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Severe Stroms Hit the Southern US; Fighting in Ramadi Detailed; Taliban Strength Increasing; Protests at the Mall of America in Minnesota Police Shooting Case. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 24, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:00] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Also ahead. Protesters demand police release video in the death of a young black man in Minnesota.

A big welcome to our viewers here in the United States and those of you watching all around the world, I'm Errol Barnett. Thanks for joining my second hour of CNN Newsroom.

People in the U.S. state of Mississippi are beginning to recover after a rare December tornado touched down there on Wednesday. You see the moment here it crossed a road, flipping over at least one vehicle. Listen.

You can really see the power of it there. Storms have killed seven people in three U.S. states. A mayor in Mississippi says the only church in the town of Ashland was destroyed. This of course is just before Christmas.

Tennessee is under a state of emergency. The witness there describes what she saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were in the house. We heard the wind picking up. We dashed out to the storm shelter. And we had 45 seconds and it hit. We walked out the storm shelter, everything was gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does it look like over there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like a wasteland. Wasteland. There's nothing left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Dan Smith joins us now on the phone. He's actually the storm chaser who shot this video in Mississippi. In it, you can see some overturned trucks and uprooted trees along the highway. Dan joins us from Tallahassee, Florida. He's been on the road for the past few hours.

Dan just tell us about this unusual tornado that you witnessed and almost got caught up in yourself.

DAN SMITH, STORMCHASER: Thanks. Well, we actually have been on the road from Joplin, Missouri headed to Florida. We first noticed the storm when it first started down by Clarksdale which was probably about 80 miles or more West of Holly Springs where that video was. So, we started heading down 78, and we realized we were not going to be able to get ahead of it. So we stopped. The tornado passed right ahead of us within a mile.

And then we come across the overpass, there was two tractor-trailers, actually three overturned, or several cars and trucks trapped underneath the truck and between it in the overpass. But we stopped there, got up, we make sure everybody was accounted for, and once we realized that, you know, everybody was at least OK for the most part on the scene there, we're able to slowly move on from there.

BARNETT: So, you stopped. This tornado passes directly in front of you. How long did the tornado linger? And how extensive was the damage once you were able to see it?

SMITH: Well, we didn't get off of the highway, but the damage lost there on -- actual on Highway 78 right there was about a half mile to three-quarters of mile wide of that -- for the most part, 75 percent or more of all the pine trees were snapped right in half. Stuff all over the road.

There was that semi-tractor trailer completely wrapped around underneath that overpass there which, you know, kind of gives an indication of how strong the winds were. And I know that tornado was on the ground for quite a while, because you could see it on the radar for, like i said, at least 20, 30 miles before Holly Springs. It was a clear signature on the radar showing it moving that way.

BARNETT: Now these things can pop up without warning. They're difficult to predict and this one is unusual for the fact that it was in December. Why do you chase tornados, considering all this danger?

SMITH: Well, we do it because, one thing is as you can tell in the video, there's no ambulances. There's really no emergency responders on site there. So if you happen to be in a spot like that when it happens, you know, you can help. You're the first person there to help.

Another reason is the more you know about it, we live in Joplin, Missouri which is where 2011, actually, the most destructive tornado in recent history was there. And when you live somewhere like that and you have friends and family there, the more you can learn and know about them, the more you can help them stay safe as well, especially if you're not away or you're not home.

BARNETT: Yeah, you've grown up with these things. Dan Smith on the phone with us near Tallahassee, Florida talking to us about what he witnessed while in Mississippi.

Our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, joins us to talk about this. And Dan confirmed something Mike, another storm chaser said to me last hour. The trees didn't bend at all. They just simply were snapped in half.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. [03:05:01] BARNETT: This tornado was extremely powerful.

JAVAHERI: The intensity is remarkable for this time of year. You know, we have not seen a storm this strong, this late in the season for a long time. And just to hear the track of the storm potentially at least 25 miles on the ground, potentially even 100 miles on the ground based on if it was the same tornado or multiple tornadoes. That's one in a 10,000 tornado event. You get about thousand in the U.S. every year, you do the math, it takes 10 years to get a storm of this potentially strong that occurred across this region. And of course, it doesn't happen typically in December, it happens in March, April, and May in the peak season.

