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Trump Courts Evangelicals; Supreme Court Takes Case; El Chapo Held Under Extreme Security; An ISIS Intervention: Deradicalization of Young Teen; "Oscars So White" Sparks Protest, Boycott; Remembering The Eagles' Glenn Frey. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired January 19, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00] REV. JIM WALLIS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, SOJOURNERS: I talk about racism from slavery as America's original sin and Dr. King, we yesterday celebrated, he was not just a civil rights leader. He was a minister. And he spoke in moral and religious language about this issue of race. And that's what I'm doing in this book too. We've got to see racism as a fundamental contradiction of the Gospel. So whenever we --
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: But in your book you also say some Christians aren't seeing that.
WALLIS: Well, because we are -- white Christians, many are still captive to this ideology of white privilege, which I talk about in the book. It's the normality of whiteness as rightness. That's really an idle and idles separate us from God. The book talks about how to -- how to build a bridge toward what is a new America coming --
COSTELLO: So --
WALLIS: Which is going to be very diverse.
COSTELLO: So is that what's resonating in your mind with white evangelicals?
WALLIS: Well, I think -- remember, there are black evangelicals and brown evangelicals and young evangelicals. The media isn't really talking to many of them, OK? And they're not resonating with Donald Trump. In fact, Donald Trump is deliberately fueling racial fear and hatred. He's a salesman. He's selling it for politics. And that is a direct contradiction of the Gospel of Jesus.
COSTELLO: Well, let me read to you what Liberty's president, Jerry Falwell Jr., said --
WALLIS: Sure.
COSTELLO: You know, right before Donald Trump took the stage at Liberty. He said, quote, "after all, Jimmy Carter was a great Sunday school teacher, but look at what happened to our nation with him in presidency." So in Jerry Falwell's mind, I would assume they're not really looking for a hard core Christian, they're looking for someone who can run the country. They're looking for a leader. And I don't know if Jerry Falwell sees that in Donald Trump, but he certainly intimated that.
WALLIS: Well, Jerry Falwell's father attacked Martin Luther King Jr., called Desmond Tutu a fraud and a fake. So there's a history and a tradition here, including race at Liberty. So let's have the conversation about racism. You can't talk about Donald Trump and not have a conversation about racism if you're a Christian. And to just ignore that, it -- when we are oblivious to racism in our politics or in our systems, we really are contradicting the reconciling work of Christ on the cross. This isn't just politics for me. This is really gospel. This is what the Bible talks about. And the Bible says, in Christ, there is no male or female bond or free Jew or Gentile. That's race and class and gender are overcome in Christ. The book talks about how the churches can move forward and lead, not by (INAUDIBLE) partisan politics, which we're talking about, but lead in a whole new way above and beyond --
COSTELLO: Well --
WALLIS: Don't (ph) go left, don't (ph) go right, go deeper is what I always say.
COSTELLO: The other thing I wanted to bring up is the students at Liberty.
WALLIS: Right.
COSTELLO: They seemed intrigued by Donald Trump's messages of saving Christianity, because Christians are certainly under attack in many parts of the world, right? So listen to what the Liberty student said right after Donald Trump's speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're showing (INAUDIBLE) -- and I honestly don't like want a president like that, if you're proclaiming and you're not like living it, it's kind of like -- it's -- I don't like that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't necessarily say that Donald Trump has the type of faith that I would put my vote for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would absolutely love to have a -- like a godly man in office, but at this point I see the wave of Trump, the Trump train, and the country getting behind him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all sinners, so who are we to judge him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So you could see they're sort of all over the map. They don't quite know what to make of him.
WALLIS: Right.
COSTELLO: But they're intrigued by him. WALLIS: Well, saving Christianity will be done more like what Pope
Francis did by authentically speaking and living the Gospel. That's what will save Christianity. It isn't saved by politics. And not by a politician who deliberately is using racism for political purposes. That is the way to really discredit our faith. So a lot of young people are ready to build what I call in this book a bridge to a new America. In 2050, we will no longer be a white majority nation. We're going to be a majority of minorities. And the book talks about how to build that bridge and young people, like my kids, are at the center of that. So they don't want the old racial politics. They want to see how to build a bridge to a new America, which is multicultural and which recognizes all of us are made in the image of God.
