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The Situation Room
Prosecutors: Mansion Murder Suspect Didn't Act Alone; Interview With NY Congressman Eliot Engel; ISIS Advancing; D.C. Murder Suspect Caught; Baltimore Officers Await Arraignment on New Charges; First Batch of Hillary Clinton Emails Released. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired May 22, 2015 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, dramatic new details on the case and others who may have played a role in the killings.
ISIS everywhere. The terrorists gain more ground. They claim responsibility for deadly new attacks. Is the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the next target?
New charges. We're digging deeper into the indictments against six Baltimore police officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray. Is the prosecutor tweaking her case because of new information about Gray's knife?
We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BLITZER: Breaking news, prosecutors say the prime suspect in a mysterious and gruesome quadruple murder could not have acted alone. After his arrest overnight here in Washington, Daron Wint appeared in court for the first time just a little while ago.
He's charged with first-degree murder in the killings of a prominent D.C. couple, their 10-year-old son and their housekeeper, the bodies discovered in the family's home after the mansion had been set on fire. Stand by for all the new details on this unfolding case.
Also breaking now, ISIS conquers more ground and spreads death and terror across several countries and thousands of miles at once. Now the group's killers may have their sights set on the Iraqi capital. I will talk about ISIS and its gains with Congressman Eliot Engel. He's the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And our correspondents are analysts, they are also standing by as we cover all the news breaking now.
First, let's go to our justice correspondent, Pamela Brown. She has the very latest on the murders here in D.C.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, newly released court documents suggest Daron Wint had accomplices in the quadruple homicide and that multiple witnesses played a part in delivering $40,000 to the family's home before all four victims were killed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): The newly released documents suggest Daron Wint arrested overnight in a massive police takedown could not have acted alone, allegedly kidnapping and holding the Savopoulos family and their housekeeper hostage for 18 hours, before brutally beating them, stabbing them and setting their house on fire.
Tonight, CNN has learned police believe Wint and others were involved in an elaborate shakedown of the family, one that involved Savvas Savopoulos asking the family's assistant to go to a nearby bank to withdraw $40,000 in cash and then deliver to the house.
ROBERT FERNANDEZ, U.S. MARSHAL COMMANDER: We tracked him up to New York City and we barely missed him.
BROWN: Sources tell CNN Wint had been hiding out in his girlfriend's New York City apartment, possibly since Sunday, and made his way back toward Washington, where he was arrested overnight. Police say Wint was spotted getting into a white Chevy Cruze outside of a Maryland Howard Johnson's hotel along with three other women.
Police also spotted a moving truck traveling ahead of Wint's car. Inside was Wint's brother and another man.
FERNANDEZ: We followed them for about four or five miles, and they did a wacky U-turn. We thought maybe they thought they were being tailed. We followed them. We continued to follow them. We called P.G. County police and they sent up a helicopter.
BROWN: Inside the box truck, police found at least $10,000. Tonight, investigators are looking at what role the group may have played in the brutal killings of the Savopoulos family, especially in light of the complexity of holding them hostage, extorting them and then burning down the house.
MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FBI PROFILER: You don't have to spend multiple hours, eight, nine, 10 hours in someone's home to extort money. And in this case, I'm very certain that the father would have given the offender 10 times $40,000 just to get them out of the house.
BROWN: New court documents, including autopsies released tonight, show just how brutal the 18-hour ordeal was; 10-year-old Philip Savopoulos was found burned with stab wounds in an upstairs bedroom, the fire allegedly fueled by gasoline poured throughout the house. The other adults were found in another room with blunt-force wounds.
Firefighters tried to save the housekeeper, but she died at the hospital. Tonight, investigators appear to be questioning the story told by one key witness who police say was a frequent driver for the family and was asked by Savopoulos to pick up the $40,000 ransom at a Bank of America and deliver it to the family. Police say in court documents that witness changed his or her story about the cash drop- off to the home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: So, there are still a lot of unanswered questions here.
We have learned that the five people who were with Daron Wint when he was taken into custody last night are no longer in police custody, and no additional arrests have been made in this case. But it is still a very active investigation -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Certainly is, as you point out, lots of unanswered questions still. Pamela Brown, thank very much.
Let's go to CNN's Tom Foreman. He's outside the courthouse where the suspect was -- made an appearance just a little while ago.
How did that go, Tom?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It seemed to go very well, Wolf, in the sense that he walked in. You could just feel the tension in the room of everybody as they watched this man walk in after having heard about these horrific crimes and here's the man charged with it. They went through the procedure here.
