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Obama to Announce Executive Action on Guns; How ISIS Hid from Coalition Strikes in Ramadi; Urgent Manhunt for Shooting Suspect in Israel; Prince William Opens Up About Fatherhood. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 04, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:36] DEBORAY FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick, in for Carol Costello. Thanks for joining me.

Employees are going back to work this morning at the Inland Regional Center. That's in San Bernardino where 14 people were killed in a terror attack last month. The actual conference center where the shooting happened will stay closed.

This is a live look outside the center. A security fence has been installed around the facility. Today a full schedule of events is been planned to make the employees feel safe as they head back to work. Many of them had been working from home over the last month since the shooting.

President Obama is back from vacation and starting off the new year by making gun control a top priority. Later today the President meets with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss tighter gun restrictions. Any day he's expected to unveil a new executive action that would expand background checks and enforce tougher regulations for reporting lost and stolen firearms.

All this happening as the President readies for an exclusive town hall on guns hosted by CNN and Anderson Cooper. Let's bring in our White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski. Michelle -- where do you think he's going to try to move the envelope just a little?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Deb. I mean, in the President's last weekly address you heard him say he's fired up and ready to tackle unfinished business.

The question is, how far is he going to go? We knew that background checks are on the top of the agenda. But it's curious to see, you know, what the scope of this is going to be.

The White House has been pretty tight-lipped about it except expressing again generalities of kind of what they want to cover. So background checks it's been speculated and also advocacy groups that have been talking to the White House have said, you know, let's expand it to include people who are now considered to be private sellers, who don't necessarily sell a lot of guns per year. It's not considered their line of business, necessarily.

Well, that could change. Background checks could also be expanded in other ways. The law could ban people from -- more people who have been convicted of domestic violence from buying guns. The executive action could expand the way the ATF tracks lost and stolen guns. But again, these are still question marks. We expect a real announcement to happen very, very soon.

You know, it's interesting to look at the evolution of this. I mean when you look at the Sandy Hook shooting three years ago, President Obama urged Congress to act. There was a bipartisan effort to expand background checks. That failed in the Senate. Then the President did take executive action, in fact, dozens of them, but it didn't dramatically change the law. And critics said they really didn't have teeth very much.

Well, this could change now with the action he's about to take. However broad it is. I mean if it's broad enough to launch lawsuits on the other side, that's a real possibility. And we expect to ask the White House about that today in the daily briefing.

The argument against such executive action is always, well, when you look at mass shootings in America, many of those guns were bought legally and through background checks. Republicans have been jumping on this. Here's part of what some candidates had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This top-down driven approach doesn't create freedom, doesn't create safety, doesn't create security.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Craziness. He knows that he can't get it through Congress, so he's just going to try to do it by executive action as if he's King Barack Obama.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will veto that. I will unsign that so fast, so fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Reporter: what the President has said is, you know, even if the executive action that he takes relating to background checks, even if that wouldn't necessarily prevent one of the recent mass shootings, he's been saying that if we could prevent one act of gun violence, why not do it -- Deb?

FEYERICK: All right. Michelle Kosinski for us there at the White House -- thank you so much.

On top of that let's bring in CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein and CNN political commentator Peter Beinart to talk about the political fallout for all of this.

Ron, first of all, Republican candidates accusing Obama of overstepping his authority --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

FEYERICK: But is what he proposes going to have teeth, as Michelle suggests, or is he going to go after sort of low-hanging fruit that certainly doesn't suggest either legislation or taking guns away.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, we don't know exactly what he's going to do but it seems like he is going to go further than he did in the first round of executive actions in 2013 primarily to try to expand the background checks to more sellers. Look, gun control is a fascinating issue because it really is one that illuminates the cultural and demographic polarization at the core of our politics. It is an issue now that really animates and energizes both coalitions.

If you look at the groups that are most opposed to gun control, they tend to be the groups at the core of the modern Republican coalition, especially white voters without a college education; blue- collar white men overwhelmingly prioritize gun rights over gun control.

