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Erin Burnett Outfront

Police: UVA Suspect Linked To At Least One Other Case; Official: Oklahoma Suspect Watched Beheading Videos;

Aired September 29, 2014 - 19:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, breaking news, police find a link between the suspect and the disappearance of UVA student, Hannah Graham and at least one other case. Is there a serial killer?

And more breaking news, new details about the White House fence jumper. He actually made it well past the front door of the White House even knocking down an agent. We have that report coming up.

Plus the man accused of beheading a woman in Oklahoma. Now reports that he watched beheading videos online. Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, a major break in the case of missing UVA student, Hannah Graham. Police say they have found a connection between the suspect and the Graham case. And another college student who disappeared five years ago after a rock concert. Her body was found months later.

Athena Jones is live in Charlottesville, Virginia, for us tonight. Athena, could we be talking about a serial killer?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Erin. Well, that's the big question here. That other unsolved murder of the other college student, Morgan Harrington, happened five years ago. And while it is too soon to know for sure, this new development has people wondering how many other cases could this suspect be linked to?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): Police are calling it a quote, "significant break." Evidence that could link the suspect at the center of Hannah Graham's disappearance to another missing female college student. Morgan Harrington who was later found murdered.

GIL HARRINGTON, MORGAN HARRINGTON'S MOTHER: There is a suspect and possibility of a link to Morgan's murder. And I am so pleased that that has happened, but it doesn't change a lot for us.

JONES: State police say forensic evidence found in the course of three separate searches links Jesse Matthew who is facing charges in the Graham case to Morgan Harrington found dead in 2010.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cops have confirm that human remains found on a Charlottesville, Virginia Farm are indeed those of the beautiful 20- year-old co-ed. JONES: A 20-year-old Virginia Tech student, Harrington went missing after a Metallica concert on the University of Virginia campus in October 2009. The t-shirt Harrington was wearing the night she disappeared was found about a mile from where Hannah Graham was last seen.

The pair among several young women who have disappeared in the area in recent years raising questions about whether the cases are linked. Harrington's mother raised the issue on OUTFRONT.

HARRINGTON: I don't know if it is a cluster phenomena that is kind of a coincidence or if it is actually a pattern of a predator.

JONES: But until now, police resisted making the connection.

CHIEF TIMOTHY LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE POLICE: It is easy to see why people would ask that question and have their mind going that direction, but I just don't have enough facts before me to make that determination.

JONES: Now Virginia State Police are pursuing unspecified forensic evidence linking Harrington and Matthew. If that evidence holds up, there could be yet another victim linked to the suspect.

According to an FBI statement from 2012, the suspect in the Harrington case matched the DNA profile from a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: Now Morgan Harrington's remains were found on a farm about 10 miles away from where she went missing. Authorities are still searching for Hannah Graham. Meanwhile, Jesse Matthew is set to appear in court on Thursday morning for a bond hearing -- Erin.

BURNETT: Athena, thank you very much. Now OUTFRONT, our legal analyst, Danny Cevallos, criminologist, Casey Jordan and Ed Smart, his daughter, Elizabeth, was abducted and survived. Thanks to all three of you.

So let me start with you, Casey, now that you see this laid out, do you think this is a serial killer?

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST: I have to tell you that I agree that you can't jump to conclusions, but the pattern increasingly does link. If you look at all of the women who have gone missing, in the last four years, there are at least four and some say up to nine.

They all disappear in September, October. They're all 18 to 20 years old. They look similar. And what you really have that is most compelling is that the DNA link between the suspect in that 2005 sexual assault that matches Morgan Harrington, and the sketch produced in 2005 looks dramatically like Jesse Matthew.

All of this links to the fact that he was expelled in October 2002 for an alleged sexual assault. So there's something about the pattern of the fall dates, the age of the victims, and he has a history of this sort of thing.

BURNETT: And it is amazing at this point, there have been discussion. You heard Morgan Harrington's mother say to me that there is a cluster phenomenon. This was not something the police have looked into. So you have now four different cases. Does it sound to you that they're related?

JORDAN: To me?

BURNETT: I'm sorry, to Ed.

JORDAN: To Ed.

ED SMART, FATHER OF KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR, ELIZABETH SMART: You know, to me, it certainly sounds that way. When you start talking about DNA evidence that puts a heavy weight on that. I think the biggest issue is we have to stay focused on finding Hannah.

