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Gunman at Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood Surrenders; Donald Trump Makes Controversial Statements about Reporter; Marches Continue in Chicago Regarding Shooting of Black Teenager by White Officer; U.S. and Russian Strategies to Combat ISIS Compared; CNN to Honor Heroes at Annual Event. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired November 28, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:00] ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And again, we still have a lot of these watches and warnings out for many of these areas. Guys, if you have some flight plans in any of these cities, you may want to check with your carrier for some possible delays or even some cancellations. Guys, back to you.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much, Allison Chinchar.

We have got a lot more going on, this morning, a lot more news to tell you about.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We sure do. The next hour of Newsroom starts right now.

Good morning to you. And we appreciate your company as always. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: And I'm Victor Blackwell. A pleasure to start this Saturday with you.

PAUL: We want to begin this morning with the latest out of Colorado Springs. Police have now released the mug shot. Take a look at the accused gunman of that Planned Parenthood clinic that took the lives of three people. Officials say 57-year-old Robert Dear is who you are looking at here. He surrendered to officers after that six-hour siege.

BLACKWELL: We are also learning new details about one of the victims that killed in that attack, Officer Garrett Swasey. There was a procession this morning. You see it here. His fellow officers came there to pay tribute. Six-year veteran of the University of Colorado police department. Earlier we spoke with "Colorado Springs Gazette" reporter Eric Singer about Officer Swasey. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC SINGER, "COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE": He grew up in Massachusetts and he competed with his partner Rachel Myer in the skating club of Boston in the eastern sectional championship. He is a Baltimore native living in the springs in the early '90s. He won the junior dance competition by winning both the original free dance programs. He and Rory Tompkins finished 13th in the 1995 U.S. figure skating championships and later performed in ice shows in northern Maine.

And he was a man of faith. He was an elder in Hope Chapel, which is a northeast Colorado Springs Church, overseeing its three care groups and participating in its teaching team and playing guitar as part of its worship team. As you both were saying a few moments ago, he is survived by his wife, Rachel, and a young son, Elijah, and a young daughter, Faith.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Now, we do not yet know the identities of the other two that died. But we do know four civilians and five police officers are recovering from the hospital this morning. And officials say they are in good condition.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in the mayor of Colorado Springs. John Suthers is joining us live this morning. Mr. Mayor, thank you for joining us. And we of course send our condolences to the Colorado Springs community. I'm sure they are in a state of shock after what we all watched yesterday.

JOHN SUTHERS, MAYOR OF COLORADO SPRINGS: We are in a state of mourning. This is a terrible tragedy for our community, but I have to tell you, being in the command center yesterday and seeing the performance of the first responders, particularly the Colorado Springs Police Department, the calm and professional communication between those in the command center and those in the Planned Parenthood center, I am absolutely convinced that lives were saved as a result of the skill that the police brought to this terrible tragedy.

BLACKWELL: We just spoke about Officer Swasey, one of the three killed in this shooting spree yesterday. Have you learned anything more about the two others who were killed?

SUTHERS: We have not released the identity yet. And that probably will probably not happen until autopsies. And I don't know exactly when that will take place.

BLACKWELL: All right, let me ask you more about what happened yesterday. Less than a month since the last shooting in Colorado Springs a man walked down the street shooting and killing three people before he was killed himself by police. And then, what happened yesterday, people running to the grocery store, to the bank. How has this latest incident changed the community? Do you have a handle on that yet?

SUTHERS: You know, the fact of the matter is this could happen in any big city in America. It happened in ours this time. It will happen in other communities the next time. But we, as a community, want to make sure that our officers and our first responders are prepared for instances like this. Yesterday indicated they were, and then now it is our job to reach out to the people involved, the victims, the families of the victims, embrace them and give them all the support that we can.

This unfortunately has -- these sorts of incidents happen in the United States and communities have to be prepared for them in advance. They train the first responders to deal with them, and then as a community we reach out and do everything we can to support the victims involved.

BLACKWELL: Authorities there this morning released the mug shot of the man arrested at the end of the six-hour standoff, Robert Lewis Dear. Do you know what the motive was here? Has the question why been answered?