[18:05:05]
The defense tried to say in fact, that all of this evidence the prosecution has that points to somebody connected to the payments, maybe not being truthful about what they did, that points to other people in the car, that point to other connections, the defense tried to say all of that is the reason why maybe this guy is not the right guy. Maybe Wint isn't the guy. Maybe it's all these other people.
The court was not buying it, though. They simply said, look, it is a lot of circumstantial evidence, but, as I stood 15 feet away from this guy, they said, but it's enough to keep him in those leg shackles, keep him in those wrist shackles and keep him behind bars until they can find out more.
And I was the first reporter to talk to the prosecution as they started to walk out. They didn't really want to say much. But I said, how do you feel about it? And they said, you know, it went pretty well, it went pretty well.
BLITZER: All right.
FOREMAN: And that's how they feel about the case right now, even as they go through all this new information, Wolf.
BLITZER: And they have obviously got a lot of work to do.
Thanks very much, Tom. We're going to have more on this story coming up later this hour.
But there's other major news we're following involving ISIS, new gains, bloody attacks. Tonight, the terror group is extending its grip around two new prizes, the historic Syrian city of Palmyra and the strategically important Iraqi city of Ramadi, ISIS claiming responsibility for two deadly attacks at Shiite mosques during Friday prayers, one in Saudi Arabia, the other in Yemen.
Plus, ISIS making its first direct appeal for a merger with another brutal terrorist group, releasing a video urging Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia to join the ISIS ranks.
Let's go to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. She's got more.
Where is ISIS heading next, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, tonight, ISIS has its sights on a major Iraqi military base on the road to Baghdad. If they get it, that will be a significant gain for them in already a week of gains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): ISIS solidified its control around the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on Friday. In Iraq, it pushed east of Ramadi, taking the town of Husaybah, Iraqi security officials tell CNN.
A desperate situation, as residents continue to flee Ramadi and other towns in Anbar province, and for the U.S., presidential rhetoric may be sorely outdated.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In Iraq and Syria, American leadership, including our military power, is stopping ISIL's advance.
STARR: President Obama says the U.S. isn't losing to ISIS, but senior U.S. military officials privately acknowledge the terror group's takeover of Ramadi is showing a key flaw the Pentagon has long worried about. Airstrikes alone can't defeat ISIS, unless Iraqi forces step up and fight, and, in Ramadi, that did not happen, and there could be political fallout.
LT. COL. DOUGLAS OLLIVANT (RET.), FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL STAFF: They have had now a fairly serious defeat in Ramadi, for which the prime minister and the defense minister are taking the blame. This was not a particularly stable government before that. We should be concerned about our allies in Baghdad.
STARR: Critics say it's the Pentagon that needs to step up.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Seventy-five percent of the flights, the combat sorties are returning to the base without dropping a weapon. You know why? Because they don't have anybody on the ground to give them the targets that they need. This is an ineffectual air campaign.
STARR: As CNN reported earlier this week, top U.S. commanders privately again rejected recommending to the president U.S. troops on the ground to help find those ISIS targets to bomb.
The only change, more arms for the Iraqi government and Sunni tribes. The White House worry now, is Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi running out of time to deal ISIS a decisive blow? ISIS released these pictures showing destruction at the Baiji oil refinery, critical economic infrastructure in Iraq.
But the U.S.-led coalition said Iraqi security forces were making steady progress, regaining in some areas here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, if U.S. troops were to go back into Iraq, Pentagon officials will tell you one of their concerns, is Congress or the American people potentially ready to see a new round of wounded warriors, a new round of American fallen? ISIS' major weapon today on the ground? Improvised explosive devices -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And they have a lot of them, as we now know. Thanks very much, Barbara, for that.
With each day, with each new victory, ISIS is widening its base of power, proving its ability to successfully attack on multiple fronts.
Let's check with our senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon. She's joining us from Baghdad right now.
Arwa, how much concern is there where you are in the Iraqi capital about these most recent ISIS gains? And do people where you are believe ISIS could actually make it into Baghdad?
[18:10:14]
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That fear for them is very real, Wolf.
People don't necessarily believe that ISIS is going to take over the capital the way it took over Mosul. But as it does continue to get closer and as we do continue to see the Iraqi security forces and the other fighting forces incapable of pushing ISIS back, the fear that the terrorist organization is going to begin wrecking havoc on the capital is one that many here are very concerned about, understandably so as well, especially given that the Iraqi government seems to be lacking, according to some senior officials that we have been speaking to here, a sense of urgency when it comes to trying to take on ISIS, especially in Anbar province, because, if all of Anbar falls, Wolf, ISIS will pose a real threat to Baghdad.
