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Reaction to Donald Trump's Calls for a Ban on Muslims; New Details on California Shooting Rampage; Beijing Issues Highest Air Pollution Alert; Trump Call for Total Ban on Muslims in U.S.; Is Trump Claim of Celebrating on 9/11 True; Chicago Police Under Fire for Another Police Shooting. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 08, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:17] JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
Ahead this hour, Donald Trump calls for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. His supporters cheer, but fellow Republican candidates for president were quick to criticize.
Investigators now believe the couple responsible for the California shooting massacre were radicalized long before last week's rampage.
And the rock band that came face-to-face with the Paris attackers makes a welcomed return to the city.
Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. Another hour of NEWSROOM L.A. begins now.
U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump is taking his controversial positions on Muslims a step further, by calling for a total ban on all Muslims entering the country. He read his campaign statement at a rally on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We have no choice. We have no choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Republican frontrunner's escalating rhetoric brought immediate condemnation from rival candidates, but as Dana Bash reports it has not swayed his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A total and complete shutdown of all Muslims entering this country. That, Donald Trump's new policy prescription for dealing with terror threats in America.
Asked by CNN in September if Muslims pose a danger to the U.S., here was Trump's response.
TRUMP: I love the Muslims. I think they're great people.
BASH: Now in a new statement, he claims vast Muslim hatred towards America, saying, "Our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad and have no sense of reason or respect for human life."
Trump presidential rival Chris Christie quickly dismissed it.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the kind of thing that people say when they have no experience and don't know what they're talking about. We do not need to resort to that type of activity, nor should we.
BASH: Lindsey Graham immediately tweeted, "Every candidate for president needs to do the right thing and condemn @RealDonaldTrump's statement."
Jeb Bush called Donald Trump unhinged, tweeting, "his policy proposals are not serious." Meanwhile, Ted Cruz cautiously distanced himself.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That is not my policy. I've introduced legislation in the Senate that would put in place a three-year moratorium on refugees coming from countries where ISIS or al Qaeda control a substantial amount of territory.
BASH: This as a new CNN-ORC poll shows that 33 percent of likely Iowa caucus goers say they support Trump. That's an eight-point increase from just last month.
CRUZ: The American people are looking for a commander-in-chief who will keep us safe.
BASH: Ted Cruz is now in second place overall, but winning among evangelical voters, traditionally key in Iowa. Ben Carson tumbled seven points, now the third choice of Iowa Republicans likely to vote.
What unites GOP voters is disdain for President Obama.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This was an act of terrorism.
BASH: And Republican candidates spent the day competing to criticize the president's Oval Office address on ISIS.
CRUZ: We don't need a president who goes on national television and lectures the American people like a schoolmarm, who condescends to the American people and says the problem we have is Islamophobia.
BASH (on camera): As for Trump's new proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. his GOP rivals are uniformly opposed to it. Even Ben Carson who once said he couldn't see a Muslim being elected president. He said everyone visiting America should register and be monitored but he would not advocate being selective on one's religion.
Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: So on the Democratic side, frontrunner Hillary Clinton posted a message on Twitter, saying this, "This is reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive. Donald Trump, you just don't get it. This makes us less safe."
Fellow Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders also slammed Trump's proposal, saying demagogues throughout our history have attempted to divide us based on race, gender, sexual orientation or country of origin. Now Trump and others want us to hate all Muslims. The United States is a great nation when we stand together. We are a weak nation when we allow racism and xenophobia to divide us."
[01:05:03] Joining me now is Hussam Ayloush. He is the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations right here in Los Angeles.
Hussam, thank you for coming in. I appreciate you being with us. Go back earlier today, couple of hours ago, when news first broke of what Donald Trump was actually proposing. What was your reaction and what do you think reaction of most Muslims around the U.S. would have been?
HUSSAM AYLOUSH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CAIR LOS ANGELES: I can tell you how I felt. I couldn't believe in this day and age, in America, a leading presidential candidate would be using language that we thought we defeated seven years ago. The Nazism, the fascism. This is dangerous on so many levels, and it should be condemned. I mean, it's immoral, it's un-American, unconstitutional, a danger to safety -- the public safety. I think it's a threat to national security.
