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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Reports: Paris Ringleader Planned Another Attack; Suspect Escaped To Syria; Chris Christie: The Comeback Kid?; Christie Sounds Off On Trump; Getting Their Blessing?; Investigators Believe Planned Parenthood Gunman Acted Alone; Security Efforts At Abortion Clinics; Chicago Cop Charged With Teen's Murder Out On Bond. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired November 30, 2015 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[21:00:20]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And it's 9:00 P.M. here in New York. We're live through the next hour on CNN. Thanks for joining us.
A lot of news to get to, starting in Paris where there is breaking news tonight, reports of an additional act of mass murder that the ringleader of the Paris attacks was planning.
Also tonight, new details about the one remaining fugitive in the Paris attacks. Salah Abdeslam is his name. He's managed to evade an intensive manhunt and bought 10 detonators and batteries from a firework shop in the outskirts of Paris before the November 13th attacks. There's more, French intelligence officials now think Abdeslam has managed to escape to Syria.
Fred Pleitgen joins us now from Paris with the latest on that. The claims that he might have gone to Syria, the Belgian officials saying they don't buy that, right?
FREDERICK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Well, the Belgian officials are saying at this point in time they have no indication he's actually gone to Syria. What the French are saying and this is according to two sources, is that we have one of them close to the investigation Anderson, is that they are working under the theory that he's probably already escaped to Syria. But of course it this point in time it's very difficult to say with any sort of certainty.
But certainly if you look at the trail after the attack, he was seen in France or taken in by the authorities at some point, questioned there and we know he went to Belgian and was seen at least one day after the attacks in Brussels. But Belgian authorities saying at this point in time they have no indication that he would be in Syria yet.
COOPER: And the belief now or the claims that the ringleader who was killed obviously in the raid in Saint-Denis that he actually had more attacks planned that were ready to go, do we know exactly what they were? PLEITGEN: Well, I mean, looks as though it was more than just attacks. Seemed like another wave of terror that he apparently had planned and this is also according to sources close to the investigation who are saying that apparently him, his cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen as well as the third person who blew himself up in that Saint-Denis apartment when the raid took place were planning attacks on Jewish areas here in Paris on the transport network and on schools as well.
And also remember, the Paris prosecutor was saying that they were also planning attacks on La Defense which is a commercial district here. And we're learning from French media as well as Reuters that apparently before that he was trying to go undercover and wanted his cousin to buy him two suits and two pairs of shoes for himself and an accomplice for something around 5,000 euro, so more than $5,000 to look the park when they infiltrate that area and carry out those attacks, Anderson.
COOPER: I understand that dozens of workers at the main airport in Paris, Charles de Gaulle airport...
PLEITGEN: Yeah.
COOPER: ... have actually been on a terror watch list. I find that unbelievable or just terrifying.
PLEITGEN: It certainly is and it certainly something -- yeah, it certainly is and it's certainly something that's concerning to the authorities here and this comes from the Sunday Times, we're seeing that tens of thousands of workers at France's, Paris' main airport Charles de Gaulle are now getting their clearances reviewed because they found that 57 people were on a terrorism watch list and these are people, some of which had access to the runways and these are people who could have gotten directly to airplanes. And we've heard in the past, Anderson, that the authorities here have concerned about radicalization of airport stuff at the airport as well as other transport networks here in France since at least 2004.
COOPER: Fred Pleitgen, appreciate the reporting. Thank you. Joining us now, CNN contributor Michael Weiss and co-author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror", also CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward.
Clarissa, French intelligence say they believe Salah Abdeslam has likely escaped to Syria. What are you learning?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there seems to be mixed messages here coming from the French and the Belgians. French authorities are telling CNN that they believe it's possible he may have well have escaped to Syria but Belgian authorities are saying they are not so sure and they are continuing raids in his hometown of Molenbeek and indeed all around the Brussels area.
