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Dire Warnings Put U.S. Bases on Alert; New Chokehold Protests Turn Violent; Obama Sees Progress in Race Relations; Bipartisan Support for U.S. Hostage Rescue Mission Gone Awry; Another Nor'easter on the Way

Aired December 08, 2014 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning, everyone. I'm Don Lemon in for Carol today. Thanks for joining me.

We begin this morning with dire warnings over the pending release of a so-called torture report. U.S. military bases around the world are ratcheting up security as a -- just as a precaution. And there are several reports that U.S. embassies are going on alert.

Tomorrow Senate Democrats are due to unveil their findings on enhanced interrogation techniques that the Bush administration used on post- 9/11 terror suspect. The report is expected to reveal controversial details of how detainees were questioned including the use of water boarding, sleep deprivation and slapping.

Now here's what's at issue, is the overarching question, did these techniques gain valuable intelligence? Republicans have full support from the report. And many in the intelligence community warned that the disclosures will anger allies and rally terrorists.

CNN's Elise Labott, our global affairs correspondent, joins us now by phone.

What's going on, Elise?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Hi, Don. Well, listen, this is a very tense time right now in the world. And that's why with the campaign against ISIS with all of the violence and extremism going on, particularly in terms of against Americans, the United States is very concerned that the release of this report expected early this week could increase those tensions around the world.

Posts are on alert. Not only did CIA director and Pentagon urge all posts to be on high alert, The State Department are telling all embassies and consulates that they could be on alert. In Washington tensions growing over the expected release of the reports.

Take a listen to House Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers saying that American allies are very concerned and that this violence could be increased and this report could be used by extremist to incite violence that could cause lives. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Our foreign partners are telling us this will cause violence and deaths. Our foreign leaders who approached the government and said you do this, this will cause violence and deaths. Our own intelligence community has assessed this will cause violence and deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: And that's why, Don, Secretary of State John Kerry called Senator Diane Feinstein, the head of the Senate intelligence Committee explaining all of this saying hey, listen, obviously the choice is yours to release the report but you might want to think about how this could create a lot of tension for our allies around the world. The U.S. is asking a lot of countries right now in the campaign against ISIS and could also increase extremism against Americans.

You saw an American teacher shot, stabbed -- excuse me -- in the United Arab Emirates. A lot of threats against Americans right now. And that's why Secretary Kerry suggested to Senator Feinstein, this might not be such a great time to release this report -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Elise Labott is our global affairs correspondent. She'll be following this throughout the day on CNN.

Thank you, Elise.

Now back here in the United States, violence flares in a fifth day of nationwide protests against police involved killings. In Oakland, California, hundreds of people shut down a highway. Police fired tear gas but they say it was only after the crowd turned on them. At a nearby Berkeley, protesters smashed store fronts and loot businesses but by far most of the protests have been peaceful.

NFL fans saw a number of players condemning the so-called chokehold death of Eric Garner. The New York man who's last words to police were "I can't breathe."

CNN's Alexandra Field has more on the growing outrage -- Alexandra.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Violence erupting for a second night in northern California after 500 protests swarmed an Oakland free way. A standoff with police officer who eventually deployed tear gas and arrest a small number of people. In Berkeley, demonstrators looted multiple businesses, a peaceful protester trying to stop the looter was hit in the face with a hammer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A guy with a crowbar comes in, he starts stealing stuff, like as much as they can get.

FIELD: This after a grand jury decided last week not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in Eric Garner's chokehold death.

GWEN CARR, ERIC GARNER'S MOTHER: Peace is the message. We don't want any violence but keep on keeping on. FIELD: Just the night before, a group of agitators in Berkeley,

California, broke windows and threw what they could at the hundreds of local police in full riot gear. Some demonstrators saying on social media police were firing rubber bullets. Police have yet to comment.

In New York City over the weekend, a few hundred people clashed with police, staging die-ins at Grand Central Station, Apple's flag ship store, and Macy's in Herald Square.

The national outcry even hitting the field. Washington Redskins defensive lineman Chris Baker making the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture after a play Sunday. And several NFL and an NBA player wearing "I can't breathe" T-shirts.

