Virginia Governor Target of Kidnapping Plot
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Developing this morning, an FBI agent testified that the suspects accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer were also discussing kidnapping Virginia Governor Ralph Northam because of his coronavirus restrictions. This is what Governor Northam told us just a few moments ago.</s>GOV. RALPH NORTHAM (D-VA): I don't govern under a cloud of intimidation. That's -- that's not who I am. And this is not about me, it's not about the governor of Michigan, this is about this country and it's about a president that is emboldening these individuals, these white supremacists.</s>BERMAN: Joining us now, CNN contributor Miles Taylor. He's a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. Miles, thanks so much for being with us. It was interesting to hear from Governor Northam. And I will not get over the headline here that there were people arrested for plotting to kidnap two sitting U.S. governors. That's just something that shouldn't wash over you. Governor Northam makes the point that President Trump called on his followers last spring to, quote, liberate Michigan and also liberate Virginia. And now we see these allegations of plots to kidnap both of those governors. What's your takeaway?</s>MILES TAYLOR, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, look, John, I would say this, the big takeaway for Americans is that our city streets have now become the front lines in the war on terror. Now, in my time at DHS, I never saw anything like this on U.S. soil, right? The most insidious terrorist plots that we were tracking were hatched in overseas conflict zones, in war zones halfway around the world. Now we're talking about terrorist plots hatched in the back alleys and backyards of our own country. I mean, John, let's look at this, this was multiple U.S. individuals across multiple U.S. states with ties to multiple U.S.-based militias. This was not a lone wolf operation. This was a terrorist cell in our own country with our own citizens targeting our own elected official. My second point, John, would be that this is a serious threat and one that we need to take seriously. The light is blinking red when it comes to domestic terrorism in the United States and the expectation should be that the administration will take concrete steps to address it. They should release a domestic terrorism strategy, they should resource it with the people and dollars needed to go after these guys, but, unfortunately, this has been something I've been warning the White House to do for two years and they still haven't done it.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And One the other things, Miles, that makes it so chilling is that this -- I mean as crazy as it sounds, this was not a half-baked plan. I mean the FBI had infiltrated, thank God, these groups and they moved in and arrested them and swooped in because they were on the verge, the next day, of buying explosives to start putting their plan into action.</s>TAYLOR: That's right. I mean it was stunning. If you look at the details of this plot, in many ways it echoes some of the serious terrorist plots that we saw planned by groups like ISIS or individuals inspired by ISIS. They consider doing, you know, weapons training, allegedly, you know, some consideration of explosives, multiple potential targets, details about how they would go through with the operation, but also very importantly the recruiting and the networking that happened. Additionally, there's some indication that these individuals were following operational security, you know, as they planned their plot as we've seen, you know, with other individuals from foreign terrorist organizations. So, yes, the sophistication here is what should be a major worry for us.</s>BERMAN: So, Miles, you worked inside the national security establishment as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. This morning we learned that despite the cries from the president and his supporters and an entire television network for years that something untoward was happening in the Obama administration, about unmasking, unmasking is asking for names to be unredacted in intelligence documents, there was an investigation by the Justice Department, "The Washington Post" reports this morning, they didn't find anything illegal, no criminal charges, they're not even going to write a report. Nothing to see here. What's your takeaway from this, this morning?</s>TAYLOR: Well, I said this to someone yesterday and said it online, this really shows that the president of the United States has a pretty tortured relationship with masks. And we're not just talking about his unwillingness to wear masks with COVID-19. He's been so hyper focused on this practice of unmasking. But I'll tell you, as a former national security official, this is a very common practice. What happens is, you might get very sensitive intelligence information regarding very serious threats to the United States, and usually, and appropriately, the intelligence community redacts the names of U.S. officials and U.S. organizations. But if it's something serious that needs to be followed up on, oftentimes you might need to put in a request to find out who that individual was. There is a disciplined process for that, one that includes transparency, oversight, internal checks and balances because you don't want the names of U.S. individuals to be in intelligence that officials see all the time. But people follow that process so that they can make sure that Americans are protected. But, again, there's oversight and transparency in that process. So what I believe that John Bash found, who was investigating this, was, there was nothing wrong here and that this was all bluster on behalf of the president.</s>BERMAN: That's a lot of taxpayer dollars down the tubes on that. Miles Taylor, thank you for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.</s>TAYLOR: Thank you.</s>BERMAN: We have live pictures we want to show you this morning. This comes from Georgia. Just a sampling of the lines we are seeing. Election Day for the next 20 days in America.</s>CAMEROTA: Where's your graphic?</s>BERMAN: Zero -- well, zero days until Election Day in America. We have a live report, next.