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Trump Holding Eight Meetings Tomorrow For Posts; Top Aide: Trump and Obama Talking Regularly; Elian Gonzalez: Castro Was A Father To Me; Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas Approved Medical Marijuana; One Dead, 9 Injured in Bourbon Street Shooting; Black Friday Sales Soar With Online Traffic. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired November 27, 2016 - 16:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:00:46] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. And thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Live pictures right now. Donald Trump's plane right there in Palm Beach, Florida. He is to make his way from Palm Beach back to New York to have many meetings beginning tomorrow with possibly eight candidates. But he also seems to be focused on knocking down the rust belt recount tweeting earlier this hour. Quote, "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." And yesterday, the Clinton campaign said, it would join the green party driven recount effort in Wisconsin and that's being spearheaded by a green party leader. Trump has meetings scheduled with eight potential advisers tomorrow. Let's talk more about all of this.

Ryan Nobles is in Palm Beach. So, Ryan, give us an idea of when Trump takes off.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka. We are expecting the President, President-Elect I should say and his family to leave the Mar-a-Lago Resort here any minute but it is interesting in his closing minutes here at the Mar-a-Lago Resort, he has been relatively busy communicating with the American public in the way that he knows best and that is through Twitter. And he seemed to be very focused on this recount effort that was put into place by Dr. Jill Stein, former Green Party candidate for president.

In the last few minutes, Trump has said a number of things about the recount including you mentioned at this point that he made -- that he believes that he would have actually won the popular vote if people who voted illegally had not participated. There's a lot of evidence to back-up that claim but that is a clam Trump is making. He also made a point about how he would have done better in a popular vote, had he had focused on a certain number of states instead of all of those states in the union just those wing state that take part in the Electoral College.

Now, Trump as you mentioned, about to leave here at Mar-a-Lago. A very busy day tomorrow in New York. Eight different people will come to Trump Tower to meet with he and Vice President-Elect Mike Pence. Many of those people could be up for jobs and his administration. And let's talk about two of them. One is the Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark. He is an African-American and a Democrat. He could potentially considered as an ex-secretary of Homeland Security. He is a prominent critic of the Black Lives Matter movement.

He spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of Donald Trump. And so as we mentioned, someone who could potentially be tapped as the next Homeland Security Secretary. Then Kathleen Hartnett White, she is the former head of the Texas Mission on Environmental Quality. She may be tapped as the next administrator of the EPA which would be an interesting position for her because she has been a big critic of the EPA. She said that it is a burdensome agency that puts regulations that stifled business growth.

So, that is just a sampling of the number of people that Trump will have coming to his office to meet with him on Monday and of course Fredricka, a lot of decision still have to be made including Secretary of State. A lot of decisions for President Trump and Vice President- Elect Pence. But Fred, it could be leaving here any moment from Mar- a-Lago. We'll send it back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ryan Nobles. Thank you so much. Let's talk more about that back and forth over who Donald Trump might pick as his U.S. secretary of state. It is certainly put the infighting within the Trump transition team on full display. This morning on State of the Union, Trump's senior adviser Kellyanne Conway was critical of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney even being considered as a top contender.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, DONALD TRUMP'S SENIOR ADVISER: I know there are other candidates being considered apart from the ones that are just being covered more commonly in the media. But apart from that, Governor Romney in the last four years, I mean, has he been around the globe doing something on behalf of the United States of which we are unaware? Did he go and intervene in Syria where we are having a massive humanitarian crisis? Meaning, when I say intervene like offer to help? Has he been helpful to Mr. Netanyahu?

In other words, what -- I'm also party unity. But I am not sure that we have to pay for that with the secretary of state position. But again, let me repeat, what Donald Trump decides, Kellyanne Conway and everybody else will respect. It is just the backlash from the grass roots. I'm hearing from people who say, hey, my parents died penniless but I gave $216 to Donald Trump's campaign and I would feel betrayed. You have people saying, I thought we got rid of this type on his -- I'm just saying that there were -- we don't even know if Mitt Romney voted for Donald Trump. He put Evan McMullen up in Utah.

And so I think there are concerns that those of us who are loyal have and you want a secretary of state who is loyal to the President and loyal to the President's vision of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:05:37] WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me now to discuss this, Republican strategist Brian Morgenstern and political analyst Ellis Henican. All right. Good to see you both.

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You too.

