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New Jobs Report Stronger Than Expected; President Obama Holds Gun Control Town Hall; Philadelphia Police Ambushed; Police Link Paris Terror Suspect to Brussels Apartment; Iraqi Refugees Arrested on Terror Charges; South Korea Revives Propaganda Loudspeakers. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired January 08, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:01] PEREIRA: GoFund page for Latasha using some of her own money to launch it.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

PEREIRA: It raised more than $6,000. Enough for them to finally rent a home. Way to go, Officer. Way to go, Latasha.

CAMEROTA: Police officers doing wonderful things all the time.

PEREIRA: Love it.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

Hey, Carol.

PEREIRA: Happy Friday.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much. Isn't it the best day of the week?

PEREIRA: I know, right?

COSTELLO: Yes, it is. Have a great weekend. Thank you.

NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. Just minutes from now the Opening Bell will ring on Wall Street and Americans will see if their nest egg will take another beating. This as investors have a new measure of the economy to consider, a jobs reports moments ago -- wait for it. It is much stronger than expected.

Let's break it all down with CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans.

Everybody is surprised by this.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: A very strong end to the year for hiring, Carol. Strong hiring across the board.

Let me show you the numbers. 292,000 net new jobs added in December. The final month of the year. Unemployment staying steady at that eight-year low of 5 percent. And wage growth ticking right about 2.5 percent annual wage growth. So for November and December you had a little bit more money in your paychecks.

This is what the second best year since 1999 looks like. 2.65 million jobs added last year, Carol. And that's what it looks like. Look at October, more than 300,000 jobs added. That's a new revision. We just got December 292,000.

Here are the sectors. Business and information services, 73,000 jobs. Construction, that's likely the housing market, Carol. That's a good number there, too. Those are well-paying jobs. Healthcare, a steady performer here, 39,000.

When I do look at these numbers, there's pages and pages of numbers here. But when I do look at these numbers, I see something that really jumps out of me. Black unemployment fell from 9.4 percent to 8.3 percent. That's the lowest since September 2007. You're starting to see all kinds of different categories improve in the labor market at the end of year very strong hiring.

COSTELLO: And wages have gone up. Right?

ROMANS: Wages starting to tick up and I'll tell you that all that concern in the beginning of the week for China and China being a problem for the U.S., I can tell you at the end of the year the U.S. economy in terms of hiring was looking strong.

COSTELLO: All right. Christine Romans, thanks for the good news.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

Just outside Washington, President Obama wades into a fight over gun control and a discussion breaks out. In a CNN town hall meeting, cool heads prevail as the president lobbies for tighter gun measures. People on both sides of the issue were there. The one glaring absence, the NRA, the nation's largest gun rights group declining an invitation and dismissing the whole event as a publicity stunt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Does it make sense to meet with him?

CHRIS COX, NRA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Well, and talk about, Megyn? This president can talk about background checks all day long but that's nothing more than a distraction away from the fact that he can't keep us safe. And he supported every gun control proposal that's ever been made. He doesn't support the individual right to own a firearm. That's been the position of his Supreme Court nominees. That's been the position of his administration. So what are we going to talk about? Basketball? I'm not really

interested in going over and talking to the president who doesn't have a basic level of respect or understanding of the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But a new CNN-ORC poll shows most Americans support the president's plan. Two out of three say they favor his executive orders, tightening background checks and other existing laws.

Let's get more now from CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski.

Good morning.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Wow. You know, this issue is always so hotly fiercely political. But last night it was pretty personal. You have these compelling stories on both sides. You have victims of crime who are against more gun regulations. Victims who are for it. The president got personal, too, although he did have some strong words for his opponents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI (voice-over): President Obama addressed a crowd split on the issue with a surprising story from his time on the campaign trail, going through rural Iowa. He says the first lady brought up the subject of guns for protection.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At one point, Michelle turned to me and she said, you know, if I was living in a farmhouse where the sheriff's department is pretty far away, and somebody can just turn off the highway and come up to the farm, I'd want to have a shotgun or a rifle to make sure that I was protected and my family was protected. And she was absolutely right.

KOSINSKI: He faced tough questions from familiar faces. Taya Kyle, wife of murdered American sniper, Chris Kyle. Mark Kelly, husband of former congresswoman and shooting victim, Gabby Giffords. Kimberly Corban is a rape victim and NRA supporter.

