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At This Hour

100 Black Pastors Meet with Trump; Christie Gets New Endorsement, Talks National Security; Indonesian Officials Release Results on AirAsia Crash; Mayor Rahm Emanuel's New Conference of McDonald Death. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired December 01, 2015 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:02] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jean, this is going to be ongoing. We know you're following it for us.

Thank you so much.

Jean Casarez for us in Baltimore.

Coming up, new endorsements and a new beef with Donald Trump. How Governor Chris Christie is ruffling the Republican front-runner's feathers.

Plus, more than three minutes of terror. We have new details about the crash of an AirAsia flight and why the pilots are being blamed for it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: They made it clear, a group of 100 black pastors weren't all sold on endorsing Donald Trump, but they still showed up for a closed- door meeting with the Republican front-runner.

Here's how Donald Trump said the meeting went.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: We actually didn't think we would be having a press conference, but we all thought it was such a good meeting, we would do that. We have many, many endorsements that came out of the meeting.

And I saw love in that room. I see love everywhere I go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:35:12] KEILAR: Well, the Trump campaign had initially billed this as a sweeping endorsement from the coalition of pastors, but they walked that back after several of the pastors basically said, no, no, we're just here to talk.

Joining me now is Reverend William Owens, the president and founder of the Coalition of African-American Pastors.

Reverend, thank you for being with us. Tell us, you know, where do you stand when it comes to Donald Trump?

REV. WILLIAM OWENS, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER, COALITION OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN PASTORS: Oh, when it comes to Donald Trump, we're not endorsing anybody at this point, because, first of all, we're going to have our own news conference. And we're going to set the stage for what we expect our next president, the standards that he should come up to. I do admire Donald Trump for reaching out to black pastors. And the last election it was like black people did not exist. So, I do admire him for reaching out to the black pastors, regardless of how it went. And we're not endorsing anyone at this point, but we're going to make our position clear before we go to them, talk to them individually. We want all of the candidates to know what we expect of our next president as it relates to the African-Americans in this country.

KEILAR: You feel that black pastors were ignored in the last election overall, by Republicans? Can you explain what you meant by that?

OWENS: I know they were ignored. I don't feel it. I know it.

KEILAR: By both sides, is that what you're saying?

OWENS: They were -- they were denied the right to be heard by the Republican Party. I personally went to the president and offered 12 pastors to be advisers to the Republicans, and he turned me down. With no pay, because we don't take shakedowns. And he turned me down. We're going to be sure that doesn't happen this time. The black voice will be heard.

KEILAR: Do you think Donald Trump in this meeting yesterday was able to sway some of his critics?

OWENS: He was probably able to sway some of them, but I never would have done it the way they did. That's the reason we did not participate. We're in dialogue with his staff, but I never would have done it that way because you get 100 people and you don't know where they're coming from. You haven't had -- you have developed no understanding, no common ground. And what happened had to happen. It was going to happen like that, so we didn't participate.

KEILAR: What do you think Donald Trump would mean for the black community? He obviously has taken on Black Lives Matter. He in late November implied that a Black Lives Matter protester should have been roughed up at one of his events. How do you think African-Americans across the country relate to him knowing that?

OWENS: Well, I think -- well, I think that the person being roughed up was wrong, but also when the Black Lives Matter interrupted the Democrats when they were having a meeting and just took over, they laid the foundation for that type thing to happen. And if you get my newsletters, you know that I addressed it. And I said that this is not the way you do it. There is a way you protest, there's a way you make your desires be known, but not to go in and interrupt another person's meeting. They grabbed Sanders' mic, he caved in. Hillary Clinton caves in to what they consider a new movement of Black Lives Matter. Well, to me, all lives matter. So, they set a bad example. And I said that. I said, somebody is going to pattern after them and they don't know what they're going to get. You cannot go in another person's meeting and take over and be violent and take over that meeting. And then the person that you take that meeting over let you do it and that person gets away with it, and that sends a signal to all black people that you can just go in and ruffle up and take over a meeting. It's not realistic. That's not the way we did the civil rights movement. I was in the civil rights movement. That is not the way you do it.

KEILAR: I do want you to listen to some African-American pastors who are clearly very divided on their support for Donald Trump. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JAMAL BRYANT, EMPOWERMENT TEMPLE AME CHURCH: I want to apologize because prostitutes get money. And the 100 that walked away with nothing, they did it for free. So, there's another word for that. And I would not use that language on a family channel.

