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CNN NEWSROOM

Nine Dead at Four Sites in Missouri; Senate to Vote on Clean DHS Bill; Interview with Senator Bob Casey; Canadian Teens May Be En Route to Syria; Netanyahu Addresses Congress on Tuesday; Conservatives United Against Clinton

Aired February 27, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

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

We start with breaking news this morning out of rural Missouri. Nine people have reportedly been shot to death in the south central part of that state in and around the community called Tyrone. That's according to the local paper, "The Houston Herald." The sheriff says there are at least four separate crime scenes but there may be more.

Alexander Field is gathering information on this story. She joins me now with a little more info.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Carol. Also the "Houston Herald" now reporting that the shooter in this case has been found dead in a parked car following a long night. The officials out in Tyrone, Missouri, are not releasing a lot of details about the investigation itself or the suspect. But we do know there were at least four crime scenes, they are looking at the possibility of a fifth crime scene, and then even potentially a sixth crime scene outside of Texas County.

Neighbors there are telling some of our affiliates about the night that they had. One neighbor says that she was woken up at 3:45 in the morning. Authorities came knocking at the door. They were asking if anyone inside had been hurt, injured in any way. Other neighbors also saying that they were asked by authorities to actually stay inside. Given very little information about what was happening out there but told overnight to stay inside to be safe, to stay in their homes.

And we are again hearing from this paper, the "Houston Herald," that the shooter has been found dead in a car. We don't know the circumstances surrounding his death. We know nothing else of the suspect.

COSTELLO: And we don't know if these crime scenes are connected in any way.

FIELD: We don't know.

COSTELLO: OK. And I guess keep digging.

Thank you, Alexandra Field reporting live.

On Capitol Hill, the battle continues to keep the Department of Homeland Security up and running. You think with ISIS threatening our national security that would be a cinch but, no, actually the Senate will do its part in the next hour. It will likely vote to fund DHS through September, but the House, that is another story.

House Speaker John Boehner had a tough day Thursday trying to convince conservatives to vote to fund DHS. By late afternoon he was tired of all the questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mitch McConnell has said exactly what he's going to do. You know exactly what you're going to get. It's going to be a clean DHS funding bill. Are you going to put it on the floor? Are you going to kill it? Are you going to vote on it? Have you even had this discussion?

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: When we make decisions I'll let you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: In the end Boehner came up with a proposal that, wait for it, kicks the can down the road. The House plan will only fund DHS for three weeks.

CNN's Athena Jones is live in Washington.

So what happens today? Take us through it.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. There is that phrase we all love, kick the can down the road. We hear it so often.

I want to tell you a caveat from the start. This is just the plan. We have to see how things pan out here today, but I believe we have a graphic we can put on the screen of what Speaker Boehner plans to do in the House.

That bill, as we mentioned, the House convening this hour, expected to vote next hour on a plan that would fund the Department of Homeland Security for the next three weeks at the same levels as last year. So it would just continue the funding into March.

The idea is that doing so would give the House Republicans time to press for a conference with the Senate bill. That's the bill that would fund the department through the end of the year but that doesn't block the president's immigration actions and that's what they've been fighting over. So House Republicans want to see if they can get the Senate to come together and try to conference and reach a compromise on those two bills.

Of course, that doesn't look very likely. Democrats are going to stand in the way of any efforts to block the president's executive actions on immigration. That's what this whole fight has been over. Here's the thing, Carol. Even that three-week continuing resolution

we're talking about here in the House, it's not a sure thing that it's going to pass. You're going to have some House Democrats who are likely be opposed to it because they want to see the department funded through the entire fiscal year. And there are conservative Republicans who don't want to see this done because they think they should stand their ground and block the president's immigration action.

So we're going to be watching. The votes are set to begin at 10:20 -- between 10:20 and 11:20 on the House side. It's when we should see if this goes through. And then if it does, the Senate is prepared to take it up. But of course, as we know here, it's not over until it's over. And what's crazy about this is this is not a fight about the final resolution of the funding of the Department of Homeland Security, it's just a fight over the next three weeks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones reporting live for us from Capitol Hill. We appreciate it.

Joining me now to talk more about this, Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.

Welcome, sir.

SEN. BOB CASEY (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being with me. Senator McConnell bit the bullet. He ignored angry conservative voices and pushed for a clean bill. In your mind did he show strong leadership?

CASEY: Well, I think he's doing the right thing, but this has taken many, many weeks when this should have been done weeks ago. We should fund Homeland Security through the whole year with no questions asked about conditioning it and then have a debate about anything including immigration if folks want to do that. But the idea that we're going to hold up or possibly shut down Homeland Security is really a mistake for the country.