WHITFIELD: Gentlemen, OK. So Brian, you first, kind of, what's your response to this kind of biting I guess language from Kellyanne Conway on Mitt Romney?

MORGENSTERN: Well, she sort of has a point in a couple of ways. What's unusual is of course that she is doing this publicly. Obviously, we are not used to seeing that, that advice is just sort of aired out like this. But she does have a point in that, Trump was the change candidate and Romney sort of represents the establishment. The position of secretary of state is to advocate and convince people that the U.S.'s position is correct. And you know, Romney's last foray into advocacy was arguing against Trump in the primary. And that speech kind of worked like a lead balloon.

So, he hasn't exactly, you know, shown that he would really be the most effective person in that job in addition to openly advocating against Trump. So, it is hard to imagine why the Trump administration would want Romney as their chief advocate. And Elise and I have discussed, I think this goes back way back to some animosity between Romney and other Republican figures who had run for president back in 2008 including Giuliani, Gingrich, Huckabee, some of the folks who are now in Trump world, there is a personality issue there. And whoever he picks is going to have to be on this team. I think a lot of these folks don't see Romney as a team player.

WHITFIELD: And then there is Trump's incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus who this morning also took to the airways and have this to say. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIR: He is going to be making the best decision for the American people. It doesn't matter of warfare. I mean, there is a lot of opinions about this. And yes, it is sort of a team of rival's concept if you were to go towards the Governor Romney concept. But I think that should tell all Americans about where President- Elect's head is at which is a place that will put the best possible people together for all American no matter who you are, what religion, whatever your opinion is, he wants to move forward looking through the windshield and not the rear-view mirror. And that's where President- Elect's head is at and I think it's a great place for Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Ellis, does it reveal about, you know, Donald Trump's psychology or does it reveal more about the message about, you know, this real incongruity message within the camp?

ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it is fascinating, isn't it? I guess we can put Reince Priebus in the pro-Mitt category. Brian obviously is in the anti-Mitt category. Here's some of those more interesting question. Is this real or it is just an orchestrated piece of theater? Right? We've all known Kellyanne a long time. Right? She is not somebody who tends to just go off crazy on her own. So, my suspicion I can prove this -- but my suspicion is that this is being done in some orchestrated way. That somehow or another, Trump wants her to go out and throw some shaded Mitt, maybe giving him some kind of reason to humiliate Mitt further in public. I don't think we can know yet but I'll tell you, it's mighty twisted and mighty fascinating.

WHITFIELD: Hmm. OK, Brian.

MORGENSTERN: Well, Ellis, I mean, you may be onto something in a sense. I think it's a little different than the way you've interpreted it though. I think that by Kellyanne coming out there and doing this, no matter which direction Trump goes in, if he were to pick Romney, he gets to seem magnanimous and, you know, even pushing back on his own advisers and doing things in the interest of the greater good. If he doesn't pick Mitt, he's got a great out there that look, the grassroots elected me to do one thing and not, you know, go back to the politics of all which would be Mitt, so he is not the right person.

HENICAN: Or Brian. Or Brian --

MORGENSTERN: So, it seems like he could benefit in either direction by Kellyanne doing this.

HENICAN: Or it's the aides bullying Trump like, who doesn't believe anything as far as we can tell. Right? Because he sold it to us in both directions at the same time. And now that his little camp surround him, this government of rivals maybe government of back stabbers. I'm just telling you, whatever you think it is, it is probably nine other things at the same time.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: OK. This time, we look at live pictures of Donald Trump's plane there in Palm Beach because soon he will be taking off heading to New York to talk more with his transition team. Meantime today, we couldn't help but notice that he has been tweeting a lot. He is tweeting a lot about this whole Green Party driven recount -- vote recount in Wisconsin. And you know, Brian -- in fact, let's pull one up if we could, we could see one right now, it says, "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."

And so, gosh, I mean, Brian, is he starting to sound little rattled about this whole idea? He says, it would have been much easier for me to win this so-called popular vote than the Electoral College and that I would only campaign in three or four? So, is he sounding a little rattled by all of this? Safe.