On the other hand, and this is a big change, 15 years ago Democrats viewed after Al Gore lost to George W. Bush, they viewed gun control as a losing issue.

FEYERICK: Right.

BROWNSTEIN: But the evolution of their coalition, away from relying on those blue collar whites now relying more on groups that do support gun control, particularly minorities and socially liberal whites, especially women. So what you're seeing are Democrats re- engaging in an issue after really standing aside from it for really almost 15 years.

FEYERICK: Ron -- I'm going to just pause for just a moment. We do want to go over to San Bernardino where a press conference is happening. The facility there, reopening for the first time after the shooting.

[10:35:00] LAVINIA JOHNSON, EXEC. DIR. INLAND REGIONAL CENTER: -- in Sacramento have provided and offered everything and anything they could. This has shown me that our community stands strong during a crisis.

There have been many misconceptions from the media about who we are and what we do. Inland regional center is one of 21 regional centers in California under a contract with the Department of Developmental Disabilities.

We serve people with disabilities who live in Riverside County and San Bernardino County. Those disabilities include autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and intellectual disability. Inland Regional Center is one of the largest regional centers in California. We serve close to 31,000 consumers and we have over 600 staff.

We would also like to share with you that the unfortunate event that happened on December 2nd was not targeted towards any regional center staff. The individuals targeted were the San Bernardino County of health. And we want to send to them our condolences today. Many of you would like to know what we have on board for our

staff today. We are planning to meet and greet and to provide them with a secure and safe environment. As you can see, our property has been fenced off and will remain fenced off until further notice. We also have security guards at each entrance area. We continue to measure the security and we will continue to look at it. Today I will --

FEYERICK: There you see the executive director for the Inland Regional Center telling everyone that it is a safe environment, a secure environment, in the wake of the shooting there that happened back in December -- 14 people dead at the hands of two self-proclaimed ISIS members, who proclaimed allegiance.

I do want to get back to our political discussion right now because gentlemen, we're looking at this, this obviously horrific gun shooting that killed so many people, took so many lives.

To both of you, first to Peter, how does this play out on the political stage? Do we see basically the Republicans saying, this is great for us and the Democrats going, are you kidding me?

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's very interesting. First of all, Republicans tend to prioritize terrorism much more as an issue. One of the differences you saw in the wake of San Bernardino immediately was that Republicans focused on it as terrorism issue. Democrats immediately focused on it as a gun control issue even though Barack Obama later admitted that he had to focus on ISIS.

I think as Ron said, the big shift is not in the Republican Party. The Republican Party has remained squarely against any gun control legislation for a long time now. The shift is that Democrats who used to be afraid of this issue because they were afraid of losing working class white voters who might be sympathetic to them on economic issues have now gone all in. Hillary Clinton has gone all in as the Democratic Party has moved to the left.

2016 will be a fascinating test of whether the old rules about gun politics, which is that they help the Republicans and hurt the Democrats, whether those have changed or not.

FEYERICK: So, Ron, interesting. Do you think this is now a winning issue in terms of the Democrats? They see that they can get some support on this?

BROWNSTEIN: It is a high wire issue I mean because it does, as we've said, activate both coalitions. There is risk for it in Democrats in that they still need in the Presidential election some states where they have to, particularly in the Midwest, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania where they have to win blue-collar whites and rural whites to some extent who are opposed to this.

But by and large, I think Democrats have been convinced that it has become a winning issue for them because among the voters they can actually access, and in the states they can actually win, gun control remains popular. Voters they have feared losing around this issue, they have largely already lost over the last 15 years and they replaced them with new constituencies primarily the growing constituencies of millennials, minorities and socially liberal suburban whites who are more receptive to gun control.

One tip-off on that is if you look at the 2013 vote on background checks that just failed in the senate, the states where both senators voted for it had vastly more electoral college votes to the states where both senators voted against it. It was I think a sign of the changing politics at least at the Presidential level.

