Senior Al Qaeda Leader Killed; Texas Terror Warning?; Officials: Police Investigation Doesn't Support Charges.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI director says the bureau sent a warning about the Texas shooter just hours before his terrorist attack. I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD. The national lead: today, new evidence that a dead Texas gunman had direct contact with an ISIS recruiter, as startling information comes straight from the FBI director, saying that his agency warned local police about Elton Simpson, one of the shooters, just hours before his attack. The sports lead. Tom Brady coming out strong today against an NFL report suggesting that he likely knew those footballs had been deflated purposely. And Q.B's -- quarterback's -- the quarterback's lawyers are trying to take the air out of the league's case. And in national, an unarmed man shot and killed by the LAPD caught on camera. But before the video is even out, the police chief suggests his officer may be at fault. So, just what does the video show? Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. This afternoon, we learned that a senior al Qaeda commander has been killed by the U.S. -- more on that in a moment. But, first, we're going to have some breaking news in our national lead and a bulletin from the FBI to local Texas police just hours before that thankfully foiled terrorist attack there, warning that an ISIS-inspired gunman could be coming to wreak havoc. Today, FBI Director James Comey said his agents tipped off local law enforcement counterparts about that man, one of the two shooters, Elton Simpson. Thankfully, a local police officer shot and killed both Simpson and his partner before they could slaughter any attendees at a controversial event featuring cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. Let's get right to CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown. She's in Phoenix, where the now terrorists lived. Pamela, what exactly did this FBI bulletin say? And what else are investigators learning today about these gunmen?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you, what we're learning from the FBI director, James Comey, Jake, is that FBI agents saw the tweets from Elton Simpson referencing that controversial event in Texas and that is what prompted the FBI to send that warning to Garland police just a few hours before the event. But we're also learning that the FBI had no idea that Simpson and his roommate, Nadir Soofi, was driving from their house here in Phoenix, Arizona, to Texas to launch that attack.</s>BROWN (voice-over): FBI Director James Comey tells CNN in an off- camera meeting with reporters today federal investigators had seen Elton Simpson's extremist social media comment referencing the cartoon event in Garland, Texas, and alerted local police three hours before the event started. Comey also said he knows there are other Elton Simpsons out there. For the first time, we are hearing directly from gunman Elton Simpson, talking about his Muslim faith in a 2012 fund-raising video at an Arizona mosque.</s>ELTON SIMPSON, GUNMAN: When you come together and you pray five times a day, it provides for you a form of weaponry to go out into the real world.</s>BROWN: Simpson's online presence showed a more extremist view. CNN has learned he not only communicated publicly on Twitter with known terrorists, but also messaged privately with Mohamed Hassan, an American born member of Al-Shabaab, the al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, and Junaid Hussain, a British-born ISIS recruiter and hacker. U.S. investigators believe Hussain and Hassan each helped radicalize Simpson, encouraging him to carry out an attack. But it's believed Simpson chose the target. An evangelical pastor close to Simpson says he was not surprised to hear Simpson's name connected with the Texas terror attack.</s>VOCAB MALONE, PASTOR, ROOSEVELT COMMUNITY CHURCH: He had expressed to me admiration specifically for bin Laden. He used the word hero, which surprised me at the time, but now that I understand his thinking better, it's actually not that surprising.</s>BROWN: Now, in Simpson's case, we have learned that the FBI shared a picture of him and a possible license plate. But it's unclear whether that information made it to the officers on the street there in Garland or played a role in that quick reaction from the Garland police officer in killing those two suspects -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: Pamela, what more do we know about his communications with this ISIS recruiter?</s>BROWN: Well, we're learning more about Simpson's contact with Junaid Hussain. He is this British ISIS fighter believed to be in Syria. He was initially known as a prominent hacker within ISIS. And now U.S. officials are really concerned about his ability to recruit, to reach out to Americans here living in the U.S. like Simpson and inspiring them to launch an attack. So, what we have learned is that there wasn't just Twitter communication between the two, but that there were also private messages between Hussain in Syria and Simpson here. And I can tell you that that is what is so concerning to U.S. officials who are investigating this. Who else is Junaid Hussain communicating with privately urging them to launch similar attacks, Jake?</s>TAPPER: Pamela Brown in Phoenix, thank you so much. Let's bring in CNN justice reporter, Evan Perez, who has been working the story. Evan, what more can you tell us in terms of the specifics of this warning from the FBI to local police?