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Sanders Campaign and DNC Come to Terms Over Voter Information Breach; Donald Trump Grows Lead over GOP Presidential Candidate Rivals; Dash Cam of Police Officer Shooting Driver Released; Hack of Government Records Discovered; Parents Object to Calligraphy Lesson Involving Islamic Statement of Faith. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired December 19, 2015 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:00:28] AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: A deal reached between Bernie Sanders and the DNC one day after the DNC accused him of tampering with voter records and locking him out of voter files. Coming up live we talk to the DNC chair and why the sudden about-face?
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: It is also a busy day for the GOP candidates, all holding events trying to catch up with Donald Trump. This happens as a new poll shows that Donald Trump is growing his lead to the strongest point yet.
WALKER: And a California police officer who shot a man involved in a DUI says he didn't do it. The shocking new body cam video tells a different story.
You're in the CNN newsroom.
And good morning, everyone. I'm Amara Walker in for Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. It's 10:00 here on the east coast. This is CNN Newsroom.
We're beginning now with the breaking news overnight, this deal that has been between the campaign for Bernie Sanders and the DNC over access to a crucial voter data base.
WALKER: It comes after tensions burst on Friday starting when the DNC cut off Sanders from internal voter files, saying his staffers wrongly accessed information belonging to rival Hillary Clinton. Then the Sanders campaign filed a lawsuit in federal court against the DNC.
BLACKWELL: But early this morning, the two sides came to an agreement, although an uneasy one. The DNC says the Sanders campaign med their demands for information regarding the data breach. But in a statement the DNC also say they will continue to investigate to ensure that the data that was inappropriately accessed has been deleted and is no longer in possession of the Sanders campaign. The Sanders campaign, for their part, had a different interpretation. They say the DNC capitulated and reversed its outrageous decision.
This is happening as the Democrats prepare for their third debate tonight at San Anselm College. That's in Manchester, New Hampshire. And joining me now from New Hampshire, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, obviously chair of the DNC. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL), DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR: Good morning, Victor. Thanks for having me.
BLACKWELL: So let's start. We know there has been this deal reached. But has the Sanders campaign now been able to join this database? Do they have access again?
SCHULTZ: They do. Thankfully, after refusing to give us the information we were asking for nearly two days, last night we did reach an agreement with the campaign. They finally gave us the information that we have been asking for so we could begin to assess the depth of the breach where their staff looked at inappropriately and were unauthorized material that was the proprietary information of the Clinton campaign. And we've been asking them for that information for two days. They had had refused not only provide us with the answers to those questions but also refused to participate, or not agreed to participate in an independent audit so we could get to the bottom of how deep the breach was. They have now done that, and as a result we reopened their window and gave them access to their voter file.
BLACKWELL: So this has taken a major turn since you were last on CNN with Wolf Blitzer. I want you to listen to a bit of yourself yesterday, and then we will talk to the other side.
SCHULTZ: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: What they are doing, what they have done, is like if you found the front door of your house unlocked. And someone decided go into the house and take things that didn't belong to them. And then when they were caught, they still insisted on having access to the house. The only way for us at the moment to make sure that we analyze what amount of information was taken and that we can prevent and make sure that the Sanders campaign no longer has access to it, is to suspend their ability to manipulate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So to keep with your analogy, the DNC is now letting the campaign back on to the porch. This was fewer than 12 hours ago. Why now restore this despite the continuation of the investigation. All you said in that sound bite yesterday is true today. What we were asking for that they had been refusing to provide us with is who on the Sanders campaign accessed the information, what information they accessed, that needed to show us that they didn't have it anymore and that they weren't able to get access to it and manipulate that. And that is why the access was cut off to the voter file, because they were refusing to give us that information.
