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Mission to Liberate Key Iraq City From ISIS; Laser Target Three Passenger Planes, 2 Choppers; GOP Rivals File to Get on Ballot in New Hampshire Today; Ithaca Students Demand College Pres. Resign; Video: Cops Repeatedly Stun Man Before Death. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 12, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[09:00:04] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, American-led air power supporting Iraqi ground forces as they fight ISIS.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And the U.S. has a lot at stake here. It's about gaining momentum, cutting off Raqqa from Mosul.

COSTELLO: Why cutting a supply line could drive the terrorists out.

Also two students in Missouri held by cops for allegedly making threats against black students.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel upset right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somber.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just tense. It's really tense.

COSTELLO: Boycotts, resignations, and the protests now spreading to campuses beyond Mizzou. Plus --

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to have a deportation force and you're going to do it humanely.

COSTELLO: Trump refining his immigration plan, not backing down, and neither are his critics.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't care what Donald Trump says.

COSTELLO: This morning, immigration front and center as three more candidates make it official in New Hampshire.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We're following breaking news this morning on what's being called a

major offensive in the war on ISIS. Backed by a U.S. coalition air support, Kurdish forces are battling to retake the key city of Sinjar in Iraq. A city where residents have fled from ISIS.

CNN capturing that moment in August 2014. Dozens of civilians desperately scrambling on to a military chopper in order to escape the terror group. Right now officials say Peshmerga troops have managed to secure a number of villages in that area. They've also taken control of an important stretch of highway used as an ISIS supply route into Syria.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is on the frontlines of this battle just outside of Sinjar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: And just behind me, you can see the thick black smoke that has been covering the center of Sinjar since pretty much about this morning when the offensive began in earliest of first light, and the distance over here, too, there`s been pretty consistent exchanges of heavy machine gunfire.

I can't tell you precisely where we are -- we're on the outskirts of Sinjar -- because of the rules we agreed to while working with the Peshmerga on this embed. But there is intense fighting here. They are trying to dig themselves in and I'm standing on a key part of the strategic mission here, which is to take over this route that runs between ISIS' capital of Raqqa in Syria and the key town of Mosul in Iraq.

Now at this stage, the Peshmerga seem to hold this particular area, thanks to the noise I'm hearing above me of coalition of jets, drones as well. And we also hear potentially military advisers in the local area, too.

Further down this road, though, the challenge gets messier. We're hearing a potentially 300 ISIS fighters still in the urban sprawl there. It's densely packed. The Peshmerga are moving round in an arch it seems to try and go round the entire city. But intense fighting potentially ahead here, no sense of things slowing and ISIS very closely to area, within a kilometer frankly of where I'm standing.

So much optimism at dawn this could be over in the days. As the day ends, the booby traps, the mines, the sheer exhaustion potentially of moving into this city, the booby trap roads making some Peshmerga here slightly less optimistic this could be over as quickly as they'd hoped.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Nick Paton Walsh reporting from Iraq. Thank you.

We turn now to the United States and a scare in the skies. Five aircrafts over two major cities targeted by laser pointers. The first here in New York. A helicopter news crew capturing the entire incident potentially blinding beams shooting straight into the cockpit.

Listen to the reporter's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I see the people involved right now. They are walking in and out of the building. Hitting us right now. Don't look, George. Oh yes, you think this is a joke, huh?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well, it's not a joke. It's dangerous.

CNN's Rene Marsh, she's in Washington with more on what happened next. Good morning.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. So the big picture here is there were five laser strikes in one night in two major cities. Pilots flying two local TV news choppers in New York City say that someone shined a blinding light into their cockpit. The NYPD says one chopper was targeted over Brooklyn. It's often tough for police to track down the culprit.

But the pilot of the news chopper, you just heard it there, zoomed in his camera on those culprits, pinpointing their location and police arrested two men in that case. Charges are now pending.

Now, Carol, just minutes later a second news chopper targeted near Newark Liberty Airport. And then separately the FAA says three commercial passenger planes were hit with lasers in the Dallas area. All three were at altitudes between 3,000 and 4,000 feet coming in for landing, a very critical point of flight. These lasers we should point out, they can temporarily blind pilots. There have been some cases of permanent damage to the cornea.