COSTELLO: But you have to admit Senator McConnell was in a -- was in rough place and he did what he could. He bit the bullet and he managed -- you know, he's going to take some criticism for this because conservatives are going to call him a sellout. So did he show strong leadership?

CASEY: Well, I said a moment ago he did the right thing and -- but it -- it took vote after vote. It shouldn't have taken this long.

Look, Republicans in this town have a problem. They allow their extremes to dictate on a regular basis. And if they do that, we're going to have a lot of these cliff hangers, which we shouldn't have, especially on homeland security. Making sure that if there's a terrorist attack we can respond immediately to the natural disaster. We can respond immediately. But this allowing an extreme group to play games with homeland security has to stop. COSTELLO: Well, some Republicans absolutely agree with you. For

example, Republican Peter King ripping what he calls self-righteous delusional Republicans tweeting that they are detached from reality if they wanted to fund DHS.

Why do you think John Boehner can't corral his people like McConnell did?

CASEY: Carol, if I could answer that question, I'd be making a lot more money. I don't know. And we'll see what the House does, but I would hope that they would finally say, let's get Homeland Security funded for the year and then have a debate about anything that they want but the idea that it's taking week after week doesn't make a lot of sense.

I hope Speaker Boehner can work with his caucus and get this done.

COSTELLO: Well, Speaker Boehner -- Speaker Boehner did come up with this three-week extension plan. Do you think that Democrats in the House will go along with that? Because word is some won't.

CASEY: I don't know if they'll go along with it, but why would we do a three week --

(LAUGHTER)

Why would we do three weeks? Why don't we just get it done now and then we can have long debates about anything, but let's not -- let's not continue the drama. I think people back home probably think what is going on down there when this is about homeland security. This is not a subject about which people aren't anxious, especially in light of recent events.

COSTELLO: Senator Bob Casey, many thanks to you. Thank you for joining me this morning.

CASEY: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: I appreciate it.

This morning there are chilling new concerns about ISIS and its ability to recruit young people to its deadly cause. Officials in Canada say at least four teenagers are believed to have traveled to Turkey apparently with plans to slip into neighboring Syria and join up with ISIS. There could be even more and a community college may be a central link in the unfolding investigation.

So let's begin our coverage of this story with reporter Kate McKenna of CBC News.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE MCKENNA, CBC NEWS REPORTER: Four of the young people who left Canada were students at College de Maisonneuve. One of the students took a course taught by Adil Charkaoui, a man who was arrested on terrorism charges and then released. Now the school has suspended its contract with Charkaoui's organization.

BRIGITTE DESJARDINS, COLLEGE DE MAISONNEUVE: The decision is we're going to interrupt the contract we have with this organization until we have more information.

MCKENNA: Desjardins said it's unearthed an online video of a member of the organization spewing hate speech. And that was enough for them to suspend the contract.

DESJARDINS: Our concern is about the students who are here, still here, and if they need comfort, we're there.

MCKENNA: Rosemount College also suspended a contract with its Muslim Community Center but that school says that's unrelated to the students' departure. Experts say there's a link between young people and radicalization.

ALEXANDRA BAIN, ISIS EXPERT: It's happening all over the world. Canada has been relatively protected from it. If you were in England, this would be a daily story for you almost. France as well. Young people are leaving the West.

MCKENNA: Students in Montreal schools are asking the same questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably seeing something that doesn't happen. I think it should be discussed. It's something that I don't think should be done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone's looking for a home. Everyone's looking for a community.

MCKENNA: Canada's Public Safety minister encourages people to watch out for signs of radicalization in their loved ones.

STEPHEN BLANEY, PUBLIC SAFETY MINISTER: Our studies clearly demonstrate that in 80 percent of the case when an individual is willing to travel for terrorist purposes, the people around are aware or informed of that situation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right. Our thanks to Kate McKenna of CBC.

Let's now turn to CNN's Rosa Flores. She's been taking a closer look at the college professor involved in this case, accused of promoting values that are contrary to Canada's.

So tell us more about this guy.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, this is very interesting because it really seems like the plot thickens, Carol, here. So we started looking at both the college professor and this college.

So College de Maisonneuve is this community college that the students who authorities say went to the Middle East to join ISIS attended. So here is what we've learned. So the college is saying that this professor, Adil Charkaoui, that he was using hate speech.

So the speech, Carol, that you were talking about. And so we don't know what that alleged hate speech is. What we do know is --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: He was using the alleged hate speech in class?

FLORES: That is what the -- the college is alleging.

COSTELLO: OK.

FLORES: They're investigating. So we looked at his Twitter feed because you know right now in this day and age a lot of people disclose a lot of things on social media. So take a look at some of these tweets. He's a very avid tweeter. And I should preface this by saying that he's quoting here an article that discusses the state of Muslims in Quebec. And I'm going to quote here.