[10:05:05] And until we could see and know that they were no longer able to use information that did not belong to them, we couldn't grant them access to their voter file because they could manipulate it and use it to their strategic advantage. Our job at the DNC is to neutrally manage the primary, to make sure there is a level playing field between all candidates. And unfortunately, when the Sanders campaign, after this window opened through a glitch from our vendor, their staff took advantage of it, in a sense, went into the unlocked door of the house and rummaged around, took things that didn't belong to them, and then actually accused the homeowner of violating the terms of an agreement when they had unauthorized access to the house and took things that didn't belong to them. It was pretty outrageous.
But, like I said, I am glad we were able to reach an agreement. We asked them for this information. For two days they refused to give it to us and were not agreeing to participate in an independent audit. They have now done that and agreed to fully cooperate with the DNC's continuing investigation. And we'll get to the bottom and we'll make sure that while we are continuing the investigation they have given us enough information for us to grant access to their voter file, which, by the way, is part of our agreement with them. They have violated that agreement, and now they are in compliance.
BLACKWELL: This is also -- there is such a thing as taking an analogy too far. But they live in this house, too. So when the Sanders campaign says that this was overreaction to cut off their access to information that they also supplied to this database, what's your response?
SCHULTZ: The response is, again, you go into a house and take advantage of an unlocked door, you're rummaging around the house, and you take things that don't belong to you, and then you demand to continue to have access to the house without telling the homeowner what it is that you took and refusing to give it back. That's what it is like.
BLACKWELL: What about the access to the information that they added to the database?
SCHULTZ: They aren't able to use that, because if they were using another campaign's proprietary information and trying to use that in their database and their voter file to try to add to the information that they already have and use it to their advantage, that's unfair. And our job is to level the playing field.
The only remedy we have is to cut off their access to be able to use that information because they had inappropriate access that they admitted that they took another campaign's proprietary information.
BLACKWELL: But you cut off access to their information, too.
SCHULTZ: Because they were using another campaign's information and had added it to the information in their own voter file. And so it is a voter file that is managed by the DNC. They have an agreement with us in which they agree not to utilize or view another campaign's proprietary information. They only have access to their own. And when they took advantage of this window, this glitch, and took another campaign's information, it is our job to make sure that that playing field is reestablished in a level way. And now that they have given us the information we asked for and are agreeing to cooperate in the investigation, they can, again, have access to their voter file.
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about something that came from the Clinton campaign. Brian Fallon put a number on the value of the information that was accessed. He put that number at $1 million. And I wonder if that number was a precursor to some effort to recoup some funds for other sanctions against the Sanders campaign. Would you support the Clinton campaign going after the value of that information? Or are there potentially more sanctions or consequences coming from the DNC as related to this brief?
SCHULTZ: Victor, we have a debate in which our three candidates will be on the stage talking about their vision for the country and the direction that they would continue to take Americans building on the 68 straight months of job growth we have had under President Obama's leadership in the private sector and helping people build those cornerstones of middle class life. That should be the focus. My job at the DNC is to make sure the playing field is level between all our primary candidates --
BLACKWELL: I go that, but what about potentially more consequences for this breach? They set the number $1 million? Would you suppose they are going after that --
SCHULTZ: That's not the purview. Victor, that's not the purview of the DNC. We manage the voter file. We have an agreement with each campaign related to access to the voter file. And that's the remedy we have available to us. It's the remedy we used. And I am thankful and glad we were able to reach an agreement. The Sanders campaign gave us the information we asked for.
[10:10:00] They are now cooperating fully with the DNC's continuing investigation. And it is time to turn to the issues that matter to Americans, because it is certainly in stark contrast to the extremism that we are seeing on the Republican side.
BLACKWELL: DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, enjoy the debate.
SCHULTZ: Thanks very much.
BLACKWELL: And be sure to stay tuned in to CNN tonight for post- debate coverage and analysis. It starts at 10:30 eastern hosted by Wolf Blitzer.