So we're watching this carefully. We knew the atmosphere conditions were primed for this to occur. And of course, it's the last thing you want to see just a few hours before Christmas day and a lot of people...

BARNETT: Right.

JAVAHERI: ...you're not thinking potentially, you're out there trying to get your last minute shopping in. We know 100 million Americans are traveling on the roads over the next 24 hours. So this is something that's dangerous with what's happened and the threat is there.

So we'll show you what's expected to occur over the next couple of hours there because, you know, at least 200 reports of storm related damage occurred across the United States, damage of them related to storm -- tornado related damages. And keep in mind, the month of December, climatologically speaking we're way down here. 24 is what you expect in the month of December when it comes accumulative tornado count over the past 50 years and so of data across this region.

And now, you take a look what it occurred in and we know unfortunately there are multiple fatalities with this. And one thing to note, you're actually on the quiet side for 2015. Average yearly fatalities in the United States from tornadoes are 80 people per year.

From the first of January to Tuesday, we only have10 fatalities. We were on pace to set a record for the fewest fatalities. See the yellow bar there? That is how many fatalities we had on Wednesday. Literally, 40 percent of the tornado fatalities happened within one day for the entire calendar year. You see the most ever almost 800 in the 1920s, at least every which we were about to break. And unfortunately, it's not going to happen when it comes to the fatalities that occurred.

But measuring this track, again the National Weather Service looking into verifying the track and the length of this tornado on the ground, but 135 to potentially 145 miles on the ground. That, again, is a 0.1 percent of all tornadoes since 1950 have stayed on the ground that long.

And you take a look at this, of course, it is the 24th of December, 70 degrees in Atlanta is something you should see in the month of September not a couple of days before January. And then it works way to the north, New York City, Washington D.C., again, warm temperature. We have the thunderstorm prevalent, and now over 75,000 people still in line with a tornado watc which means conducive conditions there for some of the storms the next couple of hours to spark a few more tornadoes.

So, they're lessening the overnight hours, typically the hear is not there to support the storms but I really -- it's pretty warm outside across the street.

BARNETT: So a tornado threat remains for much...

JAVAHERI: For at least another six hours or so, yeah.

BARNETT: OK. Well, watch that closely, Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Thank you very much.

BARNETT: In Thailand two migrant workers from Myanmar have been sentenced to death for the murder of two British tourists. The victims' bodies were found on the beach out of a vocation resort in September of last year

The trial was plagued by controversy and allegations that police mishandled the investigation. The suspects say they were forced to confess. The victim's families say justice has been served.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MILLER, BROTHER OF THE VICTIM: Having listened carefully to all the evidence and despite what their lawyers say, it is our opinion that the evidence against Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin is absolutely overwhelming

They raped to satisfy their selfish desires and murdered to cover up that fact. They showed no remorse during the trial. Our lives have been changed forever. Nothing brings David home. No last hopes, no good-byes. But whatever our anguish, the love we have for David will never be taken away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: A rights group working with the defendant says they plan to appeal their sentences.

I want to get you to Saudi Arabia now, at least 25 people have died and 123 others injured in a hospital fire. This is in the southern coastal city Jazan. The fire broke out on the first floor where a nursery critical care unit maternity ware reside. The cause of that fire is under investigation.

Iraqi forces say they're making progress in their fight to retake Ramadi from ISIS. The capital of Anbar province is an important area in Iraq (inaudible) hot land. It's just about 70 miles or 115 kilometers from Baghdad. The military released a picture of one neighborhood liberated on Tuesday. Iraqi forces say they're getting closer to the ISIS held government compound in the city center.

CNN's Robyn Kriel is following developments for us from London and joins us now live. Robin, detail, of course, the tactics being used by ISIS in Ramadi that have slowed the advance of Iraqi forces.

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Errol, you can imagine ISIS have been entrenched inside Ramadi since May. So they've had seven months in which to prepare for this counter assault from the Iraqi security forces and U.S.-led coalition.

[03:10:09] So you can imagine that they've had time to plant booby traps. And this is what we're hearing from the Security Forces on the ground that they've encountered so many improvised explosive devices, that they've seen at least four, that they've encountered at least four vehicle IEDs. What would be a suicide car bomb.

