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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Rochester Man Arrested; Police in Times Square; Executive Action on Guns; Water Still Rising in Mideast; Louisiana Declares State of Emergency; "Affluenza" Teen's Mother Charged in Texas. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 31, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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


[12:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Be here for that.

Thanks for joining us "AT THIS HOUR." LEGAL VIEW starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Briana Keilar, in for Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

We're beginning with some breaking news. Here in the United States, a man in upstate New York is now charged with trying to help terrorists overseas and planning to kill people today, New Year's Eve, in the name of ISIS. Evan Perez, CNN justice reporter, with us now.

Evan, tell us who this man is and what he's charged with.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Brianna, his name is Emanuel Lutchman. He's 25 years old. A Muslim convert living in Rochester. And his plan, according to the FBI, was to attack a restaurant and bar on New Year's Eve and kidnap some people perhaps and using bombs and knives.

Now, this is somebody who, according to the FBI, claimed that he was in touch with an ISIS member overseas who had directed this plan. He was working with an undercover informant that was working for the FBI, or actually a couple of them. One of them was paid $19,000. The other was paid $7,400 during his cooperation - during their cooperation with the FBI. And this is a man also, Lutchman, who has a history of mental health problems and has served time in prison for robbery.

So what we have here is an illustration of something that we've been talking about a lot. The national security division head, John Carlin, says that this has been by far one of the busiest years for terrorism prosecution in this country. About 60 so far. That blows out of the water any year, even right after 9/11. And it also illustrates the reach of ISIS and the concerns that law enforcement and intelligence officials have for this New Year's Eve because of all the threats that they're following all over the country.

KEILAR: So informants, key in this case, Evan.

PEREZ: That's right.

KEILAR: Is there anything else you can tell us about how his plans were discovered? How authorities caught him?

PEREZ: Well, we don't know very much about exactly how they got on to him. We do know that one of the things the FBI has been doing in particular is monitoring people who are in touch with ISIS members or are consuming ISIS propaganda on social media. That's one of the ways they get on to these people and they introduce them, in cases like this, they introduce them to undercover informants to see if they can try to figure out whether or not they're serious about carrying a terrorist attack. In this case, according to the FBI, this - this man, Lutchman, was very serious. He recorded a video yesterday, Brianna, pledging allegiance to ISIS before he was going to carry out this attack today.

KEILAR: All right, Evan Perez in New York for us, thank you so much.

And you hear Evan's report there, this is New Year's Eve and we're all a little on edge because of the news that we're hearing about. In New York City, it is a security operation that gets more complicated for the New York Police Department and the FBI as the terror threat grows every year. About 6,000 police officers, not all of them in uniforms, will fan out across Times Square today as the crowd starts to grow. The police commissioner says so far there's no credible threat to disrupt the celebration, but he isn't taking any chances.

New York's mayor calling the city the best prepared city in the country to prevent terrorism and to deal with any event should it occur. Mayor Bill de Blasio will be joining us here live in about an hour, so stay tuned for that.

CNN's Miguel Marquez, he's in a relatively quiet Times Square right now. It will be a much different scene here in the hours to come. And we also have Jonathan Gilliam, who is an FBI agent involved in the Times Square celebration and security there for more than ten years.

Miguel, tell us, we're here about 12 hours now until the ball drops. Crowds will be growing. I'm sure some people are already starting to head your way. How noticeable is the increased police presence there right now?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very noticeable. I'm just waiting for my million closest friends to show up a little later on tonight. Let me show you kind of what's happening here. These are the pens that people will actually go into as they can - as they file in here. You can see some of the people already waiting to get in here. The police presence along this side.

Go - go over to your right here, Tom (ph). You can see the police. These guys have been here all day. This is the public area right now in the Times Square area. Not pleasant. If you don't like crowds, this is not the place for you. So people will be - they going through a magnetometer over by the avenue, all the way over there, have to get through these pens, they'll go through another magnetometer here, they're going to have bomb sniffing dogs, chemical devices to sense chemicals and radiation, as well as cameras by the thousands so that they can keep people safe.

