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Obama: U.S. Supports Turkey's Right to Defend Itself; Putin Orders S-400 Missiles to Syria After Plane Shot Down; Trump Under Fire for 9/11 Claims about Muslims Cheering; Colorado Shooting Suspect in Court. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 01, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Americans in Afghanistan told of an imminent attack.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists may be behind this threat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's believed to be that this attack would be in part in competition with ISIS.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Welcome to your NEW DAY. Alisyn and Mick are in New York. We are in Paris with breaking news.

Calls for calm between Russia and Turkey as President Obama sits down with Turkey's president on the sidelines of the climate change summit here in Paris. Obama urging presidents Putin and Erdogan to focus on defeating ISIS, rather than Turkey's shoot-down of a Russian war plane. Now, there is no word of the three men meeting together.

However, all of this comes, of course, with some 150 world leaders hoping to make a deal to reduce carbon emissions here at the COP-21. President Obama is going to hold a news conference next hour before leaving Paris. We're going to bring that to you.

But right now, let's get CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta, live at the summit with word on what progress has been made here -- Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Chris, President Obama just wrapped up a meeting, as you said, with Turkey's President Erdogan, making it very clear which side the U.S. is on when it comes to the NATO ally's dispute with Russia.

Moscow is still outraged over Turkey's downing of a Russian president Vladimir Putin refused to meet with Erdogan at this climate summit here in Paris. That put President Obama basically in the position of playing referee, meeting with both Putin and Erdogan to deescalate tensions. But Mr. Obama maintains Turkey has a right to defend its territory and air space. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to be very

clear. Turkey is a NATO ally. Along with our allies, the United States supports Turkey's right to defend itself, and its air space and its territory. And we're very much committed to Turkey's security and its sovereignty. And as I mentioned to President Erdogan, we all have a common enemy. That is ISIL.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: For its part, Russia is angrily insisting that Turkey is trying to protect black market oil supply from ISIS, an accusation that Erdogan vehemently denies. As for President Obama's meeting with Putin yesterday, the White House is indicating there is still no agreement on some sort of grand coalition with Russia to go after ISIS. Both sides are still very much at odds over what to do about Syria's embattled leader, Bashar al-Assad, Chris. Until they get over that issue, it's going to be very difficult for both sides to come together to go after ISIS -- Chris.

CUOMO: Jim Acosta, appreciate the excellent reporting.

And once again, as a reminder, we are going to have live coverage of President Obama's news conference at 8:40 Eastern. That will be a final word from him before he departs from the climate change conference here in Paris.

But we already have some new proof that Russia is not on the same page with the coalition war against ISIS, and that is word that Russia is moving surface-to-air missiles to a base near the Turkish border. That could put U.S. combat aircraft at risk flying over Syria.

Vladimir Putin reportedly issued the order a day after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane. We have more with CNN's Barbara Starr, following the developments from the Pentagon -- Barbara.

STARR: Good morning, Chris.

Fast-moving developments in Washington this morning. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, General Joe Dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs both scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill in just a couple of hours.

This testimony comes as now those Russian missiles are active in Syria. The U.S. officials saying yesterday the S-400 system now up and running by the Russians. The radar is active. This is a system that can reach out, see all the way into Turkey, target and potentially shoot down aircraft. U.S. officials don't believe the Russians are targeting U.S. aircraft.

But, look, it is clear that U.S. pilots are aware of this, are going to have to be very careful; and the Pentagon is facing the question of what it will do next with its airstrikes to make sure U.S. pilots are kept safe -- Chris.

CUOMO: It's an interesting question, what aircraft Russian missiles would be targeting in any air space there, other than the coalition aircraft. So that's going to be the intrigue on that front.

Now, another front there was a threat that came based out of Kabul, a 48-hour window was involved. Where are we on that?

STARR: We are about halfway through that window. It expires early tomorrow morning. The U.S. embassy putting out a statement, warning Americans in Kabul to be extremely careful that they had this 48-hour window, this information indicating a credible, imminent threat in Kabul.

The belief, U.S. officials tell me, is that it is the Haqqani network behind all of it. This is a well-known terrorist network that operates in Pakistan, comes -- its operatives have been known very often to come across the border and try and stage attacks inside Afghanistan.

So a very serious warning to Americans in Kabul, if they're not already being careful, to be even more careful, at least for another day.

Going back to those missiles, Chris, you asked a really interesting question. So who would the Russians be targeting? The feeling is they are continuing to potentially target the Turks -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Barbara Starr, thank you very much. We know you'll stay on that threat story coming out of Kabul. Back to you in New York, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. We'll get back to you in a second.