DR. STEVE PARSON, PASTOR: I'm tired of the 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:40:11] KEILAR: So you see this division. Where do you see the fault line here, reverend?

OWENS: I think it is true that black Americans are at the bottom, but you're not going to do it with give me, give me, give me. What happened to President Kennedy's speech when he said, ask not what you can do -- what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country? And that is going to be in our news conference, which will be very hard-hitting. I will reveal some things that I didn't even know myself and I lived through all of that. I will reveal some things as to why even the candidate Bush said black people always want things. We always want things.

At my age, I worked 15 hours a day. I grew up starting in a two-room house with 11 people living in it. And most of our family became educated through hard work. And some people that promise you that they're going to give you, give you, give you, that's like buying your vote. You're prostituting yourself.

KEILAR: Reverend?

OWENS: And for the person who said that they -- Yes?

KEILAR: I'm so sorry. We actually have to jump out of this interview right now.

Reverend William Owens, thank you so much. We'll be watching for your press conference. As you say, there will be some developments there. We'll be watching for that. Republican presidential candidate, Chris Christie, is getting another

key endorsement in New Hampshire. Just days after the New Hampshire "Union Leader" endorsed the New Jersey governor, activist, Renee Plummer, is throwing her support behind Christie's campaign.

We have CNN special correspondent, Jamie Gangel, who sat down with Governor Christie. She's joining us now to talk about their conversation.

Jamie, you had the chance to talk to the governor about his stance on national security. What did he say?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, I asked him about resettling refugees in his state. He's not shy about criticizing President Obama on the issue, and he's not backing down from his comments about not wanting to take in child refugees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GANGEL: Syria and the refugee crisis, you recently said, "We shouldn't take orphans under the age of 5." Isn't it a little absurd to say that? Do you regret saying that?

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No. First of all, I've got to ask the question directly, OK? We should not take any refugee from anywhere unless they can be vetted. That's it. That's it.

GANGEL: President Obama responded to you and indicated -- he didn't say it by name -- but he said, "Republicans are scared of women and orphans."

CHRISTIE: Yeah, widows and orphans, I think is what he said. I will tell you, the widows and orphans I'm concerned about are the widows and orphans of 9/11 that I still live with every day in New Jersey. And I want to make sure there's not another generation of them created. Maybe the president should spend some of his damn time worrying about that and less for scoring political points with his U.N. crowd. Because what he said was insulting. Absolutely insulting. I care more about protecting the American people than I care about scoring points with his Noble Peace Prize friends. That's all he cares about. He doesn't care. He has shown repeatedly that he prioritizes that over protecting homeland security. He did it by getting rid of the NSA metadata program. He's done it over and over again. So, quite frankly, being lectured by Barack Obama on foreign policy and national security is laughable. Laughable. From the community organizer.

GANGEL: Today, a Syrian refugee family with five children, age 3 to 17, and the mother is pregnant, is being settled in Paterson, New Jersey, by an interfaith group, Christians, Muslims, Jews. You have said New Jersey is not going to take in --

(CROSSTALK)

CHRISTIE: Does not want to. I didn't say not going to. I said, doesn't want to. We don't have the authority to stop them. But what I'd like is, if the president would share the information with us. But he doesn't.

GANGEL: This family is now scared. They were going to do an interview and they're now scared because they're Africa you're going to try to kick them out of New Jersey.

CHRISTIE: Listen, that's ridiculous. And I never said that I was going to try to kick any individual family out of New Jersey. But I want these families vetted. And what's he going to say to the families if one of these refugees comes in here and kills Americans? What's he going to say? Oops, my bad? We're all warning him. Do your job, Mr. President. Protect the national security of the American people first. Worry about all the rest of this stuff afterwards. And maybe if you had done your job in Syria, the way you were supposed to, these people wouldn't have to be leaving their country. But instead, he lied about that, too, and walked away from his commitments.

So again, Jamie, being lectured by the president of the United States is laughable.

[11:45:15] GANGEL: Last question, now that "The New York Times" is being so nice to you --

(LAUGHTER)

CHRISTIE: I'm sure it's temporary insanity. Don't worry. They'll get back to their normal course with me.

GANGEL: You very publicly canceled your subscription.

CHRISTIE: I did. I did a long time ago.

GANGEL: Now that they say you're the comeback kid --

CHRISTIE: No chance.

GANGEL: -- you're not going to renew it?

CHRISTIE: Oh, no chance. Zero chance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GANGEL: Brianna, classic Chris Christie.

