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Colorado Shooting Suspect Due in Court Monday; Search for Salah Abdelsalam. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired November 29, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITIFIELD, ANCHOR: What his neighbors are now saying about him.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: He was some anti-Obama flyers.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: We have a lot of recluse out in the middle of nowhere out here.

BROWN: And clashes break out in Paris. Police firing tear gas at protesters taking to the streets over global climate talks.

And Ben Carson in Jordan getting a firsthand look at the refugee crisis.

BEN CARSON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's so many people who think that the ideal for everybody is to come to America and be settled here, but that is not the ideal for everybody.

WHITFIELD: "Newsroom" starts now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Hello again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

New details in a possible motive for Friday's deadly shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood. Suspect Robert Louis Dear talked about baby parts to investigators after his surrender. A law enforcement official says Dear told police he had anti-government and anti- abortion views but did not explicitly say that is what moved him to kill three people including a veteran police officer. Five other officers and four civilians were wounded. We've also learned that propane tanks were found near the suspect's car possibly intended to create an explosion. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice is reviewing this incident as possible domestic terrorism. They're also looking at possible hate crime charges.

CNN's Dan Simon is live for us now in Colorado Springs. Dan, what more are you learning about the suspect's personal history?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Fredericka. The picture that's emerging is that this is somebody who is a complete loner and basically lived in complete isolation. That's why some, including the mayor, have compared him to the una-bomber Ted Kaczynski. He lived in the middle of central Colorado, basically in a trailer, before that he lived in a rural cabin in North Carolina.

Not much in the way of criminal history with this suspect. In fact, no criminal history. There were some charges brought against him but nothing ever really stuck. For example, 1997 he was basically accused of domestic assault on a former wife, but those charges were dismissed. There was a complaint of him being a peeping tom. Those charges were also dismissed. So things of that nature, had no violent criminal history to speak of.

That's why authorities say keeping track of him is something that would have been difficult to do. As for his situation in central Colorado in this small town known as Hardsell, we did speak to some neighbors. He lived with his girlfriend, the suspect, and this is how they described them. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZIGMOND POST, PLANNED PARENTHOOD SUSPECT'S NEIGHBOR: They were nice. Really nice guy. Were talking to us and everything. Gave us some anti- Obama flyers, little pamphlets. I didn't really even read them. I think I used them to start the fire in our campfire that night. Then I saw him at the post office on Wednesday. Said hi to him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But did he have anything to say?

POST: No, asked me how I was doing. I said doing great. And we just were passing each other in the parking lot.

LISA HAWKINS, PLANNED PARENTHOOD SUSPECT'S NEIGHBOR: When they first moved in, they said they kept to themselves. They didn't bother anybody. Nobody bothered them. I'd be coming up and he'd be coming out and I'd wave and he didn't wave back. He just wasn't very outgoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Well, law enforcement sources have told us that this is somebody who certainly had anti-abortion and anti-government views, but it's not clear that was the motive for what happened at the Planned Parenthood clinic behind me.

We do know that the shooter essentially gave up after nearly six hours there was this basically a bearcat, this is an armored car that essentially rammed into the Planned Parenthood, all the witnesses to escape and people who were inside and essentially the suspect gave up. We know he'll have his first court hearing some time on Monday. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Simon, thank you so much.

So let's talk about more about this with CNN law enforcement analyst Art Roderick. So Art, the U.S. attorney says they're working with the Department of Justice on what charges to bring against the suspect. Based on what you know is this a classic case of domestic terrorism or something else?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It looks like a classic case of domestic terrorism. Obviously, there's got to be a lot of issues to work through. You have state jurisdictional stuff, you have federal jurisdictional stuff going on here. Obviously you have three homicides which will more than likely be handled by the state, but I think probably DOJ and the bureau are going to step in and possibly file some domestic terrorism charges against him.

Once they sort out exactly, it's going to be interesting to see what the triggering issue was that caused him to go out on Friday to this particular location, and I think obviously he's living with his girlfriend, they're going to interview her. They're going to look at what he's got inside the trailer there. Was he a big writer of manifestos. All that will add to exactly what his motivation was to go out on that particular day.