(LAUGHTER) [16:10:40] MORGENSTERN: I think if you would just won an election, and then people were trying to go back and find ways to undo that, you probably wouldn't take it lying down and either is he. And look the ethics is see the Electoral College has been banning about the last several days. I mean, I'm liking it, I have seen the baseball analogy where it's like, yes, the Indians got more hits but they lost fewer games. You know, things like that. I mean, this campaign was litigated under the current rules which means you fight in Ohio and you fight in Florida, you fight in Michigan. You're not fighting for the popular vote. So, I take it he is annoyed by that.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MORGENSTERN: But in terms of this, I mean, the Republican Party just wants an election. They're going to want to make sure that sticks. So, of course they're going to want to fight back on this --

WHITFIELD: So, Ellis, if it is futile, then, you know, why even respond, just keep moving?

HENICAN: Well, you know, I'm glad you used the word rattled. Because it seemed to me at the beginning. This thing seemed farfetched. Right? It seems like, oh come on, there's no chance of this. But my goodness, he sure does seems a little rattled here. I got to say, I think we have to go check. I mean, listen, there may be nothing there but let's count every last one. There's a system in place. I know you guys keep talking about the rules, let's follow the rules in each of those three states, and pin the darn thing down. I think it's starting to get kind of interesting.

MORGENSTERN: Ellis, it's pinned down. We're not talking about close margins here. Ten thousand votes. Sixty thousand votes.

HENICAN: Then there's nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about.

WHITFIELD: You guys are so fun. All right. Brian, Ellis, we'll see you again momentarily.

Meantime, also coming up, Donald Trump, there is the motorcade, right there, right on queue. They must be listening to us. The motorcade of Donald Trump now heading to the airport there in Palm Beach, to that awaiting plane that you saw on the tarmac. And soon, he'll be making his way from Palm Beach back to New York meeting with his transition team and also meeting with eight people who might be up for positions in his staff or cabinet. We shall see. And there, the road is now empty. So they are on their way to the airport. We'll keep watching. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:15:49] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Live pictures right now. Donald Trump's plane on the left there in Palm Beach. We just saw his motorcade go by. He is on his way to the airport and soon. His plane will be taking him to the right side of your screen. New York City and then on his way to Trump Tower where he will be meeting with his transition team.

He will be meeting with, as early as tomorrow Monday, John Allison, a former CEO of BB&T and Cato Institute and Congressman Lou Barletta, a Pennsylvania just to name a few. And at the very first meeting between the President and President-Elect, President Obama offered to have discussions and counsel Trump along the way. And Trump said, he would enjoy using Obama as a resource. And today, one of Trump's top aides said, the two are talking regularly.

Here is Kellyanne Conway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONWAY: Leaders listen. They learn. They take the counsel of many people, they see what the circumstances are and he has even been talking to President Obama. You know, beyond the sit-down, they had 30 hours or so after President-Elect Trump won the election, they've been talking regularly on a number of issues. They talked just yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. I want to talk more about this with Julian Zelizer. He is a historian and professor at Princeton University. Julian, good to see you.

JULIAN ZELIZER, AUTHOR, "THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW": Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: OK. So you have researched and written a lot about President Obama. Is it possible that what's going on here -- is President Obama also using this as an opportunity to kind of get some reassurances from Donald Trump that the work that he has done won't be scrapped especially after President Obama better explains all that he has done to him?

ZELIZER: Yes. If what Conway is saying is true, and we don't know that. We haven't heard it confirmed. I think he is doing two things. One is, he is doing as much as possible to convince President-Elect Trump not to simply undo his legacy and to make an argument directly about what he has done in terms of policy. And the second is to act as a president would in a time when many people feel there is potential stability and to try to guide Donald Trump in the right direction.

WHITFIELD: Uh-hm. So how normal, you know, are phone calls between a president and president elect? We know that President Obama described the transition from George W. Bush, President George W. Bush as being very gracious. But how unusual is this?

ZELIZER: Well, we don't -- again, we don't know how many calls we are talking about. And sometimes there is more communication than others. There was more communication in 2008 for example, between the President-Elect and the incumbent because of the crises going on in the financial markets. So it's not common for constant engagement to take place directly but this is not your normal transition. And so it wouldn't be surprising if that is happening.

WHITFIELD: Hmm.

ZELIZER: And for Donald Trump this gives him -- I think it helps in his mind at least to give a sense of legitimacy and a sense of -- task in terms of what he is doing particularly with all of these reports that he is not receiving intelligence briefings and that he is not seriously looking at some of the policy challenges he is going to face.