I mean, until she is found, I mean, she could be out there. We need to focus on that. To me it sounds very suspicious, and I hope they can come to the conclusion on it soon.

BURNETT: And Danny, let me ask you because Virginia State Police say the arrest of Jesse Matthew provided in their words, a quote, "significant break" in the case because there's a forensic link. Do you have any idea what that link could be? Because as Ed just pointed out, there has not been a body found. Hannah could be alive. We do not know that she is dead. What could this evidence be?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Here's what it could be. It could be DNA. It would be really interesting if it is. This issue just came up last year. The United States Supreme Court ruled just based on an arrest if you have probable cause to arrest the suspect, you may take a DNA swab.

That was a really close call to the Supreme Court. What a difference even this case might be if that had not been the result. But now if they have swabbed him and gotten his DNA, that could provide the scientific link. But it is a rule that very easily last year could have gone the other way.

Either way, ultimately, if they wrap up that case before they provide a link, now they've got leverage to use against him and hold him to bring some kind of force against him to give up some information.

BURNETT: Part of me is so shocked that you could have four cases, if it is related, that it is Jesse Matthew to blame, that it is the serial killer. That it took this long to find out. It seems rather shocking.

When I spoke to Morgan's mother, the girl that was found dead five years ago. Here's what she said about why she has believed all the way along that these cases are linked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HARRINGTON: Predators, like when I go to the mall. I park in the sail place every time. That's where I know I'll find my car. Predators are also creatures of habit and we hope one such has not taken Hannah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Casey, what I want to ask you about is everybody that we have talked to who says they knew Matthew at some point in his life have describe him as a gentle giant. We heard the word genuine. We've heard the word spiritual. Would that profile fit a serial killer?

JORDAN: Well, there is no one perfect profile of a serial killer. I can tell that you a serial killer who just died this month, Kendall Francois looked dramatically like Jesse Matthew. He was 6'4 and weighed over 300 pounds and everyone described him as a gentle giant.

And he killed eight women as well. And you know, he had a job as a middle school monitor. So you cannot, you never judge a book by its cover. Keep in mind that predators are extremely patient. And we always hear when we finally capture them. Everyone says, I have no idea.

That's why they're successful. That's how they get away with it by virtue of the fact that they are successful. That's why they are able to rack up that number of victims. I would not be surprised to find out that Mr. Matthew is accountable for more than the disappearance of Hannah Graham.

BURNETT: And what is your view on that? When you hear these descriptions, gentle, genuine, spiritual.

SMART: Well, I absolutely think that you cannot judge anyone by these comments. DNA speaks very high and you know, DNA as mentioned earlier has been a very, very controversial issue. This speaks loudly to the need to get DNA on felony arrests in all of the states.

There are, I believe, 28 that have passed some sort of legislation. This is critically important. It help parents find the predators and it is something we need to do.

BURNETT: Danny, if they are not able to find Hannah Graham, will they have enough DNA now when you look at these cases that are a few years old, would the DNA still exist in such a state that they could find this answer definitively as to whether Jesse Matthew is responsible.

CEVALLOS: Yes, as long as it is preserved properly, you can match DNA later on, even years later, as long as I preserved properly. I don't know if they have any DNA for Hannah Graham yet because we don't have a lot of knowledge about any crime scene or anything like that.

But again, those older cases, if they can develop the DNA evidence and create a match, it is usually one, it's no mere chance.

BURNETT: All right, thank you all very much. OUTFRONT next, CNN has learned the man charged with the

beheading in Oklahoma watched beheading videos on the internet.

Plus, the warning signs of extremism that abruptly and dramatically appeared on his Facebook page.

And ISIS fighters closing tonight gaining on a Kurdish town on Turkey's border. There are new fears of a massacre.

Breaking news on the White House fence jumper, new details that what we found out earlier was frankly false. It turns out he got in the front door, knocked over an agent and well into the White House. How?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight officials are preparing to charge a man accused of beheading a woman in the United States. This brutal attack taking place not on the battlegrounds of Syria but in Oklahoma.

Officials say the suspect, Alton Nolen, converted to Islam and then his views turned extreme. He watched beheading videos, posted images of Osama Bin Laden and even a beheading on his Facebook page.