[09:05:07] This is a federal crime. Unfortunately, though, it happens very often. The number of reported laser strikes on airplanes has soared in the last few years. Thousands are reported each year nationwide. Just last year the FAA received nearly 4,000 reports.

COSTELLO: Well, when you get ahold of the mug shots that the police arrested here in New York City I'd like to put them on air.

Rene Marsh, thanks so much.

Now to the race for the White House. The candidates are hitting the campaign trail hard today. Jeb Bush is in Michigan after delivering what many agree was his best debate performance yet. Then he heads to New Hampshire. This as tensions are heating up with rival Marco Rubio. The former Florida governor telling a group of reporters that when it comes to beating Hillary Clinton in a general election, he is the better candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BUSH: I'm a better bet.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why?

BUSH: Because I've got a proven record. And I campaign in a way that is based on that record and based on the ideas that I have, that are about the future. And I've been vetted. I've been tested. I'm an open book.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And while Bush is still waiting for a boost in the polls, he did get a bump of support from an enthusiastic voter. Yes. Chest bump time. That was from a converted Ted Cruz backer as well. He's actually a co-chair for the Cruz campaign but says he was so impressed with Bush's debate performance he's decided to switch sides.

And Jeb Bush won't be the only one in New Hampshire today. Republican rivals Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum all will be filing in order to get on the ballot for the New Hampshire primary. Any minute now we're expecting Senator Lindsey Graham to arrive.

So let's bring in our CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny. He has more for us.

Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. No chest bumps here but I can tell you the fact that people are going after Marco Rubio, it's a sign of his performance at the debate really is impressing Republicans and his star is rising. You know, he's doing very well in these debates and in the other debates as well. But Donald Trump and Ben Carson, you know, they remain at the top of the polls. But it's those two senators, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, to keep an eye on here.

They are gaining traction as deep policy divisions inside the Republican Party are coming to the forefront. One of those key flash points is immigration and Senator Cruz is eager to point out the differences with Senator Rubio. Let's take a listen.

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SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Republicans nominate for president a candidate who supports amnesty. We will have given up one of the major distinctions with Hillary Clinton and we will lose the general election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now Senator Rubio, of course, supported comprehensive immigration reform which is highly controversial among many Republican primary voters.

Now we were in New Hampshire for three days earlier this week where candidates are filing their paperwork to get on the ballot for that February primary. We talked to several voters who say they are watching this race with great interest and they are generally undecided. At a breakfast for Donald Trump just yesterday morning nearly 700 turned out but many we talked to afterward said they weren't Trump supporters at all. They just wanted to see the show.

Let's listen to one of our conversations with a New Hampshire voter.

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ELLEN KOLB, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: I like Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Chris Christie because they are accustomed to being in the spotlight and making tough arguments. If you told me right now you have to pick, I wouldn't be able to. This is still wide open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So this race is indeed wide open. And as candidates file their paperwork, including Lindsey Graham who's doing so right now in New Hampshire in the Concord state house. You can see him doing that with Secretary of State Bill Gardner at his side.

This is a bit of a rite of passage for the New Hampshire primary candidates. Come in, one by one, sign the paperwork. And those pictures you see on the wall behind them there really -- are a scrapbook of sorts of pictures over the years of all candidates who have done this. But it is not always candidates who do it themselves. In 1991 actually, Hillary Clinton came and she filed the paperwork for her husband's candidacy. On Monday of course she filed her own paperwork. So it certainly was an interesting throwback Thursday I guess picture if you went there of those two.

But it wasn't just Hillary Clinton filing her paperwork. Barbara Bush that year also filed the paperwork for President George H.W. Bush. So sometimes a spouse comes. Sometimes a surrogate. And you can see Lindsey Graham right there signing his own paperwork today.

COSTELLO: You are such a political nerd, Jeff Zeleny. I want to -- I want to go back to the Trump event. You said that many in the audience were just there to see the show. Like how many do you think were just there to see the show?

ZELENY: You know, this is just a handful of voters we talked to afterwards. But it's a classic New Hampshire voter thing. If you are a primary voter who is going to get up early and stand in line for a couple of hours for what's called Politics and Eggs it means that you want to see all of the candidates.