The other thing is, once you're in these pens, you can't leave. There's also no restrooms, so you better bring that bladder of steel.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Oh, they are some dedicated revelers indeed, Miguel Marquez. We know you'll be keeping an eye on Times Square -

MARQUEZ: Crazy.

[12:05:02] KEILAR: For us in the hours to come. Thank you.

Jonathan, tell me, from your view here, having worked and making sure that that crowd is safe for more than ten years, what are the challenges of dealing with this many people, that someone in law enforcement maybe just doesn't even see?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I'll tell you, that what you just pointed out there, those people, those revelers that are coming in, they are really the eyes and ears that law enforcement can use. The more informed our public is, as they roll in there, the easier it's going to be for law enforcement to spot anything that's unusual. And in the years that I worked in Times Square, a lot of the things that we were alerted to actually came from the public, seeing somebody with a backpack and saying, that's not normal, and then notifying law enforcement and letting them know, or people's behavior.

I mean once you're stuck in a pen like that for, you know, eight hours, you start to realize what's normal and what's not. And people - one thing I will give them in Times Square is that they don't play around. The civilians themselves don't give much leeway for things that aren't normal as far as behavior goes.

And as far as law enforcement, you know, the planning for this starts - at the end of this year, it will start for next year. And what you're seeing is mostly NYPD out there, but all other agencies that are part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force are involved with this. And there's just amazing people that are coordinating, not only a response, but actually coordinating people on the ground that you may not realize that are there.

KEILAR: No, it's interesting, there's a lot things that will be unseen tonight that will be keeping people safe. That is our hope. I do want to ask you about this Rochester man, so not too far from New York City, but he's been charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIL. You see something like that happening today, Jonathan, what are your thoughts about that?

GILLIAM: Well, we - you know, we've seen a lot of these things in the past, especially right around New Year's. But, look, the thing about New Year's is that, in my mind, and I've been saying this for years, Times Square is the bull's-eye of the United States as far as terrorism goes. They want to attack that area because of what it stands for and the melting pot that it is. And I think that law enforcement has to keep their vigilance, especially on nights like tonight when you have well over 1 million people in that location. So this is nothing new. This one particular threat may be new, but

these threats are ongoing with Times Square. So the way that they investigate these and the way that individuals like this are found out is a process that is growing more effective all the time. And that's probably why you're seeing more of these threats this year than have been prosecuted than ever before.

KEILAR: Well, we are certainly hoping for a happy and safe new year. I know that you are as well. Thank you so much, Jonathan Gilliam. Our thanks as well to Miguel Marquez reporting for us from Times Square.

Stay with CNN because the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, will be joining us live right here at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. And then, of course, join Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin live. This is what I will be watching tonight. They'll be in Times Square ringing in the New Year. And let's be honest, only as they can do. We have live coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. You really don't want to miss it. I really mean that.

And this just in, President Obama is expected to announce new executive action on guns. This is going to happen within the next few days. Sources are describing this as imminent. And it's expected to expand background checks. Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is traveling with the president in Hawaii. He's joining me now live from Honolulu there. I'm also joined by CNN legal analyst Paul Callan.

First to you, Jim, on this.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

KEILAR: What are officials saying about what could be in this executive action, something that the White House and Congress have really failed to be able to achieve at this point?

ACOSTA: That's right, Brianna. And President Obama is expected to announce in the coming days new executive action aimed at expanding background checks on gun sales. This is according to sources familiar with White House planning. The set of executive actions is described as imminent and follows months of preparation by White House officials who are working on these unilateral steps to help curb gun deaths. Something the president has vowed to do in response to this rising number of mass shootings across the country.

Now, gun control advocates are expecting the new actions to be revealed next week ahead of the president's State of the Union Address on January 12th. And sources familiar with White House planning, Brianna, say the focus remains on the so-called gun show loophole. People have been talking about this for years. Not only in the White House, but up on Capitol Hill. Gun control advocates have been really aiming for this for some time. That gun show loophole, as you know, allows certain sellers of firearms at gun shows and elsewhere to avoid conducting background checks on their customers.