He had just lost his job at a food processing plan and attacked the first person he saw there. Tonight, our David Mattingly is OUTFRONT in Moore, Oklahoma.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To the people who worship beside him, Alton Nolen was just a little more than a face in the crowd. It's believed Nolen began attending prayer at this Oklahoma City mosque in May. Never speaking out, never raising suspicion and never attracting the attention of the mosque leaders.

(on camera): What did you know about this man?

ADAM SOLTANI, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: To be quite honest with you, not much. When I saw his picture, he didn't look familiar although he could blend in quite well with the diverse community that we have here in Oklahoma.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Before anyone noticed Nolen at the mosque, he had already left a series of seemingly ominous posts on Facebook including pictures of Osama Bin Laden, an apparent beheading and smoke pouring out of the World Trade Center. Within weeks of his arrival, he posted this. Sharia law is coming.

What does that mean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea. Like you, I look at his facebook page. And I've seen a lot of weird stuff.

MATTINGLY: If you had seen that before, what would you have done? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if you look at his facebook page, you would

realize that he had 1450 friends. None of them are Muslims and none are from Oklahoma City.

MATTINGLY: (INAUDIBLE) tells me the Oklahoma City Muslim community demonstrated against ISIS and he spoke out against ISIS in a sermon. But no one knows if Nolen was there to hear it. Saad Mohammed (ph) remembers sitting next to Nolen, but only once.

SAAD MOHAMMED (ph), OKLAHOMA MUSLIM COMMUNITY: I was sitting right about here.

MATTINGLY: Was he sitting here?

MOHAMMED (ph): The very last seat.

MATTINGLY: You were this close to him.

MOHAMMED (ph): Yes, about this close. And you know what, we always sat there.

MATTINGLY: Mohammed (ph) is a former Navy SEAL. He says Nolen put his Koran on the floor. Something anyone with basic Islamic training would know it's not allowed.

MOHAMMED (ph): He sat there with his head down just real still. He looked like he was thinking more than listening. He seemed far away, like he wasn't here.

MATTINGLY: This isn't the first time the Oklahoma Muslim community has had to answer questions like this. Convicted 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui also had ties to Oklahoma taking flight lessons here in 2001. Mosque leaders say they are receiving threats and security has been raised at Oklahoma City mosques.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And that the plant where this happened, employees are back at work but it is not just another day at the office. Before every shift, employees gather, they're meeting and they're encouraged to talk. They are providing them with grief counselors if necessary. Outside, you would know that very little has changed exempt for a small memorial that is at the entrance with a cross, some flowers and a few American flags -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: American flags. All right, David Mattingly, thank you.

OUTFRONT tonight, Sergeant Jeremy Lewis of the Moore, Oklahoma police department.

And Sergeant, thanks for being with us tonight. In terms of where Nolen is right now, he is expected to be charged with first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon. My understanding at this point is not charged with terrorism. Are you ruling that out? SGT. JEREMY LEWIS, MOORE, OKLAHOMA CITY POLICE: We are not. But

that's really not part of our investigation. That is going to be up to the FBI. That's the portion that they are covering.

BURNETT: So Nolen's mother released a video statement on facebook and I just wanted to play it with you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOYCE NOLEN, MOTHER OF ALTON NOLEN: I know my son. My son was raised up in a loving home. My son was raised up believing in God. That's what he believed in. My son was a good kid. You know, I know what they are saying, that he done, but I'm going to tell you this. That's not my son. There are two sides to every story. And we're only hearing one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: When you hear his mother talking, and you know, speak with passion, he was raised to believe in God. We're only hearing one side of the story. Do you think there is another side to the story?

LEWIS: Of course there are two sides to every story.

BURNETT: And do you have any sense on what the other side of Nolen is at this point?

LEWIS: Well, I know that investigators, whenever they interviewed him, he has confessed to a lot of this which we will have in our probable cause affidavit which led to us file charges which hopefully will come down tomorrow.

BURNETT: And is there any sense you can give us of how he's been in those interrogations? You know, you mentioned that he has been cooperating. Buy any sense of how he's hand himself or what impressions they have of him?

LEWIS: Well, I mean, he was very cooperative and very forthcoming which again, as soon as we're able to release the probable cause affidavit, it will add a little more insight to that. But he really didn't, I mean, it wasn't, he wasn't trying to hide anything. He was very forthcoming and cooperative with our detectives.

