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Security Ramped Up at Trump Tower; Six People Shot at Holiday Football Game; First Lawsuit Stemming from Deadly School Bus Crash. Aired 3:30-4p ET.

Aired November 24, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:32:18] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: The New York home of president- elect Donald Trump, famous for its luxury apartments, posh business suites but living in Trump tower is a different experience now that its owner is the nation's president-elect.

Jean Casarez goes inside to take a look at how Trump runs his most famous address and how his management style might affect his new job in the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trump tower has always been a high-profile apartment and business complex. But now with armed guards 24/7 there can be no doubt, this is the home of the president-elect Donald Trump, the country's next first lady Melania and their son, Baron.

Celebrities have called Trump tower home like Bruce Willis, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cristiano Ronaldo. Also music superstar Michael Jackson. About 15 years ago a couple's leasing the tower's penthouse got a personal call from Trump himself.

GIAMPIERO RISPO, PRESIDENT, DOMUS ARTHUR REALTY CORPORATION: Donald called the wife of the tenant and says do you mind if I show your apartment to a dear friend of mine? She said no, not a problem, it is fine. So Michael Jackson arrives with his limousine in a separate entrance that the building has. My client said he was the nicest man around.

CASAREZ: According to the web site, Trump tower has over 60 floors and 263 apartments. Giampiero Rispo has represented high profile clients at Trump tower for over 15 years. He took us inside the building, 42 stories up to see what your average multimillion-dollar apartment looks like.

Heading inside, golden burgundy walls, marble floors and apartments without letters or numbers so you need to know where you are going. He says security at the building now is so intense, some of his prospective buyers are turned off.

RISPO: They start to feel that they are in a military camp. There are all kinds of forces from SWAT teams, police. It's not very pleasant to get to the building.

CASAREZ: People who live in Trump tower actually have to go through this security right here and then even more security beyond to get to the residential entrance. That increased security began on election night and it's not set to end for a long, long time.

Residents are taking it one day at a time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most surprising thing is just kind of it's been. You know, the security is it is clearly is substantial but they just are all really good at their job.

CASAREZ: A logistical nightmare or not, Trump tower may be setting an example for what's to come.

RISPO: If president Trump will run the country the same way he runs the building, we will be quite happy.

[15:25:03] CASAREZ: Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Jean, thank you.

Coming up on this Thanksgiving week, a grueling task for police in Chattanooga. Find out why a school bus careened off a road slamming into a tree, killing six.

Next, what liability does the bus company have in this case? We will discuss.

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[15:39:42] BALDWIN: Some really sad breaking news out of Kentucky now. We are getting word that six people have been shot, two of them have died, at a holiday football game. I mean, just the emotional aftermath of friends and families there at the scene.

This is Louisville, Kentucky. This is the annual juice bowl. The suspects are still at large. No word of any kind of motive. Four other people, we were told, were rushed to the hospital. Again, this is apparently a holiday tradition where children and families gather.

And now to the heart break in Tennessee. In Chattanooga, six families have empty seats at their Thanksgiving Day tables. Six children whose young lives were cut short when their school bus crashed Monday on the winding narrow roads in Tennessee. They were on their way home from school. And these are five of the young victims here, including eight-year-old Keonte Wilson, he died yesterday from his injuries, putting the number at six.

We are learning the 24-year-old bus driver was not on his normal designated route when he ran off the road and hit the tree with 37 kids on board. Why he wasn't on his designated route, why this happened, we still don't know. Investigators did share that toxicology reports have returned that they showed this driver, Johnthony Walker (ph), did not have drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the accident or crash. This was his second crash, though, involving a school bus in just two months-time.