VAUSE: Are you -- I guess the word happy isn't the word or satisfied, but what do you think of the responses so far because there's been wide condemnation?
AYLOUSH: I'm so grateful that many people see what I'm seeing and that they realize the entertainment level and aspect of Trump's campaign is over now. This is beyond entertaining. This is beyond rallying up his base. This is beyond him reassuring his base that he remains the most anti-Muslim bigot among the candidates.
VAUSE: He's been sort of pretty forward with controversial ideas a couple of months like monitoring mosques, and he brought that up again tonight. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Yes, we have to look at mosques and we have to respect mosques, but yes, we have to look at mosques. We have no choice. We have to see what's happening. Because something is happening in there. Man, it's anger. It's anger. And we have to know about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Is he right? Is there a lot of anger in mosques around America?
AYLOUSH: I visit mosques. I give a sermon every Friday at different mosques. I don't see the anger, what he's talking about. It's almost like equating the anger of the white supremacist groups with churches. It's almost like saying we need to visit and monitor churches. If there are angry mosques, you know, there will be a handful. If there are -- it's not to say there aren't angry people. There are people who -- he might be confusing maybe people who have different political views than his.
And that's not anger. That's freedom of speech, that is free political expression that exists at the mosques. Certainly our mosques are places that promote tolerance, that preach love, that preach character for people in our community. Unfortunately Trump knows what he's saying is not true, but he's, again, exploiting people's fear.
VAUSE: It's all about politics.
AYLOUSH: It's all about his political career.
VAUSE: OK. So we heard President Obama last night, President Obama calling for tolerance. We had Donald Trump today talking about this ban for Muslims entering the country. Where do you think most Americans, or which way do most Americans lean toward, the president, or toward Mr. Trump? What's your experience out there?
AYLOUSH: I would hope -- I mean, of course we live in California. So my experience has been that most people do not agree with Trump. Most people actually would like to see a leader who leads.
VAUSE: But there are parts of America where that's not the case.
AYLOUSH: Unfortunately, we do receive cases. We receive numerous reports on a daily basis, of mosques receiving that threats, imams, that Muslim woman whose car being attacked, physically attacked. Muslim students being bullied at school. So the reality is, there's a price for this hate speech coming from Trump. The price is the public safety. The public safety of Muslims today is under threat by someone who is planning to become the president. And God forbid, this would be dangerous.
VAUSE: There is a price also because this doesn't happen in a vacuum. People around the world listen to what Mr. Trump has to say. What would be the reaction in Islamic countries and what would be the reaction from groups like ISIS or al Qaeda?
AYLOUSH: Well, the first thing is, what America is loved for is its tolerance, the pluralism, the democracy, the diversity that we reflect to the world. And this is something that people envy us. People want to come to the U.S. for that reason. People want to emulate what the U.S. stands for, for this democracy that exists and this tolerance that exists.
Now he -- by making comments like that, he is alienating Muslims. He is basically telling the Muslims, who are the biggest enemies of ISIS. Let's not forget, the biggest victims of ISIS remain the Muslim community, Muslims around the world. And they are the ones at the forefront, on the ground, fighting ISIS, in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq, in other places. They're the ones sacrificing their life as they're fighting the Assad regime, they're fighting the barbarism of ISIS at the same time.
By pushing Muslims away, actually, what we're saying he is playing into the hands. He's actually doing the work, Donald Trump is doing the work of ISIS in the world.
VAUSE: We have heard that criticism from a number of people in the last couple of days.
Hussam, thank you for coming. Appreciate your insights.
AYLOUSH: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Thank you.
So after every outrageous statement, the commentators and analysts have predicted that Donald Trump went too far. That his campaign would finally come crashing down, and every single time they have been wrong. So what about this time?
[01:10:02] CNN's senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins us now from Washington.
