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Driver Plows into Crowd on Vegas Strip; New Hampshire Schools Close over E-mail Threat; President Obama Blames Media for Fueling Fear of ISIS; Passenger in Custody After Air France Bomb Hoax; Bowe Bergdahl Faces Military Court; Wrong Contestant Crowned Miss Universe; Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired December 21, 2015 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:01] CUOMO: They spread the word, they gave their own gifts, they bought other ones, they sent in donations. Every child left with a toy in hand. That's what I'm talking about. That's the Christmas spirit.
COOPER: That is the Christmas spirit. Thank you for that beautiful good stuff.
CUOMO: Thank you for those good people in Colorado.
CAMEROTA: Time for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello. Hey, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Good morning. Have a great day.
CAMEROTA: You too.
COSTELLO: NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, mowed down on the Vegas Strip.
CHIEF BRETT ZIMMERMAN, LAS VEGAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have determined that this is an intentional act.
COSTELLO: The driver, a woman with a toddler inside the car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looked like she wasn't even trying to stop the car.
COSTELLO: Investigators say this isn't terror.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All you can see is her driving away and people are like bouncing off the front of car.
COSTELLO: So why did she do it?
Also, President Obama talks about America's ISIS fears.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Keep things in perspective. And this is not an organization that can destroy the United States.
COSTELLO: And accuses Trump of preying on blue-collar fears.
OBAMA: There's going to be potential anger, frustration, fear. I think somebody like Mr. Trump has taken advantage of that.
COSTELLO: What will Trump have to say about it?
Plus --
STEVE HARVEY, COMEDIAN: Miss Universe 2015 is, Colombia.
COSTELLO: Don't get too comfortable in that tiara. The wrong queen is crowned. Oops.
HARVEY: I have to apologize.
COSTELLO: Are you cringing yet?
Let's talk, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
The Las Vegas Strip turned into a crime scene. Police say a woman intentionally rammed her car into the crowd, hitting nearly 40 people. At least one person was killed.
The car seen here repeatedly jumping the sidewalk. A 3-year-old was inside that vehicle at the time.
Listen as one witness describes the chaos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN COCHRANE, WITNESSES LAS VEGAS CRASH: Couldn't see through the crashed windows. It was busting through people. There was just thudding. And the sound was -- I'd say 30, maybe, and I thought it might be a little faster. But it seemed like it was going pretty fast. People are flying. Like this child I saw, literally hit. And the sound, I'll never forget.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Just last hour, the Strip reopened after being shut down overnight.
Stephanie Elam is in Vegas with more for you. Good morning.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We know that one person is dead and 37 others injured. We know that at least at one hospital, five of those people are Canadians. But still no answer to the question of why this woman would do this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a huge tragedy that's occurred on our Strip.
ELAM (voice-over): Breaking overnight, a massive and deadly hit and run on the famous Las Vegas Strip.
ZIMMERMAN: We have determined that this is an intentional act.
ELAM: Police say a female driver in her 20s ran her vehicle up on to the sidewalk, bustling with tourists, twice, possibly three times, plowing into nearly 40 people between Planet Hollywood and Paris Resort and Casino.
The fatal incident unfolded while the Miss Universe Pageant was underway inside Planet Hollywood.
LT. DAN MCGRATH, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: She's in the detention center now. She's speaking to detectives.
ELAM: The suspect speeding off with a 3-year-old toddler inside was quickly apprehended by police less than a mile away. Investigators believe she's not a Las Vegas native but say this is not an act of terrorism.
MCGRATH: The information I got is she may have been here for a short period of time, but she's not from here. She's a recent move here.
ELAM: Shocked witnesses say pedestrians scrambled to stop the woman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The car rolled right in front of me. By the time I looked over to the right, all you could see was her driving away and people are like bouncing off the front the car. You can hear people were punching the window, trying to get the child out of the backseat. She accelerated again and just kept mowing everyone down.
ELAM: Investigators turning their attention to the vast amount of surveillance cameras outside the casinos.
ZIMMERMAN: We will comb through that footage to get a detailed idea of what occurred.
ELAM: This as witnesses describe a horrific scene.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looked like she wasn't trying to stop the car. She had both of her hands on the wheel and was looking straight forward. And there were men running after her trying to stop the vehicle, and they couldn't get to her. They were yelling stop, stop, and she just wasn't trying.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ELAM: No at this point we understand that police have been speaking with this woman. That they also are testing her for drug and controlled substances. I'm sorry, alcohol and controlled substances, to see if any of those are in her system. But still no clear motive on why this woman would do this in the first place, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Stephanie Elam, reporting live from Las Vegas this morning.
