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Gunman Responsible for New Year's Day Attack Identified; Flood Warnings in Effect for 8 Million People in 16 States; Obama Prepares Executive Order on Gun Control; ISIS Militants Attacked Iraqi Army Base Near Ramadi; Camille Cosby to Testify in Defamation Case; Defense Lawyers for Caesar Goodson Looking into Freddie Gray Medical Records. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired January 02, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:08] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, new information on the gunman who opened fire outside a market in Tel- Aviv. A manhunt now for a 29-year-old Arab Israeli from the town of Ar'ara in Northern Israel.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Developing this hour, major flooding, the danger level continues to rise in parts of the Midwest. Officials in Illinois warning a second levee may breech as the Mississippi River overtops its banks. Eight million people could be affected.

BLACKWELL: And turning to politics, President Obama is preparing to kick off the New Year with a controversial executive order on gun control. He is meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday to discuss options for tougher gun restrictions. You are in the CNN Newsroom.

KOSIK: Good morning, everybody. I'm Alison Kosik sitting in for Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Black Well. Good to have you. 10:00 here on the East Coast. CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

And we're starting with new details in the desperate manhunt to find a man who shot and killed two people, wounded seven others in a New Year's Day shooting spree. Now, the gunman has been identified by relatives as a 29-year-old Arab-Israeli man from Northern Israel who once spent five years in prison.

Ian lee is in Jerusalem with details. Ian, what else have you learned?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just learned a little while ago from the police, they released a statement, a few things out of that. First, they said that this manhunt is including everyone from the police to the intelligence community. The Shin Bet is involved, that's like Israel's FBI. They have specialized unit in this manhunt. He is still considered very dangerous. They're asking the public if they see anything suspicious to let the authorities know.

The other thing that we just learning from the statements and I'll read that to you. It says the police want to expose all aspects of the event including the possibility of a victim in an additional arena, the motive and other elements including questions about whether about a murderer who acted alone.

So, two things there. First, a victim from an additional arena. Now, they didn't specify where this person was killed although we do know less than an hour after this incident happened, a person was killed north of Tel-Aviv near a hotel.

Also, they're looking into the fact that this person may have not acted alone. So, there's a lot of questions being raised this hour. I also need to point out that we are under a gag order. There's a lot of these details that we cannot give out as the Israeli police are asking the media to keep that from the public for right now. A lot of this possibly because they don't want the suspect to be tipped off about their movements.

BLACKWELL: Understood. But we do know that this is an expanding, expensive and complicated investigation.

Ian Lee there from Jerusalem for us, thank you so much.

KOSIK: We're also following other terror concerns around the world.

In France, soldiers who were guarding a mosque shot and wounded a man after he drove his vehicle towards them. Officials have not determined a motive in the incident.

And new this morning, a terror group linked to al-Qaeda is using Donald Trump in their recruitment videos calling the U.S. racist and using Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the country as an example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday, America was a land of slavery, segregation, lynching and Ku Klux Klan. And tomorrow, it will be a land of religious discrimination and concentration camps.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And so remember this, so listen, Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the [inaudible] is going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: The Trump campaign has not responded to the video.

BLACKWELL: Well Trump's appearance in the terror recruitment video was brought up in last month's democratic debate by former secretary Hillary Clinton. At that time, she was talking about videos that she said were being shown by ISIS as a recruitment tool but not by Al- Shabaab. Here, watch this if you don't remember.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So earlier, I asked terrorism expert Sajan Gohel whether Trump's words are as dangerous as Secretary Clinton says they are. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:05:02] SAJAN GOHEL, TERRORISM EXPERT: As we get closer to the end of presidential elections, you will find that terrorist groups around the world will be also following it. They will try and seize whatever opportunity they can for propaganda purposes.

And keep in mind that any individual that's prominent in the American political process is going to be featured in the propaganda videos. Barack Obama, President Obama has appeared in a lot of the ISIS materials especially the online magazine Dabiq. That doesn't mean that he's been saying anything that's attracted attention. It's just designed to elicit the psychological reaction amongst supporters of terrorism.

BLACKWELL: But one of the angles, if not the primary angle in this video, is to recruit African-Americans who may be Christian to convert to Islam and then engage in jihad. What do you make of that strategy, to go after the African-American community specifically, the non- Muslim African-American community?

