Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Turkey Shoots Down Russian Military Jet; Maximum Terror Alert Paralyzes Brussels; Interview with Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 24, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:24] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: How to deal with ISIS is one of the topics Secretary of State John Kerry is focusing on today during his trip to the Middle East. He's meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. They're also addressing the rash of violence in the West Bank. Palestinians have killed six Israeli Jews in the last five days and stabbing and car ramming attacks. Secretary Kerry calls it terrorism that must be condemned.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All four crew members aboard a chopper that crashed in Ft. Hood, Texas, were killed. The chopper went down on Monday. Emergency crews found the wreckage after an extensive search. Officials say the victims were on a training mission at the time. No word yet on what caused that crash.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Minneapolis police are looking three white male suspects in a shooting near a Black Lives Matter demonstration. Five protesters were shot, luckily none of the injuries life-threatening. It happened near a police station where people have been camping out to protest the fatal police shooting of Jamar Clark. A spokesperson for Black Lives Matter claims a local group of white supremacists are responsible.

PEREIRA: A man has been arrested after being caught on surveillance video, shooting a Tulane University's -- a medical student in the stomach. Police say it all unfolded last Friday when a student, Peter Gold, tried to stop Euric Cain from dragging a woman down the street. They say he shot him once and tried again but his gun jammed.

Cain who has a prior rap sheet fled with the woman's purse. He was later found hiding at his 17-year-old girlfriend's home. Doctors say that student Gold is improving.

CAMEROTA: OK. We do have breaking news for you this morning. A Russian warplane has been shot down by Turkey near the border of Syria. So, we will tell you what this means for the war against ISIS.

That's ahead on NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:07] CAMEROTA: We do have breaking news to tell you about this morning because we're following this story. Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet claiming it violated Turkish airspace on the Syrian border. Russia is disputing that.

So, we're joined by CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, and chairman for the Center of Analysis of Terrorism, Jean-Charles Brisard.

Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here and helping us with the breaking news.

General Hertling, what do we know at this hour about what happened between Turkey and Russia?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Alison.

What we know so far is it was a SU-34, which is a Soviet aircraft, two-seater. It has two pilots onboard. It's an old NATO variant of an aircraft.

Turkey has said it was shot down by an F-16 after it violated Turkish airspace on multiple occasions and that it had been warned ten times in a span of about six minutes that it was in Turkish airspace and to get out.

Secondly, we also know this is one of multiple incursions into Turkish airspace by the Russians. They're not authorized to do that. They're not part of the coalition so Turkey has not given them permission.

We also seem to know that based on the video that was taken of the crash that two pilots did eject. We don't know their conditions. We don't know if they're safe or not. But we also know that Russia doesn't have any of what the U.S. military calls CSAR, combat search and rescue in an area in case of an incident like this.

So, it was flying over an area called (INAUDIBLE), which is in southern Turkey, north of the Syrian border by about 30 miles and again, you know, both sides are giving their own story of it now. But there is going to be gun camera film from the F-16s if they in fact did shoot it down. Excuse me. There's going to be radar traces of the Russian airplanes to show exactly where they were.

CAMEROTA: General Hertling, they were warned ten times. That sounds bad. But only in the space of four to six minutes. What is a pilot supposed to do in four to six minutes if they're already in the wrong airspace?

HERTLING: Yes, that's a lifetime for an aircraft pilot going at about 300 or 400 knots. What they do is they turn around and they head back out of Turkish airspace. You're talking about 30 miles in. They could turn the aircraft around and get out of that airspace but it appears from early Turkish indicators that they remained in the airspace and continued to maneuver there.

So, I think again, the aircraft tracks and the gun camera video will show this. But ten minutes in pilot time or six minutes in pilot time is a whole long period of air time and airspace they could move out of the area.

CAMEROTA: OK. That's good perspective to know. So, then do we have sense from Russia of why they didn't turn around?

HERTLING: Well, you have seen these kind of things having gone on by the Russian military for the last several months. They have tweaked their noses at the west. They've especially done it in Turkey. They've been in Turkish airspace on multiple occasions and have been warned and remember, there was a Russian UAV shot down by the Turks about a month and a half ago.

So, there have been other NATO nations that have claimed Russia has gone into their airspace without authority. They have turned off transponders. They've been somewhat irresponsible in the way they're maneuvering, which shows they believe they are in control of the skies and no one has called their bluff. And right now, it appears that turkey called their bluff and shot one of their airplanes down.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, Jean-Charles, all of this against the backdrop of all of these countries, Russia included, trying to figure out how to fight ISIS. As you know, President Obama is meeting at the White House with President Hollande today to talk about the plan. So, how does this change the plan or what they were going to talk about?

JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD, CHAIRMAN, CENTER FOR ANALYSIS OF TERRORISM: It could clearly be a game changer. Obviously, it will exacerbate the situation between Russia and Turkey.

[06:40:01] And obviously, it will make the prospects of global and united coalition against ISIS very much more complicated to build both for Francois Hollande and President Obama. Probably also Turkey doesn't want to seal its border. Turkish forces remaining in the long-term will increase its support not only to rebel groups but also its ambiguous policy toward ISIS.

