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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Travel Delays on Thanksgiving; Brown Family Attorney: "No Doubt" Wilson Is Lying; Businesses Destroyed After Fires And Looting

Aired November 26, 2014 - 16:30   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Danielle, before I let you guys go and get home for Thanksgiving, it seems like it would be very difficult for Officer Wilson to stay on the Ferguson police force even though he has been cleared by this grand jury, it would seem perhaps in his own interest to join a different force where he would not be as well known. When is he going to make a decision?

DANIELLE THOMPSON, ATTORNEY FOR OFFICER DARREN WILSON: That decision hopefully will be made shortly and at this point, the biggest concern for Darren is his safety, but also the safety of his brothers and sisters out there working with him. He doesn't want to put any other officer in harm's way because of what his presence may bring.

TAPPER: All right, Danielle Thompson and Jim Towey, attorneys for Officer Darren Wilson. Thank you very much. Have a good holiday.

Now to our other major story today. Delays up and down the East Coast as wintry weather makes Thanksgiving travel a mess. People with sicknesses inside airports, canceled flights, wet, snowy roads, and it could even affect you if you're not traveling in the hardest-hit areas. I'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. You're looking live at New York City. This same snowstorm is snarling holiday travel across the country. Right now, that mix of snow and rain is moving up the East Coast just as millions of you are making your way over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. We have a team tracking the weather impact in the air and on the ground. Let's start with CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray, live at LaGuardia Airport. Jennifer, a lot of frustrated travelers there watching the CNN airport stream, I would think, right now.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, you bet. The day before Thanksgiving, the busiest travel day of the year, and it's fitting that we have a snowstorm. It seems like we have this almost every year. Some sort of trouble.

Look at the board behind me and you can see the reds and yellows, and that is bad news, and we have seen those numbers grow throughout the day. It started out with just a couple this morning, and now we're seeing about 3,000 delays today, folks delayed up to three hours or more, and 600 cancellations. And those are flights into the United States and out of the United States and within the U.S., of course. The weather outside here at New York, not all that bad, but this morning we had low clouds. It stopped a lot of those planes from coming in and it made a lot of them late, and it's created a ripple effect, and you see the snow across portions of the northeast, and it's slowing folks down left and right, so people need to get to the airports early and pack a lot of patience. I do want to throw to my colleague, Rosa Flores. She is in Massachusetts. Rosa, how are the conditions there?

ROSA FLORES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, Jennifer, it's been snowing at a pretty good clip all day long. The weather service expecting between one to two inches of snow in central Massachusetts until 8:00 p.m. tonight, which makes for some treacherous road conditions.

Let's take a look. These are the westbound lanes of I-90 and all of these folks headed toward New York. Hear this, the day started off with a speed limit of 65 miles an hour, and that was down now to 40 miles an hour. Why? Because of the road conditions. Because the temperatures have been dropping. We started a toasty 39 degrees, and right now it's at 31 degrees, and because the precipitation keeps falling, we've seen a snow/sleet mix, and now for a look at the bigger picture, here's Chad Myers.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Rosa. Stay warm out there. I know what those live shots are like.

Sleeting into Worcester, going to be snowing in New York city rather quickly, as this all changes over into a snow event tonight. It's getting colder out there, Jake, and things will begin to freeze. Roads that are just wet are going to get icy rather quickly, right at sunset. The bridges will go first. That's just the way it always happens.

We do have a lot of airport delays there still, Boston, New York, LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia, the same airports that have been doing the same thing all day.

I-95 still wet for about another hour, and then all of a sudden that cold air comes rushing in behind the low, Jake, and everything turns white.

The good news for the big cities, most of this storm was rain. We get about one to two inches of snow on top of rain, and that's it. Watch out for icy spots tonight.

TAPPER: All right, Chad, Jennifer, Rosa tracking this nasty November storm. Thank you all.

Let's say that you're watching us right now in an airport. You're waiting on your delayed flight. Would you be better off ditching the flight, finding another way to get to your Thanksgiving destination? Let's pose that question to travel expert Mark Murphy. He's in the beautiful city of Philadelphia. Mark, how about it? Should people at or on their way to the airport right now get out of there and head to the train station?

MARK MURPHY, TRAVEL EXPERT: Yes. I think it depends on how long your travel time is. If you're going to Florida, forget it, you have to wait, but if you're going within a five-hour radius of travel time, I would absolutely take the train. I think that's the best way to travel on a day like today. Better yet, my best tip is never travel on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, just don't do it, but if you're already in for it, you're in for it.

TAPPER: If they decide not to fly, won't they lose the money they spent on the ticket?

MURPHY: No. Right now it depends on each airline's policy. On US Air, you have to still travel and complete your travel by the 27th, but they won't hit you with a change fee or anything else because of the delays if you have to rebook. My suggestion is get your sanity back, change your ticket, go out early tomorrow, try to be on the first flight out tomorrow, and in doing so you'll have a good chance of getting out, you'll have less stress, and you know what? The storm will be behind you. You can drive to the airport fairly safely. Right now, it's just a mess out there.