[10:05:05] SUTHERS: I don't think that information has been released in terms of the investigation that we are at a point where we can say exactly what the motive was. You can certainly infer what it may have been in terms of where it took place and the manner in which it took place. But we don't have any confirmation from any of the investigation yet as to what the precise motive was.

BLACKWELL: All right, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, thank you so much for speaking with us this morning. And again, our condolences to the community there reeling after this incident on Friday.

SUTHERS: Thank you.

PAUL: We heard from some of the victims in yesterday's shooting, including Ozy Licano. He said that the killer looked right at him before firing. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OZY LICANO, SHOT BY COLORADO GUNMAN: I saw a man crawling to the front door. I saw the glass shatter, and he crawled into the entryway. Then I saw this other fellow come behind him and shoot down and up and walk into the entryway. I just kind of lost it there. I tried to get out of my car and run. I thought about that. I said, no. I got back into the car, started it, put it in reverse, and started backing out and then he was in front of me and he was aiming at me. I just hit the gas and he started shooting. And I was looking at his face. I think I had 10 seconds, five to 10 seconds to look at him, to try to remember who he was and why he was doing that or whatever. Then, the shots came through the glass. Then I started bleeding. I was looking at him. I saw blood. I didn't know if it was coming from my neck or lip or what.

And I thought about it. It was like five seconds we stared at each other. In that five-second peer, those bullet holes went right through my windshield. Then the blood, and four seconds later, I'm turning. I think I saw his vehicle, which is a dark-looking SUV with the front door open, the driver's side. I started getting away and I heard him shooting some more at me. And then I made it to King Super's.

It was a weird -- I never experienced anything like that before. And at the time, I wasn't scared. I was more angry. I don't know why. That's what's bothering me the most, what the other people went through. It's just I can't imagine. There were a lot of women in there, very innocent people in there. I felt helpless. That's all. I didn't like feeling helpless. That's why I was angry, I guess. It's not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's get more now on the investigation, the suspected gunmen. We have got Stephanie Elam there for us live in Colorado Springs. Stephanie, are investigators still there at the center collecting evidence? Give us an idea what's going on there?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. Yes, definitely that is still happening. If you look behind me, that is the Planned Parenthood building behind me out in the distance, and off to the side which you can't see from here are the trucks, the investigators, the police that are still having a presence here as this investigation continues.

Now, they have narrowed down the area just a bit as they are allowing for the streets to reopen. But what we know at this point is the fact that Robert Dear is the man that they have arrested, the man that they say was holed up inside of Planned Parenthood. He is 57-years-old. We know that about him. We now have a mug shot of him. We know what he looks like.

What we do not know is what was his motive for doing this. We also don't know for sure if he was targeting Planned Parenthood or if this was something that just happened in the parking lot and he took cover in Planned Parenthood. They are also making sure he didn't have any bombs or any other booby-traps around the building as well and clearing the area more and more as they have gone through and combed through what has really become a sad crime scene here in Colorado Springs, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Stephanie, we just had Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers on and he was unable to give us any details about the two civilians who were killed. But have you learned anything about the nine people shot yesterday and their conditions?

[10:10:00] ELAM: That's the only thing we know. We don't know their names, we don't know their identities. But we do know that the nine that did survive this and were wounded, that they are right now we are being told in good condition and they are all expected to survive, which is pretty miraculous when you hear more about how the shooting happened and how it seemed like the shooter was allegedly just shooting through walls and hitting so many people when he did do that.

BLACKWELL: Stephanie Elam just outside that Planned Parenthood building there in Colorado Springs for us. Stephanie, thanks.

PAUL: There are frightening dispatch audio recordings that really help give us a sense of how scary the situation was with this shooting. We are going to break down those recordings with you. We are talking to a close friend of Garrett Swasey, the officer who was killed in this attack.