[09:10:11] So, you know, I have no scientific sense of how many of the nearly 700 in the room were Trump supports and who weren't. But our polling indicates, Carol, more than half of New Hampshire primary voters are still open to changing their minds and undecided. That's why the next three months are so interesting to watch here. This is a fluid, dynamic race which means everything matters.

COSTELLO: All right. Jeff Zeleny reporting live for us. Thanks so much. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, protests, threats, resignations. Some

college campuses in turmoil over racial tensions. What can be done to quell the tension? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A second person has been placed under arrest in connection to threats made on social media against students at the University of Missouri.

[09:15:04] In the meantime, a Mizzou school official, a campus director of Greek life, has been placed on leave while the school investigates here actions during a student-led protests. And at Yale University, hundreds of students gathered trying to create a climate of understanding on campus as racial tension has roiled the campus in recent weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is about getting students to see the visibility support on campus, to come together, to be empowered, to see the bodies that are in solidarity with them, students of color and our allies. What's happened this week has created a platform for students to become vocal about issues they experience on a daily basis as students of color.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That sentiment catching fire on Twitter yesterday under the #blackoncampus, with people of color describing their experiences like this woman who wrote, "When I'm represented in every promotional brochure but not in syllabi, curriculum, faculties, boards of trustees."

And another person who shared this, quote, "Being told, talking about race and racism is being oversensitive."

At Ithaca College in Upstate New York, a similar call. Hundreds of students taking part on a massive walk out yesterday, calling for the ouster of the school's president, chanting, "Tom Rochon, no confidence."

So, let's talk about this. I'm joined by Dominick Recckio. He is a senior at Ithaca College and the student body president.

Welcome.

DOMINICK RECCKIO, ITHACA COLLEGE STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Thank you so much for being here.

What has your president done to lose his job?

RECCKIO: He hasn't lost his job yet. But what President Rochon has done is he has shown a consistent lack of understanding for the campus community here at Ithaca College.

Under his leadership a lot of the responses to racial issues on campus have definitely not been what the students are looking for and actions have truly not been taken. He's created a more diverse campus, our numbers have gone up. But the support for the students of color has not gone up with those numbers.

COSTELLO: I know that president Rochon has tried. And I want to show you our viewers. A YouTube video of an assembly that he put and he was on stage. He was talking about-- oh this is in the middle of it.

Anyway, the president was on stage before these students rushed the stage. He was talking about diversity on campus and the racial tension on campus and these students overtook the stage not allowing the president to talk. Is that helpful?

RECCKIO: Yes. I think it was truly, truly helpful. I think that what was presented on that Tuesday was and -- was a series of ideas by the college administration and members of myself, the faculty county president and staff council president that may not understand the campus community well enough. So, those students don't think the empty dialogue is good and they wanted to be included from the start in things from the first moment they stepped on campus.

So, all of this being reactionary is not what the students want and that is what's tying into president Rochon. You know, they mentioned a lot of the quotes from his book "Culture Moves". He wrote a book about culture movements and that was one of the first things students got up on stage and read and talked about how the book stands for their cause more so than his.

COSTELLO: I understand. So, the chair of the board, on your campus, says he is actively working with the president to address concerns. And I think they announced a new diversity officer position.

Are these good first steps in the students' minds?

RECCKIO: They are okay. But last year the student government association put forward that proposal for the chief diversity officer. So now -- and with it coming now shows that president Rochon's leadership is too little too late.

We asked for that chief diversity officer more than a year ago and for that to come now that everything is sort of hitting the fan, for lack of a better term, that that just shows lack of over time commitment and shows only when things are immediate and urgent that he will take action.

COSTELLO: And I feel like I have to ask you this question because it is out there. There are people who think that students are overreacting. Because you can't present, you know, one horrible incident that would merit these large protests and the ouster of a college president.

Can you address those people? RECCKIO: Yes, I will. These students are not overreacting. All of

these scenarios, all of these words, and all of these situations have students of color at Ithaca College very, very unsafe. They do not feel emotionally safe or physically safe in many scenarios on this campus. And I think that it is really important to foster a school and an institution where students can feel safe and can feel that they are just as included as any other student.

COSTELLO: Dominick Recckio, thank you so much for being with me this morning.

RECCKIO: Thank you. Have a great morning.

COSTELLO: You too.