They're hearing sniper fire, and experiencing it as well. You can imagine ISIS had time to dig rat holes for snipers and really entrench themselves in the last seven months.

We also understand, Errol, that the ISIS prevented a number of civilians from leaving Ramadi in the upcoming days to this assault.

The allied forces did give the citizens of Ramadi warning about 72 hours warning by dropping leaflets from the air saying that this contra assault was impending and that they should leave, citizens, ordinary civilians should leave.

However, ISIS were hearing set up road blocks to prevent this from happening and are keeping them there as human shields. So to avoid collateral damage, to avoid loss of innocent lives, they have to take this assault very, very slowly, perhaps slower than they would under ordinary circumstances.

BARNETT: And because of that, it also seems Iraqi officials are now avoiding specific time lines of success. We always knew recapturing Ramadi would take time. Why did they even bother giving publicly a time frame?

KRIEL: I'm not exactly sure of that. But we -- this is so important, Errol, to the psyche of the Iraqi Army and the government in general. When Ramadi fell back in May, it was hugely humiliating for them, and it was very disappointing after the United States as well who had pumped billions of dollars into the Iraqi defense forces and was hoping to see results.

But there is at reach or they at least seemed ease the (inaudible) that it which it fell. It was very, very disappointing to everyone involved. So they're already trying to invigorate despite and they make sure that they are being proactive about it which perhaps why they gave a timeline in the first place.

But we do know that the prime minister is returning from China soon and we're planning to see -- or at least expecting it that this weren't to take all that much longer. We're not exactly sure of how long.

BARNETT: All right, I appreciate the update. Robyn Kriel live for us in London this morning.

Now there are powerful reminders this week of the Taliban's military power in Afghanistan. The militants claimed responsibility for a deadly attack that killed U.S. soldiers, near Bagram Airfield. And battles are raging right now in Helmand province. Barbara Starr has our update.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARABARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Fellow troops mourn the lives of six U.S. Air Force members killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. The devastating attack happened on a security patrol outside of Bagram Airfield. Their mission? To talk to local Afghans in nearby villages looking for any signs of the Taliban.

A U.S. official tells CNN the suicide bomber used an old motorcycle instead of a suicide vest, packing the internal spaces full of explosives.

The motorcycle detonating as the troops were on a narrow path where surrounding walls confined the blast and made it even more powerful.

The Taliban taking credit. As the group makes a resurgent in the southern part of the country. In Helmand province where U.S. forces fought for years, Afghans Security Forces are now locked in an intense battle with Taliban fighters. Afghan reinforcements have been sent to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Building an army is not a work of two years, three years or four years. It is a young army it need maturity.

STARR: Years of U.S. military training still may not be enough.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, (RET), CNN MILITAR ANALYST: It's one of those areas where during the daytime, the government controls territory. During the night time, a lot of that same territory is actually being controlled by either the Taliban or in some cases, potentially even ISIS.

STARR: ISIS has been making radio broadcasts as a recruitment tool, and so many Afghanistan are listening.

ISIS also has Russian president Vladimir Putin's attention.

Moscow says it will share intelligence but not weapons with the Taliban to counter ISIS.

So are we looking at a new Putin agenda back in Afghanistan nearly 30 years after the Soviet Union pulled out after a devastating nine-year war there? Barbara Starr, CNN, The Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Alexandra Field joins us now with more on this. And Alexandra, it seems all week we've been talking about Sangin and Helmand province. What are the officials telling us about the fight there as it stands right now?

[03:15:03] ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are now hearing from the spokesperson for the Police chief in southern Helmand province, he says that the fighting very much continues, that the police compound which has been under attack by the Taliban for the last few days remains under attack. He says the police chief and a number of officers remain inside without food, without ammunition but he reports that helicopters have been able to get into the center of Sangin where they've air lifted some of the dead and some of the wounded from the center of this district which it been Afghan (ph) center of os much heavy fighting for this last few days.

Officials are saying that the Afghan Security Forces are continuing to plan operations there as this fighting continues, and they plan to expand these operations. The defense minister is also saying that some relief has been brought in, but the police and the people on the ground are really still for food, still for ammunition.