WHITFIELD: Yes, the reports that it is Vice President-Elect who is getting the briefings and then we'll, you know, presumably convey this to the President-Elect. So, as it pertains to this phone calls, with continued meetings, we know that President Obama has said that, you know, along the way he would express himself but at this juncture do you see that it is mostly President-Elect Trump who is reaching out to the president?

ZELIZER: I really don't have any idea what's going on and what the dynamics are. These are the things we wait for the decades off and until presidential arcades open to understand what really happened. I would not be surprised though if President Obama doesn't feel the necessity and even the responsibility of reaching out to make sure that will be as OK as possible. Many Democrats are worried that it won't be. So, this is an act of presidential leadership I think in his mind.

WHITFIELD: Julian Zelizer, thank you so much.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

[16:20:10] WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead. Elian Gonzalez reacting to Fidel Castro's death. Why he called Castro a friend and says he was like another father. You'll hear from him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:23:59] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Live pictures of President-Elect Donald Trump's motorcade making it to the tarmac there in Palm Beach, Florida where his plane awaits him. He will soon be making his way to New York to continue meeting with the transition team after this holiday weekend.

All right. Remember this iconic image right there? That is how Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban castaway was rescued 16 years ago, is remembering now former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. It was that moment when Elian Gonzalez, just five-years-old he was ripped from his Florida relative's home and forcibly removed and the return to his father in Cuba. That same little boy now an adult at 22 years-old is praising Castro calling him a father figure and a friend. Contrastly in Miami, crowds are cheering Castro's death. And that's where we find our Boris Sanchez live for us -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey there, Fred, perhaps no story encapsulate with the vision between the exile community here and the community in Cuba in terms of reaction to Fidel's death and Fidel's legacy than Elian Gonzalez's story. That saga as you know was front and center here for many, many months. People here are not necessarily inclined to support Elian Gonzalez. We see him as an objective voice in describing Fidel's legacy but Elian certainly sees him as you said as a father figure and someone to, you know, look up to as a world leader and a towering icon to many in the third world. I want to play for you some of the sound from Elian Gonzalez reflecting on Fidel's life right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIAN GONZALEZ, FORMER SUBJECT OF INTERNATIONAL CUSTODY DISPUTE (through a translator): He is a father, who like my father, I wanted to show him everything I achieved, that he would be proud of me. That's how it was with Fidel. If I learned something and wanted to show him and there are still many things I want to show him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Elian Gonzalez here in Miami is not nearly as beloved as he was when he was a child. A lot of them has to do with the fact that they see him as kind of a propaganda tool of the Castro regime. As I said before, see him as an objective voice. They see him as a hypocrite, honestly. People that I had spoken to think that it's not really in line with what his mother, who risked her life, lost her life in the see trying to get him out of Cuba would have wanted for him.

As you can see behind me, there is still an active demonstration going on. People chanting Fidel, you tyrant, take your brother with you. Earlier, they were chanting, "Throw them in Cuba, throw them in Cuba." "Trump, Trump, throw them in Cuba." So, obviously the demonstrations, the celebration here in Little Havana will continue for some time. I should tell you that there Fred, this is significantly less than what we saw yesterday and the night before. But it is still at a motive moment for exile over here in Miami.

WHITFIELD: All right. Boris Sanchez in Miami, thank you so much.

All right. North of my Miami in Palm Beach, the tarmac right there where Donald Trump's plane is soon to be taking off. The President- Elect wrapping up his Thanksgiving weekend heading back to New York for meetings. We'll have much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:28] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. President-Elect Donald Trump about to leave West Palm Beach, his plane is right there, about to take off from Palm Beach, Florida, wrapping up his holiday weekend. Soon to be arriving in New York, where tomorrow he is scheduled to meet eight people, who could possibly fill staff or cabinet positions, of course. We'll keep close tabs on those meetings tomorrow and his journey today as the Trump plane is there in West Palm Beach, Florida.

All right, meantime President-Elect Donald Trump will have a full day tomorrow holding these meetings with eight potential choices for his administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This past week President-Elect Donald Trump announced two cabinet level posts. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley deserve as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. And school choice activist Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary. They joined Trump's other picks, retired three star General Mike Flynn for National Security Adviser. Flynn helped destroy extremist network in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is known as a skilled intelligence officer even though he was forced out as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, reportedly over his combative management style.

Kansas representative Mike Pompeo has been tapped to be the next CIA Director, elected at congress in 2010. Pompeo was a tea party favorite and one of the lead Republicans investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack.