[12:10:00] Now, gun rights advocates have already begun to complain about this, the NRA and others, that the president is simply trying to do on his own what he could not persuade Congress to pass earlier in his administration. White House spokesman Eric Schultz would not comment on the exact content of these executive actions, but he said the president is expressing urgency for a list of steps he can do on his own. And, Brianna, you know in recent weeks the president has said he wants to politicize this issue of these mass shootings across the country and we're about to see that all come to a head here in the next week.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, he is really forcing the issue. Jim Acosta, thank you.

Paul, talk about some of the legal challenges that the president could see here if he takes this executive action and also maybe that's the whole point, he's just forcing the issue here. He hasn't been able to accomplish anything. Congress hasn't been able to accomplish anything. Is he just putting this in the hands of the court?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, it's interesting, Brianna, because I was looking at the stats on executive orders. You know, George Washington issued only one in his eight years of presidency. The Obama administration has been criticized for trying to work around Congress when they can't get a law enacted and using this executive order power. Now, he's only averaged up through the end of 19 - 2014, about 35 a year. But the difference between President Obama I think and prior presidents is, he's focusing on major issues, constitutional issues, whereas in the past a lot of these executive orders were just minor memorandums issued to help enforce a law.

So when you're going after gun control legislation, when you're trying to change immigration policy in the United States and you're using executive orders to do it, it creates a lot of political controversy. So, you know, I think he's - it's a risky maneuver, but I think the president has obviously decided he can't get it through Congress, so let's try executive order.

KEILAR: And it comes during an election year when most Americans do approve of these kinds of changes, but we haven't been able to see Congress head in the direction of public opinion. We'll see.

Jim Acosta, Paul Callan, thank you, guys, so much.

CALLAN: Thank you.

KEILAR: Coming up, historic flooding in Missouri is now at record levels. All of that water, well, it's getting ready to head south now. It's prompting states like Louisiana to already declare a state of emergency in anticipation of it. We have Lieutenant Governor-Elect Billy Nungesser joining me live from New Orleans right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:30] KEILAR: At least 14 people are dead in Missouri and hundreds have lost their homes. Meantime, 400 river gauges in the country's midsection are above flood stage and the water just keeps on rising. Authorities expect more rivers in Missouri to crest today with many breaking records that have stood since the great flood of 1993. A second waste water treatment plant has been breached. Its - this has

sent untreated waste water into the floodwater. So authorities dealing with so much in this case.

Parts of two major transportation arteries in the St. Louis area, I-45 and I-55, have been closed because of high water. And then in Valley Park, Missouri, the Meramec River has crested and 44 feet. This shatters the previous record by four feet.

President Obama has also called Missouri's governor to get a briefing on the situation, to offer any federal support that may be need, and the president expressed condolences for those who have lost their lives due to the flooding.

CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray is in Valley Park, Missouri. We also have CNN meteorologist Tom Sater for us in the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta.

Jennifer, let's start with you. What is the water level right now? And is this expected to crest? Has it already crested where you are?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, this is the area that crested in the wee hours in the morning at 44 feet, as you were saying, breaking that record by four feet. We have gone down about six inches since then, but still the water is incredibly high. Look at behind me. You can see the traffic lights right there. And even the I-44 bridge right there. The water is just underneath it. There's a tiny little water mark on those pillars underneath the bridge so you can see it's gone down a little bit. But this is going to be slow to recede. We are going to see the water go down little by little. By Saturday, though, it looks like things are going to be a little closer to normal. We won't see quite as much flooding by the projections.

But as you said, that water treatment facility, that was flooded. There's waste water in the river water that you see behind me. So this is going to be a long clean-up. Not only the waste water, but we've seen trash dumps floating by. We've seen roofs floating by. There's going to be a lot of trash to clean up, not to mention all the silt and mud from the Meramec River right here. So there's going to be a big mess and a lot of clean-up, unfortunately.

