Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Growing Chaos Inside The GOP; Senator Gillibrand Pushing Legislation On Paid Leave; FBI Investigating Fire At Mosque Near Palm Springs, CA; Two Terror Suspects Arrested In Geneva Today; Divers Have Pulled Items Out Of Lake Near San Bernardino Massacre Site. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired December 12, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:21] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. 3:00 p.m. eastern. Thank you so much for being with us.

We begin in California where scuba divers in southern California have pulled some items out of a lake today near the site of that bloody massacre in San Bernardino. It may be trash, but it may be something very helpful to solve one of the deadliest terror attacks ever on American soil. We are closely monitoring what's happening. We are waiting for an official statement from the FBI.

While we do that, here is what we know at this hour. Divers with metal detectors are grid searching this 8-foot-deep lake. The FBI says the killers who gunned down 14 people last week and injured 22 more spent time at that park where the lake is, potentially even on the day of the attack. It is in the neighborhood of the inland regional center where the massacre happened. This is why the search is so intense. Investigators found a computer in the killer's home, but the hard drive was ripped out. The question right now, could that hard drive has been discarded in this lake.

Our Ana Cabrera is live in San Bernardino, California. She has been following this story throughout.

I know they are being very cautious in terms of what they will tell us, but is the thinking the hard drive might be there?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just don't know, Poppy. That's why they are taking so much time to make sure they really scour this lake, because they had a tip that the shooters were in this area on the day of the shooting.

Now, we have been in contact with FBI officials today who do confirm they have found a number of items here in the lake behind me. But they won't say specifically what items they have pulled or whether they can confirm if those items are indeed a part of this case. But they aren't taking any chances. And of course some of the items they may be pulling require further investigation to determine whether they are truly clues. The official telling me, as you can imagine, this being a public lake, they're finding all kinds of stuff in this lake.

We have been watching divers go up and down throughout the day. We do know that they are using metal detectors, combing the lake in a grid search, mostly focusing their search right now in the regions surrounding this bridge that you see that comes across, a pedestrian bridge.

Also on the other side, it is difficult to see from our vantage point because the FBI has a lot of this area cordoned off, but they have a couple of other divers along the lake bank there. We understand their team consists of ten, 12 people. They are working with San Bernardino sheriff's county divers as well. These are professional divers who train with the coast guard. And they have done a number of these types of searches. So we know they may be looking for that hard drive because that is still missing, something that wasn't in the computer at the home of the shooters when FBI investigators searched there. So this is an ongoing search that could take days, we're told, here at the lake, Poppy.

HARLOW: And Ana, what about Farook, one of the terrorists, what about his former neighbor, Enrique Marquez? Because this is someone, to be clear, there have been no formal charges brought against him. However, he did purchase two of the guns that were eventually used in the attack. Anything new on him?

CABRERA: Well, we have learned that he is talking a lot to investigators, Poppy. He voluntarily is providing information that appears to be incriminating of himself. He even told investigators, we have learned, according to sources telling CNN that he and Farook together made pipe bombs sometime in the past. He told investigators at the time they were more like hobbyists, experimenting with building these devices. He said he had nothing to do with the devices that didn't go off at the inland regional center where this shooting attack occurred, and also the different pipes that were found inside the home or the townhouse of the two shooters. In fact he even apparently joked with investigators that if he had made those devices, they would have gone off, according to our sources.

So I think they are still investigating. They aren't talking On the Record about what he's telling them. But at this time, as you mentioned, he has not been arrested.

HARLOW: Ana Cabrera live for us there in San Bernardino, thank you very much.

I want to take you all 6,000 miles away from San Bernardino to another city that tonight is on edge, facing a terror alert at this moment. Two suspects with Syrian parts of were arrested today in Geneva, Switzerland, linked to a car with traces of possible bomb-making chemicals.

Authorities have been looking for at least two people with indirect links to those involved with last month's terror attack in Paris. Right now we don't know whether or not the Geneva rearrests are connected to the massacre for sure in Paris. But you can bet they are looking very closely at that. The city on high alert, nonetheless.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is live for us in Geneva tonight.