GOHEL: It is a very common tactic now that they've been using for the last year. They have tried to seize and exploit certain internal issues in the United States to do with the recent tensions with the police in certain cities in the United States.

We have to keep in mind that the goal is to constantly spread disinformation, chaos, to vex the situation. It's very much the tactic and the propaganda tool that terrorism has tried to use. It's important also that people are aware of how terrorist groups are trying to manipulate the situation. And it's important not to fall into their trap.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We'll continue to follow this story as it develops. It's important to know that there has been no clear, direct response from the Trump ad campaign to being included in that video but we'll continue to watch for that.

But now, the big story we're following this morning here in the U.S., the flooding and flood warnings now in effect for 8 million people in 16 states. Missouri just beginning its recovery after highways, neighborhoods, schools were flooded this week.

KOSIK: CNN's Allison Chinchar joining us live now. Allison, I know the rain has stopped but the problem is the flooding in itself is a problem but then you think about the more than 200 rivers that are at or above flood stage right now.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Yeah, come on and take a closer look at them. And here, we can do that right here. You can see on the globe, we have over 280 locations that are either at or above their flood stage.

And even more importantly than that, 11 of those locations have actually set record flood crests, meaning the highest point that they've been at, set a brand new record for that exact height. And again, it's all throughout this area in the flood basin that is the concern. But not just the areas around St. Louis and Missouri and Iowa, it's all the areas farther south that have yet to experience some of the worst of their flooding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You live in the water, you can expect anything but I never once ever expected it to be this high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHINCHAR: Several interstates are now back open in the St. Louis area. The recovery just beginning from flooding triggered by a downpour last week up to 10 inches of rain falling in some areas of Missouri.

Water levels have fallen several feet but many homes are still far from drying out. Those who live here say they've never seen this before in December.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not in my lifetime here, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHINCHAR: As they watched the flooding in Missouri, those down river begin stacking sandbags, knowing it's only a matter of time before they get hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, we get to deal with it once it hits Illinois here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHINCHAR: Rivers in Illinois are running 15 to 20 feet above normal levels with more still to come. Two teens were swept away. Their abandoned truck found in 17 feet of water. One body has been found. The search continues for the other team. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our best guess is they both swam out and the water was too high and too fast for them to battle that current for very long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHINCHAR: As Illinois governor Bruce Rauner tours the damage, the people who live here know it isn't over yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just keeps coming higher than I thought it would come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHINCHAR: And the reason for that is because of where all the water is coming from. Again, it's not just a problem along the Mississippi. You have all of these other major rivers that flow into it, like the Missouri, Arkansas, Ohio River. All of that water has to go somewhere and it ends up in the Mississippi River.

In St. Louis, they actually crested yesterday. So at this point, its water is now finally starting to recede. That is good news for a lot of the cleanup and recovery efforts there. But that's not the case farther south down the river. Notice, once we get to Cape Girardeau also near Cairo, these have yet to crest. When they do, Cape Girardeau, by the way, will be the highest on record when it does at 50 feet.

Now, they have had one levee overtop near Miller City but it is possible they could have a second one overtop at that same location just farther down.

Once we get down towards Memphis, you go a little farther down towards Greenville and Vicksburg, these areas may not actually crest out for another 10 to 14 days.

[10:10:07] So Alison and Victor, the concern here is that if we get any rain in the next 10 to 14 days, those numbers could end up being much higher than we're already forecasting for.

KOSIK: We certainly wish all those people being affected by this weather, we wish them safety and all the best. Allison Chinchar, thanks very much.

BLACKWELL: President Obama is preparing to issue a controversial order on gun control. We're going to explore what's on the table potentially here and the impact it could have on the race for president.

KOSIK: Plus new video of the hotel where the affluenza teen Ethan Couch and his mother hid during the Christmas holiday in Mexico before they were caught. BLACKWELL: And later, the fight against ISIS, Iraqi forces sweep through Ramadi, evacuating civilians, tracking down remaining militants. We'll take you to Baghdad straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's President Barack Obama's final year in office. And he's preparing to kick off 2016 with a controversial executive order on gun control.

Now on Monday, he's expected to meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to go over options for the so-called imminent action on background checks.