So at this stage we really don't know. But certainly this is a sore point for French authorities because we saw after the Charlie Hebdo attacks the wife of Amedy Coulibaly who had hailed up that crucial grocery store, she was one of France's most wanted woman and she was also able to escape police and get to Syria. That happened a few days before the attacks. But certainly this will be very embarrassing for French authorities if it does turn out that indeed the eighth attacker Salah Abdeslam has made it into Syrian territory.
COOPER: Yeah. Michael, do you buy this? I mean it seems incredible that this guy could get there?
MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I suspect that the reason that Brussels was shut down for 72 hours sightings according to Belgian authorities this imminent terror threat.
[21:05:05] They were probably looking for him, you know. There is a continental wide dragnet to find the eighth man, the eighth suspect.
COOPER: Right.
WEISS: If he got back to Syria. I mean, let's look at sort of the geography here. Chances are he probably didn't fly back.
COOPER: Right.
WEISS: Because he'd be on every terror watch list within, you know, less time than it took for us to learn his name, European intelligence knew it. He kind of might have driven back, right? That takes you know, at least 32 hours to go from Paris all the way back to -- into Turkey. Then he's got to cross.
Now it's true that the Turkish border is been a sieve for these past four and a half years but as of late it's been much better modulated and secure. I mean, the ISIS spy that I interviewed told me he had to spend $1,000 to smuggle himself back and forth across that border because the Turkish government has done a much better job of controlling it.
How did he get past them...
COOPER: Right.
WEISS: ... whenever one in the world is looking for him. So it would be a colossal embarrassment, not just to the French but also the Belgians.
COOPER: It also, I mean, we don't know his level of involvement.
WEISS: Right.
COOPER: There were early reports that, you know, maybe he chickened out.
WEISS: Exactly.
COOPER: And I mean, it doesn't seem like if that is in fact true that he sort of...
WEISS: Right.
COOPER: ... chickened out would he really go to Syria?
WEISS: Well, this is the thing, right? I mean, if he went back to Syria as a coward, somebody who didn't commit to martyrdom, ISIS could kill him, right? I mean, you know, to them he would be a traitor. He would be somebody who didn't carry thought his mission. If he had been part of the attack, took part and shot up a bunch of people or had, you know, taken part in the Bataclan Massacre and he went back, they would have been (inaudible) for him.
He would been a conquering hero. You'd see all kinds of ISIS propaganda videos and probably be an instant article in some ISIS media announcing his operation, how he did it, who he was involved with and how he managed again to slip the, you know, across this...
COOPER: But there are reports and I don't know if they are confirmed that he was seen in gay bars in Brussels. If he is in fact gay...
WEISS: It wouldn't be the first time. Yeah. It wouldn't be the first time.
COOPER: ... it wouldn't be the first time but if he is gay, I'm not sure he would want to go to Syria with those reports being out there.
WEISS: Exactly. And look, if this was coordinated by ISIS HQ, it was done with the level of semiautonomy amongst the slippers or the networks inside Europe. You don't go back to Syria. I mean, it's really not the goal here. The goal is to die. This is a suicide operation ultimately.
COOPER: Clarissa, there are also new claims that even more attacks were quote "ready to go" in Jewish areas according to a source. Do you know more about that?
WARD: So what we're hearing is that this is a man who was well-known to Hasna Aitboulahcen. If you remember he was the 26-year-old woman who was killed in the raid in Saint-Denis that took out the architect of the Paris attack Abdelhamid Abaaoud. She was allegedly his cousin.
Now according to this man, who was in close contact with Hasna Aitboulahcen there were more attacks underway not just in Jewish areas, Anderson but also public transportation and even apparently schools.
COOPER: In terms of, Michael, where this guy might be Salah Abdesalam, I mean, I guess the networks in Belgium themselves are pretty extensive of former fighters he could be potentially hiding.
WEISS: And not even that. I mean, you know, so depending on who you ask, maybe there's 15,000 or a littler more than that of Jihadists who've gone over to Syria receive some measure of training and then come back. Forget about them for a second. What about all the Islamist or jihad fellow travelers the sympathizer, people that may have been recruited by returning Jihadist inside Europe.