Also, new details about the most wanted man in Europe. Who did Salah Abdeslam talk with about those attacks the day after they were carried out? Plus outrage in Chicago. Protesters disrupting black Friday shopping

to demand justice regarding the police shooting that killed teenager, Laquan McDonald. What more do protesters want? We'll talk to one of the men behind the movement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's 14 minutes after the hour now. And this morning, we are learning more about the officer killed yesterday in the shooting at the Planned Parenthood center in Colorado Springs, Officer Garrett Swasey, 44 years old, a six-year veteran of the University of Colorado police force. We have on the phone with us Kurt Aichele, the co- pastor of Hope Chapel, the church which Officer Swasey attended. And first let me begin by extending our condolences here at the loss of your friend. I want you to begin to tell us about your friend.

[10:15:04] KURT AICHELE, FRIEND OF GARRETT SWASEY: Garrett was an absolutely incredible man of God who loved his family and loved the flock of God in remarkable ways. I have known him for about 10 years, and throughout that entire time watch him faithfully serve others and place others before himself in nearly every situation.

BLACKWELL: And tell me how you got the news and the response and reaction from the congregation there at hope chapel of what had happened?

AICHELE: We received the news because of our relationship with the Swaseys, consider it an honor to be part of the close-knit family. And we were actually at the house when Mrs. Swasey had to share the news with her children. And the cries and sobs of her children learning that their daddy was never returning is something that will be etched in my mind for the rest of my life.

The outreach of not only our body but of the church at large has been absolutely incredible. Garrett has always been about proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ and him crucified, and that's what he lived, that's why he did what he did. And we pray that god's glory will be on display, because he sacrificed the way he did.

BLACKWELL: Ten-year-old son, a six-year-old daughter left behind, of course his wife as well. If you could just take a couple of seconds, I know, often, when we lose someone, we wish there was one thing we could have said that we didn't have the opportunity to. What would that be for you?

AICHELE: I would tell him thank you for being such a remarkable friend, for being an incredible leader, and for being an example of what it means to be a father and somebody who faithfully proclaims Jesus Christ and him crucified.

BLACKWELL: All right, Kurt Aichele, co-pastor of Hope Chapel there in Colorado Springs. Thank you so much during this understandably difficult time taking a few minutes to share some thoughts about your friend.

AICHELE: Thank you. BLACKWELL: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:21:05] PAUL: It's 20 minutes past the hour right now. We have some dramatic audio we want to share with you this morning of that standoff in Colorado Springs at the Planned Parenthood clinic. This lasted for hours. And police radios helped to give us a sense of the chaotic scene that it was inside this operation as they tried to get control of that gun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are three people hiding in the bathroom at Planned Parenthood. They seemed to hear the suspect. Somebody is knocking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is anybody in the safe room?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are in contact with one of the parties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are going to hide in the back closet until it is over. We have people hunkered down in the northwest corner of the building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have people still inside Planned Parenthood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are seeing how many doors there are. We haven't found them yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is at least one, maybe two.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over here on the street ASAP.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that safe to do? If not we will send the Bearcat. I don't want anybody else hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you need to drive that thing through any of the doors, that's fine too, just to get us in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we get a suspect description of the shooter?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy at King Super's was at Planned Parenthood and got shot. He saw the suspect. He had a tan jacket. He's a white male about six feet tall, a white beard. This gentleman has seen another shot at Planned Parenthood. He has boots for the footwear and like a hunting outfit.

They can actually come in on the south side of King Super's. We can open up the back door and they can access it that way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Again, the victim at Planned Parenthood, one of the parties, just heard another shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need the location.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need that. We need to clear the channel of the outside traffic and emergency traffic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are working on trying to get this secure before we can get the medical team in by one minute. I need the medical team to stay on the south side. We are going to get the setup and get it clear for them to come in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are about to roll the target. We are just going to have you right in front of that building when I tell you to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're my medical team. We are going now in the front door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Doesn't that just give you such a sense of what they go through, the strategy and the adrenaline and all the different things, all the different elements they are juggling in those moments?

CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Gilliam is with us now. I think a lot of people were surprised, Jonathan, first of all that after nearly six hours this suspect surrendered. How willing do you think he is, would somebody like this be to then get to the police station and start talking willingly about motive, about why?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think it really depends on his motive. Is this an ideological motivated attack or is this an anger-motivated attack? If it is an anger-motivated attack like he had a vendetta against somebody that worked there or something that happened in the past, it's going to be a very short-ended statement that he is going to make on his part.

