS recruiters on the inside in Syria. In fact one of them, Aqsa Mahmood, is a 19-year-old school girl from Glasgow who left last year.

And she has been actively speaking to young women like this giving them step-by-step instructions on how to cross the border. So it's quite possible that they have coordinated with somebody like that to come over. And it is -- it's particularly heartbreaking for the family to hear that. Take a listen to what the sister of one of those school girls had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEGUM: We just hope that, obviously, a friend previously traveled out. We're just hoping that maybe she's gone to see her friend, talk some sense into her because she was upset about her friend leaving and a conversation with me that she had where she knew that was a silly thing to do, she wouldn't -- I asked her, you wouldn't do anything stupid like that. You have a whole family behind you.

There wasn't any reason for me to ask, it was just a conversation that we had. And she said no. She was upset that her friend had left and she didn't know why she had done it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: So clearly these girls were sort of at risk in the sense that they had a classmate that had gone to Syria just a few months before, and there is some possibility that they may have followed their friend. But the families don't know why the girls left and they haven't really given any -- left any message or any clue as to why they went or who they've gone with.

COSTELLO: All right. Atika Shubert reporting live from London this morning. Thank you.

Checking other top stories at 14 minutes past, today a new battle is launched over immigration reform. The Obama administration plans to appeal a ruling that freezes the overhaul. The White House will also seek an emergency order that would allow the changes to take effect. At issue, the possible deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.

Despite a peace agreement, the bloodshed and killing continues in eastern Ukraine. What's more, the Ukrainian military says it won't pull its heavy weapons from the front lines because of continued shelling by rebels.

There was a time when Rudy Giuliani was America's mayor. New York City and the nation rallied around him in the days and weeks after 9/11. In 2007, Giuliani was a front runner for the Republican nomination to be president, at one point besting John McCain who ended up winning the nomination in 2008.

But recently Giuliani seems to have gone off course. Questioning the president's love of America to loud criticism. This weekend he attempted to clarify his remarks writing in "The Wall Street Journal," quote, "My intended focus really was -- really was the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that affect may damage his performance."

So let's talk about this. I want to bring in CNN political commentator and political anchor for New York One, Errol Louis.

Welcome back, Errol. I'm glad you're here.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So is Rudy Giuliani still considered America's mayor?

LOUIS: I haven't heard that phrase in quite a while. And he doesn't talk about the things that he has special credibility on which is how to manage a city or frankly how to be a bipartisan sort of a figure because of course he was a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. He sort of pushed all that to the side and now wants to carve out a new role as spokesman for a particular slice of the Republican base.

And I think that's why it sounds so jarring to so many people that this was not the guy who was a technocratic, fairly good manager of a city that needed somebody to manage it well. He's talking about something where he doesn't have a whole lot of experience, he doesn't have a whole lot of credibility, frankly, and he's being more of a political figure than we've normally seen him act as.

COSTELLO: Why do you think he's doing that?

LOUIS: Well, I mean, look, some of it is having fun, you know, frankly. I mean, there's been a lot of talk about him wanting to sort of reclaim some relevance. As I said, he's not really talked about as one of the major figures in how to run a city anymore. So maybe he just wanted to get some headlines. That's not unheard of with political figures. And as somebody who runs a private company, most publicity is probably good for him.

COSTELLO: Do you think that at this point his strategy has backfired because some Republicans who want to run for president are sort of -- don't know how to respond to his comments.

LOUIS: Well, they're not responding in part because -- I mean, something you know very well that people should always keep in mind, you know, politically which is that there's a portion of the Republican base -- I don't know how big it is, 10 percent, 20 percent, might be bigger.

The candidates for president who want to be president and win the nomination next year, they want that base. And that base loves the red meat that Rudy Giuliani has been serving up and the candidates, I think are -- the serious candidates are watching to see how it's received as well as how major right-wing talk radio hosts, the Limbaughs and the Hannitys and the Mark Levins, as well as 100 sort of clones in all these different markets around the country. How are they receiving this stuff. They're loving it. Believe it, they're loving it.

COSTELLO: But still, the Republican Party has -- has really tried to reach out to minority groups, it has. Especially like Rand Paul, a Republican.