Then there's Steve Bannon, Trump's Chief Strategist. He spent 7 years in the U.S. Navy, was an investment banker for Goldman Sachs and a Hollywood investor. Most recently he made it his mission to take down the Republican Party establishment.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions is nominated for U.S. Attorney General. The former prosecutor has opposed immigration reform as well as bipartisan proposals to cut mandatory minimum prison sentences. Sessions has been accused of calling civil rights groups on American and criticized the voting rights act. And finally the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus who will be the President-Elect's Chief of Staff. While Priebus is a mainstream pick that many Republicans find encouraging, some Tea Party leaders fear Priebus is too much of a Washington insider.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I want to bring in Brian Morgenstern Republican Strategist and Ellis Henican Political Analyst back. All right, Brian to you first. You know still unclear who Trump will nominate as U.S. Secretary of State. Lots of names have been tossed around. Among the latest, retire General and former CIA Director David Petraeus. Here is what Trump's White House Chief of Staff had to say about that this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During this the campaign, you and I well remember this Trump hammered Hillary Clinton from mishandling classified information. Petraeus was convicted from that same offense.

REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: Well, listen talking to people and choosing people in getting opinions and learning from really smart people as far as what the right decision making process may be in choosing a Secretary of State or any other position is something that smart people do. I don't think anyone could say that David Petraeus isn't a very bright calculated smart person, and this are the types of conversations that I think the American people would expect of an incoming president that is trying to make the best decisions possible for everyone out there across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So Brian, what do you think?

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, look, Petraeus in spite of the legal difficulty is still one of the most respected figures in the entire country. And the difference between Petraeus, I think and Hillary Clinton was Petraeus owned up to it. He made guilty to a crime is currently on probation for that, resign his position at the time, because he recognized that he had made a mistake. So, that doesn't discount his skills as a military strategist and potential skills as a diplomat. But you know that is the kind of a cosmetic problem. I don't think anybody would really criticize Trump for talking to David Petraeus. He is an icon.

WHITFIELD: Ellis?

ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL ANALYST: I like Petraeus. Temperamental he is -- he seems to me to be a whole lot more suited in the position than someone like Rudy Giuliani. But listen. Here is the interesting part that seems to me. The rhetoric is all very calm and inclusive and talks about the unifying everyone. The choices that we have gotten so far and the ones that seem to be on the horizon, I don't see a lot of actual action in facts of those tones. I mean, you know you look at someone like Jeff Sessions, you know, Betsy DeVos, another example. Depending on what happens with the Secretary of State decision. I would watch and see how closely the actual actions mirror that mat stall.

[16:35:23] WHITFIELD: So you're talking about inconsistent messaging.

HENICAN: The messaging is great. I mean I got no problem with the messaging. But again, we have plenty of opportunities to actually put that into action. That hasn't really happened yet.

WHITFIELD: Ok. In the meantime, let's talk about potential press secretaries, because they were also a few names talked about. Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham among them, but now CNN have learned from sources that former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway who is all over the Sunday talk show, today just might be a top pick. Brian, if that were the case, smart choice, what would be the strategy here?

MORGENSTERN: Kellyanne Conway went from running Ted Cruz's super Pac and you know trying to, basically put up a road block to stop Donald Trump's to being Donald Trump chief advocate. And all along this, along the way has come out smelling like roses, because she has been viewed as a condiment professional as a sort of credible messenger. I think you would be hard pressed to find somebody who thinks this is a bad idea. In fact I have seen a lot of people saying why aren't this public already? Why don't they just announce it already? I would not be surprised at all, if she winds up as White House Press Secretary.

WHITFIELD: Ellis, How do you see it? Is it a perfect fit for her? She is an incredible messenger. HENICAN: No doubt about that. I think the question in this case is