WALKER: As for the Republican presidential candidates, they are hoping to put a dent in Donald Trump's dominant lead. Multiple campaign rallies, meet-and-greets, town halls kick off soon across Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Here is what they are up against. A new FOX News poll shows 39 percent of Republican voters backing Trump. That's an 11-point gain from last month giving the month runner more support than Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Ben Carson combined. The rest of the Republican field is stuck in the low single digits, all at three percent or less. CNN's political analyst Josh Rogin joining us know. Hi, there, Josh. Good to see you. Is it too early, Josh, to ask when will some of these single- digit candidates drop out of the race?
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: What's you've seen is calls for them to drop out of the race, but none of them seem to be answering those calls. It's a very simple calculation for them. Why should they? If they have money and they are able to travel and they are having a good time on the campaign trail, there is no real reason. And as you saw in those polls, their numbers are so low they are not affecting the frontrunners. So you will see increasing calls for them to drop out. But from their perspective they're going to stay in, and they don't see why they should answer those calls.
WALKER: Explain for us Donald Trump's staying power and his increasing lead in the polls? Did you expect Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or even Jeb Bush to actually pull higher after the last CNN debate? How do you explain this?
ROGIN: There are a couple of things going on. One thing is that Ben Carson's numbers are just plummeting. And those voters are looking for other people to support. You can go into a bunch of different reasons why that is happening, but a lot of that support has gone to Donald Trump, a lot of that support has gone to Ted Cruz.
Another thing is Trump continues to dominate the news cycle. He is everywhere. What we have seen about the Trump campaign is that they are not really organizing very much. You go to Iowa you don't see a lot of Trump organizers, but you do see a lot of Trump supporters. That just reinforces the view that they are riding the media wave. And every time they get a new cycle out of Vladimir Putin praising Trump or a good debate, that just allows them to keep that strategy alive.
WALKER: What about Marco Rubio. He is right there at number three. He did pretty well in the debate. He is a pretty talented debater. Is he someone to watch out for?
ROGIN: Yes, Marco Rubio has risen to the very top of what we call the establishment candidate list. These are the people who are the traditional Republicans. He has benefited for a real fall from grace for Jeb Bush whose numbers just continue to sink and sink and sink. And he has also done good in the debates.
The problem for Marco Rubio is that campaign has to identify a state where they can win. If you look at Iowa, if you look at New Hampshire, if you look at South Carolina, Marco Rubio is not number one in any of those places. So eventually what they are going to have to pick one of those, put a lot of resources in it, and prove that he can win a state, because you can't win the presidency until you win a state, first of all.
WALKER: Are you seeing this shaping up to be a three-way run between Trump, Cruz, and Rubio? And if that happens the consequences could be pretty stark.
ROGIN: What the experts say is that there may be four or five spots when you come down to the actual voting. Trump will get one, Rubio will get one, Cruz will get one. And then there's a couple other spots. Chris Christie is vying for one of those. He's doing much better in New Hampshire. Jeb Bush is trying to stay in that race for that fourth or fifth spot by attacking Trump and getting into the Trump news cycle. And then you have everyone else nipping at the heels of those four or five candidates. So when the voting starts, that's what everybody is going to be looking at, the three guys you just mentioned and then two more to be named later guys who will really make this a race that will head into the voting season.
WALKER: But Jeb Bush's attack strategy doesn't really seem to be working very well, does it?
ROGIN: Nothing seems to be working for Jeb Bush. Everything he tries fails. This is the latest thing that he's trying. There is a lot of concern about that in the campaign. The good news for Jeb Bush is he has got plenty of money. So he can hang around and hang around and hang around, hope all the other candidates make huge missteps, and then he is the one with all the money left at the end of the day. So he has institutional support, he just doesn't have any support from actual voters.
WALKER: Josh Rogin, expert in all things politics, thank you so much.
ROGIN: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: With four out of five Americans fearful that there will be a terror attack on U.S. soil, the U.S. obviously ramping up its efforts to avoid the possible attacks.
[10:15:00] Are they working? What more can be done? We'll talk with an expert when we come back.