COOPER: Who may not be on the radar?
WEISS: Completely. Whole city haves given themselves over, quadrants (ph) of these cities become in a sense thieves out of the Middle East, right? Some of the more scuffling areas of Beirut or Baghdad, you can now find in NATO capital. So, it's not that difficult.
I mean, again, the Belgians shut down the entire city going house to house and we don't know what they really got up to during that 72-hour period.
COOPER: Right.
WEISS: I'm sure they are casting as wide a net as possible and he still slipped through.
COOPER: Michael Weiss, thank you. Charissa Ward, thank you.
Just ahead tonight, Chris Christie and Donald Trump squaring off over what Trump he saw, Muslims he says in New Jersey celebrating the 9/11 attacks and Governor Christie for the first time saying exactly what he thinks with that.
Later, the alleged Planned Parenthood shooter and the largest threat against abortion providers across the country when we continue.
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[21:12:46]
COOPER: Welcome back. Chris Christie made headlines today with that he said about Donald Trump. He's hoping though to get better mile from a headline from yesterday, namely top New Hampshire newspaper endorses Christie. That was the headline, the influential and conservative union leader naming Governor Christie as their pick for 2016. He spoke today with CNN Special Correspondent, Jamie Gangel
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Does this make you the come back kid?
CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We'll see. You know that will be determined on February 9th when we see how the votes come in. But I think what it shows is that the work we've been putting in New Hampshire and plans we've laid that people are taken them seriously taken them to heart. And we're thrilled to have the endorsement.
GANGEL: Prediction today, Chris Christie could win New Hampshire?
CHRISTIE: Sure, of course I can win New Hampshire. And anybody who's up here and watches any of it knows that I can.
GANGEL: Apparently this endorsement is enough to worry your friend Donald Trump up to now he steered clear of criticizing you for the most part but first thing this morning, he was on Twitter. How is Chris Christie running the stage of New Jersey which is deeply troubled when he is spending all of his time in New Hampshire? New Jerseyans not happy. You say?
CHRISTIE: I'm so glad to be noticed by Donald. Isn't that nice? It's great. And I'm happy to take whatever input he wants to give me in 140 characters of less which is apparently the way he communicates best, so. Fine.
GANGEL: Is this a compliment that he's now taking a punch at you?
CHRISTIE: Who knows, you know, Jamie, it's like -- I think I'm not going to play into the business of spending the precious time you and I have together, you know, talking about Donald Trump.
GANGEL: Oh, yes, we are.
CHRISTIE: He's just one of a number of candidates for us to talk about which chew over and I'm not worried about it.
GANGEL: Right but he is the front runner. You have avoided criticizing him but he insists he's doubled down and tripled down that he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating after 9/11 in Jersey City. Then, he says from four miles away in his office, he could see people jumping from the World Trade Center.
[21:15:02] Do you believe that either of those things happened?
CHRISTIE: No, all I know are the facts. You know, what went on that day in New Jersey was not anything like what he said and there is no film or video of it to prove it. He says he saw it on T.V. It didn't happen.
GANGEL: But the first time you were asked about it, you said you didn't think it was true but you didn't recall it and as a former prosecutor, you know when the witness says, I don't recall that, it sounds as if they don't want to answer the question.
CHRISTIE: No, it's an honest answer. I was not focused on everything else that was going on in New Jersey that day. My wife and brothers were both trapped in lower Manhattan. I didn't know if they were dead or alive. So I said, I don't think it happened but I have to put that qualifier in there because I was not completely focused on what happened.
GANGEL: Did it happen?
CHRISTIE: No.
GANGEL: Absolutely not?
CHRISTIE: No.
GANGEL: So why don't you call Donald Trump out on this? He's doubled down, he's tripled down.
CHRISTIE: Everybody knows it didn't happen so what's the use? If you joined kakophonie, I'm about distinguishing myself and making myself different from everybody else in a 14-person field, not the same. GANGEL: Yes or no, is it outrageous that Donald Trump keeps saying these things?