[16:05:10]

WHITFIELD: We even heard the Colorado Springs mayor, John Southers, try to make comparisons between Dear and Ted Kaczynski who was found in a very remote area. He was convicted as the unabomber. When you have someone who is living in remote places and there are, I guess, neighbors talked about they knew he was hasn't government and he was anti-abortion, how much more difficult or even easier does it make it for law enforcement to try to anticipate or keep a closer watch on individuals like that?

RODERICK: Well, I mean, it's not necessary that he was anti-government or anti-abortion. It was the fact that it seems like, from what we've heard from witnesses and from neighbors, that he was completely off the grid. So if he's not out socializing with people, he was handing out anti-Obama pamphlet, but if he's not out there on social media, if he's not out there talking to people about his views expressing them outwardly, it's very difficult to pin these individuals down.

WHITFIELD: So the pamphlets, I guess you're saying it wouldn't necessarily catch the attention of whether it would be local investigators or even federal because now you have the social media kind of footprint that assists law enforcement, but before that, even before, you know, the unabomber leading up to that, you didn't have that but something like a pamphlet might be enough to go on, would it not?

RODERICK: It might be. If that pamphlet had any types of threats to the president, I can guarantee you the Secret Service would have been all over that. But if it's just something against the president's politics or whatever, this isn't not going to raise to the level where you're going to have federal, state or local law enforcement involved in looking at this individual.

The fact that he's off the grid, I mean, even the unabomber, once they got into his shack in the middle of the woods, you know, they found his manifesto. He had it published, all his writings and that's what really brought him to the forefront as far as law enforcement.

WHITFIELD: Right. So I hear you. So the pamphlets in the case of Dear, that's simply exercising first amendment rights and not necessarily raising any real eyebrows or red flags.

Art Roderick, thank you for your time.

RODERICK: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. The family of campus police officer Garrett Swasey is asking for privacy during this time of grief for them. His wife, Rachel, releaseing this statement saying "Our loss cannot be expressed in words. While the nation now knows Garrett as a hero who gave his life for others, he was also a devoted husband of 17 years and a wonderful father to his two children. His greatest joys were his family, his church and his profession. We'll cherish his memory, especially those times he spent tossing the football to his son and snuggling with his daughter on the couch."

We're also learning more about Officer Swasey's passion for ice skating. Before becoming a police officer Swasey was a champion ice dancer. He was also skating partners with former U.S. national champion and Olympian Nancy Kerrigan. The two were childhood friends growing up in Massachusetts.

Kerrigan said she's heartbroken by his death and said he was just like a little brother to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY KERRIGAN, FORMER TRAINING PARTNER OF OFFICER SWASEY: A true friend, just very loyal. And loving, caring person. Good listener. He was sort of passionate about everything. Everything was done with great big giant smile and he had fun in life. So sad. He's got two young kids that they literally run to him every time he comes in the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Officer Garrett Swasey was 44 years old.

And still to come in the "Newsroom," new details on the Paris terror attacks. A source tells CNN the lead Paris attacker who is still on the run bought detonators in France. We're live in Belgium right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:12:24]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. New details on the lead suspect still on the run after the Paris terror attacks. A source close to the investigation tells CNN that Salah Abdelsalam bought detonators before the attacks in France.

Alexandra Field is live for us now in Brussels with more on this story. What more are we learning about these purchases?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Fredricka.

Another reason why police are so interested in finding Salah Abdelsalam who has been the most wanted person in connection with the Paris attacks already we knew that Salah's brother had been identified as one of the suicide bombers who carried out the attacks on Friday, November 13th. We know from investigators that the two brothers together had rented the cars that were used in the attacks, and now sources are telling CNN that Salah Abdelsalam had actually purchased detonators prior to those attacks.

A French newspaper is reporting that the owner or the manager of that store contacted authorities about that purchase after realizing that Abdelsalam had become the focus of this international manhunt. He has managed to evade authorities since the night of the 13th. Officials say that he slipped out of France and back into Belgium. He was able to evade that police dragnet in the immediate hours after the attacks because police didn't yet know who they were looking for.