More than a dozen schools are closed in New Hampshire this morning over what school leaders called a detailed threat of violence.
[09:05:06] They don't know whether this threat of violence is credible, but out of an abundance of caution, they cancelled classes.
Sounds familiar, right? Los Angeles cancelled classes this last week over a hoax.
CNN's Sara Ganim live in Nashua with more. Good morning.
SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol, yes, it's Monday morning but the students here in Nashua, New Hampshire, are not in school. 17 public schools shut down. Another two private schools off today, cancelled classes. After officials here say that someone e-mailed in a threat, a violent threat, directed at two of the high schools here.
We're standing in front of one of them. You can see that it's very quiet here. No students here today. Investigators taking this seriously. They shut down schools for the day. The bomb squad was here yesterday going through the school, making sure there was no threat. They're also working with the FBI to try and figure out who sent this and, as you said, this comes off of a week of frightening threats across the country made against schools in California, Texas, Florida, New York.
Officials in each state handling the situations differently. Some coming under fire for not shutting down schools in other cases. Some saying that they believe this was a hoax and there was no reason to shut down schools. But Nashua, New Hampshire, is a high-profile place right now. It's that time of year. We're approaching the very first primaries, coming in January and February.
February is the primary, the first primary in New Hampshire. And there are a lot of presidential candidates here. A lot of events. A lot of people coming to town. They're taking security very seriously. Now that being said, the superintendent said yesterday, he does expect that schools will reopen on Tuesday -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Sara Ganim, reporting live from New Hampshire.
And while that threat incident unfolds in New Hampshire, President Obama is urging Americans to keep things in perspective. In a sit- down interview with NPR, the president said he understands why people are worried, but there's no reason to panic because groups like ISIS are not able to destroy the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: If you've been watching television for the last month, all you've been seeing, all you've been hearing about, is these guys with masks or black flags who are potentially coming to get you. And so I understand why people are concerned about it, and this is a serious situation. But what is important is for people to recognize that the power, the strength of the United States and its allies are not threatened by an organization like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All right. For more, let's head to Washington and Joe Johns.
Good morning, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The president's interview with NPR really digging down on the low key approach to ISIS that's gotten some harsh criticism from his political opponents, who say the administration isn't showing enough strength. He says from a policy perspective, he isn't making apologies for going after terror groups in a way that's consistent with American values.
And there was also, of course, some talk about election year politics in this interview. The president zeroing in on his critics, including Donald Trump, suggesting the Trump campaign is tapping into working class fears in the race for the White House at a time of economic stress. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Blue-collar men have had a lot of trouble in this new economy, where they're no longer getting the same bargain that they got when they were going to a factory and able to support their families on a single paycheck. You combine those things and it means that there is going to be potential anger, frustration, fear. Some of it justified, but just misdirected.
And you know, I think somebody like Mr. Trump is taking advantage of that. I mean, that's what he's exploiting during the course of his campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The president also acknowledging in that interview that the administration has not done the best job in messaging, which is something they have been trying to turn around over the last couple weeks. The first family, of course, on vacation in Hawaii. The president did that interview last week -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Joe Johns reporting live from Washington. Thank you.
President Obama does have a point about perspective. Let's look at the numbers. The "New York Times" reports that since October of 2014, there have been a total of three, three ISIS inspired incidents on U.S. soil, including the San Bernardino attacks.
Now compare that to the incidents of gun violence in the United States over the past year. More than 50,000 with nearly 13,000 killed. That's according to Gun Violence Archives. So three ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks. 50,000 incidents of gun violence in the United States. That's to put things into perspective.
Now compare those statistics with what was said last week at the Republican presidential debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're at war, folks. They're not trying to steal your car. They're trying to kill us all.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop. Wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to restore the Defense cuts of Barack Obama. To rebuild our military. To destroy ISIS before it destroys us.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the most sophisticated terror group that has ever threatened the world and the United States of America.
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Go ahead and declare the war. We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So let's talk about this. John Avlon is a CNN political analyst and editor-in-chief for the "Daily Beast," and Larry Sabato is the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
Welcome to both of you.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thanks, Carol.
JOHN AVLON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Larry, the president said the media, in his words, is pursuing ratings and what he says is a legitimate news story. Is the media partly to blame for the high anxiety in the country, as well?
SABATO: Well, I'm shocked to hear that the media are putting things on based on ratings. I would never have expected that to be true. And Donald Trump is exhibit A. But, look, of course, the media coverage has something to do with the fear that people have about ISIS. But we need to remember, ISIS is so radical, so brutal, they make al Qaeda look moderate. So I don't think the fears about them are quite as exaggerated as the president suggested.