I-44 is expected to reopen, possibly by tomorrow. Highway 141, which is just behind me, that's covered in water, may stay closed until Monday to Tuesday. So that's the latest word we've been given.

So, Brianna, it is just going to be a long road ahead for these folks. Luckily, they are at higher ground, the majority of them. They have evacuated as they've been told. And it looks like it's just a wait and see game from here.

KEILAR: All right, Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

Tom, we're looking at all of this water in Missouri right now, but, of course, this is heading south. Where's the worst right now and then who's going to get hit next and how badly? TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's a great question, Brianna,

because as we've talked about the last couple of days, first you've got to find a crest, and then you've got other rivers that are flowing into the Mississippi. There is some information to pass on. In fact, when you get in close, as we talked about in St. Louis, the water levels were higher than - in Arnold than they expected because they had a tough time finding the crest moving from Eureka, which is still cut off, the high school is flooded out, students will find another place there. But as it moved to Valley Park, where Jennifer is, and Fenton, it kept fanning out into, of course, the community. So it's a little higher there.

They had numerous vehicles stranded on I-55. They had to shut it down. They were stranded for ten hours. Not cleared up until 3:00 in the morning.

Now, the rivers to the north are fine. Even St. Louis and most of St. Louis City is fine. We're not dealing with the Ohio River, the Missouri River as much, which is receding. But it is the Arkansas River that's going to play a major role in this. Again, records set in Eureka, valley Park, Fenton and Arnold. And now that the Meramec waters are reaching the Mississippi, this is where we're going to find records broken on the Mississippi, surpassing that in '93.

St. Louis' record is fine. This is the third highest level. We thought maybe the second highest level. You get down to around St. Genevieve, then you heard into areas of Cape Girardeau, this is where we're going to be looking at a record set. There is a massive flood wall in Cape Girardeau. Beautiful downtown historic area. Southeast Missouri State is there. Then you get into Cairo, that's in Illinois, major flooding.

As you continue to head down, this is where major flooding is occurring and will occur in Pine Bluff at 46.5 feet. The defenses are stronger in the capital of Little Rock. So just moderate flooding there. But points to the north and south of Little Rock is where major flooding is occurring.

[12:20:08] Once this water enters with the floodwaters from the Meramec, we're going to see forecasts change quite a bit as you head down through the borders of Arkansas, getting all the way down through Mississippi, Vicksburg, and then here we go, in Baton Rouge. They're looking at major flooding. But in New Orleans, right now it's a call for action because if they see a crest 17 feet, that's manageable. They don't want it to get higher than 17 feet. That's only three feet from the tops of the levy. So they're going to start opening spillways, probably tossing some of this water into Lake Pontchartrain. But again, already authorities, of course in Mississippi and Louisiana with a state of emergency, Brianna, are getting ready for the massive flow that will break many records south of the St. Louis area.

KEILAR: All right, Tim Sater, Jennifer Gray, thanks so much to both of you.

And you just heard Tom talking about this, all of this water heading downstream towards Louisiana. Governor Bobby Jindal has already declared a state of emergency there and authorities are working hard to prepare for this onslaught of water. We're joined now by the Louisiana Lieutenant Governor-Elect Billy Nungesser.

Thank you so much for being with us. He's also, I should mention, the former president of Plaquemines Parish, which is south of New Orleans.

Lieutenant Governor-Elect, thank you so much for joining us on LEGAL VIEW. And just give us a sense of what the state is doing to prepare New Orleans and Baton Rouge for this possible flooding.

BILLY NUNGESSER (R), LOUISIANA LT. GOVERNOR-ELECT: Well, we're good at this. We've been through it many times before. All that water's coming south and we have to be ready for it.

As you mentioned earlier, opening the Bonnet Carre Spillway is probably what will happen when we read those gauges daily and as the water continues to come up. But we're monitoring the levees all across Louisiana daily to make sure they're in good shape and we can ride this out without flooding many parts of Louisiana.