I don't believe we have the names of these two individuals yet, Nic, but what do we know?

[15:05:26] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That they have what appear to be genuine Syrian passports. That's what the prosecutor says. The prosecutor in Geneva has been very careful to give very tiny snippets of information out about these men. He won't say what the names are in the passports. He won't even say if they had Schengen visas in the passports. This the visa that would give them the right an access to travel freely throughout Europe. He won't say that. He won't say what type of vehicle they were in either.

But what they are saying, the Swiss authorities are saying is that they are looking at whether these men were connected or are connected to a terrorist organization. They won't say what type of terrorist organization or which terrorist organization. But I think the inference here from the fact that we know that there have been -- they've received so many tipoffs recently that ISIS is looking to target Geneva. That's clearly where they're thinking at the momentum. Again, they don't say that. What they are saying as well is, we can expect more house searches in the coming days, and that we can expect more people to be arrested. And despite the fact they're still on the lookout for other terrorist suspects, they do caution that everyone they arrest may not necessarily be a terrorist, Poppy.

HARLOW: Of course. And look, you've still got Sala Abdeslam, eighth attackers in Paris still on the lamb. You had a complete, a huge scare in Belgium with the highest terror threat there. Now the focus is on Geneva. It just shows how broad this is in terms of the concern across Europe. And so, let's talk about the political reaction to these threats. I mean, are you seeing parallels in the political reaction in Paris where there were just election following the deadly attacks and what we are seeing in the United States in response to the 14 people murdered in San Bernardino?

ROBERTSON: Well, look, you can draw a parallel here between what Donald Trump has said about the controls that could be put on Muslims coming into the United States for a short period of time and the type of politics that the Front National, that is the party of Marie Le Pen (ph) in France has done exceptionally well in French elections last week. It is a regional elections. Her party has surged, taking six out of the 13 regions so far in the first round of voting. And her record and statements on migrants in France is that they shouldn't be disbursed around the country. That she would like to be able to control and select the people that come into the country.

She, like Donald Trump, has put a high stake, if you will, on controlling the borders of the country. Donald Trump has talked about the border with Mexico. Marie Le Pen is talking about taking France's borders and not leaving them open as they are now, but getting France to control them. So that brand of politics and reaction to the attacks in Paris, these elections coming so soon after, has benefitted this French politician and her party.

HARLOW: All right. Absolutely, the political reactions certainly across the United States, interesting comparisons.

Nic Robertson, thank you very much, live for us tonight in Geneva.

You just heard Nic talking about Donald Trump and the reaction to his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. It has certainly been the largest political story of the week. Today you will find Donald Trump in South Carolina at another rally, brought to a halt today because of protestors who were then escorted out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They were so close to doing something and then -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty joins us from South Carolina.

You were at that rally. I saw you live on television as this was breaking out. Everyone sort of trying to figure out what was going on. Do we know what the root cause of it was?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. Well, there were many protests, four protests interrupting Trump's rally today. And at least nine people escorted out. I can tell you many of those protesters were unhappy with Donald Trump's proposal to ban all Muslims coming into the U.S. temporarily. Many speaking out vocally about that, some holding signs that said "stop Islamophobia."

And I should note that before the rally, one of the Trump's supporters at the microphone (INAUDIBLE) mentioned to the crowd they likely would get protestors today and prompted them in anticipation of this protest to drown them out and say, "Trump, Trump," when and if that happened. So that is certainly is interesting.

