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Reviewing the Democratic Debate; Suspicious Air France Device Not a Bomb; Inspiring Others to Wage Jiahd; Fighting Amongst GOP Candidates; Second Freddie Gray Officer's Trial Begins Next Month; Bergdahl to Face Court Martial. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 20, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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

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[16:00:03] JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A yes, the imperial senate, to step up one presumes from the galactic senate from those from those prequels were lay (ph) his mother Queen Padme Amidala note.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee.

TAPPER: People suffering and dying while politicians yuck it up at a committee hearing doesn't sound all that long, long ago or so far, far away.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the force, as in Jake Tapper. Thanks so much. All right, the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

All right. Hello, again everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield Democratic presidential candidates spared in what was the last debate of the year. They took to the New Hampshire stage last night and instead of primarily targeting each other, they spent a lot of time going after the GOP's leading candidate Donald Trump.

CNN Investigation Correspondent Chris Frates is in our Washington Bureau. So Chris, what stood out to you?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATION CORRESPONDENT: What stood out to Fred was all the drama simmering in the days before last night's debate. You thought for sure that sparks might fly between Clinton and Sanders, finally giving Democrats some of the excitement Republicans have had all debate season long.

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FRATES: Finally a Democratic debate was some potential for drama. And days of smack talking among the DNC, the Sanders, and Clinton Campaigns, the debate stage was set for the top two Democrats to throw down over allegations that Sanders exploited a software glitch to access Clinton's confidential voter information, a move Clinton's camp called below the belt. Clinton goes for the jugular, "Politico" trumpeted, signaling that signaling that she was ready to throw mud in Saturday night's debate.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I apologize.

FRATES: Wait, what?

SANDERS: Not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton and I hope we can work together on independent investigation from...

FRATES: OK, but Clinton is not going to let him get off that easy, right?

CLINTON: I very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. I don't think the American people are all that interested in this.

FRATES: Instead, it seems Clinton thought Americans wanted to hear how she would take on the Republicans, a theme she stuck to throughout the night, largely ignoring her two Democratic rivals.

CLINTON: And we also need to make sure the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter.

FRATES: Clinton went on to say that ISIS is using Trump videos to recruit more jihadists. A claims there no evidence to support.

CLINTON: We are now finally where we need to be. We have a strategy and a commitment to go after ISIS, which is a danger to us, as well as the region. And we finally have a U.N. Security Council resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria.

SANDERS: Can I just, just...

FRATES: Republicans pounced on that remark. Jeb Bush tweeting, "No, Hillary Clinton, we are not where we need to be in fight against ISIS."

O'Malley, a distant third in the race, weaved national security implications into his pitch for tougher gun control.

MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ISIL videos, ISIL training videos are telling lone wolves the easiest way to buy a combat assault weapon in America is at a gun show, and it's because of the flip-flopping, political approach of Washington that both of my two colleagues on this stage have represented for the last 40 years.

FRATES: But even when she wasn't center stage, Clinton was still the center of attention.

CLINTON: Sorry.

FRATES: So none of the flash and bang that a lot of people had hoped for. Neither Martin O'Malley nor Bernie Sanders landing any game changers there last night Fred and Hillary Clinton left the last debate of the year still solidly the frontrunner. She was so comfortable in fact as she previewed her general election message namely that Republicans want to roll back all this progress made under President Barack Obama, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Frates, thanks so much in Washington. So, Bernie Sanders as you hear there, did apologize to Hillary Clinton last night, but also had something to say about the Democratic National Committee on the Sunday talk shows today.

Sanders wasn't too kind about how the DNC reacted to how his staff accessed voter data information from Hillary Clinton's campaign.

SANDERS: Our access to our own information, to significantly hinder our campaign was a complete overreaction and that was absolutely wrong.

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WHITFIELD: I'm going to bring in Symone Sanders, she is the National Press Secretary for the Sanders campaign. Joining us from Burlington, Vermont. Good to see you, Symone.

SYMONE SANDERS, NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY: Thank you for having me, Fred. Glad to be here.

WHITFIELD: Good. So, does Bernie Sanders feel like, you know, it's done? He's apologized to Hillary Clinton, he had said his bid about what he believes is behind the DNC and now, you know, its water under the bridge?

S. SANDERS: You know, Senator Sanders, I think he made it very clear how he felt this yesterday on that debate stage and this morning on his morning shows.

[16:05:07] So, yeah, you know, Senator Sanders, last night he came out, he was authentic. He had boundless energy and the apology was very sincere and he meant it and, I think he was very well received and he wanted to get back to speaking about the issues and I think that's what everybody else on the debate stage last night wanted to do, because, you know, American people, the Democratic voters watching across the country. They want to know, you know, what these candidates are going to do to put more money in their pockets, put food on the tables for their families. Keep their community safe, and I'm glad that was the conversation that was happened.