CNN's Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta is traveling with the President. He's in Hawaii.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Alison, during his vacation here in Hawaii, President Obama has been working with his top aides on his upcoming State of the Union Address. The speech is expected to set in an ambitious tone for what the president is vowing will be a busy end of his eight years in office. And right at the top of the agenda is gun control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: For President Obama, the final round is about to begin.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In 2016, I'm going to leave it out all the on the field.

ACOSTA: Up first in the president's eighth and last year in office, Mr. Obama's long promised response to mass shootings in the U.S. Sources familiar with the plan say it will be a package of executive actions on gun control, expected before the January 12th State of the Union and aimed at the gun show loophole which allows some firearms sellers to avoid conducting background checks on their customers.

OBAMA: And all across American, survivors of gun violence and those who lost a child or parent or spouse to gun violence are forced to mark such awful anniversaries every single day. And yet congress still hasn't done anything to prevent what happened to them from happening to other families.

[10:15:00] ACOSTA: The president will review legislative, administrative changes with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday. The White House argues the president's actions will be within his executive authority and in line with polls that show broad support for tightening background checks.

OBAMA: Change, as always, is going to take all of us. The gun lobby is loud and well organized and its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone. The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well-organized in our defense of our kids. That's the work of citizenship to stand up and fight for the change that we see. ACOSTA: Vowing to fight the move, the nation's biggest gun lobby, the NRA says, "The president is doing what he always does when he doesn't get his way. Defying the will of the people and using executive action."

Another controversial proposal coming in New Year, the president will ask congress to shut down the terror detention center at Guantanamo, a facility Mr. Obama may close on his own if lawmakers balk at the White House plan.

OBAMA: It will be an uphill battle.

ACOSTA: The president also hopes to travel to Cuba and perhaps more than a dozen other countries in what shaping up to be a global farewell tour.

But the president's agenda could be upended by setbacks in the war on ISIS, a foreign policy crisis that could complicate White House plans to have the president campaign heavily with the 2016 Democratic nominee, a prospect that may well put him and Hillary Clinton on the trail together again.

OBAMA: I think we will have a strong democratic nominee. I think that Democratic nominee will win. I think I will have a Democratic successor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTAL: So at first, the president will lay out his plans for his final year in office at the fast approaching State of the Union Address which is less than two weeks away.

White House officials say don't expect a laundry list of proposals in part because the president is almost out of time. Victor and Alison?

BLACKWELL: Jim, thanks so much.

CNN Political Analyst Ron Brownstein joins us now. Ron, let's start with gun control and then we'll move on down the line here. The latest Quinnipiac poll just before Christmas shows that there is broad support for stronger background checks against - for people who are buying guns online or at buying guns at a show. Eighty seven percent of Republicans support that. How does the GOP Presidential Field create this nuanced argument that attacks the method and not the message.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, public opinion about gun control, first of all, happy New Year, Victor. Public opinion about gun control in the U.S. is complex, it's contradictory. Above all, it's polarized.

As you point out, most individual proposals like expanding the background check or banning assault weapons do have majority support. On the other hand, if you ask people the philosophical question of whether it's more important to control gun ownership or protect gun rights, you get something close to 50/50. And if you ask people whether gun control will have a significant impact on reducing violence, you usually get a majority say no. Throw in the terror component where you had a surge of - you had this some kind of polarized respond or some people are saying it's too easy to get guns and others saying, you know, you you've got to go out and get a gun.

And you see the kind of the divisions here. As Republicans have been comfortable defending the position of opposing gun control, what's really different is the Democrats have reengaged in this issue. I mean, after the 2000 election when Al Gore lost that, you know, photo- finish election George w. Bush, the dominant conclusion among Democrats was that gun control was a critical factor in costing him the election by driving away culturally conservative whites, blue collar whites, rural whites, hurting him in states like Tennessee and Arkansas and so forth.

And it's taken really 15 years and a big evolution of the Democratic coalition for the party to get back to the point where not only President Obama but Hillary Clinton are comfortable waging this issue from the other side.

BLACKWELL: Is she comfortable with raising that issue because there are many people who are in that, you know, between the 40-yard lines in this election who she going to have to go after who remember the Clinton years and those bans and may not be comfortable with her on that subject.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, and I think that it is a striking evolution in the party and in, you know, in her as well. In 2008, neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton were emphasizing this issue. What's changed, I think, is that Democrats have already lost most of the voters that they have feared losing because of advocating gun control. They've lost them on other issues. Those are those culturally conservative, predominantly blue collar and rural whites, many of whom, by the way, are the same voters who are fueling the Donald Trump phenomenon.