KIMBERLY CORBAN, COLLEGE RAPE SURVIVOR: I have been unspeakably victimized once already and I refuse to let that happen again to myself or my kids. So why can't your administration see that these restrictions that you're putting to make it harder for me to own a gun or harder for me to take that where I need to be is actually just making my kids and I less safe?

[09:05:02] OBAMA: There's nothing that we've proposed that would make it harder for you to purchase a firearm.

KOSINSKI: A conspicuous no-show here, the NRA itself.

OBAMA: If you listen to the rhetoric, it is so over-the-top and so overheated. I'm happy to talk to them. But the conversation has to be based on facts and truth, and what we're actually proposing, not some, you know, imaginary fiction in which Obama is trying to take away your guns.

KOSINSKI: It was the Sandy Hook shooting that made President Obama uncharacteristically emotional this week. Now he watched himself make that speech.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I think a lot of people were surprised by that moment.

OBAMA: I was, too, actually. You know, I visited Newtown two days after that happened. So it was still very raw. It's the only time I've ever seen Secret Service cry on duty. It continues to haunt me. It was one of the worst days of my presidency.

KOSINSKI: And as Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz now campaigns with this image of the president alongside the words "Obama Wants Your Guns," many conservatives were riled, offended by his calling that kind of rhetoric a conspiracy, which he somewhat testily defended.

COOPER: Is it fair to call it a conspiracy? I mean --

OBAMA: Well, yes.

COOPER: There's a lot of people who really believe this deeply that they just don't --

OBAMA: No, no --

COOPER: They just don't trust you.

OBAMA: I'm sorry, Cooper, yes, it is fair to call it a conspiracy. What are you saying?

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Are you suggesting that the notion that we are creating a plot to take everybody's guns away so that we can impose martial law is a conspiracy?

COOPER: Not -- but there's certainly --

OBAMA: Yes, that is a conspiracy. I would hope that you would agree with that. Is that controversial?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: And a point that the president really wanted to hammer home is that if in this country you're going to continue to regulate the auto industry and try to prevent highway fatalities, if you're going to regulate medicines, even toys, why would you not do the same thing with guns -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Michelle Kosinski, reporting live from the White House this morning.

The president's decision to accept CNN's invitation to a town hall was unusual. The "New York Times" called it and the president's op-ed twin public relations effort. Still, the president faced direct questions from people who strongly disagree with him, and this is the political climate he faced going in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I think it'd be nice if he would actually focus on defeating ISIS. On calling radical Islamic terrorism what it actually is instead of talking about how we can intimidate and frustrate the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now is Andy Smith, he's the director at the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. I'm also joined by CNN senior political analyst and former presidential adviser David Gergen.

Welcome to both of you.

ANDY SMITH, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SURVEY CENTER: Good morning.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.

COSTELLO: David, it's Mr. Obama's final year in office. His State of the Union is next week. Why did he bother with this town hall?

GERGEN: I -- because I think this is a forum that fits so well the kind of arguments he's trying to make. Bring on more of these town halls. We have calm or reasoned conversation. Different points of view. President Obama, frankly, was at his best. This is what he does well. He articulates and thinks through issues. You may like him, you may not like him. But I think he teed it up in such a way that you could at least think it through for yourself.

Best of all here, Carol, I think coming into his final year, he has also now injected this issue of guns high into the presidential election conversation. It's going to be one of the pivotal issues. And now we're going to finally have a chance. Let's put it to a vote. This is something that divides our country. Let's put it to a vote. Have those who want more gun control reforms, you know, line up against those who don't, and let's settle this for a change.

COSTELLO: Andy, do you think that will happen?

SMITH: Well, I'm a little curious about the timing because frankly I think that what this is going to do is just energize Republicans. We're already seeing them rather upset with the president and how he's put other policies in place. So we're seeing even in the CNN poll with 54 percent of all of the country said they oppose the use of executive orders, for example, to have this implemented. So I think it's going to do much to energize Republicans as the clips you showed earlier said.

And with Democrats frankly this is part of the Democratic dogma now for many, many, many decades. So I don't think that it's going to do much on the Democratic side within the primary. As a general election campaign this could come up. But I might disagree with David a little bit that gun control has really never been a fairly significant issue in terms of how people decide who they're going to vote for.