New York City Mayor de Blasio tells ABC News' "This Week" his predecessor Rudy Giuliani fundamentally misunderstands the reality.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: You cannot look at an incident in Missouri, and other incident in Cleveland, Ohio, and another incident in New York City, all happening in the space of weeks and act like there's not a problem.

FIELD: Giuliani blasted de Blasio on FOX News last week saying it's, quote, "racist to not acknowledge black-on-black crime" after de Blasio said he tells his biracial son to take special care around police.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: You should spend 90 percent of your time talking about the way they're actually probably going to get killed which is by another black.

FIELD: Garner's widow told NBC's "Meet the Press," she fears for her children.

ESAW GARNER, WIDOW OF ERIC GARNER: I'm so afraid of what could happen to them in the street by the police.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: This morning police in Oakland, they're saying that five of their patrol cars were damaged over the weekend and that two officers had minor injuries when dealing with the crowd. Those images that we saw in northern California standing in stark contrast from the peaceful protests we've seen in other parts of the country.

Activists are calling for those protests to continue through the week. This morning, a small group of demonstrators is gathered in Washington, D.C. outside the capitol -- Don.

LEMON: Alexandra Field, thank you very much. Appreciate that.

And in the face of so much anger and calls for change following the grand jury decisions in Ferguson and here New York City, President Obama weighing in on the state of race relations in America saying progress has been made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's important to recognize, as painful as these incidents are, and we can't equate what is happening now to what was happening 50 years ago. And if you talk to your parents, grandparents, uncles, they'll tell you that, you know, things are better. Not good in some cases but better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So even as the president sounds hopeful, a new Bloomberg poll shows Americans have a different view than that. A majority 53 percent say U.S. race relations have gotten worse under the first black president, 36 percent say relations have stayed the same, 9 percent say they have gotten better.

So joining me now is Michaela Angela Davis, cultural critic and writer, and also Chuck Nice, comedian and TV personality.

I see you guys going, when I read that, like, why did you have that reaction?

CHUCK NICE, COMEDIAN: What, that race relations have gotten worse?

LEMON: Yes.

NICE: You know, what struck me was under the first black president.

LEMON: Right.

MICHAELA ANGELA DAVIS, CULTURAL CRITIC AND WRITER: Right.

NICE: Like once again we're associating the things -- the fact that things have gotten worse with the first black president. You know. I believe that. It has gotten worse, but it really hasn't. It seems worse because our perceptions have now come to the fore. Like oil rising to the top and floating on water. That's really what has happened.

DAVIS: I feel like they've gotten more illuminated.

NICE: Right.

DAVIS: And that, you know, really since the civil rights struggle, we thought -- you know, we signed a few papers and people are going to be OK. But we haven't had persistent, you know, race relations work.

LEMON: Yes.

DAVIS: And so when you don't do that, this is what happens.

LEMON: But --

DAVIS: It keeps coming up. And in the age of new media, things are happening with the kind of urgency that we haven't seen before.

LEMON: I don't disagree with you on that. And that's a headline and that was the crux of this poll. Most of Americans see race relations worsening since Obama's elections. So they gazed it since --

DAVIS: I think Obama turned on the light to a lot of things that we haven't continued to work on.

NICE: And what you have to understand -- the way I look at it is any time a black man does anything, more attention is paid to it. So when I walk into a store, all of a sudden, security is a bit more on alert. You know. And that's the same thing that's happened with Obama. Now that he is in office, more people are paying attention to politics, they're paying attention to what our government is doing. They're paying attention to race relations. They're just paying attention now because he is someone to pay attention to.

DAVIS: And they have a free space to communicate. They have Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, which we didn't have before.

NICE: That's another --

DAVIS: If you ask low income blacks, was there some magical time when things were better, there were not. But now you just have a place where people can really communicate more so we just know more of what our citizens are going through.

LEMON: But if you look at the -- there is a disconnect between white and black as you can see in that poll. So everything that you're saying, you know, it's illuminated and what have you, but the people that they're polling are saying, they don't think -- why don't they think it's better now?

DAVIS: We also have to look at what that --

LEMON: Or if it's gotten worse over the president.