And what you've got is a new Democratic coalition that has evolved over the last 20 years, it's much more urbanized, it's heavily dependent on millennials, minorities and socially suburban whites. And among those voters, there is support for gun control. I mean, there is a cost in pushing gun control and that it tends to activate the voters and energize voters who have been moving away from Democrats.

But what Democrats have concluded is among the voters who were actually available to them, they can make a case for this and you see that that, by the way, in the actions in blue states. While red states have been loosening gun control, you see a number of the blue states tightening it post Sandy Hooks.

So, what's changed is Democrats now believe that within their coalition, this is an issue that they can defend and sell.

BLACKWELL: Quickly, let's talk about Guantanamo Bay. One of the initial promises made in 2009, it may have been the very first but I know it was first day there, first full day in the Oval Office made by President Obama to close down Guantanamo.

[10:20:12] Fast-forward, eight years, still open detainees there. What's the likelihood that that will be even post State of the Union an executive order that comes down the pike.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, Congress is not going to do it. We know that. And what we have seen and what this gun control executive order continues is a pattern of Obama's second term where he is pushing the absolute boundaries of executive authority on issues like immigration, like on climate, like on the treatment of gay employees by federal contractors.

I think it is entirely possible that he will act unilaterally on this as well essentially what he has been doing is as I said pushing the boundaries of executive authority and daring the Congress and especially the courts to stop him.

And, by the way, I think it's a pattern we are going to see across presidencies now with dividing control of government. Now, routine, the same party not controlling the White House and Congress, where you see presidents of both parties pushing the boundaries and basically daring the courts to stop them.

BLACKWELL: All right, Ron Brownstein, good to have you this morning.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Alison.

KOSIK: Ahead, new images of the hotel where affluenza teen Ethan Couch and his mother hid during the Christmas holiday in Mexico before they were caught.

Plus, contaminated blue bell ice-cream. It was a big story in 2015. A report on why it has now become a big federal investigation.

And later, a Massachusetts court ordered Bill Cosby's wife, Camille Cosby, to testify in a defamation suit brought against him. A defense attorney who has represented many celebrities is going to be weighing in on the consequences.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: We're getting our first look this morning at the Mexican resort where the so-called affluenza teen Ethan Couch and his mother were hiding out. His mother is back in the U.S. and is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon.

BLACKWELL: If you remember Couch fled the U.S. after an alleged probation violation is still in Mexico fighting deportation. And two years ago, he killed four people in a drunk and driving accident but managed to avoid jail path.

KOSIK: The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into an outbreak of listeria at Blue Bell Creameries that caused a huge recall last April. Three deaths are blamed on the contamination.

The CDC found the deadly bacteria may have been lurking in the factory for, get this, five years. Federal prosecutors are now looking into the actions of company executives in how that contamination was handled.

[10:25:10] BLACKWELL: The new aftermath, the images of a devastating hotel fire in Dubai on New Year's Eve. We've got in here, CNN has learned it began on the 20th floor when curtains caught fire, a flammable material on the outside of the address which is a luxury high rise allowed the flames to quickly spread up the sides of the building.

About 16 people were treated for minor injuries but no deaths were reported.

KOSIK: Ahead, Iraqi forces are sweeping through Ramadi evacuating civilians and tracking down the final few ISIS militants. That report from Ramadi when we come back.

BLACKWELL: Also, a huge gas leak on a California ranch. Officials say it's the largest ever recorded. We'll tell you how it's

affecting families living in that area.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Twenty eight minutes after the hour. Now, we want to take you to the flooded Midwest where the body of one teenager has been recovered and another is still missing after their truck was found in 17 feet of water.

KOSIK: About 8 million people in the Midwest are bracing for exceptionally high water this weekend. Deputies are going door to door to advise residents to evacuate as levees are overtopped.

In Israel, authorities are hunting for a 29-year-old Israeli Arab who allegedly opened fire on a crowded street in Tel-Aviv. Two people were killed, seven wounded. Surveillance video that you see here from a market shows the gunman removing a weapon from a bag before stepping out to the sidewalk and shooting.