But if he is ideologically motivated, this is going to be a little bit longer of an investigation because they are going to have to start digging into where his motivation started, and is there anybody connected to what he is thinking? So I think that's what we are looking at here is was this just a violence incident or was this a violence, fear motivated by an ideology incident.

PAUL: Planned Parenthood released a statement saying "We share the concerns of many Americans that extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country." This was shortly after it started. They came to that conclusion obviously very early. What needs to be determined to establish that it is domestic terrorism, and do you believe that be what we are looking at here based on what we know thus far?

[10:25:20] GILLIAM: Well, coming up with those two conclusions is not difficult. It is a place, a business. It's also a medical institution where you have certain people that have vendettas or are angry. We don't know if he ever worked there for instance.

And then the other fact is Planned Parenthood is just rife with political divisiveness in this country. It is not hard to come up with the possibilities. What I don't like, though, is that these groups come out and use this stuff to further their agenda when we have to sit back and look at, did he have any computer records? Did he talk to people about how much he hated Planned Parenthood? Are there people that know him in the community? Have they had prior problems with him? These are things that have to come out before Planned Parenthood goes and makes these statements because it makes them look similar to President Obama when he comes out and instead of looking at the issue, he goes straight to gun violence.

We have to start looking, and I suggest anybody involved with this you can say this is a possibility, but you can't link it to anything yet, because it just makes you look just as bad as this guy's potential ideology.

PAUL: Jonathan Gilliam, I always appreciate your insight. Thank you for being with us.

GILLIAM: You got it.

PAUL: Victor?

BLACKWELL: Looking ahead to the race for 2016, a big weekend. No stranger to controversy here, Donald Trump, doing well in the polls. He is at the top and has been for more than 100 days despite criticism of speaking about a journalist with a disability. We are going to take you live to Florida where he is going to hold his first rally since making those comments and gestures.

And later, the fight to stop ISIS. Russia says it is willing to partner with the west in Syria but with some conditions. What are they?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:21] BLACKWELL: Soon Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is going to hold a large rally in the sunshine state. Live pictures here as the ladies are warming up the crowd there in Sarasota. And this comes as Trump is on the wave of this new controversy. Our Athena Jones is there in the room. And this will be the first time we hear from Donald Trump since making those comments and those gestures.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Victor. Good morning. We are here waiting for this event to start in about an hour and a half. Folks have been lining up for the past five hours. After this, we will be watching and listening closely to anything Trump may have to say about this latest dust-up. And as you mentioned, he is not someone who shies away from controversy. In fact sometimes it seems to be his campaign strategy, talking tough, slamming the media and saying and doing things that get him a lot of attention. And so far, it seems to be working for him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: The latest Donald Trump firestorm erupting after he seemed to mock the physical disability of Serge Kovaleski, who has a condition that limits the movement of his arms.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're talking about northern New Jersey draws the eye, written by a nice reporter. Now, the poor guy, you have to see this guy, I don't know what I said. I don't remember. He is going, I don't remember. Maybe that's what I said.

JONES: Though he called him a nice reporter, the GOP frontrunner says he doesn't remember Kovaleski, quote, "despite having one of the all- time great memories." Insisting he didn't know about his condition and doubts they ever met. He also accused Kovaleski of using his disability to, quote, "grandstand." Kovaleski disputing Trump's claim not to know him, telling the "New York Times" he spoke to the real estate mogul a dozen times as a reporter for "The New York Daily News." "Donald and I were on a first-name basis for years. I have interviewed him in his office."

Trump's latest media battle coming after he repeatedly cited a story Kovaleski wrote for the "Washington Post" in 2001 to that a widely debunked claim that he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating the 9/11 attacks in New Jersey. The story referred to people allegedly seen celebrating those attacks, but Kovaleski said this week he did not recall finding anyone who said there were thousands or even hundreds celebrating.

Never one to back down, Trump is holding his ground and shifting the focus from the controversy to his fight with the "Times," part of his approach of attacking the press. He has held an on-again, off-again grudge with FOX News anchor, Megyn Kelly, since the first GOP debate.