CHRISTIE: It's wrong. It's just wrong. It's factually wrong. Everybody else can determine what they think is outrageous or not outrageous. I mean, in the context of Donald, outrageous is a high bar.
GANGEL: His latest controversy is that he is mocking a New York Times reporter with a physical disability. He now claims that he didn't know that the reporter had a physical disability but if you watch the video. It's pretty hard.
CHRISTIE: I saw the video.
GANGEL: Do you think he knew what he was doing?
CHRISTIE: It appears that way but, you know, he's got to answer for himself. Like -- I mean, I think part of the folly of all this is that we're answering for him. He said what he said.
Now the people who vote will judge him. You shouldn't be making fun of people's disabilities, it's just not worthy of someone running for president of the United States.
GANGEL: For someone who is says to someone sit down and shut up, not to say what Donald Trump is doing is mean, outrageous, seems very...
CHRISTIE: Pick whatever adjective you want. Wait a second, if I say something is not worthy of coming out of the mouth of a candidate for president of the United States, when the person who is saying it is a candidate for president of the United States, I think that's pretty strong.
GANGEL: Do you think that's as strong as sit down and shut up?
CHRISTIE: Well, in a different context, yeah. Sit down and shut up is a guy who is yelling and screaming at you in the middle of a speech.
If Donald starts yelling and screaming at me in the middle of a speech, you could be sure that I'll say sit down and shut up.
GANGEL: Will you ever go after him?
CHRISTIE: I will do what I think is best to win this race. I aim it to be the next president of the United States but the stakes are too high to have a vanity exercise.
GANGEL: Syria and the refugee crisis, you recently said we shouldn't take orphans under the age of five. Isn't it a little absurd to say that? Do you regret saying that at all?
CHRISTIE: No, first of all. I got to ask the question directly, OK. We should not be taking any refugees from anywhere unless they can be vetted, that's it. That's it. GANGEL: President Obama responded to you and indicated he didn't say it by name but he said Republicans are scared of women and orphans.
CHRISTIE: Yeah, widows and orphans I think is what he said. And I will tell you, the widows and orphans I'm concerned about are the widows and orphans of 9/11 that I still live with everyday in New Jersey and I want to make sure this going to move the generation of them created.
Maybe the president should spend some of his damn time worrying about that and less for scoring political points with his U.N. crowd because what he said was insulting, absolutely insulting.
I care more about protecting the American people than I care about scoring points with his Noble Peace Prize fan and friends and that's all he cares about and he doesn't care. He has shown repeatedly that he prioritizes that over protecting homeland security. He did it by getting rid of the NSA Metadata Program. He's done it over and over again.
So quite frankly, being lectured by Barack Obama on foreign policy and national security is laughable, laughable, from the community organizer.
GANGEL: Today as Syrian refugee family with five children age 3 to 17 and the mother is pregnant is being settled in Patterson, New Jersey by an inter faith group, Christians, Muslims, Jews, you have said New Jersey is not going to take in...
CHRISTIE: It does not want to. I didn't say not going to. I said doesn't want to. We don't have the authority to stop them. But what I would like is if the president would share the information with us but he doesn't.
[21:20:00]
GANGEL: This family is now scared. They are going to do an interview and they are now scared because they are afraid you're going to try to kick them out of New Jersey.
CHRISTIE: Well, you know, listen, that's ridiculous and I never said that I was going to try to kick any individual or family out of New Jersey but I want these families vetted and what's you're going to say to the families if one of these refugees comes in here and kills Americans? What's he's going to say? Oops, my bad? We're all warning him.
Do your job, Mr. President. Protect the national security of the American people first. Worry about all the rest of the stuff afterwards and maybe if you done your job in Syria the way you were supposed to, these folks wouldn't have to be leaving their country but instead he lied about that, too, and walked away from his commitments.
So again, Jamie, being lectured by the president of the United States is laughable.
GANGEL: Last question, now that the New York Times is being so nice to you...
CHRISTIE: That's I'm sure it's temporary insanity. They'll get back, don't worry. They'll get back to their normal course with me.
