Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Chicago's Top Cop Fired; Mayor: Public Trust In Police Shaken; Chicago Mayor Forms Policing Task Force; More U.S. Commandos To Fight ISIS; Force Will Build On Intel Capability; ISIS Builds Presence In Libya; Study Says Support For ISIS Skyrocketing; Pentagon's Plan To Close Guantanamo Rejected; Congress Undercuts Obama On Climate Change; Trump Rallies Supporters In New Hampshire; Trump Adviser Tweets 9/11 News Story; Jeb Bush Uses "She" Describing His V.P.; Stocks See Strong Start To December. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 02, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:03] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The search is on for a head for the Chicago Police Department after Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

That dismissal comes amid angry protests over a police officer shooting of a black teenager, Laquan McDonald 16 times. After McCarthy's resignation, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan called for a federal civil rights investigation in to the Chicago Police Department.

Madigan's request to the Justice Department says the shocking death of Laquan McDonald is the latest tragedy in our city that highlights serious questions about the use of unlawful and excessive force by Chicago police officers and the lack of accountability for such abuse.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has more from Chicago.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT. Christine and Alison, activist here in the city of Chicago say that the firing of the city's top cop is just the beginning of the changes they want to see. A great deal of scrutiny swirling around Garry McCarthy as well as Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and just why it took so long for Officer Jason Van Dyke to be charged with murder in the shooting death of the teenager Laquan McDonald, a shooting that took place in October of last year.

And the actions of both men under a great deal of scrutiny, Rahm Emanuel says that there has just been too much focus on the superintendent of the police department here in Chicago. And because of that, it was time to make a change in the top position there but those -- many of those activists say that Rahm Emanuel bears a great deal of the responsibility as well, with the way that Laquan McDonald case has been handled.

The news of McCarthy's firing came rather saddling. In fact, Superintendent McCarthy was on a radio station here in Chicago on Tuesday morning saying he still believed that he had the backing of Rahm Emanuel and then a few hours later that announcement was made. Rahm Emanuel insists that he is ultimately responsible for the way all of this is handled. And he's also called for a task force to look at the way these complaints against police officers are handled. But that is a task force that has a deadline of March of next year to come back with a final report.

Christine and Alison?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Ed Lavandera, thanks very much.

And new plans this morning to send additional U.S. commandos to Iraq in the fight against ISIS.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter revealing in congressional testimony that the Pentagon is organizing what it is calling a specialized expeditionary targeting force, Carter telling lawmakers the plan would take advantage of American forces, unique capabilities and "Long reach."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ASH CARTER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It puts everybody on notice in Syria that, you don't know at night who's going to be coming in the window. And that's the sensation that we want all of ISIL's leadership and followers to have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Now, Iraq's prime minister says there is no need for foreign troops on the ground in Iraq.

On his Facebook page, the prime minister writes "The iraqi government stresses that any military operation or the deployment of any foreign forces, special or not, in any place in Iraq cannot happen without its approval and coordination and full respect of Iraqi sovereignty."

The latest now from Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, in the face of withering criticism, the administration making a renewed effort to show progress against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter announcing a new effort for U.S. special operations forces to be based in Iraq and do raids and missions in Iraq and even go into Syria, very dangerous business. They want to build on the intelligence capability already there. Half these troops go rescue hostages, gather intelligence, attack ISIS leadership, all of that.

Now, it's going to relatively small number of special operations forces, but they will be backed up in a significant manner. They will have their own helicopters, their own rescue forces, if they run into trouble.

So at the end of the day, this could put another 200 troops into the arena, even as an additional 50 special operations forces are scheduled to arrive in northern Syria. It is a plus up in the U.S. effort. But officials are telling us, it could still be weeks before the troops arrive. A lot of work to be done about what units will go and exactly how they will operate. Alison, Christine.

ROMANS: Thanks Barbara for that.

There is concern this morning about a new United Nations report, warning that ISIS has succeeded in building a substantial presence in Libya.

The U.N. report says ISIS has as many as 3,000 fighters in the North African countries describing it is the most promising addition of the terror group's so called caliphate outside Syria and Iraq.

The report likely to increase worries about ISIS' ability to export terror from its base of operations in the coastal city of Sirte, just a few hundred miles from the southern most island of Europe.

For the very latest, let's bring in CNN's Ian Lee for us this morning. Good morning Ian.

[05:35:04] IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine, this report is very disturbing. We're learning that ISIS is focusing on Libya to expand its territories outside of Iraq and Syria. The head of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sending 800 fighters to Libya to serve as a backbone to keep the stow upon them the expertise in fighting guerilla warfare as well as explosives.