The principal at a neighboring school, who also happens to be the cousin of this young victim, nine-year-old Cordayja Jones, said that the driver's sister actually reached out to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:41:26] LAFRED THINKILL, BUS CRUSH VICTIM'S COUSIN: She called very emotional and obviously grieving. And she was sharing with me that it was her brother shared with her, that when my cousin was on the bus as well. And so she just reassured me that her brother was a good person and she says that he was terribly heartbroken, you know, by the accident and she said that he was driving and he hit a curb or something and he tried to overcorrect the bus and caused it to flip over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And the lawsuit, the first lawsuit stemming from this deadly crash, has just been filed by the family of an eight-year-old boy. This suit claims he sustained significant injuries and names driver as well as the company that runs the bus service. Today as the memorial grows for these young lives, the CEO of this bus company says he is cooperating with federal and with the investigators, he released this video on line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID DUKE, CEO, DURHAM SCHOOL SYSTEM: My responsibility now is to look for answers, answers about why this tragedy occurred and answers for how we can make sure this never, ever happens again. I don't want to compromise that investigation. I want to know what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Danny Cevallos is back with us. And you wrote this CNN.com piece. And you said let's just begin with the driver. In terms of his future, it's all predicated upon Tennessee's laws. What could he face?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Originally, before we knew what the tox screens were, the drug tests, the alcohol test, an aggravated vehicular homicide carries very stiff penalties, minimum of 15 years up to 60 years but it doesn't look like those aggravators apply. Vehicular homicide in Tennessee carries a minimum of three years and up to 15 years. Now, he is charged with other felonies as well. Those could be anywhere from I think one to six years. But likely if he has no prior record he is looking at concurrent sentences. The major felony he needs to be concern about is that vehicular homicide which carries mandatory minimum of three years.

BALDWIN: As far as the bus company and liability, I mean, the fact we have learned that this driver wasn't on the regular route, how will that change things? CEVALLOS: I think in two major ways. First, if the driver was on a

route that was unsafe at the speed he was driving that will factor in and that will require a look at training, what kind of oversight the company had on the driver. How they tracked the driver or checked his quality control to see what route he took or whether he was cutting corners. Those will all be critical factors.

There is, secondly, an issue in the law where if you are an employer and you say your employee went on a jaunt, you can argue that you shouldn't be held liable.

BALDWIN: Brooke, that it was the driver who decided to do this and not that --.

CEVALLOS: Yes, the driver decided to go pick up his dry cleaning, for example. Or he went off to go do something he is not supposed to do during work. Sometimes defendant employers will argue we are not liable for what our driver did if they just completely did something they are not supposed to do during work hours.

Now, in this case, the driver was simply taking a different route while still performing his duties as a bus driver. So I don't -- I'm not really sure we'll likely see that be a factor. But in assessing speed and the kind of road he was driving on, that alternate route will be very significant in determining liability in the coming months.

BALDWIN: So much yet to be determined. And just, you know, we talk so much about the six deaths, but think of all the other little boys and girls sitting in the hospital having a tough, tough time thinking about them on this Thanksgiving.

Danny, thank you so much.

As Americans are gathering on this holiday, we cannot forget about the brave men and women who are in harm's way overseas. We are so grateful for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:45:12] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm actually honored to be here, you know. Being away from family, they understand it. We work here. I'm home. But right now it's my time to be out here and I'm just have to be serving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Coming up next in a CNN exclusive. We are going to take you to the skies high above Iraq and Syria to show you how the air war against ISIS is heating up.

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[15:49:32] BALDWIN: Millions of Americans will be spending today celebrating with their families. But others will be spending the day putting their lives on the line in the fight against ISIS overseas. Army undersecretary Patrick Murphy talked to me earlier this morning

about the sacrifice America's service men and women are making on this holiday and really every single day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MURPHY, UNDERSECRETARY OF THE ARMY: We trained even On Thanksgiving. We did a five-k run. We did a Turkey trot this morning. And this is just another work day for these soldiers except we made sure to buy lots of turkey, lots pumpkin pie, et cetera.

What is great is these soldiers are doing what they love, and that is serving our country. And they are hoping they are making all our families, especially their families back home proud of their efforts because, you know, we are asking these soldiers, less than one percent of America, to be deployed during the longest wars in American history in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Now, I am talking to you from Kuwait. But just north of here is where our soldiers and the Iraqi army specifically is taking the fight to ISIS in Mosul. And we have a lot to be proud of for the gains they are making.