BURNETT: And when we spoke last, you know, you mentioned Nolen said some things that prompted you to go to the FBI. As you said they are handling some of the investigations here that deal with some of his extremist views and the social media posts of beheadings and Osama bin Laden. Is there anything more you can tell us about that moment there -- thank, on Friday, that prompted you to say we need to bring in the FBI?

LEWIS: Well, the manner that the crime was committed was one. And then just interviewing witnesses, co-workers, and there are numbers other thing I can't go into. But initially it was just the interviews with co-workers and the manner the crime was committed.

BURNETT: All right, Sergeant Lewis, thank you again for joining us tonight.

LEWIS: No, thank you.

BURNETT: CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd is OUTFRONT now.

And Phil, you know, in April of 2013, there was a clear change in the types of messages Nolen was posting on facebook, right? It was song lyrics and football comments, all of the sudden it is Osama bin Laden, it is beheadings, its pictures of the world trade center. Have you seen this kind of an abrupt transformation before?

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Yes, quite frequently, actually. This is not just American. I saw it in talking to my European colleague and colleagues in the Middle East. One of the surprising thing I think if Americans had sat over my shoulder watching the threat table for ten years., is how quickly someone who is emotionally motivated can switch on from being someone who sits next to you at church or in a mosque and appears normal and all of a sudden, starts to say, I want to most something about Osama bin Laden on a Web site. It happened all the time.

BURNETT: And it happens incredibly quickly is what you are saying? It is pretty suddenly. Go ahead.

MUDD: It does. One of the things that I found really disturbing that you saw in this case is speed. If you want to try to get in the middle of a terrorism or a violent crime case like this one, you think if you're looking from the outside that you might have months of radicalization. The problem in an open society to be a security officer at a place like the FBI is, you might have days or weeks before someone who again appears normal decides to become violent. The time period is very limited.

BURNETT: Which I think would surprise a lot of people. Because I think they're under the impression that this does take a lot of time. And it takes indoctrination and a lot of other things. But you're saying it can ham very abruptly. I'm also curious though about what his motivation might have been? This whole area of terrorism or not, how does one define that term?

MUDD: I think what they will find -- I mean, the FBI has to investigate this to prove the negative. That is it looks like he was sort of mentally incompetent. They got to come in and determine whether that was true or not first. To declare this a terrorist case, you have to have a political motivation, not a workplace violence motivation. And it has to be an attack against noncombatants. So obviously, that is what you have in this case.

BURNETT: Right.

MUDD: I doubt that what we will find, but given what we have seen the bureau has to take a look.

BURNETT: But, my other question to you, though, is this whole issue of social media. You know, we've done work on terror finance and you see people posting pictures of the world trade center, raising money openly for extremists. It is out there. You see this happening on facebook. Isn't this something someone should notice? Frankly, if not the FBI, should not facebook notice it?

MUDD: Well, I tell you, one of the problems you have in this case, Erin, is clearly one issue is free speech. Let's put that aside for a moment. I think I mentioned earlier, what Americans like to be surprised at if they sat at the threat table every day. I've often wondered going out with friends and family, what Americans would have thought if they sat with me every day. And I'll tell you one thing they would have found, volume.

You see periodically in a newspaper on CNN a case like this crop up. If you watch the volume of cases we dealt with every day, when someone was contemplating an act of violence, you would be appalled. Ninety nine percent of them never reach the news. But the volume issue is something I think most Americans would be surprised at. This happens all the time.

BURNETT: So you're saying -- I mean, separate from the issue of whether anyone should be raising more flags on the corporate level at the social media companies. You're saying the issue is simply that basically you are saying it is inevitable. There is just too much. You can stop some, some don't act but something is going to happen.

MUDD: That's correct. If you look at terrorism cases, the FBI got thousands open at any one time. It is just take somebody one night to say, it is my turn. I'm going out and doing something like what we just witnessed with these fellows. Same thing happens, for example, with white supremacists. A lot are never going to do anything. Who is going to be the one where the light switch is on one night and he says, I'm going in at the workplace and to do this. The volume we saw at the threat table was just astronomical. You can't handle it all when you got 330 million people.

BURNETT: This is just the most terrifying thing of all.

Phil Mudd, thanks.

MUDD: Thank you.