WHITFIELD: Has Bernie Sanders expressed to you, you know, staffers that he's in any way concerned about whether the actions of his staffers, well, in anyway reflect on him. I mean, he supposed to be the antiestablishment guy. And if he is worried about whether the active of those, whether it be one, three, or four, we're hearing varying numbers of those involved, whether that's a reflection of his reputation now, does it tarnish him?

S. SANDERS: You know, what our former staffer did was inappropriate. Now, the fire wall breach was at fault of the DNC vendor in his event (ph). But we -- that doesn't mean that our staffer should have looked at into data and once we found out what happened, we took swift action internally to terminate that staffer. We staffer, we have an internal investigation going on right now.

And we will take additional disciplinary action if need. Senator Sanders was very clear that's not what our campaign stands for. And that is not how we're going to operate.

So, I think we did the right thing and we're continuing to again had this internal investigation, we're cooperating with the DNC. And we've call for an outside audit actually up to DNCs and their handling of data for all of the campaigns for this entire campaign season.

So, we're trying to make sure that we're doing wants best for the Democratic Party that we're working with all parties involve. And again we want to get back to speaking about the issues the American people care about.

WHITFIELD: All right, Bernie Sanders leading in New Hampshire. I guess that expected given that he is from nearby Vermont, you're in that vicinity right now. But how do, you know, he and his supporters believe they can defeat Clinton in states where Democrats are made up of larger blocks of Hispanics, African-American like in South Carolina and Nevada. You know, what's the strategy or what's the mindset?

S. SANDERS: Well, the mindset Fred, is that we're taking our message to where voters are, meeting them where they are in their communities. In Nevada, for example we have opened more offices than any other Democratic presidential campaign candidate in the state. We travelled throughout South Carolina, we are meeting people again where they are. We're taking our message to the beauty shop, the barber shops and the bible studies and we're actively talking about the issues people care about.

You know, voters all across the section, whether they're white, black, or Latino, they care about economic equality. They care about making sure their communities are safe. They care about, you know, making sure that they're, you know, there's adequate money in their pocket. They care about raising the minimum wage.

So we again are speaking to the issues that people care about. We're taking our message suppose. We do know that Senator Sanders name recognition in some communities is not as high but we're actively working to change that.

WHITFIELD: All right.

S. SANDERS: So again, we've been in South Carolina, we've been in Nevada, we've also been in New Hampshire and Iowa as, you know, and we'll be back soon.

WHITFIELD: All right, Symone Sanders joining us from Burlington, Vermont of the Bernie Sanders campaign. Thanks so much.

S. SANDERS: Thanks for having me. You have a great day.

WHITFIELD: All right, you too.

All right, we're also learning now that Former President Jimmy Carter told his church today that his grandson Jeremy has died.

This is the picture of Carter wit Jeremy back in 2009. Jeremy on the left there in the Blue shirt, the reverend at his church saying this "Jeremy Carter had not been feeling well yesterday and at some point later in the day he had gone to sleep and during the course of that time, his heart stopped and they had performed CPR and they took him from the hospital. They were trying to keep his heart going and eventually, later in the night or the wee hours of the morning his heart stopped for long enough time for them to pronounced him dead."

Our hearts goes out to that family.

[16:09:23] All right, still to come in the NEWSROOM, a suspicious device on a plane forcing crews to make an emergency landing, four people are being held for questioning now. Disturbing details on what officials found. Next.

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WHITFIELD: A suspicious device found on an Air France flight was not a bomb, according to the airline. Four people have been detained for a questioning in connection with what the airline CEO calls a nasty joke. The flight made an emergency landing in Kenya after the flight crew was alerted.

CNN Correspondent David McKenzie with the very latest on this. So what more are you learning about the four people who were being questioned?

DAVID MCKENZIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Fredricka, the Kenyan authorities are being pretty tight lift (ph). And this is very alarming story frankly, because this packed triple 7 more than 450 passengers, vacationers from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius heading back to Paris, France when a passenger went into the laboratory behind the cupboard, they saw this device.

I want to break it down for you. The device, they said was a cardboard box containing papers, a kitchen timer like device which would immediately freak out someone frankly if they saw that on a plane. But the authorities are saying this is not a bomb and as you said the CEO of France saying it's a nasty joke.

Let's take a listen to the CEO in Paris.

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FREDERIC GAGEY, CEO AIR FRANCE (through translator): And every time that we can get information, intelligence about the authors of this extremely unpleasant jokes, we can complain and find this behavior both stupid and completely one which causes damage and absolutely unacceptable.