BLITZER: Arwa, you visited hundreds of these Iraqi refugees trapped at a key bridge, unable to make their way to Baghdad. I know about 120,000 people have fled Ramadi over these past few weeks, a city of just more than a half-a-million.
How urgent is the situation, the humanitarian plight that you eyewitnessed today?
DAMON: We saw, Wolf, what was absolutely unconscionable.
A lot of those refugees that fled did make it to safer areas. They were able to cross this bridge between Anbar and Baghdad province, because they had a sponsor. But for some reason, that bridge was closed today. What made it even worse was a massive sandstorm that was beating down on these refugees, relentless gusts of wind, the sand making it very difficult to breathe and they had nowhere to go for shelter.
They needed water, they needed food, and they needed to just be allowed to cross into Baghdad province. But no one could give us a concrete explanation as to why the bridge was closed. The government does have security concerns, that there are perhaps ISIS infiltrators, sympathizers amongst these refugees.
But we saw children, the elderly, the ill, women gathered there, and so many of them angry. One man we spoke to, Wolf, so enraged at the government that he said that, if he dies, he says he doesn't want to be buried in Iraq, because a country that treats its citizens like this, he said, he could not consider his own.
BLITZER: As you know, Arwa, most of these refugees are Iraqi Sunnis. They don't like the Shiite-led government. Is the fact that -- is there a fear that the Iraqi Shiite leadership simply doesn't care about these Iraqi citizens who happen to be Sunni Muslims?
DAMON: Well, and that's a key part of the problem here, is that that is the very message that is being sent, and that is the very message that those refugees we spoke to today say is a clear indication of how this Shia-led government plans on dealing with the Sunni population.
They feel abandoned. They feel betrayed. They feel as if they're being deliberately punished because they happen to be from Anbar province, they happen to be from Ramadi, from areas where ISIS was able to move in and does perhaps, yes, have a certain degree of sympathy of the population. But they say that they are innocent victims caught up in all of this, paying the violence -- paying the price for the violence that is being carried out by this terrorist organization.
And it is especially key at this point in time that the Shia-led government in Baghdad not send that message out to the Sunni population -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Arwa Damon on the scene for us -- Arwa, thank you very much. Please be careful over there.
Let's bring in Congressman Eliot Engel. He's the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs committee.
Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.
REP. ELIOT ENGEL (D), NEW YORK: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Is Baghdad next?
ENGEL: Well, I was going to ask you if you had any good news.
It's a dire situation. And we hope it's not next. And no one, of course, can say for sure. But this is all caught up, of course, in the Sunni/Shia divide. And it takes me back to what I was saying three years ago, when I thought we missed the boat by at that time not aiding the well-vetted moderate Free Syrian Army.
I believe that, because we didn't help them, they withered on the vine and ISIS moved into the void. And the Sunnis may feel that ISIS is the only game in town, that the government in Baghdad has been too tilted towards the Shias and too aligned with Iran.
BLITZER: President Obama says the U.S. is not losing this war against ISIS. I will ask you the reverse question. Is the U.S. winning this war?
ENGEL: I don't think we know. I think that's the truth. I think we're doing all we can.
Look, I don't think the American public is ready for another full- fledged war in Iraq with tens of thousands of American troops on the ground. I mean, I think we -- we look at what happened, and the whole controversy about whether we should have invaded Iraq in the first place. It was the presidential debates.
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I think it was a mistake, if we look back. And I think we have to look very hard before we commit troops. Now, it doesn't mean there can't be some special forces. It doesn't mean that we're going to turn the other way. We have to lead. But I think sending troops back on a large basis is not something I think most Americans would want to see again.
BLITZER: All right, Congressman, I want you to stand by, because we have more to discuss. There's a lot going on involving ISIS, including right here in the United States.
Much more with Eliot Engel right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:20:20]
BLITZER: We're back with the ranking Democrat of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Eliot Engel of New York.
Congressman, as ISIS makes new victories in Syria, they now control maybe 50 percent of Syria, new victories in Iraq, the U.S. is thinking of stepping up the training of the Iraqi military. The U.S. tried that for a decade. Didn't exactly work out great, did it?