And OUTFRONT next, ISIS militants are gaining ground as one militant tells CNN in an exclusive interview you'll see OUTFRONT. They are prepare, they say, for anything the United States can bring.

Plus, breaking news, the White House fence jumper. How did he make it past an agent way into the White House and why did the secret servant tell as you totally different story?

And massive protests in Hong Kong, we are going to go live to a city facing the biggest unrest in decades.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news. ISIS is gaining ground tonight closing in on a key Syrian city. Local residents say the terror group is now just two mile from Kobani. It is a city near the Syrian-Turkish border. Officials say they fear a massacre.

The fighting there, despite the intensified bombing of ISIS targets by the U.S. coalition, is significant. There have been a total of eight airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since yesterday. Among the targets, an ISIS training camp and a logistics hub.

Arwa Damon is on the Syrian-Turkish border as well tonight.

And Arwa, we heard over the weekend, ISIS was nearing Kobani. It appeared maybe they had been pushed back for a bit. But now ISIS just within two miles?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. And we have been watching that advance, spending most of the day along the border where you could see ISIS fighters actually moving around on the Syrian side with complete impunity.

We also saw mortars landing on the town of Kobani. Itself reports of at least three civilians wounded. Unclear, typically at this stage what kinds of casualties were caused by that. But most certainly, the population there, are calling for the coalition to do even more because ISIS, at this stage, does not seem to be significantly impacted by the coalition airstrikes. We spoke exclusively to an ISIS fighter to try to gain an understanding of how it is that the organization still continues to survive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: We are interviewing (INAUDIBLE) via Skype. He is an ISIS fighter in Raqqa, but you won't speak directly to a woman so that is why (INAUDIBLE) is asking the question.

Since the coalition airstrikes in Syria, he says, ISIS banned all communications from Raqqa.

With permission from his emir, Abu Talha traveled closer to the border with Iraq, to be able to access the Internet for this interview.

ABU TALHA, SYRIAN ISIS FIGHTER (through translator): We've been ready for this for some time. We know that our bases are known because they're tracking with us radars and satellites, so we had back yum low cases. They thought they knew everything but thank God they don't know anything. And God willing, we will defeat the infidels.

DAMON: He says he was with the fighters who overran Mosul and that they knew how easy it would be to push out the Iraqi army and seize their weapons and armor, much of it American made.

ABU TALHA: This thing was all planned and prepared. There was nothing that was by chance. It was all organized.

DAMON: Abu Talha scoffs at the coalition strikes on the oil installations and other targets.

ABU TALHA: We, the Islamic State, we have revenue other than oil. We have other avenues, and our finances are not going to stop just because of oil losses. They hit us in some areas and we advance in others. If we are pushed back in Iraq, we advance in northern Syria. These strikes cannot stop us, our support or our fighters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: Erin, when the coalition airstrikes first began, there was a sense of relief amongst many Syrians that finally, the international community and the United States would do something to end ISIS' brutal reign. But since then, there also has been a sense of dismay and growing anger toward America and this coalition that it has built. Because they do believe that it has a moral obligation to really halt ISIS' advances, especially when it comes to that town of Kobani under siege now for well over 10 days.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Arwa, thank you so much. Incredible reporting there, which is riveting watching that entire conversation.

And I want to bring in now, Retired Colonel Peter Mansoor into the conversation. He served as the executive officer to General David Petraeus, during the Iraqi surge. Along with Douglas Ollivant, who served as director for Iraq at the National Security Council. He's also a partner in Mantid International, which does consulting work in Baghdad now.

All right. Good to have both of you.

Colonel Mansoor, I just want to give you a chance to respond to Arwa's incredible report. An ISIS fighter telling her, I'm going to quote him again, "We've been ready for this for some time. We have back up locations. They thought they knew everything but thank God they don't know anything."

Is this bluster or is it possibly true?

COL. PETER MANSOOR, U.S. ARMY (RET): I'm sure it's true. It is a good propaganda line as well but that doesn't mean they didn't do any damage. Over time, they'll degrade ISIS bit by bit.

But I think what this shows, especially given what is going on in Kobani now, is the real limitations of the president's strategy. When you don't have the U.S. Special Forces teams or any sort of forward air controllers on the ground, airstrikes are a very limited tool and they're not changing the complexity or the complexion of the battle around the Kobani. ISIS is still making gains there.