There has been great concern over the last few days, Errol, that if the Taliban fully succeeded in taking over Sangin that the rest of Helmand province could fall to Taliban control.

What we are now hearing from the defense minister is that in the areas where there has been the extra pressure being exerted by Taliban forces that the Afghan security forces have been able to push the Taliban back to repel them and to defend of in roads being made in other areas of the province, but still the center of concern, the center of focus, Sangin where about that police chief and where some 150 others remain inside the building which apparently is still under attack.

BARNETT: All right. We'll continue to watch this very closely. Alexandra Field live for us. Thanks

The U.S. and British governments are warning their citizens of possible threats in Beijing around the Christmas holiday. Chinese security officials are responding with heavily armed police around open air shopping mall, and at diplomatic compounds.

The U.S Embassy there's received about possible threats against Westerners and Beijing's popular Sanlitun shopping district.

The British Embassy issued a similar warnings saying "British citizens are urged to exercise heightened vigilance."

And there's also a separate alert just into our CNN Beijing's public security bureau has issued a yellow security alert for all large and medium sized malls and supermarkets during Christmas. That alert comes because stores will be especially busy over the holiday.

Now, we're also following a developing story coming to us out of the West Bank. Israeli police say a Palestinian man stabbed two security guards near the entrance of an industrial park. A spokesman says the attacker was shot and killed. One of the security guards is in critical condition. The other in moderate condition.

Still to come this hour for you on CNN Newsroom, a British Muslim family denied entrance to the U.S. And they say no one is telling them why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:21:52] BARNETT: A Muslim family in Britain was told they could not board a flight for the U.S. that was supposed to be heading off for a joyous holiday taking their kids to Disneyland. U.S. officials say their religion did not play a part, but the family still wants answers.

CNN's Diana Magnay met them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The owners of these little dresses had hoped to be roaming Disneyland this Christmas with their cousins who live in the U.S. But the Mahmood's family, Mohammad and Zahid, their two nieces and seven small and teenage children were turned away at the gate as they were about to board the plane for Los Angeles. Zahid's wife didn't want her children filmed. She doesn't want them to feel like they did at the airport, singled out.

SADAF MAHMOOD, BANNED FROM U.S. FLIGHT: My ten-year-old daughter said to my husband, is it because we're Muslim? And my husband said, why would you say that? And she replied, because we were the only Muslim people in that line.

MAGNAY: The family's papers, the ESTA Electronic Derivation, they need to visit the U.S., put them in order approved six weeks before by the Department of Homeland Security. And they were due to fly with Norwegian but the airline said they couldn't help.

Just the message from U.S. Immigration, that they could go no further.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they have felt that, they should have refused us six weeks ago. So, we would not have taken them out of school, booked their holidays or got their hopes up.

MAGANAY: The family want answers and they feel the fact they're Muslim has something to do with it.

MOHAMMAD TARIQ MAHMOOD, BARRED FROM U.S. FLIGHT: I definitely think Donald Trump's theory, this time had played a part to play in it because otherwise why wasn't anyone else flagged up on that flight, just the one Muslim family.

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is calling for a total and complete shut down.

MAGNAY: Earlier this month, the presidential candidate called for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States.

A U.S. official tells CNN that not all of Mohammad's family members were prevented from traveling.

Besides that, the U.S. won't comment on this particular case for privacy reasons. They say religion, faith, or spiritual believes play no role in matters of immigration. That there are a myriad of other factors which might mean an individual is turned down, health issues, criminal records, security, to name just a few.

The family say that this Facebook page may have sparked a red flag. It's written by a man who says he lives in Birmingham and calls himself a supervisor at Taliban and leader at Al-Qaeda but the e-mail address connected to this account appears on an electoral register against the Mahmood's residential address in London.

M. MAHMOOD.: It maybe as someone has hacked in. He's got the same address as us, put a different name and a different e-mail address.

MAGNAY: The family spent $15,000 on this trip and Norwegian said they're not entitled to a refund.

Sadaf Mahmood who doesn't want to show her face has been ill all year. She was going to stay home. And she wants what's the best for her children.

S. MAHMOOD.: It was either me to go private and have private health care or for my children to have two weeks of pure bliss, and I decided that that's what I wanted to do with the money is to send my children away so they could have a nice holiday and come back and feel fresh and start a new year fresh.