But Donald Trump today really speaking to his base about that proposal that he knows is controversial. But a poll out this week found that 72 percent of his supporters actually support this ban. So certainly Trump really claimed to the crowd on this. And in the context of the San Bernardino terror attack, Donald Trump today really make a big pitch for second amendment rights, saying that he believes that if those terrorists were up against people who were armed, this likely would not have happened the same way it unfolded. Here's what Trump said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:10:39] TRUMP: We have a horrible situation that took place a week ago in California. Now, they came in, they shot 14 people. Others are dying right now. You will have more because they are very badly wounded. I have a right to carry. I'm a member of the NRA. My sons are members long time. They are much better shots than I am, they're actually really good. But they're members. But if I were there, if you were there, if anybody here had a weapon, if you were in that room, those people wouldn't have shot 14 people. We might have gone down fighting. But they're going down with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, that is an argument that Donald Trump has been making since the San Bernardino attacks, one that went over very well in the room today here, Poppy, and of course plays very well to his base here in South Carolina.

HARLOW: Certainly does. And he's leading in almost every single GOP poll.

Sunlen, thank you very much.

Now ahead, we are going to talk about whether the GOP nomination could ultimately probably be decided by you could have be decided by power brokers within the party? The RNC now trying to explain a private talk that has Ben Carson threatening to leave the party and Donald Trump floating an idea of an independent run. We have heard that before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have been hearing about it. I have been hearing about these closed door meetings, and I don't like that. That wasn't the deal that I made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:14] HARLOW: Republican Party leaders bracing for a fight on the floor in Cleveland next July. It is now an open secret, you can call it that. The top RNC officials discussed the possibility of a brokered convention, a very rare scenario triggered when no candidate can secure enough delegates to outright win the nomination and knowing who they are heading in to the convention.

That conversation, first reported by "the Washington Post," infuriated Ben Carson this week, who took out a page, really, out of the Trump play book by threatening to leave the party. Carson writing in a statement quote "if the leaders of the Republican Party wanted to destroy the party, they should continue to hold meetings like the one described in the "Washington Post." If this was a beginning of a plan to subvert the will of the voters, I assure you Donald Trump will not be the only one leaving the party."

CNN politics reporter M.J. Lee with me now. Thank you for being here. That plays so well with voters right now, exactly what Ben Carson said. And that is if you want to just let the establishment decide, fine, go ahead. But I and Trump will be out of the party. Can you walk us through the reality of a brokered convention?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, absolutely. I mean, a brokered convention, as you said, is extremely unusual. It happens every once in a while. And it hasn't happened in a couple of decades where there isn't one candidate that has the majority of the delegates. And really, it would just throw the convention into a bit of a chaos.

HARLOW: It's horse trading, right?

LEE: Yes. And what every party and party leaders want, they want there to be, you know, one candidate who is clearly the winner, who can really get a lot of the support so they can go into the general election being very strong. We should talk about Donald Trump and the fact that he is threatening now, with an independent run, once again. And remember, a couple of months ago, this is the Donald Trump that signed a pledge saying he wouldn't do that. I think we have sound of Trump discussing this with Jake Tapper. So we can listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: What do you think about the idea of the brokered convention, when Dr. Ben Carson heard about it he got very upset, said it sounded like people in power in the Republican establishment were trying to subvert the will of the voters.

TRUMP: You know, I watched what ben said. I agreed with him 100 percent. I even wrote him a little note, I thought it was excellent. And frankly, he may be right. I haven't seen it yet. I have been hearing about it. I have been hearing about these closed-door meetings and I don't like that. That wasn't the deal I made. I signed a pledge, but the pledge was a double deal. They were supposed to be honorable. So we are going to find out. If it's that way, they are going to have problems. But I hope it's not going to be that way. I hope it's not going to be that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: OK. He hopes it's not going to be that way. A threat is one thing, actually acting on it is another. You wrote a great piece this week about what it would actually take to run as an independent. It's hard. You have to do it definitely by March. You have to get on the ballots, delegates, you will. You going to get delegates in all 50 states.

LEE: Right.

HARLOW: What's the party saying in response to all this?

LEE: I think, one, it is complicated, but it's definitely possible. So it's a threat that the party has to take seriously. They can't just ignore the fact that this possibility is out there. The party is trying to say -- basically trying to downplay it and saying, look, this did come up at a meeting but it came up because it is a possibility, and it would be irresponsible for us not to prepare for the possibility of there being a brokered convention.