BLACKWELL: In India, eight people were killed today when the militants attacked an air base near the Pakistan border. A government official says all five of the gunmen were killed during a 15-hour battle. Two Indian security forces and one civilian also died. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

[10:30:08] In this morning, in Iraq, ISIS militants have attacked an Iraqi army base near Ramadi. Three soldiers. The Iraqi soldiers have been killed and 17 wounded. Iraqi officials say 10 suicide bombers driving explosive-laden vehicles attacked the base.

Now, this happened as Iraqi forces are evacuating civilians. Still looking for ISIS fighters hiding in the city.

CNN senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir is there with details. Nima.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT. Victor and Alison, almost a week after the Iraqi prime minister jubilantly announced the liberation of Ramadi fighting still continuing to purge what Iraqi officials are calling ongoing pockets of ISIS presence inside the city

Overnight on Friday evening, we saw some of that most intense fighting yet. A complex attack on the 10th Division headquarters on the outskirts of Ramadi city, just 35 kilometers from the crucial, central government district.

Iraqi forces say that their losses have been minimal. It but just shows you how difficult it is to fully push ISUS out. As it stands, it is street by street fighting. As throughout this, Iraqi forces are working to extract the remaining hundreds of families still inside Ramadi City. Many we understand from Iraqi officials, being used as human shields by the militants.

The Iraqi prime minister has promised that his year, 2016, is the year that ISIS will finally be driven out of Iraq. But there is clearly still a long road ahead. Victor? Allison?

BLACKWELL: All right, Nima, thank you so much. Let's bring in CNN military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. Colonel Rick Francona, good to have you this morning.

RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So the reclaiming of Ramadi is an accomplishment worth applauding. But the more important question here I thin is, does the Iraqi army have the resources, the strategy. Does the government have the resolve to now hold Ramadi?

FRANCONA: Well, that will be the key. I do think they have the resources and they have the will. And I think they have made a political shift with what's going out on Anbar province by bringing in the Sunni tribesmen.

By bringing them into the fight and allowing them part of the victory in Ramandi, they will be able to hold the town. Once it is secured, they'll turn it back over to the tribesmen and it will be up to them to hold it. And I think that's the best way to do it.

We're starting to get more buy in from the Sunnis. Remember, this has always been part of the strategy, is to make the Iraqi government more inclusive. And I think we're seeing that in a small sense out here in Ramadi.

But, you know, ISIS is still resilient as Nima said. This attack on this army division north of Ramadi just shows that these guys may be down but they are not out.

BLACKWELL: And certainly not out of some of the other larger cities. Let's talk about Mosul because the Iraqi prime minister has said that that will be the next goal to recapture, to reclaim Mosul. A very different fight. A much larger city.

Contrast if you would the challenges between what we saw in Ramadi and what they'll face as they go towards Mosul.

FRANCONA: Well, once they get to Mosul, of course, they're going to have a big fight because it's a huge city and they've had over a year to dig in, prepare all these booby traps the same thing that we saw in Ramadi only on a much, much larger scale, and you got many more fighters hold up in Mosul. And they will fight to defend Mosul.

But before you get to Mosul, you have to take over -- you have to clear Fallujah and make sure Anbar is secure and then shift over to the tiger's valley and start going up Tiger's Valley. They are only as far as Tikrit and Baiji. They still have a long way before they even approach Mosul.

So, there is still a lot of fighting to be done, a lot of logistics that has to be done and a lot of training. The Iraqi army, although they could take Ramadi, they are not in a position to take Mosul. And I think the Iraqi defense minister's claim that they're going to do this in 2016 is a bit ambitious.

BLACKWELL: You make a good point about Fallujah. They've got to get that city and reclaim in first. I mean that's a been in hand of ISIS for, I guess two years to this month, January of 2014.

Is that realistic that they can take Fallujah and hold that before getting immediately to Mosul?

FRANCONA: They have to. They have to clear that whole pocket west of Baghdad before they do anything. Ramadi is the first step. And then once they have Ramadi, they can pivot and come back down toward Baghdad and really trap the people those in Fallujah and kill them.

But you're seeing how difficult this has been. I mean very small numbers of dedicated suicide bombers can do much, much more damage to a large, large force. So, it's going to be slow-going. But they have to do that first.

So, I think before we start talking about going up Tiger's down at the Mosul, we need to clear out Anbar province.

BLACKWELL: All right, retired Lieutenant Colonel, Rick Francona, thanks so much.