WALKER: Plus, the FBI is investigating a major computer breach that would have allowed hackers access to U.S. government documents.
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BLACKWELL: New this morning, three men in the U.S. have been charged with attempting to support ISIS, also the al-Nusra Front. Let's start with 19-year-old Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He is accused of attempting to provide material support on social media. Then the 30-year-old Mohamed Elshinawy from Maryland allegedly receiving almost $9,000 in recent months from ISIS contacts in Egypt and Syria. Also 22-year-old Adam Shafi from Fremont, California, allegedly tried to travel to help the al-Nusra Front terror group. CNN's Polo Sandoval is following the story for us. Polo, what else do we know about these three men?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know it is part of the ongoing investigations, Victor. We have seen U.S. officials really ramp up their efforts to identify political radicals in the United States. It seems that almost every day brings a new arrest. So our focus this morning is on some of the ones just recently unsealed by prosecutors. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to remain vigilant here at home.
SANDOVAL: Newly unsealed court documents paint a clearer picture of the government's efforts to catch potential terrorists before they strike. People in Fremont, California, are stunned over allegations made against Adam Shafi. The 22-year-old man was stopped by the feds as he tried boarding a flight from San Francisco to Turkey last summer. Wiretaps reveal Shafi believed America is the enemy, and he said to a friend, I am content to die with them, referring to the terror group al-Nusra Front.
The FBI believes he was headed to join the organization when he was stopped. Shafi's legal team denies those allegations, saying their client was simply on a humanitarian mission.
[10:20:00] In a statement, his attorney says Adam is innocent and he sought to assist Syrian refugees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is pretty crazy when it is right here at home. It's a different story.
SANDOVAL: People in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania are reacting to the arrest of their 19-year-old neighbor Jalil Aziz. He is believed to have spread ISIS rhetoric on social media using at least 57 individual Twitter accounts. Prosecutors alleged the young man also shared the names and addresses of U.S. service members calling for violence against him. High capacity magazines, ammunition, and a survival kit were found in Aziz's home last month. Investigators say it is all evidence he planned to launch an attack in the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was quiet. You never would have known.
SANDOVAL: About an hour from the nation's capital, Mohammed al Elshinawy is believed to have received almost $9,000 to finance a terror attack on U.S. soil. The 30 year old Maryland man reported took to social media pledging his allegiance to ISIS. He allegedly told a childhood friend he was a soldier of the state.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Three separate cases there that share at least one similarity. The suspects involved in them had some form of social media presence, some sort of electronic presence as well, allowing law enforcement to identify and track them down. Then you have the lone wolves, Victor, those who are off the grid. That is the real challenge this morning for U.S. officials. How do you track someone who you just don't know exists?
BLACKWELL: There is no communication with any larger cell. There is no chatter as we have often heard. Polo Sandoval for us in New York, thank you so much.
SANDOVAL: Thank you.
WALKER: And joining us live is CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Gilliam. And I want to ask you that same question that Polo just posed. The reality is homegrown terrorists, they are very difficult to track. And as the president said yesterday, they are not always publicly communicating. So what can be done? What is being done to stop these want to be jihadists before they actually strike?
JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, the first thing we have to realize is we call these people home grown terrorists or lone wolves. You have to think of them as operatives of a specific ideology. Once we realize that these people are operatives and they don't have a boot camp that they have to go through, we need to start setting up standard operating procedures that screen people properly when they are going to go over to certain areas that are routes into places like Syria. There are known routes that individuals travel. And I am sure there are a lot of standards that are set up. But this is something that we definitely need to focus one.
Also, one thing that we don't normally talk about a lot is the online companies themselves, such as Twitter. I've made complaints to Twitter about threats that I have actually gotten before. And it really falls on deaf ears. It is very difficult to make a complaint to Twitter. I think they should make that easier. If they get enough people saying a certain thing about a certain person, they should have a very, very fast dialogue with law enforcement.
