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The White House is on lockdown after someone jumped the fence, running on to the north lawn; Putin saying the downing by Turkey caught Moscow totally off guard; Republican front-runner Donald Trump is doubling down on his attacks against "The New York Times". Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired November 26, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I walked for a few blocks behind two young protesters, they were in their teens. They were talking with a police officer. They were laughing. You know, they were -- I couldn't exactly hear what they were saying. But then I got a little closer. When they said good-bye, they said happy thanksgiving.

So while you see that a lot of these protesters were in the faces of the police officers, there were also these conversations happening that were very peaceful, that were allowing demonstrators to demonstrate but also police officers to serve and to protect.

Now like you said, we are expecting more protests tomorrow. Right now, it's very quiet here. You can see that there are shoppers around me. And you know, there is hundreds of shops in the magnificent mile. And there will be thousands of shoppers here tomorrow. And we hear from protesters that they do plan to march up and down this avenue to voice their concerns. Of course, they want transparency in this city - Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Rosa, thank you. Rosa Flores in Chicago.

Let's move ton more of our breaking news.

Vladimir Putin just responding to Turkey, just calling on Russia to apologize over the jet shoot-down. Hear what he says and whether he is ready to join this American-led coalition fight against ISIS.

Plus, more on our other breaking news out of Washington. The fact that the White House is on lockdown. Someone tried to jump the White House fence. We'll take you there live.

This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:45] BALDWIN: Back to our breaking news here out of Washington. The White House is on lockdown after someone jumped the fence, running on to actually the north lawn.

So for more on what is happening here, Athena Jones has been on this for us in Washington. Athena Jones, tell me what you know what happened.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke. Well, this is a here we go again scenario because this is not the first time this has happened. But we are getting more information and we know that the White House is still on lockdown but the man himself has been apprehended. He was detained almost immediately by secret service when he jumped over two barriers.

I'm getting this information in by our photo journalist (INAUDIBLE). You can see the picture of the man wearing blue shirt, white pants and wrapped with the American flag. He jumped over that temporary barricade that setup in front of the fence and the by-crack (ph). And then he proceed to jump over the big fence you see there. That is a fence, Brooke, that has newly installed metal spikes. There is supposed to be seven-inch steel spikes that were put in place to guard against precisely this sort of thing. It was meant as a temporary measure while they work on longer term designs for how to buttress those barriers and make the fence much more difficult to scale. But those new spikes that were installed just a few months ago clearly didn't detain this young man.

Now, our photojournalist there says that secret service agents immediately started yelling at him as soon as he breached the barrier there, had their guns drawn. Told him to get on the ground. And he did get on the ground with his hands up. And in one of his hands, he was holding a white envelope.

Now, we don't have any more information about what may have been in the envelope. We don't know anything about this man at this point. That's still information we are waiting for. But we know that several agents responded with their canine dogs, as would be expected.

But Brooke, this is not good news. This is something that secret service does not like to see. And the main problem is that it keeps happening. Perhaps the most famous or infamous breach was back in September 2014 when, you'll remember, a jumper not only made it over the fence but made it all the way into the White House, as far as the east room. So this is a repeat -- a problem that's repeating itself far too much for the secret service's liking - Brooke.

BALDWIN: But minor detail that's significant, the first family was home when this all happened.

JONES: Absolutely. They are celebrating thanksgiving.

BALDWIN: Yes.

JONES: Of course, we don't know what room they may have been in. But it's a serious thing, having someone be able to jump over that reinforced fence on a day when the president and his family are there.

Some of these past jumpers have jumped when the president was overseas or otherwise not home. But he was home with his family celebrating thanksgiving making this all the more concerning, you have to imagine, for secret service officials - Brooke. BALDWIN: Just don't do it. As you said, file it under here we go

again.

Athena Jones, thank you so much.

Meantime, the other huge story we are watching, two days after Turkey downed that Russian warplane, neither side is showing any sign of backing down. Turkey's president talking to CNN in an exclusive interview today, the president saying his nation is not the one who needs to apologize.

And here we finally have it. Moments ago, Russian president Vladimir Putin with French President Francois Hollande there in Moscow. Putin saying the downing by Turkey caught Moscow totally off guard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I repeat again because we considered Turkey to be a friendly country. We did not expect such previously we informed our American partners where, when and where our pilots would be working. The American side which leads the coalition in Turkey knew about these missions. And then at that time we received a strike. So, we can be asked, why did the Americans not give us that information?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's bring in CNN local commentator Peter Beinart joins me here. He is also contributing editor for Atlantic Media which includes "the Atlantic" and "National Journal."

So thank you so much for coming in.