KEILAR: Are you confident that you can - that you have enough spillways and that you can dump enough water into Lake Pontchartrain so that you're not going to see flooding there in New Orleans?

NUNGESSER: We feel confident, yes. We've been able to do it many times before. Of course the Red River up in Shreveport, we saw flooding last year much later in the season. We're concerned about that area and many of those other rivers. But we're monitoring them daily and hopefully we'll be able to avoid any flooding. But it is a serious concern and it's early in the season. We usually don't see this until much later.

KEILAR: I know it's caught everyone by surprise because of that. Obviously the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been so instrumental in the rebuilding the levee system around New Orleans. What is their involvement and sort of your communication with them to make sure that the levees are going to hold, that there aren't going to be any issues?

NUNGESSER: Well, the homeland security director for Louisiana and all the emergency managers across the parishes that will be affected or could be affected have daily conference calls and inspecting the levees in their parishes on a daily basis to make sure everybody's on the same page. So we've been through so many of these drills and catastrophes before. We have a great communication line across the state and working very closely with the Corps of Engineers to make sure we're proactive and open the spillway before the water would reach the top of the levees.

KEILAR: Billy Nungesser, the lieutenant governor-elect of Louisiana, thanks so much for chatting with us about this. We do appreciate it.

NUNGESSER: Thank you. Happy New Year.

KEILAR: All right, happy New Year to you as well. And to our viewers out there, if you want to help out victims of these floods, there are millions of people who are in the path of these rising waters. Just go to cnn.com Impact and you can impact your world that way.

Well, their days on the run are over, but the so-called affluenza teen still isn't back in the U.S. His mother, though, who fled with him to Mexico, she is back. Big new developments and new charges when we come back.

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[12:27:28] KEILAR: Within the past few minutes, authorities in Texas charged the mother of the so-called affluenza teen with hindering the apprehension of a felon. Tonya Couch arrived in Los Angeles, you see these pictures here from this morning, in the company of U.S. Marshals. But she was without her infamous son who she allegedly was trying to hide from authorities in Texas while she was in Mexico. Now, that is where Ethan Couch, in Texas, killed four people while driving drunk in 2013. This was when he was 16. You'll remember, he was sentenced to probation, not jail, after a defense psychologist testified he was essentially spoiled so rotten and this was through no fault of his own. Well, Ethan remains in a government lockup in Mexico. He's fighting extradition. And that brings me to my lawyers, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson and Danny Cevallos.

Danny, how is it that this mom was returned back to the U.S. but Ethan was allowed to stay in Mexico?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It may be as simple an issue as just paperwork not getting to the right office in enough time. Although Tonya Couch stands in a slightly different position than does Ethan. Ethan is actually considered a fugitive, while Tonya Couch has now been charged, but at least at the time she had not yet been charged with any crime. She will be, of course, now charged with a third degree felony in Texas of harboring a fugitive. So it - we - we were going to - we're going to have to find out exactly what the reason was, but it may be as simple as a judge or an office didn't get the paperwork in time, whereas Ethan's lawyers got his paperwork in, in enough time to challenge the detention.

KEILAR: OK, so, Joey, third degree felony, which is what she's facing. Who's in bigger trouble here, Tonya or Ethan?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know it's a great question, Brianna. Good afternoon to you, by the way. Good afternoon, Danny.

You know, it's interesting because we have someone, the 16-year-old who actually killed four people when he was a juvenile, injuring two. And then you look at the consequence to that. And, of course, there were a lot that talked about the miscarriage of justice in terms of the probation for ten years. But now you have, with the charge we just talked about, his mother, which is the hindering apprehension, which she could face ten years in jail. And, of course, we know that Ethan, because he'll be 19 in April, has to be released from a juvenile detention center by his 19th birthday, which is the equivalent of four months. And so I think ultimately what the authorities are looking to do in Texas, Brianna, is to move his probation to adult court so that in the future should he violate he would be subjected to a much harsher punishment.

[12:30:06] But as it stands now, the mother, based upon her intentionally harboring and really getting him out of the country and working to evade capture, she