But back here at home, there's politics to talk about. Donald Trump sharpening his attacks on Hillary Clinton and his GOP rivals at a rally last night, but it's what Trump did not talk about that's also making news. CNN's Athena Jones is live from Washington with more. Tell us about this rally.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

It seems like practically every week we're talking about Trump doubling down or tripling down on some controversial statement he's made. So it's interesting to note that he didn't repeat his claims about celebrations on 9/11 last night at that rally. He did repeat his attacks on his rivals in both parties and he predicted more of them may soon be attacking him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): For more than a week now, Donald Trump has claimed that he saw thousands of Muslims in America celebrating after the 9/11 attacks.

TRUMP: I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering -- thousands of people, believe me, because they saw it.

JONES: There is no evidence of such a scene, and on Monday night, Trump avoided rehashing his claims.

TRUMP: There's only one way you get to the top, and it's all through Trump. Let's face it.

JONES: Trump instead going after his opponents, attacking Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

TRUMP: She doesn't have the strength or the stamina to be president. She just didn't. She doesn't.

JONES: Attempting to ward off attacks from Republican rivals by anticipating their jabs.

TRUMP: Christie hasn't hit me yet. He will. He has to. He has no choice.

Cruz is going to have to hit me, because you know, he's a nice guy. He's been so supportive. Everything I've said he's supported. It's going to be a sad day, but we will hit back, I promise.

JONES: New Jersey governor and 2016 hopeful Chris Christie now joining the list of critics taking on Trump's 9/11 claims.

CHRISTIE: It's wrong. It's just wrong. It's factually wrong.

JONES: Earlier Monday, the candidate emerged from a closed-door meeting with black pastors in New York City.

TRUMP: I thought it was an amazing meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We asked questions, and the questions were answered. We were all satisfied with the answers.

JONES: Initially promoted as a sweeping endorsement from these religious leaders, Trump's camp was later forced to pull back that claim as several of the attendees clarified that they were just there to talk.

BISHOP VICTOR COUZENS, VSC MINISTRIES: I'm not here to endorse Mr. Trump. It's very unfortunate the way he has talked to not just the African-American community but things he said about women and Mexicans and Muslims. It's very discouraging.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: It's noteworthy to see the Trump campaign to have to take a step back on this black pastors endorsement. It's the first time I can think of that he's walked back something.

He'll be in New Hampshire tonight, and we'll, of course, be watching very closely to see what he has to say up there -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. Athena, thanks so much for all that background.

Let's bring in someone now who knows what happened on 9/11 better than most anyone. Rudy Giuliani was, of course, the former mayor of New York City. He was also a 2008 presidential candidate.

Mr. Mayor, thanks so much for being here.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Thanks for having me.

CAMEROTA: You were more plugged in and on the ground on 9/11 than anyone. Were there thousands of Muslims celebrating the towers coming down in New Jersey?

GIULIANI: I sure can't say that. We tried to track the Muslim community, actually, for a different reason. The night of September 11, I said to the people of New York, I don't want you to take revenge, anger against people who are Arab, who are -- I'm not sure if I used the word "Muslim" -- because we don't want to engage in group blame the way they did.

And it's a small group of people. They are determined. They're very dangerous. We're going to have to catch them, and they deserve to be executed. But it's not everyone. I don't want the people of New York to act that way.

So the police department set up a unit, and we kept track of it for about three or four weeks. And we had some attacks. And we did have some celebrating. That is true. We had pockets of celebration, some in Queens, some in Brooklyn.

CAMEROTA: How many people?

GIULIANI: Ten, 12, 30, 40.

CAMEROTA: Those weren't just rumors? Those weren't just reports.

GIULIANI: No, no, no.

CAMEROTA: You went out and checked them out?

GIULIANI: We had one situation in which a candy store owned by a Muslim family was celebrating that day. Right near a housing development and the kids in the housing development came in and beat them up.

[07:10:08] And I think both facts were corroborated to be true. They were celebrating that the towers had come down. And some of the kids in the housing development got really upset about it, and they came in and did a pretty good job of beating them up.

CAMEROTA: OK. So a handful of isolated incidents you're saying...

GIULIANI: Yes. I was very -- I was very proud of that. You know, we expected a lot of it. Bernie Kerik was the police commissioner at the time. We expected -- because the angle was so great. We expected a lot of irrational acts of violence against people who appeared to be Islamic or Muslim.