This hunt for Abdelsalam has created a very high terror alert level here in Belgium, it was at its highest alert level just a few days ago where we are in Brussels. They're now down to level three out of four which means that the hunt for him is continuing.

But we are hearing from U.S. lawmakers today especially House and Homeland security chair who says he is confident that authorities are in fact getting closer to the subject of this manhunt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera):: Mr. Chairman, do you know anything about whether investigators may be closer to finding Abdelsalam, do you think they have a sense of whether he's still in Europe or instead he's made his way to Syria?

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Well, I can't get into that level of specificity. I don't want to compromise our investigation. I do think they're closing in on him. That's the good news. There are many involved in this plot. It's a very sophisticated plot, an external operation that we've seen from ISIS. You mentioned the bombing of the Russian airliner, this is a new ISIS, a new chapter for them to be able to conduct three external operations in just recent times.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[16:15:00]

FIELD: The search for Salah Abdelsalam has prompted raids and arrests across Brussels. Already, the two men who are said to have driven Abdelsalam from Paris to Brussels were arrested by police, another man was also arrested, who was said to have picked him up once he reached Brussels and drove him to another location.

And Fredricka, we know that along with searching for Abdelsalam police are also looking for another man, Mohammed Abrini, who was seen with Abdelsalam just two days before the attacks. Fred?

FIELD: All right. Alexandra Field, thank you so much, in Brussels.

I want to bring back right now, CNN law enforcement analyst, Art Roderick. So Art, as we hear these details, what is most significant to you?

RODERICK: Well, what's most significant to me is that they've picked up individuals that transported him which I do agree with Representative McCaul sounds like they're getting very close to him which is a fantastic thing. So I think obviously if he's alive, he's going to be the key to how this whole thing was put together.

But I think we've been asking from day one what exact role he had in this particular attack. Was he a logistics person, was he, you know, one of the leaders to put this together, or was he a bomb expert? And in the hierarchy, when I was at Homeland Security, we received regular briefings on intel on how these organizations are put together and what latest IED methods they're using and how they make suicide vests.

A bombmaker is very high up in the hierarchy because of the knowledge they have on how to put these types of devices and vests together. If he's out purchasing detonators, that he might have a higher role in this particular terrorist attack than thought previously.

WHITFIELD: Oh, interesting. Then tell me how calculating this would be that these detonators would be purchased in France because I suppose you're going to tell us if purchased elsewhere that might kind of raise the flag or we would be a lot more noticeable?

RODERICK: Well, it comes to a transportation issue. I mean, if you purchase them within the country that you're going to actually commit the offense, then it's easier to obviously hide that stuff. I think it was great on the part of the fireworks person to call immediately afterwards once he recognized he sold those detonators to this individual, but to transport them across borders or across lines is a lot more difficult than just purchase them in the country where you're going to commit the criminal act.

WHITFIELD: Right. That helps underscores how smart it was to release the image of him and his name so that shop owner could recognize that person and say, "wait a minute, I remember selling those detonators to that individual and then tipping off police." But again he's still at large.

All right. Art Roderick, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

RODERICK: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And in another story from Paris today, frightening scenes as protesters there clash with police.

Hundreds arrested on the streets and police firing tear gas to help control the crowd. They're demonstrating ahead of the big climate conference that begins tomorrow. Police banned big protest marches planned ahead of the conference because of the terror attacks two weeks ago.

Leaders from around the world are beginning to gather, however, for that conference including President Barack Obama expected to arrive in the next hour. Talks over climate change agreement begin tomorrow and run through Tuesday. President Barack Obama expected to meet with leaders from China and India.

Some observers are also saying there is a chance that Mr. Obama could have a side meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Next, Donald Trump has been repeating it for months. He's going to win the GOP presidential nomination. By next guest says it's time for the pundits to admit that indeed could be true. He explains next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:28]

WHITFIELD: Donald Trump may actually win the Republican presidential nomination according to Emory University political scientist Professor Alan Abramowitz. He is also one of the nation's leading election forecasters. Abramowitz says this, quote, "Republicans are tuned in to a much greater degree than they were at this point in previous nomination contests. You can see that in polling when you ask whether voters are paying attention and you can see that in ratings for the debate. The idea that voters are not tuned in yet and won't make up their minds till January or later may not prove as true as it has in the past.