I want to tell Donald Trump that Latinos and blacks and Muslims are made in the image of God. Donald Trump, pay attention, the image of God, (INAUDIBLE). He's violating that in his politics. That is not the way to save Christianity.
COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Jim Wallis, thanks for stopping by.
WALLIS: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Appreciate it.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, guards, dogs, even motion sensors. Drug kingpin "El Chapo's" new reality in prison. Think he can escape this time?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:38:28] COSTELLO: All right, this just into CNN and it's pretty big in an election year. The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the matter of President Obama's executive orders that allow undocumented immigrants to apply for work and other benefits. I'm talking about dreamers. Remember, Texas and many other states took legal action against President Obama's executive orders and that, hence, this is what the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today, that they will take up those matters.
Pamela Brown is our justice correspondent. She's in Washington with more on this.
Good morning.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
This is a big deal for the Obama administration because had the Supreme Court decided not to pick this up, the lower court's decision would stand, meaning that the Obama administration's plan to allow millions of undocumented immigrants would not be able to go through. So the question is, how will the Supreme Court rule on this and how will it decide on this big immigration case? It announced today that it will decide to take this up. And this is a plan that will allow, like I said, millions of undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States for at least five years to apply for work permits and other benefits here in the United States. This has been a contentious, controversial issue, particularly among
Republicans and those on the campaign trail in the GOP race who say that the -- that this violates the president's constitutional right. That he should not be allowed to put this executive order into place.
The federal courts block the implementation of this. So this has led to legal limbo to millions, as we said, of undocumented immigrants. They have been waiting to see whether or not they will be allowed to stay in the United States. The Supreme Court will be taking up this case this term, which means we should have a decision on this by June. Which this is, Carol, one of the biggest cases of the term. I mean this is -- you know, the stakes are high for millions of people, particularly for the Obama administration.
[09:40:28] COSTELLO: Interesting. This involves, what, 4.3 million people and you say the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the matter in June. Will there be a decision, because sometimes there's not?
BROWN: Well, they'll take up the matter likely before June because oftentimes we'll get a decision by June. So we don't know of the exact date of when the Supreme Court will take this up, but it will be this term we're told by my producer, Arian Devog (ph). And then we should hear, you know, a decision thereafter -- shortly thereafter. So, like I said, the stakes are high because, you know, you have a court with four left-leaning justices and then you have the four right-leaning and then Justice Kennedy, who oftentimes is the sway vote. So it will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether they decide whether or not this is constitutional.
Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Pamela Brown reporting live from Washington.
In other news this morning, life has drastically changed for El Chapo, the former drug kingpin who has twice escaped Mexico's prisons. According to "El Universal," (ph) one of the country's leading newspaper, Joaquim Guzman, "El Chapo," is now monitored relentlessly by guards and dogs and cameras, even motion sensors. Rafael Romo is CNN's senior Latin American affairs editor. He joins us from Atlanta with more on this.
Good morning.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Carol, good morning.
Unprecedented security measures to guard El Chapo. And when it comes to dogs, we're not talking about any dogs. These are security dogs especially trained, Carol, to detect "El Chapo's" scent. Dogs that are handled by canine officers. Also, Joaquin Guzman is being constantly moved from cell to cell to minimize the possibility of another tunnel escape like the one he staged in July.
Mexican newspaper (INAUDIBLE) reports that during the first nights of incarceration at the Altilano maximum security prison, "El Chapo" was moved seven times. Seven times in five days. And this can happen anywhere from a few minutes to several hours in any of the 30 high security cells at the prison. Also, each time he's moved, he's followed by guards wearing cameras mounted on their helmets. He's being watched by guards at all times.
And listen to this, Carol, 400 security cameras leaving no blind spots at all. And finally, there are motion sensors, some of which can detect underground activity and the prison floors have been reinforced with three quarter inch steel rods. As you can remember, Carol, he escaped through an underground tunnel back in July.
