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Chicago's Top Cop Fired; Bombing in Istanbul; Future Paris Attack; Forces head to Iraq and Syria; Jury Selection Continues. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 01, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:11] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me here on this Tuesday.

We have some breaking news out of Chicago. A big day there after days of protests and outrage following the release of that graphic videotape showing a white police officer killing an African-American teenager. The city's top cop is now out, out today. In announcing a new task force on police accountability, the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, said moments ago that he has asked for Superintendent Gary McCarthy's resignation. McCarthy has been on the job for four years, leading that police force for America's third largest city. The mayor says the decision comes with the public's trust in the department clearly shaken and eroded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL (D), CHICAGO: Superintendent McCarthy knows that a police officer is only as effective as when he has the trust of those he serves. After this weekend, after effectively handling both the protests that followed the release of the McDonald video last week and the arrest of Tashawn's (ph) killers, Superintendent McCarthy and I began a discussion on Sunday about the direction of the department and the undeniable fact that the public trust in the leadership of the department has been shaken and eroded. This morning, I formally asked for his resignation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Superintendent McCarthy's firing comes exactly one week after Police Officer Jason van Dyke was arrested for first-degree murder in last year's shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke posted bond and here he was walking out of jail just last night. His bail had been set at $1.5 million.

After - hours after Van Dyke's arrest, the city released video showing him shooting McDonald 16 times. Protesters and other critics allege a cover up by city officials. It took them 400 days to release the video after a judge ordered them to do so.

Let's begin our coverage with our national correspondent there live in Chicago, Ryan Young.

And, Ryan, you have been all over this from the get. You have been talking to folks who are saying, listen, this is not enough. It's one thing for the superintendent to be out, but it needs to go farther.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, what a conversation to have in this city. I can tell you, there are so many people here who don't think this is going far enough. They want the mayor gone. They also want the state's attorney gone from this because they believe anyone who had a chance to see this video before it was released to the public has something to do with this.

And, look, overall, people kept telling us over and over again, they believe there was a cover up going on. But when we woke up this morning, in the paper, you had this out there. This paper, "The Sun Times," calling for McCarthy to step down. That was an editorial that was written.

But the superintendent then went on TV and the radio this morning telling everyone that he thought his job was safe. That he thought everything was OK. And then several hours later, the next thing you know, he's being fired.

But people want to see a systemic change. They believe this has been going on in the city of Chicago for quite some time. There's another family that's already saying that they want video released from another shooting. So you have people who are having conversations out loud in public saying something needs to change with the entire system here in Chicago. And these are questions they're asking, especially after that young man, Laquan McDonald, was shot 16 times, two of which while he was standing up, another 14 times while he was on the ground. A lot of questions being asked not only about what the video shows, but there are questions about what happened with the video after all this investigation began.

Why did it take the 400 days for the state's attorney's office to press those charges against the officer? An officer who now has gotten bond. And, of course, you actually heard from community members who were questioning that. But, hey, the bond was put up and he was out and now there's a conversation with the city about what happens and who moves it forward in the future.

BALDWIN: Ryan Young, all excellent questions, thank you so much. We're going to bring a voice in to hear some other questions I'm sure as well. The shake-up at the top of Chicago's police force comes less than a week after McCarthy stood in front of reporters and told them the mayor had his back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUPERINTENDENT GARRY MCCARTHY, CHICAGO POLICE: What I will tell you is the mayor has made it very clear that he has my back. And if people peel away the onion on what's happening right now in the policing world, you're going to find a police department that's doing an exceptional job. And, quite frankly, I'm not going to quit on the people of Chicago. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And now we know the news of the resignation today.

So let's talk more about what's going on in Chicago and these critics accusations that the city is involved in a cover up. Stephen Green is the NAACP's national college and youth director. He was among a group actually arrested just yesterday in Chicago there in protests of Laquan McDonald's death. That group also included the NAACP national president, Cornell Williams Brooks, and some seminary students there as well. Also joining me here in New York, CNN law enforcement analyst Harry Houck. He is a retired police detective here in the city of New York.

[14:05:02] So thank you both so much for being with me.

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure.

STEPHEN GREEN, NAACP COLLEGE OF YOUTH DIRECTOR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Stephen, to you first. I mean you heard the conversation I just had with our correspondent, Ryan, there in Chicago. With the news today of Superintendent McCarthy's firing, is that enough for you?

GREEN: Absolutely not. This is a one branch falling in our pursuit of justice to really uproot from the core, from the soil the system of corruption that has permeated throughout the city of Chicago. You may change the dancers, but still listen to the same tune. And so we're persistent in calling for a remix of the entire song. We're calling for a complete overall and complete reform in the city of Chicago with this police department.

BALDWIN: Harry Houck, your response to the fact that now we know - I mean we've seen Garry McCarthy be incredibly emotional over a lot of shootings that we've covered in Chicago.

HOUCK: Right.

BALDWIN: He's, obviously, the face of the police department as the top cop. But now that we know he's out, what now?

HOUCK: Listen, I'm not a fan of Garry McCarthy at all.

BALDWIN: OK.

HOUCK: But the fact that he is being fired because of Rahm Emanuel's policies - and, believe me, every time that I see him on with the mayor, he's acquiescent to what the mayors want. You know, these mayors get elected and all of a sudden they think they know how to police the inner city. They don't, all right? We had a nine-year-old that was killed by thugs. He was assassinated, all right. When is enough enough for the people of Chicago? I am sick and tired of seeing small children, black children, being killed, assassinated on the street. They can't go outside and play, all right? And you've got a mayor sitting here, all right, saying that it's the - it's the police commissioner's fault when it's the mayor's fault. This mayor should be impeached. He should resign. The National Guard should go into Chicago, take that city back from the thugs, all right? Let people be able to come out and play on the street again.

BALDWIN: Stephen, to you. I don't know if you listened to that news conference today with Rahm Emanuel but, you know, those reporters, they were asking some pretty tough questions, and obviously not just about the eroded trust with, you know, the city police department but also, as Harry points out, with the mayor's office as well.

And I'm wondering and really the question and ultimately someone will need to get to the bottom - to the bottom of this because there was a reelection for Rahm Emanuel this past spring is, could there possibly have been a political cover up?

GREEN: And we believe that we are intentional about finding the true answers. If it was a cover up, why did it take so long? These are the questions that we are answering - here in Chicago are asking and really seeking the Justice Department to come in and do a complete top down investigation to the overall pattern and practices of the Chicago Police Department. This isn't new. When you have a police department that has its own domestic Guantanamo Bay. We have a neglect on the south side of Chicago. When you have cases that go unheard as it relates to young black children and queer (ph) and transgender voices. We have a problem in the city of Chicago and we need complete overall reform. So we're seeking and seeing a demand -

BALDWIN: Stephen -

GREEN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Specifically on what Harry said about calling for an impeachment for the mayor, can you respond to that?

GREEN: We're not going to get into the semantics. We're asking for a complete -

BALDWIN: Do you agree with that?

GREEN: I'm not - I -

HOUCK: Because he's a Democrat, that's why you won't - you won't call for his resignation.

GREEN: I'm a Democrat too and so I'm a - I don't - I don't appreciate that. I'm calling for a complete -

HOUCK: But it's true.

GREEN: You can call for a resignation of the mayor and still get someone else that looks just like him and has the same (INAUDIBLE).

HOUCK: Then do it.

GREEN: We're not asking for different dancers. We're asking for a complete song. And all we're asking for - HOUCK: Aren't you tired of dead black children on the streets of Chicago? Are you tired of dead children on the streets of Chicago, especially - not - not from cops, but from thugs shooting at each other?

GREEN: I've been tired of this (INAUDIBLE) in Chicago. And I'm also not going to allow - of course I'm tired of people (INAUDIBLE). But I'm also tired of the neglect -

HOUCK: When - when is enough enough, sir?

BALDWIN: Let him respond. Stephen, go ahead.

GREEN: I'm also tired - I'm also tired of the neglect. I'm also tired of the economic depravity and the education disparities in the city of Chicago. So I'm not asking for a new face, I'm asking for a completely different song. And we're asking for our people and asking for the Justice Department to come in and completely intervene and give us an overhaul investigation of this entire practice and policies, not just for the police department, but the entire city of Chicago.

BALDWIN: But, Harry, let me turn to you and ask you that.

HOUCK: Sure.

BALDWIN: Because we've been hearing from a lot of these folks the last couple of days, you know, to the notion of entirely removing, you know, city leadership from the mayor to, you know, here we have Garry McCarthy, to all these police officers. Does that not sound a little farfetched?

HOUCK: Brooke, how bad has Chicago been for how long?

BALDWIN: A long time.

HOUCK: A long time. These people - I'll tell you, I feel like I'm - I'm -

BALDWIN: What do you propose? What do you propose, as someone who's been in law enforcement for years?

HOUCK: Well - well, first of all, police officers are the catch 220 situation - 22 situation now, all right? They're damned if they do police work and they're damned if they don't. The only way to take the back - the city - the inner city of Chicago is for police to go in there for aggressive police work. That's it. You have to do that. All right. You've got to be able to point the fingers at the bad guys. More people upset by the word I use, "thug."

GREEN: Wait a minute.

HOUCK: When I call - when I call the guys that shot that nine-year- old, thugs, I'll get tweets and calls from people saying, why do you call them a thug? Can't they see that that is the problem in the inner city?

GREEN: But you're not -

[14:10:06] BALDWIN: Go ahead, Stephen.

GREEN: No, no, so what you're - you're pointing fingers. So what - the problem of the system in Chicago is at its very core.

HOUCK: Yes. You don't.

GREEN: This is a system and it's gone on for generations of oppression and neglect in the city of Chicago. So you want to talk about policing. Let's also talk about education. Let's also talk about poverty. Let's also talk about housing.

HOUCK: Yes.

GREEN: It is more than one issue. And so we're asking for a complete and overhaul reform. Your message is very singular.

BALDWIN: You want to respond to that and we're going to - then we're going to go.

HOUCK: Maybe. You know, I'm just tired of the police getting the brunt of everything that's going on inside the inner city of Chicago. You people who live in Chicago -

BALDWIN: No, no it's not "you people," Harry Houck. Come on.

GREEN: You people? Come on.

HOUCK: The people who live in Chicago should start voting for maybe another person, maybe a Republican, to see how he - a Republican can come in there and straighten that city up.

GREEN: I'm not going to get into partisan politics and semantics with you today -

HOUCK: Give it a shot.

GREEN: But I want to let you know that there is a generation rising up that is now - now at - in this space that says that we're willing and we're ready to mobilize and to engage in a civic engagement, to put people in office who will represent our ideals and practices. But we're - we're - time is up for the corruption in the city of Chicago and so we're asking the Justice Department to come in, to do an investigation. We're asking for a police review board, citizen review board with subpoena power. We're also asking for the city of Chicago to implement the president's 21st century task force policies. We're asking for transformation and change in the city of Chicago and we're not silent. Much to your dismay and much to your upset, we're not quite.

HOUCK: Twenty years you've been silent.

BALDWIN: OK, Stephen Green, thank you.

GREEN: Thank you. BALDWIN: We know the DOJ's in there. They're investigating.

And, Harry Houck, thank you as well.

GREEN: Appreciate it. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Appreciate it.

Coming up next, breaking news, a bomb exploding near a subway station in Turkey. We will take you there live and explain what we know at this hour.

Also ahead, breaking details on the ring leader of those Paris attacks and his plans to attack again. Hear what he wanted to, quote, "look the part" in future plots. Fascinating details coming out today.

And the Pentagon announcing it will be sending more special forces to Iraq and Syria to carry out more raids and rescue more hostages. But does this put American troops at risk?

I'm Brooke Baldwin and this is CNN.

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[14:16:33] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

An explosion has just rocked a subway station in Istanbul. The mayor of the district where this blast happened saying the grainy surveillance video footage here shows a bomb detonated on an overpass. This is near the station. In total here, five people were injured.

And as you well know, this is just the latest in a string of terror attacks besieging this country, which is still on high alert after more than 100 people who were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside of a train station in the country's capital of Ankara.

Joining me now, CNN's Ian Lee.

We know that, Ian, this happened close to rush hour there your time in Turkey. Tell me more about what you're learning about this bombing.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, and it happened on this on - off ramp just behind me next to this major artery that goes through Istanbul on the way to the airport. We heard from the local mayor saying that he believes it was a bomb, saying that at least five people were injured.

Now, the police still haven't confirmed if it was a bomb or not and the governor of Istanbul still hasn't commented. They say it is unknown. But what we're hearing also from the semi-official Anatolian (ph) news agency is that when you look at that video, the grainy video of that explosion, you can see a truck or a bus that is moving up the off ramp and there they say that is a bus that's carrying police officers. And police are investigating if that bus was indeed the intended target of that explosion. A lot of unknowns at this hour. But as you mentioned, Turkey is in a very tense state. In October,

there was that major bombing in the capital that killed over 100 people. And then in July, there was another bombing on the boarder that killed over 30 people. Now, the Turkish government has blamed ISIS for those attacks. No one, though, has claimed responsibility for this. This investigation still very much underway.

BALDWIN: Ian Lee, thank you so much.

And from Turkey to France we go, this bizarre new revelation today about the mastermind behind that Paris massacre. Here's what we have. A source telling CNN that Abdelhamid Abaaoud had wanted his female cousin, who was killed alongside him in that violent police raid in those overnight hours a couple of weeks ago here, he wanted her to find him an expensive suit. Why? So he could look the part, his words, from investigators, during the future attack.

So let's go live to Paris and to CNN's Frederik Pleitgen. And so, Fred, the fact that he wanted this suit, I presume, you know, would back the theory that he wanted to blend in, in the next attack, as we've been reporting, in the financial district of Paris.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, that certainly is what it looks like. And a source is telling us that apparently he wanted to give his female cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen, $5,000, or a little over $5,000, to get him not only one suit but two very expensive suits and two pairs of very expensive shoes for himself and also an accomplice. And, of course, we do know that one of the places that apparently he planned to hit, and this is according to the Paris prosecutor, was a place called La de France (ph), which is, indeed, the financial district of Paris. And I was there just a little bit earlier today and that's the way people run around there. that's the way people look there. So apparently this was him trying to blend in for future attacks.

[14:19:55] And one of the things that we also have to keep in mind with that, Brooke, is that this is something that certainly appears to fit into his pattern as well. After the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks in January of this year, the Belgian police busted a plot that apparently he was behind as well where he was trying to accumulate Belgian police uniforms to dress up as police officers and then kill as many people as possible. So certainly it seems like this is something that would fit into the pattern very much. And also, when you listen to investigators, they say it wasn't just La de France that one he apparently trying to hit, but also Jewish areas in Paris, schools, as well as a transport network, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Fred Pleitgen, thank you for the latest there in Paris.

Meantime, the United States, the U.S.-led fight to take out ISIS just got a little bigger. And now more Americans will be heading into the war zone. We heard from Secretary of Defense Ash Carter today announcing more special forces, troops will be sent in to battle violent jihadist not only in Iraq, but Syria as well.

So joining me now I have Jim Sciutto standing by, CNN chief national security correspondent. Also with us, retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Anthony Tata.

So, gentlemen, thanks for being on.