TRUMP: Well, I just don't respect her as a journalist.

JONES: And routinely bashes the press on the campaign trail.

TRUMP: The media is very dishonest, unbelievably dishonest.

I can leave this scum back here at the press alone. I don't need them anymore. They are garbage. No, they are scum.

JONES: His crowds often roar at such rhetoric, and polls show his support hasn't faltered in the face of controversy.

TRUMP: They say that Trump can do almost anything and nobody leaves me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: And one more thing I want to bring out, Victor. Our CNN Money folks caught up with the reporter who knew Kovaleski back in the late 1980s when he was covering Trump for "The New York Daily News." She says she remembers a 1989 press conference where Trump and Kovaleski greeted each other. She said it was clear they were on a first name basis and that their greeting was so chummy, "chummy" was the word she used, that she thought they knew each other socially. She says Kovaleski even introduced her to Trump's then wife Ivana Trump. So this reporter backing up Kovaleski's contention that Trump knows exactly who he is. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Athena Jones for us there in Sarasota powering through the growing crowd and the signing behind you. Athena, thank you so much.

Let's bring in CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, despite this controversy you have the new Reuters-Ipsos poll showing Trump with this double digit lead, I mean, doubling up over Ben Carson who is in second place, Carson as 15, Trump at 31. I am not going to ask you the question about is this going to hurt Trump because we have asked that a dozen times and it hasn't. The question is then, are we seeing others here who are doing something, anything that is catching on and could help them catch up with Trump?

[10:35:00] RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I think the story on Trump is more complicated. There is no question that he is touching a deep emotional core with his base. It is not a coincidence that he is emerging at a moment when the country is going through profound demographic change. A majority of our K to 12 public school students at every desk in every school in America are now kids of color. I reported this week that whites who are Christians are now less than a majority of American society for the first time in our history. And trump is appealing to the elements of the Republican coalition that are most uneasy about these changes, who feel that the country as they know it is slipping away from then.

So the more outrageous he gets, the more he shows to them he will do whatever it takes by any means necessary to restore the country they believe is disappearing. So it works with those who are supporting him. They are not, Victor, the entire Republican coalition. I think if you look more broadly you will see in polling there is evidence particularly among college educated Republicans there is much more skepticism about Trump and what he represents and how he presents himself and whether he is an appropriate resident. The problem is, no one has consolidated that block of the party against him. If and when that happens, we may have a different verdict on everything he has been doing the last few months.

BLACKWELL: Let's pull this thread a little bit more, Ron, because you talk about in your characterization the part of the electorate, whites who believe the country is being taken away from them. Donald Trump's campaign is billing a meeting on Monday with 100 black faith leaders as an endorsement. We had one woman who is going to be at that meeting on Monday who says it is not an endorsement. She is just going to listen and offer some information. So how does that help and how does that correspond with what's really going to happen on Monday?

BROWNSTEIN: Look, it is a big country. There are going to be some people with different points of view. But I think among the many things Democrats legitimately have to worry about in 2016, third term of the president, dissatisfaction over foreign policy, the prospect of Donald Trump making significant inroads into the African-American vote I think would be pretty low on their list if he becomes the nominee, pretty lowon their list of things to worry about.

If you look at the pattern of Trump comments that are outrageous are not random. They tend to be all consistently raising questions about different groups. Undocumented immigrants are criminals and they are rapists. Muslim-Americans are not necessarily loyal. They were celebrating after 9/11. It is OK to rough up the protester, the Black Lives Matter protester. There is a contestant pattern of speaking to anxieties that a portion of the electorate has about the way the country is changing and they have been turbo-charged, I think, by the nexus of immigration and terrorism raised by Paris. And in that sense that probably has given him a short term boost in the Republican primary.

But there is a bigger electorate out there. And I think Trump has a real piece of the Republican coalition. I think it has been eye- opening to many Republicans how big a piece he has. But it is not the whole coalition. The question is whether those voters who are now dividing among Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, whether eventually they unify. I think they will unify in a way that will make this look different, but with Trump still competitive.