Ron, it is one thing for Trump to be criticized by the Republican establishment, he loves that. It's another thing when the outsiders of the campaign, like Ted Cruz and Ben Carson, start to distance themselves from the frontrunner. So the question is, is this the moment? Has he gone too far?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I think there's a dynamic here. We're seeing just kind of it is the most intense version of what we have seen I think for several weeks, as Trump ramps up the rhetoric over and over, saying things that really no one since at least Pat Buchanan and arguably George Wallace in 1968 have said in American life, he is deepening his hold on a piece of the Republican Party. And I think it's been eye-opening for the Republicans how large a portion of their coalition responds to this kind of defensive nationalism, that is increasingly overt in his xenophobia and even its kind of racially tinged messaging.
So there is a core that is responding to this. I do think, however, the risk to Trump is that this narrows and kind of circumscribes his potential audience. Even in that last CNN poll that had him far ahead, he was running at, what, 46 percent among Republicans without a college degree. Only 18 percent among college-educated Republicans. In fourth place among them. And I think as he goes further and further down this veins, which as I said, no one has really kind of in mind in many years in American politics, I think he creates problems for himself in that upscale, white-collar part of the party. But there's no question, John, there is a big part of the Republican coalition that is responding to this.
VAUSE: And that deep part of the Republican Party, yet, this is the part of the party which holds the constitution as a sacred document.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
VAUSE: So how do they square the circle of what seems to be a clear violation of the Constitution, in particular, religious freedom? Or was religious freedom only for Christians in this country?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes -- no, look, it's a great question. I think what Trump is showing us is that something that we kind of knew in general but now we're seeing crystallized, which is there is a big portion of white America, particularly working class white America, non-urban white America, deeply religious white America, that is unsettled by many of the cultural and demographic changes that are transforming the country. They're unsettled by the immigration. And now that we've had this explosive and understandably the explosive nexus of immigration and assimilation of terrorism both in Paris and of course San Bernardino, it is further heightened those concerns among that portion of the electorate that is responding to him.
And I think that kind of overrides everything else, every other ideological precept. The problem for Trump, though, as I say, is that is not the entire Republican coalition much less the entire electorate. Yes, there is a lot of skepticism in the country overall about whether the values of Islam are in compatible with American values, polls show that but I think this kind of overt, more over xenophobia I think ultimately is limiting.
VAUSE: The one thing we tie that, though, is this the moment, is this the end of Donald Trump's campaign, I don't know if anybody can make that prediction. But would it be fair to say that Trump's rise has been spectacular, so if he does fall, it will be equally spectacular as well? It won't be drawn out over a period of time, it will be quick and it will be hard.
BROWNSTEIN: I don't think the core of the voters, the blue-collar components of the Republican Party that has consolidated around him is simply going to go away. I don't think there is a single, decisive moment. You know, he is winning almost half of all non-college Republicans in a 14-person field. But having said that I think this kind of rhetoric today was really done more out of weakness than out of strength.
I mean I think he feels -- if you looked over the last few weeks, it's been a steady, as we talked about. A steady ratcheting up. And I don't think he would do that because there's a cost at the other end in terms of the impact on broadening his appeal to the white collar part of the party. I don't think he would do that unless he felt that he had to. And in fact, as you know, a poll came out today with him trailing Ted Cruz in Iowa. So I think he -- I think there is a sense that they have to keep putting more coal on this fire in order to excite the voters that are with him. I don't think those voters are going away, but I also don't think
there's unlimited expansion for him. And it's unclear whether the piece that he has is big enough to win.
VAUSE: Yes, a lot of the outrageous statements come often when Donald Trump is falling behind in the polls. Maybe the timing is significant here.
Ron, good to speak with you. Thank you for being with us.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: This was one of two candlelight vigils held Monday night in San Bernardino, California. One was for county employees, another one was held at a nearby university.
Five days have passed since the massacre which killed 14 people, earlier on Monday the city re-opened the street in front of the site of the killings.
In the meantime, investigators are digging deeper into the background that the couple had been carried out in the attack.
[01:15:00] As Pamela Brown reports, the husband and wife apparently have become radical long before the killings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time, a picture has emerged of the attackers together. The photo was snapped as the married couple passed through customs at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in July 2014.
DAVID BOWDICH, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: As the investigation has progressed, we have learned and believe that both subjects were radicalized and have been for quite some time.