It's one of those emotional issues in which you have fairly large -- you have a number of people who are very concerned about that but overall it's usually down in the single digits. So even in the polls that have been done before the president spoke, only about 6 percent of the country in this "New York Times" poll in December said this was the most important issue facing the country.

[09:10:10] And we're not seeing really anybody on the Republican side saying that's an issue here in New Hampshire and only about 6 percent of Democrats.

COSTELLO: And you heard what Paul Ryan said, David. He said maybe the president should concentrate more on how to defeat ISIS instead of concentrating on Second Amendment rights or gun control.

GERGEN: You know a great nation can do more than one thing at a time. And the president has been concentrating. I don't think he's got a real strategy against ISIS. I'm not happy about where he's going with it. But nonetheless I think he has put a lot of time into ISIS. And I just disagree that this because gun control hasn't been high on the agenda in the past, it is not going to be high on the agenda in the future. You know, that's the way things happen in this country. You get these sort of ground swells of interests that come up from the bottom and suddenly -- and when the president sort of gives focus to it they get injected much higher up.

And I think on this one we're going to have in the general election a clear set of differences and the person who wins that election can go for a mandate on this issue. One way or the other, we have to get this settled and stopped. You know, we can spend decades just for screwing around, talking about various issues, not getting anything settled. And what we find is that the country drifts in that situation.

We need leadership here and the election gives a chance for a leader to step forward and say follow me, this is the way we want to go.

COSTELLO: So, Andy, do you agree with any of that?

SMITH: I absolutely agree with that, but for a general election issue this is going to be something that clearly defines Democrats and Republican positions. I just find it curious that this was put forth during the primary season, before the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, where it seems just to energize the bases of both parties, not really create that kind of reasoned discussion that we saw last night.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it. Andy -- (CROSSTALK)

GERGEN: Well, see, here's the thing.

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

GERGEN: I think that Democrats are also looking for ways to mobilize their base. To get young people out, for example. This is the kind of issue that really could help their base in the general.

COSTELLO: OK. I have to leave it there. David Gergen, Andy Smith, thanks both of you.

On the heels of the president's town hall, this. A police officer ambushed overnight in Philadelphia, shot multiple times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired. I'm shot. I'm bleeding heavily.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All cars standby we have an officer shot 6-0 and Spruce. Repeating, in the 18th District, assisting officer 6-0 and Spruce. We have an officer down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm bleeding. Get us another unit out here. 6-0 and Spruce. Please send me some units to 6-0 and Irving. (INAUDIBLE) weapon out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It's riveting and scary, right? Our affiliate KYW reporting the officer is now recovering this morning after surviving that ambush.

Miguel Marquez is here now with more. What did you learn?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is absolutely terrifying and an unbelievable story. This is a 33-year-old cop, Jesse Hartnett, according to KYW, our affiliate. Five-year veteran of the force there in Philadelphia. Driving along in West Baltimore, when he's flagged down by a man wearing multiple layers of clothing. The man then takes a 9 millimeter handgun and fires at the officer. So close at certain points he's inside the officer's window with his hand shooting at the officer.

This is where the story goes from shocking to unbelievable. The officer that you hear on that tape is able to get off shots at the suspect himself. Hit him, take him down. Radio in for help and get help there. The individual is arrested. The officer is in the hospital expected to recover with very bad wounds to his arm, as was shot three times. The arm is broken. Lots of nerve damage to his arm says the police chief. But it looks like he'll survive.

The individual, according to CBS affiliate there, says that he did it in the name of Islam. Now whether or not this is a Muslim who did this in the name of Islam or somebody who just wanted to take out a police officer and use that as an excuse is not very clear. They are quoting a source, but certainly it has our attention.

COSTELLO: That's an important detail. So how many suspects were involved?

MARQUEZ: Only one suspect. And this officer driving along, sees this individual, flags him down. He slows down and comes up to the individual and that's when the individual opens fire on him, literally sticking the gun into the window of the cruiser, and shooting the police officer.

COSTELLO: So as the suspect was arrested, did he say this as he was being arrested or what --

MARQUEZ: He has survived. It's not clear when he said it. Sources are telling this to CBS affiliate in Philadelphia. So it's not clear when he said it. He was arrested at the scene. His gun was recovered. So they have him. So it's not clear when exactly he said it but at some point after the arrest he said this to investigators, according to CBS.