And, Jim, let's get to it. We talked, you know, last month. The Pentagon announcing then that 50 commandos would be sent to northern Syria to advise forces there battling ISIS. How - with the announcement from Secretary Carter, how is the mission expanding?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, it's not a big expansion numbers wise because they're talking about a few dozen U.S. special forces going into Iraq to create what they're calling an expeditionary force. You add on support troops. That will probably bring the number up to around 200. But what is big is the expansion in role because this expeditionary force in Iraq will be involved in things like freeing hostages, going after HVTs, high value targets, ISIS leaders. These are two of the most dangerous kinds of missions you can get involved in as a war fighter.

So put that in the context, we've been following this for more than a year, Brooke, U.S. military action there against ISIS. The administrate has said dozens of times there would be no combat role for U.S. forces there. This is clearly a combat role. We've seen missions like this before. And, in fact, we talked about one about a month ago. It was when U.S. commandos were with Kurds commandos to free some ISIS held hostages.

A U.S. Delta Force operator was killed in that operation, you'll remember. These are dangerous things. These are very much at the tip of the spear. So while it's not a big number, it is a big expansion and role there and now you're seeing in both in Iraq and across the border in Syria.

BALDWIN: So then, General Tata, precisely to Jim's point, you know, if we're talking HVTs and raids, by putting more, you know, troops in these roles, that absolutely ups the vulnerability of them as well.

BRIG. GEN. ANTHONY TATA, U.S. ARMY (RETIRED): Well, Brooke, great to be with you.

And being a soldier is a dangerous mission. And our soldiers sign up for this and they go there and do these things for us so that we can be free. And what the president and secretary of defense are doing is taking a play out of the Afghanistan playbook where a few teams of special forces, partnered with indigenous forces, were able to work with air power to get the Taliban and al Qaeda to flee across the Pakistan border. It's very much the same type of play. Air power is known never to have won any kind of war anywhere. I mean it looks good on TV and then all those videos.

But this needs to be followed by, Brooke, a step where the president now leads NATO to get NATO, the North Atlantic Council, to activate Article V, to get the 28 member nations and the political piece involved here so that we can have the support from other nations and then hook in the Middle East nations that were outraged at the Paris attacks so that you can then have about a 40-member nation coalition that is trying to crush this enemy that has sanctuary. They have hydroelectric power. They have a couple million daily in oil revenue from the Turkish black market. So, I mean, this - they're a nation state for all practical purposes. And this is the first step in cutting off and getting after their communications and logistics.

BALDWIN: All right, General Tata, Jim Sciutto, thank you both so much.

Want to move along because next a big story here, Baltimore, we're following jury selection underway again today for the first of those six Baltimore police officers facing charges in the death of Freddie Gray. One thing today's potential jurors have in common, they are all aware of Freddie Gray's death and the citywide unrest that followed. A question some are asking, can these officers get an impartial jury in the city of Baltimore? We'll discuss that, next.

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[14:28:56] BALDWIN: All right, day two of jury selection in the manslaughter trial of Baltimore Police Officer William Porter. He is one of six officers, three black, three white, facing charges in the death of Freddie Gray. Gray, as you well know the story, he died in April, a week after he was injured while in police custody.

So this fresh pool of 75 potential jurors is being questioned today. And so let's go through some of them here. That includes 29 African- American women, 15 African-American men, 15 white men, 12 white women and four people who are listed as either other or unclear. Now, Officer Porter was in the courtroom as potential jurors were questioned. He took notes. He attended every single side bar with his attorneys. And Miguel Marquez was in that courtroom. He's back in Baltimore for us today. Also with me here in New York, CNN legal analyst and commentator Mel Robbins.

So, Miguel, beginning with you here, let's walk through some of these potential jurors. Just like yesterday, many of them said, of course they're familiar with the Freddie Gray case, the unrest that followed. In fact, two said they actually knew him.

[14:30:05] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did indeed. So we have a - we have a jury pool much like we expected for the second day in a row now, mostly African-American, everybody, everybody knew about the Freddie Gray case.