Sean Spicer of the RNC telling Michael Smerconish that, you know, we've had brokered conventions when there were weather hazards and, you know, literally hurricanes. So every possibility that might come, we have to be prepared. But they are downplay the idea that they are really preparing for it.

HARLOW: But it's a nightmare for them if it happens. LEE: Absolutely, it's not an ideal situation.

HARLOW: Republican nominee of these guys (INAUDIBLE).

All right. M.J., thank you. Nice to have you on as always.

You do not want to miss Donald Trump's one-and-one interview, you saw sneak peak of it right there with Jake Tapper, tomorrow morning, "STATE OF THE UNION," 9:00 a.m. only here on CNN.

And of course, Donald Trump and his competitors will be on stage in prime time for CNN debate. It is the last GOP debate of the year, three days away, Tuesday night from Las Vegas, 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. eastern.

Coming up next, remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have signed the pledge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Yes, he signed the pledge. Will Donald Trump stick with it or is he already looking for a way out of his Republican Party commitment?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:45] HARLOW: Just look at any poll, and it is very, very clear, Donald Trump is far ahead of his Republican rivals. But he himself could be throwing another wrench in this race by going back on this promise he made in September.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The best way for the Republicans to win is if I win the nomination and go directly against whoever they happen to put up. And for that reason, I have signed the pledge so I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: But here's the thing. After all the backlash from the Republican establishment this week about his comments on a temporary ban on Muslims, CNN's Don Lemon asked him if he will stay true to that pledge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST, CNN TONIGHT: What do you mean, you say if they break this pledge, then you'll break the pledge. What do you mean by that?

TRUMP: Well, if they don't treat me with a certain amount of decorum and respect. If they don't treat me as the frontrunner, by far the frontrunner. If the playing field is not level, then certainly all options are open. But that's nothing I want to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:25:09] HARLOW: The former White House political director for President Reagan, Jeffrey Lord joins me now.

Nice to have you in studio.

JEFFREY LORD, FORMER REAGAN WHITE HOUSE POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Nice to have you.

HARLOW: I just - you know, Reagan have the same as 11th commandment.

LORD: Right.

HARLOW: That is completely been thrown out of the window this entire race. What would Ronald Reagan think about what's going on?

LORD: Well, I'm sure he would have some understanding of it. He had a very rough primary situation with President Ford. That got to be pretty rough. And in 1980 he had a pretty rough primary situation with George H. W. Bush.

HARLOW: But it didn't get to the point of a brokered convention.

LORD: No. 1976 convention is the sort of the last time we have had this. But frankly, we haven't seen anything like this since 1912 and that is pretty amazing. And listening to Donald Trump here say that if they break the pledge or if they don't treat me fairly, that is more or less exactly what Theodore Roosevelt did. He felt he was treated unfairly. The word of the Dr. Carson used was "theft." that's exactly the word that they use in 1912. And the delegates were so angry, they were breaking out in fist fights on the floor. They left the hall.

HARLOW: I don't think we are going to see that.

LORD: I don't think so either. So a little context here, Poppy.

HARLOW: A little context. Are you worried - I mean, you are a clear Trump supporter and defender of his, are you worries about fracturing, though, within your party, given these comments? Almost every single other candidate with the exception of Ted Cruz who did say he doesn't agree with it, came out blasting Donald Trump this week for the Muslim comments.

LORD: Right. There is this enormous divide, not just on this issue, but a lot of issues, between the base of the party and the elites of the party. And to be perfectly candid, I think as on other issues, all they did is alienate themselves more from the base. I mean, what the base is basically saying that it is not anti-Muslim. What they are saying is we are not safe. People are getting killed in the streets.

HARLOW: When you actually know -- when you look at the polling numbers, what it shows us is that overall, 57 percent of U.S. adults oppose what Donald Trump said this week about banning Muslims. In the GOP, 39 percent oppose it, 38 support it. So it's not the whole base.