CAMEROTA: You expected violence against Muslims. You were expecting... GIULIANI: And we had very little. We had some language. We had some yelling and screaming. I can't give you a count of the number of acts of violence. But nothing really serious. And we did have some. We did have some reports...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GIULIANI: Of people celebrating that day while the towers were coming down.

CAMEROTA: But if there had been thousands of people...

GIULIANI: That I think I would have known that for sure.

CAMEROTA: Yes. So Donald Trump is, therefore, not telling the truth?

GIULIANI: Well, I think what he's doing is exaggerating. Right? People were celebrating. He's right about that.

CAMEROTA: But you're saying a handful of people.

GIULIANI: I didn't see any evidence of thousands. Nor have I seen it since then of thousands of people.

CAMEROTA: Why are you -- why do you seem to be hedging? Why don't you say, "No, that didn't happen"?

GIULIANI: I don't know if it didn't happen.

CAMEROTA: But you would have known if thousands of people in New Jersey...

GIULIANI: I would have known if it happened in some part of New Jersey. I think I would have known.

CAMEROTA: You don't think that would have come through your office if thousands of extremists were celebrating? You don't think your office would have...

GIULIANI: I think it would have. I think I would have. I don't think it happened. He keeps saying it did. I don't want to say -- I don't want to say he's not telling the truth about it.

CAMEROTA: Why not?

GIULIANI: Because let him deal with it. Let him explain it to people. Let him show the evidence of it.

If thousands of people were demonstrating, and he saw it on television, there must be some tape of it somewhere. If it shows up, it will corroborate him. If it doesn't show up, it's going to make him look really bad.

CAMEROTA: Does the truth matter?

GIULIANI: Of course the truth matters. To somebody who spent most of his life practicing law and watching people sworn on the witness stand, the truth matters a lot.

CAMEROTA: So then what's going on in this election? Why is Donald Trump allowed to say things that, had you said that when you were running for president, what would have happened?

GIULIANI: I would have been thrown out of the race.

He's -- he is judged by a different standard. Maybe it's because of his background on "The Apprentice" and an entertainer and the fact that all -- he's been a big personality. He almost like speaks in headlines, gets your attention. And then -- and then a lot of the points they make is very substantive. But the headline turns out to be exaggerated.

For example, from the very beginning, most of the people coming over are rapists, murders and killers. Wrong. Most of the people coming over are good people. In between those good people there are rapists, murderers and killers.

CAMEROTA: So is he doing a service or a disservice to the Republican Party by...?

GIULIANI: I think he's helping the other candidates get a lot more attention than they otherwise would get. Look at all the time we're spending on the Republican primary. It gives a chance for Chris Christie. I saw the interview a few minutes ago. It gives a chance for Chris Christie to contrast himself and give his view point. It got, my gosh, the debate, got numbers I would have died for.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GIULIANI: I wish I had 22 million people watching our debates back in '07 and '08. We had 11 debates.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, people are certainly more engaged.

GIULIANI: So it gives the other candidates, if they're good, it gives them a chance to -- it gives them a chance to rise. I think that's why Rubio is doing well. I think you're going to see Christie do a lot better now than he has backing the...

CAMEROTA: The Trump tide lifts all boats, you think?

GIULIANI: It gets more attention, and now you get your chance to make your case. If you can't make it better than Donald, Donald's going to win.

CAMEROTA: Chris Christie, as you heard in Jamie Gangel's piece, he was unequivocal. He now says about the celebrating, "It didn't happen. I would have known about it. There's no film or video to prove it. It didn't happen."

GIULIANI: Well, he would have. He was U.S. attorney. I believe he was the U.S. attorney at the time.

CAMEROTA: Well, he wasn't -- by the way, the attorney general of New Jersey said it didn't happen. They were false reports.

GIULIANI: They would know. If there were false reports of such things happening.

CAMEROTA: There were false reports of celebrating. When they checked them out, they -- they were bogus?

GIULIANI: I didn't know even that. There were false reports of celebrating in New Jersey. I did not track New Jersey. I tracked New York.

CAMEROTA: Fair enough.

GIULIANI: There were no such -- no such large demonstrations now. In fairness, there were pockets of demonstrations, which got me pretty darn angry. I kept my anger under control. Anybody celebrating September 11 at that point, to me, the anger had to be -- I had to control.

[07:15:13] CAMEROTA: Of course. But is it time for the other candidates like Chris Christie to begin calling out things that they think are demonstrably untrue by Donald Trump?

GIULIANI: I think they have. And I think they've tried to do it. Also not take the bait. Then it all becomes all about Donald Trump. I mean, here we are talking about Donald Trump. And we've got a crisis in Iran and Iraq and Syria.

