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France Launches Air Strikes Against ISIS; President Hollande to Visit Obama; Brussels at Highest Security Level; Trump Supporters Shove, Tackle Kick Black Protesters. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 23, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


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[10:00:39] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening on the NEWSROOM, upfront is the stamp out ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together we will destroy this evil threat.

COSTELLO: Tomorrow, France's President comes to the United States to meet with President Obama.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That we're not afraid.

COSTELLO: But U.S. cities drilling, preparing, not taking any chances this holiday week.

Plus, on the ground outside Raqqa, the capital of ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have just heard distant thuds of what could have been air strikes.

COSTELLO: CNN takes you inside the fight.

And Trump in his own words.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I don't want to close mosques. I want to surveil mosques.

COSTELLO: On what he claims happened in a New Jersey city after 9/11.

TRUMP: They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down.

COSTELLO: On a black protester shoved and kicked during a Trump rally.

TRUMP: Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.

COSTELLO: Inside the GOP front-runner's headline-grabbing weekend.

Let's talk, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Hi and good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Just within the last couple of hours, we've learned France has launched its first air strikes, from an aircraft carrier moved into the Eastern Mediterranean, France scrambled the Charles de Gaulle there to better target ISIS.

Britain's Prime Minister says he wants his country to join the air strikes against ISIS in Syria. Today he and France's President paid respects at the concert hall, the site of the deadliest Paris massacre.

And authorities launch more raids overnight in Belgium. 21 people arrested, but not Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect on the Paris attack.

In the meantime, Brussels shutdown a subway through school and shopping malls amid warning that an ISIS attack in Belgium capital is eminent. An American cities also on edge. This is an anti-terror drill in New York City. But security also ratchets up sporting events across the country as many Americans relive the jitters of post-9/11.

President Obama returns to the White House after a nine-day trip abroad. Tomorrow he welcomes France's President to the White House to discuss the coalition to bring down ISIS.

CNN Senior Washington Correspondent Joe Johns is live at the White House this morning with more. Good morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Francois Hollande is coming here to the White House tomorrow to meet with President Obama. The United States and France have shared interests in eliminating ISIS. Listen to what President Obama said over the weekend just as he was leaving Malaysia.

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OBAMA: We will not accept the idea that terrorist assaults on restaurants and theaters and hotels are the new normal or that we are powerless to stop them. After all, that's precisely what terrorists like ISIL want. Because ultimately that's the only way that they can win, it's the nature of terrorism. They can't beat us on the battlefield so they try to terrorize us into being afraid.

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JOHNS: Now, that's one thing, but this gets more complicated as it goes along. It's important also to say that Hollande is going on to meet with Russian President Putin after he finishes here in Washington, D.C. Hollande has expressed some interest in trying to get Russia and the United States on the same page when it comes to ISIS.

The question for the United States is whether, number one, Hollande will also be seeking to get the United States and Russia to agree on the end game for the Syrian President Assad. President Obama has said, he is pretty much committed to getting rid of Assad. There's also, Carol, I think another important question. And that's about sanctions on Russia for its handling of Ukraine. That's a very sticky issue here in Washington, D.C. and just last week, the leaders of four countries, Italy, the United States, France and others were in the room and had a conversation about this. And made up their minds, they say at that point, including France, that they would keep the sactions in place against the Russia for Ukraine. So, a lot of sticky issues here when Hollande comes to Washington, D.C. and is not all just about ISIS.

[10:05:07] COSTELLO: Joe Johns reporting live at the White House. Thank you.

On the subject of Russia, for our people and for Paris, new video shows those are the messages Russian pilots are riding on missiles targeting ISIS in Syria. This is Vladimir Putin visit Iran and meets with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Ayatollah is the ultimate authority in Iran.

And guess what? He supports Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. As you heard Joe say, the United States does not. Still, Russia is bombing Syria and so is France. It just launched new air strikes this morning.

With me now to talk about this, CNN Military Analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. Hi, how are you this morning?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Confused. Joe is exactly right. This is so complicated.

COSTELLO: I know. I was listening to Joe and it is confusing. So what should we make of this? Because Americans are currently in a high- anxiety state about an attack on the homeland.