LORD: No. But the intensity of the feeling here, I mean, when you saw these people, the pictures coming out of San Bernardino followed, you know, but shortly or preceded by what went on in Paris, this is a national security issue. And people are feeling this. We are coming into the holidays. Are they safe when they go on out and shop? Are they safe in their own offices? Are they safe when they go to a mall?

HARLOW: Yes. But what other experts say is that actually, by dividing people based on their religious lines, you're playing right into the hands of exactly what ISIS wants. And that is endangering us more.

LORD: Right. You know, Poppy, I don't believe this for a minute. And I will tell you why. In my youth, when you watched Martin Luther King march for civil rights, there were people who said some version of that. If you just wouldn't protest, if you just wouldn't do this, then you wouldn't be anchoring all the segregationists in the George Wallace of the world, if you just lighten up. Well, of course, that is a terrible thing to say. They were out there defending their cause, their rights, et cetera. So I never believe that this is to do this --.

HARLOW: But is that a fair comparison to make? I mean, how is this not about civil rights?

LORD: I'll tell you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Discriminating on some based on their religion, not civil right.

LORD: I will tell you something. I rode a combat just the other day. And I noticed that Larry Kudlow, who was big on immigration reform, has now changed his mind. I think, and Larry Kudlow thinks we should put a hold on immigration query for everybody until we get a better handle on the system. Forget Muslims, every religion, every nationality to re-vet (ph) our legal system or our immigration system.

HARLOW: You're saying stop immigration?

LORD: Temporarily.

HARLOW: Completely?

LORD: Completely.

HARLOW: Do you think that's realistic?

LORD: Poppy, we have people dead because we're not doing this the right way. I mean, this is crazy. And the idea that we should somehow adjust ourselves to the idea that every few years people are going to get shot to death.

HARLOW: But isn't that saying that terrorists and that want to do harm to others only come from outside America? LORD: In this case they are coming with the idea, not only America,

but elsewhere in the world, with the idea of setting up a radical Islamic caliphate. So - I mean, just to be clear here, we have these problems with the system. People within the system say we have a problem with it. This woman out in California was not properly vetted. Let's find out what's going on here and then resume it.

The country is 100 percent composed, you, me, and everyone we know, of descendants of immigrants. So we are not anti-immigrant. We are, as they say, a nation of immigrants. But for heaven's sake, we shouldn't be admitting people who want to come in here kill us.

HARLOW: Jeffrey Lord, let's have you back. Keep talking about this. It is an important debate. Thank you very much.

[15:30:00] LORD: Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: Up next, a Muslim doctor who immigrated to this country, who treated victims of 9/11. She will be my next guest. She became an American citizen about 24 hours ago. Stay with me for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:33:24] HARLOW: My next guest is enjoying her first full day today as an American citizen and she is a Muslim, Qanta Ahmed. Dr. Qanta Ahmed watched the twin towers collapse on television while she was living in Saudi Arabia. She wrote a book about her journey as a female doctor in Saudi Arabia called "in the land of invisible women." She is a frequent guest on this program.

Thank you for being here. Congratulations.

DR. QANTA AHMED, AUTHOR, IN THE LAND OF INVISIBLE WOMEN: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: I can't imagine what it must feel like.

AHMED: A terrific feeling. Tremendous.

HARLOW: I'm sure. I mean, you had a life changing moment when you stood there in the federal courthouse yesterday in Brooklyn and you took the oath and you became an American citizen.

Given the discussion this week about the potential ban proposed from Donald Trump of Muslims into the country, where is your mind that right now?

AHMED: I mean, I'm so grateful for the United States for so many things, my career, my education, my friends, my life, but most grateful and I think it occurred to me while I was taking this oath yesterday which I read many times before, where the values and the ideals that really are embodied in citizenship, and that isn't present anywhere else. And I feel Mr. Trump's remarks are so damaging to the fabric of our ideals.