GANGEL: You're very publicly canceled your subscription.
CHRISTIE: I did. I did along time ago.
GANGEL: Are you going -- now that they said you're the comeback kid...
CHRISTIE: No chance. Oh, no chance.
GANGEL: You're not going to renew it?
CHRISTIE: Oh, no chance. Zero chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And Jamie joins us now. I mean it's interesting to hear Governor Christie talk about Donald Trump and then talked about President Obama.
GANGEL: He's a lot tougher on President Obama than Donald Trump. But you know what? I think this can all change. I think this is game on. If Christie does better, I say watch out for January and you will see the two of these guys go at each other if Christie moves up in the polls.
COOPER: How important do you think is this endorsement for him?
GANGEL: I think it's great for him because nothing else was working for him. So it helps with visibility. It helps with money. That said you know New Hampshire voters. They want to look you over once, twice, three times. The question is will his polls move at all?
I asked Christie what he could do to get traction, typical New Jersey style. He said, I don't know. So he's just going to keep working and see if he breaks through.
COOPER: All right, fascinating interview. Jamie, thank you.
GANGEL: Thank you.
COOPER: As always. When we come back, reaction to that interview and also Donald Trump and that reporter's physical disability. Was he mocking it? Here what a top Trump adviser says when the CNN press room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's going like I don't remember. I don't...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[21:26:26]
COOPER: Welcome back.
A moment ago you saw Chris Christie denouncing Donald Trump widely discredit the claim that he saw Muslims celebrating in New Jersey as the Twin Towers came down, thousands and thousands of them as you also saw Trump is facing fire for this for seemingly mocking one of the many reporters who debunked the story mocking his physical disability which also Donald Trump denies.
You can decide for yourself whether this constitutes mocking. You can also decide for yourself what to make for the answer the top Trump adviser gave the leads Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL COHEN, EVP TRUMP ORGANIZATION/ TRUMP SPECIAL COUNSEL: Mr. Trump is not the type of individual that is going to make fun of somebody's disability. He wouldn't know this guy prior to this entire non-sense.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But we just saw him do it. We just saw him just fun of disability.
COHEN: He was not making fun. He was being just speculated which Donald Trump is and he was basically showing the exasperation of a reporter that's pulling back on story exasperation and basically saying something like, "Oh, now I don't remember. No, I don't remember." It had nothing to do with his disability.
TAPPER: And it just so happened -- but first of all, he said he's a nice guy, you got -- and then he said you got to see this guy and then he twists his arms to mimic the disability.
COHEN: He wasn't twisting his arm to mimic anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, there's that. There is also Mr. Trump's meeting this morning with African-American Clergy members. In the gathering, he initially touted as a blanket endorsement with some of the invited pastors took pains to deny.
Here to talk about all that and more, CNN Political Analyst and New York Times Campaign Correspondent, Maggie Haberman, also, CNN Political Commentator Ryan Lizza, Washington Correspondent for the New Yorker Magazine.
I mean, Maggie, that the notion to Donald Trump was not mocking this reporter's physical disability or trying to imitate it in some way. He did say, you got to see this guy and then made this motion which, you know, he repeats himself over and over again in speeches. I mean, he's -- at some speeches pretty well known he's never made that. I haven't seen him made that particular gesture previously. MAGGIE HABERMAN, N.Y. TIMES PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT: No, that was pretty specific and before that he said he was a nice reporter which is not actually something that he ascribes to just anyone. He usually does it about somebody who he has met before. He has some estimation for.
You know, as you said, people can look at that video and decide for themselves. Mr. Trump has a history of criticizing people who he feels about they disagree with him, who have said something he doesn't like and does it in personal terms so I'm not sure why people wouldn't assume that's exactly what he's doing here and more importantly would -- or as importantly what he's claiming that Serge Kovaleski who is a terrific reporter and really good colleague was doing is also not true.
Serge was not backing away from his reporting. Serge was saying, my reporting at the time did not turn up claims that there were thousands or even hundreds of people who were celebrating the 9/11 attacks in real time.