FRANCONA: Exactly. So what's going on, and I think we're seeing the discussions in Washington centering around, what is the end game in Syria? What do we want out of this? Because the French president will be here. He's visited with other leaders. He's going to meet with the Russians. What he's trying to do is bolt together sort of a grand coalition where all of the countries will fight against ISIS.

It would be nice to get the United States and the Russians on the same page as Joe suggested to go after ISIS. That would give us a lot more capability. We could, you know, synergistically bring all these military forces to bear at one time doing things sequentially and more effectively. The problem with that is the United States and Russia have different goals in Syria.

We would like to see Assad removed. The Russians would like to see Assad remain. You know, we are diametrically opposed on that.

So, if there's a way to come up with a diplomatic solution where we agree to a cease-fire, and not throw the rebels the under the bus, which I'm afraid that's going to happen.

COSTELLO: And so, I'm trying to distill this and make it more simple for people to understand. So in essence, the French President is going to play mediators between the United States and Russia?

FRANCONA: Yeah. His position is we have to go after ISIS. And the status of the Syrian government, whether it's Assad or not, is a secondary concern. We can address that later. In if the United States will agree to that and Russians agree to that, we actually could come up with some sort of much broader coalition.

The problem is Carol, what happens to the Syrian rebels? If we allow this the Syrian government to remain in power, who protects them? Is there going to be some protection for them built into this agreement? That's our concern. That we don't want to throw over the rebels by propping up Bashar al-Assad.

So, we've got a decision to make. The other countries are very clear. Iran, Iraq, Syria, France, Russia, they know what they want. It's the United States that needs to determine, are we so hung up on getting rid of Bashar al-Assad that we will not cooperate with these other countries against ISIS?

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens. Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, thanks so much.

Now let's head to Brussels, Belgium, at the highest security level and bracing for what officials have called an imminent threat.

CNN International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen is there with more for you. Hi, Fred.

FREDERICK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yeah, and that threat a little certainly is still ongoing. What you're seeing on the ground here in Brussels, today is really something that I haven't seen in a very long time in a Western European city, and that is soldiers on the ground here patrolling the streets.

A lot of police officers on the ground here, armed with submachine guns as well. We saw a lot of patrols on the streets. Basically then trying to show a presence, but of course also trying to prevent anything from happening and certainly, the Belgium government seems to believe something bad is in the works. They say as a threat appears to be imminent. That's the terror threat level number four, the highest one that this country has for this city here.

And of course, that means schools are closed. A lot of businesses are closed as well and public transport is all but closed. The subway system isn't working. Buses are working. But only intermediately and that is basically cause this entire city to grin to a holt.

Many people aren't going to work. People are telling us quite frankly, they're concern about their safety, about their safety, about their safety of their love ones. At the same time Carol, you have this manhunt going on for the final suspect in those Paris attacks that happened at the end of -- or that happened Friday about 10 days ago. That person is still on the loose, Salah Abdeslam. There have been raids here in the past 24 hours that netted 21 suspects.

However, authorities are telling us, he's not among those 21 suspects. So this man is still on the loose and that's certainly causing a great deal of concern here in the Belgium capital. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Frederik Pleitgen reporting live from Brussels this morning.

[10:10:00] Still to come in the NEWSROOM, America on alert. Terror fears growing but are we overreacting?

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COSTELLO: Americans trust Hillary Clinton to handle the threat of terrorism more than any of the leading Republican candidates for president in the wake of the Paris attacks, according -- that's according to a new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News, that says the Democratic front-runner leads most GOP candidates by a wide margin and tops Donald Trump by eight points.

Poll's not all bad news though for the GOP front-runner because the poll, along with the new Fox News poll, shows Trump holding onto double digit leads over Ben Carson in the Republican presidential race. All of this comes, though, as Donald Trump faces yet another controversy.

Over the weekend the real estate mogul suggested the half dozen white attendees at his campaign rally may have reacted appropriately when they shoved, tackled, punched and kicked a black protester who disrupted Trump's speech.

[10:15:04] CNN Athena Jones live in Washington to tell us more. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. It's remarkable watching that video. I've been at various Trump events where there have been protests but I haven't seen many of them dealt with in that way. This happened as the Black Lives Matter protester began disrupt his speak shouting, dump the Trump and black lives mattered. As you've mentioned they were tackled, punched, kicked and shoved. This is how Donald Trump responded to what happened on "Fox & Friends." take a listen.