WALKER: I want to ask you on that point. You raised a good point saying they are operatives of a specific ideology, so you have to specifically counter that. If you look at ISIS alone, they have a huge presence on social media and. On Twitter, they have the sophisticatedly edited propaganda videos. They have an online magazine. How do intelligence, or maybe this has to be a grassroots movement, counter these kinds of messages and recruitment efforts?
GILLIAM: There has to be a strategic war plan overall that I've talked about before that incorporates this online movement, because this is the reality. We have never fought a war that included online movements of the energy and its propaganda. That has just never been, throughout the history of mankind that's never been the case. Now we have to look at things differently not just on the battlefield but also in the cyber arena.
And I know that the people on the FBI are on top of this. But we constantly have to be moving forward. And the companies themselves need to start developing ways to really take in these complaints, screen certain amounts of these Twitter handles that get put up and are saying the same thing over and over again and are public. A lot of these things are public the way they draw them in. We just have to start thinking smarter and forward thinking the tactics that they are using.
WALKER: That is absolutely right. That is the challenge to find innovative ways to counter that. Jonathan Gilliam, great having you. Thank you.
GILLIAM: Thank you.
WALKER: And we are reporting this morning on a hacking case the FBI is following closely. A major computer breach allowed hackers access to government and private company data. President Obama and the first lady visit victims of the San Bernardino
shooting before heading to Hawaii for their annual Christmas vacation. We'll talk about the message they delivered to those grieving families.
[10:25:02] Also shocking new video in the case of a California cop that shot a man involved in a DUI accident. The cop says he didn't do it, but the dash cam video release tells a very different story.
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BLACKWELL: Nearing the bottom of the hour now. The FBI is investigating a major computer breach that may have allowed hackers to spy on U.S. government and private company's encrypted communications.
WALKER: The breach at Juniper Networks happened three years ago but was only discovered a few weeks back. CNN Justice Reporter Evan Perez broke the news. What can you tell us, Evan?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Amara, one U.S. government official says it is akin to stealing a master key to every government building. Juniper Network says that someone was able to break into its systems and alter source code for an important piece of software. This means that sophisticated hackers could use a backdoor to spy on communications that is supposed to be protected by encryption. Juniper makes routers and computer equipment that is widely used by private companies and U.S. government agencies like the Pentagon and Treasury and the FBI. U.S. officials tell me that they believe this is the work of foreign government hackers.
The breach occurred three years ago and Juniper only discovered the vulnerability in the last couple of weeks. Juniper issued a statement that once they identified the vulnerabilities, they worked to develop security patches to protect the equipment that was effected. The FBI has now launched an investigation, and because of this sophistication, officials say that only a handful of governments have the capability to do this, and Russia and China are at the top of the list. Amara, Victor?
BLACKWELL: All right, Evan, thank you so much.
President Obama stopped in San Bernardino late last night for an emotional visit with the family members of the victims of the massacre there several weeks ago. We talked to the partner of one of the victims. What he told us, that's coming up.
[10:30:14] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not shot, sir, get out of the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: This is a new video in that California shooting case where the officer says he did not shoot the DUI suspect.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WALKER: President Obama is in Hawaii right now. He arrived early this morning. He'll be on vacation there with his family until January 2nd with no public event scheduled.