BROWN: U.S. officials believe Farook's wife, Tashfeen Malik, had been radicalized before stepping foot in the U.S., raising alarm bells about the fiancee visa she came in on. The State Department says Malik would have had to have an in-person interview before receiving her visa, but a State Department document obtained by CNN in her immigration file shows she failed to show up for the interview. It's unclear if she ever rescheduled.
ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: The background checks aren't as extensive as you would get on a regular type of visa or green card or employment situation over here in the States.
BROWN: Malik was born in Pakistan and spent some of her life in Saudi Arabia, where her father lives. She earned a degree in pharmacy from a women's-only Pakistani university. A professor there told reporters she was quiet and reserved.
BABAR KHAGAN, PROFESSOR: There was nothing specially to be noted by the teachers. She was an average student. She came, always came on time.
BROWN: CNN has learned Syed Farook not only interacted with FBI terrorism subjects, but also looked into contacting terrorist groups overseas, like al Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra and Al-Shabaab.
Farook's father told an Italian newspaper his son, quote, "shared the ideology of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi to create an Islamic State and he was fixated on Israel."
SYED FAROOK, GUNMAN'S FATHER: His views were conservative. My views are liberal.
BROWN: Farook lived with his mother in this home in Redlands, California, where investigators found a cache of ammunition and bomb- making materials. The attorney general told NBC News investigators are interested in what she may have known about her son and daughter- in-law's activities.
BOWDICH: We have found evidence of pre-planning. We want to find out everyone who profited from it, financed it, and I'm not saying there is anything like that, but we will leave no stone unturned.
BROWN: It's unclear what started this husband and wife on the path to radicalization or who may have known about it in advance, but tonight new indications of planning in the days ahead of the attack.
BOWDICH: We do have evidence that both of these subjects did some target -- participated in target practice and some ranges within the metro area.
BROWN: Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We heard from the other U.S. presidential candidates about Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the country. And still to come here, we'll tell you what his supporters think about that idea.
Plus, sweeping pollution controls have been put in place in Beijing after the city issues its highest ever warning. We're live in the Chinese capital after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SPORTS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:21:59] VAUSE: In Beijing, schools and factories are closed. Half the city's cars are banned from the roads. These are some of the measures being enforced after the government issued its first ever red alert, that is the highest air pollution warning.
CNN's Matt Rivers joins us now live from Beijing with the very latest. It is, what, 20 past 2:00 there on a Tuesday afternoon.
So, Matt, how are those pollution controls working out?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you can see behind me, not that well so far. And it really is making life more difficult for people here in Beijing, both to breathe the air and to deal with those restrictions. Many people have taken to social media to vent their frustrations, but we recently spoke to one man who found a more alternative way to express his displeasure.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RIVERS (voice-over): This is what it looks like when you vacuum air pollution. And this is what it looks like when you use the tiny toxic particles you collect to help make a brick. The man behind it is an artist called Brother Nut.
BROTHER NUT, ARTIST (Through Translator): Some people think this is ridiculous to vacuum dust in the air.
RIVERS: But he is doing it to make a point about China's air quality. So he spent 100 days walking the streets of Beijing, towing his vacuum, sucking up the pollution Beijingers breathe in. We saw him on a day with blue skies but most of his work comes from days that look like this. He collected over 100 grams of pollution, much of it made up of small particles, some 30 times smaller than a strand of human hair.
DR. TRISTAN EVELY, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL SOS: They can go right inside our lungs, right into the blood stream.
RIVERS: Doctor Tristan Evely is a medical director for International SOS and says the long-term effects of breathing in air this polluted are deadly.
EVELY: Asthma, obstructed air ways disease, and also even things like heart attacks because the pollution can trigger that, as well.
RIVERS: Air pollution can be made from everything from soot to heavy metals, like arsenic and lead, likely now a part of Brother Nut's pollution brick. Here is a picture of him pouring the dust into a brick mold.
BROTHER NUT (Through Translator): Air pollution is a problem for everyone. And now we are being deprived of our right to breathe fresh air.