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MCKENZIE: Many of the passengers have left Kenya already on route back home.

Now the question is, was this nasty joke as they say or was it deliberate trying to saw (ph) chaos in very sensitive time during this holiday period for air travel, Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And David, this isn't the first time that Air France has experienced something like this. This is becoming a pattern, is it not, in the last month?

MCKENZIE: It is a pattern. Certainly. Just over a month ago, you had those two flights from the U.S. on way to Paris a some kind of call came in with a bomb threat. It turned out to be a hoax. Both of those fights were then diverted and landed where there meant to go. So certainly nervous time for flying, both in the wake of the hideous Paris attacks and of course, the flight the Russian airline that was brought down when it took off from the Sharm El Sheikh on route to Moscow.

[16:15:12] So, authorities will certainly be looking into these four people, they're questioning whether they had anything to do with it.

Now the device itself would pretty quickly have been ascertain by the Kenyan authorities that it wasn't an explosive device of some kind but of course, in those moments when the captain heard about something suspicious, they had to divert, certainly the response from the Kenyan authorities appeared to be very rapid dealing with those passenger who only knew once they hit the ground that there was some real threat.

They initially thought perhaps there was a mechanical failure on the flight. But it turns out yet again it's the threat or the fear of terror which is grounding these planes and certainly causing a huge headache for Air France in the last few weeks. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, David McKenzie. Thank you so much from Kenya in Nairobi.

All right, ahead, an urgent message from a former al-Qaeda recruiter. And an American who says Washington needs to make changes and fast to compete with grizzly ISIS propaganda videos. They draw people to its rage (ph). His advice in an CNN exclusive next.

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WHITFIELD: Investigators say the California killers were ISIS sympathizers. And it's still unclear how they were radicalized but often it happens online. We have an exclusive look at how that often plays out from an American who inspired others to wage jihad.

Here's Elizabeth Cohen.

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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He admits he was once one of the most effective al-Qaeda recruiters in the United States.

"ABU HURRIYA", FORMER AL QAEDA RECRUITER: I went to prison for propagandizing on behalf of terrorist organization now...

[16:20:06] COHEN: For his personal safety, we disguised his voice, we can't use his real name or show his face or even say where he is. But now Abu Hurriya, a U.S. citizen regrets what he did and wants to use his expertise to keep others from being recruited.

HURRIYA: I hurt so many people and so couple of individuals that influence are not dead. And I have to walk around with them for the rest of my life.

COHEN: He has a message for the United States government, if you want to stop terrorists from radicalizing young people online, get your act together and fast.

HURRIYA: And this looks like it was done on like Windows moviemaker.

COHEN: Because videos like this one from the state department.

HURRIYA: This is well level production quality.

COHEN: Can't compete with videos like this one from ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are the soldiers of Allah. Their honor is in jihad

COHEN: so, what's so powerful about this video?

HURRIYA: Look at the moving imagery, the animation, the fast movement. It's done with computer generated graphics. You see the movement, the very good graphic design skills. This is not done by armatures. It's far superior to what is being done on the other side.

COHEN: He says ISIS knows a target audience. It's the gaming generation, so just like in games, ISIS uses a lot of symbols.

HURRIYA: The notion is that the entire world community, the United Nations, the U.S. government, it's primarily leaders and even the soldier on the ground are in one grand conspiracy.

COHEN: He says the U.S. campaign on the other hand is preachy

Is this going to dissuade a young girl from joining?

HURRIYA: She'd consider it government propaganda. Again, it would actually prove probably counter effectual and help that story or that narrative that the U.S. is at war with Islam.

COHEN: Another thing about the terrorist target audience he says, is that they're lost souls like he used to be.

HURRIYA: Early in my youth I came from a traumatized and very dysfunctional family. The online community was very warm and welcoming and then as I got engaged more and more, I meet people that had religious authorities that were very kind, very, very, very giving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Abu Muslim. I'm a brother in Islam here in Syria.

HURRIYA: And now he has joined this movement and every day he's able to hold a coalition, are called standing in front of a black flag, praying with his brothers that are like minded. It sends a sense of community. It's very powerful narrative.

COHEN: And it also base it look sort of a brotherhood.

HURRIYA: It is brother, yeah. For them it is a brotherhood.

COHEN: The state department video portraying a formalize just captive isn't nearly as emotional he says. The main character looks cartoonish and you never actually see him talk.

He doesn't look real.

HURRIYA: Yeah, they would just believe that's actor.

COHEN: Alberto Fernandez use to run the state Department campaign to fight ISIS propaganda.

ALBERTO FERNANDEZ, MIDDLE EAST RESEARCH INSTITUTE: It was a small operation against the colossus of messaging from the Islamic state.