DAVIS: Who was polled, because I think perhaps for white folks it looks like it's gotten worse because they've been in a comfortable, privileged place and haven't had to see it. What's so interesting about this moment, they have seen this -- particularly this tape in Ferguson. They have seen what a lot of black folks and people of color and immigrants have been going through for a long time.

And they're able to connect our -- our humanity. A poll recently said that 92 percent of white folks hang out with only white people. So they're not at their kitchen table talking about police brutality. Now perhaps they will. And I really think that's where the healing comes. Those 8 percent, and the percentage of them that are cool, that are on the streets with people because there are a lot of young white folks in this struggle, they have to go back to their communities and talk at their kitchen tables with their white friends and their white families to really get in this work.

LEMON: I was looking for it, because there were a couple of quotes in the Bloomberg article. They interviewed white people and black people and the quotes were completely opposite.

DAVIS: Yes.

LEMON: Especially when it comes to the grand jury decision.

DAVIS: Yes.

LEMON: Most of white agreed with the decision in Ferguson.

DAVIS: In Ferguson.

LEMON: But not the one that happened in New York. But there are people who agree with both decisions obviously.

DAVIS: Yes. Yes.

LEMON: But then if you -- I spoke to this one man who said I have to do things differently if I go into all white communities. And he is a black member of the military. And he says sometimes people just don't understand how you have to sort of moderate, engage yourself as a person of color.

DAVIS: Sure.

LEMON: So there is a disconnect. But how do you get to that, how do you fix that?

NICE: Well, I think the way you fix the disconnect is that -- first of all we cannot have a conversation about race in this country. We're not mature enough to do so without becoming emotional. So what we have to do is talk about the facts as they are. And what can we do to change the facts as they are.

DAVIS: But, Chuck, we can be emotional. Yet we can work through those emotions. Because those are very real. And I think a lot of --

NICE: See, I disagree, because I'm mad as hell at you right now.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVIS: But like -- because I feel like that's part of where our humanity is.

NICE: Yes.

DAVIS: And that a lot of folks don't understand why people are angry. They don't understand why they're being violent. Because they also don't understand our history.

NICE: OK. So this is exactly what I was about to say in agreement with your statement. Understanding.

LEMON: Yes.

NICE: So that has to be the focus of the conversation. Understanding each other.

LEMON: How do you get to this, though? I get it all the time. Why are you talking about race so much? You're race baiting just talking about race. Stop it. You're racist. You're racist. DAVIS: First of all, you know what, that's noise, that's a

distraction. That race baiting conversation, that black-on-black crime, all that.

NICE: Yes.

DAVIS: Those litany of those, you know, rehearsed one liners. I don't have time for it. We don't have the time in our community to be distracted by those sound bites, right.

LEMON: Right.

DAVIS: So I think again part of what the work is again those engaged white folks. Please go back to your communities.

LEMON: Right.

DAVIS: Go back to your homes. Get involved in the work. Not just as an ally but as a real advocate.

LEMON: Yes. And I have to run, though, because we're out of time. But clearly, something is going on when you look at the thousands and thousands of people here on the streets across the country.

DAVIS: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) time.

NICE: Yes.

LEMON: There's something that's brewing here. Thank you.

DAVIS: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Appreciate both of you.

NICE: It's a pleasure.

LEMON: Michaela Angela David, Chuck Nice.

Still to come here on CNN, a U.S. rescue attempt fails. An American hostage is among those dead. But the message from Washington is one of unity and resolve.

We're going to talk to CNN's Barbara Starr next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Want to get to Washington now. In a rare show of bipartisan support, and a (INAUDIBLE) bold gamble by the White House that ultimately ended in failure. Al Qaeda terroists killed American photo journalist Luke Somers as U.S. military commandos tried to free him from a compound in Yemen. Militants killed another hostage, South African teacher Pierre Korkie. In a cruel and tragic twist, Korkie was to be released yesterday in a deal that was struck without Washington's knowledge.

Want to get to our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with the very latest on that. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don. You know, these hostage rescues are perhaps some of the most dangerous work that U.S. special forces do anywhere in the word. This time, as you say, they were trying to rescue this American hostage Luke Somers. They did not know Pierre Korkie was there. They another man was there; they did not know who he was. That according to U.S. officials.