RIVERS: His art project went viral, perhaps not surprising in a city where 21 million people have to deal with pollution every day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RIVERS: And that will likely be the topic of conversation for people here in Beijing for several days to come. This heavy, heavy smog is not expected to clear out of the area until Thursday midday at the earliest -- John.
VAUSE: Yes, they could get enough bricks to build another great wall. Matt, thank you for that. Matt Rivers, live in Beijing.
Let's go to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. He's standing by at the CNN Weather Center with more details on these toxic conditions.
So, Pedram, is there any particular reason why it is more toxic than usual in Beijing?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, it always comes down to coal. We know two-thirds of the energy consumption is from coal. Of course this time of year the cold air.
[01:25:04] The weather pattern actually very stagnant so it's trapping all the pollutants, the particulates. The air quality index up at 367. That's well into the hazardous category. Some 10 to 15 times of what is considered fit to breathe by the World Health Organization. And again, you look at these numbers, study after studies have been done. We know about 17 percent of fatalities per year in China occur because of air quality. It's about 1.6 million people in the country losing their lives prematurely because of air quality.
About five and a half year shorter life expectancy believe it or not on the northern tier of the country than in the southern tier of the country. And we know the industry has a lot to do with it, the coal- powered factories and power plants across this region. But see this area? That's where the smog is the highest. That's an area that is roughly 500,000 square kilometers of land, the size of the state of California and the state of Tennessee combined. That is the size of the plant we're talking about. So certainly not just related to Beijing, but much expansive over region.
And we have an inversion set up with the weather pattern, meaning we have warmer air aloft, cooler, more dense air sits right at the surface so we have the pollutants that are trapped at the surface, where millions of people reside, and this really makes it for a disastrous scenario. And again this kind of shows you what we're talking about with two-thirds of the energy consumption coming in from coal, that leads to what we have with the highest particulates.
And look at this, U.S. Department of State, fascinating statistics. Since January 1st of 2008, only 2 percent of all days in Beijing have been considered fit to breathe. Work your way to the bottom of the screen, the unhealthy to beyond unhealthy, that are hazardous, more than 70 percent of the days across Beijing since the 1st of January in 2008, have been considered unhealthy.
And another way to look at it. We did the math on this, John. Since January 1st, 2008, there's been 2,899 days. Only 58 days in Beijing, and all that time were 2 percent are considered healthy with more than 2,000 of them being unhealthy, and the remainder unhealthy for sensitive groups. So it kind of shows you what we're talking about, with the significant and the consistent pattern of unfit air across this part of the world -- John.
VAUSE: That's what you call room for improvement, Pedram. Thank you.
JAVAHERI: A lot of room. Yes.
VAUSE: Next here on CNN NEWSROOM L.A., Donald Trump's call to stop Muslims entering the U.S. has sparked a lot of outrage, but not so from his supporters. We'll hear from them up next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump is now saying Muslims should not be allowed to enter this country until the U.S. figures out what's going on. Do you agree with that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I do.
KAYE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want them here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:55] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Just coming up to 10:30 on a Monday night. I'm John Vause. The headlines this hour.
(HEADLINES)
U.S. presidential candidate, Donald Trump, is calling for a total ban on all Muslims entering the United States, including migrants and temporary visitors. The Republican previously had called for a registration database for Muslims and surveillance, and possible closure of some U.S. mosques.
Trump's call sparked an immediate backlash among his campaign rivals, but as Randi Kaye reporters, there's approval among his many supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As supporters waited in line to hear Donald Trump speak tonight in South Carolina, word started to spread about his latest idea, banning all Muslims from entering the U.S.
(on camera): Donald Trump is now saying Muslims should not be allowed to enter this country until the U.S. figures out what's going on. Do you agree with that?
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes, I do.
KAYE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don't want them here. Who knows what they're going to bring into this country, ISIS, bombs. They need to go. KAYE (voice-over): He's not the only supporter backing Trump's call
for a total shutdown of Muslims entering the U.S. In fact, no one here we spoke with had a problem with the plan.
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: That's a very prudent idea and I think he's done due diligence when he makes that statement.