BURNETT: Doug, what do you make of the fact that ISIS fighter chose to talk to Arwa? To choose to get the approval, he said, of his emir, right, and to go a place where he could get an Internet connection to talk to her on Skype.

DOUGLAS OLLIVANT: I think as we've seen, the Islamic State is extremely Internet and communication-savvy, and much of this has been cut off. You know, the Twitter accounts had been shut down, Facebook pages have been shut down, so they may have seen this as an opportunity to get out their message. They're very adept at understanding what Western media and Western analysts want to hear, how to get their message out, how to speak to their followers indirectly.

BURNETT: Ironic that they are talking to journalists given the horrific acts that they have committed against them, Colonel.

Do you believe, though, that the argument that they're making that they haven't found all of their locations? But also, that they're advancing?

I mean, Colonel, obviously, now, Arwa is reporting they're two miles from Kobani, a key city. They have been pushed back in other places.

Do you think that they are gaining ground?

MANSOOR: Well, they are. They're gaining ground around the Kurdish areas of northern Syria. They're gaining ground in Anbar province. They overran an Iraqi base last week.

So that's actually a true statement. But they're losing in other places, Mosul dam was retaken and they've suffered some losses due the air strikes. So, right now, I'd say the momentum is in the balance and it remains to be seen, who's going to seize the strategic momentum going forward from here.

BURNETT: And let me ask you, Doug. A big part of the problem was intelligence failures for the entire situation. The coalition and the United States are facing. Yesterday, the president of the United States went farther than he has before and he admitted that something went wrong.

OLLIVANT: He did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: But, you know, of course, Doug, intelligence officials are telling CNN, look, there are multiple reports about ISIS' rise in the months before all of this happened. Even Brett McGurk, the point man in Iraq, had said at one point, the more this al Qaeda network gains strength and gains roots, the bigger they will be. Obviously, the administration said ISIS is an al Qaeda offshoot. So, is the administration not even listening to its own intelligence?

OLLIVANT: Well, I think it had mixed signals. Brett was saying this, the ambassador. Our ambassador to Iraq was talking about it. General Flynn (ph) was talking about it.

But I think these were seen as the outlying voices. Many people thought that this was just a local jump rising against the Maliki regime, that it's not as al Qaeda-linked as we think. That this was really more about Iraq's internal politics than it was about the Islamic State. Of course, once they started attacking the Kurds, we lost all illusions about that. But I think that was a competing narrative in the time the president is talking about.

BURNETT: Colonel, now though that the United States is saying, look, we're going to rely on these Iraqi forces on the ground. Again, I've made this point repeatedly, but the U.S. spent $25 billion to train these forces. Many of them fled. Now, they're going to try to reenlist some of the ones who abandoned, bringing them back.

How is that going to work?

MANSOOR: Well, you have to start with good leadership. And there has to be a commitment by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to put in competent military leaders based on their military skills and not necessarily on their political allegiances. Once you have that leadership in place, then you can train the soldiers, equip them and get them to fight. But not until then.

I think also, what this shows is that we're going to need a lot more U.S. advisers on the ground. Right now, we have a small team with each brigade, elements in the Iraqi army. That's not going to be nearly enough to train this force up. And we saw the limitations of this force when the Iraqi base in al-Anbar province got overrun last week and several hundred soldiers died as a result.

BURNETT: All right. Thanks very much to both of you.

And OUTFRONT next, breaking news in the White House. A new report showing that alarms were shut off at the White House, designed to warn of intruders. They were shut off. The intruder overpowered a Secret Service agent and could have gotten into the family's living quarters, it seems. We have a live report coming up in just a moment.

BURNETT: Plus, the biggest protest in Hong Kong in decades. This is not the Middle East you're looking at. This is China. We're live there, next.

And we have the first video of America's most famous grandchild, Charlotte.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news: a massive security breach at the White House tonight. Alarming new details about the White House intruder who jumped the fence 10 days ago. It turns out there was a whole lot more than that.

But, first, we were told the man was tackled right after breaking through the front door. You see him run up there, walked in the front door. They said they tackled him.

It turns out that's not the case. It's false. The man made it much farther inside the White House than previously disclosed.

Jim Acosta is at the White House tonight.

