Car Bomb in Times Square; Obama Visited Gulf Coast Oil Spill; Terrorism in Times Square: Analyzing the Investigation
JOHN KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": We will be staying with it all day long, and join us at "JOHN KING USA" at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Of course, we will continue to update this on both of these stories and all other developing stories. I'm John King filling in for Larry tonight. Stay tuned for more news on CNN right now.</s>DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Two developing stories tonight. New York City on terror alert, and the hunt is on for the person who turned an SUV into a potent bomb capable of killing thousands. And in the waters of a Gulf Coast lurks a killer to wildlife and business for years to come. The president seeing it firsthand today, but this disaster may be far beyond his control. Before heading south, the president rubbed elbows with D.C. insiders and Hollywood stars. Tonight, we go inside the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner. Good evening, everyone. Breaking news tonight. CNN has learned the U.S. government is on high alert for car bombs at airports along the East Coast. A direct fallout from that attempted car bombing last night in New York City's crowded Times Square. Inside a smoking SUV parked idling in front of a Broadway theater, investigators say were enough explosive materials to create a huge fireball and many casualties. The mayor of New York City is hopeful tonight that surveillance video, one which shows a white male changing clothes as he left the scene, will lead to an arrest.</s>MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK CITY: I'm confident that we will find out who did it. There's the commissioner -- police commissioner said earlier in the day, there is no evidence that this is tied in with al Qaeda or any other big terrorist organization, but rest assured, we'll do everything we can. We have all of the resources from the federal government, thanks to the president and Secretary Napolitano and the FBI.</s>LEMON: Investigators are already pursuing multiple leads, including a link to this Connecticut junkyard. All of the very latest developments in this case, plus all of the day's other stories coming up over the next hour. We have a team of correspondents covering the latest terror threat against the U.S. Our Susan Candiotti is in Times Square tonight. Dan Lothian is at the White House. And CNN special investigations unit's Drew Griffin is in New York City. But first, the two heroes who probably saved a number of lives. A New York City mounted police officer. The other, a T-shirt vendor who tipped off that officer. So far, he's been a man of few words, but he is offering some advice.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you feel good that you pointed this out? Do you feel good that you pointed this out? Do you feel like you made a difference?</s>UNIDENTIFIED POLICE: What do you think?</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This was important for you?</s>UNIDENTIFIED POLICE: Of course.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: To the people of New York, what do you want to tell them? What do you want them to know? Your message, Lance, to the people of New York?</s>UNIDENTIFIED POLICE: If you see something, say something.</s>LEMON: We go now to the quick-thinking police officer, Wayne Rhatigan, who was treated to dinner tonight by a grateful Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Officer Rhatigan said he knew immediately something was wrong.</s>OFFICER WAYNE RHATIGAN, NEW YORK POLICE: Duane Robinson, the vendor, alerted to me a car that was smoking. We went over there and we smelled gun powder with my partner, Pam Duffy, and we knew something was up as soon as we smelled the gun powder.</s>LEMON: CNN correspondents and producers have been digging on this story since it first broke last night. Let's get right now to our national correspondent, Susan Candiotti. She joins us with new developments. Susan?</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, some of the latest developments include this. We're learning more about the fertilizer that was inside that vehicle. You remember that there were some cans of gasoline, some propane tanks, some fireworks, as well as a big metal locker. And inside were eight bags of fertilizer. Now police are telling us that preliminary tests indicates that this really was a non-explosive fertilize fertilizer. That, in fact, you would have needed much more to make this thing very, very, very dangerous. However, they do say this. That the combination of both the gas cans as well as the propane tanks, if they had been ignited, could have caused enough force to at the very least break out some windows and create a huge fireball that certainly if pedestrians or a passer- by had been nearby, could have produced some casualties. That's just one thing. Then we talk about that Nissan Pathfinder. Some new information is this. We have learned from a law enforcement source that original early investigative leads had them thinking that the vehicle might be in Texas. Actually, it was supposed to be a surplus vehicle that might have destroyed there. However, apparently it was not. Later leads indicated that, in fact, the vehicle, the Pathfinder wound up right here in the New York Tristate area. And so that is the assumption that they're working on now, that it is here. You recall, Don, that the police chief did say that they know who the car is registered to. We don't know exactly whether they think that that is the same person that was driving the vehicle, and/or created this device, this contraption that was inside. Don?