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TRUMP: The man that was, I don't know, you say, roughed up. He was so obnoxious and so loud he was screaming. I had 10,000 people in the room yesterday. 10,000 people. And this guy started screaming by himself. I don't know, rough up. He should have been -- maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing. This was not handles the way Bernie Sanders handlings his problem. I would tell you.

But, I have a lot of fans and they were not happy about it. And this was a very obnoxious guy, who's a troublemaker who's looking to make trouble. I didn't get to see the event.

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JONES: So, it's interesting to hear him defending the supporters who roughed up this guy. This protesters said he was punched in the face, punched in the neck, kicked in the chest, kicked in the stomach. He said someone stepped on his hands and that some of these supporters called he and his other fellow protesters the "N" word and also monkeys.

But I've got to tell you, Trump warned last summer, after Black Lives Matter protesters disrupted a Bernie Sanders event, he said that will never happen with me. We're going to have a fight on our hands if that happens. I don't know if I'll be doing the fighting myself or if other people will. So, in some ways, it seems like he sort of predicted this would happen, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, where was the security? Where was Trump's security?

JONES: That's a good question. I mean, why didn't we see or he has secret service protection now, he also had his own private security folks. They didn't seem to step in. We know that those protesters were escorted out but it doesn't look like as though Trump was concerned about his own safety. He was more mad as the fact that these protesters were trying to disrupt his event. And he's been talking tough about these protesters since the summer when you saw them disrupt the Bernie sanders event and basically take away his microphone.

COSTELLO: Right.

JONES: He said, that will never happen to me. And it didn't. And he seemed to really back up the folks who treated these protesters so badly.

COSTELLO: So just like at the whole picture, how many Black Lives Aatter protesters were there in the crowd of 10,000, according to Donald Trump?

JONES: Well, we understand there were only a handful, but he's really talking about this one person who was roughed up by these supporters, saying that he was being obnoxious. He was being loud. As if to justify the violence that he says was perpetrated against him. That our CNN video shows he was roughed up. Donald Trump seems to think that was appropriate. Carol?

COSTELLO: Athena Jones reporting live for us. Thanks so much.

With me now is Trump supporter Robert Kiger. Welcome back Robert.

ROBERT KIGER, CITIZEN FOR RESORING USA: Hey, thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: So your thoughts on what happened over the weekend.

KIGER: Well, I haven't seen any of the video, but I can tell you people are...

COSTELLO: It was just odd.

KIGER: But at least -- from my perspective, I'm sick and tired of the Black Lives Matter thing. I think it's a farce. I think they're just there to disrupt. If they really care about...

COSTELLO: what do you think is a farce?

KIGER: ... look, if they really care about black lives, they need to pick up a banner and go to the south side of Chicago where black lives are being slaughtered on a daily basis f they really care about the African-American community. Get up there and do something about it.

COSTELLO: So, they don't have the right to protest at a Trump rally?

KIGER: Well, no, they don't, really. Nobody needs...

COSTELLO: Why this is America?

KIGER: I wouldn't -- look. I wouldn't go -- I wouldn't go into a black church and start screaming, white lives matter. I mean, people are trying to elect a president...

COSTELLO: Would you be afraid they would beat you up?

KIGER: I mean, yeah. I know I'd get beat up. Then let me tell you...

COSTELLO: Really?

KIGER: People are trying...

COSTELLO: In a black church?

KIGER: I'm sure if I started disrupted their sermon and was obnoxious as this guy apparently was, yeah, I would probably be afraid I might get at least thrown out and roughed up, yeah.

COSTELLO: Did you miss what the members of South Carolina of that church said about the man who open fire inside a church?

KIGER: Excuse me.

COSTELLO: Never mind. I won't go there...

KIGER: I'm sorry, I didn't hear that.

COSTELLO: So, there was this one man in the center of what Donald Trump called a crowd of 10,000 people. And the crowd turned on him.

KIGER: OK.

[10:20:07] COSTELLO: Do you think they were right to do that?