So we thought we'd give a jingle - call Professor Abramowitz and see if he can join us. Here he is. So you got Trump leading in all if not most of the state polling. You believe that as a strong indicator perhaps that he may indeed win the nomination. But what's the other criteria that you're measuring to see if indeed that would be the case for him?

ALAN ABRAMOWITZ, ONE OF THE LEADING ELECTION FORECASTERS: Well, I think he's really tapped into the sort of anger and frustration that Republican primary voters are feeling toward their own party's leadership. And I think that is a big part of his appeal. And part of the reason why it's very difficult for those party leaders and elected officials to actually take him on and bring him down, which many of them would like to do. But they're having a very hard time figuring out how to do that without it reinforcing his appeal to Republican voters.

WHITFIELD: Because the pattern that we've seen already, if he's challenged even by other contenders, somehow that serves him well, his polling numbers go up and it's a little bit more defeating for the other candidate.

ABRAMOWITZ: Right. And the other thing we see when we look at the polls of Republican voters is that they actually agree with Trump on a number of the key issues and they see him as the best candidate to represent their views on issues like terrorism, the economy and, of course, immigration is a big one.

WHITFIELD: And you even say that he's kind of been the leader of immigration, terrorism and the economy, but do you believe that's the interpretation from voters.

ABRAMOWITZ: I think Republican voters see him that way. If you look at his views on immigration, obviously he's taken some pretty extreme positions on immigration, but you find that among the Republican primary voters, he has a big lead in terms of which candidate favor on that issue. It's pretty startling.

[16:25:00]

WHITFIELD: Is it unusual, remarkable to you, noticeable, that it seems as though the Republican leadership has been somewhat silent as we look at the calendar and see there are only a bit over a month away from the first caucus and primary and you're not seeing from Republican leadership elected or even the RNC really throw their support behind anyone in particular.

ABRAMOWITZ: I think that's been rather surprising in a way.

WHITFIELD: What's behind that?

ABRAMOWITZ: So I think there's not a clear front-runner for the nomination. Initially, I think a lot of the party establishment was ready to get behind Jeb Bush. As his campaign has sort of fallen apart and he's declined in the polls, they've been looking for someone else to get behind.

WHITFIELD: Even though the polling says otherwise if there is a clear leader.

ABRAMOWITZ: The polling says that Donald Trump is the leader but he'll get very few endorsements from Republican party leaders and elected officials. They're very worried about the effect that he would have on the party in a general election.

WHITFIELD: And in you view, if not Donald Trump are you looking at a Ted Cruz potentially as we see he's gaining momentum really giving Ben carson a run for the money as it pertains to polling numbers?

ABRAMOWITZ: Yes. I think there's no question that Ted Cruz is very well positioned to inherit a lot of the Trump supporters and Carson supporters if those two candidates fall by the wayside. So he could come up and he's not someone the Republican establishment is particularly fond of either.

Marco Rubio might be the guy right now they'd like to see move up and become the front-runner, but he's got a long way to go to gain that status.

WHITFIELD: But he's picked up some points as it pertains to polling. We him in double digits now where for a very long time it was three percent.

ABRAMOWITZ: I think it's Rubio, Cruz and Trump right now as the three leaders, very strong chance that one of those three will be the Republican nominee.

WHITFIELD: As you look at the landscape is this considered an exciting race to you? We started out with a field of what, 16 or so, it's been whittled down in different fashions. But just in your experience of really watching primary races toward the presidency, what strikes you as most unique about this one?

ABRAMOWITZ: It's very exciting, it's very unpredictable.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ABRAMOWITZ: I mean, we've never had a nomination race in recent years where we've had this many candidates, where we've had candidates like Donald Trump and Ben Carson who held up at the front, especially Trump, being at the front of the field for as long as they have. So they're going to make it very exciting to see what happens over the next couple of months.

WHITFIELD: All bets are off. Anything can happen still?

ABRAMOWITZ: Just about.