TAPPER: Speaking of driving, 46 million Americans will be driving 50 miles or more on this holiday weekend. For those people driving, should they wait until tomorrow morning and not try to brave the roads this evening?

MURPHY: Absolutely. I would wait until tomorrow. As you just heard from Chad, the roads are icing up. I just drove into Philadelphia. The roads are still fine right now, but give it an hour or two hours, and as that temperature drops, the further inland you are, you are going to ice up. And then you hit these bridges. That's when you have these accidents. Why risk it? Your loved ones want to see you, you'll see them tomorrow, and you'll avoid the traffic and the mess and the snarls and potential accidents. I think it's crazy to leave today, especially given the conditions.

TAPPER: Mark, what's the best way to check your flight's status for people who are not at the airport?

MURPHY: So one thing you can go on to different websites. You can go on the faa.gov website, the exact URL is faa.fly.faa.gov (ph), you may have to double-check that, but if you search that, you can find it, and it will tell you what airports are having problems. More specifically, look at your actual carrier's website and check your exact flight. Depending on where your flight's coming in or going out of, you may be delayed even if you're in an area where you're not seeing any of this weather. This weather is pretty much concentrated in the mid-Atlantic states on up into the Northeast. So if you're in Chicago, you probably think you're fine, but your flight might be delayed because of a ripple effect, and that's what you have to worry about when you're outside this actual area. That's the best way to check.

TAPPER: And let me ask you, for those people who are planning not only their trips for this weekend and also for Christmas break, winter break. Whenever I buy a ticket, they always ask me if I want to buy trip insurance. Should I be clicking yes on that? MURPHY: I don't think when you buy it on the website, it's very good.

I've used it. I tested it. It has never worked out for me personally. That extra $5 to $7. However, if you're booking a vacation package or going to Cancun for winter break like I'm going to be doing with my family, buy the insurance on the total package and make sure it's canceled for any reason insurance, because there are so many things with insurance that are fine print. We're seeing that in health insurance and everything else. Make sure you're covered and make sure you have got someone like a travel agent who can provide advice on that. That's my best tip.

TAPPER: All right. Good tips. Good advice. Mark, thank you as always. Coming up next, we return to our lead story. Darren Wilson says there is no question in his mind that he would have acted the exact same way had Michael Brown been white. What does the Brown family attorney think? I'll ask him next.

Plus, he called 911 as a crowd gathered outside his store Monday night to loot it, but this business owner was told police were too busy to respond. So what is left of his store now? The store owners of Ferguson, Missouri. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We continue now with our "National Lead" and the ongoing questions about what exactly happened that summer day in Ferguson, Missouri? That day that led to the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Brown's parents have expressed their anger and outrage and frustration over Officer Darren Wilson's claim that he had no choice but to shoot their son.

The family's attorney, Anthony Gray, joins me now live from New York City. Mr. Gray, good to see you as always.

ANTHONY GRAY, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL BROWN'S FAMILY: Good to see you, Jake. Thank you for having me.

TAPPER: I spoke with Darren Wilson's attorneys. I want to get some of your reaction to some of the things they said. They say that basically that Darren did -- they called him Darren.

Officer Wilson did what he had to do to protect his life that according to his grand jury testimony he feared that Michael Brown charging at him could have hit him in the face and that third punch could have been fatal. Take a listen to what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIELLE THOMPSON, ATTORNEY FOR OFFICER DARREN WILSON: He did exactly what he was trained to do. He did exactly what he was supposed to do as a police officer in that situation. No loss of life is easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So they said he did exactly what he had to do. What's your response, sir?

GRAY: Well, you know, was there a lot of could haves in his hypothesis about what would have happened had Michael Brown got close enough to him, I'm assuming. The idea that he was going to kill him is absolutely ridiculous.

I guess, he was going to kill him with Officer Wilson's gun. I'm assuming he was just going to give it to him and that was going to be the end of the case. I just don't get how we can go off of pure speculation off of an unarmed man.

You have to keep in mind, Jake, what's missing from this entire equation is that Mike was bleeding when he left the vehicle. He was winded from running. He was wounded by Officer Wilson's own account in his first flurry of gunshots.

Now you mean to tell me that a man who is compromised that much physically and who now according to you has his head down towards you in a 90-degree angle that you can't try any other technique, to diffuse that situation, but deadly force? We reject that.

We reject the idea that he was fearful. He didn't sound fearful when he got out of the car with his weapon. He didn't sound fearful when he shot him with the four shots -- first four shots.

TAPPER: So you are not just saying that he interpreted events differently than Michael Brown did. You're saying that Officer Wilson is lying.

GRAY: No doubt about it. All you have to do is just look at what he told his supervisor, which nobody is really paying a lot of attention to because it has since then developed and mushroomed into this big old account of having something to do with the store and having this awesome fear about this big giant coming at him.

That's not what he said initially when he was asked at the scene. Let me tell you something, when you read his initial statement to his supervisor this whole incidents boiled down to two words according to him.

It was the words "f" off and that's what got this started and that's why he was upset and that's what resulted in Michael brown, Jr., being killed in broad daylight, nothing else.

