Funeral Services to be Held for Green Beret Killed in Niger Ambush; Donald Trump Announces Release of Documents Related to JFK Assassination
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul. In about an hour from now a Green Beret killed in Niger in the war on ISIS will be laid to rest. Funeral services for 25-years-old Sergeant La David Johnson begins at 11:00 a.m. in his Florida hometown. According to preliminary reports given to CNN, Johnson's body was found nearly a mile from the site of the ambush in Niger. The president of the United States just not letting up on his verbal attacks on the Florida congresswoman who mentored Johnson. Just hours before the funeral President Trump tweeting this, "I hope the fake news media keeps talking about wacky Congresswoman Wilson in that she as a representative is killing the Democrat party." A short time later, President Trump authorizing the release of government documents that could reveal new details on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon delivering a blistering attack on former president George W. Bush, even questioning his intelligence.</s>STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: He has no earthly idea whether he's coming or going, just like it was when he was president of the United States. I want to apologize up front to any Bush folks outside in this audience, OK, because there has not been a more destructive presidency than George Bush's.</s>WHITFIELD: Let's get right to CNN's senior diplomatic correspondent Michelle Kosinski with details on the Niger ambush first. So Michelle, is the administration any closer to nailing down a timeline?</s>MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: They've definitely done more work on it, and now we know that the FBI is assisting. They have people there in Niger looking at the evidence. There have been interviews now conducted with every person who survived from that Green Beret led team. But it's still shocking to many, including members of Congress, how little solid information is coming out now that we're two weeks away from when this happened, October 4th. So the questions that remain are, how did Sergeant La David Johnson's body get nearly a mile away from where this firefight happened? What exactly happened to him? What were the circumstances surrounding this? Was he alive when he was moved to that location where he was found 48 hours after the fact? Also, what was the intel situation on the ground? There they are in the desert. They are working with a Nigerian team. How did they not see this ambush by some 50 ISIS-linked fighters coming? Why did they not think this was a possibility? There are some more details coming out about, for example, the French planes that assisted and why they didn't drop bombs. It was because they couldn't tell the enemy combatants from friendly people on the ground. They didn't want to take that risk. So the investigation is very much ongoing, but members of Congress like Senator John McCain, who's been outspoken in his criticism and his questions about this, met with the defense secretary. Here's what some of what each of them said.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About the details of the Niger ambush, do you feel like that?</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: I thought we're not given a sufficient amount of --</s>KOSINSKI: So they are concerned about the lack of information. In fact, sources to CNN say that privately the defense secretary himself has been dismayed by the lack of information, and he, too, wants more answers and soon, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Michelle kosinski, thank you so much in Washington. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham issuing a stark warning in the wake of the Niger ambush -- beef up forces there or face a 9/11-style attack.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: We're going to have decisions being made, not in the White House but out in the field. And I support that entire construct. So the rules of engagement are going to change when it comes to counterterrorism operations. We're going to move to status-based targeting. So if you find somebody who's a member of a terrorist organization, then we can use lethal force. They don't have to present an immediate threat. I think most Americans want to do the following -- the threats to us and our allies, they want us to deal with it. They don't want another 9/11. We don't want the next 9/11 to come from Niger.</s>WHITFIELD: CNN's David McKenzie joins us live now from Johannesburg. So David, what can you tell us about the terror threats in Africa, and more importantly, the overall variety of U.S. operations there?</s>DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, this terror threat, and it's specific to this part of west Africa, has been there for a long time. The viewers might be aware of it now because of the shocking ambush, but, in fact, the U.S. operations have been ongoing for some time. It's been bolstered recently, and you have a series of disparate terror groups, some affiliated with Al Qaeda, others to ISIS, and I have to say that's a loose affiliation. I also want to put this ambush into context. The Nigerian troops have been attacked many times this year, several times and they have taken causalities. The fact there were U.S. forces involved means people are taking notice, but that border region between Mali and Niger is certainly a volatile one. And to put it in perspective, the U.S. intelligence gathering operations out of Niger are covering an area the size of the continental U.S. So this is a large operation mostly focused on intelligence and reconnaissance, and in this case those soldiers were in harm's way.