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: We have to protect our American citizens first, and the vetting process and the whole program lacks integrity.
KAYE: That's not true. The vetting process run through multiple agencies is vigorous. Some folks saying not all Muslims are bad, when pressed, but they say don't want to take any chances, even if some are coming to terms with it slowly.
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think they should go through screening, extensive screening. We just let a terrorist into this country that did the California shooting. I mean --
(CROSSTALK)
KAYE (on camera): He's saying no Muslims should be allowed to enter the country right now. Do you agree, yes or no? It's that simple.
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes.
KAYE (on camera): Trump's harsh words for ISIS have also energized his supporters. On FOX recently, Mr. Trump shared part of his plan for how he'd bring down is, including targeting terrorist families.
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: You have to wipe out their homes where they came from. You have to absolutely wipe them out. The only way you're going to stop terrorism.
KAYE (on camera): Are you in favor of bombing terrorist homes?
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: Absolutely. Absolutely. People will continue to reproduce and they will raise children in their beliefs.
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: Somebody just needs to go in there and take control of this. I just think it's going rampant. And I'm worried about America, worried about our safety. They're getting in. They need to be stopped.
KAYE (voice-over): At a November rally, Trump had some of his strongest words yet.
TRUMP: We got to go and knock the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of these people.
(APPLAUSE)
KAYE (on camera): Why do you think he's the guy to take on ISIS?
UNIDENTIFIED TRUMP SUPPORTER: He's got the guts to take it on and he can build a coalition of other people to take them on as well.
KAYE (voice-over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Conservative commentator, Ben Ferguson, joins us now from Dallas, Texas, with more on Donald Trump's extraordinary plan to stop Muslims from entering the United States.
Ben, this will appeal to a significant number of Republican and primary voters, like those in North Carolina, who believe Islam should be outright illegal in the U.S.
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think there's certain people that are going to stick with Donald Trump regardless of what he says. Many of his supporters are fanatic supporters, which is great when you're going up and down some in the campaign and you're having comments that can get you in trouble. They're going to stand behind him. But if you look at all the other GOP candidates that are still in this, they came out immediately and condemned these comments and said, this is not the Republican Party. This is Donald Trump on his own, pushing an idea that is also as many would say, unconstitutional, unrealistic, how would you even implement this, would you have a test where you're saying, do you know the Koran? Just the idea of implementing this seems almost impossible to me. And I think that's what's going to get him in trouble, especially with this next CNN debate coming up.
[01:35:48] VAUSE: OK, with that in mind, this is not the Republican Party. Listen to what former Vice President Dick Cheney had to say in reaction to Mr. Trump's plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think this whole notion that somehow we can just say, no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion, it goes against everything we stand for and believe in. Religious freedom is a very important part of our history and where it came from, how they got here, how a lot of my ancestors got here, because they were Puritans. Wasn't anybody here when they came? But it's a mistaken notion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: What does it say when Dick Cheney thinks you've gone too far?
(LAUGHTER)
FERGUSON: Yeah. I think it tells you an awful lot. It's like he just said, you cannot ban a group of people based on their religion, especially when 23 percent of the world's population declares themselves as being a Muslim with their religion. That's where you're going to see Donald Trump get himself in trouble with many of the other Republican candidates. With many of the things he's said before, they let him deal with it on his own, because you didn't want to get into a yelling-talk match with Donald Trump or a smack-talking match, because Donald Trump is one of the best trash-talkers in the game. When people take him on during the debates, it ends up backfiring because he's good at it. But this is an idea that goes against American values, it goes against our Constitution, it goes against freedom of religion, freedom of expression and everything else. And all of them, I think you're going to end up seeing them rally around and go after him for this.
VAUSE: You know that, I know that, the vast majority of people out there knows that. You have to assume that Donald Trump knows that. So I'm curious, is it possible to tell how much of this is Donald Trump trying to suck up the free media attention and how much of this is politics because he wanted to get the headlines?
FERGUSON: I think it's a little bit of both. One, he understands that if he can keep the media focused on him and focused on playing his rallies live, that he'll be able to connect with other people. And today I was watching, you know, all the cable networks were showing his campaign stop and his speech live. Any other candidate would kill for that, but he gets the media attention because of how outlandish he is sometimes.