COSTELLO: So specifically what did he say again?

[09:15:00] MARQUEZ: That he did this in the name of Islam. Now whether or not that is real claim of somebody who's done this in the name of Islam or somebody who's just using that because they know that that makes headlines and it's interesting information is still unclear.

COSTELLO: OK, I let you get back to it. Miguel Marquez, thank you.

MARQUEZ: You got it.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the feds arrest two men suspected of having ties to ISIS. Why the buzz could reignite the debate about refugees from the Middle East?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Police in Belgium uncovering new evidence linked to the Paris terror attacks in November. Officials stay fingerprint of an attack suspect, Salah Abdeslam has been found inside a Brussels apartment. Also found explosives, bomb making material and three suicide vests.

CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank is in Paris. He has more information for us.

Hi, Paul.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Hey, Carol.

Yes, we broke much of the story exclusively on CNN yesterday that in December, that Belgian investigators discovered what they are sure now was the bomb factory for the Paris attacks, where they constructed these explosive devices, the suicide vests. They even found a sewing machine there used to stitch together these devices. They believe the devices were then transported to Paris and they did their final tinkering in Paris in times of a detonating mechanism and so on before launching the attacks.

We are also finding out today as you were mentioning that fingerprints of one of the attackers who is still at large, Salah Abdeslam, were found in this apartment and that is interesting. Because his last known whereabouts are this very same district in Brussels, Schaerbeek, where he was known to be on the day after the Paris attacks that Saturday the 14th of November.

[09:20:13] So, it may be that he went to ground there. But they really don't know that for sure at all. And it may just be that he had been there perhaps more likely in fact that he may just have been there before the attacks, helping to kind of put together this plot and that's why his fingerprints were found there. So, not clear whether this advances the hunt for Abdeslam.

The trail for him, Carol, has gone stone cold in Europe. But they are now looking for another two operatives who believed to be more senior him and even more senior than Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ring leader in the plot. There were some grainy black and white photographs put out for this duo, who are giving orders to the Paris attackers over the phone, also involved in the preparation for the attacks.

They are still believed at large, probably the two most wanted men in Europe at this point. But they are very close to identifying them. They are pretty sure they know their real names and I wouldn't be surprised if they put those out soon now, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Paul Cruickshank, reporting for us from Paris.

Two Iraqi refugees with links to ISIS arrested here at home in California and in Texas. They were tracked down by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. They are scheduled to appear in court later this morning.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Dallas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we learned of these terrorist-related arrests late last night and at this point, they don't appear to be connected. But the cases are very similar in many ways.

Let's look at the first person who was arrested, a man by the name of Omar Faraj Saeed al Hardan, 24 years old. According to federal investigators, he entered the United States as a refugee from Iraq back in 2009 and was in the process of trying to become a U.S. citizen. He faces three criminal federal charges, one count of providing material support to ISIS. One count of making false statements and one count of procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully.

According to federal investigators he offered material support and expertise to ISIS. He faces up to 20 years. Also, the second man from Sacramento, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23

years old, he entered the United States as an Iraqi refugee in October of 2012 and was also in the process of trying to become a U.S. citizen.

According to federal investigators, he travelled to Syria in 2013 and associated with terror groups there and later told immigration officials he travelled to Turkey to visit his grandmother. So he faces one count of making a false statement.

Of course, these cases come on the heels of a great deal of controversy swirling around the United States' efforts to accept Syrian refugees and the controversy around that.

The governor of Texas already pinpointing in a tweet last night saying, "who would have thought something like this would have happened?" Obviously, he's been the governor here in Texas has been very critical of U.S. plans to accept Syrian refugees.

This is one of those stories that is going to effect that issue I think very deeply in the weeks ahead -- Carol.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right. Ed Lavandera reporting for us this morning.

An ISIS fighter has reportedly killed his own mother as hundreds watch in front of a post office where she worked. Two Syrian rights groups say it happened in Raqqa, Syria, the de facto capital of ISIS. The mother apparently pleaded with her son to leave the terror group and escape the country with her. Instead he turned her over to ISIS authorities which accused of her trying to incite her son to leave the Islamic State.