</s>WHITFIELD: And so, David, has there been any expressed concern about how many of these operations will have to change or be modified?</s>MCKENZIE: Well, there isn't been any real sense from the Pentagon or U.S. Africa Command of modifying that. Certainly they'll be looking at their processes, and like any situation like this when you've got deaths within a combat operation, they'll look at how to avoid it. Certainly one of the questions is, well, did they not have intelligence that they might be this group in that area that could be, in fact, a threat that would require substantial firepower? But in general, that area is a volatile one with Islamic militant groups in Niger, but particularly in neighboring countries really pushing in and trying to destabilize the government in those areas. And a big reason the U.S. is involved is to try and stop them from expanding, taking territory, and also taking on soft targets like they have in the past few years at hotels and cafes and other places.</s>WHITFIELD: David McKenzie, thank you so much in Johannesburg. All right, the Niger ambush doesn't appear to be the investigation President Trump has on his mind this morning. Instead, he just tweeted about the Kennedy assassination, saying that thousands of classified files in that case will be released. He tweeted this, "Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing as president the long blocked and classified JFK files to be opened." This is coming less than a week before the deadline set 25 years ago by Congress requiring the release. Let's talk more about this with Douglas Brinkley, CNN presidential historian. Douglas, good to see you.</s>DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Good morning to you.</s>WHITFIELD: So, let's talk about the timing of this tweet coming from the president. This is a preset deadline in which this president would act, but here he is tweeting about it today on this day, the same day that Sergeant Johnson, La David Johnson, will be laid to rest. What do you think about the timing of the president changing the subject, talking about the release of the JFK files as the investigation about Niger only heightens?</s>BRINKLEY: Well, I don't think the timing's good at all. I mean, we have a funeral service going on, and he's tweeting about a death from 1963. However, I applaud the fact that President Trump's releasing these documents. You know, historians have wanted this release done for a while. It's CIA, FBI files, what happened with the assassination of John f. Kennedy is still, parts of it, are a mystery, and any new bit of documentation that adds to that historical story is a good thing. So while I think President Trump is right to make the announcement he's releasing them, I think the timing this particular Saturday morning is awkward.</s>WHITFIELD: And what do you hope will be discovered from this document release?</s>BRINKLEY: I hope we put to rest some conspiracy theories. Every time there are more documents that come out, more of these conspiracy theories fall by the wayside. You know, Roger Stone, for example, who's Donald Trump's friend, part-time adviser, he had written a book that LBJ was somehow involved with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The conspiracy theories are thick, and hopefully these new documents will show intelligence that was gathered from the Warren Commission and beyond that will put to rest some of these odious theories that people spin out there to market books or simply because they are born with a conspiratorial bent.</s>WHITFIELD: Is it your feeling while it may end some conspiracies, it might be the beginning of new ones?</s>BRINKLEY: That's true, too. Good point. It will never end. Nothing will satisfy people that are, you know -- I once went to see Gerald Ford who was on the Warren Commission, and he after lunch, I was talking to him only about the Ford presidency, and he said, you know, Doug, come here. And he showed me this giant stack of papers. He said see those? And I said yes. And then he said see these, and it was hardly any. He said that big stack, that's people that write me about the Warren Commission and the Kennedy assassination. The other stack is my presidency. The point being, people keep talking about how John F. Kennedy died. While we'll get these new documents, there will be people taking these documents and twisting them in different ways, so the story will probably never be resolved.</s>WHITFIELD: Douglas Brinkley, thanks so much. To you again a little bit later on in this hour. All right, still ahead, five former U.S. presidents coming together to help hurricane victims the same week two of them take apparent jabs at the current, the sitting president. Is the world's most exclusive club trying to send a message to its newest member? And later, the EPA says more than 20,000 people in Louisiana have the highest risk in the country of developing cancer from toxic chemicals in the air. State regulators say the threat is not imminent, but local people are very afraid.</s>ROBERT TAYLOR III, RESIDENT: Husband and wife died from cancer across the street. Husband over here died from cancer. Both of his sons got cancer. Where all this cancer coming from?</s>WHITFIELD: They are desperate for cleaner air. Hear how they are fighting back in this CNN investigation.