They've been able carve out about 100 miles along the central coast of Libya around the city of Sirte. And this has served as a beacon for fighters in Africa, people going there to join ISIS as well as locals. There are reports of Tunisians, Egyptian and people and fighters from other countries. And they have been able to carry out attacks in those neighboring countries as well. But this does have European officials very, very worried as you do see migrants going from Libya into the European Union. There's concern that the fighters could be hiding among them as well as Libya from the Crete in Southern Greece is only less than 200 miles.

Now, there are some challenges for ISIS in Libya, though. They do not have the sectarian issues to exploit. And there are rival factions there as well that are helping to somewhat containment, for right now in the west, you have an Islamist government that ranges from moderate to extremist. In the east you have the internationally recognized governments both factions are somewhat containing. But we are seeing ISIS grow bolder. They are also fighting with Al-Qaeda in the eastern part, northern eastern part in the city of Derna. But it looks like ISIS gaining ground and able to exploit the ongoing civil war there.

ROMANS: All right Ian Lee, thanks for that.

KOSIK: An alarming report on the rise of ISIS, according to a study by George Washington University. support for the terror group has reached unprecedented levels in America with several thousand ISIS sympathizers based here. The report goes on to say, there were more terrorism-related arrests in the U.S. in 2015 than any year since 9/11, researchers identifying that at least 300 Americans who actively support ISIS on social media.

ROMANS: A Pentagon plan to close Guantanamo Bay, replace it with a prison here in the U.S. rejected by the White House.

According to Wall Street Journal, the administration considers the $600 million price tag too expensive.

The measure calls for 350 million just to construct a new facility in America, nearly 300 million more in annual Pentagon operating costs. The defense department must now come up with a more affordable option.

KOSIK: The congress moving quickly to undercut the president's call for a global climate change agreement.

The house passing two measures already approved by the senate that would scuttle EPA restrictions on carbon emissions from coal fired power plants.

Lawmakers taking the action just hours after the president addressed world leaders at the climate change summit in Paris.

President Obama has promised to veto the measures.

ROMANS: All right, time now for an Early Start of your money. European stocks are up, so our U.S. Feature, a strong start to the month yesterday. The Dow climbed 168 points on strong auto sales and Cyber Monday results, a good consumer numbers. I did not that great number on manufacturing. But all in all, it was a good day yesterday.

A big E. coli recall expanding to more states and stores. Contaminated celery from California was discovered as the source of Costco's chicken salad recall last week. That infected 19 people in seven states.

Now it spans more than a dozen states, including 155,000 items, like salad kits and vegetables trays, affects huge retailers like Walmart, Sams Club, Alertsons's, 7-Eleven, Target and Safeway and Starbucks.

KOSIK: That is one wide spread recall.

ROMANS: Yeah.

KOSIK: Donald Trump standing by his claims that Muslims in New Jersey celebrating on the rooftop on 9/11.

New developments overnight next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:43:16] ROMANS: All right, Donald Trump on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. Once again refusing to budge on his claim that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks, and overnight one of his advisers tweeting out local news coverage from a few days after the attacks, local news coverage that he says backs up Trump's claim. Nobody can deny real Donald Trump uncovered a 14-year long 9/11 coverup are R.E., celebrations on Jersey City rooftops. You watch the clip that the reporter is Pablo Guzman CBS a local affiliate, a three minute report talking about the detention eight men detained on a rooftop for apparently celebrating after the World Trade Center came down.

KOSIK: And this is after of course Donald Trump saying there were thousands celebrating. So also coming after our Alisyn Camerota's interview with Rudy Giuliani, who said "You know what, in telling the Trump campaign, if this really happened, prove it. So now I think you're seeing a little trickle of proof coming from the Trump camp about celebrations, we're seeing celebrations of eight people, not thousands.

ROMANS: Yeah, the thousands and thousands I think, it's this thing that fact checkers has been fixating on because, you know, Rudy Guiliani, Governor Chris Christie in New Jersey, local Patterson police chief. Many others have said "Look, there may have been isolated cases, but we're not talking about thousands and thousands of people. This is an exaggeration this claim from Donald Trump is an exaggeration.

KOSIK: Donald Trump also making some news yesterday. I want you to listen to what he said. And we'll talk on the back end.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I didn't serve, I haven't serve and frankly I had deferments because of college like a lot of people did, numerous deferments because of college. And I had a foot thing. And I get that deferment for that. At some point I probably would have. I was in the draft. And I got a very high number. I think it was 356. Can you believe that? So what happened is I always felt a little guilty.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[05:45:08] ROMANS: Always felt a little guilty. You know, he was at an event there in New Hampshire where he was taking some questions from the audience, which anyway or sometimes he had, you know, plays to the crowd on his own and can talk for a long time, you know, without even notes. But he was taking quick notes...