ENGEL: It didn't work out great. But we really didn't do what we should have done, in my opinion. Three years ago, we had a real opportunity.
But I think it's better late than never. I think there are only bad choices left in Syria. And the worst choice, I think, is to do nothing. They have been making some progress. There have been some battles in the south and the north of Syria against Assad. And so I think we have to stay that course.
But, of course, we're playing this game. We talk about ISIS on the one hand and Assad on the other hand. And they're mortal enemies and we have no use for either one of them. So, we're looking for a third alternative, but it's very difficult to find a third alternative.
BLITZER: I know you work very closely with the Republican chairman of your committee, Ed Royce of California. The ISIS threat in California, today alone, two people in California were arrested on suspicion of being involved with ISIS.
This is a -- seems to be happening almost every week. How big of a deal is this right now, that more and more people are being arrested in the United States for collaborating with ISIS?
ENGEL: Well, it is a big deal, and it's something we have to watch. Now, it's less of a problem in the United States than it is in, let's say, Europe. But it's still a problem. You know, we have to try to wonder, what is the allure for these people who want to come and fight with a crazy group like ISIS that destroys people, destroys everything?
It's not simply a matter of people growing up in poverty who have no place to turn. These are, by and large, people who grow up in middle- class families who leave to want to fight. I don't understand it. It is a problem.
BLITZER: You want the NSA to continue the bulk data collection? Because that's going to be voted on in the coming days.
ENGEL: Well, it's like anything else. Do you throw the baby out with the bathwater? I mean, we have to be careful? We're suspicious of it. But, on the other hand, we want to be safe. So it's a balance.
BLITZER: Where will you stand in the end?
ENGEL: I'm still deciding.
BLITZER: You haven't decided yet?
ENGEL: Yes.
BLITZER: Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.
ENGEL: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Good luck.
Just ahead: cash, clues and possible accomplices. Is the motive in the D.C. mansion murder becoming clearer? Our experts, they are going over the new information, court documents just released.
And we're taking a closer look at the new indictments against six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Is there evidence that the prosecutor is changing her strategy?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:27:25]
BLITZER: We're following the breaking news.
The suspect in a gruesome quadruple murder appears in court, as prosecutors make the case that Daron Wint could not have acted alone. He's accused of holding a prominent Washington, D.C., family and their housekeeper hostage for 18 hours, before brutally stabbing them and setting fire to the mansion.
Let's get back to CNN's Tom Foreman. He's just outside the courthouse here in Washington.
What happened today over there, Tom?
FOREMAN: You know, Wolf, I think the prosecutors in court, beyond what's in the paper here, beyond what's in the document, the way they spoke in court, with Wint standing there, just 15 feet away from me, shackled, hand and foot, the way they spoke in so many ways suggested it wasn't just a matter of more than one person working on this, but that maybe there was something of an inside job at work here, that there's somebody who knew a good deal about the Savopoulos family, had some reason to believe that this plan would work, that it wasn't something that was hatched overnight.
That's what it sounds like. Now, whether or not they can prove that is a different matter. But I will say that, today, they certainly laid out a lot of groundwork here beyond Daron Wint to point to people who helped carry money to the scene, to at least raise questions about them, to point to all these other people, these five other people they picked up who might in some way have something else to do with it.
Nobody else has been charged. Nobody else is being held right now, but there's absolutely no doubt that they're pointing to more than one person being involved and some sort of hint here of it being an inside job -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Tom, thank you.
Let's get some more on the case now with Matthew Horace. He's a former ATF agent. He's here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Also joining us, our CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director, and Cedric Alexander, who is president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. He's a member of President Obama's Task Force on 21st Policing. And our justice reporter, Evan Perez, is here as well.
So, Evan, what are police looking for right now? Where does this case next move?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I think the center of this case now is on the driver of Mr. Savopoulos. This is a person that's referred to in this affidavit that was filed in federal court as witness one. This is a key person to this entire mystery, because this is a person
who knows the family very closely, has obviously been to the house multiple times and is the person who is described as allegedly bringing this money to the house, delivery of $40,000. Whether or not that money actually made it there, whether or not the money went somewhere else is something that the police are now going to try to find out.
[18:30:08] And obviously, that is going to help describe to the police whether or not there was -- how many other people were involved in this. They clearly believe it had to take more than one person to do this.
BLITZER: And that's the strong impression you get, Matthew, from reading the court documents, that this heinous crime, this mass murder, if you will, right here in a prominent part of Washington, D.C., would require more than just one person. You've investigated cases like this. You agree?