He says, "The Muslim is considered suspicious no matter what he does. If he's quiet, it's fishy. If he speaks, it's suspicious." Now here's another tweet. He said, "Islamophobia must be discussed as discrimination, period." And then here's one final one. "The government must fight against Islamophobia in the same way that it fights against anti-Semitism, sexism and racism."

Now just to give you a little background and I know that reporter mentioned it, but just to bring it home he wasn't --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Because that doesn't sound like hate speech to me.

FLORES: Well, and in 2003 he was arrested -- just to give you a little background, he was arrested for being a terror sleeper agent and then he was completely cleared, he was completely cleared by the authorities in 2009 of any wrongdoing. And so that just kind of gives you an idea of what he's been experiencing. Then we also found that there's a Web site that kind of like for his justice type of Web side.

Now that is called the Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui. And you see it on your screen. Here now, in this Web site, what they says is that his treatment was unjust, racist, Islamophobic. And they didn't agree with how what the process was, how he was treated, how the government pursued this man. So again, a lot of loose ends still that authorities still need to figure out.

Now we did reach out to this professor, CNN did, and we have not received a comment from him. However, he is speaking at 11:00 today. So we're going to be there. And we will --

COSTELLO: All right.

FLORES: Definitely bring you that information.

COSTELLO: All right. Rosa Flores, thanks so very much. We're going to talk much more about this in the 10:00 Eastern hour of

NEWSROOM as well.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the Israeli prime minister is headed to the United States. Who's rolling out the welcome mat and who isn't? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Benjamin Netanyahu is likely putting the finishing touches on his address before Congress next week. But the frigid Washington weather only marks the beginning of the chilly reception awaiting him. Neither the president nor the vice president will meet with Netanyahu while he's here in this country. The secretary of state is also sitting out of the visit. Both Biden and Kerry say they're traveling.

The National Security Adviser Susan Rice and U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power are speaking at the same pro-Israel conference as Netanyahu this weekend, but they won't be meeting with the Israeli prime minister either. That might be a good thing considering what Susan Rice said -- considering what Susan Rice said about Netanyahu's visit earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOI CLIP)

SUSAN RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: On both sides there has now been injected a degree of partisanship, which is not only unfortunate, I think it's -- it's destructive of the fabric of the relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott is following the story from Jerusalem.

Hi, Elise.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Well, certainly you thought it couldn't get any worse, this bad blood between the White House and the prime minister. But it gets continues to get ugly and the jobs ever more personal and sharper.

But Prime Minister Netanyahu is coming. He'll be addressing a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, and AIDS say that he understands there's a politically fraught tone to this visit but he's trying to, if you will, creating a new word, departisanize this visit. He won't be meeting with any Democrats, any Republican separately. He will be, after that speech, addressing just a small group of bipartisan senators, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, I'm just curious. Israel's election is just two weeks away. What do Netanyahu's chances look like?

LABOTT: Well, he's kind of in a neck-in-neck race with the labor candidate, Isaac Herzog. There are a lot of undecideds. And the question, is this visit really affecting his chances? And it doesn't seem to be because Israelis are really split on whether they should go, about 43 percent either way saying he should go or he shouldn't go.

Those supporters of Netanyahu think it's a good idea for him to go and speak up about Iran which is a very important issue to Israelis. Those that don't support him feel he's damaging the U.S./Israeli relationship.

You know, Prime Minister Netanyahu's security is his big issue. Iran is his big issue. So, the more he keeps the Iran issue and security in the forefront of the campaign, the better it is for him, Carol, because that's where he polls the strongest. And it deflects on the weaker areas where he doesn't poll well.

COSTELLO: So, it is true that Netanyahu's address before Congress is actually helping him back home, right?

LABOTT: Well, I think it depends how the visit goes. If he gets a rousing reception as he has many times in his addresses before Congress, certainly he goes back and he's able to say, I did the right thing. If it doesn't go so well and there are a lot of empty seats in that chamber as many Democratic senators have been threatening, it might put a little bit of a dent in his numbers.

But it doesn't seem to be the big issue that Israelis at least say that they're voting on, Carol. You know, housing prices, food prices, very high here. The economy seems to be one of the things people are most talking about, but when they go to the polls, a lot of people think when they get in that booth to make their vote that security is in the forefront of their mind and that's an area where Prime Minister Netanyahu is trusting over his other opponents to protect Israel against Iran.