[03:25:07] MAGNAY: She's keeping the dresses until next time. She still wants her children to see Disneyland. She's sure one day that they will.

Diana Magnay, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: The father of a three-year-old Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi has a message for the world this Christmas. The body of Abdullah Kurdi son Aylan was found washed up on a beach in Turkey earlier this year, you remember. Aylan's mother and brother drowned along with him in the Mediterranean Sea. Abdullah Kurdi, the boy's father survived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDULLAH KURDI, (THROUGH TRANSLATION): My message is, I'd like the whole world to open its doors to Syrians. If a person shuts the door in somebody's face, this is very difficult. When a door is opened, they no longer feel humiliated.

At this time of year, I would like to ask you all to think about the pain of fathers, mothers and children who are seeking peace and security. We ask just for a little bit of sympathy from you. I wish you a very Happy New Year. Hopefully, next year, the war will end in Syria and peace will reign all over the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Kurdi's message will air in full on Christmas day on the U.K.'s channel four.

To find out how you can help refugees and migrants, just head to cnn.com/impact and click on how you can help.

It's been four days since a massive landslide in China, and the hope of finding dozens of people still in the rubble is waning.

Coming up, the look at the latest rescue efforts from Shenzhen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:21] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the U.S. and those of you watching from around the world. This is CNN Newsroom.

I'm Errol Barnett. It's our last half hour together this year. Here are your headlines.

This video shows a rare December tornado slamming the U.S. State of Mississippi. Warm winter temperatures are partially to blame. Seven people have died in storms hitting three U.S. States including a 7- year-old boy who was traveling in a car with his family. Tennessee has declared a state of emergency.

In Thailand, two migrant workers from Myanmar plan to appeal their death sentences for the murders of two British tourists. The victim's bodies were found on a beach in September of last year. The defendants say they were coerced into confessing.

Iraqi forces are now less than two kilometers from the ISIS held government compound in the city of Ramadi. Videos shows intense street fighting as troops and tanks pushed towards the city center booby- traps and IEDs of slowing the advance now entering Kurds for a day.

Now we want to turn your attention to China where hope of finding at least 70 people missing in a massive landslide is fading fast. The rescue effort has grown since Sunday's collapse. Five thousand people are now searching the industrial park in Shenzhen. At least four people are confirmed dead so far and more than a dozen remained in the hospital.

Our Matt Rivers is there.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are now more than four days since this landslide happened, and the odds of finding survivors inside the rubble grow less and less. Frankly, there's just been one miracle so far that happened yesterday morning with a 19-year-old man being pulled out of the rubble. State media reporting, he actually survived inside an air pocket that was created when the building he was in collapsed around him. And miraculously a bag of snacks, according to state media, landed right next to him. He survived off that little bit of food for the next several days until he was pulled out of the rubble after several hours of work to free him by rescue workers, you know, but for that one joyous moment, there are so many other people still trapped.

Their family members wondering if they are alive and there is a grim resignation amidst family members that the longer time goes by, the less of a chance they'll see their family members alive once again.

And moving forward now, the questions that remained, centered around the investigation and potential compensation for victims here. In terms of the investigation, the latest according to state media reports in several different outlets is that a senior management official in charge of the company who ran this site where the construction debris was piled up was detained by local police.

We're not sure in what way, whether there will be charges forthcoming or whether he's simply just a cooperating witness but that is the latest with the investigation.

And then there's the question of compensation for the victims here. You can start with the factory owners. Inside this industrial park, many of them have their businesses. They have been completely destroyed by this landslide.

We know that these factory owners have met and expressed concerns with one another over who is going to be responsible for these financial damages. Will these factory owners have to bear the burden of the financial cost of this landslide moving forward? That's a question that they are very concerned about right now.

And then it goes to their workers. There are a lot of migrant workers that come to Shenzhen, work in these factories here, and who is going to financially compensate them now that their jobs could very well be lost if they don't have a factory to work in. Their jobs could go away. These are not wealthy people. These are poor people who travel from all across the country to work here and so who takes care of them financially moving forward now that their jobs have been lost, and then finally there are the families involved of the victims of this landslide? How will they be made whole financially?