Whether or not he even has a practical plan that he claims to have to exclude all Muslims from entering this country or somehow marginalize U.S. Muslims, his responses is so wrong headed in a number of ways. We can't challenge this ideology of Islamism. It doesn't have borders or passports. It's really an ideology that can traverse globally. And immigration is not necessarily a boundary for that.

[15:35:06] HARLOW: So let's listen to what some of his supporters are saying, right. Because you wrote in your opinion piece, when I swear to their arms to defend these values, it is because I understand life without democracy. But here's what some Americans who are major supporters of Donald Trump are saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a very prudent idea. And I think that he's done due diligence when he makes that statement. We have to protect our American citizens first.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want them here. Who knows what they're going to bring into this country. Bombs, ISIS, what? They need to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody just needs to go in there and take control of this. You just think it's going rampant. And I'm worried about America. I'm worried about our safety. They're getting in. They need to be stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: They're scared.

AHMED: Yes.

HARLOW: What's your reaction?

AHMED: I think these responses and Trump's remarks are coming from a position of fear. And the idea that there is a way that we can exclude this. Of course I as an American today and also as a British person do not want to have jihadists on any soil and will do everything to remove them. But we have to accept that one of the perpetrators of San Bernardino was an Islamist jihadist, and he was born and raised here. So that doesn't really solve the issue.

Additionally, in the United States, Muslims make their homes 69 differently nationalities. If we look at the hajj, Muslims from 183 different nations go to Mecca there each year. So how many countries, how many nationalities are we going to restrict to put in this pan that Mr. Trump face?

HARLOW: So stay with me for this next segment because we are going to keep talking more. I got to get a break in. But I want to talk about this, something caused this California mosque to go up in flames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pull up to the intersection. I turn left. And there's a huge plume of smoke. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What was it? Was it an act of terrorism? What was it? Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:43] HARLOW: Right now, the FBI is investigating a fire at a mosque near Palm Springs, California. They think that it may have been arson. Several people were inside praying yesterday when the fire broke out.

Our Victor Blackwell has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The security guard saw the fire from miles away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pull up to the intersection, turn left, and there's a huge plume of smoke. A mushroom cloud.

BLACKWELL: Witnesses and police said someone threw some incendiary device at the mosque around noon Friday. The fire burned the front doors and spread to the lobby before firefighters put it out. Everyone got out safely. And mosque members were forced to pray on the streets outside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you see the brothers over there praying outside? That's one of the obligations that we do. We pray. We do our prayer. We are doing here on the dirt, not on the rug, but that's what we do. We pray and give a little message, positive message and then we go back to work.

BLACKWELL: This attack comes a year after someone fired several shots into the same mosque. That shooter was never caught.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you were in mosque, I'm sure you can imagine, or any church really, but a mosque, it's in the back of your mind.

BLACKWELL: The Riverside county supervisor compared the fire-bombing to what happened in San Bernardino last week, an hour west of the mosque.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If in fact, as it appears, a potential act against this church for reasons because of their religion, I would think that was terrorism. And terrorism is terrorism, no matter whether it's like we see in San Bernardino or someone who reacts. They're both terrorists.

BLACKWELL: California congressman Paul Ruiz called for the fire- bombing to be investigated as a hate crime.

And according to the council on American-Islamic relations, this has been a record year for anti-Muslim attacks. According to their latest report, there have been more than 60 accounts of harassment and vandalism reported.

Victor Blackwell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Victor, thank you very much.

Qanta, I saw you shaking your head throughout that piece. Obviously, it is very disturbing. I do want to preface it and be careful, we just don't know. Early stages of the investigation. It happened yesterday. They're looking at it as potential arson. No one is saying terrorism at this point in time. What's your reaction?

AHMED: It's worrying especially several days ago there was an assault on a Muslim shopkeeper here in Astoria, Queens.

HARLOW: And a pig's head thrown at someone in Philadelphia.

AHMED: Yes. I think what we can derive from this, the authorities will investigate it, but extreme speech leads to extreme acts. And what we are seeing not only from Mr. Donald Trump but elsewhere, the invective directly against Muslims, a response out of fear, really does do damage.