WHITFIELD: OK. Professor Abramowitz, good to see you. Thank you very much.

ABRAMOWITZ: Glad to be with you.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it.

All right. Don't forget, the next Republican presidential debate is right here on CNN, Tuesday, December 15th. Mark your calendar. 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:01]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I am Fredricka Whitfield. Back to our big story now, a second victim has been identified in Friday's Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado. He is Keare Stewart, veteran Police Officer Garrett Swasey and one other person was also killed. And this as we're learning more about the suspected gunman, a law enforcement official says Robert Louis Dear talked about baby parts to investigators after his surrender. The official say Dear told police he had have anti-government and anti-abortion views. But it's unclear if that was his alleged motive for opening fire at the clinic. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper said this morning that these kinds of shootings are happening too often and the U.S. needs to think about how to prevent further attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HICKENLOOPER, COLORADO GOVERNOR: I think as a state but as a country we've got a lot more thinking about how to keep guns out of hands of people that are unstable. I think we have to come back and look at all aspects of why these shootings have continued to occur, you know, in Oregon or South Carolina and Colorado. The frequency is unacceptable. And I don't -- you know, I am not willing to say we just have to sit back and accept this as a cost of freedom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Planned Parenthood is calling this domestic terrorism. Do you agree with that assessment? HICKENLOOPER: Certainly, it is a form of terrorism and maybe in some

way it's a function of the inflammatory rhetoric that we see on all -- I mean, so many issues now there are bloggers and -- you know, talk shows where they really focus on trying to get people to that point of boiling over, just intense anger. If people are in some way emotionally unstable or psychologically unbalanced, that intensive rhetoric sometimes seems to pull a trigger in their brain that they lose contact with what reality is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Governor Hickenlooper ordered flags on all public buildings in the state to be lowered to half staff.

The Department of Justice is potentially reviewing this incident as possible domestic terrorism, they're also looking at possible hate crime charges. I asked the Mayor of Colorado Springs, John Suthers, if he thinks Friday's attack should be defined as domestic terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SUTHERS, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO: I think it could be a form of it. But we have to deal with a couple of realities. Number one, the First Amendment's not going to go away. We're going to see inflammatory rhetoric. The question is what can we do constitutionally to deal with these situations? In the past as Attorney General I was looking at violent incidents like this in the past and looking for common scenarios. One conclusion was that we don't do a very good job of identifying people with potential mental health issues.

And this situation, you know, we've got a guy that's basically off the grid, very much so. And it's very, very difficult for law enforcement to deal with. This is a guy that did not have a serious criminal record and was holed up in a cabin 65 miles from here in the mountains unbeknownst to a lot of people. He was literally off the grid.

WHITFIELD: How are people doing there in Colorado Springs? What is next for your community?

SUTHERS: You know we're in a process of healing. Our community is sending a very strong message that we're not going to be defined by this tragedy. We're going to be defined by our response to it, in particular, the incredibly brave and heroic response of the first responders. I was in the command center watching the communication between the officers in the command center, monitoring the movements of the perpetrator on security cameras and conveying that to the SWAT Team inside. I am absolutely positive that the way that the police handled themselves saved some lives in this instance.

[16:35:01]

And you know, we're going to honor the police officer that died, we're going to honor the victims of this tragedy, but we're going to ensure that it's how we respond that defines us and not the tragedy itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Thanks to Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers for that conversation.

The first of six Baltimore police officers charged in the Freddie Gray case goes on trail tomorrow. What he's facing, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Jury selection begins tomorrow in the trial of William Porter. Porter is the first of six Baltimore police officers to stand trial in connection with the death of Freddie Gray, an incident that sparked protests and rioting. Porter faces several charges including involuntary manslaughter. CNN Correspondent Sara Ganim joining me now with the latest. Sarah, what can you tell us about tomorrow's jury selection?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know it's been seven months since the riots and the arrests in Baltimore. Tomorrow attorneys will begin picking the 12 jurors who will hear the case against Baltimore Police Officer William Porter. He's the first of six officers to stand trial in Gray's death. Porter's charged with involuntary manslaughter, second degree assault, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment. Prosecutors say he ignored Freddie Gray's pleas for medical help when Freddie Gray was in the back of that police transport vehicle. Porter's trial is first because he could later testify against fellow officers in the trial follow, including the one officer who is charged with murder.

[16:40:01]

The Baltimore Sun has been reporting that Porter told investigators that he told his fellow officers that he wasn't sure if Freddie Gray's complaints about his injuries were real or were fake. The State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby has said it was that 45 minute rough ride in the back of a police van that caused Gray's death. Now rough rides are the term that's used to describe a form of police brutality, when police drive erratically with prisoners in the back of a transport van, often causing them to get roughed up. Prosecutors say that Gray, who had been picked up on a weapons charge suffered a severe spinal cord injury in the van and that led to his death.

Interesting thing about William Porter, the officer going on trial tomorrow, who is 25 years old. You can see him. He says that his life paralleled Gray's in many ways. You see him here on screen. In a Washington Post profile, Porter talked about growing up in the same neighborhood as Gray, dealing with the same hardships, saying this to the Washington Post, if I had made different choices, I would have been Freddie Gray. If he had made different choices, he could have been an Officer Porter, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sara Ganim. Thank you so much. Again, jury selection beginning tomorrow in Baltimore.

Three years ago on Black Friday, 17-year-old Jordan Davis was shot and killed after an argument over loud music. He was an unarmed black teenager in a car in a Florida gas station parking lot. The man who pulled the trigger Michael Dunn had claimed self-defense, but he was convicted of first degree murder. This week the documentary 3 1/2 minutes, 10 bullets airs on HBO. It goes through the final moments of Davis' life and the torment his parents will live with forever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The phone was sitting on top of the dresser. And I just came in, and I saw it was Ron and it was about 10:45. Hey, Ron, what's up? Happy thanksgiving. He said I got something I need to tell you. I said where is Jordan? What happened to Jordan? And he didn't want to tell me. I yelled. I said, what happened to Jordan?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Tonight you can hear more from Davis' mother Lucia McBath. She joins Poppy Harlow live at 6 o'clock Eastern Time.

Presidential Candidate Ben Carson is describing his trip to Syria and the -- or I should say his trip to the Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. Hear what he said he learned during his trip overseas, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I am Fredricka Whitfield. Republican Presidential Candidate Ben Carson heading home from a trip to Jordan after visiting two Syrian refugees camps there. Earlier, he appeared on CNN's State of the Union and detailed what he learned from this trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The thing that I really learned here in listening to the refugees themselves is their intense desire to return to their own country and be repatriated. There are so many people who think that the ideal for everybody is to come to America and to be settled here, but that is not the ideal for everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining me right now from the White House is our Sunlen Serfaty, So Sunlen, tell us more about what he believed he learned there and how it might influence his poll.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, it will be interesting to watch his polling to see if reacts to him. Clearly, this trip was designed to beef up his foreign policy credentials and it comes at a time when he's really received an increased level of scrutiny over his experience. So certainly part of the strategy here is for him to gain more knowledge, go firsthand and see the situation at the border. Today, he was out on many interviews talking about his conversations with the refugees at that Jordanian refugee camp. And that seems to be his key takeaway here. He spoke with the refugees and asked them point blank would you rather be resettled in the United States or would you rather stay here at this camp? [16:45:01]

And here's what he said this morning on State of the Union, what he concluded about what they told him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARSON: Their true desire is to be resettled in Syria, but they're satisfied to be in the refugee camps if the refugee camps are adequately funded. Recognize that in these camps, they have schools, they have recreational facilities that are really quite nice. And they're putting in all kinds of things that make life more tolerable. Would it be better to integrate them into the society? Yes. And I certainly talked to some people about that. But you know you have to make progress as you go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And Ben Carson later went on to imply that he thinks the United States should be doing more in terms of giving aid to these refugee camps but not necessarily to be taking in more refugees. Of course, this is a big issue out on the campaign trail. He like many of the other GOP candidates do not believe at this time the U.S. should be taking in those refugees over fear that some terrorists could be intermixed with the refugees coming over. Certainly, we'll expect to see Ben Carson talking about this a lot more on the campaign trail.