So a lot of unanswered questions here in Southern China both in terms of the investigation and how the victims of all this will be compensated.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Shenzhen, China.

BARNETT: Now to the U.S. State of Minnesota, several demonstrators where the "Black Lives Matter" movement were arrested on Wednesday while protesting at the Mall of America.

They wanted to draw attention to the killing of Jamar Clark. He was shot by a North Minneapolis police officers last month.

Authorities have refused to release video of the incident.

Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield from our affiliate WCCO has more.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

[03:35:01] SUSAN-ELIZABETH LITTLEFIELD, WCCO REPORTER: Amongst the bright decorations, a sign lit up the MOA Rutonda in anticipation of a protest. Businesses closed. Businesses like Build-A-Bear temporarily turning away eager customers. And then it started in the center of the mall. And the arrests started too. Protesters piled out minutes later towards the light rail. There was another arrest there. Some took a train to the airport. Others stayed outside of the now locked and heavily guarded doors.

CHAUNTYLL ALLEN, BLACK LIVES MATTER SUPPORTER: But you know I never feel safe when there's a mass amount of them in military gear. It doesn't feel like they're protecting or serving us at all.

LITTLEFIELD: The uniformed officers, some with masks and sticks asked everyone in the area to leave. Everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I worked in the mall and like I don't know what I'm going to do now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah I just came to shop and didn't know this was going on. It's crazy.

LITTLEFIELD: Protesters say it was peaceful and purposeful. After about an hour, the crowd quietly left the mall.

ALLEN: And that's what we need to do. We got to keep shutting down the economic pressure points so that they can hear what we're saying. They only hear us with money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: That was Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield from our affiliate WCCO.

And I want to bring you this story as well. A judge in San Francisco says seven police officers accused of sending offensive text messages cannot be punished. You see the judge says, the department waited too long to discipline the men. The city's police chief tried to have the officers fired, but the statute of limitations for police investigations there is one year.

Another officer, Sergeant Ian Furminger who allegedly took part in the text messaging, was convicted of public corruption last year.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

ALLISON BERRY WILKINSON, POLICE OFFICER'S ATTORNEY: What happens now is that the department cannot take any action against these officers for the exchange of text messages that occurred in 2011 and 2012.

GREG SUHR, CHIEF OF SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Anybody capable of this, kind of texts, should not be a police officer.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BARNETT: And just to give you a sense of what kind of offensive language was used by the officers who keep in mind, are still on the force. They frequently use the n-word. They discussed cross burning, the KKK and "white power" and constantly refer to black people as "savages" and "animals."

Two experts, joining me here in Atlanta now, to discuss both the San Francisco police officers and the "Black Lives Matter" arrests.

On the far end of the table, you see Page Pate. He's a Criminal Defense and Constitutional Attorney. Next to me, Cederic Alexander, a CNN Law Enforcement Analyst.

Welcome to you both. So you have the Superior Court Judge in San Francisco, Ernest Goldsmith, saying these officers can keep their job because the police department didn't act in time. Something established under California's peace officer's Bill of Rights.

Cedric, first to you. What is the legal basis for that because many of the States have the same thing?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well many of them do. I can't speak specifically to California. But part of the problem is going to be here being that they were outside of the date to bring any type of internal charges against these officers.

The problem here is going to be of course some of these officers will remain inside that police department. It certainly doesn't build any trust and legitimacy out in that community where we know that these statements were made. These racist comments were made.

These officers are still members of that department. So that department is going to have to do a great deal of work being that these officers are still going to be part of that organization.

That leadership throughout that department is going to have to do a great deal of work in order to bring some trust and legitimacy now between that department and police -- between that police department community. That's going to be a challenge.

BARNETT: Well Page, to you, you know, the "Black Lives Matter" movement essentially wants many of these protections lifted that exists within this police union contracts so that there can be this building and trust between the officers and the community.

In your experience, you know, do these types of things end up protecting officers most of the time or do they boost public support for them when this information comes out?