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[15:50:36] BALDWIN: Undersecretary Murphy there with me this morning. Thanks to you and the men and women around you.

As he mentioned he was in Kuwait. But we did talk about Iraq and Syria. Because not too far from them, the fight against ISIS is raging.

Frederik Pleitgen was in the air with Americans assisting in the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This thanksgiving Americans are in harm's way fighting ISIS, on the ground and in the air.

We are on board a KC10 extender refueling jet flying over Iraq and Syria. Captain Clark Palika commanding the massive airborne gas station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dynamic airspace. Challenging environment but square rewarding.

PLEITGEN: The first batch of planes, two f15 eagle strike aircraft, getting them hooked up to the tanker at around 400 miles per hour, a challenge for the crews of both planes. Boom operator (INAUDIBLE) says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is two moving aircrafts, but they are moving around the same speed. At the end it's the rate of closure that the aircraft has towards you, when they stop and when you are actually able to give them that contact.

PLEITGEN: The KC10 refuels planes from all members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, including C-130 Hercules transporters and the mighty A10 wart hog with its massive cannon and many bombs clearly visible through our window.

Without the help of these tankers the planes could that are flying mission against ISIS can only stay in their area of operations for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. But thanks to the tanker airplane, they can get fuel in the sky and stay in the area to fight ISIS for up to seven hours.

So instead of turkey and football for the kc-10 crews, it's eight to ten-hour missions hovering over this key battlefield. The pain of being away from the loved ones mitigated by the contribution they are making in to the war against terror.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love flying so I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. It's hard to be away from family. But I love this job. And I enjoy supporting our country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm actually honored to be here. You know, being away from family, they understand it. We work through it. I am home. But right now it's my time to be out here. I am just happy to be serving.

PLEITGEN: Around Mosul, we see the billowing smoke of oil fires ISIS has started to try and distract coalition planes. But thanks to the tanker jet, U.S.-led aircraft can stay airborne as long as it takes to find their targets and take them out.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN with the U.S. air force over Iraq and Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Fred, thank you.

Just in, Hillary Clinton sending out an interesting thanksgiving message weeks after losing the presidential election to Donald Trump. We will show it for you next.

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[15:57:37] BALDWIN: All right. Before I let you go, this was a pretty fun moment to watch this week. President Obama, in one of his final acts as commander in-chief awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom to a star studded list of honorees. One of them was the legendary actress Cicely Tyson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In her long and extraordinary career, Cicely Tyson has not only succeeded as an actress, she has shaped the course of history. Cicely was never the likeliest of Hollywood stars, the daughter of immigrants from the West Indies. She was raised by a hard-working and religious mother who cleaned houses and forbade her children to attend movies. But once she got her education and broke into the business, Cicely made a conscious decision not just to say lines but to speak out.

I would not accept roles, she said, unless they projected us, particularly women, in a realistic light and dealt with us as human beings. And from sounder to the trip to bountiful to the autobiography of Mrs. Jane Pittman, Cicely's convictions and grace have helped for us to see the dignity of every single beautiful member of the American family. And she is just gorgeous.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Yes, she is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For 60 years Cicely Tyson has graced the screen and the stage, enlightening us with her ground-breaking characters and calls to conscious humility and hope. Her achievements as an actor, her devotion to her faith and her commitment to advancing equality for all Americans, especially women of color have touched audiences of multiple generations, from the autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman to sounder to the trip to bountiful, Cicely Tyson's performances illuminate the character of our people and the extraordinary possibilities of America.

(APPLAUSE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: And one more message I actually do want to share. A tweet from Hillary Clinton. I was greeted by this heartwarming display on the corner of my street today. Thank you to all of you who did this. Happy thanksgiving, H.

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope I have kept you company. And just a quick hello and I love you to my mom and dad who I -- oh! There is the turkey. Can we do it one more time? One more time. Turkey. Turkey. It's thanksgiving.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me.

Hey, (INAUDIBLE).

Thank you, Allen. Happy Thanksgiving, Allen.