KOSIK: But he was expressing regret that he didn't join the military. Interesting, though, you think about what happened over the summer, Donald Trump attacked Senator John McCain, questioning whether he was a war hero, saying that McCain was only a war hero because he was captured. But it's interesting to see this regret now...

ROMANS: And that was the time, you know, early, very early. And feels like a life time ago, but very early on in this campaign, when people said "You know, insulting military veterans is something that's going to cost him in the polls." And it hasn't cost.

So this guy has been on top the polls, from -- exactly, from the very beginning.

Let's talk about Jeb Bush here because Jeb Bush also, I don't know if this was strategic, if this is really a slip. But listen to what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEB BUSH, (R) 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And should I be elected president, I would have my vice president. I think she will be a great partner. I mean, did I say that out loud?

We always talk about this with one gender in mind. I think we've reached probably the point I think in our country where maybe we should be a little less gender specific about this.

(ENDE VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Now, he's top the most polls by Ted Cruz, by Marco Rubio of course by Donald Trump, by Ben Carson. But he still out there campaigning and he is planning and moving forward as if he will be the nominee.

KOSIK: And making news with his so-called slip up of the buzz word, gender equality. something a lot of people in this country want to see.

So I'm thinking that was strategic. He wants to get on the news just as much as Donald Trump is on the news. Also former first daughter Chelsea Clinton plans to host a fundraiser for her mom's presidential campaign later this month.

The family holiday celebration is going to be taking place in New York, December 17th. It's actually the first Clinton campaign event with Chelsea as a headliner. And so far she's had a limited role in her mom's campaign.

Now on the same day, Hillary Clinton is going to be hosting a fundraiser for the DNC. And that one will feature her husband Bill.

ROMANS: All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on New Day, the early riser, fellow early riser Michaela Pereira...

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: ... up early with the -- I don't know what else gets up early. Well, we're here, right, the early birds.

We have brand-new polling to show you, showing a shakeup going on in the GOP field. We're going to down whose up, who's down. What it means for all the presidential hopefuls.

Also the Pentagon plans to deploy more U.S. special forces to Iraq to fight ISIS. Is this going to be a winning strategy? We're going to put that question for our military experts get insight from them.

Now, that Chicago's top cop is out over that dash-cam video of an officer shooting a black teen 16 times, where does that city go from here? Should more officials, perhaps the mayor be forced to resign? We're going to talk to the journalist who sued to make that video public. Find out what else he wants to have happen in Chicago.

ROMANS: All right Michaela, thank you.

So how do you define healthy? Why one food company says the FDA does not understand that word. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:52:38] KOSIK: The first Freddie Gray trial speeding along. The judge expects the jury to be seated this morning and opening statements to begin in the afternoon.

Officer William Porter is the first of six Baltimore officers to be tried in connection with the death of Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury while in police custody. Roughly 125 potential jurors have been questioned in the past two days.

ROMANS: We're hearing for the first time from the Cleveland police officer charged in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.

In the statement to investigators, Officer Timothy Loehmann says he thought the threat was real and active when he shot the boy outside a recreational center last fall.

Loehmann says Rice had a gun, and appeared to be over the age of 18, in fact Rice had a pellet gun. Loehmann's partner in his statement says he also believed the pellet gun was real. And the person waving it was an adult. The grand jury is investigating.

Robert Dear's ex-wife says the alleged Planned Parenthood shooter targeted the organization before. He tells NBC News that Dear put glues in the locks of other clinic 20 years ago. Her divorce filing described him as violent and isolated.

Dear is charged with killing three people wounding nine others in an hours long siege of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs last week.

KOSIK: Here's something interesting. The FBI says Black Friday, the same day as the Planned Parenthood attack was the biggest day ever for firearms background checks.

The agency processed about 185,000 checks, 5 percent more than the same day last year. A background check does not necessarily mean a gun was purchased. But it is used by the gun industry as a rough measure of overall sales.

ROMANS: All right, a soaking day set for the east coast folks. Let's go to Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christine and Alison.

Yes, soggy set up here for the eastern. Really third of the country as we are working way towards this corner of the country, final boundary in place, enough cold air top (ph) in northern tier of New England, for at least the Wintery Mix. And we're getting residual snow showers across the western side of the great lakes, nothing really significant for the snow.

But look at the source of moisture stretching all the way back out towards the pacific. That's a 5,000 mile area where we're drawing moisture from. And of course plenty of it across this region but generally speaking, it will be the lighter variety with some pockets around the Florida Panhandle, toward in Georgia western North Carolina around the Asheville getting some heavy rainfall over the next 24 to 48 hours.