PAGE PATE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well I think they certainly protect the officers. That's clearly the intention behind these Bills of Rights. And, in fact, it is State Law in California that if you are investigating a police officer, if you don't do it within a year, then you can't do anything to the officer, no matter how bad the misconduct is. Now, I don't think the issue is over yet. They are going to appeal that decision. The city is still trying to get rid of these officers, and there are some exceptions in the Bill of Rights. If there's an ongoing criminal investigation, if the investigation involves more than one officer, or more than one jurisdiction, then there's some exceptions that will allow you to wait longer than one year and they're going to still argue that issue on appeal.

[03:39:50] BARNETT: OK so there maybe some wiggle room there.

Let's now discuss the Mall of America protests. The purpose of this was that the "Black Lives Matter" movement wants attention brought to video of Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old black man who was shot and killed by police.

Witnesses' say it was while he was in handcuffs. The police haven't really fleshed out that story. But Cedric we now have arrests being made in the Mall of America because of the protests. Are the organizers going about this the right way to get this video released?

ALEXANDER: Well, you know whatever reason they're deciding, they want to use this type of method in order to get their attention. How they come about this. I'm not clear about. But here's part of the challenge that's going to be for that community at large, is that you do not want to take people in that community, inside that community who may be allies to you and push them away from you. Because there are people that want to go into that mall. They want to do their Christmas shopping. They want to go into the Minneapolis St. Paul airport to get out and visit family and friends.

And they maybe huge supporters of yours, but when you interrupt and have this type of social interruption and certainly against people that may be supporters of you, it makes it very difficult to people to be empathetic to your fight and to your cause.

So I'm not certain if there could have been some other way of demonstrating in that community what their dislikes and distrusts are because it is a long-standing history of distrust between police and community.

What you don't want to do is ostracize those that maybe supporters of yours by putting them over here with everybody else and interrupting their freedoms and their -- inside their own democracy in this country as well.

BARNETT: And Page what are your thoughts on releasing the video in the first place? In many cases only once that the video was released. We saw this in Chicago. Is that public outrage and do police officers really get punished? Would you support the release of this video, and why wouldn't more departments want to make these things public?

PATE: Errol I think that's incredibly important. While you may question their methods, and I certainly understand that criticism, you can't question their frustration at the lack of transparency. And we did see that in Chicago. A lot of the frustration in Chicago is not the fact that they waited so long to charge this officer. It's the fact that no one knew. And the police had this tape. They knew what happened. They knew how McDonald was shot. And nothing was done for such a period of time. So you understand why these protesters are so upset and why they're taking to the streets.

BARNETT: I appreciate both of you coming in and talking to me about these issues. There will be many and more ahead surely so you will come back anytime.

ALEXANDER: Thanks Errol.

BARNETT: Cedric Alexander, CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and Page Pate as a Criminal Defense and Constitutional Attorney. Thanks to you both.

PATE: Thank you.

BARNETT: Still to come this hour, a new CNN poll shows Donald Trump has more support than in the next three Republican presidential contenders combined.

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[03:46:01] BARNETT: Welcome back.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton is holding her strong lead in the latest CNN ORC poll. It follows a boost of support after the party's last debate on Saturday.

Take a look. Overall the survey shows Clinton leading Bernie Sanders by 18 points. Post-debate poll numbers show a shift of support back to Clinton from her challenger.

Now, the CNN ORC poll also shows Republican front-runner Donald Trump holding a commanding lead of his party's presidential race.

CNN's Dana Bash has details on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to win so much in so many different ways that you're going to get tired of winning.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For a candidate who loves winning, this will be a very Merry Christmas.

TRUMP: I'm only kidding. We never get tired of winning, right?

BASH: Donald Trump is so far ahead in CNN ORC's New National Poll. He has more support than the next three GOP candidates combined, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, and Marco Rubio. His leads are even bigger on the question of voter's confidence in him to deal with key issues, the economy, fighting ISIS and illegal immigration. But the best news for Trump maybe that Republicans are settling into the idea of him as a formidable candidate to take the White House. Forty-six percent say they think Republican's chances are better with Trump at the top of the ticket of eight points since August.

TRUMP: I know where she went. It's disgusting. I don't want to talk about it. It's too disgusting.

BASH: That is Trump's war of words with the Democrats front-runner and getting hotter.

Hillary Clinton told the Des Moines Register that Trump has a "penchant for sexism".

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I really deplore the tone of his campaign and the inflammatory rhetoric that he is using to divide people. His bigotry, his bluster, his bullying have become his campaign.

