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Christie Lashes Out at President Obama; Explosion in Turkey; Chicago Police Superintendent Fired. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 01, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:32]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go, top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

Got to start with this breaking news here out of Chicago. The city's top cop is now officially out, this happening after days of protests and outrage on the city streets following the release of that graphic video showing a white police officer killing a black teenager.

In announcing a new task force today on police accountability, the city's mayor, Rahm Emanuel, said that he has asked for Superintendent Garry McCarthy's resignation. McCarthy has been on the job for four years leading the Chicago police force for America's third largest city

Mayor Emanuel says the decision comes with the public's trust in the department clearly, he said today, shaken and eroded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAHM EMANUEL (D), MAYOR OF CHICAGO: Superintendent McCarthy knows that a police officer is only as effective is 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 Tyshawn's 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: Now, McCarthy's firing comes exactly one week after Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was arrested and charged with 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. Hours after Van Dyke's arrest, the city released video of him shooting this young 17-year-old some 16 times. Protesters and other critics alleged a cover-up by city officials. It took them 400 days to release this video after a judge ordered them to do so.

So we begin this hour with our national correspondent live in Chicago, Ryan Young.

Here we have McCarthy out, but I know folks you have been talking to for days say, Ryan, that is not enough.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, that's what they want. In fact, what a difference a week makes. OK?

We have heard over and over again from protesters they wanted to see a change at the top, and now that has happened. They are not just wanting that to happen. They want to see the mayor gone and they also want to see the state's attorney gone. She's facing reelection in March, so something could move there.

Rahm Emanuel is a different story. He says he's putting on his hat every single day to go to work to make Chicago a better place. But there are people in communities around Chicago who feel like he's part of the problem. You talked about the cover-up. The question so many people want answered is, why did it take 400 days?

After the first time this video was viewed, a lot of protesters think something should have been done a lot sooner. But they believe the protests that was out here on Michigan Avenue that march up and down, that stopped Black Friday sales finally had a positive effect. They think that the removal of Superintendent McCarthy is a good first step.

They also talked about this task force the mayor is putting in place. They want to know what the benchmarks will be for success in terms of helping this community. They are all questions that people want answered. We will have to see what happens next. And the city is definitely paying attention to what's going on behind closed doors at this point.

BALDWIN: Ryan Young, thank you so much.

The shakeup here at the top of Chicago's police force comes less than a week after McCarthy stood in front of reporters and told them he wasn't going anywhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARRY MCCARTHY, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: 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 is doing an exceptional job. And, quite frankly, I'm not going to quit on the people of Chicago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Lynn Sweet is joining me now. She is the Washington bureau chief for "The Chicago Sun-Times."

Lynn, thank you so much for being with me today.

Listen, I know that the editorial board of your paper called for McCarthy's ouster, writing -- quote -- "Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has lost the trust and support of much of Chicago, without which he cannot do his job. Superintendent McCarthy should resign. If he does not, Mayor Rahm Emanuel should fire him."

So, Lynn, we know the news today. He's out. Now what?

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Well, Rahm Emanuel is facing the biggest crisis in his career.

Brooke, I have covered him more than 20 years. And I have never seen him look as distraught and unsure of himself as at this press conference this morning.

[15:05:05]

And he talked about trying to rebuild trust and confidence. Having this task force come back in a few months with some recommendations, well, that just isn't, I think, what people want to hear right now. Clearly, it will take time to get a new superintendent.

You have to make sure there are no new cases in a pipeline. And, right now, that's not necessarily clear that isn't the case. So this crisis that Emanuel has may not even be stopped at the moment by the firing of Superintendent McCarthy.

But, as your report said, the next I think focus of attention will be on state's attorney Anita Alvarez, who took a long time, as you have reported and we all know, in bringing charges against this officer.

And this March primary will focus, I think, a lot of the fury, because this is a case where even if she doesn't resign, in a few months, she could be out of office.

BALDWIN: So, McCarthy out, Alvarez potentially out.