HORACE: Absolutely. Well, there were four victims here and a very engulfed fire. We were God-awful lucky we had certified fire investigators there from ATF to look at the scene exactly as it existed when it was hot. And subsequently, they were able to locate evidence, DNA evidence, which they do often in arson cases.
BLITZER: Because we see they're still going through the burned-out wreckage of that once-multimillion-dollar home, not far away from the vice president's residence in northwest Washington. What are they looking for now, the ATF experts, the others who are going through the rubble, if you will, over there?
HORACE: Well, Wolf, arson cases and arson scenes are very complex. It may take days and even weeks, oftentimes, to sift through the rubble and look for that very critical crucial link to link the suspect back to the crime.
And let's remember: this is not the first time that we've been able to recover trace amounts of DNA to link a suspect to an arson.
BLITZER: And even though it was heavily -- the fire was very intense, they did find, allegedly, some DNA from the suspect on some of that pizza crust that was there.
HORACE: I've seen cases, Wolf, where DNA has been found on glasses, cups, cigarette butts and other things suspects don't think about when they're committing these crimes.
BLITZER: So Cedric, when they find that kind of DNA, obviously this individual, this suspect had a pretty extensive criminal record. That doesn't take very long to link that DNA to a suspect like this, right?
HORACE: No, it does not. In many states, what you will find, Wolf, any time someone has been arrested, particularly on a felony, their DNA is taken. And for later on, it is certainly when that DNA showed up, as it did in this particular case, it's matched against those persons; and there you are. So that was great work done by ATF and along with local police in and
around the metro D.C. area who got in there right away, collected that evidence, which I'm quite sure was a pretty horrific crime scene, and just great work done by all the men and women involved in getting this case to where it is right now.
BLITZER: Tom, what does it say to you -- and you're a former assistant director of the FBI -- only one person so far has been arrested, but they're looking at presumably a whole bunch of others? What does it say to you that some witnesses have apparently -- you read the court documents, changed their eyewitness accounts, their testimony?
FUENTES: That happens all the time, Wolf. That's just typical that witnesses would change statements and not be correct, depending on whether it's on purpose or they make a mistake and change their story later. So that's not uncommon at all.
BLITZER: Is it out of just you know, a natural thing? Or is it deliberate?
FUENTES: It can be both. It can be both.
BLITZER: Could be just an innocent "I thought I remembered this, but I really remembered that."
What are you hearing, Evan?
PEREZ: Well, you know, I think it's key here that you know, in this affidavit, a couple of pages that these prosecutors spend describing the changing of the story. And I think that's not an accident. I think in this case.
FUENTES: In this case.
PEREZ: That is in this case, I believe that there is something here that they're spending a lot more time on.
And Wolf, this person is still walking the streets, and I bet you that right now the police are looking closely at them, watching what they're doing, any phone calls they're making, anything they're throwing away. We know the last couple of days they've even taken a look at the garbage that came out of that house to try to match anybody else that -- you know, that they've been looking at.
BLITZER: You're a former ATF agent. That garbage could be significant, right?
HORACE: Garbage comes into play oftentimes, because people discard it and don't think about it.
So I know for sure that the agents and the police officers on the ground are going to take their time. They're going to look for everything. They're going to look at every single bit of evidence. They're going to collect it. They're going to process it. And hopefully -- hopefully, they may recover more DNA from this suspect or other suspects in this case.
BLITZER: Matthew, is it your sense that the fire was deliberately, that they torched, whoever did it, that person torched that home to try to destroy evidence? Is that the theory that you work under?
HORACE: Well, I think our experience collectively tells us that that's what criminals do oftentimes to try to cover their tracks. But some things we'll find no matter what you do. And in this case, ATF CFIs were embedded with the Washington Metropolitan Fire Department. They were able to come to the scene, look at the fire at the very hot spot. They were able to look at flames, smoke, over things right then.
PEREZ: A canine, a dog was able to detect that there was an accelerant that was used to set this child on fire, Wolf. This kid was still alive when he was set on fire, according to these documents. That's an incredibly horrific thing.
FUENTES: Also, Wint had previously been charged with a sex crime. So he had his DNA on file. They could do a quicker match for him.
[18:35:04] Other suspects that may come up may not have their DNA taken yet. So after they're developed as suspects, then they would subpoena them to provide a DNA sample, and that may be at the time. So they're still collecting evidence that hasn't been matched to people yet.