[05:55:00] But I want to show you what's happened across parts of California. We know an El Nino season, we know the dismal season we had in recent years, November 2014, snow packed from the stellite perspective, Walla, like in November 2015, significant accumulations of course this past November.

Some area, now when you look at the snow depth across the (inaudible) Mammoth Lakes, Tahoe City, some areas up to 2 feet of accumulation across this region. That is fantastic news what we know about 40 percent of the drinking water comes from the Sierras snow melt.

We'll leave you with this, the temperatures today, how about the upper 60s around Raleigh Houston makes it up to about 66 degrees, guys.

ROMANS: All right, thank you for that Pedram.

Let's get an Early Start on your money now. Two days in, a good December for stocks, U.S. Stocks Futures are up this morning. The Dow climbed 168 points to kick off what is historically a strong month for investors, yet you had a strong auto sales, you had a strong cyber Monday sales. That was two very good pieces of news about the consumer. But manufacturing was weak, that's a problem.

Also, you know, we're going to be hearing from the fed Chief Janet Yellen today so the tone could completely change.

Yahoo! shares are soaring right now. They're up 7 percent before the bell. That's because the reports before will meet to discuss selling its core business, its valuable stake in Alibaba or both.

Volkswagen sales plunged 25 percent in the last month in the U.S. Firestone away following a big emission cheating scandal involving most of a diesel cars. The sales slump affected model across abroad except VW's luxury brand sales Audi.

You know, as I mentioned, U.S. car sales in high gear. The industry on track for record sales this year, driven by low gas price, pent up demand for new cars and a strong jobs market, we're going to get that big job support on Friday, to see just how strong it still is.

How do you define healthy? Granola bar maker KIND says the FDA simply doesn't know.

KIND has filed a petition asking the FDA to redefine healthy to make current nutrition guidelines. Earlier this year, KIND was forced to stop using the word "healthy" on its labels, it's been healthy products that -- very specific, they must have fewer than 3 grams of total fat and 1 gram of saturated fat. Many KIND bars have much more than that.

The company says that's not a bad thing, the nuts in the bars are a part of a nutritious diet. And several experts agree and have signed that petition.

KOSIK: It's a lesson to everybody who buys food to really just the label and use your common sense.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

KOSIK: Just like if it says organic.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

KOSIK: It doesn't necessarily mean it's any better than...

ROMANS: So we'll watch to see how slow the wheels of justice are on that.

KOSIK: Make sure that they go like this, really slowly.

ROMANS: That's right.

KOSIK: All right, a big shakeup at the race for president. A brand new poll releasing in just a few minutes, New Day starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We are just destroying Hillary, we're beating Hillary.

Cruz, has going to have to hit me.

It's going to be a sad day but we will hit back, I promise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he attacks somebody, it's OK, because he's sort of the ultimate outsider.

ROMANS: Chicago's police chief fired.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has become an issue rather than dealing with the issue.

KOSIK: Was there a coverup in the police shooting of a Chicago teenager?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are a lot of questions in this room about you and your office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll make that judgment. I think I'm doing my job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Countries of U.S. special operations and support forces heading to dangerous ground in Iraq and Syria. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we winning, Mr. Secretary?

ASH CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We will win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we winning now?

CARTER: We're going to win.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, is the answer for us. That's good news.

Good morning, welcome to your New Day. It is Wednesday December 2nd, 6:00 in the East and we do have breaking news.

Trump more on top than ever, the more he gets criticized the more he seems to gain. Now with a double digit lead at the top of the republican field. But the real story may be the race for 2nd place.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So Florida Senator Marco Rubio ascends to 2nd with Dr. Ben Carson losing ground, slipping into a 3rd place tie with Senator Ted Cruz, while over all in the Democratic side front runner Hillary Clinton widening her lead two to one over Senator Bernie Sanders.

So let's dig into the numbers. And what they mean for this race with CNN Senior Washington Jeff Zeleny, he's live in Waterville Valley in New Hampshire. Jeff tell us what you see in the numbers.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

You're right, Donald Trump is on top of this new National Quinnipiac poll release just a few minutes ago, he's at 27 percent. But let's take a look at the rest of these numbers and break it down for you here.

He's at 27 percent. But Marco Rubio is just right behind at 17 percent. But as Ben Carson's slide continues, it is the contest between Rubio and Senator Ted Cruz that is the one to watch in the coming months. They're both at 16 percent, rounding out the top five, Jeb Bush is at 5 percent and the rest of the field is even further below that.

Now here in New Hampshire last night, Donald Trump barely mentioned any of his Republican rivals. But he did brag about his strength against Hillary Clinton. Let's take a listen.

[06:00:05] TRUMP: Very importantly, I'm killing just -- we are just destroying Hillary, we're beating Hillary.