I do think also, he thinks he can say whatever he wants, and explain it away, like a week ago when he said thousands of Muslims were celebrating the twin towers coming down that night in New Jersey. It wasn't thousands of people, yet he was able to overcome that gaffe and move right on with his campaign and keep his poll numbers high.
VAUSE: Godzilla, nothing kills him. He just gets stronger. I guess we'll see this time.
Ben, thank you for speaking with us. We appreciate it.
FERGUSON: Thanks, man.
VAUSE: And as Ben mentioned, there was that statement that Donald Trump made about thousands of Muslims in America celebrating after 9/11, just one of many provocative statements coming from the Republican front-runner.
Jason Carroll looks at that claim now and sees if it is true.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of people? The problem with Donald Trump's claim is that it simply is not true. And to date, he hasn't provided any evidence to back it up.
In an attempt to back it up, Trump tweeted out a 2001 article from "The Washington Post." Quote, "Law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river." "The Washington Post" went back and re-examined their own reporting and concluded, "A number of people is not the same as thousands." And allegedly means there's no actual proof.
RUDY GIULIANI, (R), FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: We had pockets of celebration.
CARROLL: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani believes there may have been about a dozen people or so celebrating in New York City that day.
GIULIANI: 10, 12. 30, 40.
CARROLL: But thinks Trump is?
GIULIANI: Exaggerating.
(LAUGHTER)
CARROLL: And Trump also claims to have seen it on TV.
[01:40:05] TRUMP: It was well covered at the time, George. I know they don't like to talk about it, but it was well covered at the time.
CARROLL: No media outlets we found, including CNN, broadcast any images of celebrations on 9/11 here in the United States. So where could Trump have gotten that idea in the first place?
Well, video from the West Bank was broadcast that day, showing a number of Palestinians cheering in the streets, but this was far from New Jersey, and nowhere near the thousands of people Trump referred to.
Coming to his aide, Trump's senior adviser shared a WCBS clip from 2001.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Some folks, I'm told were cheering on the roof when they saw the plane slam into the trade center. Police were called to the building by neighbors and how they were celebrating.
CARROLL: Again, far fewer than the thousands Trump recalls, and no actual images of any celebrations were found.
In another attempt to bolster his claims, he tweeted a snippet of an MTV broadcast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED RADIO HOST: Calls started coming in from people troubled in the fact that they had just ridden down main street and South Patterson.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CARROLL: And TV has set the record straight by uploading the original broadcast saying it's not what he personally witnessed, but people calling in to share what they had allegedly seen.
With the rumors flying all around that day, an investigation was ordered by John Farmer, New Jersey's then state attorney general. He told "The New York Times," "The word came back quickly from Jersey city, later from Patterson, false report, never happened."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, for more on Donald Trump, along with all the other headlines from the U.S. presidential campaign, visit our website, CNNpolitics.com.
Still to come, Chicago's Police Department under fire as another video of a police shooting is released. That story just ahead.
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[01:45:55] VAUSE: Chicago authorities have released a video of another police shooting death as the Department of faces a federal investigation. The footage from last October appears to show Ronald Johnson running from police officers and off-camera, an officer shot Johnson twice. Prosecutors say he was armed with a loaded gun. An independent board decided the officer did nothing wrong. No criminal charges will be filed in that case.
Johnson's case is getting renewed attention because of the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. It sparked outrage and protest for days in Chicago. The footage was released the day the officer that killed McDonald's was charged with murder. Now more questions are surfacing as a police report contradicts what that video shows. A U.S. Justice Department investigation will look into whether Chicago police have repeatedly violated the law.
But as Gary Tuchman shows us, this isn't the first time the police force has been under scrutiny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What you're watching are Chicago police protecting their own, a human shield of supporters and fellow cops surrounding Commander Glen Evans as he leaves the courtroom in September of last year.