COSTELLO: Wow. Rafael Romo reporting live for us this morning, thank you.
From the war on drugs to the war on terror, we've heard many, many stories of young men and women who are radicalized to go fight for ISIS. But could any of them have been stopped before it was too late. CNN got exclusive access to an ISIS intervention session where counselors in France struggled to bring one young woman back from the brink of radicalization. Atika Shubert has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the midst of the Paris terrorist attack in 2015, a 15-year-old girl found herself in contact with one of the women directly involved in the attack.
JOANA (via translator): This woman spoke to me on social media. She wanted to go to Syria with someone. She didn't want to go alone. She was also trying to control everything I was doing.
SHUBERT: Joana, not her real name, is one of the youngest in France's de-radicalization program. Along with mandatory counseling, she must now report to police every day.
She and her mother allowed CNN to observe her counseling session. Both wanted to remain anonymous.
She tries to explain to her counselor the grip ISIS recruiters had.
JOANA: They made sense of my life. Made me think I had an important role on earth.
COUNSELOR (via translator): They gave you support, you felt you were supported, you were loved, you were cherished.
JOANA: Yes, I really felt like I was loved. Evan more than my own family.
SHUBERT: Joana was recruited entirely online. Groomed by propaganda that painted ISIS as defender of Muslims. As a fervent convert seeking more understanding of Islam, Joana was an easy target.
JOANA (via text translation): They are really sneaky because they know exactly how your family's going to react to the situation.
[09:45:00] For a family that is not Muslim, they know what the parents are going to reject the hijab or halal food. They know they are going to forbid you from going to the mosque. They know and they tell you that your parents will reject you an they will stop loving you. They say that the only ones who will love you are your brothers and sisters in Islam.
SHUBERT: At first, At first Joana's mother chalked it up to teenage rebellion. But when her daughter called her an infidel, she called a national hotline to alert authorities.
MOTHER OF "JOANA", DAUGHTER IS IN DERADICALIZATION PROGRAM (via translator): I felt really bad. I was feeling guilty. Our first reaction to feel guilty as a mom. We tried to find out the reasons why our child suddenly changed.
SHUBERT: Joana says the program has allowed a way for her to reconnect with her family and still maintain her faith, far from the toxic ideology of ISIS.
JOANA (via translator): I took the decision not to get a new phone. It's better this way. I need to learn how to think be I myself. Without a phone and internet, there's no one to tell me what to do anymore. For now, I don't feel like going back on social media.
SHUBERT (on camera): What advice do you have for other girls like you and how not to fall into those same traps?
JOANA (via translator): You should always be careful on the internet. Don't even go there. Don't speak with them. Don't take any risk. For those who are already radicalized, please open your eyes to reality. Don't go to Syria. It's suicide. It's death.
SHUBERT (voice-over): There are some days when Joana is confident, but she still fears a relapse. She refuses to have a smart phone and won't touch a computer with internet access.
But it's a daily struggle. Especially for a girl so young.
Atika Shubert, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDOETAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:50:08] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
COSETELLO: And, again, I want to pass this breaking news along to you. The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to take up the matter of President Obama's executive actions that allows undocumented immigrants who have been in this country for five years or more to apply for work permits and other benefits. In essence, President Obama's executive actions allows these undocumented immigrants protection against deportation. We understand a decision could come as soon as June. Of course, before the presidential election. Want to talk much more about this in the coming hour of NEWSROOM.
In other news right now, though, outrage and even boycotts over the lack of diversity in this year's Oscar nominations after movies like "Straight Outta Compton" were overlooked.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP: UNIVERSAL PICTURES/"STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our art is a reflection of our reality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys supposed to be somewhere?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are artists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rap is not an art.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cannot come down here!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And for the first time we're hearing from the academy's president. Cheryl Boone Isaacs says she is working on a solution, saying this in a statement, quote, "I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it's time for big changes."
Sara Sidner joins us from Los Angeles with more. Good morning.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, this has become a thing. There's a hashtag, #oscarssowhite. It last year started. Now this year again, people looking at those actors who are nominated and saying there is no diversity here really.