FEYERICK: Peter, you were shaking your head in agreement. You obviously see this now as an issue that, in fact, can get votes?

[10:40:00] BEINART: Yes, you know, Ron is exactly right. There was a time when Democrats were competing for states like Arkansas and West Virginia. They no longer are. As their coalition has shifted now, they can get a path to an electoral majority now without needing to win some of the voters they had to in the 90s.

FEYERICK: All right. So more of a hyper-strategy and targeting voters. Peter Beinart, Ron Brownstein -- thank you both so very much gentlemen, and happy new year to you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

BEINART: Happy New Year.

FEYERICK: And just a reminder for our viewers, President Obama joins CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday for an exclusive one-hour live town hall to discuss gun control. You can watch that right here on CNN Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

And still to come, it is the site of a hard-fought victory against ISIS for Iraqi counterterrorism forces. Now CNN goes deep inside the city of Ramadi.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Nine Iraqi police officers are dead and several more wounded after three ISIS suicide bombers blew themselves up Sunday at a U.S. base near Tikrit. This attack comes just days after ISIS targeted an Iraqi army base near Ramadi.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed in that attack, both incidents underscoring the fact that even as Iraq's military declared Ramadi liberated from ISIS and the nation's prime minister says this will be the year ISIS is driven out of Iraq, the terror group is simply not giving up control without a fight.

CNN senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir went inside the war-torn city of Ramadi with some of the U.S.-trained counterterrorism forces who took on ISIS directly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ramadi, after months of ISIS rule, this is what remains -- ISIS' occupation of the city leaving its mark both above and below ground.

These are the houses that the militants were hiding inside of. You can see what they were doing is they were digging up tunnels so that they were able to move from house to house without being seen by the coalition planes.

[10:45:07] And so that this wasn't spotted from the air, they were hiding the dirt that they were digging up and keeping it inside the houses themselves.

If you come through here, we can show you one of the tunnels leading through. Some of these tunnels we're told went as far as a kilometer. We're going to go have a look inside. It's not actually that wide but it does give you a sense of them moving in the dark under the ground, out of sight.

Ramadi fell to ISIS in May last year. Since then Iraqi forces have been battling to reclaim their territorial integrity and their ravaged morale. The head of Iraq's counter terror force told us the liberation of Ramadi should be celebrated around the world.

FIRST LT. GEN. TALIK KINANI, HEAD OF IRAQ COUNTERTERRORISM SERVICE: Defeating ISIS in this victory has impacted upon ISIS plans and its very existence, causing weakness and desperation. The road to Mosul is now open and clear.

ELBAGIR: Blindfolded and bound, captured ISIS fighters face the war. They were, we're told, attempting to blend into what remains as the local population. A reminder ISIS fighters could be hiding in plain sight.

Even as the road to Mosul is in the Iraqi armed forces' sights, a week on from the liberation here in Ramadi and counterterror forces battle to purge the city of the remaining militants' presence.

We're hearing some pops of gunfire. They're a little further across the other side of the river. The fighting is ongoing. The clean-up operation is still going on. And that's why the helicopters' circling overhead.

In spite of the threat of IEDs and roadside bombs, the troops continue their painstaking push -- under every inch of reclaimed territory, a possible death.

Everyone here knows so much is at stake in this claimed liberation and not just for Iraq.

KINANI: This victory is a victory for humanity because ISIS is against Iraq and against all of humanity.

ELBAGIR: It is also finally some palpable momentum in the battle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR: That tunneling infrastructure you saw there, Deb, that is replicated in every single ISIS stronghold. They only held Ramadi for some six months. So imagine how entrenched they are in cities like Mosul where they've held for almost two years.

FEYERICK: And it was very intense, Nima, watching you with all that security around you -- clearly an indication that there's a threat.

Nima Elbagir in Baghdad for us -- thank you so much. Appreciate that.

And still to come, the manhunt continues. Israeli security forces have been going door to door in search of an accused killer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:23] FEYERICK: The urgent manhunt continues for a gunman who killed two and injured seven in Tel Aviv on Friday. Israeli authorities went house to house this weekend looking for the suspect now identified as Nasha'at Melhem a 31-year-old Arab Israeli.