BLACKWELL: Ron Brownstein, we are looking to hear from Donald Trump in Sarasota this morning and early afternoon. Ron, thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

PAUL: So what will it take for the French president and other European leaders and the U.S. to build a united coalition against ISIS? We have a military expert weighing in on that.

And anger, gridlock, arrests in the streets of Chicago, this over police violence. What these protesters really want.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:12] PAUL: It's 42 minutes past the hour and new numbers for you in the fight against ISIS this morning. U.S. and coalition forces say they have launched 20 new air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Look at the other countries involved in the military campaign in Iraq and Syria there -- Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Jordan, the Netherlands, the U.K., France, Turkey as well. After the Paris terror attacks, France President Francois Hollande has been trying to build on that coalition, hoping to bring Russia closer.

Let's talk with Michael Weiss about this. He is a CNN contributor and coauthor of "ISIS, Inside the Army of Terror." So Michael, good to have you with us. President Hollande met with President Obama, Putin, German Chancellor Merkel, wanting to build this united coalition against ISIS. How plausible do you think it is?

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Not very. I think President Obama said it will in his press conference coming out of that meeting with President Hollande. He said it would be great if Russia were actually bombing ISIS. But they seem to prefer to go after the moderate Syrian opposition including those groups that are backed by the United States, Turkey, and the other members of the coalition that you mentioned.

Its' important to understand France was the first country to recognize the Syrian national coalition as the government in exile of Syria. This is a consortium of different groups that have banded together. And they are also backing many of these Free Syrian Army affiliates in central and northwestern Syria that have taken the brunt essentially of Russia's air campaign.

So you have these irreconcilable interests here. Putin has said we need a grand World War II style alliance to go after ISIS which is the new Nazism of the 21st century. All well and good, but we judge him by his actions, not his rhetoric. And his actions indicate he is really not that interested in getting -- going after ISIS. He wants to deny any credible alternative to the regime of Bashar al Assad or ISIS. It is those two choices.

PAUL: Not only that, but we are watching these tensions growing between Turkey and Russia. Turkey is already on board. Can that region take one more conflict?

WEISS: Well, Syria has ceased to be, I'm very sorry to say, a popular protest movement against a dictatorial regime. It has not devolved into a series of sideshows. I don't even know what the main event is any longer. And indeed this recent confrontation between Turkey and Russia is actually very long in the making. Putin and Erdogan have a lot in common in their Personality types. They're both megalomaniacal. They both have suppressed any kind of free and independent media in their country the better to conduct any kind policy they like with impunity.

And Turkey has been picking a fight with Russia and vice versa for a while. You'll recall a few years Turkish fighter jets escorted a Russian cargo plane down to the tarmac in Ankara at the airport there because that plane was carrying military equipment for Assad.

[10:45:00] In 2012, a Turkish F-4 reconnaissance jet was shot down presumably inside Syrian air space by the Assad regime. Rumors in Turkey at the time, Rumors among Syrian opposition at the time, and I know because I was in Turkey, were that a Russian technician was the guy that pushed the button on that attack. So there has been a lot of hostility between the two countries.

And this latest episode of shooting down a Russian fighter jet is not just an escalation in the air, but there was also one that followed on the ground which didn't get much media attention. The search and rescue helicopter sent to try and retrieve the surviving pilot crash landed, OK, in northern Syria, and then when it was on the ground, it was blown up by an anti-tank missile wielded by a rebel group called the first coastal division. The first coastal division is backed by the CIA and Turkish intelligence, and they got the anti-tank missile from Saudi Arabia courtesy of the United States.

So we are already involved in this kind of -- I don't know what to call it anymore -- geopolitical game of brinkmanship or cold war 2.0, if you like, with Russia. And I don't see Putin getting on board with the west's agenda here, which is and always has been we have to address Assad while we are also addressing ISIS. He wants the opposite.

PAUL: Right. Michael Weiss, CNN contributor and coauthor, again, of "ISIS, Inside the Army of Terror." Always appreciate your insight. Thank you, sir. We'll be right back.