HARLOW: Let me push back on this because you have to be very careful to tie anything that any politician on either side has said to an act which potentially, if it is by someone intentionally would be possibly into deranged individual.

AHMED: That's the sad point. To be very clear, I'm by no way insinuating that Mr. Trump is responsible for this damage to this mosque. But when you create a climate of hostility, mistrust, xenophobia, globally, collectively to an entire group of people called Muslims, this leads to hostility. The problem is jihadism happened here in San Bernardino. The jihadists that conducted it were Islamists who are Muslim. All Islamists are Muslims. But all Muslims are not Islamists. And that nuance has been missing, not only from the GOP presidential campaign, but from the national discourse for years. And we have to talk about Islamism, a radical political totalitarian ideology which can be violent and non-violent and distinguish it from peaceful followers of Islam to make a home here in the United States which the United States (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: You're new official home, becoming an American citizen here just yesterday.

Thank you again, Qanta. We appreciate having you on.

AHMED: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Up next, switching gears to a very important question for millions of Americans. How many Americans feel like they can actually afford to take time off from work when they become parents?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't have paid leave, which is absurd because for most families, eight out of ten moms are working.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You heard the numbers. New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand makes her case to me for government paid leave. Back in a moment.

[15:45:02] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, AC 360: Ladies and gentlemen, the 2015 CNN hero of the year is Maggie Doyne.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: When you heard your name said on the stage --

MAGGIE DOYNE, 2015 CNN HERO: From Anderson Cooper's mouth?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: From Anderson Cooper's mouth. What went through your mind?

DOYNE: Just joy. Juts pure joy and gratitude.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: What does it feel like?

DOYNE: I'm proud. I'm proud that I took that step and I'm happy for the kids. This is really for them. They are the ones that have had the hard stories and the struggles and have overcome so much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: What do you want people to know about the children of Nepal?

DOYNE: There's hundreds of thousands of girls who are not enrolled into school. There are many orphan children as a result of civil war and disease and starvation and I can't do it alone. We all have to do it together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: How will this money help you do that?

DOYNE: I'm building a brand-new school and I'm going to take in more kids. It's gas in the tank. It's, you know, remembering what this is all about and why we do it. So I'm taking this become to Nepal and for Nepal and for my kids and I'm just going to keep going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: We're terrifically proud of you, young lady.

DOYNE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Have fun doing it, OK?

DOYNE: Thanks, Michaela.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:49] HARLOW: In this week's American Opportunity, at some point in our working lives a lot of us will have to face a decision, how do we balance work with taking care of a family member who suddenly needs full-time help or a new child? Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a Democrat, is pushing legislation she thinks is the answer, but is a very tough sell in this Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world with no mandated paid paternal leave. You have got nearly 43 million workers who have no paid leave as parents, according to CNN money. You have introduced trying to change this. It is tax, trying to get that through a Republican-led Congress, tell us how it works, walk us through it.

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D), NEW YORK: So we are the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't have paid leave, which is absurd, because for most families eight out of ten moms are working. And so, if you don't have flexibility, whether it's a mother who's dying, you need to be with her by her side or a spouse who's an ill, a child who's sick, or a new baby, families need to be able to accommodate those life events, and every person is going to have a life event during their lives. And so, what we want to have is a paid leave program for all Americans to buy into at an earned benefit, something you actually put a little money aside every week, about $2 a week.

HARLOW: This is payroll, part of the payroll tax.

GILLIBRAND: Yes, so it will be 0.2 percent. It's very small amount of money, it's about $2 a week. And so, you would put $2 a week into your account, your employer would match it, it's the cost of a cup of coffee a week. And I can promise you most employers, you ask them, would you buy each employee one cup of coffee a week, they would say yes.

HARLOW: But see, that is not how your opponents in Congress see it.

GILLIBRAND: Because they are not thinking about it. They aren't actually thinking it through.

HARLOW: Is that fair?