We've got the United States and Russia unable to agree on what to do in Syria with this tremendous divide over Assad. We've got Russian missiles. Who the heck knows what they're doing to do to Turkish planes. We've got the climate summit. We've got -- and here we are talking about Donald Trump.

CAMEROTA: So who do you think would be the best person to navigate through all of that as the next president?

GIULIANI: I think -- I've always thought Jeb was the best qualified in terms of just the range of qualifications. Not sure he's the best candidate. I think Christie, Rubio are better candidates. Trump is a better candidate.

CAMEROTA: But that's different. I mean, obviously. being a good candidate is different than being a president.

GIULIANI: But that's how you get nominated. And that's why I think it's going to be very, very close. I think this is one that's going to -- you're going to see -- of the four people I just mentioned, I think you're going to see some of them win some of those primaries. This is going to get down to -- get down to a New York primary, a California primary.

CAMEROTA: You think that those four -- you predict that those four will be neck and neck.

GIULIANI: Oh, wait a second. Then on the right I think Cruz is a -- I think Cruz will be the Huckabee or Santorum of this...

CAMEROTA: Of Iowa.

GIULIANI: Because I think Iowa ultimately goes to the more religious right-wing candidate. Huckabee was a minister. Santorum was the most religious right. Huckabee beat me. Santorum won. Four years later he beat Romney. Now, they didn't go on and get the nomination, but they took over the right...

CAMEROTA: Now, do you think Cruz...

GIULIANI: Well, once Cruz does that, he sort of takes over the right wing of the party. That keeps him in it for a long time.

Then I see New Hampshire going to somebody else. New Hampshire could go to Trump. It could go to Christie. It could come out of -- and it could go to Rubio. I mean, those three.

And does Bush have a chance? Yes, Bush has a chance. Bush still has a chance, particularly as we focus on national security and we focus on who's ready to, you know, protect the country.

CAMEROTA: I'm going to ask you about this -- Donald Trump's meeting with pastors yesterday. He had said that he was going to get the endorsement of 11 African-American pastors. That didn't end up happening. In fact, it turned out that it was more heated in the room. They objected to some of the rhetoric that he's been using on the campaign trail.

But once again, he didn't -- he said that they supported him. And, you know, he...

GIULIANI: He is the consummate performer. I mean, he's fabulous at handling interviews. He's fabulous at handling difficult situations and turning them around, you know, making lemon -- lemonade out of lemon. He's great at it.

But, I mean, the reality is, that was probably -- I've had that happen. That probably was a staff screw-up. But unlike somebody else that would go -- he made it work right.

So yes, as a politician, you say to yourself, that's a heck of a talent to have. On the other hand, some of the exaggerations make you, you know, raise questions.

CAMEROTA: Rudy Giuliani, always great to get your take on all of this.

GIULIANI: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for being here on NEW DAY.

Mark your calendars. The CNN Republican debate is just two weeks from tonight. Wolf Blitzer will moderate the last GOP debate of the year on Tuesday, December 15, 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN -- Michaela. PEREIRA: Turning to another big story, we're following the man

accused of killing three people and wounding nine others at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic made his first court appearance. Robert Dear being held on suspicion of first-degree murder as investigators try to determine a motive for that shooting rampage. Stephanie Elam is live in Colorado Springs this morning for us with the latest -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

When you take a look at his first court appearance, you could see he's wearing a padded vest, and he seems to be groggy through most of what he was being told. His eyes were closed. He only spoke a handful of times.

But Robert Lewis Dear is looking at, on the minimum side, life in prison and, on the maximum side, the death penalty. He'll find out the full charges against him at his next hearing on December 9.

Now, we know that he's being held without bond, but we also know that he has had a history of a little bit of run-ins with law enforcement. Nothing like he's been accused of so far. But let me just give you an idea here.

In 1997, he was accused of domestic assault in South Carolina by his then wife. Those charges were not actually pressed.

[07:20:09] And moving on to 2002, he was accused of being a peeping tom. Those charges were dismissed.

And then in 2003, he was arrested and charged with two counts of animal cruelty. But when that went to trial, he was found not guilty.

Still, when you look at his history, there is nothing like what he is accused of now: murdering three people outside the Planned Parenthood and injuring nine people, including five police officers. And there are plenty of witnesses on hand, as well.

So a lot here on the docket against Robert Lewis Dear, Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Thanks for that update. And again, he'll face the former charges next week. Thank you, Stephanie.