Now as far as the presidential contenders, Carol, you know, exaggeration is part of their instruction manual for being presidential candidates. Of course, they exaggerate the fact that things are bad and getting worse because they're presenting an alternative.
COSTELLO: So, John, where does that leave the American people? Who do they believe?
AVLON: Well, I mean, I think the American people need to be paying attention to news and, yes, ratings are a part of news, but as the president said in kind of a mixed message there, this is a legitimate news story.
You're right to point out perspective. Gun violence, you're far more likely to die in a car accident certainly than in a terrorist attack. But, you know, we are facing a real problem with ISIS incursions into the West. And a terrorist attack is big news, and it is worth not only -- it's not about exploiting ratings, it's about actually providing awareness for something new on the horizon that we are confronting as a society and civilization.
And there is a line to walk here. What's different in politics is now more than in our recent past, fear mongering has become the point of the realm. But for the president to blame the media as somehow exaggerating this spreading fear, I think is blaming the messenger. And for him to sort of say that, you know, cops or some communications failures, you know, in my experience, when governments -- an executive blame communications, it's usually the fault lies at their doorstep.
COSTELLO: Well, and the president addressed that, Larry, in his remarks to NPR. He says his administration is inadequately expressing what the real threat is, and they have to find more effective way to do that.
SABATO: The president has really mishandled the PR side of this. Maybe the substance, too. But the PR side since right after the Paris attacks. And I think he's been trying to make up for that, but the truth is, he dropped the ball. So a lot of this is his own fault.
You know, I get the sense that it's almost like blaming the meteorologists for over-covering tornadoes when they strike. Yes, tornadoes only affect a tiny number of people, or they only hurt a tiny number of people, but they instill fear in millions. That is natural. That's the way people react to grave threats they can't control.
COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. John Avlon, Larry Sabato, thanks to both of you.
A developing story out of Afghanistan this morning. Six NATO service members have died in a suicide attack near Bagram Air Base. A local government spokesperson says a suicide bomber on a motorbike carried out the attack on a joint patrol of Afghan and coalition forces in the Bagram district in Afghanistan. The U.S. forces' spokesman says the incident is under investigation.
In the meantime, an unusual plea for help from an Afghan official who says the Taliban are closing in. The deputy governor of Afghanistan's Helmand Province wrote an open letter to the president of Afghanistan on Facebook. He claims the people around the president didn't want him to know about the reality on the ground there.
[09:15:02] He says one district's main shopping area and government offices are under heavy attack by the Taliban, and warns the entire province could fall if the president does not take action. He put that out on Facebook again so the president would notice.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, just in time for a busy holiday travel week, a bomb scare in the skies. The latest on that Air France investigation next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: As a record number of you get ready to go out of town for the holidays, another terrifying ordeal for some airlines travelers. French border police have one passenger from an Air France flight in custody after a device apparently made to look like a real bomb was found in the plane's restroom.
It was a total hoax. The flight was headed from the island of -- the flight was actually heading to Paris when it was forced to make an emergency landing in Kenya on Sunday. Passengers who are on board that flight finally landed in Paris earlier today.
David McKenzie is following the latest developments from Nairobi, Kenya.
Hi, David. Tell us more.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Certainly nervous times for fliers generally in this atmosphere. And it would have been terrifying moments when that plane made that emergency stop here in Kenya. Was supposed to be going to Paris. But in fact that suspicious device, which was spotted by a passenger in the lavatory, caused the captain to pull off that course and go down. The bomb disposal groups went into the plane, pulled the device out, and inspected it.
Now it seems like the passenger who was on the flight back to Paris, all those passengers left Kenya, went via Athens to Paris, he was pulled off, detained by border police and suspected of, in fact, the endangerment of that plane.
[09:20:11] And the prosecutor in Paris are moving to possibly bring charges. Now that passenger would have been on that flight all the way from here in Kenya back to Paris. There were people being questioned here in Kenya. Kenyan officials just telling us moments ago that, in fact, they have all left, as well.
Terrifying moments for an airline that's dealt with these kind of issues multiple times in the last month -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. David McKenzie reporting live from Kenya this morning. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is in military court tomorrow facing
charges of desertion and endangering his fellow soldiers. Bergdahl as you know was held captive by the Taliban for nearly five years after he allegedly deserted his unit. He was freed after the U.S. released five Taliban detainees in a controversial prisoner exchange last year.
More now from Nick Valencia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By now you have probably seen this video, a U.S. Blackhawk helicopter lands in the middle of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. With each passing second, U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl takes a step closer to freedom. After five years in Taliban captivity and torture, he is finally going home.