One interesting point that comes up: $40,000 was brought over by a driver, for Savvas Savopoulos, but only $10,000 was found in the vehicle when they arrested the suspect, Daron Wint. What do you make of that?
ALEXANDER: Well, it's very clear -- and I think we can all pretty much draw the same conclusion -- that $10,000 probably very much part of that $40,000. And I believe there's some circumstantial evidence that suggests that some of this money had been passed out, both in cash and money orders.
So I think at the -- as they continue this investigation, Wolf, we're going to find that, without a doubt in my mind, that $10,000 is very much a part of that 40. And that may have been part of the M.O. involved in this whole case.
BLITZER: Cedric, can they get fingerprints off of dollar -- off of currency like that?
ALEXANDER: Well I'm not really certain. That's probably more of a question which maybe Matthew may be able to answer for you.
BLITZER: Well, let me ask Matthew. What's the -- can they get fingerprints off of currency like that?
HORACE: Absolutely, Wolf. I've seen fingerprints drawn from firearms, currency, plastic bags, cups. They can retrieve fingerprints and DNA off of almost anything that has the right surface. PEREZ: The caution being that obviously those dollars have probably
been handled by other people. That makes it a little more complicated. But as Matthew says, it's definitely possible.
BLITZER: Potentially, Tom, it could be significant, right?
FUENTES: Very. To link other people to the crime scene who would have no business being in that house at all is very significant.
BLITZER: In your experience, Matthew, where is this case moving?
HORACE: Well, I think you're going to see the investigators complete the scene search. They're going to continue to process evidence. They're going to submit it to the ATF laboratory. They're going to look for other trace amounts of DNA. They're going to look for fingerprints throughout the home. They're going to continue to press.
And someone out there is going to give up information to law enforcement, and someone else will be in custody very soon.
BLITZER: Are you surprised, Evan, that the five people who were in the vehicle when the suspect was arrested, they're now free, they're out?
PEREZ: I really was, actually. Because, you know, you would think everybody in this region knew this was a fugitive and they would have known that they were harboring a fugitive.
But what this tells me, Wolf, is that now the investigators are going to be looking at all these people to see if they had any involvement.
BLITZER: All right, guys. This case obviously got a lot of unanswered questions. We're going to stay on top of it with all of you. Thanks to all of you for joining us.
Just ahead, the Baltimore prosecutor says she has new information in the Freddie Gray case. Is that why the new indictments against six police officers are different than the original charges she announced? We're going to talk about her strategy, whether it's changing and more. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:42:11] BLITZER: Tonight new questions about the prosecutor's case against six Baltimore police officers, who now stand formally charged by a grand jury in the death of Freddie Gray. The new indictments are somewhat different than the original charges announced by the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Baltimore for us. He's joining us now with more. So what are they looking for right now, Miguel?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, in announcing these charges, the state's attorney said that the new evidence had come to light, and though the charges are slightly different from when she initially indicted those officers, the fact that members of this community chose to indict them, as well, puts her case in a much stronger place.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray!
MARQUEZ (voice-over): As supporters take to the streets, tonight new questions in the Freddie Gray case.
Baltimore state's attorney Marilyn Mosby announced a grand jury indicted all six officers in the death of Freddie Gray. Still, after two weeks of testimony, the charges slightly different. None of the officers indicted on false imprisonment.
MARILYN MOSBY, BALTIMORE CITY STATE'S ATTORNEY: As our investigation has continued, additional information has been discovered, and as is often the case, during an ongoing investigation, charges can and should be revised based upon the evidence.
MARQUEZ: Mosby didn't say why the charges were dropped regarding the legality of the knife Gray was carrying. But now all six officers face a charge of reckless endangerment. Some analysts see a shift in strategy.
JOEY JACKSON, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's an approach that speaks to what was the specific conduct of the officers? Did your conduct endanger the party who was ultimately killed? And that's Freddie Gray.
And so it's going to all be about how he died. Were you acting negligently? Were you acting recklessly? And what specifically did you do that led to his death? That's going to be the equation. Not the knife. It's a big change.
MARQUEZ: The police van driver, Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., faces the most serious charge: second-degree depraved heart murder.
Investigators say Gray's neck was broken during the ride following his arrest. He died after a week in a coma. The medical examiner called Gray's death a homicide.
BILL STANTON, FORMER NEW YORK POLICE OFFICER: Many of these charges I think will not stand under the weight of its own merit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to reword that.
