Return to Transcripts main page

AT THIS HOUR

Police to Question Las Vegas Shooter's Girlfriend; Victim Jenny Parks Remembered; Russia-Linked Facebook Ads Targeted Michigan, Wisconsin; Interview with Rep. Eliot Engel; Tillerson Not Leaving His Post. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired October 4, 2017 - 11:30   ET

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


[11:30:00] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Sara, thank you so much for the latest on the investigation.

Let's talk about the other major focus for investigators right now. Marilou Danley, she's the killer's girlfriend who he lived with. What does she know? What can she offer? Danley just arrived back in the United States overnight from the Philippines. Police have said that she's a person of interest and that they plan to speak with her.

CNN's Nic Robertson is joining me now, live from Manilla for more on this.

Nic, what are you learning there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Kate, what we're getting from Philippine authorities, I have to say, is very little. They're being very tight lipped. They say they don't want to hurt an ongoing U.S. active investigation. I spoke to a spokesperson at the Bureau of Immigration here. She has a big FBI plaque on the wall. She's trained with the FBI. She has a good relationship with them. She told me she works regularly with them and Homeland Security. And with this issue, on Marilou Danley, she said she did cooperate with U.S. authorities. But she gave very, very few details.

It wasn't until Marilou Danley actually landed in the United States that she said she gave the details of when Danley arrived here in the Philippines on the 25th of September, leaving late yesterday evening, and landing obviously, late yesterday evening, in the United States. But she wouldn't give any other details outside of that. I pressed her. I said, look, did she have an FBI escort with her when she left? No, she wouldn't answer that question. I said, did Danley leave her of her own free will. She didn't want to answer that either. Only saying that all of this was done in coordination with U.S. authorities, with their full knowledge of what was happening.

The clues that we are getting into what Danley was going through when she was here are coming from her sisters in Australia. They're speaking out about her situation and saying that they believe that Paddock sent her here to the Philippines to be out of the way. This is what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SISTER OF MARILOU DANLEY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED SISTER OF MARILOU DANLEY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED SISTER OF MARILOU DANLEY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So what the official here told me when I asked about those tens of thousands of dollars that have been sent here, again, tight- lipped, no information given, saying that's something she can't get into at this time. Doesn't want to hurt the U.S. investigation -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: Nic Robertson, in Manilla. Nic, thank you so much.

So much to be learned there. Let's discuss right now. Joining me, James Gagliano, CNN law enforcement analyst and retired FBI special agent. Jonathan Wackrow is here, CNN law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service agent. And David Katz, former DEA agent and former firearms instructor.

Thank you so much for being here.

Jonathan, let's start, there are a lot of developments here, but one a lot of folks are wondering about, cameras inside the room and outside the room. What is that about?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, what it's an indicator of is he engaged in a lot of pre-planning. You know, going through and setting up these cameras. He thought about this attack for a long time. He had a battle plan. He had a battle plan on how to launch the attack, the position of the attack. But he also had a battle plan on how to respond and how to attack law enforcement, as they were coming to get him. So he had those cameras set up in the hallway, as an early warning to know when they're outside. Again, to launch a counterattack against law enforcement. This is -- again, we went back a couple of days ago. We started saying, the optic of this individual is going to change overtime. As more of these facts come out, now we're starting to see this. We're starting to see the weapons system used, the amount of ammunition, the money transfers to the wife. Again, the investigative process is working. Again, we've talked about this. It's, you know, maybe not as fast as some people want, but this is being done right, at the right pace.

BOLDUAN: David, 23 guns in his room, 12 of them modified to turn them into basically automatic -- basically automatic at this point. The shooting went on between 9 and 11 minutes is what the authorities there say. As a firearms expert, what is your takeaway from that? Did he use all the weapons?

DAVID KATZ, FORMER DEA AGENT & FORMER FIREARMS INSTRUCTOR: No, I doubt it. Once you start putting out that much -- that many rounds through a barrel, you're going to damage the round probably after 200 rounds. He probably has had additional weapons just in case the barrel started to deform or melt after a while. With that bump stock, you're probably max fire at 600 rounds per minute. That's not quite fully automatic, but fast enough to create this carnage that we saw. So did he use all of them? I really doubt it. But probably used 200, 300, even more.

[11:35:01] BOLDUAN: That's even more terrifying, knowing that perspective from you and what was possible coming from that room.

James, a huge focus now is the girlfriend. She may have some answers that are very necessary. Just landed back in the United States, as you heard from her sisters, they said she had nothing to do with it. That he sent her away. What are the first question you have for Marilou Danley?