I might add that President Obama does not poll so well in Israel when it comes to the issue of Iran. Three in four Israelis do not trust President Obama to protect Israel when it comes to Iran, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Elise Labott, reporting live for us from Jerusalem. Thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, critics slam Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for comments he made at CPAC. Up next, why Governor Walker says his comments are being misconstrued.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, TV HOST/COMEDIAN: Hillary Clinton is receiving criticism after telling a crowd to unlock their potential, because that line apparently is commonly used by another possible candidate Carly Fiorina. Yes. People are like, you can't steal someone's slogan like that. Hillary is like, yes, we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton taking center stage at CPAC this week. Well, sort of.

Republicans slammed Clinton at the annual event outside of Washington. The conference is considered a breeding ground for conservative leaders and for presidential hopefuls. But Clinton isn't the only target. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who's considered a rising star came out swinging against President Obama and his terrorism strategy.

Walker also said his home state battles against labor unions and collective bargaining rights have prepared him to take on ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: I want a commander-in-chief who will do everything in their power to ensure that the threat from radical Islamic terrorists do not wash up on American soil. We will have someone who leads and ultimately will send the message not only that we will protect American soil but do not -- do not take this upon freedom loving people anywhere else in the world. We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Of course, that didn't take the unions very happy. Walker rejects the idea that he was comparing public employees to terrorists. But as I said, union critics are not buying it.

The president at the Wisconsin AFL-CIO said, quote, "To compare hard working men and women who work for a living to terrorists is a disgrace."

So, let's bring in CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar. She's live from CPAC this morning.

Tell us more, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, Scott Walker walking this back a little bit I guess you could say trying to do some cleanup saying he wasn't making this comparison. Of course, he was certainly talking in the same breath about the experience he had had as Wisconsin governor.

He did enlist the National Guard. There were thousands and thousands of protesters that he did have to deal with as governor, but he sort of talked about how if he had dealt with these, as you heard him say, if he had dealt with these protesters, he could deal with ISIS. He later said he was just drawing upon his leadership experience as governor to show how he would lead, but it just shows you some of the pitfalls of maybe being a governor and drawing from your executive experience there to talk about how you might be president.

And also something that even though Scott Walker is surging in the polls, Carol, he's also a new newbie. We've seen him make what I think observers would consider mistakes recently, punting on a question of evolution. Not committing to an answer on whether the president -- whether President Obama is a Christian. He wouldn't say.

And so, these are a couple of mistakes he's made, Carol. But in the end, Carol, he's blamed the media. He said he is not surprised by the media misconstruing his comments. That's something that certainly plays well with the people he's trying to attract here, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, that is certainly true, Brianna.

Something else that plays well is attacks against the IRS. I understand that was a hot topic of conversation yesterday.

KEILAR: Yes, it was. This was interesting because this was even before we heard this news that the independent watchdog who looks at the IRS is saying to Congress that there may actually be some potential criminal activity when it comes to Lois Lerner's e-mails. You probably remember that scandal over whether -- whether conservative groups were targeted by the IRS. So, this was even before that.

But listen to what Ben Carson, who is a retired neurosurgeon who has his eye on the White House, and what Texas Senator Ted Cruz said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BEN CARSON, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: I'm for putting our health care in our hands and not in the hands of some bureaucrat. And for balancing our budget and for a fair taxation system that allows us to get rid of the IRS.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Abolish the IRS!

Take all 125,000 IRS agents and put them on our Southern border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That's some of the red meat that you're seeing here, Carol, thrown to the crowd. There are other topics, abolishing Obamacare is one, funding for Planned Parenthood is another. And the big one what we've seen and expect to see today, as well as the IRS, is Hillary Clinton. She certainly has taken a lot of hits from those speaking here at CPAC.

COSTELLO: All right. Brianna Keilar reporting live from CPAC this morning -- thanks so much.

(MUSIC)

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

In Washington, all eyes are on the Senate where in about half an hour lawmakers will vote on a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of September. Now that bill is expected to pass in the Senate but will likely be dead on arrival in the House of Representatives. The showdown coming as the current funding for the department expires at midnight. We'll have a live report from Washington coming your way shortly.

Also in the news this morning, right now, Canadian officials are trying to track down at least four teenagers who might be trying to join ISIS. Authorities believe the group may have traveled to Turkey with plans to slip into Syria.

This morning, there are new fears that some of the students in that group may have been radicalized by a professor teaching religion at a Montreal community college.

With me now is Akbad Chihab Eldon. He's an adjunct professor at Columbia University and has also worked as a reporter in the Middle East.

Welcome and thank you so much for being here.

AHMED SHIHAB-ELDIN, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I want to center on this professor in question because he has a colorful, interesting background. He was accused of jihadism but was cleared of all charges. He was teaching a class at this community college on Islamophobia and religion. Should the community college have hired him in the first place?

SHIHAB-ELDIN: I think that's the right question to be asking, and a lot of people in Canada are rightfully asking that question.