Tension between North and South Korea building this morning, as South Korea reactivates its loud speaker overnight.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

COSTELLO: I know it is hard to understand but allow me to enlighten you. That propaganda blasting from those speakers across the DMZ, it translates into "one nation towards the unification, towards the future. Greets to fellow men in North Korea." And this is coming from the South Korean side.

All of this in the wake of North Korea's claims it tested an H-bomb.

CNN's Will Ripley is the only U.S. reporter inside the North Korean capital of Pyongyang where he just toured a science center there.

Tell us more, Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, there is a lot happening here. Of course you mention those loud speakers which are very infuriating for the regime here in Pyongyang. Because if there is one thing about North Korea, they try to control everything as far as the flow of information, even the music and the television their citizens can consume.

[09:25:01] And so, to have propaganda blasting within earshot of the hundreds of thousands of North Korean soldiers who are stationed near the border is very upsetting act. What we have to determine now is what North Korea will do if they decide to retaliate. Will they launch a cyber attack? Will they move troops towards the DMZ as they did over the summer when the loud speakers were last turn back on?

We didn't get any official reaction from Pyongyang today, but a government official I was speaking with did say that they wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of military activity as a result of this. And, of course, the loud speakers workshop triggered by this -- the announcement and the detonation of North Korea of what the regime claim is an H-bomb. This is Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader, signing the order to authorize that blast.

Now, there is a lot of speculation about what exactly was detonated. Many critics and experts around the world are skeptical that it was actually a hydrogen bomb just based on the initial readings. But we know according to a U.S. official talking to CNN, a U.S. Air Force sniffer planes have been conducting missions, taking air samples. There are also ground monitoring stations.

This is work being done in China and Japan and South Korea to check for changes in radiation levels just to figure out exactly what North Korea detonated.

Meanwhile, next week, we can expect talk about more possible sanctions, even though officials that I talk to here said, one, they're expecting more sanctions and two, it's not going to stop them from continuing to try to build more warheads. They say they have dealt with crippling sanctions so many years, Carol, they will simply tighten their belts and continue to grow their arsenal, because they believe it is the only way they can protect their country from what they feel is the imminent threat of invasion from the U.S. and its allies -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Will, the North Korean government has invited you do talk with these scientists. Take us through how that will work or how that work? I don't know if you already have done that.

RIPLEY: We went -- we were told we were going to go to a science center and speak with scientists. And we went to a brand new science center that opened just within the last week. It is a very fancy building. It's actually shaped like a giant atom, and the centerpiece of the building is a rocket that was used, a replica of a rocket that was used to launch a satellite into space.

But what we found is inside the research center were a number of North Korean students who were very eager to tell us how excited they are about this -- about this nuclear test and how they believe that their government is doing the right thing by developing possibly an H-bomb or developing nuclear weapons. But we were not able to actually interview a scientist who could lay out for us the science behind this to try to prove from a North Korean perspective what exactly this was that was detonated. So, at this point, we simply don't know and neither do the other

outside governments, which is why they're conducting all of these missions, whether we get more transparency or insight from the North Korean regime? Well, judging from past experience, we might be waiting a very long time and still might not every truly know the truth. But the work does continue in earnest to try to figure out exactly what happened, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Friday, today is Kim Jong-un's birthday. Will you be there to witness the celebration?

RIPLEY: Well, it is interesting because there are huge national holidays for Kim Jong-un's father and grandfather's birthdays. But Kim Jong-un himself today, in fact, it's now Friday evening, so it's been all day, there has not been a single celebration. There aren't any special banners that are hanging up around the city.

The only thing that is slightly different today, not even any special programming on television, is that Kim Jong-un provided a lot of restaurants in the city with venison to serve in honor of his birthday. And the government officials explaining this to us said the reason why there is not a major celebration is because they say Kim Jong-un is just a really humble guy and didn't want to make a big deal about his birthday. Of course, this week, there was the North Korea's fourth nuclear test in 15 years. So, on his birthday week, certainly quite an event but not a celebration or parade in the streets.

COSTELLO: Will Ripley reporting live from Pyongyang, North Korea. Fascinating.

All right. The opening bell just about to ring on Wall Street. We're awaiting it eagerly. We had the great jobs report. But stuff is still happening in China, although it appears the markets have kind of stabilized overnight.

But I'm going to ask people who know much more than I about that. Christine Romans is here with me now. Alison Kosik is on the floor.

OK, let's listen to the bell. Oh my goodness. It's Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey, Jr.