FRANCONA: Sure thing, Victor.

[10:35:00] KOSIK: Ahead, a Massachusetts court is ordering Bill Cosby's wife to testify against him in a defamation case. But how could this affect the new criminal case against Cosby himself. We're going to ask our legal analyst, Mark Geragos, who's represented numerous celebrities.

Also, authorities say a methane leak in Porter Ranch, California is now the biggest ever recorded. The dangers. The families living in that area straight ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Bill Cosby now facing sexual assault charges in Pennsylvania. He's free on $1 million bail but ever since this accusations started coming to light, many have wanted to hear from Bill Cosby's wife, Camille. Now, in a few days, that is going to happen by a Massachusetts judges order.

Camille Cosby will have to answer questions from attorney of the seven accusers who are suing the comic legend. Now this is a separate case from the ongoing one in Pennsylvania.

Now with us, CNN legal analyst and defense attorney Mark Geragos joining us. Happy new year to you.

MARK GERAGOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Happy new year.

KOSIK: So as someone who has defended several high-profile clients, including Michael Jackson, you represented Winona Ryder, if you represented Bill Cosby, would you try to stop this deposition of his wife?

GERAGOS: I think you would. I don't think it is helpful or that there is any up side to it from Bill Cosby's standpoint. You know, there still is a spousal privilege. So, you probably would assert that and I think you'd have the tough time getting around that and the judge may order the deposition to take place but they can still assert the privilege for any kind of communications between Bill Cosby and his wife. So, that's always going to be a problem for the accuser's lawyer.

KOSIK: So there's still a chance she may not be deposed, is that what you are saying?

[10:40:02] GERAGOS: Well, I think she will be deposed, meaning she will sit for the deposition but every time they try and ask her questions, what did he tell you or what did he say or what did you tell him or did he admit this, she'll object or her lawyer will object and say, I'm instructing her not to answer those questions, because there's something called a spousal privilege. They are married and that would carry the day.

And so then, the only remedy is for the lawyer to run back to the judge and say, well, they are asserting the privilege. They sat for the deposition. But we didn't get any information because she kept objecting.

KOSIK: So she does give information. Now, this is for the separate case, not the one involving Andrea Constand, but if any information does come out, can the case in Pennsylvania use any of the information coming out of the deposition?

GERAGOS: Yes, absolutely. And that's part of the battleground that they're going to be fighting in the Pennsylvania criminal case because when they have -- when you have a criminal case, you can bring in, if the judge will allow it, other, what's called crime's evidence. Usually, you'd think, well, how could you do that, that's just character assassination? But generally, the law recognizes in Pennsylvania that it would go to, what's called a common mode or modus operandi or scheme or plan. So they would let -- you would have a parade of these other witnesses, including potentially some of the ones from Massachusetts.

Also, anything that Camille Cosby says in that deposition that she doesn't object to, since she's under oath, she could be called to testify in the Pennsylvania case and if she testifies differently, they could use that against her to what's called impeach her.

KOSIK: What do you think, does the number of co-dependents in this civil case, does that make it harder to fight?

GERAGOS: No. I think if the judge in Pennsylvania allows other accusers to testify, that is generally pretty potent evidence in a criminal case. You remember years ago in the Phil Spector murder case here in Los Angeles, they put on a number of women who also talked about Spector's kind of propensity for violence and use of guns. Normally, you wouldn't think that would come in. But for the same theory, this kind of common schemer, motive or plan, the judge allowed it in. And when you talked to the jurors afterwards, they thought it was effective.

KOSIK: How would you defend Cosby?

GERAGOS: I think that what they have done, the kind of broad strokes that they painted so far are exactly right. They've characterized this as a political prosecution. And they're right. During the recent run-up to the election for the prosecutor, Cosby and the lack of prosecuting him was a major campaign issue. Michael Smerconish famously wrote about it six months ago, that this would become a campaign issue. And he was pressured. And it turned out he was right.

And so if you cast it as a political prosecution, and the fact that it was rejected twice before by the D.A. And that the only reason that they are prosecuting him now is to play politics, and that she waited a year to make any kind of a complaint and then when she did, it was rejected and then she sued for money, that's going to be the theme. And they're going to say that it was consensual and they're going to argue that she's now only saying something different to get money or to satisfy her civil claim. So that's kind of the broad outline of the defense of this case.