TAPPER: I want to ask you, we've heard from a lot of witnesses who backed the Brown family version of events. A lot of them spoke right here on CNN, but the grand jury heard from 60 witnesses and some of them testified that they saw Michael Brown charge Officer Wilson and that he told Brown to stop.

Witness 48, specifically said, quote, "I probably would have shot him instantly. You charge at me like that, but when he was running back towards Wilson, Police Officer Wilson was screaming stop, stop and the officer was backing up as he kept coming closer to him and he didn't stop. So he shot him three times and he was still charging towards him and he shot him again." Don't you think different witness accounts like that might be part of the reason why the grand jury chose not to indict?

GRAY: No doubt about it. Each one of them is missing certain elements to what Wilson claimed occurred. Just take that one, for example, because I read that one. He said he kept coming at him and he shot. The second time he only shot once.

But according to the sounds of the shots that we heard that have been confirmed through this video chat he shot five times in the second flurry, not just once. It's those types of missing pieces and it seems like everybody's testimony, to be honest that called into question what we're hearing in terms of what happened that day.

And my only point is when you think about the fact that Mike Brown, Jr., nobody disputes was unarmed. He was wounded. He was bleeding and you're telling me that your only option and you had a weapon in your hand that could be used as an impact weapon as well as a weapon to shoot somebody with.

That the only option that you have is to continue to pump bullets in his body until he's down in the ground? We reject that, Jake. Bottom line, we just reject it.

TAPPER: I understand. Anthony Gray, attorney for the Brown family. Thanks for joining me. Happy Thanksgiving. Good luck getting back home.

GRAY: Likewise. You have a great one.

TAPPER: When we come back, they were promised police protection, but instead watched as their stores were looted and in some cases burned to the ground.

Next, two Ferguson business owners shared their frustration at the looting and at the lack of response when they needed it most.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. After a night of shattered glass, uncontrolled fires and a steady stream of looters grabbing anything they could --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leave this alone! Leave this alone!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Ferguson's residents and business owners woke up to a crushing sight and buildings burned to the ground, some unrecognizable, and many of them locally owned shops just barely done rebuilding after the first riots in August.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can help the next one.

TAPPER (voice-over): They were told they would be protected. Store owners in Ferguson were told their businesses would be safe.

GOVERNOR JAY NIXON (D), MISSOURI: Together, we are all focused on making sure the necessary resources are at hand to protect lives, protect property and protect free speech.

TAPPER: But on Monday night that pledge fell apart. We first met Ibrahim Rammaha back in August as he was cleaning up Sam's Meat Market after looters had hit it for the second time.

IBRAHIM RAMMAHA, SAM'S MEAT MARKET EMPLOYEE: This freezer is usually filled up, like, all these boxes are empty, you know?

TAPPER: Just down the road, Yinla and his father showed us this surveillance footage of their store, the Dellwood Market, being looted that same August night. Both stores closed early on Monday this week before the grand jury's decision was announced. Their owners and employees anxiously waited and hoped for the best.

But law enforcement focused on one strip of Ferguson near the police station and the protection for many businesses was nowhere to be seen. Chief Jon Belmar of the St. Louis County Police defended their decisions.

CHIEF JON BELMAR, ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE: It's a lot more difficult to manage here on West Florissant based on kind of a lay of the land.

TAPPER: Dellwood Market was overrun and looted again. Thieves mutilating this ATM machine.

JAN LALANI, DELLWOOD MARKET: We're talking 13, 14-year-old girls coming in here. We're talking guys that are -- that could be my dad.

TAPPER: It was even worse for Ibrahim Rammaha.

RAMMAHA: They showed a helicopter when it was a helicopter I seen the store smoking and I was, like, it's over.

TAPPER: Jay Kanzlar is an attorney for Sam's Meat Market.

JAY KANZLAR, ATTORNEY: Friday night we sat down at Sam's with a member of the Justice Department, who assured us a number of the businesses that there was a plan and that they were not going to let happen what happened last time.

TAPPER: Sam's Meat Market and the surrounding area is being treated as a crime scene so it was closed off. We spoke with Rammaha and his attorney in front of another destroyed business.

(on camera): Is there anything salvageable?

RAMMAHA: It's done. Everything's done. TAPPER (voice-over): Rammaha shot this cell phone video of the inside of his family's business.

RAMMAHA: It just hurts. I don't know why this was done to us. I don't blame the protesters, I don't blame the community and I would have known this was going to happen, we would protected our business, but we were told not to.

TAPPER: Yen Lalani was watching his security camera feed of the Dellwood Market from his home.

LALANI: I called 911 and said that if they can make their way around up here because it was about to go down and the response was they're too busy.

TAPPER (on camera): Too busy.

(voice-over): Both families emigrated to the United States to build better lives. Now they must rebuild again. Ibrahim Rammaha's family fled from Kuwait before the first Gulf War. Now Ferguson is all too familiar to the home he left.

RAMMAHA: I left the war zone and now I'm back in a war zone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: It's clear the local and federal officials believed there was a plan in place to protect local businesses as you heard in our piece. We reached out to the Justice Department for their response. They had no comment.

That's it for THE LEAD.

I'm Jake Tapper.

I now turn you over to Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving.