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Terror Investigation; Trump Meets With Pastors; Accused Planned Parenthood Gunman in Court. Aired 15-15:30p ET

Aired November 30, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:03]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NARRATOR: Join Anderson Cooper for "CNN HEROES: An All-Star Tribute" Sunday night at 8:00.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: It's a very special night. Again, it is Sunday, December 6, this Sunday night 8:00 p.m. Eastern. You can see all of our top 10 Heroes honored during "CNN HEROES: All-Star Tribute" hosted by our very own Anderson Cooper.

Top of the hour. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for my friend Brooke Baldwin.

Just moments from now, the man accused of killing three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic is expected to stand for the first time before a judge. Robert Deal -- Dear, I should say, will make his first court appearance since Friday's standoff. That deadly standoff lasted nearly six hours. Three lives were taken, nine more injured, five still in the hospital.

Investigators have not said publicly what his motive may have been, but a law enforcement source does tell CNN that dear said something about -- quote -- "baby parts" after the shooting, also that he expressed anti-abortion and anti-government views.

We have also just learned that the funeral will be held this Friday for the man you see on your screen, the University of Colorado police officer who was killed in the attack. His name is Garrett Swasey. He was a 44-year-old married father of two. We also know the names of the two others killed. You see them there on your screen, a 35-year-old stay-at-home mother, Jennifer Markovsky, and a 29-year-old Iraq War veteran, Ke'Arre Stewart. He also leaves behind a wife and two children.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is live at the jail where Dear is being held without bond.

We're likely going to find out the charges against him. Anything else?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy, we are going to find out.

We are outside of the jail where he's being held and we understand that he will be arraigned via uplink to the courthouse. Now, at the courthouse, we understand that there are some of the victims that will be there, that will be present there. CNN also does have someone there as well. We will get some idea of what goes down inside the courtroom here.

I also want to just alert you to something else that we have just learned about here on the ground. Where we are is outside the jail, but it's also outside of the coroner's office. And what we understand is about to happen is that there's a procession lining up and they are going to bring the body of officer Garrett Swasey and take it to the funeral home.

You just mentioned that his funeral is going to be on Friday. They are lining up to give him the due respect that they believe he deserves and they are lining up to start coming down the road here to honor him as they prepare to say their final goodbyes to him, Poppy.

HARLOW: It's interesting, Stephanie. You said that some of the survivors, really victims of this attack, will be there. Do we know if they are going to be able to say anything in this initial court appearance?

ELAM: I don't know yet how this is going to play out, if these are victims, if they're family members, if they're survivors. All of that, we don't know. This is just the initial indication we have been given from the officials that they will be in the courtroom.

Whether or not it will be like something we saw in South Carolina after the -- what happened there with the church, no, we don't know if it's going to be something like that, if they will speak or not. But that's why we are waiting to see what will happen here in just a few minutes and to find out what his fate will be.

We do know that the DA has 10 days before they have to finish filing all of their charges against him. And in that time, they may amend, they may add more, they may decide what they want to do. Police also saying that it's going to take six to seven days before they fully finish working the crime scene before they are able to put together exactly why they believe Dear did what he allegedly did on Friday afternoon, Poppy.

HARLOW: All right, Stephanie Elam live for us there outside of the jail where we know that Robert Dear will make that court appearance through video. We will see if any of those survivors, victims' family members, et cetera, will speak like we saw in South Carolina, as you said. Stephanie, thank you very much.

More breaking news also out of Chicago. This involves the police officer there charged with first-degree murder, bond today being set at $1.5 million for officer Jason Van Dyke. You will remember this case all caught on dash-cam video, that video just coming out last week showing a shooting in 2014, the deadly shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. He was shot 16 times in just 15 seconds. CNN's Rosa Flores following this throughout.

You were just in the courtroom. Bond set at $1.5 million. What else happened?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Poppy, I was trying to get just reaction from some of the religious leaders here in Chicago.

And I got a text message moments ago from one of the reverends, and his reaction was one word, and that was "Outrageous." Like you said, bond set at $1.5 million for Jason Van Dyke. Now, he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Laquan McDonald.

Now, bond came down to the judge viewing the video of this shooting. Let me take you through this video, because you know, Poppy, it's very graphic and it triggered protests and it also was viewed in the courtroom by the judge.

[15:05:08]

And that's how he set bond at $1.5 million. Before this, he had denied bond. In that video, you see Laquan McDonald walking through the street with a knife on his right-hand side. Several cruisers responding to that scene, including Jason Van Dyke.

Now, according to court records, six seconds after Jason Van Dyke arrived on scene, he started discharging his weapon, shooting 16 times. According to the autopsy report, he hit McDonald 16 times. So, upon the judge viewing this in court -- now, I was in the spillover room with some of the supporters, the Laquan McDonald supporters, and there was a little confusion because the microphone was a little muffled, so they didn't realize that there was actually bond set, that bond was not denied, like it was originally was.

Once I caught up with them, they were discouraged by the fact that bond was actually set. Now, I talked to Jason Van Dyke's attorney as he was walking out of court, Poppy, and he said that they are done doing interviews, that he will not release a statement whether bond is posted or not -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Rosa Flores, live for us there outside the court, thank you very much, Rosa.

Also more breaking news to tell you about out of Chicago. We know an arrest has been made in that threat today against the University of Chicago, the FBI first picking up the threat which promised a shooting on campus right at the quad at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Officials not naming the suspect, but they say he or she goes to the University of Illinois in Chicago, so it's a student there. It's entirely separate, I should note, from the University of Chicago. This is the University of Illinois in Chicago. The suspect's school releasing a statement -- quote -- "We are

monitoring the situation closely. We are concerned about the impact this has had on our campus and of course on the University of Chicago."

We should point out the threat was not made to the suspect's own school, only made to the University of Chicago.

Right now, a manhunt widening for one of the world's most wanted ISIS terrorists. CNN sources saying that Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in those Paris attacks, the eighth suspect who has been on the run ever since, he may have escaped to the ISIS safe haven of Syria.

Is that possible? Could he have made it all the way back to Syria with the world looking for him? Here's what we know about his movements thus far. In September of this year, sources say the Belgium-born Frenchman was spotted in Paris. And as of today, a new piece in this puzzle, a source telling CNN that some time in October he bought 10 detonators from a fireworks shop on the outskirts of the city.

Then, in November, his movements get a lot clearer. We know that on November 11, he was spotted on cameras at a gas station between Brussels and Paris. On November the 13th, the day of the attack, he's believed to have driven that black Renault Clio that dropped off those three suicide bombers right outside of the Saint-Denis.

And then the following day, the day after the attacks, November the 14th, 9:00 a.m. local time, he's stopped by French authorities on the highway right at the French-Belgian border, but he is let go because at that point they don't know that he's tied to the attack at that point. He escapes to Brussels and he's picked up by a friend.

Apparently, they stop at a cafe and the belief is now, well, he potentially has managed to make his way back into Syria. That's one working theory that they are looking at.

Joining me now, CNN's Alexandra Field. She's live for us in Brussels, and Paris-based journalist Stefan de Vries.

Alex, to you first. That's what one intelligence official is telling CNN. But then the Belgian authorities have come out in the last few hours and it seems like they are debunking the talk that Abdeslam could be back in Syria. Is that right?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

Until somebody finds Abdeslam, nobody can say definitely of course where he is. But we do have these sources who are saying the French authorities are at least operating under the assumption that he has in fact made his way to Syria.

Conversely, however, you have the Belgian authorities who say they have always been operating under the assumption that Salah Abdeslam would try to make his way to Syria. But they have no indication, no evidence to speak of that he has reached Syria. So what does that mean for all practical purposes? It means the

terror alert level remains high in Belgium, that authorities here continue to respond to any possible leads or tips which could bring them either towards Salah Abdeslam or anyone in a network that could be helping to conceal him while he could potentially remain in Belgium.

Even last night, Poppy, there were more raids in this city as officers responded to a tip possibly alerting them to Abdeslam's whereabouts. They have now concluded that that tip came from a hoaxster, somebody who was pulling a prank here. That person could in fact be charged.

[15:10:01]

But it does show you how significantly police are responding to these tips here. And it does underscore the fact that they have every reason to believe it is at least possible that Abdeslam does in fact remain in Belgium.

HARLOW: At least possible that he remains in Belgium. If only they could find him, the most wanted man in Europe clearly right now.

Alexandra Field, thank you very much live for us in Brussels, Belgium, this evening.

Stefan, to you. Another hugely disturbing development, the fact that one of the friends of one of these attackers has now come forward of their own will to authorities and said that these attacks were not the only ones that were planned, that this web of terrorists had also planned to attack schools, transportation hubs, Jewish sites specifically.

When I was there in Paris, I was in front of a Jewish school. They wouldn't let us film in front. They had armed guards, members of the French military. They were incredibly concerned. What's just the feeling among Parisians knowing that there were more attacks apparently planned?

STEFAN DE VRIES, FRENCH JOURNALIST: It's unfortunately a reality we have to live with.

Of course, since January since the attacks at "Charlie Hebdo," we knew there would be more attacks. But attacks on the scale of 13th of November, well, that's something nobody really counted upon. And of course we know that the danger has not gone. So of course schools, but also Jewish schools and Jewish supermarkets, they can be targets of next attacks.

There's another development today is that probably the mastermind, the one who gave the orders to commit the attacks is a person named Abu Muhammad al-Adnani. He is a Syrian and he's a high- ranked officer apparently in the so-called I.S. This is one of the persons that is now thought, believed to be one of the -- maybe the guy who ordered these attacks.

So that's a new development in the French investigation.

HARLOW: What about the fact that it turns out that Salah Abdeslam, the eighth attacker on the run, bought 10 detonators at a fireworks store just a few weeks before the attack just in the north of Paris?

One of our military analysts telling me yesterday just how this shows the contrast within ISIS right now, some things very sophisticated, the encrypted technology, the fact that they coordinated all six of these attacks under the radar, but then, at the same time, buying 10 detonators for I think 10 euros each at a fireworks store.

DE VRIES: Yes, that's of course incredible, an incredible detail.

It was discovered by accident because the owner of the fireworks store called police last night because he recognized Abdeslam from a photograph that he saw on the TV. It's by coincidence that we know this fact. It also shows how careless basically these terrorists prepared their attacks.

It may sound contradictory, but, yes, just buying detonators in a normal fireworks store, of which there are many in France, there was also the fact of course that they just used a normal cell phone, just sending each other text messages, not encrypted.

So it does seem that however -- well, these people are really prepared, but the details, they really, really didn't think about it. So it shows that maybe they carried out their attacks in haste and it also shows how easy, relatively easy it is to commit these attacks in Europe.

HARLOW: It certainly does. Stefan de Vries, thank you very much joining me live from Paris tonight.

Coming up, we're going to talk about a critical meeting Donald Trump is having today, meeting with black pastors from across the country. Some of them support him. Some do not. Some refused to go. You see all the attention outside of Trump Tower here in New York as they walked in for that meeting.

We're going to have a pastor on who declined the invitation to be there.

Also, Chris Christie responding to Trump's insult after he picks up a major endorsement in the key state of New Hampshire. We will talk about that.

And the police officer who saved a newborn. This is a remarkable story. You have to hear the story behind this photo, next.

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HARLOW: Donald Trump right now wrapping up a meeting at Trump Tower in New York with a group of black pastors from across the country.

He will not appear at a news conference the had been previously scheduled following the meeting. That event was canceled after several of the clergy members emphatically denied reports that they were planning to endorse Mr. Trump for president.

My next guest got an invitation to today's meeting. She opted not to attend.

Bishop Dr. Corletta Vaughn joins me now from Detroit.

Thank you for being with me.

BISHOP CORLETTA VAUGHN, THE HOLY GHOST CATHEDRAL: Thank you, Poppy. Thank you so much on my birthday.

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: Happy 35th birthday, as I said before.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Let's begin with this.

Look, it's one thing not to endorse him. Doesn't have to be your candidate. Why not just go to the meeting and hear him out?

VAUGHN: I think that we represent a community of people that believe, as I believe, that on his turf, in his town, in his towers, that we really may not get a good opportunity to express our real views. And I didn't think that it was a fair opportunity for me at that point to go even to the meeting.

HARLOW: So, if he came to Detroit and said I'm going to come over to your house, I'm going to sit with you, Bishop, what would you say? Would that be the right venue?

VAUGHN: I would say absolutely. I would say come to Detroit, walk the streets with me. Come inside of our church. Let this be an opportunity for you to be touched by what is our context is. And let's even the playing field, so that you can really be touched by what our issues are.

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HARLOW: All right. I want to play some sound for you to listen to of what some pastors have said who do support Donald Trump in his candidacy.

Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The African-American community needs to be

ashamed of themselves for the way they have reacted to our meeting with Mr. Trump.