But back to Rahm Emanuel, Lynn. Obviously, as you very well know, one of the questions, was this a political cover-up, was this video not released so as not to damage his chances of reelection? My question to you is, how will anyone ever really know the truth?

SWEET: How will anyone trust Rahm Emanuel again? Let's put it very frankly that way, because there's no good answer to this, Brooke.

Either he knew and didn't take action, or he did not know, which does speak to his stewardship over the city. So he's boxed in here. And that's why I'm saying this is the worst crisis of his long career, because he likes to talk about how he is in charge. He runs city hall. He forced the superintendent -- he fired the superintendent.

How could he not have known? And no matter what the answer is to the question you just posed, it doesn't bode well for trust and confidence in Mayor Emanuel right now. BALDWIN: Let's throw another name into this mix, Deval Patrick,

because here we now hear the mayor announcing who will be heading up this police accountability task force. Yes, he's a Chicago native and most recently he was a governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick. Do you think that's a good move in your opinion, more perhaps an outsider, unbiased perspective, or someone who doesn't eat, live breathe in Chicago?

SWEET: Well, don't bill him as a Chicagoan, though he is. He was very influenced by Chicago. He grew up on the South Side. He wrote in his memoir about the influence growing up poor in Chicago and having a break in life by going away to boarding school, putting him on the path.

But he has a resume that could be helpful here, working in the Justice Department's Civil Rights division. He is familiar, because he grew up there on the South Side. But I think the idea of trying to sell him as a Chicagoan, it's like, please, Rahm, just don't do that because it doesn't help.

And my brother and sister reporters at the Chicago press conference raised that objection. And that's where Rahm Emanuel sometimes tries to just outspin his own spin. If you think he's a credible person with relevant experience to advise the task force, so be it. The name Deval Patrick doesn't mean a lot in Chicago politics right now.

So I think if he thought that this is -- this is just not a big name that will force instant healing. Now, does Deval Patrick have a lot of skills that may be useful? Sure. But I wouldn't oversell it and I don't even know why, frankly, he wanted to bring it up today, because I don't see why this is something that will help him in the worst crisis of his career.

BALDWIN: That's why I asked of all people you, Lynn Sweet, great voice here on all things Chicago. Thank you so much, Lynn. Come back, come back, and we will be talking about this for quite a while here.

SWEET: I thank you so much.

BALDWIN: But coming up next, breaking news, a bomb exploding near a subway station in Turkey. We will take you there live.

Plus, the ex-wife and daughter of the leader of ISIS have been freed during a dramatic prisoner swap. We have video and the story behind that.

And just weeks after being elected, a big city mayor has been found dead. Police say it was not suicide. So now the race is on to solve this mystery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:13:29]

BALDWIN: An explosion has just rocked a subway station in Istanbul. The mayor of the district where this blast happened -- and you're

about to see here on the video shows a bomb detonating on an overpass near a station. Five people there were injured.

Joining me on the phone, CNN's Ian Lee there live. This country is still on high alert after that string of terror attacks, many of which claimed by ISIS.

Has anyone claimed responsibility for what happened there?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, so far, no one has claimed responsibility.

We're really hearing two things at this hour. This bomb, what is being called a bomb, happened in Bayrampasa neighborhood, the local mayor there saying that it was a bomb, saying also at least five people were injured. Now the police here are still saying it's unknown, as well as the governor of Istanbul.

We went out there. We saw the investigators on the scene looking for any clue to what happened. But the semi-official Anatolia news agency said that it could have been targeting a bus that was going by. If you look at this video, it's grainy. You see the explosion. But right before, there, you can see what looks like a bus going by. They are saying that that bus was carrying police officers. It could have been targeting them.

But, at this hour, no one has claimed responsibility. But this is a con country that is very tense. Last October, there was a bombing, two twin suicide bombings in Ankara that killed over 100 people. Then, in July, there was a bombing on the Turkish-Syrian border that killed over 30 people.