KIGER: Look, Donald Trump has been -- I went to the Trump rally in Miami. Donald Trump has been very polite with these people. He had some disrupters in Miami. And he said, please, don't hurt them. Just make them leave. Get them out of here. But don't hurt them. So, look, I mean enough is enough. We're trying to elect a president of the United States here. We don't -- these guys are just doing this purposely to disrupt. They don't really have a cause. They're trying to bring to the forefront. I don't think they really care. If they did, they'd go to Baltimore or they'd go to Chicago.

COSTELLO: But doesn't Donald Trump, as possibly the president of the United States, have a duty to calm things down?

KIGER: I saw him firsthand try to calm things down in Miami. And it was a Latino group that was disrupting and you would have been amazed because there were so many young Latinos in that crowd that were supporting Donald Trump. Donald Trump will win the Hispanic vote. And I bet if the African-American...

COSTELLO: let's just stick to the matter at hand.

KIGER: OK.

COSTELLO: Let's stick to the matter at hand. Why not let security handle it or secret service? Why kind of...

KIGER: They did.

COSTELLO: ... think it's OK for the crowd to take care of it, as Mr. Trump did on "Fox & Friends".

KIGER: The secure, I guess, did take care of it. I haven't seen any of the video, so I can't be very specific about that. But it certainly wasn't Donald Trump that went out and kicked him out. And, again, those security guys are up front with Donald Trump to get through a crowd of 10,000, it probably took a few minutes, I'm guessing because once again, I didn't see the video.

COSTELLO: So, you think one guy shouting in a crowd of 10,000 people was so disruptive and obnoxious that the crowd had to take care of it themselves?

KIGER: Well, I can till in the room that I was in Miami, there were 3500 people. The ball room was absolutely packed. There were 3500 people. And four people that were holding banners screamed at the top of their lungs and, yes, it very much disrupted the whole thing.

COSTELLO: All right.

KIGER: I don't know where -- I don't know where this guy was. You know, maybe he was -- maybe he was in the back of the room. But certainly once again, being in Birmingham, Alabama, going in and disrupting that thing, that's no place for Black Lives Matter to try to bring their issues to the forefront. Try to go to Chicago and Baltimore.

COSTELLO: Robert Kiger, thanks for stopping by. I'll be right back.

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[10:27:25] COSTELLO: A major European city on alert and in a partial lockdown. Brussels shuts down, and schools and shopping malls amid warning that an ISIS attack in Belgium capital is eminent.

Authorities launched more raids overnight in Belgium, 21 people were arrested but not Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the Paris attacks.

Also paying respect at the concert hall. The side of the deadliest Paris massacre Britain's Prime Minister visiting with France's President and saying he wants his country to join the air strikes against ISIS in Syria. The French President visiting the White House tomorrow.

The ripple effect of the Paris terror attack making people anxious all over the world. A new Pew survey shows just 19 percent of Americans trust their government always or most of the time. Disturbing when ISIS is threatening to strike here, at home, in the United States.

In a Washington Post/ABC News poll taken after the terrorist attacks in Paris, 83 percent had they thought a terror attack in the United States was very likely or somewhat likely in the near future. And this is what it looked like in Atlanta last night. Heavily armed police protecting people from a dubious threat at the Philips Arena. The group anonymous claiming ISIS was targeting a WWE even. The FBI found absolutely no evidence of that still a show of fire power and defiant fans.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want us to hide behind the curtain in fear. But the new thing, I'm not going to let that happen, you know. I mean, we're a free country for a reason. We'll do our thing whatever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I proud of myself on being a very vigilant person, so I'm being very cautious. Any time I'm in a group setting, I'm cautious, but more so now. Looking for exiting, being completely honest, and being aware of my surroundings at all times

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we were coming no matter what.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, what about you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We paid good money for these tickets. We have to make it. We're here.

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COSTELLO: And you have to admire their t-shirts. Take a look. "ISIS fears Ambrose." Can you take that banner away so we can see it? Take the banner away. Thank you so much. There "ISIS Fears Ambrose." of course, Ambrose is a WWE wrestler.

You have to admire they're American spirit, right? On to Chicago though, a southwest flight to Philadelphia was delayed because one passenger complained about being afraid to fly with two Palestinian men. Both men have lived in the United States for many years. They were finally allowed on the flight after going through security again.

And here in New York, preparations are under way for Thursday's annual Macy's Day Thanksgiving Day Parade. Deborah Feyerick is here with more on the security angle in this city. Good morning.