JAMES GAGILANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure, Kate, to Jonathan's point, this is going to be a protracted investigation. And we all want answers. Because the difficult part of this is not being able to assess motive. And that's why this has not been from Justice Department officials, from their position, it's not been classified as terrorism, just yet. The FBI has 65 different legal attaches that are around the world. They've got relationships with Justice Department officials in all of those countries. Now, the girlfriend clearly did a number of -- she made a number of trips that are going to come under scrutiny. And then you have the money wiring, as well. That is going to be picked apart by forensic accountants. All of those things are investigative clues and they're going to piece these things together. And I know we're all lacking for motive and all grasping to find motive. But I believe that the police working in concert with the FBI are doing -- taking the appropriate steps, releasing what's necessary to the public, the public has a right to know. But by the same token, we don't want to release anything prematurely that might affect or impede the investigation.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely understandable.

Gentlemen, thank you so much, for being with me.

As we said, a lot of folks wondering why, but we're starting to hear from some of the families of the victims. They don't even care why, because it will not change what has happened to their families and what has happened to their loved ones. At least 58 people died in that senseless tragedy in Las Vegas. Each one of them with their own story, and with their own family and with their own community now facing the shock and grief of their new reality.

Jenny Parks is one of the people we want to tell you about right now. She and her husband, Bobby. They were at the concert together. Both were shot. He survived. She did not.

With me now is Bobby's uncle, Steven McCarthy, and family friend, Jessica Madden.

Thank you so much for coming in. These are impossible circumstances, but I really appreciate your time.

Thank you for having us.

Steven, how are y'all doing right now?

STEPHEN MCCARTHY, UNCLE OF JENNY PARKS: Oh, it's been pretty tough. The family is grieving very, very much so. I can't even imagine what Bobby, my nephew, is going through, as well as his children, Bryce and Leah. Their mother was everything to them. And she was quite a bit, very special to our entire family. I cannot think of any better word to describe her than saying she was dearly a precious angel that had been gifted to us. When Bobby first brought her home, I remember how the entire family just adored her immediately. She was smart, she was beautiful, she was intelligent, giving, loving, never heard her say a bad word about anyone. Same with Bobby. I couldn't be prouder to be his uncle. And they were the perfect family. Who would have thought that something like this could ever happen? And ruin such an important relationship. She had so much to give. Her kindergarten students are now mourning. In May, she got her masters of education so that she could be a kindergarten teacher. This is her third year of teaching. And it's been amazing. Tonight, they're holding a memorial at the school for her. It's really been a loss for us. A terrible loss.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Steven, have you had a chance to talk to Bobby?

MCCARTHY: I have not had a chance to talk to Bobby. I've talked to other family members and it's been very tough for anyone to speak about what happened. We understand that it appears that Jenny may have been one of the first people to be shot. She was struck in the head and Bobby thought she fainted. Being the hero that he is and the gentlemen that he is, he laid his body across her, so that -- to protect her. And then he felt the blood behind her head and realized she was gone. She was also shot, had to go through surgery and is going to need to go through reconstructive surgery on his hand. He also had another niece, Bobby's brother's wife, who was present. She managed to get out without being harmed, but she is now dealing with survivor guilt. And she's also a lovely person, jessie, and you know, she's an important part of this entire thing, as well. But the loss of Jenny cannot -- I can't even put it into words. Four years ago, I lost my spouse and Bobby held me in his arms and said, I can't even imagine what you're going through. I can't imagine what I would do if anything happened to Jenny. Four years ago, I lost my spouse and Bobby held me in his arms and said, I can't even imagine what you're going through. I can't imagine what I would do if anything happened to Jenny. And four years later, he's living this. He's only 40 years old. This shouldn't have happened to them.

[11:40:16] BOLDUAN: On that exact point, Jessica, I had seen that Jenny was in the middle of actually planning Bobby's 40th birthday party. Can you talk to me about what kind of a couple they were?

JESSICA MADDEN, FRIEND OF JENNY PARKS: Steven actually can talk a little bit more about that. I'm a former coworker of Bobby's, and I only knew him, unfortunately.

MCCARTHY: Jenny and Bobby were, like I said, the perfect couple. They loved the outdoors. As a matter of fact, Jenny was planning a 40th birthday party for Bobby. And they had just purchased a boat. They had a cabin, everybody was going to be out on the lake. They loved water skiing, jet skiing, snow skiing. Bryce and Leah, the daughter and son, loved all of these activities. Both of them were very -- both of the parents were very encouraging of the children. Bryce -- I used to joke with Bryce, still joke with Bryce, that he's such an engineer that he's going to create the fastest wheelchair for his old Uncle Steven when he's ready for it. Leah has been playing the piano. She dances beautifully. You know, everything that you would expect a family to be. And they cared about each other and they cared about all of us. Every time she walked into a family function, she lit up the entire room and everybody loved her. I really don't know anyone --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: You just see these pictures of her --

(CROSSTALK)

MCCARTHY: Yes, look at her.