We turn back to Paris now and Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Mick, obviously, the COP-21 summit is news in and of itself. But it's even more important right now because of where it's taking place, in Paris. And there is a very active manhunt going on right now, obviously, for this eighth attacker from the Paris attacks just two weeks ago.

We have new details also coming out about the man who planned the attacks. Were there other -- was there a wave of terror ready to go in Paris? We have experts weighing in with the latest intel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:25:08] CUOMO: We have news in the terror investigation here in France. Intelligence officials announcing that the fugitive Paris suspect may have escaped to Syria. This as we're learning new details about another wave of mass murder that the alleged planner of the attacks here in Paris may have been plotting, again, to strike in and around this metropolis.

Joining us now is CNN terrorist analyst and editor in chief of the terrorism studies journal, "CTC Sentinel," Mr. Paul Cruickshank; and CNN counterterrorism analyst and former CIA counterterrorism official, Mr. Phil Mudd.

Mr. Cruickshank, I start with you. Please excuse the sirens here. Just part of daily life in Paris. What does it mean that there is somewhat of a disconnect between what the French theory is, that this eighth attacker may have made it to Syria, and the Belgian intelligence officials, who say they have no reason to believe that?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I think there's a very short answer. They just don't know where he is. He could have got to Syria. That's one theory that the French have. But he could equally still be somewhere in Brussels, hiding out in a basement.

His last known location was the Saturday after the attack when he was transported by a friend to the Brussels district of Schaerbeek. That's pretty near the center of Brussels, a large area, plenty of places where he could potentially hide out, if he's got a sympathizer there that the police don't know about.

So I think it's just they don't really know where he is. And that's alarming in and of itself. The police just don't know where he is. Which is unfortunate because this is a guy that could be armed and dangerous.

CUOMO: True. Mr. Mudd, wrap your head around this. If this guy did make it back to Syria, what kind of welcome do you get there when you didn't go through with the mission? While I would say that argues a little bit for his humanity. What do bad guys do with someone like this?

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: First, let's be clear here. There's speculation that he didn't go through with the mission. I think there's a small chance that he never intended to go through it from the start. That he wanted to encourage his fellow attackers. And he pretended to participate and later backed out. I don't know if that's true, Chris.

I just want to say that speculation, that cowardice or some sort of lack of courage led him to stop with the mission is just that, speculation. Once he returns, there's a couple of things that will happen.

And first, the organization will try to use him for propaganda purposes, not only to show how they evaded European security services but to show potential recruits that there are people like them who have joined the organization and who have succeeded in staging attacks as tragic as what we saw in France.

The last thing I'd say, Chris, is the most worrisome. There are going to be very few people in ISIS who now have the operational sophistication he has. How to operate securely before an attack and how to escape after an attack. So the long-term implications if he's returned mean that ISIS will use him to figure out what the next attack looks like and how to get around security services.

CUOMO: Although as you know, Mr. Cruickshank, right now, a lot of the intel officials are saying if he got through, he did it by luck.

Let me ask you, what is your take on the state of play with security in and around Paris? You know, I've been hearing that they're very happy with how the summit has gone so far. But they believe that their hardest work is still in front of them.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, that's right. I think it's going to be very difficult for a terrorist group like ISIS to attack the inner perimeter of the summit. There's clearly huge security.

But ISIS has been going after soft targets. So, you know, I think there is concern that they could strike somewhere else in Paris, somewhere else in France.

The network behind the Paris attacks is largely intact. There are a number of French operatives who have climbed up the hierarchy of ISIS who were behind this plot, this attack and a number of other plots against France over the last year, chief among them, Fabien Clain, who claimed responsibility for ISIS and who's involved in that French- language magazine, "Dar el-Islam," which yesterday had the new issue, saying that the storm against France was beginning the new attack, were in the pipelines.

I think we need to take ISIS at their word, because the intelligence suggests, and I've been told this by European security officials that Clain and others are recruiting more and more youngsters coming in from Europe to join the Islamic state and then sending them back after pretty quick training, sending them back to Europe to plot new violence.

CUOMO: Well, also, Phil Mudd, there is another theory being worked by the intel community here that there were more attacks planned but not necessarily by the same team. And that is energizing their efforts to figure out how broad this network could be. Is that a same assumption?

MUDD: I think it's a safe assumption for a couple of reasons. The attacks you're talking about, the potential targets are targets that would have been, if anything, more tragic than what we witnessed a few weeks ago. For example, targets that included transportation. The same targets that al Qaeda hit in London and Madrid ten years ago.