We know and now since months now that the Turkish territory has been used by ISIS as a base to recruit jihadists and also a back door for its exportations of many goods, reinforcing the finances of the group.

So, probably, this incident could be a game changer in raising the tensions in the region and again making more difficult for the west to build a clear and united coalition against ISIS.

CAMEROTA: Jean-Charles, before I let you go, can we just talk about what's happening in Brussels this morning? Once again the city is shut down. Schools are closed. The subway system is closed. What are your sources telling you about what intel they have that is bringing that city to a standstill?

BRISARD: Well, what happened last week in Paris was an operation -- transnational operation carried out by both French terror cells and Belgium terrorists cells, I might say. It's clear that the investigation is focused on several members here in France and finally naturalized several individuals but it also focused on the Belgian side because we know several of them have fled there and there's been a huge support network in terms of logistics in Belgium for these attacks to be carried out.

The fear from the authorities was that remnants of these cells could well trigger a terrorist attack on its soil, knowing that there were about to be caught by the police or identified by the intelligence.

CAMEROTA: Right. Jean-Charles Brisard, General Hertling, thanks so much for all of the information about our breaking news today. We'll check back with you.

Let's get to Chris.

CUOMO: There is the threat abroad and then the threat right here at home. So, how will New York City deal with a new ISIS threat just two days before the big parade? We'll get answers from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio live on NEW DAY. He also has a plan for mental reform. So stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:43] PEREIRA: U.S. intelligence suggesting the Paris attackers conducted surveillance at some of their target locations and showed signs of military-style training. A possible suicide vest found near Paris Monday. There are suggestions it could have been tossed by the still missing eighth terror suspect. The U.S. is now reissuing a global terror alert because of ongoing threats.

President Obama will host French President Francois Hollande today.

CUOMO: The governor of Indiana is facing a federal lawsuit after promising to block Syrian refugees from resettling in his state. The ACLU of Indiana says Governor Mike Pence is violating the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution by accepting refugees from other countries but not Syria. Pence insists the Feds must close security holes in the Syrian refugee vetting process.

PEREIRA: Just in time for Thanksgiving, the freezing cold temperatures have arrived in many parts of the country. Turning to meteorologist Chad Myers.

The Canadians turned on the heat yesterday. I like the canary on the mine, Chad. You know, if I'm turning on the heat, it's time to do the same.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We still had our windows open up here just a couple days ago. The cold has really come in and it's come in fast. We're down in the 20s and 30s.

Warming up across the East Coast for the next few days. I mean, we get to 60 in the afternoon on Thanksgiving. That's good enough. Frying your Turkey, don't do it in the garage. Do it outside because that oil could catch on fire and your garage goes up.

So you have enough nice weather out there to keep the turkeys outside. That's good news.

Now, there is snow coming into the northwest and there will be snow for skiers if you're headed to the Rockies. There will be black ice on Black Friday into Oklahoma and Texas. Those are the only travel troubles I can find. The rest of the weekend looks nice across the country -- Chris.

PEREIRA: I hope you listened to that.

CUOMO: Alison deep fries turkeys in her house.

CAMEROTA: I have an indoor one.

PEREIRA: Bad idea, right, Chad?

CAMEROTA: But I've done every year.

CUOMO: I don't think she has anything to do with it. I think her husband does --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: No, no, I do it. I say, stand back children as I lower into the hot oil. Is that OK?

CUOMO: Donald Trump doesn't believe what you just said. I'll tell you that right now.

So, we want to figure out how to balance danger and fear when it comes to terror, right? There's a new threat against New York just days before the Thanksgiving Day parade. What do you do?

The mayor of the Big Apple, Bill de Blasio, is here live. He's going to tell you how ready they are, but just as importantly what their attitude is.

CAMEROTA: That's a drill you're watching, by the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:53:04] CUOMO: ISIS makes threats. That's what they do. However, when they come to two American cities, including the Big Apple, New York City, just ahead of Thanksgiving holiday parade, millions are going to be there. You have to deal with it.

CAMEROTA: So, the NYPD is stepping up their counterterrorism training including a major drill this past Sunday.

PEREIRA: Here to discuss the security efforts and so much more, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray. Really a pleasure to have you both here.

In fact, we want to talk to you about a very important and exciting new mental health initiative that's taking place and is ongoing.

But, obviously, with the Thanksgiving Day parade around the corner, we have to talk about with urgency what's going on in the city. Understand there's some major preparations under way and have been going on. We saw some drills that the NYPD was conducting.

How are you feeling about security in your fair city, Mayor?

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: I feel very good about what NYPD is doing. Remember, we've had the Macy's parade, the Thanksgiving parade for years.

PEREIRA: For a few years.

DE BLASIO: It's always been a -- yes, a few years. It's been a very big event.

But the NYPD has really perfected over the years how to handle these large events and actually the most impressive version of that was when we had the pope here simultaneously with 140 leaders from around the world, presidents of different countries and the president of the United States all in the course of one week and the NYPD literally made it look easy. They were that good.

Since then we've now added the beginning of a 500-person counterterror force which we call critical response command. And this is a specifically trained armed force for counterterror activities only.