LOUIS: Well, yes.

COSTELLO: He's going around the country. He's talking to minority groups. He's trying to -- at least he's trying. And these comments can't help the Republican Party.

LOUIS: You talk to black Republicans and they -- they bury their heads in their hands when they hear this kind of stuff because it does sort of suggests a difference and a gap that they're never going to be able to close. And so -- but that's not really what the game is right now. For 2016, if you want to be the Republican nominee for president, you've got to get to that base.

Apparently bashing a president who very soon is going to be officially recognized as a lame-duck president, a guy who's not on the ballot, not running for anything.

COSTELLO: I know. Like, why bother? He's not running.

LOUIS: Well, apparently they think and I assume that their consultants have gone out and done focus groups and looked at the polls and everything that they can get some amount of momentum just by bashing the president. And if that's what Republican chase for president is about right now, so be it. It's not a very hopeful sign and perhaps we'll get to something a little more positive, a little more substantive in the future. But for now, bash Obama is how you get to try to become president.

COSTELLO: Errol Louis, thanks so much. Always appreciate your insight.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's not just the rollercoaster soaring at Disney's Magic Kingdom. Ticket prices are, too. Yes. They've hit a new record. We'll tell you about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Well, they say you can't put a price tag on happiness but you can maybe buy a little happiness at Disneyland, maybe, if you're willing to pay a whole lot of money. A pass to the popular magic kingdom theme park is going for a record -- I'm going to let CNN's Cristina Alesci break the news.

I can't believe how much these tickets cost.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: $105, now --

COSTELLO: Just for one?

ALESCI: Just for one. Now just to put this into context, that is a 6 percent increase just for Disneyworld in Florida. The other parks in Florida have increased 3 percent. And the California park has also increased 3 percent. So increases across the board.

Now why in the world is Disney world doing this? It's a simple supply and demand equation. It's because they can. People are paying these prices. It's incredible. Right? And just to put this -- give this more bit more heft here, last year they increased their prices and they saw record attendance in their parks division.

COSTELLO: The economy was down last year. ALESCI: And the -- exactly. And the American consumer isn't coming

back.

But, Carol, keep in mind, this is a play that we've been talking about. This is a big theme we've been talking about on this show which is the unequal recovery. Right? There's a huge recovery at the top end of the income scale and the lower end isn't recovering quite as robustly. And who is going to go to these parks? It's the one at the upper end of the pay scale that's going to be able to afford this kind of experience for their children, which is wonderful but very costly.

COSTELLO: I just -- I can't even -- so how much for kids? I'm just curious. So $105 per adult.

ALESCI: So the -- no -- yes. That's 10 and up. And then for children it's about -- I think between 3 and 9 years old it's $99. Just to put this into context, though, those are ridiculous. But that doesn't factor in the cost of hotel, food, gifts, things of that nature. If you put all of that together, one person on average spends $280 a day in the park. So you're talking about a family of four, that's well into close to $900. That is an amazing amount of money.

COSTELLO: It's -- it's mind-boggling. It really is. And it's sad in a way, right?

ALESCI: Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes.

ALESCI: That doesn't even account for VIP passes. Those are -- those are ridiculous. There are VIP passes that you don't have to -- you don't have to wait in line. You can bypass the line.

COSTELLO: And those cost $800 -- no, I'm just kidding. I don't know.

ALESCI: No, I think they're close to that.

COSTELLO: Come on. Really?

ALESCI: Yes. I will get you those prices but it is -- it is a staggering amount of money.

COSTELLO: I can't breathe.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Cristina Alesci, thanks so much.

ALESCI: Of course.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the man accused of gunning down a mother of four in an alleged road rage incident in Vegas heads to court and new versions of the events are emerging about what really happened.

We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter is in Kuwait right now meeting with top generals and diplomats about the fight against ISIS.

Now this meeting comes on the heels of Carter's surprise trip to Afghanistan to meet with troops and government leaders there.

Barbara Starr has more for you from the Pentagon.

Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, Ash Carter just several days into being secretary of defense hitting the road to talk to troops overseas, talk to commanders and put his stamp on the Pentagon as all of these conflicts rage around the world.