MARQUEZ: In a plea to the public from Baltimore's Fraternal Order of Police, president Gene Ryan stated, "All citizens are innocent until proven guilty, including these six officers." Attorneys for the officers say Mosby should be replaced, because her
husband sits on the Baltimore city council. Still, the young prosecutor insists the evidence is strong enough to prove her case.
MOSBY: The people of Baltimore voted for me to do my job and to carry out justice, and that's what I'm going to do as a state's attorney for Baltimore City.
[18:45:00] MARQUEZ (voice-over): The officers are due to be arraigned in July.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, there is a great support for what the state's attorney has done among many in the African-American community here. But they are not letting go. There's another rally scheduled for tomorrow that will march from the area where Freddie Gray was arrested to here at city hall. And there may even be a counter rally supporting police at the same time -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Miguel, thanks very much.
Let's bring back our law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes and our justice reporter, Evan Perez.
The critics of her, Marilyn Mosby, they say she's going too far. What are you hearing from the people you're talking to?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, I think she made a significant change in her case and I think it's on purpose. She knows the chances of her succeeding in this case rely frankly on her being able to flip some of these officers, to be able to go after the driver. The driver faces the most serious charges, second-degree murder.
And I think she knows what she wants to do is to flip the officers who face the lesser charges, and what she was doing with the false imprisonment charge was posing problems for herself, which is whether or not the officers even had the right to stop Freddie Gray. And now, she's taken that away. You have a greater chance she's going to be able to do that.
BLITZER: Where is this moving, Tom?
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think the false imprisonment issue is very important. And the reason is that if those officers arrested him and the knife he had was legal, then that would help prove that they had malice, they were mistreating him. They were making a false arrest and everything that bad happened was almost intentional on all of their parts.
When you find out that if that knife in fact was illegal and they had a reason to arrest him based on the illegality of the knife, that changes it. And I think it changes it significantly in terms of those officers are making a lawful arrest at that point. And if they don't brutalize him and take him to the van, then how do
they get charged with all the bad things that happened? They weren't driving the van. They didn't have anything to do with at that point with what happens in the van, if his neck gets broken on the ride to the police station. So I think that knife --
PEREZ: This brings it back to the van and the treatment of Freddie Gray in that period.
FUENTES: Yes, that knife issue, I think a lot of people are downplaying the knife issue, I think it's very important.
BLITZER: All right. Tom Fuentes, thanks very much. Evan Perez, thanks to you as well.
We're continuing to follow the terror, the war that's raging right now inside Syria and Iraq. Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta has teamed one volunteers who risk their lives to rescue Syrians trapped in the rubble of bomb attacks, including babies. This humanitarian organization White Helmets has saved 18,000 lives in three years.
For more information on ways you can impact your world, go to CNN.com/impact.
Just ahead, more on the mansion murder mystery. Our correspondents are digging in through the court documents. They're working their sources much more on this, and other news, when we come back.
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[18:52:54] BLITZER: The State Department today released the first batch of the e-mails from Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state, giving a new look at how she handled the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya. The roughly 300 e-mails are among those 30,000 that the former secretary turned over to the department from her private email server.
Our senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar has been digging through a lot of those e-mails.
What are you finding out, Brianna?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the more concerning e-mails that pops up in this initial output of e-mails from Hillary Clinton's time at the State Department shows that Hillary Clinton received now classify information about the attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi on her personal e-mail account. This was an e-mail that one of her aides forwarded two months after terrorists killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR (voice-over): A top aide forward Secretary Clinton an e-mail about Libyan police arresting potential suspects in the Benghazi attack. Much of the e-mail from 2012 is redacted. The hidden information classified as of today.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm aware that the FBI has asked for a portion of one e-mail be held back. That happens in the process of freedom of information act responses. But that doesn't change the fact that all of the information in the e-mails was handled appropriately.
KEILAR: A more nuance view than her assurances in March.
CLINTON: I did not e-mail any classified material to anyone on my e- mail. There is no classified material.
KEILAR: The State Department backing Clinton up.
MARIE HARF, STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESWOMAN: The e-mail and the information in this e-mail you're referring to was not classified at the time it was sent.
KEILAR: Still, it brings more criticism over the use of private e- mail housed on a server at her home in New York. Most of the 296 e- mails released today by the State Department revealed the inner workings of Clinton and her confidents, many referring to her as "H", Clinton's penchant for requesting e-mails be printed, and lots of heaving praise on the boss.