You know, he's had a very good couple of weeks, but he still has a long way to go in the polls. Even in New Hampshire, he's just over 5 percent.

KEILAR: And he is attracting these endorsements. That's getting him a lot of attention, Jamie. It's sort of -- it's like once you sort of stick your head out a little bit as a candidate and you're going, OK, Donald Trump comes after you. That's what we've seen with Christie. What did the governor say about that? GANGEL: Exactly. I have two words to say about it, game on. If

Christie keeps rising in the polls, Trump -- it doesn't matter that they've been friends for 13 years. He's going to go after him. And I think what we should watch is the month of January. Because if Christie goes up, Trump's going to go after him. And Christie has been very measured in his comments, thus far, about Trump. But he said, if necessary, he will counter-punch. So you can only imagine.

KEILAR: Interesting. So many people think that's really the key for a Republican getting past Trump, but we will see.

Jamie Gangel, great interview. Thank you so much.

GANGEL: Thank you.

KEILAR: Coming up, terrifying new details in the AirAsia crash that killed more than 160 people. What investigators say likely sparked a horrifying minutes'-long roller coaster ride in the sky before a deadly impact with the sea.

Plus, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is fighting back amid accusations of a cover-up. Will he survive this political firestorm surrounding the killing of Laquan McDonald? We're moments away from his big news conference.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:38] KEILAR: A computer malfunction and pilot error were the most likely causes of last December's AirAsia crash. 162 people when flight 8501 went down on a flight from Indonesia to Singapore. Weather did not appear to be a factor. And the year-long investigation found that AirAsia did not have clearance to take that route on that day. The plane climbed from 32,000 feet to 37,400 feet in just 30 seconds. The flight control computer malfunctions as it had 23 times before. And the plane rolled 104 degree and it crashed three minutes and 40 seconds later. Investigators say that pilots lacked the training to recover.

For more, let's go to CNN's Richard Quest, joining from Dubai.

Richard, why couldn't they have handled the emergency, Richard? It seems they should have been able to.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT & CNN ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: What happened here was a series of accidents, incidents and mistakes, if you'd like, but what it really comes down to is that the pilots embarked on a series of actions that they didn't know the full consequences of. You had this mechanical fault which is serious, but by no means catastrophic, but one of the pilots pulled the circuit breaker trying to short circuit the issue, and the next thing that you know the plane did something that it was supposed to do, but they weren't expecting it to the happen, and then they weren't able to recover from that. And so you have situation where the pilots didn't have the training and the experience if you'd like or the knowledge of the aircraft to handle this situation. Which is raising, Brianna, the fundamental issue in aviation at the moment, highly sophisticated aircraft with pilots that are not used to, if you'd like, flying the planes at altitude.

KEILAR: This is what is something that is of interest in the findings here, Richard. One of the investigators said that the pilot issued confusing instructions in the emergency.

QUEST: Yes, what is happening is that one is calling pull, pull, pull, and what does he mean pull up? Well, he means pull down. That the pilot in command, and meanwhile this second in command, the younger guy who was flying is pulling back on the side stick, and for some reason that we do not know, he is raising the nose and the pitch of the aircraft which is ultimately called the stall. It is similar and the facts are different, but the circumstances are very similar to Air France 447 where you have a technical fault, which is by no means catastrophic, which leads to a series of incidents where the pilots mis-fly the aircraft.

One thought on this, Boeing pilots will tell you -- this was an Airbus -- Boeing pilots will tell you that many of the mistakes that happened here could not have happened on the Boeing, because the pilots can feel each other's controls movements, which you can't do and an Airbus.

[11:54:48] KEILAR: Very interesting.

All right, Richard Quest thanks so much.

And I want to tell the viewers that we are moments away from a big press conference by Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel. He will be addressing the police shooting of African-American teenager, Laquan McDonald. We will bring it to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:59:21] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.

I want to take you live to Chicago where the mayor is speaking live at this moment.

RAHM EMANUEL, (D), CHICAGO MAYOR: I feel strongly as the mayor of Chicago that we face our own questions and our own judgments. The horrifying shooting of Mr. McDonald requires more than words of sadness. It requires that we act, that we take more concrete steps to prevent such abuses in the future, secure the rights and safety of all Chicagoans, and build stronger bonds of trust between our police department, the men and women that make up that department, and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect.

While I don't believe that the actions of Officer Van Dyke reflect the vast majority of the men and women who risk their lives every day to protect our lives, I also know that the use of excessive force and misuse of authority is not new in Chicago.