BOWE BERGDAHL, U.S. ARMY SERGEANT: It's like you're standing there screaming in your mind, in this room you're standing like in this blackened dirt room that's tiny. And just on the other side of that flimsy little wooden door that you could probably rim off the hinges is the entire world out there.
VALENCIA: That's Bergdahl describing his captivity in an interview with a popular podcast Serial.
SARAH KOENIG, SERIAL PODCAST: From this American Life and WBEZ Chicago, it's Serial. One story told week and week. I'm Sarah Koenig.
VALENCIA: Host Sarah Koenig chose Bergdahl as the subject for the show's second season. In it we get a chance to hear from Bergdahl for ourselves, a man who was discharged from the Coast Guard for psychological reasons, only to land in the U.S. Army under what he calls inept leadership. Bergdahl says as a 23-year-old private he didn't feel like his concerns would be taken seriously.
BERGDAHL: All I was seeing was basically leadership failure to the point that the lives of the guys standing next to me were literally from what I could see in danger of something seriously going wrong and somebody being killed.
VALENCIA: Shortly after Bergdahl's release President Obama hosted Bergdahl's parents in the Rose Garden. He defended his decision to exchange five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to bring Bergdahl back home.
OBAMA: We also made an ironclad commitment to bring our prisoners of war home. That's who we are as Americans. It's a profound obligation within our military and today at least in this instance it's a promise we've been able to keep.
VALENCIA: But it seemed it was this moment from Bergdahl's father that also caused concern and piled on to the controversy.
Bergdahl's father grew out his beard and learned to speak Pashtun in hopes of connecting with his son's capture. The gesture only added to the critics' skepticism of Bergdahl's swap to freedom.
But what awaited back home was anything but a homecoming. The celebration in his home town of Hailey, Idaho, canceled amid controversy of Bergdahl's release and questions surrounding his disappearance.
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: President Obama wants to justify his hasty Bergdahl terrorist swap by claiming the soldier was too sick to wait. Then he needs to share his evidence with the rest of the country.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), OHIO: We don't negotiate with terrorists. And the fact is that we have violated that policy.
VALENCIA: The frustration was especially expressed by some of Bergdahl's platoon who were part of the initial rescue mission.
DARRYL HANGON, BOWE BERGDAHL'S PLATOON: If we would have found him I think a lot of us would have shot him, if that tells you anything. I truly say that with sincerity that we had that much hate towards him.
VALENCIA: Despite a military investigator's recommendations that Bergdahl not face jail time, the Army announced this month it will court-martial Bergdahl on charges of desertion and endangering fellow soldiers.
BERGDAHL: You know, I've made it through the last five years. Just kind of seems stupid to lose whatever it is that's been keeping me going.
VALENCIA: If convicted he could face life in prison, but the court's decision may not matter much to those who already see Bergdahl as either a hero or a deserter.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And still to come in the NEWSROOM, a Miss Universe winner named but only for a few minutes. Oh, this is truly cringe-worthy. I'll show it to you next.
[09:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: This is not staying in Vegas. A royal flub at the Miss Universe pageant when host Steve Harvey announced the wrong winner even though she was crowned.
Boris Sanchez has been covering this story. Oh, this is just awful.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's tough to watch, Carol. It's made me cringe every time I've watched it. Reactions on social media have been mixed. Some people think it's hilarious. Funny memes have made their way out of the incident. Several people, though, were pretty upset. Particularly, my Colombian friends, didn't think this was very funny. Others think the whole thing was staged for ratings. Either way, this botched coronation is making headlines.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE HARVEY, HOST, MISS UNIVERSE 2015 PAGEANT: Colombia.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): For a brief moment Sunday night, Miss Colombia celebrated being crowned Miss Universe, but her reign lasted only a few minutes.
HARVEY: I have to apologize. The first runner-up is Colombia. Miss Universe 2015 is Philippines.
SANCHEZ: Miss Universe 2015 host Steve Harvey misreading his cue cards and naming the wrong contestant as the winner. The two women awkwardly standing at the end of the stage, paralyzed by the snafu.
HARVEY: This is exactly what's on the card. I will take responsibility for this. It was my mistake. It was on the card.
SANCHEZ: Miss Colombia stripped of her crown. Stunned viewers watching as Miss Universe 2014 placed it on the head of winner Miss Philippines. The show abruptly cutting to credits. Some of the other judges taking to social media.
NIECY NASH, MISS UNIVERSE 2015 JUDGE: Oh, my God.
SANCHEZ: Judge Niecy Nash tweeting this video.
NASH: Oh, my God. This is crazy right now.
(END)