[18:55:00] The day after the Benghazi attack, a grim update from top aide Cheryl Mills. It says, "We recovered both bodies overnight, and are looking at getting a statement out at 7:00 a.m."
As Clinton and the Obama administration struggled with their initial assessment that a protest of an Internet video of the Prophet Mohammed morphed into the attack, Clinton's deputy chief of staff assured her, "You never said spontaneous or characterized the motives."
In December 2012, Clinton thanked her deputies for testifying on the Hill while a concussion kept her from doing so. "I'll be nursing my cracked head and cheering you on as you remain and carry on", she told them. And in a later response, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, as I have rationalized for years. So just survive and you'll have triumphed."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: So, some insightful and funny e-mails there, but there are also some embarrassing ones, specifically one where top Clinton aide, or I should say aides, are joking about a reporter interviewed Secretary Clinton saying she invaded her space and was being overly familiar, sort of a nice way that I'm putting it there. Hillary Clinton did not participate in the e-mail exchange but an aided looped her into it, and another one even joked about the exchange being FOIA- ed before something is being requested through the Freedom of Information Act. And indeed it was.
KEILAR: Interesting reading.
All right. Stand by. I want to bring in our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny, also our chief congressional Dana Bash.
What's your takeaway, Jeff, from these initial e-mails that have now been released?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think as Brianna pointed out, there's nothing incriminating per se. But we have to remember, her lawyers picked these e-mails, her staff picked these emails, hand picked these e-mail. So, that's why the Republicans say that, you know, I may not be the full picture here, because there's still some many that aren't. But it offers a window into what they were thinking. But there was sensitive information and now we know that information right now is classified. It wasn't at the time. But one e-mail is classified.
So it does not clear up the question of if she should have been using that private e-mail server was any sensitive e-mails leaked on that. So, I don't think it does anything to clear up questions. It probably raises a few more that. Of course, it will be answered at the Benghazi committee.
BLITZER: Where are the Republicans focusing their attention?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, these particular emails that were released, the questions that it does raise for them, those I've spoken to, is the idea that she received several e-mails about security on the ground. But it doesn't appear that she sent any responses. So, the question that Republicans, particularly those who are looking into it on the committee, Benghazi committee on Capitol Hill, are saying, wait a minute, she was getting updated about security. What did she do about it? Why didn't she do anything about it?
Now, obviously, we all sometimes get e-mails and sometimes when you get an e-mail you pick up the phone and you call and respond that way. So, just because there isn't a response by e-mails doesn't necessarily mean that she didn't respond.
BLITZER: Good point. So, the first 300 have been released out of, what, the 30,000.
KEILAR: Yes.
BLITZER: What's the time frame for the next 30 thousand or so?
KEILAR: We don't know the time line but we should know soon. What you have a journalist who filed suit against a State Department. The State Department said we're not going to have the e-mails out until January of 2016. The judge in the case said, you know, what about releasing these on a rolling basis and asked for a schedule of how that's going to operate. So, hopefully, we'll find out next week what we're looking at.
BLITZER: What does -- she keeps saying she wants them all out, right?
BASH: Yes. ZELENY: Well, she does, of course. I mean, because she does not want this hanging over her presidential campaign. The reality is it's going to be hanging over her presidential campaign. And again, important to keep in mind that she started this because she made the decision in '09 when she became secretary to use this private e-mail server. So I believe her when she says he wants them out but it's not going to happen that fast.
BASH: And on that note, you asked me about Republicans. When it comes to her potential Republican presidential opponents, they're actually kind of quiet about this. Only one that we could find, Mike Huckabee, put out a statement, saying that we expect charades and masquerades in the USSR and not the USA, and talking about the narrative the Republicans are pushing, which is she can't be trusted.
BLITZER: All right. The story will continue, guys. Thanks very, very much.
I want to leave owl of our viewers tonight with a word of appreciation for Ted Turner, the founder of CNN. I was with him yesterday in Austin, Texas, where he received the Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award at the LBJ Presidential Library, a well-deserved honor for someone who's devoted so much of his work over many years to our planet, and its people and animals.
So, on behalf of all us, thank you very much, Ted, for that.
By the way, as you know, Ted started CNN on June 1st, 1980. And this coming Tuesday, CNN will air a one-hour documentary called "Breaking News: 35 years of CNN." It airs at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. I think all of you, all of you will enjoy "Breaking News: 35 Years of CNN."
Remember, you can always follow us on Twitter, please tweet me @wolfblitzer, tweet the show @CNNSitroom. Please be sure to join us again on Monday right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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