</s>LEMON: All right, Susan Candiotti, joining us from Times Square. Susan, thank you very much for that. There were thousands of people out and about in Times Square last night, many of them carrying cell phones with creamers. Some of them turned into iReporters and sent their video to CNN.</s>MATTHEW DERBY, IREPORTER: We've got to go. Everyone! Grab your food up, let's go!</s>LEMON: IReporter Matthew Derby gave us nearly a dozen videos of what he was seeing and hearing. He was stranded for a while. The blockades kept him from getting to his hotel. And what you're seeing here, police evacuates a McDonalds in Times Square. Matthew visiting from Hawaii was impressed with the NYPD's response. Earlier he told me how people followed directions, but many didn't realize the gravity of the situation.</s>DERBY (via telephone): It was organized, very well-organized. Nobody really panicked. Everybody just followed, you know, what the police said and got out of the building and went into the street. And then they started pushing everybody up the street. They evacuated the Times Square ticket area where that big red stair well is everybody takes their pictures in that big red eating area.</s>LEMON: The PTS sign, right?</s>DERBY: Yes.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>DERBY: And then, you know, they pushed everybody -- they kept on pushing everybody back and then they started telling everybody to go north. And, you know, that's when everybody thought, well, this is really, really getting very serious.</s>LEMON: And of course, our thanks to Matthew Derby for his time and his video. He was able to return to his hotel by midnight. Let's turn now to the unfolding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. President Barack Obama was on the Gulf Coast today, getting briefed on the oil spill emergency there. But he also was keeping tabs on the dramatic developments unfolding in New York City as well. Tonight, CNN's Dan Lothian is at the White House. Dan, what was the president's message when it came to this latest terror threat?</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you point out, it was a very busy day for the president and the message is that the federal government will do whatever it can to assist in this investigation. The president placing a phone call to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, wanted to make sure that this -- the federal government and the state government were coordinating in this investigation, and so that's why he placed that call. But the president also has been getting briefings throughout the day from his top adviser, John Brennan on counterterrorism. He had a more comprehensive briefing this morning while he was headed out towards the gulf. And then I'm told by a senior administration official that throughout the day, the president was getting updates. Now, while the president was out there, he was making remarks on the oil spill. But he also, before those remarks began, he did make a few comments about what's going on in Times Square. And he wanted to reassure Americans. Take a listen. Well, what he said, and we don't have that sound, Don, but what the president said is that he would make sure that the government would do everything possible to ensure that americans are kept safe in both domestic and foreign attacks. And the president saying that they will do everything they can to also make sure that this person is brought to justice.</s>LEMON: Also the president saying today, he would do everything he can to try to -- returning now to the Gulf Coast -- to try to keep this oil slick from reaching the coast and contain it as much as possible. He visited there today. Update us on what he had to say.</s>LOTHIAN: That's right. And the president went there. He did get a chance to do an aerial tour with Governor Bobby Jindal, as well as John Brennan and others, Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard commander. They did not get a chance to go out to actually to take a look at the slick because weather conditions prevented that. But they did get a chance to go up and down the coastline so the president could get a sense, a lay of the land. It was very important, Robert Gibbs said, for the president to get there and see it first hand. And then after landing, the president did get a chance to talk to some local fishermen. That's a big problem there, and the president has pledged to do whatever possible to make sure that these folks on the ground who will be impacted, economically, in a negative way, will be made whole -- Don.</s>LEMON: All right. That's correspondent Dan Lothian. Two big stories, the president following and being kept abreast of. Thank you very much, Dan Lothian. Coastal warnings off the Gulf of Mexico. A race against time as an oil slick surface near the shore and just miles from the mouth of the Mississippi. Also, the Connecticut connection to the Times Square car bomb plot. What investigators found, and how it may lead to police to the suspect behind that attack. And torrential downpours turn two major cities into death traps. Don't just sit there tonight, become part of our conversation. Make sure you log on to the social networking sites. We are reading your comments.