KOSIK: OK. We, of course, will be watching every step of the way. Mark Geragos, thanks so much for your expertise today.

GERAGOS: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: New information now coming to light in the Freddie Gray case. The lawyers for one of the officers charged now trying to get a look at Gray's medical records. Gray died from a neck injury or you remember he suffered while riding in the back of a Baltimore police van. But now one of the officers says that Gray told him, actually another officer says, that Gray told him he had bad back weeks before his death. Here is Miguel Marquez.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Allison, defense lawyers for Caesar Goodson, he was the driver of the van in which Freddie Gray was critically injured, have filed documents asking for Gray's medical and incarceration records. In one of these documents, a Baltimore police officer wrote that Gray said, a couple of weeks before he was critically injured in the back of that police van, that he had quote, "Hurt my back" or, quote, "Had a bad back." The defense arguing here that there could be other causes for Gray's traumatic injury he received in the back of the van. The timing of this document is worth noting, though.

[10:44:52] The officer, John Herzog, sergeant (ph) offered up information on an unsolicited basis after Gray was critically injured and after the riots in Baltimore. Herzog wrote this memo and sent it to his superiors on May 1st. Gray died April 19th. And Herzog's original conversation with Gray happened on March 31st. Herzog said in the memo that his memory was jogged by all the press surrounding Gray's death and the riots.

Another document filed by defense attorneys asked for Gray's detention records because they site an unconfirmed report that Gray had tried to harm himself while in Baltimore Central Booking facility during a previous arrest.

The prosecution argued Gray's medical records they're not relevant. Having nothing to do with the injuries sustained in the back of the van last April. They say Gray's neck was critically injured because of his treatment by police. The judge in this trial is expected to rule this week on whether to allow those records in the Goodson trial who faces the most serious charge of second-degree murder. His trial is expected to start January 11th. Allison, victor?

KOSIK: OK, Miguel Marquez, thanks so much for that. In Saudi Arabia, the government orders the execution of 47 people, including a top Shia cleric. That report ahead.

BLACKWELL: Also authority say a methane leak in Porter Ranch, California, is now the largest ever recorded. We'll talk about how its affecting families there and how long it will continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Amnesty International is condemning the execution today of an Islamic cleric in Saudi Arabia. The cleric was one of 47 people put to death by beheading or by firing squad following convictions of terrorist acts.

He was part of Saudi Arabia's Shiite (ph) minority and it was vocal critic of the Saudi royal family. But he was arrested back in 2012.

CNN producer Jon Jensen joins us from Abu Dhabi. What can you tell us more about these executions, but specifically this cleric? JON JENSON, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was as you said Shiite. Now, Saudi Arabia is a majority Sunni nation. In Saudi Arabia any criticism of the monarchy is generally very rare. It's also not tolerated at all.

[10:50:11] Al-Nimr was one of many Shia living in the eastern section of the where the country's minority Shia live. He was very vocal during protests in 2011, 2012 during the Arab spring when thousands of people took to the streets of cities like Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia demanding more political reform, greater freedom and economic opportunity.

Now, as you said, Nimr was arrested in 2012. He was put into a car driven off by police. And that night, there were protests in eastern Saudi Arabia. During clashes with police, a number of people were actually killed. We're seeing that his execution right now has the potential to spark even more anger in this already restive part of the country. We're seeing video coming in just this hour of dozens of people taken to the streets in the eastern part of the country.

Now, they appear very peaceful at the moment. And dozens may not sound like a big number. But again, any criticism of the monarchy at all is extremely rare in Saudi Arabia.

BLACKWELL: All right, Jon Jensen kind of flushing out this for us given some context there for us in Abu Dhabi. Jon, thank you so much.

KOSIK: Hundreds of families are affected by a methane gas leak in Porter Ranch, California. It is considered to be one of the worst ever. What happened in Porter Ranch and why it won't be fixed until March? That's next.

Plus a look into the life of a genius.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: People in one southern California community have been forced from their homes because of a massive leak of methane gas.

BLACKWELL: And official say it will be months before it can be stopped.

CNN's Paul Vercammen has the latest for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Katz' family, a blended modern day brady bunch, with five children and dogs, lives in a temporary home.