It did not work in the end. The fire fight broke out and the U.S. believes the al Qaeda terrorists very killed the hostages at that point, shot them. The U.S. tried to save them but ultimately both men died.

Over the weekend, top lawmakers voiced their support for this very risky mission. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE ROGERS (R-MI), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: If we're going to be extorted into paying ransom to al Qaeda so they can rape women and imprison women and blow up buildings and kill civilians -- men, women, and children -- that's a pretty bad plan to start with. So I agreed with the president's decision.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I think you end up just funding other hostage taking and the cycle perpetuates itself. So i think our decision is the right one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: So what does it take to make one of these missions successful in the end? Well, you have to have perfect intelligence. You have to know exactly where they are. You have to know where the bad guys are. You have to know the whole lay of the land.

In this case, as the Navy SEALs were approaching the compound, a fire fight broke out. The al Qaeda terrorists apparently knew that the SEALs were coming at the last minute or that someone was coming. The U.S. says they believe that maybe the men were given away by something as simple as a dog barking in the distance. Don.

LEMON: Oh my gosh -- goodness. Thank you, Barbara. Sorry. Appreciate that.

Still to come here on CNN, another major winter storm taking shape, threatening more extreme weather and headaches for some 22 million Americans. CNN's Chad Myers joins me with the latest.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Don, major rain up and down the coast, up to a half a foot of rain in Maine and a half of foot snow inland. That forecast is coming up right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. Don in for Carol today. Concerns this morning of dangerous flooding in Manila as a deadly

typhoon, now a tropical storm, moves closer to the densely populated Philippines capital Manila. The Red Cross reports the storm killed at least 21 people this weekend. More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed with nearly 1 million people crammed into rescue centers.

And, right here in the U.S., nearly 22 million people need to brace for floods, rain, and snow -- goodness -- because of a major winter storm that is brewing in the Northeast.

The man to tell us all about that is our meteorologist Chad Myers, checking on the nor'easter for us there, Chad. Ugh, the dreaded n word.

MYERS: I know. Here it comes again. Now this is the third one, Don, though. This is the third storm, the third coastal nor'easter, that will bring more rain to the big cities than snow. It's cold now. But as the storm gets closer, the snow will in the upstate areas. It will be Adirondacks, Caskills, Alleghenies. That's will be the snow will be. It will be a rain event for Boston, New York, Philly. So it's cold now. It warms up tomorrow slightly, but it's a windy storm.

This storm will do more to bring down the power lines with the wind than any snow probably back out to the west here. Two to four inches of heavy rainfall. The winds tomorrow will gust to maybe 50 miles per hour. That will bring down power lines. We will get a lot of power outages from that low right there centered over New York.

Now because it is here and not here, the cold air doesn't get behind it. The cold air is way to the west. If this was 150 miles farther to the east, we would be talking about a two foot snow event for New York City. Not going to happen. We're only going to get heavy rainfall. But look at winds tomorrow. 43 miles per hour gusts. You factor in Manhattan, where you get those wind tunnel effects, there could be gusts to 60 to 65 miles per hour there in the city of Manhattan tomorrow. So get that and get ready for that. Umbrellas are going to be inside out because it's going to be raining hard as well.

Heavy rain for the West Coast. Another couple of storms. From San Francisco, you could see power outages as well. Winds there will gust to 40. And then from Seattle through the Cascades, not a lot of snow with this event. This is a rain event. And we could see major flooding back out here in the Pacific Northwest. So storms on corners -- northeast and northwest, Don.

LEMON: Love you, Chad. Not happy with that forecast. I know it's not your fault though. Thank you, Chad Myers. We'll check back with you. Appreciate it.

Still to come here on CNN, Main Street and Wall Street both looking great. Gas prices at their lowest in four years. CNN's Christine Romans is here watching that and the potential Dow milestone. Let's hope it's a good one.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Another forecast -- a forecast for your money. 18,000 within striking distance, the Dow is, just five months after hitting 17,000. Don, I'll tell you why and I'll tell you where it could go next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)