(CROSSTALK)
TUCHMAN: The highly decorated cop was charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct after allegedly tackling Ricky Williams on Chicago's south side. Police say Evans was patrolling the area when he saw Williams with a gun. Evans chased Williams down and tackled him in an abandoned home.
UNIDENTIFIED CHICAGO STATES ATTORNEY: The defendant then stuck his Smith & Wesson .45 caliber, semi-automatic pistol deep down the victim's throat.
TUCHMAN: Prosecutors say DNA matching the victim was found on Evans' pistol. The gun Williams was carrying, police say, was never found. Williams filed a complaint, saying the officer threatened to kill him. This is how former police superintendent, Gary McCarthy, responded when he was asked whether he supported Evans.
GARY MCCARTHY, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: I'm not going to answer that, that's absurd. Do I support him? If I didn't support him, he wouldn't be there.
TUCHMAN: The officer pleaded not guilty. His trial starts on December 8th.
Officers protecting their own is hardly unique, and it is most often justified, but this wasn't the first complaint of abuse against Lieutenant Evans. Renney Simmons, a partially disabled man working for the water company, won a $100,000 settlement against the city after he claimed Evans beat him unprovoked after he tried to post a water cutoff notice on Evans' property. What's happened to the cop? In a word, nothing, except he's been promoted to commander.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's so much protection built in for police officers. And I'm not critical of protections built in for police officers, but it's gone so far that it's virtually impossible to meaningfully discipline a police officer even when they really do break the rules.
TUCHMAN: In fact, the University of Chicago found that in the last four and a half years of the more than 28,000 complaints, less than 2 percent led to discipline of any kind. Why is it impossible to discipline cops? Some argue the system is broken and that the union that protects them is too strong.
Dean Angelo Senior is the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police president.
(on camera): Is it possible bad cops are on the streets and you're protecting them and that's why they're on the streets?
DEAN ANGELO SR, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE: I protect all of my members and I will continue to do that.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): After Laquan McDonald was killed by Chicago police officer, Jason Van Dyke, the version of events told by the Chicago police officers at the scene and the union, was different than what tape of the shooting showed.
(on camera): Is there a culture of covering up?
ANGELO: If they would have covered up, you would have never saw the videotape.
TUCHMAN: Well, they covered up a long time, though.
ANGELO: But it was adjudicated and the officer was separated.
TUCHMAN: But it was covered up for months. Is there a question of covering up?
(CROSSTALK)
ANGELO: Based on the incident, it's a culture?
TUCHMAN: Can it be -- there's much more than that. You know that. But can it be improved in the city? That's what I'm saying? Can it be improved?
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And as Officer Van Dyke made bail and was escorted out of jail, the union head was right there with him, once again, protecting one of his own.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:50:06] VAUSE: Well, for the rock band which found itself in the middle of the terror attacks in Paris, there was an enthusiastic welcome when they returned to the French capital. More on that after a short break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: The band U2 played a big concert in Paris on Monday, with help from some special guests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONO, LEAD SINGER, U2: They were robbed of their stage three weeks ago, and we would like to offer them ours tonight.
(CHEERING)
BONO: Would you welcome the Eagles of Death Metal!
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Eagles of Death Metal were playing the Bataclan Theater the night terrorists attacked, killing 90 people in that theater. The band joined U2 on stage for their first performance since the mass killing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED BAND MEMBER: Is everybody here having a good time?
(CHEERING) UNIDENTIFIED BAND MEMBER: I said, can I hear you? Is everybody having a good time?
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:54:56] VAUSE: Eagles of Death Metal also released a statement on their Facebook page, saying, quote, "Thank you to France, thank you to everyone in the world who continues to prove that love, joy, and music will always overcome terror and evil."
Fans were pretty happy to have them back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FAN: Yes. We -- there was emotion. It was a lot of emotion.
UNIDENTIFIED Fan: I think it was very good, very good for us and for them. And, well, it was very emotional moment for me.
UNIDENTIFIED FAN: Eagle of Death Metal, I love you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Unforgettable night for everybody who was there.
You've been watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
For our viewers here in the United States, "Amanpour" is up next.
Everyone else, stay with us. The news continues with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett after a short break.
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[02:00:09] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR:
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