WHITFIELD: Sunlen, mainstream media was not invited to document his trip. His camp did say there were two journalists who had videotapes perhaps working for the campaigns who were accompanying him and taking pictures and documenting this. Do we know where that information -- where those images will go, when or how they might be shared with the public?

SERFATY: Not yet. This trip, Fred, as you pointed out, was really shrouded in secrecy leading up to the trip. He did not announce this trip ahead of time. They said it was planned weeks in advance, but he went over to Jordan over the weekend and he brought two journalists what the campaign will call journalists. We don't know when that will be released. You're looking at images, this video and pictures from his travels, you know, trying to highlight a little leadership on this issue, trying to show him in settings favorable to him as a candidate, of course, meeting with refugees and talking about these issues at the border, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right, don't forget the next Republican Presidential Debate is right here on CNN Tuesday, December 15th, 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

All right coming up, ice coating trees and roads, deadly floods in Texas, the terrible weather in some parts of the country is dealing with today, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top story, a man has been arrested following the shooting death of a Pennsylvania police officer. Lloyd Reed was killed while responding to a domestic dispute east of Pittsburgh. Investigators say 31-year-old Ray Shetler Jr. shot Reed and ran. Shetler was captured about six hours later.

And two women walking along a bike path in Compton, California, find a newborn buried alive. A neighbor describes what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGEL FLORES, NEIGHBOR OF THE WOMAN WHO FOUND THE BABY: And that hole there was -- I believe that's the hole and it had pieces of wood on top of it with rocks on top of it. And when she took the stuff off, she found a newborn baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow, that baby girl believed to be about two days old was under a foot of asphalt and debris. Deputies took the newborn to the hospital. She's in stable condition. Police are looking for the parents who will face attempted murder and child endangerment charges.

And Pope Francis is in the Central African Republic, the last leg of his African tour. Today he urged warring factions in that country to lay down their weapons. He also celebrated mass and administered the sacrament of reconciliation, also known as confession, to a group of young people there.

And at least ten weather-related deaths are reported in Texas and Kansas as many people hit the roads for a busy post-Thanksgiving travel day. Wintry weather slamming parts of the south-central U.S. right now with some 11 million people under flood warnings, and 10 million others under winter storm warnings, flooding claimed three lives in the Dallas area. One victim includes a 29-year-old man who was on his way to work when floodwaters swept his car off the road. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joining me now, so Derek, this is a very nasty and potentially even more deadly storm?

[16:53:01]

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, that's right. It's a massive storm as well, Fredricka. This thing blankets 15 states with heavy rain, a rain snow mix or dangerous ice. This is the problem with these early winter season snowstorms. We still have the fall foliage on the leaves and you add half an inch to up to an inch of ice on top of that and these are the scenes that are left over. This is in Oklahoma City earlier this morning. Fortunately, the icing threat in Oklahoma City has subsided but there are other parts of the country now that we're starting to focus on. Not great news that we're coinciding this with the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Let's time this thing out for you so you can see what to expect. Late tonight, central and eastern Kansas, that's where we're expecting another quarter to maybe a third of an inch of icing to take place. Rainfall moves eastward through the Tennessee River valley, then the storm breaks off and moves northward across the northern plains. That's where we have a full fledged snowstorm in places like Minneapolis, St. Paul, and you can see the weather watches that will take place across this region. Winter storm warnings, you see the shading of pink. Winter storm watches will likely be upgraded as we have upwards of 6 to 10 inches of snow.

That will start taking place late Monday night and once again into Tuesday. On top of this we have our heavy rain threat. We have had flooding across Texas. We've broken all kinds of records, Fredricka. They've had their wettest year on record in Dallas, over five feet.

WHITFIELD: That's incredible. What -- just about a month ago that was a very sizable huge storm, remnants of the hurricane.

VAN DAM: That's correct.

WHITFIELD: Which really is -- all right, Derek Van Dam, good to see you, thank you so much.

VAN DAM: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right, that's going to do it for me. Thanks so much for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Poppy Harlow has much more in the NEWSROOM starting right now.