You saw the drills on Sunday. Very impressive group of men and women in our police force who have volunteered to focus on fighting terror and they are the best of the NYPD and I'm really happy to say, this is the best prepared city in the country to both prevent terrorism and to respond in God forbid we had any here.

CAMEROTA: But, I mean, given what happened in Paris where soft targets were hit. How can you feel confident that that wouldn't happen in New York?

DE BLASIO: I think in the age of the lone wolf, we have to be sober about the fact that you can never account for everyone.

[06:55:04] But we can say this: for 14 years since 9/11, NYPD working with our federal partners, FBI, et cetera, have kept the city safe. And part of that is an extraordinary intelligence gathering capacity and a real focus on prevention, which has worked. Now, we're adding to that capacity.

So, what we find is having close relationships to the community and getting intelligence early and looking for those leads, using a variety of techniques has helped us to stay ahead of anyone who may have evil intentions. But in the age of the lone wolf it's important to be able to respond quickly as Commissioner Bratton said last week. We now have a 500-person plus counterterrorism force on top of the other capacity that we have. If there are even multiple events around New York City, we can respond within minutes with a lot of firepower and a lot of training.

CUOMO: And also, look, the experts -- you hear all the time in your briefings, they're surprised things haven't happened, how much stuff they stop. Bad guys only have to be successful once.

You do have big advantages over Paris. That's an obviously fractured society. They have big problems with community that thank God we don't have here yet. It's a different equation. But you can never over-prepare.

PEREIRA: Well, add to it, we have technology on our side. We understand someone's brother has launched an initiative, an app. We know of see something and say something. Now there's see something send something -- the idea that if you see something, take a picture and then send that image to the proper authorities.

DE BLASIO: That's exactly right. People should feel empowered that if they have information, they can actually help to fight terrorism.

What we shouldn't do is play into the terrorists hands and change our habits, change our lifestyle, change our democracy. Secretary Jeh Johnson, our homeland security secretary, said it beautifully, he said, terrorists can't succeed if we refuse to be terrorized. This is psychological warfare. That's what it is.

Remember, you know, think back to World War II, how the different sides tried to convince each other they're going to lose. This is psychological warfare. If we say, no, we're better than that, we can prevail but it's important for the average citizen if they do see something, if they hear something, if they think somebody is up to no good, report to the authorities immediately.

CUOMO: An organic segue, we're dealing with terrorists, we're dealing with people of unstable of mind.

DE BLASIO: Yes.

CUOMO: Mental health is an issue, Chirlane. We're trying to figure out how to deal it because of stigma, you know, when people -- if you have diabetes, you have diabetes. If you have leukemia, you have leukemia.

If you have schizophrenia or bipolar, they call you crazy. There are stigma that you're dealing with doesn't have parity with physical healthcare the way we want it to be. What can you do?

CHIRLANE MCCRAY, FIRST LADY OF NEW YORK CITY: That's right. We need to change the mindset around the mind. It's very much a part of the body. That's what Thrive NYC sets out to do, is bring about a culture change and help people understand that mental illness is, first of all, pervasive.

The number is one in five New Yorkers have a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year and it's treatable. This is something that we can address in children and seniors and parents. There is something for everyone.

PEREIRA: What's so interesting is people think that and they think extreme cases. But there is a spectrum. And included in that spectrum one of the focuses of Thrive NYC is dealing with mothers. This is very important to you. Talk about that.

MCCRAY: Maternal depression is very common. The estimate is one in ten women who are pregnant or new mothers have maternal depression. But we don't really know because we don't collect data. Pediatricians and OB-GYNs don't always.

PEREIRA: And there's a stigma, too. You don't want to say I'm struggling.

MCCRAY: Who wants to be a bad mom?

CUOMO: They're least likely to self-report.

MCCRAY: That's right. There's such a stigma. It's a mark of disgrace to feel anything but joyous because you have a new child. But it's a real condition. It's a disease. And it can be treated. We want women to get screened.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Mayor, this is a personal issue for you. Your father suffered. Your daughter has been public about suffering. It's heartbreaking.

DE BLASIO: And we have to talk about it. We talk about what our daughter Chiara has gone through and she's been very open, because she sees it as her obligation to talk about her struggles, both mental health struggles and substance abuse struggles, because that's part of how we heal our society, it's part of how we help reach people to talk about it.

I talked yesterday about what my dad went through, you know, World War II hero. He was a wounded veteran, battle of Okinawa. Came back with what we now call PTSD. We didn't call it back -- when I was growing up, we didn't say PTSD.

We tried to avoid the fact that he obviously something he was carrying from the war with him. It devolved in his case into alcoholism and substance abuse and mental health problems so often go together. But we have to talk about it, because as Chirlane was saying, the stigma is keeping people from getting treatment.

PEREIRA: Avoidance is never a good tactic, isn't it?

We're glad you both joined us. We wish you both a wonderful Thanksgiving and a safe one. Thanks for joining us today.

DE BLASIO: Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.

CAMEROTA: Thanks for being here.

CUOMO: A lot of news on the table right now. So, let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: A Russian military jet shot down by Turkey near the Syrian border.