WEISS: Sure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:21] BLACKWELL: Protests in the streets of Chicago, demonstrators here marching along the city's famous Magnificent Mile blocking access to major stores during black Friday sales. And they are alleging a year-long cover-up of police dash cam video showing an officer fatally shooting teenager Laquan McDonald. That officer is now charged with murder. We have with us this morning Reverend Marshall Hatch, the co-chair of the Leaders Network of Chicago. Reverend, it is good to have you this morning.

REV. MARSHALL HATCH, CO-CHAIR, LEADERS NETWORK OF CHICAGO: Good morning. Glad to be with you and the television audience.

BLACKWELL: When we have seen these type of demonstrations in the past two or three years, they have been a call collectively for charges against the shooter. That has been accomplished here. You say there needs to be fundamental change. What does that look like?

HATCH: Well, I mean, we have a very, very interesting case and it's profoundly egregious. We have a young man who was a ward of the state, Laquan McDonald, who was killed by an officer of the state in a public place. And we have what appears to be a major cover-up that goes all the way up possibly to the fifth floor, which is the mayor's office here in Chicago.

And so people will not rest. This child, this young man was a ward of the state, did not have a person that had parental custody over him at the time of his death. And his tragic and brief life now has become a symbol of a lot of things that have gone wrong particularly here in Chicago. And so we will not rest until we get all of the facts of what happened in this case, killed almost 14 months ago. And now we're just now seeing that the horrible videotape of his killing.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about that time span, about 400 days since that video was recorded the day that Laquan McDonald was shot and killed and the day that it was released. You are calling for several officials there to resign. What has been the damage caused by the decision to hold that. And we, of course, understand that your allegation is that it is a cover-up.

HATCH: We have lost all confidence in the state's attorney, Anita Alvarez. She should not prosecute this case. And so we are calling for a special prosecutor. We have lost all confidence in the police superintendent, Garry McCarthy, who there are a lot of questions. There is an erased Burger King security tape, 86 minutes that are now missing in that tape, and that tape was, in fact, taken in the custody of Chicago police officers on the scene. This cover-up seems to go up higher and higher.

And people are not going to rest until ultimately we get the federal government in here to find out what happened in the case of this young man who has now become symbolic of what has happened to countless African-Americans, and that is killed by the police under questionable circumstances. BLACKWELL: Let me ask you, because we're running out of time here,

but should we expect to see more demonstrations today and tomorrow there in Chicago?

HATCH: There will be more demonstrations today, tomorrow, and on Monday and going forward. People want answers to their questions. And we want answers to the questions of what happened in this case of Laquan McDonald, who did not have advocates for him in life, but we are going to be his advocates in death.

BLACKWELL: Reverend Marshall Hatch, always good to have you, sir. Thank you so much.

HATCH: Thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:58:13] PAUL: We're a little more than a week away from a night of inspiration. CNN Heroes, the top 10, a televised tribute is seen around the world.

BLACKWELL: A lot of remarkable individuals making a difference. Here is Anderson Cooper to show you how you can help them continue their work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Anderson Cooper. Hopefully by now you have had a chance to check out the 10 remarkable people that we are honoring at this year's "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute." Each of them has proved that one person really can make a difference.

And again, this year we are making it easy for you to support their great work. Just go to CNNheroes.com on your laptop, tablet, or smartphone, click the donate button to support any of our 2015 top 10 CNN heroes. You will see this page where you can make a contribution through Amazon payments to one or more of this year's honorees. It is fast, secure, and 100 percent of your donation will go directly to your CNN Heroes designated nonprofit.

You will also receive an email confirming you donation which is tax deductible in the United States. CNN is proud to celebrate all these everyday people changing the world and through December 31st to offer you this simple way to make a contribution to their cause. Again, from your laptop, your tablet, or your phone, just go to CNN heroes.com. Your donation in any amount will help them help others. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All of our top 10 heroes will be honored at "CNN Heroes, an All-Star Tribute," hosted by Anderson Cooper. That's next Sunday night, December 6th.

PAUL: We hope you will be watching then, and we hope you make some great memories today.

BLACKWELL: It was great to have you this morning five hours. There's much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: Slip that in there.

PAUL: You were feeling that five hours.

[11:00:00] BLACKWELL: We turn it over now to Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you guys. This definitely feels like a Thanksgiving weekend.