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

[15:40:01] BALDWIN: I think it is important to -- there are short term implications and then, of course, the broader context of this coalition, what's happening with ISIS. So, short term first. How might or will Putin and Russia, since they're obviously irked -- both sides are irked. How would Putin try to punish Turkey?

BEINART: Well, there is already talking rationale various economic sanctions. They are preventing import of Turkish produce. They are telling Russian tourists not to go to Turkey and that is actually the number one destination.

BALDWIN: It's actually a pretty big deal.

BEINART: It's pretty big deal for both countries actually because Turkey is the number one Russian tourist destination. And there's even talk, and this will be the biggest deal, of them perhaps putting on hold a big pipeline project that was meant to go -- bring oil into Russia through Turkey and into Europe bypassing the Ukraine.

BALDWIN: Bugger picture what's happened here between Turkey and Russia. How might this derail the coalition between the west and Russia?

BEINART: You know, the frightening thing is here you have two leaders in Turkey and Russia for basically fuel bi-nationalism. They are very adept at using nationalism in their countries to support themselves politically. So even though, the conflict between the two of them may be bad economically, it could help both leaders politically because both leaders really have been riding a nationalist tide.

BALDWIN: You are the first person who has said that. Everyone else says no, no, no.

BEINART: You know, you can see Putin has not backed down on Ukraine, even though it's hurt his country's economy because it's actually helping him in the polls. This is worrying. And the other thing is it illustrates a border problem which is that the only way of defeating ISIS is by bringing together a coalition that also moves toward a political solution with the Syrian government toward Assad. Turkey badly wants Assad out and Russia wants him in.

BALDWIN: Russia says now, Putin has just said well, it's up to the Syrian people to decide whether or not Assad stays or goes. And we know what France and Turkey and the U.S., how we feel about Assad. So what happens there?

BEINART: Well, I think it just need to all the more difficult. It show illustrates the difficulty in bringing together all the countries that have a stake here at the table and figuring out a political transition post-Assad. The differences are very deep. And Syria has become this battleground for so many different countries, resentments. National yearnings, desires for imperial control.

It's really a remarkable and frightening thing, which is playing out here. Syria is becoming a kind of magnet for a global competition that we haven't seen in this way in a very long time.

BALDWIN: Peter Beinart, thank you very much.

BEINART: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Next, Donald Trump says he can say anything and it will not hurt his support. Since running for president, he has offended Latinos, women, Muslims, prisoners of war, journalists, Republicans, Univision, pollsters, the people of Iowa, black activists, Heidi Klum, fact checkers and Rand Paul's hair. And, well, the list just got longer.

Trump now in hot water for mocking a reporter with a disability. This is a rare medical condition. Is Trump apologizing? What do you think? The backlash. And his brand new response, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:36] BALDWIN: All right. Let's get to politics now with Republican front-runner Donald Trump is doubling down on his attacks against "The New York Times." Let me back up. This whole thing started. He was down in South Carolina, campaigning where Donald Trump imitated this "New York Times" reporter with a physical disability. While continuing to insist he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey back on 9/11. And Trump specifically took aim at this journalist Serge Kovaleski (ph). Kovaleski (ph) is the one who wrote a story a week after 9/11 that mentioned a number of people questioned in Jersey City for allegedly celebrating the attacks. Kovaleski (ph) recently said he could not recall talking to any witnesses who saw those words celebrations back in 2001. But let me play this for you. This is the piece that we are talking about. This is Donald Trump imitating Kovaleski.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Written by a nice reporter. Now the poor guy, you ought to see this guy. I don't know what I said. I don't remember! He's going, I don't remember. Maybe that's what I said. This is 14 years old. They didn't do a retraction!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Kovaleski has a disability which limits the mobility of his arms. This is what "The New York Times" has told CNN, quoting them now. "We find it is outrageous that he would ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters."

So, to Washington we go, to our CNN senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar.

And if I may say, my friend, let me just read, we now have this statement response from Donald Trump himself. This is how the first two graphs read. Quoting "I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovaleski (ph) is, what he looks like or his level of intelligence. I don't know if he is JJ Watt, or Muhammad Ali in his prime or somebody of less athletic or physical ability. I know nothing about him other than I have great respect for the way he wrote the story on September 18th, 2001."

And in particular, the paragraph talking about Muslims and tailgate parties taking place in Jersey City. Somebody at the financially failing and totally biased "New York Times" said that over the years I have met Mr. Kovaleski. Despite having one of the all-time great memories I certainly do not remember him. What I do know is that after 14 years and no retraction, this reporter tried to pull away from the tailgate party paragraph he wrote many years ago for the "Washington Post."