CHRISTINE KATZ, GAS LEAK VICTIM: It's disgusting what's going on. I'm heartbroken. We had to leave our beautiful home

[10:55:06] VERCAMMEN: They're 33 miles from the house they vacated in Porter Ranch, a Los Angeles suburb reeling from a massive methane gas leak. BRIAN KATZ, GAS LEAK VICTIM: The smell can cause you to be nauseated. It can cause to give headaches, nose bleeds, which I have had, stomach problems.

VERCAMMEN: Infrared video taken by environmental activists shows a noxious plume rising over Porter Ranch from the Aliso Canyon storage facility owned by Southern California Gas. The utility says the underground leak first detected in October, may not be stopped until late March.

MIKE MIZRAHI, SOCAL GAS SPOKESMAN: We're drilling a relief well. That relief well is going to go way down, about 8,500 feet. It's going to intersect with the leaking well, and then pump liquids and muds down there to stop the flow of gas. And then cement to permanently abandon the well.

VERCAMMEN: While SoCal Gas drills, it is paying for residents of 2,200 Porter Ranch homes to stay in temporary housing. Including Yitz Dekel (ph).

YITZ DEKEL (ph), GAS LEAK VICTIM: It's a slow-moving tsunami of evacuees. People realize that this is serious stuff.

VERCAMMEN: The gas company adds more than 6,000 people are seeking financial aid due to the leak, many of them applying for help at a community center it established. Some government agencies are now taking extreme precautions. The FAA invoked a no-fly-zone to 2,000 feet, and a half mile around the leak site in response to fears gas fumes could be ignited by aircraft above.

The L.A. Unified school district closed two schools below the leak, and is transferring almost 1,900 students. That means two of the Katz boys will start class on a new campus after winter break, and the family says 2-year-old Ava has suffered the most.

The Katz's claim in one of several lawsuits against SoCal Gas, the leak resulted in upper respiratory symptoms that left Ava in intensive care for four days. The suit adds Ava had no prior health problems, and experienced some form of seizure.

C. KATZ: Even though we're so upset and saddened and stressed, we're trying to hold it together for them, you know. It's hard. We're a big family.

VERCAMMEN: Just one family moved out by a gas leak disaster that might be unseen and is still months away from being undone. Paul Vercammen, CNN, Porter Ranch, California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN airs, Steve Jobs, the Man in the Machine. It's a controversial documentary from CNN films Jobs and his visionary influence on modern culture. Now there's vision first took hold in the mid 1980s with the revolutionary Macintosh personal computer. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things Steve thought was important and (inaudible) facilitated was this is where all the signatures are. And there are all the people, the original group that actually signed the machine. There's Steve Jobs right in the middle. My name is over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you do that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because the people that worked on it consider themselves and I certainly consider them artists. These are the people that under different circumstances would be painters and poets but because of that time that we lived in, this new medium has appeared in which to express ones self to one's fellow species and that's a medium of computing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Don't miss filmmaker Alex Gibny's look at the real story of Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs, the Man in the Machine, a CNN film Sunday night 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

And Aretha Franklin covers there. But Natalie Cole certainly has a lot of good music of her own. And funeral service says have yet been announced for the singer died of heart failure on New Year's Eve. And her death touched of an outpouring of sympathy and condolences from her fans around the world.

You know, she's the daughter of Nat King Cole. And one of her biggest hits was in 1991, the song "Unforgettable" a duet with her late father.

KOSIK: Beautiful music. Beautiful voice. You will be remembered.

BLACKWELL: You're going to hear a lot of her music this weekend.

KOSIK: Yeah. Thanks for watching.

BLACKWELL: There is much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom. We'll turn it over now to Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good to see you guys. Of course, I've been playing "Unforgettable" in my head all day long...

KOSIK: Right.

WHITFIELD: ... even since the announcement of her death. I mean, the Catalog of Music...

BLACKWELL: So this will be...

WHITFIELD: Unbelievable.

KOSIK: Oh yeah.

BLACKWELL: ... all the way to modern day. WHITFIELD: Really beautiful stuff. All right, thanks so much. We start the New Year thinking of her and of course the family. And good to see you guys.

KOSIK: Good to see you.

BLACKWELL: Likewise.

WHITFIELD: All right, take care. All right, it is 11:00 Eastern hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, Newsroom starts right now.

[11:00:03] And we begin with this breaking news. Relative have identified the gunman who killed two people near a pub in Tel Aviv, Friday.