whether she is holding out for something that has actual policy influence in it. And I don't think we know the answer to that.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brian, Ellis thank you so much. Of course as we continue to watch Donald Trump's plane there. Take a pause, in his taxiing there from West Palm Beach as he makes his way to New York for those meetings tomorrow. We'll keep a close watch on all of it. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:43] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Donald Trump wasn't the only big winner in the election night, so was medical marijuana. Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas approved the use of medical marijuana and voters in Montana rolled back restrictions on existing medical pot measures. Our Victor Blackwell shows that the impact legalization is having in Arkansas, the first state in the Bible belt to approve it.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORREPONDENT: Navy veteran Blake Ruckle suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He says the memories of his 2011 mission took him back piracy of the coast of Somalia began haunting him two years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLAKE RUCKLE, NAVEY VETERAN: My crew, were the ones who brought the bodies off of the helicopters. I was struggling with alcoholism very badly and I started to suffer from a lot of depression, from a lot of things I had seen and was having night terrors, trouble sleeping.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: He kept his struggles even contemplation of suicide a secret. Until after he was honorably discharged in 2014. Then he read stories online about how some veteran were finding relief through smoking marijuana, so Ruckle started buying and smoking marijuana illegally. He says it helped a lot. But this self-described Christian in Faith Ville, Arkansas now faced a new battle, a moral one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUCKLE: I felt like a criminal and I felt like, you know I was displeasing to my faith and to my god. The one thing that I found that helped me was under such scrutiny and was illegal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Illegal under state law until now. This month voters here chose to amend the state's constitution by a vote of 53 percent to 47 percent, making Arkansas the first state in the Bible belt to legalize medical marijuana. According to few researches, seven out of ten Arkansas called them, highly religious, so to win them over, Little Rock Attorney gave troops and sponsored the ballots initiative, took his case to church congregations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID COUCH, ATTORNEY: People would come up to you and whisper in your ear, you know hey, I'm for you. My grandmother has cancer and we buy her marijuana or my son has PTSD and we buy him marijuana. So we have all of these stories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now despite the vote, Arkansas is still a conservative state with its Republican governor, Republican controlled state legislature. Even every member of the congressional delegation Republican and consider this, nearly half of the state's 75 counties are dry, which means soon people in those counties will be able to legally smoke medical marijuana although it will be impossible to by a six pack of beer.

In 2012 a similar measure was defeated in part by an Ad from a Christian Conservative family council action committee with some criticized for reinforcing racial stereo types.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The grass growers and dope dealers will be in charge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: This time around the groups add featured the State's Surgeon General making the case against amendment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the law right and many of us will support it. Until then, don't buy the big lie.

KEN YOUNG, FAMILY COUNCILACTION COMMITTEE: Smoking something is not medicine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Ken Young with the family council does not expect Arkansas will be the Bible belt bell weather for medical marijuana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COUCH: I think there will be a couple more southern states that may come along and by the time we get to the rest of the south, people will start saying this is a bad thing. This has been hard to implement many states, this is bad for the kids, there are more wrecks, there are more yare visits that really do provide relief and benefit to people that need it. And you know if you look at it from a compassionate side, a Christian side then it's the right thing to do.

YOUNG: The Christian viewpoint, is not to make sure that our neighbors and our communities are doing harm upon it on themselves and that is the kind that why we are coming here, we want to help people. We want to help people in the correct fashion, the right form.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Ruckle said smoking marijuana does not make him forget the horror he has seen, instead it helps him talk about it. And now he wants to help others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUCKLE: I didn't just fight for the state of California, I didn't just fight for the state of Colorado, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, the district of Columbia, Massachusetts, Florida or any of these states that have some sort of legalization effort. I fought for all 50 states and so did every one of my brothers and sisters. If there's a medicine out there that can help them through their night demons, we are obligated to give this to these people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Ruckle now advocates for legalization and he started, right here in the Bible belt, Victor Blackwell, CNN, Little Rock, Arkansas.

[16:45:35] WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, a group of Manhattan firefighters describe a daring rescue now being called the miracle on 93rd street, their story, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The roof was on fire. There was fire coming out of the shaft. There was fire all around us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, voting is on the way for the CNN Hero of the year. Meet Brad Ludden, one of this year's top ten heroes.

BRAD LEDDEN, CNN HEROES: They are amazing teachers. I definitely learned a lot about what makes me happy and what I want to presume, what I want to do each day.

[16:50:05] The idea for first decent came to me really when I was 18, that is when I started working on it. My Aunt is diagnosed with cancer and it really affected my entire family and me included. A few years later I chose to continue pursue in kayaking professionally as it goes to go in college.

And so I came to this crossroad and realized it, I wanted to find a way to give that experience of kayaking back to other people who could benefit from it. And the natural choice for me was to give people with cancer, after seeing what my Aunt went through. The cancer is definitely the most underserved population, affected by the disease and they are facing their own unique psycho social challenges. For all of this reasons and so many more population deserves attention. You see it at the bottom of the rapids, it sort of that look of accomplishment pride on their faces.