But before his trip, the president visited with several of the relatives of those who were killed in the San Bernardino shooting nearly three weeks ago. President Obama spent three hours at a high school in San Bernardino with the first lady. They met individually with those affected by the tragedy. Many of them said the meeting was helpful. The president said their strength was an inspiration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I met some of these folks, and despite the pain and heartache that they are feeling, they could not have been more inspiring and more proud of their loved ones, and more insistent that something good comes out of this tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:35:00] WALKER: Also, we are learning more this morning about the friend of one of the San Bernardino shooters. Investigators say Enrique Marquez bought weapons for Syed Farook and even planned an earlier attack with him. Here is CNN's Jim Sciutto with a look at what happened to those plans.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Amara, one of the most alarming discoveries in this case is that the San Bernardino shooting was not Farook's first plot but the second. Farook and Marquez had another plan three years ago potentially just as deadly, possibly more so, to attack a major highway and a college. And that attack not thwarted by authorities having any inkling of their radicalization or their planning, but by Marquez and Farook simply getting spooked.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: This busy California highway nearly became the site of a deadly terror attack. Enrique Marquez, long-time friend of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, has told law enforcement the two watched videos of Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki, became radical, and plotted in 2012 to throw pipe bombs onto the SR-91 freeway and then gun down motorists in the aftermath. The pair also planned to target Riverside City College by planting pipe bombs in the crowded cafeteria. The deadly plot stopped not by law enforcement but by Marquez himself, who backed out in fear after other terror arrests around the same time. As time passed, Marquez says the two then grew apart.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The Farook and Marquez relationship is something that FBI agents and historians and counterterrorism officials will be studying for years.
SCIUTTO: Three years later, as gunfire rang out in San Bernardino, Marquez would immediately recognize his friend's handiwork. Just hours after the shooting, Marquez called 911, telling the operator, quote, "The expletive used my gun in the shooting." Then "Oh, my God." When the 911 operator asked Marquez, quote, "How do you know it is your gun?" He responded saying, "They can trace them all the guns back to me."
He claims he gave Farook the guns for, quote, "safe storage," but authorities believe he bought them with deadly intentions for the aborted 2012 attack. Despite is apparent cooperation with authorities following the attack in San Bernardino, Marquez is charged with providing material support to terrorism for his in purchasing weapons used in the shooting.
KAYYEM: It is a statement by the FBI and by the administration that if you even come close to these cases or to helping them, we will charge you as if you are a terrorist yourself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: This is now a serious line of inquiry in the investigation. How could three people with many family connections, day jobs, Farook in the local government, they had international travel, international communications, how could they evade all surveillance by authorities and also not arouse the suspicions of any of their friends and family. The president has said lone wolf attacks are hard to detect and prevent. We certainly saw that in this case. Victor and Amara?
WALKER: Thanks to Jim Sciutto for that report.
When we come back to the Newsroom --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car, sir. You're not shot, sir, get out of the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: New body cam video released in the case of the police officer that shot a DUI driver, leaving him paralyzed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will not have my children set under a woman that indoctrinates them with the Islam religion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: A Virginia county school shuts down all of its schools actually because of a homework assignment on Islam.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:41:41] BLACKWELL: Take a look, if you have a moment, at this new video we've got in. A California man accused of driving drunk and crashing his car last month. We have the dash cam video showing he was shot by an officer as he tried to climb out of the car. But there is new body cam video from the scene that shows what the officer said after he shot the man. This has been edited together from several minutes of footage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car, sir. You're not shot, sir. Get out of the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who shot you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cop did not shoot you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so. Oh, my God, are you serious?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Yes, he was serious. Andrew Thomas was the man behind the wheel. He's now recovering in the hospital from being shot in the neck. It could leave him permanently paralyzed. And get this, he could still face DUI and manslaughter charges after his wife was ejected from the car and killed in that wreck. The dash cam video released earlier this week shows what happened from the beginning. We want you to watch. But be warned, this video is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: It happened in paradise, California, near Chico. Police say 26-year-old Andrew Thomas was caught speeding out of the parking lot of a local bar on thanksgiving without his SUV's headlights on. Officer Patrick Feaster chases him. The SUV hits a median and flips, throwing the passenger to the ground, killing her. As Feaster walks towards the wrecked vehicle with his gun drawn, Thomas climbs out. Investigators say Feaster fired one shot hitting Thomas in the neck. They say what looks like a second shot is an illusion caused by a reflection from the pistol's flashlight.
MIKE RAMSEY, BUTTE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The officer's immediate reaction was thinking that the man was going to attempt to flee.