</s>EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I will tell you, we were in this meeting with the FBI director. And we were all shocked when he dropped this information on us. We knew that the FBI had set up this command center there because they were trying to warn the local authorities of potential threats to this event. And so they were looking not only for Simpson. There were other people that they were also keeping an eye on. Simpson was added to the list three hours before this attack actually was carried out. And that simply, as Pamela said, was his picture, license plate, just in case, be on the lookout. But this is something that never actually made it to the officers on the street. This was a generalized warning that he was interested in this event. He had expressed interest online. And so he was among a number of people that they were looking for.</s>TAPPER: The FBI was at the event.</s>PEREZ: Right.</s>TAPPER: Why were they there?</s>PEREZ: Well, because this event had attracted so much controversy, Jake, down there. And they knew that there were extremists online who were making threats to the event. And that's why there was such a heavy police presence. And the FBI had put up a command center with the intelligence analysts to be able to get that information out quickly.</s>TAPPER: And I think I know the answer to this one, but having issued this bulletin warning about Simpson, why was the FBI not following him? Why were they not surveilling him?</s>PEREZ: I got to tell you, the scary -- the scary part of what the FBI was talking about today is that he -- has hundreds of people that they are trying to look at. Each of these people take so much manpower to track. They had no idea this guy was planning to do this. And so it wasn't -- they weren't watching him that closely.</s>TAPPER: It was keep an eye out for this guy, but we don't know where he is?</s>PEREZ: Right.</s>TAPPER: Evan Perez, thank you so much. Turning to more breaking news in the war on terror, just hours ago, the Pentagon confirmed to CNN that Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi, a key commander for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- that's the al Qaeda affiliate -- al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen -- has been killed. Al-Ansi was the AQAP spokesman who issued the lengthy statement you might recall taking responsibility for the slaughter at the offices of the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo." U.S. officials would not say specifically how he was killed. But al Qaeda in a video announcing his death said that a U.S. drone took him out. Let's get right to CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. He's live in Beirut. Nick, good to see you. Do we know where and when this happened?</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It seems to have happened in mid-April, possibly in the Southeast of the country, an al Qaeda stronghold known as Mukalla on the coast down on the southeast. It's not entirely clear whether this was one drone strike that particularly targeted al-Ansi or whether in fact it was also one that was reported on round about mid-April which seemed to kill other media spokespeople as well from that particular group. But it's a staunch blow, Jake, because this was a very public figure, the man who claimed that the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks were organized, funded, run by AQAP in Yemen and also the man who announced the death of Luke Somers, the American journalist and hostage killed after American raid to rescue him went spectacularly wrong. A significant blow for them at a time when they were trying to reestablish themselves in jihadi circles, given the ascendance of ISIS -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: And, Nick, give us an idea of where al-Ansi was on the AQAP hierarchy. Was he a senior-level leader? Was he mid-level? Obviously, he had a very public role.</s>WALSH: I think it's fair to say he was in their top dozen officials, but, more importantly, a public face. And while there may have been others above him, like, for example, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, who is the leader of AQAP, above him in sort of the food chain, so to speak, he was very much one person you would see in social media who delivered the public message of that particular group. As I say, at a time when they were struggling to gain traction in extremist circles, those "Charlie Hebdo" attacks were a bid, them claiming responsibility, way to put themselves back on the jihadi map. But also now too concerns that, given the turmoil inside Yemen, the civil war between the Houthis and the forces loyal to the current president, Hadi, backed by Saudi airpower, that that turmoil has given them extra breathing room to work. And we have just heard from the secretary of defense, Ashton Carter. He wouldn't confirm this was a drone strike, but said they are finding ways to continue to pressure AQAP. We will have to see exactly what that does to their operational capability, they being the group that have sworn foremost to attack the United States -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: Nick Paton Walsh in Beirut, thank you so much. "You are free to go," those words spoken just hours ago by a judge to a man who had pleaded guilty before a military commission to killing an American soldier. The former Gitmo detainee just minutes ago walked out of prison after the judge said, there's no proof that he will do it any -- do it again. But is he really a changed man? That's next.