You can't teach that and give it to someone, it is something you have to go earn and this program seems to allow you from that opportunity.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Vote for Brad or any of your favorite top ten heroes now at CNNheroes.com.

A look at our top stories, now ten people have been shot, one fatally in New Orleans French quarter. The shooting happened around 1:30 this morning on Bourbon Street where crowds were gathered for the Bayou Classic Football Festivities. It is unclear what lead to the shooting. Two men including the victim have been arrested for illegal gun possession. Investigation is ongoing.

New Mexico police had made an arrest in connection to a string of vandalism attacks at three different Starbucks locations in Turkey. The FBI says suspicious devices were left at the coffee shops. One caused minimal damage. Luckily no one was injured. The FBI has not named the suspect nor released a motive.

And the numbers are in on the biggest shopping day of the year. Black Friday sales of retail stores dropped 5 percent from last year. But online traffic had a big boost. This weekend's cyber shoppers set a new record of $3 billion in sales. About a third of the transactions came from mobile devices.

Then for a few hours Trump tower had a new name on Google maps. The President-Elect Manhattan home was identified as Dump Tower last night. By early this morning the label was removed. CNN Affiliate WPIX reports a second location in Trump International Hotel and Tower in Columbus circle had been briefly renamed Dump International Hotel and Tower. CNN has reached out to Google for comments.

It is being called the miracle on 93rd street. New York City firefighters putting their lives on the line to save an elderly man trapped in a burning apartment building and they did it by using a rescue technique that is only deployed in the most dire of situations. Brynn Gingras now with five of New York's bravest who went beyond the call of duty.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a type (inaudible) once in 20 year career.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORREPOSNDENT: As the Manhattan apartment building ignited in flames, more than 200 members of the FDNY race towards it, these five men among them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The roof was on fire. There as fire coming out of the shaft. There is fire all around us.

GINGRAS: The firefighters never met before but that day, an 81-year- old man trapped in his home, brought them together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frank called me and told me that we had a guy at the window.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My thought was possibly a fire escape to try to get to him, but as you saw in the photos, there was no rear fire escape in this old tenement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just grabbed the rope, dumped the rope onto the roof and that is when Andy and Steve and Joe came up. We just went to work.

GINGRAS: A rope rescue is a dangerous technique which happen that attempted by this department in five years, because it is considered the last resort by firemen standards, but one they knew, they had to do. Within seconds Jim Lee was being lowered down, scaling the burning building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go to your right. Go to your right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was burning and at one point you could hear him yelling I am burning. I just remember seeing him looking up at me with that hood up. I just said to him, let's go.

GINGRAS: With the rope holding them beginning to burn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok. Lowering him down nicely, lower him down.

GINGRAS: The team of firefighters successfully lowered the two men to safety.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right lower him down.

GINGRAS: Seconds before the rope snap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are looking back up and see the fire now at the windows, the rope was on fire and the reality really set in that wow, well e really just - we saved -- we saved a guy's life. I mean legitimately, a group of guys worked together in seamless fashion and saved this guy's life. What a feeling.

GINGRAS: The feeling came again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look familiar.

[16:55:06] GINGRAS: When the firefighters met the man they saved, James Duffy.

JAMES DUFFY, RESCUED FROM FIRE: I said thank god. It was a miracle -- I called it a miracle on 93rd.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, that is a good catch there. This is definitely a win for everybody.

(LAUGHTER) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do it for a lot tragedy in this job and at the

course of the career, more tragedy than you likes to ever see, and this was definitely a win for everybody.

GINGRAS: Brynn Gingras, CNN New York.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Brynn.

At this hour the President-Elect is on his way back to New York City where he plans to meet with more potential cabinet picks. We'll continue to follow this, when the Newsroom continues at the top of the hour. In the meantime that is going to do it for me. Thanks for being with me today. I am Fredrick Whitfield. Have a great rest of the weekend and a great week.

PAMELA BROWN, NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Top of the hour now then Sunday. I am Pamela Brown. In Washington and for Poppy Harlow and you are live in the CNN news room. Donald Trump right now is heading back to his transition headquarters in New York. As he heads home this evening the President-Elect is continuing one of his trademark twitter tirades.