BLACKWELL: District attorney Mike Ramsey said he could not file charges under the law, calling what happened unintentional and possibly negligent, but not criminally so. He says their investigation shows the shot was fired accidentally, and Officer Feaster was surprised by the discharge. Protests have now been organized by Thomas's supporters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are here to serve and protect us, not shoot us.
BLACKWELL: Investigators say Feaster waited 11 minutes to report that he fired the shot. He didn't even tell the paramedics when they arrived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have an unresponsive female and a male in the car refusing to get out. BLACKWELL: The district attorney called the delay troubling but said
Feaster was in shock and wasn't sure if he actually fired a shot. Feaster is on leave while an internal investigation continues within the department.
CHIEF GABRIELA TAZZARI-DINEEN, PARADISE POLICE: Discipline can range anywhere from a matter of reprimand to termination.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All right, we've got with us now attorney A. Scott Bolden. There are so many things to unpack this in this case. But what's your gauge of the credibility of this officer's defense?
A. SCOTT BOLDEN, ATTORNEY: I'm not sure it is a defense. He is saying it was an accident. But what you have to do is look at those videos, both of them, and determine if there is enough to bring criminal charges or put the case before a grand jury, which is what a really strong D.A. would do.
If you look at the video, and it is an accident, the human condition would require that police officer to have some type of emotional response. Look at the video. He doesn't.
[10:45:00] He shoots, and then what does he do? He holsters his side arm and continues to go towards the vehicle. That's not the reaction of someone who has just committed an accident or believed his gun was defective in some way.
The second video shows the first responders. He says I never fired the shot. Somebody shot him. I don't know who shot him. At least I don't think I shot him. You then have deception. You then have the 11-minute gap in time before reporting. All of this is worth not only investigating but letting an independent grand jury or an independent commission look at it, because this D.A. relies on the police officers and that police force every day for every case. That's the real problem with this case.
BLACKWELL: So the D.A. here has decided that he is not going to file criminal charges. He says there may be neglect here but no criminal neglect. What, other than the civil suit, which we know will likely be coming soon, what other legal options are there?
BOLDEN: Let me just say this, that the political pressure and media pressure could have this case reviewed. There is enough there where you could question why the D.A. is going to serve as judge, juror, and prosecutor. It ought to be in the hand of a third party.
That being said, these D.A.'s have a lot of discretion all around the country, and a really good one probably would have given this to a grand jury. The feds could investigate, if you will, or there could be new evidence and new videos. Remember, the individual who was shot is a witness. The police officer is a witness. And you have the first responders. There is more than enough information here where if you are not going to be criminally charged, there will be administrative charges brought against the police officer and possibly further investigation here, because the videos just don't support what the police officer says nor does this support what the D.A. is saying, saying I can't bring charges. It is his discretion, and he has chosen to believe the police officer over these videos. That's troubling.
BLACKWELL: So let's look beyond the specifics of these cases and the impact that it could offer or the precedent it could stand as for other officers cases or anyone who pulls out a gun, fires a shot, and says, I don't remember having ever fired the shot. Could this be cited as a precedent that could defend other people?
BOLDEN: There are always accidental shootings by the police. They are thoroughly investigated. And if the evidence corroborates that this was, in fact, an accident, then no charges are brought. Now here, he is all over the place, this police officer. He says he doesn't recall shooting. He doesn't think he shot. It was an accident. And so you have to make sense of what we would call deception here if you can get a full corroboration and get a full feel for what happened here.
But one person ought not be making that decision, especially someone that relies on the police on a regular basis. So you could try it if you will. But you have to have a willing D.A. that will listen and believe in what the police officer is saying as opposed to looking at the totality of the evidence and coming up with something else.
BLACKWELL: And of course, we know that there has been this ongoing call for taking these police shooting away from the local D.A. and handing them off to a special prosecutor. I'm sure that argument will be renewed as this case continues to be investigated. A. Scott Bolden, good to have you.