They accuse Mr. Trump of being an insulting individual, but they levied insults at us that I wouldn't levy against people I hate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm tired of these black Americans being at the bottom of the barrel and the poorest people in America.

We need to create wealth. Donald Trump knows how to do that, you see? So I'm here to speak to in fact most of the black ministers and encourage everybody to vote for Donald Trump, because we need more entrepreneurs. The way you create wealth is through business.

We only have 3 to 3 percent of black Americans that are self- employed or do business. And we need a movement to create wealth, develop self-employment, independence and get our people off of welfare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: They say, Bishop, he's the one who can best help the African-American community. What do you say to them?

(LAUGHTER)

VAUGHN: I say that they have got to be kidding.

First of all, wealth is not created in the White House. Wealth is created in the communities. Wealth is created on the ground level, in the grassroot community, where people are involved. People are touching on the lower levels. So, that's just, I believe, a misconception of where wealth begins.

Certainly, he is an economic genius. He's a wealth magnet. But that's not all we need in our White House. And I'm very sad to hear that some of our constituents feel that he is our candidate. I do not believe that he is.

HARLOW: I want you to listen to this. Donald Trump was a guest this morning on MSNBC. And he brought up the Black Lives Matter movement and potential role in this. Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I think what happened, probably it gets publicity, unfortunately, as everything I do gets publicity, and probably some of the Black Lives Matter folks called them up, say, oh, you shouldn't be meeting with Trump because he believes that all lives matter. I believe black lives do matter, but I believe all lives matter very strongly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What do you make of that assertion? He says he believes some in the Black Lives Matter are telling African-American pastors not to meet with him.

VAUGHN: Well, let me just say this. This is one African- American preaching woman that Black Lives Matter constituents did not reach out to.

I make my own decision. I don't believe that we are being bullied by any group of people. We made our own decisions. Certainly, for those that wanted to go and speak with Mr. Trump, I think it's a great thing. For those of us that choose not to, I think that's a great thing as well.

We were not bullied into making a decision. I think that Mr. Trump is a great economic person. He's a businessman. But I also think that he's divisive. I have not yet seen him kind to women, and I'm very concerned about the women and children issue. I'm very concerned about sex trafficking.

I'm very concerned about 1.5 million black men that are taken away out of everyday life because they are in prison. I'm very concerned about the economics of our community, particularly with those black men missing. So, I'm concerned about other issues, not just money.

What they try to do is, however, Poppy, is they raise these moral issues and they try to ring the bells of Christianity with saying, OK, what about abortion? What about the same-sex issue? They raise moral issues.

I personally go to church for my religion. I don't want religion in my politics.

HARLOW: Bishop, it's nice to have you on, Bishop Corletta Vaughn, also a doctor, I should note. Thank you very much for your time this afternoon. And happy birthday.

VAUGHN: Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

HARLOW: Happy birthday.

All right, coming up next, is the alliance over? Moments ago, strong words from Senator Ted Cruz about Donald Trump and the billionaire's chances of becoming president, this as Cruz creeps higher and higher in the polls.

Also, the police officer who saved a newborn buried alive under concrete getting ready to speak live about that miraculous rescue. You won't want to miss the story behind this incredible photo next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:40]

HARLOW: Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie just picked up a key endorsement in New Hampshire, a leading newspaper there, the influential "New Hampshire Union Leader," backing his 2016 run for president, the publisher saying that Christie was -- quote -- "right for these dangerous times."

After the news broke, it did not take long for another GOP candidate, Donald Trump, to react, tweeting: "How is Chris Christie running the state of New Jersey, which is deeply troubled, when he's spending all his time in New Hampshire. New Jerseyans not happy."

Trump tweeted. Of course, Chris Christie shot back. Here's what he said on CNN today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm really glad that Donald noticed me. That's so nice. And I'm happy to take any observations he has, even if he can only do them in 140 characters or less, which seems to be the best way he can communicate. So that's fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining me from Washington, CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger.

And I do want to get to Chris Christie in a moment, but just crossing the wires, Ted Cruz, who is now running second to Donald Trump in Iowa, just came out and told a room of voters in Iowa: Look, you guys in Iowa take politics seriously. I don't think Donald Trump is going to be the nominee. I never did.

What do you make of that, because in the context of the fact that Cruz has held back from criticizing Donald Trump at all this entire time?

(CROSSTALK)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, when it worked for him to hold back, he held back. And he held back because he understood that some Trump supporters could be peeled off and could become