Brianna, I mean, Donald Trump, he is like run out of people to offend at this point. Though, so many people are absolutely standing by him.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, they are. And actually, there are a list of groups of people that he had offended, Iowans, Mexico women, African-Americans, Muslims, I mean, the list goes on and on, but it is interesting you point out, Brooke, his supporters are standing very much by him. They seem to like his unfiltered the way he speaks. And certainly I think they are not necessarily fans of the media or fans of the "New York Times." So this is a safe political space for him to operate in. But I actually just want to let you know that we have an additional

statement from Donald Trump's office. And actually he is now demanding an apology from what he calls the failing "New York Times" for accusing him of mocking a reporter's physical disability. And it says, in fact Mr. Trump does not know anything about the reporter, anything about what the reporter looks like, says he was just merely mocking the fact the reporter was trying to pull away from a story that he wrote 14 years ago. He accuses, and quote this reporter, as thinking a lot of himself if he thinks I remember him from decades ago.

I will point to the fact that this reporter, Serge Kovaleski, actually covered Donald Trump for many years. So I think his expectations that Donald Trump does know who he is but Donald Trump is saying actually I don't.

[15:51:10] BALDWIN: So just so I'm hearing you correctly, it's Donald Trump who is asking for an apology.

KEILAR: Yes.

BALDWIN: From the "New York Times."

KEILAR: That's right. He's demanding an apology from the "New York Times."

BALDWIN: OK. Let's move on. And I want to play this new ad. This is from Republican contender here John Kasich, governor of Ohio. I should mention the person being quoted in the ad is a renowned pastor who spent time in concentration camps and spoke out publicly against the Nazis. So here's the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like anyone who is listening to consider some thoughts that I've paraphrased from the words of German pastor Martin Nimov (ph). You might not care that Donald Trump says Muslims must register with your government because you're not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump says he is going to round up all the Hispanic immigrants because you are not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump says it's OK to rough up black protesters because you are not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump wants to suppress journalists because you are not one. But think about this, if he keeps going and he actually becomes president, he might just get around to you. And you better hope that there's someone left to help you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So now add Kasich to the growing list of, you know, Republican candidates attacking Trump.

KEILAR: Yes. He is part of the growing list. And I do think that if a candidate punches at Trump, they should sort of expect a counterpunch here. It's interesting the sort of attack line there that you're hearing in that ad though, Brooke, which is sort of saying he is insulting these groups, eventually he is going to insult you. I have been talking to Republican sources about what they think candidates should do. I spoke with a couple who said that's really not the way to get at him. Instead what they think candidates should do is try to attack whether he is presidential. They should attack things like when he says that he gets his national security information from watching television. And they should hammer on that over and over to say that he is really disqualified for being president. But we will see.

BALDWIN: We will see. We will see you later on CNN as well. Thank you, my friend. Happy thanksgiving. Brianna Keilar.

KEILAR: You too.

BALDWIN: In Washington, thank you. Still ahead, we are following breaking news. The White House on lockdown after a fence jumper reached the north lawn. That jumper now in custody. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:57:45] BALDWIN: As we celebrate thanksgiving and join family to share a meal, I'm often reminded of the people I have met this year who will have empty seats at their tables. In 2015, I have spoken with so many families who lost loved ones to gun violence. And on this day, the day we express gratitude for all that we have, I wanted to share this from two incredibly strong women.

Alana Simmons lost her grandfather in June at the horrific church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Bethane Middleton-Brown, lost her sister as well. They were among five Charleston survivors selected as glamour magazine's women of the year just recently here in New York, and here you can see why. Even in perhaps their most difficult year they express forgiveness, grace, perseverance and gratitude.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETHANE MIDDLETON-BROWN, SISTER KILLED IN CHURCH SHOOTING: The children have told me that the only changes as their mommy is in here. So they are very comfortable. I'm not necessarily saying that I'm looking forward to the holidays yet. I'm a little nervous about it. But I have my family and I have extended family. I'll get through it. The pain was just really a very good big sister for me and she taught me so many things. So her spirit is guiding me through calmness and patience and learning in our faith. I have learned that there's strength in my faith and how to just stand still sometimes and not say a word.

ALANA SIMMONS, GRANDFATHER KILLED IN CHURCH SHOOTING: Although I lost my grandfather who was there every thanksgiving and Christmas, I have his extended family now. And so now we have more people to celebrate with. And just people who understand what we are going through. And who can really help us with healing or further healing. And I'm also grateful that -- or thankful that I've been put in a position that I know my grandfather would have loved to have. Because although, you know, something terrible happened, a lot of good has come from it. And we're working to make sure that a lot more good comes from it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[16:00:06] BALDWIN: And with that happy thanksgiving to you.

Brianna Keilar is up next. Thanks for watching.

END