[15:15:05]

Now, the Turkish government has blamed ISIS for both attacks, although ISIS didn't claim responsibility. But you have that neighboring civil war down in Syria. You also have the Turkish security forces battling Kurdish PKK militants. So it is a very tense time, but they are looking into this explosion, trying to figure out what happened, and, again, as of now, no one has claimed responsibility -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Ian Lee, thank you so much.

Meantime, more Americans are heading to the war zone in both Iraq and Syria. We heard from Secretary of Defense Ash Carter today. He announced this expansion of special forces operations and a new role that could put U.S. commanders face to face with ISIS.

Joining me now is Jim Sciutto, our chief national security correspondent.

And so just precisely from the secretary of defense, what role did he say the special forces would play?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's not a big expansion in numbers, because we're talking about a few dozen special forces. That becomes bigger because you have support troops. There will probably be an additional 200 in this expeditionary force.

But what this force will do, that's a big change. They are going to be going after high-value targets, hostage rescues, raids, intelligence gathering. Those are tip-of-the-spear operations. They could be very dangerous, high-value targets, of course, very well- protected, hostages, very well-protected as well, so not a big change in numbers.

It is a big change in role. And, listen, it's combat, Brooke. The administration has said for months there will not be combat forces there, but that's a combat role. And the fact is, we have seen some of this already. We saw this a month ago. A U.S. Delta Force operator was killed in a hostage rescue which was a joint operation with Kurdish forces. With this expeditionary force, you're going to see more missions like that.

BALDWIN: Jim Sciutto, thank you.

Next, Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie says being lectured by President Obama on foreign policy is, in a word, laughable. You will hear his interview with us here at CNN. And I will be joined live by a New Hampshire Republican activist who just endorsed Governor Christie.

Later, former "Who's the Boss" star Danny Pintauro speaks to us about his revelation that he's living with HIV, why he went public and what he's doing now to stop the spread of the disease on this World AIDS Day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:42]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She doesn't have the strength or the stamina to be president.

Governor Bush, I mean, honestly, it's over.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: Lindsey Graham, disaster.

Now, let's see, Christie hasn't hit me yet. He will. He has to. He has no choice. He's at 2 or 3. Cruz is going to have to hit me, because -- you know, he's a nice guy. He's been so supportive. It's going to be a sad day, but we will hit back, I promise.

You always hear about Bernie Sanders. Our crowds...

(BOOING)

TRUMP: No. (BOOING)

TRUMP: You know he had an operation today. I think it was a hernia operation. You know? You know why? Carrying out too much tax problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, the one name mentioned by the front-runner, Donald Trump, was the New Jersey governor, Chris Christie.

Listen, he's also known for his blunt talk. And while he's not exactly doing so well in the polls, he's keeping busy, a pretty busy event schedule here, especially in the state of New Hampshire. There, he sat down for an interview with CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel, and they talked about a lot of things, including Trump's latest questionable assertion that thousands upon thousands of people celebrated in New Jersey when the World Trade Center towers came down on 9/11 in 2011.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did it happen?

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No.

GANGEL: Absolutely not?

CHRISTIE: No.

GANGEL: So why don't you call Donald Trump out on this? He's doubled down. He's tripled down.

CHRISTIE: Everybody knows it didn't happen, so what's the use? To join the cacophony?

I'm about distinguishing myself and making myself different from everybody else in a 14-person field, not the same.

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 at all?

CHRISTIE: No. Well, first of all, I got asked the question directly. OK? We should not be taking any refugees from anywhere unless they can be vetted. That's it. That's it.

GANGEL: President Obama -- 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: Yes. Widows and orphans, I think is what he said.

And I will tell you, the widows and orphans I'm concerned about are widows of -- 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 Nobel Peace Prize friends.

And that's all he cares about. And 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.

GANGEL: Prediction today, Chris Christie could win New Hampshire.

CHRISTIE: Sure, of course I can win New Hampshire. And anybody who is up here and watches any of it knows that I can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Jamie Gangel with Chris Christie.