COHEN: Did you feel like the White House was committed to the mission, to what you were trying to do?

FERNANDEZ: It depends on what day you talk to them?

COHEN: What does that mean?

FERNANDEZ: It means they vary it according to the circumstances. You know, if there was criticism in the medial if, you know, John Oliver made a joke about the work of our operation it kind of, you know, caused to get flustered. So, it depends on the day, on the event on what happened.

COHEN: So, one joke on a comedy show would make them anxious?

FERNANDEZ: Yes.

COHEN: The state department says they've beefed up their staff for anti-ISIS messaging. Had a talk this week, state department Under Secretary Richard Stengel said he knows his department has worked to do.

UNDER SECRETARY RICHARD STENGEL, STATE DEPARTMENT: It's a big challenge and it's a difficult challenge for government because government doesn't always move rapidly and nibble.

COHEN: Abu Hurriya says if we don't want anymore attacks like in San Bernardino, Chattanooga, Boston, the government must learn to catch up to the terrorist online, no more videos that look like this.

HURRIYA: If we drop (ph) opposed that against some of the propaganda of ISIS, we find that it can compete. COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

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[16:24:11] WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, Donald Trump and Jeb Bush have battled before but now it's getting really ugly. Here what the candidates are saying about each other this weekend next.

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WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Incredible pictures just now coming in from Southeast China. Hundreds of workers are searching a massive land slide, at an Industrial Park. At least 22 buildings collapsed in the slide. More than 500 firefighters, 30 search dogs and four drones are participating in the search and rescue effort. Chinese State media say that rescuers have saved at least eight people, dozens of others are missing. It's not clear what caused this land slide.

And today in this country, Donald Trump launching his harshest attacks yet against Jeb Bush on NBC's "Meet the Press." Calling him an embarrassment for the Bush family, Jeb ramping up his insults to where the GOP frontrunner over the weekend. This is indeed getting very really ugly.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's an embarrassment to the Bush family and in fact he doesn't even want to use the Bush name, which is interesting.

JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just one other thing I got to get this off my chest, Donald Trump is a jerk. You can't insult your way to the presidency.

TRUMP: It was so sad to watch him, so sad Bush. No, I was just sad. I mean, it's like close to incompetent. You look at that and it was terrible.

BUSH: For us to win, Donald Trump can't be the nominee. He's not going to beat Hillary Clinton, which is not possible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that the one you want to call her name his responsive.

BUSH: I'm the only guy that speaking out about the lack of seriousness of Donald Trump. I mean, not being been able to answer the question about the rule of the nuclear triad. I mean, the answer they gave is just like have been no sense at all.

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WHITFIELD: All right, joining me now Larry Saboto, the director at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. So, you know, you heard Jeb Bush say, you know, he doesn't think Donald Trump could actually beat Hillary Clinton. Does that mean he feels like he could, he stands a better chance of doing that?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERISTY OF VIRGINIA: Well, he obviously done. You know Fred, I'm starting to think these two guys don't like each other.

WHITFIELD: Are you just how base (ph) on the feel that way?

SABATO: Well, just now starting to feel that way and hate is not too strong a word in this case. They really do want to see the other fail.

Look, we know two things, Fred. The first is that, Donald Trump's followers could careless about this, that is they already dislike Jeb Bush intensely. They're not going to be turned off by what Donald Trump says. The other is that Jeb Bush, who a year ago this very week hinted strongly that he was running and shot to the top of the polls as a frontrunner.

WHITFIELD: Right.

[16:30:02] SABATO: Is now down in he latest poll nationally at two percent, two. And so, you know, my guess is that yes, he thinks somehow he can comeback, but he can't comeback. He wants to see Donald Trump go down and he would be happy to be the instrument of his downfall.

WHITFIELD: Well, I know you mention two points, in some polls it's three. So Jeb Bush -- really he has nothing to lose, right? Is borrowing from Trump's playbook the only option that Bush sees as potentially beneficial, and I say borrowing from the play book, I mean using the harsh language. Donald Trump the first one to -- you know comment on people's hair or saying they were stupid and all that good stuff, bad stuff.

SABATO: Name calling. Calling somebody a jerk is not Presidential, even while you're campaigning for President, and I think Bush for a long time tried to appear Presidential. So no, it doesn't help his cause, but again I think he's realistic enough to know that at least the pundits don't think he's going to be the Republican nominee, so this may be the best he can do to bring down the Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: All right -- and I want to talk about the Democratic debate last night, one of the most fiery topics was on national security and ISIS and how to combat terrorists abroad. Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley were brass about encrypted communication among terrorist and this is what they said.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Apple CEO, Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would not want to go to that point. I would hope that given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and tech communities together. They have to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move towards encrypted information that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after.