And, Jim, much farther in fact. He ran right past the stairs, leading to the First Family's residence, right?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin.

And sources have confirmed, as you said, that Omar Gonzalez made it much farther inside the White House than previously acknowledged by the Secret Service. According to congressional and law enforcement sources, once Gonzalez entered the White House, and you can see it on the screen, he managed to get past a Secret Service officer at the north portico door, then went past the stairs leading to the first family residence. He then made it to the East Room before he was tackled as he was trying to head to the Green Room. No shots were fired inside or outside the White House. I'm told by one official.

And according to a memo that will be used by lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee on a hearing on this tomorrow, Erin, there were multiple lapses that allowed Gonzalez to make it this far. One of them being the failure to use what's called the, quote, "crash button". That would have instantly locked down the White House. The question, of course, is why that button was not pushed?

And all of this runs counter to what was initially said by the Secret Service on the night of the fence jumping incident when a spokesman told reporters that Gonzales was apprehended just inside the north portico door.

The director of the Secret Service, Julia Pierson, is scheduled to testify on all of this before the House Oversight Committee tomorrow.

BURNETT: It's pretty terrifying when you think about it. I mean, he ran in and maybe didn't know exactly where he was going. I mean, that someone could have run up to the first family's residence. If those children were home, the president was home. I mean, it is really incredible.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BURNETT: My understanding also is that programs there was some alarm that could have been sounded, but they did not like the noise of it so the volume was turned off?

ACOSTA: Well, that was something also that is going to be asked at this hearing tomorrow. We're going to have to find out just how much of this will be in front of the cameras. Part of this hearing tomorrow will be in closed session. So, we might not hear all these details talked about publicly by the Secret Service director.

But, Erin, this is obviously very frightening. The first family we should point out had just left for Camp David four minutes at or before Gonzalez made his way inside the White House. So, this was a very close call. And I would expect that the Secret Service will be asked about this throughout this hearing, and also about this incident that occurred back here at the White House in 2011, when somebody was shooting bullets at the White House, the Secret Service initially gave a stand down order to its officers, saying that no shots were fired.

Of course, they found out days later when an usher found a bullet hole in a window that shots were indeed fired at the White House, that the White House had actually been hit. And later on, Mr. and Mrs. Obama were very furious and the White House essentially acknowledged that today. But still, having said all of that, they say the president is confident in the Secret Service. At least, he is tonight, Erin.

BURNETT: Well, thank you very much, Jim Acosta.

ACOSTA: You bet.

OUTFRONT next: thousands are taking to the streets in the largest demonstrations in Hong Kong. Police responding with tear gas, pepper spray, fears of a violent crackdown are growing. We are live in Hong Kong.

And Jeanne Moos on George Clooney's wedding, and escape from the paparazzi.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And now, let's check in with Anderson with a look at what's coming up on just a few minutes on "AC360."

Hi, Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Erin.

Yes, the breaking and extremely troubling news about the so- called White House fence jumper. We're learning tonight, as you reported, the suspect didn't just make it through front door of the White House but ran through several rooms, overpowered at least one Secret Service agent in the process, troubling to say the least. We'll talk to the reporter who broke the story and the former Secret Service agent.

Also, President Obama said his intelligence team underestimated the threat of ISIS. He didn't say he underestimated them, said his intelligence did. But is that really true? Was the White House caught off guard? We're keeping them honest tonight.

That, plus what authorities in Virginia hope could be a major breakthrough in the Hannah Graham case.

All that and more at the top of the hour, Erin.

BURNETT: Anderson, we'll see you in just a few moments.

And now, the breaking news tonight out of Hong Kong. Tens of thousands of protesters are bracing for violent clashes with police. In the defiance of the Chinese government, the demonstrators are blocking Hong Kong's major highways in historic political protests.

Police have fired tear gas, pepper spray in a crackdown. Demonstrators, though, so far have not back down. They say Hong Kong should be allowed to elect its own leader.

Andrew Stevens joins me from Hong Kong's financial district.

Andrew, they fired tear gas, they fired pepper spray. Are the protesters backing down at all?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely not. They like to see it as peaceful defiance, Erin. And they also say they're going to stay here until they get the changes that they're calling for. It's just about 10 minutes until 8:00 in the morning here, so a new day is beginning.