GILLIBRAND: Yes, it is fair. I don't think they are thinking about it. And I think members of Congress live in a bubble. A lot of them have caregivers at home. They have unlimited support, unlimited resources. And sometimes their spouses didn't work outside the home. And so, they have enormous opportunity to provide for whatever family event they have, because they have a different life. They have unlimited resources to meet those needs and so I think they are out of touch.

HARLOW: Who does this apply to in terms of companies? Big employers, but small mom and pop? GILLIBRAND: Everyone, big, small, and it levels the playing field.

Because today, the best employers are already doing this. The Googles of the world, the Facebooks of the world, these large successful companies.

HARLOW: They have a lot of money.

GILLIBRAND: They have a lot of money. Law firms, accounting firms, they all do it, OK, because they know that if they can provide leave, they can retain their vast employees. They have already make the business case. They know that it costs billions of dollars every year for companies to replace workers when they leave, when there's a life event and they have no leave. So they know that if they are going to be the best employer, keep their employees, have a strong bottom line, they need paid leave.

HARLOW: So let me ask this, Carly Fiorina was asked about this by my colleague Jake Tapper.

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I was a chief executive of Hewlett Packard, we also offered paid maternity leave and paternity leave. The government, for the government to tell others how to do things when the government hasn't gotten its basic house in order is not only ineffective, it's hypocritical.

TAPPER: What do you mean basic house in order, the government shouldn't tell anybody they have to offer paid maternity leave?

FIORINA: I don't think it's the role of government to dictate to the private sector how to manage their businesses.

HARLOW: You just see a host of major companies, Microsoft, Facebook, you name it, who are doing this. Why should it be up to the government?

GILLIBRAND: Well, if Carly Fiorina was more aware, her state has paid leave, California has one of the best paid leave policies in the country. And, in fact, if she talked to her businesses, she would support it. Ninety-one percent of the companies in California said that having a paid leave program did not have any negative effect on their bottom line, on their productivity, on profitability. And so, the companies in California like this. And the reason why if you had it as a government insurance plan, so it applies to everyone, then small businesses can compete. It levels the playing field for the little guy who could never afford this on their own.

And one more reason, it's good for the economy because for men, are going to lose about $280,000 during their lifetime because they don't have paid leave, women are going to lose about $320,000.

[15:55:08] HARLOW: Those are staggering numbers.

HARLOW: Yes. We call that the sticky floor. For young women who maybe the only wage earner or primary wage earner for their family, 40 percent of moms and workers who are women are the primary or sole wage earners for their family, they leave that job and they hired right back at the bottom rung and never get out of the cycle of working for low wage, low page, low page.

HARLOW: President Obama has been very vocal about paid leave. He has encourage states and companies. He hasn't endorsed this bill. Why? And do you think he will?

GILLIBRAND: President Obama supports this, presidential candidates support it, and what we're debating now, what's the best way to write that bill, what is the best way to pay for that bill? And so, the fact that at least presidential candidates on Democrat and Republican sides are saying, yes, we should have paid leave in this country.

Marco Rubio supports it. He wants to tax credits. Secretary Clinton wants to do it with a different tax. President Obama, I don't know what his first choice is, but the fact that we're having a conversation about how do we make this happen is far better than whether we make this happen.

HARLOW: So how do you get the president, Secretary Clinton, Marco Rubio, all on the same page to vote on a bill to get something through?

GILLIBRAND: So, having this conversation is step one. Having a national conversation about why we need paid leave overwhelmingly polls show everyone supports paid leave, even Republican white men overwhelmingly support paid leave. It is across the board. America's behind this. And so we need to just get our national leaders to continue to talk about it, to put out their proposals. I like the earned benefit model, because it covers everyone, and people can buy in over their lifetime so it's there when they need them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: My thanks to Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for that. Much more with her ahead in the program.

After the break, though, the latest on the GOP fight brewing between front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz. You thought they were totally on the same page, doesn't look like it.

Also, we are waiting for a live statement from President Obama about a potential landmark climate deal reached in Paris today. We will carry that for you live. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)