Louisiana Shooters Linked to Sovereign Citizens; Assange Appearance; Syrian VP Absent in Services
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome to the "Newsroom." New details are surfacing today concerning a shooting out in Louisiana that left two deputies dead. At least some of the seven people arrested last week may be linked to a violent group that is on the FBI's domestic terrorism list. Susan Candiotti is following this new development, joining us right now from New York. Susan, what more can you tell us?</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, I talked with two law enforcement sources who tell me some of the suspects in the case may have ties to an anti-government group called sovereign citizens. Now this is a group that is on the FBI's domestic terror list. They generally don't recognize the authority of police officers and have been known to use violence. Now seven people are charged in last Thursday's shooting of four deputies outside of New Orleans. Two deputies were killed and two were wounded. A sheriff in another part of Louisiana tells me they had a file on all but one of these suspects that was later arrested. About two months ago they set up a surveillance on the group for about a week. They had information that the men had AK-47s and a lot of ammunition in their trailer. Now authorities say that they saw only women, none of the men and that the group had moved out of state so they weren't able to move in on them. Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: And what more are we learning about the suspects?</s>CANDIOTTI: Well, one of the suspects, Terry Lin Smith (ph) has a Facebook page. It includes a photo of Smith holding a gun. Now under the photo, he appears to comment "Don't move hater, my finger is on the trigger." It is unclear what hater is referring to. Under political views it is listed independent citizens whose mission is to give government back to the people. Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle (ph) tells me that he believes that the group is linked to Sovereign Citizens. Our law enforcement sources all agree it is too early to fully link the deputies shootings to the Sovereign Citizens extremist group. Now Smithson also charged in the case has a Facebook page as well. In it he has pictures where he is also posing with weapons including what appears to be an assault weapon. He is alleged to be the shooter in the first incident where a deputy was wounded. And when police tracked the group to a mobile home park three more deputies were shot and two of them died. Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Susan Candiotti, thanks so much for bringing us those details. All right. And now to the standoff between British police and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Assange made a dramatic move today stepping out on to a balcony of Ecuador's embassy in London. His first public appearance in months. British authorities and a crowd of supporters watched as Assange delivered a blunt message to the U.S.. CNN's Atika Shubert was there.</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it has been two months since Julian Assange sought refuge in the embassy of Ecuador and almost two years since two women in Sweden brought allegations of sex crimes against him. That's why Sweden wants him extradited and what Julian Assange is fighting against. But today Assange addressed his supporters from that balcony still a protected part of the embassy of Ecuador where he now has been granted asylum. Scores of his supporters came out to hear him while British police stood guard. He told supporters his fight was purely political.</s>JULIAN ASSANGE, FOUNDER WIKILEAKS: There is unity in oppression. There must be absolute unity and determination in the response. I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The United States must renounce its wish against WikiLeaks.</s>SHUBERT: That's not how Britain and Sweden see it. They say this is purely a criminal investigation and that he is running from the law. And that if he steps outside that door British authorities will arrest him and have him extradited for questioning to Sweden. That's why his supporters are outside here keeping vigil. But no matter how many colorful protests, how many rallies and speeches Julian Assange so far is going nowhere. He is still stuck inside the embassy of Ecuador. Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Atika Shubert there in London. In eastern Afghanistan NATO says three international service members were killed in improvised explosive device attacks. NATO isn't giving out any other details right now. The attack comes during a major Muslim holiday and at a critical time for the United States as it prepares to withdraw troops by the end of 2014. In Syria President Bashar al Assad attended Eid prayers marking the end of Ramadan. But the vice president was noticeably absent. Rebels say he has defected. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has details.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So what we can learn from this, the fact the vice president wasn't there at this important prayer service is that the government has been lying. They've been saying that he has his job. He has no intentions to defect, yet now we see if the situation was normal he would have been there with the president, with the other government officials and he wasn't. It doesn't mean we know where he is however. What rebels are telling us is that the commanders have been trying to get him out of the country lost communications with him and they don't know exactly where the vice president is. He is trying to get out of the country to Jordan. They say he's been trying to get out for the past week. They are concerned, they say, that if his family is captured then he may be forced into surrendering. But no indication of that so far. But these pictures, these images of President Bashar al Assad appearing at this tiny mosque close to his presidential palace tell us quite a lot. I mean this is a rare appearance by him in the first place. We haven't seen him for a month. Normally he would attend these important Eid Al Fitr prayers at the Omayad (ph) mosque in the center of Damascus. He has chosen to go to a tiny mosque close to the presidential palace. It clearly gives the impression that he doesn't want to drive into the center of the capital, somewhere where he would normally feel safe to do so. He doesn't appear to feel that safe now. His political world is shrinking. Not just this physical world. The vice president is not there. The prime minister sitting there with him was the only appointed a couple of weeks ago. Just Saturday he changed his health minister, the minister for industry and the Justice minister and the governor of Aleppo, all important positions right now. So it does appear that his support for him is crumbling. Elsewhere in Syria across the day, the death count seemed lower than normal. There were plenty of anti-Assad protests. Some protests in the city of Hama, for example. People chanting against Bashar al Assad as they would normally do, it becomes typical on Fridays. Also waving their shoes in the air to insult the president. The death toll on this day that is normally a day of celebration generally lower than it has been over the previous days. Nic Robertson, CNN, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.</s>WHITFIELD: And now to the extreme fire danger across several western states today. This map showing red flag warnings and in fact right now there in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Washington. These are the latest pictures out of Utah where a new wildfire ignited just as fire crews contained two other fires that were started by lightning. Mandatory evacuations remain in effect today in several western communities threatened by wildfire. It is a dilemma some on Medicaid face either having less access to a doctor or being turned away all together. But will this change under the Affordable Care Act?