BOLDUAN: And I never had the pleasure of meeting her, and she lights up every picture that I've seen of her. She seems just beautiful, outside and in. And you're exactly right to focus on Bryce and Leah. They're two children who are going to need so much love and care and help right now.

Jessica, you have wanted to help the family. You have put together a GoFundMe page in order to try to help them out.

MADDEN: Yes, I have. Bobby was very supportive of my nonprofit Jessica's help project, which supported the troop, and you know, when I heard what had happened, I had to help, you know, in some way. He paid it forward and it was my turn to pay it forward to their family. And we just are hoping we can raise some more funds. We've hit so many goals that I increased it to 15K and I'm so thankful for everyone who has donated and has shared the page and we just want to continue to support the family during this time.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Steven McCarthy, Jessica Madden, thank you so much for coming on and telling us --

MCCARTHY: Thank you.

MADDEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: -- and telling Jenny's story, and Bobby's story. We appreciate it.

MCCARTHY: Thank you. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Jenny Parks, she is one of the 58 lives cut short in this senseless massacre. CNN has identified more of the victims over the past 24 hours since we last came to you with a list. We want to share those names with you, the new names that we have confirmed. They are more names to be remembered, more name to be said out loud and more names to be added to the long list of victims' name. Denise Salomon Burditus. 50 years old. Christopher Roybal, 28. Charleston Hartfield, 34 years old. Jessica Klymchuk, 28 years old. Qinton Robbins, he was 20 years old. Hanna Ahlers, 34 years old. Stacee Etceber. Heather Alvarado, 35 years old. Adrian Murfitt, 35 years old. Bill Wolf Jr, 42 years old. John Phippen, 56. Michelle Vo, 32. Kurt Von Tillow, 55 years old. Jack Beaton, 54 years old. Lisa Peterson, 56 years old. Doreen Anderson, 49 years old. Eric Silva, 21 years old. Jordan Rivera, also 21 years old. Cameron Robinson, 28. Tara row smith, 34. Derek Beau Taylor, 56 years old. Candice Bowers, 40 years old. Kelsey Meadows, 28 years old. Brendan Lee Stewart, 30 years old. And Dana Gardner, 52 years old.

[11:45:01] All the names we should remember.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Coming up very soon, news from Capitol Hill. The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, they're set to give an update on their investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. We will bring you that live when it begins in a moment.

And this comes amid CNN's exclusive new reporting on Russia-linked Facebook ads and how they targeted major swing states in the election.

CNN's Manu Raju is live on Capitol Hill with much more on this.

Manu, this is very important reporting. What are you -- what are we hearing about the Senators are going to reveal. But, please, the reporting on the Facebook ads cannot be lost.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: That's right. There were roughly 3,000 ads that we know of so far that ran on Facebook in 2015, 2016, that were tied to Russia. Now, what we are now learning is where some of these ads were targeted. Now, we are learning from our sources, four sources familiar with the matter, that two of the states that were targeted were Michigan and Wisconsin. Those are two states, of course, that President Trump ended up narrowly carrying that propelled them to the presidency. Now, as part of what we have now learned is that Facebook has turned over these ads, but these ads really appeared all over the country. We reported this in our initial story, that these ads appeared in various states, non-swing states. But significantly, we're learning of these two swing states.

The question is, did it make a difference at all in those states and President Trump's ultimate victory there? And if anybody in the Trump campaign universe was involved in any way with this Russia campaign effort? That is something that we don't have any evidence for at this point. But it's something that we are told by investigators that they are going to look into more fully, starting to look at exactly, if there were any links at all at U.S. individuals, part of this Russia Facebook ad strategy. Expect this to be part of the discussion in the next hour by Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, who are going to start to detail exactly what they have learned over months of investigations, including these new Facebook ads.

But I can tell you, Kate, the Facebook ads are just the beginning of this investigation, on that aspect of it, they really are trying to dive much deeper into exactly what happened here and other social media platforms. A lot of questions there, something we probably will be able to hear at this press conference. More questions now on that aspect than answers at this point.

BOLDUAN: A very important detail coming out from your reporting.

Manu, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Joining me now to discuss this and much more, Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel, of New York. He's a top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, thank you so much for coming in.

Quite a bit to get to with you, actually, today. These Russian-linked Facebook ads, Manu laid it out perfectly, not only targeting the election, which we had known previously, but specific states, Michigan, Wisconsin. What do you make of this reporting?