[09:20:00] Still to come in the NEWSROOM: a Virginia man dies after being stunned multiple times by police with tasers. More than two years later, his family is still asking why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: I got to warn you, it is disturbing and graphic video revealed for first time two years after it happened. A Virginia man is handcuffed and shackled, then stunned multiple times by officers. One of who quotes threatens to light him up before discharging the taser.

The man died just about an hour after this initial confrontation and today, his family is in court demanding answers.

Our justice correspondent Pamela Brown is following the story.

Good morning.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you, Carol.

This is video we received through the attorney involved with the lawsuit. It shows the handcuffed man being tased by police multiple times, though it's unclear exactly how many times he was hit with the taser in this video we see.

[09:25:03] And it shows him dying while in police custody, despite the fact that incident happened at the doors of the emergency room.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): This police video shows three officers in South Boston, Virginia, tasing a man right outside of the hospital emergency room.

Shortly after, that man, 46-year-old Linwood Lambert died in police custody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not locking you up. BROWN: The video begins with officers picking Lambert up at a motel early one morning in May of 2013, after several 911 calls were made about noise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got you. I've got you.

BROWN: In court records, police say because of the way Lambert was acting, they decided to take him to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. They say he made comments about murdering two people and hiding their bodies in the ceiling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to take you to the emergency room and we're going to make sure you're good to go.

BROWN: Inside the patrol car, police say, he kicked out the window.

Then, the video shows Lambert running straight into the hospital doors while handcuffed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on your belly.

BROWN: He falls to the ground and the officers repeatedly ask him to roll over on to his stomach while threatening to tase him.

Lambert then admits that he was on drugs.

LINWOOD LAMBERT: I just did cocaine, man.

BROWN: But instead of taking him inside the emergency room, the officers take him to the police station.

OFFICER: You're under arrest. Stand up.

BROWN: The officers tased Lambert multiple times. He's bleeding apparently from breaking the squad car window.

By the time they reach the police station, Lambert appears unconscious in the back seat. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital after going into cardiac arrest, according to the medical examiner's report.

The report ruled the cause of death as acute cocaine intoxication, but the family blames the police and they filed a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit alleging, quote, "The officers' callous disregard for Linwood Lambert in tasering him multiple times and depriving him of the desperate medical care he needed violated his constitutional rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment."

Police have denied the allegations, saying Lambert's erratic action required the use of force.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And a South Boston Police Department released a statement saying, "We are vigorously defending this case. Our position is affirmed by the reports of two independent, well-qualified experts in the field. CNN attempted to reach both South Boston police as well as Virginia state police who picked up this investigation, Carol, after Lambert's death. We have not heard back, and there have been no charges against these police officers since this happened two years ago, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Pamela Brown reporting. Thank you.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Donald Trump is refining his immigration plan. He's now touting a deportation force that would forcibly remove undocumented immigrants humanely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to have a deportation force. And you are going to do it humanely.

It is going to be a Trump wall. There is going to be a real wall. And it is going to stop people and it is going to be good.

It is going to a big, beautiful, nice door. People are going to come in and they're going t come in legally. But we have no choice. Otherwise, we don't have a country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you going to pay for this?

TRUMP: It's very inexpensive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Trump's idea is taking shape after his fellow Republicans called his immigration plan a gift for Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal. They are doing high fives in the Clinton campaign right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Actually, they are. Hillary Clinton did weigh in on this deportation force and blasted Trump's plan on Twitter. She said, quote, "The idea of tracking down a deported one million people is absurd, inhumane and un-American. No Trump."

With me now, CNN political commentator and op-ed columnist for "The New York Times", Ross Douthat. I'm also CNN political commenter Tara Setmayer. Welcome to both of you.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

ROSS DOUTHAT, NEW YORK TIMES: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Trump's rivals have called his immigration plan silly but he's still kind of on top of the polls, Ross. So, can they really call his immigration plan silly?

DOUTHAT: I mean, yes, because it is silly. I think even if you talk too, you know, very, very smart, sincere immigration restrictionists, people who believe we should have lower rates in immigration, people who tend to oppose the big immigration bills that come up in the Senate, they don't talk about deportation forces, because it is implausible. They talk about how if you actually secure the border and have, you know, better sanctions for employers who hire illegal immigrants, you will have a slower rate of illegal immigration, people will go home and so on.