BASH: Trump responded, Trump style on twitter saying, "Be careful, Hillary, as you play the war on women or women being degraded card".

And on his use of a Yiddish word for a certain part of the male anatomy to describe Clinton's 2008 loss to Barack Obama.

TRUMP: She got schlonged. She lost

BASH: Trump push back on the idea that he meant anything vulgar insisting "schlonged" is a common political term. Twitting, "When I said that Hillary Clinton got schlonged by Obama, it meant got beaten badly. The media knows this. Often used word in politics."

Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

BARNETT: The CNN ORC poll also suggests that the top three Republican presidential candidates would be a strong challenge for Hillary Clinton. In a hypothetical match up with Donald Trump, to narrowly tops him 49 percent of 47 as you see there, but if she were to face Ted Cruz, Clinton falls behind by two points and against Marco Rubio, Clinton would trail by three points.

Just ahead, Christmas celebrations are under way at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, Oren Liebermann will bring us that story.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Manger Square in Bethlehem here near the Church of the Nativity starting to fill up but a very difficult political seriates situation surrounds this Christmas.

We'll bring you to Bethlehem in a moment.

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[03:53:20] BARNETT: Millions of people are eagerly getting ready for the Christmas holiday. But merry bells won't be ringing everywhere around the world. You see the Sultan of Brunei has banned all public Christmas celebrations saying they are a temptation for Muslims astray from their faith. If anyone is caught displaying Christmas decorations or even wearing a Santa hat, they could face up to five years in jail.

It's Christmas Eve across much of the world right now and celebrations are underway in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born more than 2,000 years ago. The faithful from Gaza are heading there to Jerusalem for Christmas services.

Oren Liebermann joins me now from Bethlehem.

Good morning to you, Oren. Just give us a sense of the mood there and tell us what people should expect to see today.

LIEBERMANN: Yeah and good morning, Errol.

Manger Square is still at this point fairly empty to question, how much longer will it stay empty?

There are Christmas carols playing over the speakers here and there's a bit of a festive atmosphere here, but there is still a very difficult political situation surrounding all of this.

We spoke a short time ago with the tourist administer who says, they will try to make this as much of a celebration as possible. You can see in Manger Square behind me, they have a beautiful Christmas tree setup, on Nativity you see in there. There are also a large number of security forces here and barricades to keep the order here.

Again, the Manger Square at this point normally would be full. In previous years of this point, it was full for now all the way to and through midnight mass. Now, Manger Square which isn't that big, it doesn't take that many people to fill. Looks at this point is still relativity empty. And as I said that is because of the political situation here.

And a lot of the messages we've heard leading up to Christmas Eve from the Latin Patriarch and Palestinian leaders, they have focused their messages on what they see or what is the political situation here which is three months of violence and attacks and clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces.

So those messages we heard from the Latin Patriarch as well as from Palestinian leaders are about the Israeli occupation of Bethlehem of the Palestinian territories and that hangs overall of this. Everyone is aware of that.

Now again having spoken with the tourist administer, they hope on this day, especially here in Bethlehem on this day, they can put that aside and have a merry Christmas here. Errol?

BARNETT: All right, yeah, fingers certainly crossed.

Oren Liebermann live for us this morning in Bethlehem just approaching 11 A.M. there. Oren, thank you.

And we want to show you this dramatic video. A helicopter carrying seven passengers crashed into a tree while trying to land in Fiji. Take a look. This dramatic video was caught on camera by a nearby tourist. You could say a little too nearby. Watch that.

One witness says there was a huge gust of wind right before the crash.

Thankfully here, the very best part is that no one was seriously hurt. But let's watch it again. The helicopter comes in slowly. It seems as if it's going to make a perfect landing and as I mentioned there, witnesses said there was just a huge gust of wind at the last moment behind the helicopter, and it flipped it like this. And the best part, again, no one injured in that incident.

So ending these past few hours on a positive note for you.

Thanks for watching everyone. I'm Errol Barnett.

U.S. viewers will see Early Start next and you'll see me filling in on New Day weekend Saturday and Sunday.

International viewers, you have more at CNN Newsroom next with Richard Quest, and I'll see you next year.

Happy holidays to everyone.

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