Now, Governor Christie has put a lot of effort into winning New Hampshire and he is reaping benefits in the form of endorsements.

[15:25:05]

One key backing, that of my next guest, Renee Plummer, a political activist in New Hampshire who now officially endorsing Governor Christie.

So, Renee, welcome to you.

RENEE PLUMMER, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Well, thank you.

BALDWIN: So, Renee, as political experts have put it, to win New Hampshire, you have to win Renee. Tell me why, Chris Christie.

PLUMMER: A few things.

There are three things that we look at. Well, certainly, I do. It's the debate. It's the way they are that -- candidates in town halls and how they are personally. And he has scored high for me on all three of those.

I think the debates, he's just fantastic. Love the way he takes care of all the questions with the town halls. He's not one -- we don't hear from his campaign you cannot ask this of the governor. He's there and he says just ask me anything.

I also loved what he did with the people in New Jersey with Hurricane Sandy. And I know that there were some people that were very upset that he was -- gave a hug to the president, but it shows me that this is the kind of man that took care of his state and he would certainly take care of our country.

BALDWIN: Here is a man, Renee, who has been running for months and months, interview after interview, town hall after town hall. Listen, Chris Christie is not exactly a hermit candidate. He's not an unfamiliar name either. Yet he has yet to get the traction in the polls, neither nationally on a state level.

And my question to you is, why do you think that is?

PLUMMER: Well, it's also the timing. The timing is right now for people to start looking at these candidates seriously. You went through the summer and we had the fall and now after the holidays, before Christmas, it's time now people are going to be looking and vetting these candidates.

And it's true. You just can't see the candidates only once. You have to be there a few times. For us in New Hampshire, we might see candidates three, four times.

BALDWIN: But we have seen them multiple times on national stages, doing these debates, and I think he does pretty darn well in debates, yet still no major blip for the governor of New Jersey. It's vexing to me.

PLUMMER: Well, you know what? He's getting them now.

Certainly, with "The Union Leader" and Joe McQuaid, that's huge, and it's been huge for any candidate that comes to the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire. And you might have people that say, oh, well, it's not going to affect your candidacy, but those are the ones that did not get the endorsement of a Joe McQuaid.

There's been -- Donna Sytek endorsed him today. The sheriffs endorsed him. It's going to start now to come and it's going to come quickly. And what an endorsement really means is not that we're telling people, because I -- my husband or myself endorsed him that you should vote for him, but it might stop people and let them think, let me go back and listen to him again.

Now, I had people that came up to me today, seeing him yesterday at our luncheon, who said, I didn't know what I was doing, who I was going to vote for, and after yesterday they are voting for him.

BALDWIN: But, Renee, let me point out some of the latest polling here. And I know you know this, but you see how Trump is on top. And you see how Chris Christie has been doing.

Let's try to find him on the bottom rung of this two-tier polling here. Donald Trump, have you had him over to dinner?

PLUMMER: I haven't had him for dinner, but we had him come to the building for lunch.

It was at 1 New Hampshire for lunch. We had 50 businesspeople. And he was charming. He was a guest and it was interesting. We have had 14 -- 14 different candidates that have come through. BALDWIN: Quickly, I was talking to Jamie Weinstein, senior editor for

The Daily Caller, last hour. And he's talking to all these inside Washington folks and they are essentially saying, listen, if -- conservative -- and they are saying, listen, if Trump is the nominee and I'm not voting for Trump, and I'm certainly not voting for Hillary Clinton, I will have to find some sort of third-party alternative.

What will you do if Trump is the nominee?

PLUMMER: Oh, I'm going to vote for the primary -- I mean, for the Republican candidate.

If Donald Trump makes it to be the candidate, then I will certainly vote for him.

BALDWIN: All right, Renee Plummer in New Hampshire with the big Chris Christie endorsement, thank you so much for your time today.

PLUMMER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And turning now to this death investigation in the capital of Alaska, where the mayor of Juneau has been found dead in his home.