BOLDEN: Thank you for having me again.
BLACKWELL: Sure.
WALKER: One teacher's homework assignment shuts down an entire school district.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The sheet she gave out was pure doctrine in its origin.
Why couldn't we learn how to write hello, good-bye, normal words, not that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Why some parents claim she tried to convert her students to Islam.
Also, you can never have too much of a good thing, right, and that includes football. But what if there aren't enough good teams? The dilemma with this season's college football bowls matchup coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:52:24] WALKER: Controversy after a Virginia teacher prompted an entire county to shut down all schools in the district. The reason, a teacher handed out a homework assignment on Islam. The assignment came from a standard workbook on world religions, but some parents saw it as an attempt to convert their children. Jason Carroll has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a routine homework assignment for ninth graders attending their world geography class at Riverheads High School is Stanton Virginia. A calligraphy assignment to copy this is what caused an entire school district to cancel classes.
CHUCK LAYMAN, PARENT: Most people just don't really understand what was put into the worksheet that the kids were sent home with.
CARROLL: According to the school, the assignment said here is the Islamic statement of faith written in Arabic. In the space below try copying it by hand. This should give you an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy. But instead of a lesson on calligraphy, the school district learned a lesson about the complexity surrounding Islam. Americans uneasy with anything having to do with that religion in the wake of the recent terror attacks overseas and at home.
KIMBERLEY HERNDON, UPSET MOTHER: I will not have my children set under a woman that indoctrinates them with the Islam religion when I am a Christian and I want to stand behind Christ.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why couldn't we just learn to write "hello," "good-bye," normal words, not that.
CARROLL: The local sheriff's department says the Augusta school district received hate mail from people accusing the teacher of trying to convert children to Islam and so the district canceled classes Friday for the entire county, all of its 10,000 students. They say there was no specific threat, but school officials did say, quote, "the tone and content of some of the communications was concerning."
The superintendent released a statement which reads, "As we have emphasized, no lesson was designed to promote a religious viewpoint or change any student's religious belief. Although students will continue to learn about world religions as required by the state board of education and the commonwealth standards of learning, a different, nonreligious sample of Arabic calligraphy will be used in the future."
A number of students took to Facebook to defend the lesson and the teacher. One post reads "I personally was not offended by this. I like the assignment," calling his instructor an amazing teacher. The teacher had lifted the calligraphy lesson from a standard world book on world religious, and according to the sheriff had assigned it before without any threat or backlash. Muslim leaders now say the cultural climate has shifted to an unsettling place.
[10:55:03] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shows us the level of anti-Islam hysteria in the United States. We want our children to understand the world in which they will live, and unfortunately we find that some parents are just terrified of even a simple calligraphy assignment.
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All right, still ahead, the big game last night that lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours longer than expected. We have got highlights for this record-breaking matchup next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Trending on bleacher report this morning, the Pistons and Bulls played into quadruple overtime, a game lasting three-and-a-half hours. That's a long time and a lot of points, 291 total points in this game. Andre Drummond led Detroit with 33 in the game. But all of the pistons starters scored in the double digits.
Now watch this. Second overtime, the bulls Jimmy Butler, he still has legs under him. He had a career high, 43 points. But his biggest shot was the one that didn't go in. Butler misses a three-pointer at the buzzer. That would have forced a fifth overtime. Detroit holds off Chicago, 147-144.
Finally a feel-good story. Look at Carolina Panther star Cam Newton's t-shirt. It's a matchup of the team logo and Chewbacca. You can order one on your own. It is $25 and the proceeds are going to a charity that helps families of babies affected by congenital heart disease. Pretty cool stuff, huh, guys?
WALKER: It's purr-bacca.
(LAUGHTER)
WIRE: Good job.
[11:00:00] WALKER: Thank you, Coy. And thank you for watching.
BLACKWELL: Yes, there's much more ahead on the next hours of CNN Newsroom.