And if you can look around all these people have been camping out here overnight, and right down close to me here, you see these university students. A lot of people wearing black, Erin, because that is to show solidarity against the police action that we saw.

You mentioned that pepper spray and those tear gas attacks, that happened about 24 hours ago. And it absolutely shocked so many people in Hong Kong. It actually backfired on the police in that they -- the people started coming out more and more to support the students, to support the protesters. What you're seeing here is the absolute minimum number of people we've seen here for the last 24 hours. Expect these numbers to really swell again.

The defiance is here. It's well-defined. If you look down here straight at the financial district, the idea is civil disobedience to bring this city to a halt, to get those political aims achieved.

At the moment, though, the catchword is peaceful after 50 people were injured 24 hours ago. There is concerns, obviously, what is Beijing going to do. How are they going to react to this? So far they've said this is an illegal gathering. The Hong Kong government says this is an illegal gathering.

But the riot police which were everywhere here now 24 hours ago are nowhere to be seen. It is a standoff and it is right now a peaceful standoff.

BURNETT: Right now peaceful, as you said, though. Of course, it's 10 of 8:00 in the morning. We shall see what happens, as there has been tear gas and pepper spray.

But, Andrew, this is Hong Kong where you are standing right now. Is China seeing this -- is mainland China seeing this coverage at all?

STEVENS: They've seen some of it. CNN was allowed to be broadcast yesterday and in the hours during those pepper spray and tear gas attacks. So, there has been some coverage in mainland China, but remember, CNN is limited a very select number of television viewers in China. As far as social media is concerned, there is very little social

media. At least the big social media that we're familiar with, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, all banned. Instagram is available in China and it has been closed in so many areas.

So, they really are putting a lid on what's information is getting out across the border here into mainland China, because obviously, the last thing they want to see are street protests which could theoretically at least lead to a change in politics. Beijing does not want to see that.

BURNETT: Perhaps it will make the Arab spring pale in comparison. Thank you, Andrew.

OUTFRONT next, both the paparazzi and police competing for pictures of George Clooney and his wife on Venice's Grand Canal. Jeanne Moos on the super bowl of photo ops.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Just moments ago, Chelsea Clinton and her baby girl Charlotte left the hospital. Charlotte was born Friday at Lennox Hill in New York City. Chelsea, her husband Marc Mezvinsky and Charlotte were joined by Chelsea's parents, as you can see. The former president of the United States and the former secretary of state. Chelsea is Bill and Hillary Clinton's only child, Charlotte is their first grandchild.

It's sort of like reminds me of the whole Kate and William moment. I mean, isn't it even the same dress?

All right. Well, speaking of weddings and babies, Hollywood's most eligible bachelor was married over the weekend in a wedding fit for the movies. What a strange sequence of stories on this program.

But, anyway, here's Jeanne Moos on George Clooney, his leading lady and the boat chase aboard the Amore.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget the wedding march. This is the wedding flotilla.

It was perhaps the most watery wedding ever. The boat occupied by George Clooney and his bride, at times penned in by the paparazzi.

For days photographers chased the couple through the canals of Venice despite their police escort. But, hey, even the police seem to be taking pictures.

Clooney and Amal Alamuddin didn't seem to mind. When reporters begged, George responded, even though the press sometimes seemed to want to just rub it in.

REPORTER: This is your last boat ride as a single man.

REPORTER: Show us the ring, the ring!

MOOS: Their floating love nest was dubbed amore.

(MUSIC)

MOOS: Dean Martin would have fit right in. Guests like Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Bono and Anna Wintour were likewise shuffled around on boats. One of Amal's outfits, a dress with a high water hemline made it tricky to board without giving the tabloids the kind of headline they live for. It's the first leg of their trip.

Tweeted one waterlogged wedding watcher, "If I ever get married again, I'm going to go up and down a canal in a boat, too."

(on camera): But the canals of Venice weren't the only source of waterworks.

(voice-over): E-news tweeted about all the Clooney fans getting teary-eyed reading the wedding details.

(MUSIC)

MOOS: Ciao.

The only obstacle in way of the Clooney cavalcade -- a giant cruise ship. Steer clear, George, the last thing you want on your honeymoon is to kiss the bride with a norovirus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congratulations, George!

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: That's true, you don't need any red bags on your honeymoons. Thanks so much for watching. Have a wonderful night. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.

"AC360" begins right now.