CNN's Ian Lee is live in Jerusalem with the very latest. And Ian -- how close are they to possibly finding him?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Deborah, that is really the big question right now. It's baffled a lot of people that it's gone on this long, but today we had terrorism units, we had SWAT teams going through abandoned buildings, going through construction sites searching for him as this manhunt enters the fourth day.

They want to get him as soon as possible because they're afraid that he could commit another attack. Now, they beefed up security around schools, around places of worship. Over a thousand extra police officers were brought into the Tel Aviv area to help out there.

About 20 percent of students didn't go to school because of this. That's what the Tel Aviv school district is saying.

Talking to the family, though, they say this is a person who is mentally disturbed. He's off his medication. They're afraid that he could also hurt himself. They want him captured alive, but really talking to the authorities, they want him, quote/unquote, "neutralized" whether that's capturing or killing -- Deborah.

FEYERICK: And to be clear, it was the family who identified the gunman and notified authorities, correct?

LEE: That's right. It was the father. He saw his son on TV. Saw a picture of him and went down and told the police after looking in a safe and he noticed a gun was missing. And his father has been a volunteer for the police for quite some time.

And the family is very concerned. He was arrested. This gunman was arrested back in 2007 for trying to steal a gun from a soldier. That's when he was diagnosed. That's when they started treating him.

But, you know, right now the government here, the police here, consider him armed and dangerous. That's why they want to -- they want to neutralize him as soon as possible.

FEYERICK: All right. Ian Lee, thank you there for that twist with the father. Appreciate your reporting.

And still to come, a new year means new gas prices. There is some good news if you're filling up at the pump. Why gas prices in 2016 could be even cheaper than last year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:57:46] FEYERICK: And checking our top stories, gas prices could be lower than last year. That's according to a new report by AAA. The group estimates the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas is expected to be between $2.25 and $2.40 and could even drop by another 10 cents in the coming weeks. Last year Americans saved more than $500 each because of low gas prices.

Camille Cosby will testify Wednesday in a deposition for her husband's lawsuit. Bill Cosby being sued by seven women who claim they were sexually assaulted and defamed by him. Lawyers for Camille Cosby said that her testimony would be an undue burden on her. But the judge said her testimony is more important than the stress it would cause.

A passenger jet on its way to the Philippines had to turn back. Look at that. Members -- crew members realized a door wasn't completely shut. You can even see the gap. It happened on a Jin Air flight, a low-cost carrier run by Korean Air. Before they noticed the Boeing 737 made it up to 10,000 feet and flew for 40 minutes. None of the 163 passengers were injured. Each one was given a free hotel stay and the equivalent of about $84 bucks in U.S. Dollars.

$400 million, that's how much is up for grabs Wednesday in the next Powerball drawing. On Saturday three people reported $1 million winning tickets but no one claimed the grand prize. If you haven't bought a ticket yet, there's still time. The Powerball estimates chances of selecting the winning numbers are about one in 300 million.

A lot more emotional, that's how Prince William is describing himself now that he's a dad. In a new ITV documentary called "When Ant and Dec met the Prince: 40 years of the Prince's Trust", the 33- year-old opens up about fatherhood and says his children have helped to put life into perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has fatherhood changed you, now that you have the two children?

PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: It's -- I'm a lot more -- a lot more emotional than I used to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you?

PRINCE WILLIAM: Yes, really. I never used to really kind of sort of get too wound up or worried about things but now the smallest little things I can feel you well up a little more and you get affected by the sort of things that happen around the world or whatever a lot more, I think, as a father just because you realize how precious life is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, yes.

PRINCE WILLIAM: It puts all of this in perspective. The idea of not being around to see your children grow up --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:00:10] FEYERICK: That documentary airs tonight and also features interviews with Prince Harry and their father, Charles.

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Deborah Feyerick for Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.