[11:50:06] REP. ELIOT ENGEL, (D), NEW YORK: Well, in a way it doesn't surprise me. We've known for a long time now it's been Russia meddling in our election. It's clear they wanted Donald Trump to get elected, and this would fall in line with that will pattern. I think what we really have to look at in the ensuing days and weeks and months is was there any collusion from the Trump campaign with the Russians. Was this coordinated? I hope that Mr. Mueller takes a good hard look at this because it doesn't matter who's president or who's not. I don't want the Russians interfering in American democracy.

BOLDUAN: Well, no clues yet. No evidence yet. That is something obviously that the committees are investigating and looking into. The committees have seen, are seeing these ads, these ads handed over by Facebook. Do you think the public should see these specific ads?

ENGEL: Yes, I think we ought to open the windows and let the fresh air blow in. I think the public has an absolute right to know what was going on and an absolute right to know that the Russians are trying to subvert not only our elections but the controversy in the NFL, the problems in Charlottesville. We now have evidence that the Russians have been trying to use those to go against the United States to affect public opinion in the United States. And that's really very, very dangerous. And so again, the question is, not only does Russia do this, but is Russia doing this with anybody in America, in the Trump campaign or anyplace else.

BOLDUAN: That remains, of course, an unanswered question.

I have to ask you about the extraordinary press conference that wretch Tillerson, secretary of state, held at the beginning of the show. I'm sure had you a chance to see it or parts of it at this point. He says he is not leaving his post. That was some of the reporting questioning that he was on verge of it. He says he's reaffirmed his commitment to staying in the post but he would not address the reporting that CNN also has this reporting that he called President Trump a moron over the summer after a meeting over at the Pentagon. With that being the case, that is CNN's latest reporting that he did that, should the top diplomat in the country stay in that post if he thinks that the president he is serving is a moron? ENGEL: Well, I think he has to decide for himself what he's doing.

It's clear to me having observed him for months now, he's come before the foreign affairs committee and I've had the opportunity to speak with him at other times that he's not happy. The State Department morale is at an all-time low. The president proposed one-third cut across the board in the State Department. And --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Congressman, has Tillerson told you specifically he's not happy.

ENGEL: No, it's my observation. I don't know how anybody could be happy in that position when you have a third of the positions cut and you have important positions that haven't yet gotten filled.

BOLDUAN: What do you think of this reporting that -- if he does believe that the president is a moron, do you think that the president should keep his top diplomat in place if that's the kind of diplomatic speak he's using about the president?

ENGEL: I don't know what goes on behind the scenes in the Trump administration. But it certainly doesn't make for happiness or a well-functioning at the same time department. Mr. Tillerson was the CEO of ExxonMobil, number- ne man. I don't know if it's difficult for him to take orders because now he's number one at the State Department but not number one in the whole scheme of things. Donald Trump has shown a propensity to get involved in these things and not to let cabinet members who he nominated do their job. I think it's a combination of the two and you know, stay tuned, I'm sure there will be a lot more yet to come.

BOLDUAN: Do you have -- will this come up in any hearings you have the secretary come in for?

ENGEL: When the secretary comes, I think that I and other people would like to question him. You know, I don't know how he can again be happy presiding over a State Department that is you know, vastly curtailed, positions haven't been filled. They talked a lot in this political campaign about Benghazi. They want to cut security at our embassies around the world by a substantial amount. It's sort of letting the State Department wither on the vine. At the time, they're in increasing funding for the Department of Defense, which the Department of State, diplomacy, USAID, all these programs that, hopefully, prevent wars are given short shrift by this administration. It's too bad. We try very hard on the Foreign Affairs Committee to be bipartisan because it should be a bipartisan committee. We're all- Americans and care about what happens. It's very hard if the secretary doesn't seem to be allowed to function. If you don't like the secretary, you know, get rid of him. If he's going to have the job, let him do his job.

[11:55:14] BOLDUAN: We, at least right now, the secretary, says he's staying in the job.

Congressman Eliot Engel, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it.

ENGEL: Thank you. My pleasure.

BOLDUAN: Any moment now, top investigators, as we have been discussing, on Capitol Hill, holding a major news conference disclosing, offering an update and what they have learned from their months-long Russia investigation. We'll bring that to you live.

Plus, very soon, President Trump will be landing in Las Vegas to meet with survivors, families of the victims, and first responders of the horrific massacre in Las Vegas. Earlier today, President Trump hinted at new information that soon could be coming out about the shooter. We're going to bring you the president live, all of those moments. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:12] JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King. To our viewers in the United States -