You know, I went to look to see if there was anyone that had looked at exactly what the academy looks like. And one of the issues here, and you heard the president kind of talk a little bit about it, one of the issues is these are lifetime members. And so if you look at the makeup of those who vote, there are about 6,000-plus people who are able to cast ballots for those who could potentially win an Oscar. And "The Los Angeles Times" went through and looked at what the make- up of those voters, what they looked like. 94 percent, they said, were white. And 76 percent were men. So generally, it was older white males who were making the decisions as to who and what movies deserved an Oscar. And there's a lot of folks looking at that going, you know, that needs to change. That sounds like the president is planning on potentially making some of those changes. Carol.
COSTELLO: We know Jada Pinkett Smith and director Spike Lee are boycotting the Oscars. But, you know, Chris Rock is hosting it. Any word from him?
SIDNER: You know, it's interesting, because Jada Pinkett Smith herself sort of talking about Chris Rock. She said, you know what? You do your thing. We know you're going to represent well. There are people saying maybe he should boycott, too. But I think a lot of people expect him to bring it up. He already has in tweets brought it up, saying that the Oscars are the white people's BET, Black Entertainment Television, for those who are unfamiliar with those letters. So he's already making jokes, he's making it light of it in some ways, but it is a serious subject for folks like Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith, and some other actors who have come out. There are actors who we all know, like Idris Elba, who in U.K. said he
had to leave the U.K. to get a name here in Hollywood. So it's an interesting discussion and I am sure it's going to go on and on and on, fueled by social media. Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Sara Sidner reporting live from Los Angeles this morning.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, you know the name. You definitely know his music. A look back at the storied career of Glenn Frey.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:57:02] COSTELLO: Another rock legend gone. You know his voice so well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN FREY, THE EAGLES (singing): Desperado, why don't you come to your senses
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Unbelievable, right? "Desperado" from The Eagles back in 1973. I love that song. Now the band who sang it first, the band's co-founder, Glenn Frey, is gone. He died yesterday. He was just 67 years old. He died after complications from intestinal problems.
John Berman looks back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREY (singing): Well, I'm running down the road trying to loosen my load. I've got seven women on my mind
JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By the time Glenn Frey sang this version of one of The Eagles' most famous songs, he was more than a quarter century from where he had started. Co-founder of one of the most iconic rock bands around, a group he and Don Henley began in 1971.
Some critics called their music country rock. To millions, it was just ageless.
FREY (singing): Lighten up while you still can. Don't even try to understand
BERMAN: The Eagles only lasted nine years before they broke up.
FREY: Everybody was really happy. Then.
(singing): Life in the fast lane. Everything, all the time.
BERMAN: But in those nine years of albums, road trips, drinking and drug abuse, and everything in between, Glenn Frey and The Eagles made some truly amazing music. "Hotel California".
FREY (singing): Welcome to the Hotel California, such a lovely place
BERMAN: "Lying Eyes".
FREY (singing): You can't hide your lying eyes
BERMAN: "Take It To The Limit".
FREY (singing): And take it to the limit one more time
BERMAN: And the song first made a hit by Linda Ronstadt who was instrumental during The Eagles' early years, "Desperado".
FREY (singing): Desperado, oh, you ain't getting no younger
BERMAN: Glenn Frey lived all of it, the good and the bad.
FREY: I was riding shotgun in a Corvette with a drug dealer on the way to a poker game, and the next thing I knew, we're going about 90 miles per hour. Holding big time. Going hey, man, what are you doing? You know, and he looked at me, he grinned. He goes, "Life in the fast lane."
BERMAN: 14 years after The Eagles broke up, they reunited and began touring again, all over the world. Their records have sold millions and millions of copies.
Upon word of his death, band member Don Henley released a statement that said in part, "I'm not sure I believe in fate, but I know that crossing paths with Glenn Lewis Frey in 1970 changed my life forever, and it eventually had an impact on the lives of millions of people all over the planet. It will be very strange going forward in a world without him in it."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[10:00:11] COSTELLO: Unbelievable, right? The Eagles' first greatest hits album was released in 1976. It sold 29 million copies in the United States alone.