What Serge is report at the time in Washington post said, a week after the attacks was that officials had detained questioned quote unquote "a number of people" who were alleged to have been celebrating. It did not say I saw with my own eyes or hears eyewitness accounts. These were claims that were made they were trying to be unsubstantiated as they still are.
COOPER: Right, these were alleged claims...
HABERMAN: That's right.
COOPER: ... that the police investigated...
HABERMAN: Yeah.
COOPER: ... and no one was it -- no one was charge and there's no video which Donald Trump says he did see a video. There is video that Muslims elsewhere in the world or West Bank celebrating and it would be very easy for Donald in Gaza -- excuse me -- not the West Bank in Gaza to say, you know what, and he stick to video but that's clearly not something he is at this point willing to do.
HABERMAN: What's interesting is that Donald Trump spends lots of time explaining to reporters where they're wrong. He insists we got our facts wrong all the time.
COOPER: Not just reporters, everybody...
HABERMAN: Everybody who disagrees with him. This has been debunked repeatedly including by the Republican then attorney general of the state of New Jersey who checked this out and said and wrote it, and said there are some wrote that he said for new jersey.com that there was no proof of this.
[21:30:10] There was never any proof of this. COOPER: And Ryan, I mean, the fact that Donald Trump insists again, thousands and thousands that there were Muslims celebrating in New Jersey on September 11th, it's just not true but it doesn't seem to matter to his supporters. I mean, you know, you get tweets all the time saying, you know, you're just attacking Trump, I saw it, too.
RYAN LIZZA, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORKER: Yeah, I mean, we've sort of passed into a zone that I've never seen covering politics where we're literally have people going on T.V. pointing to something that is black and saying no, no, no it's white. Everybody else is wrong.
And I almost feel like we have a sort of crisis of journalism here. I don't, you know, I've rarely seen a set of facts that have been so thoroughly debunked by every fact checking organization, every news organization and yet you still have a candidate who is leading in the polls for major parties nomination who says, "No, no, no, dismissed all of that. I know what I saw and I have people and people of Twitter telling me they saw it, too, so it must be true" or what he said, yesterday on Meet The Press yesterday was why wouldn't it have happened?
You know, you can't -- as a journalist, you can't do much more than point out it's not true and I don't know, I think there's a certain if you are a hard core Trump supporter and you stuck with him this long, you know, maybe there's an incentive that you don't know matter how far he goes, you're not going back now.
COOPER: Well, it's also -- and Jamie are -- Jeffrey Lord is a Trump supporter who is working at Reagan White House was on our last hour, you know, essentially saying that it -- this is political correctness about mocking the New York Times reporter's disability.
This is political correctness. My response is it doesn't seem like political correctness to me. It seems just like human decency to me but also saying that this is a double standard that other people have done things that are offensive to, you know, he sited President Obama I think mentioning or saying that he bowls like somebody in the Special Olympics.
HABERMAN: President Obama apologized for that.
COOPER: Well, President Obama he apologized for. He also cited a claim that President Obama or the Democrats were attacking or making fun of John McCain's disability, which I don't recall, we'll look into but it's just interesting to me that even those who are supporting him seem to not want to address this directly. I mean, they all just say, oh, he wasn't doing that or I have to take him at his word as opposed to what you actually see.
LIZZA: I think, look, any time someone is saying he's ignoring the facts at hand and the actual issue that you're fact checking and saying "Oh, but what about politician X, they did Y, why aren't you talking about that?"
You know, my reaction is usually is OK, that's fine. That's a totally separate issue you can address that separately that the issue here is did he mock this reporter? I think any reasonable human being would agree that he did.
I mean, I frankly feel bad for the people who have paid by Trump -- Donald Trump who go on T.V. knowing what they are saying is not true and are forced to defend him. It's a little bit sad.
COOPER: What do you make, Maggie, of this meeting he had with some African- American pastors and Omarosa who is unaware is also now a currently minister...
HABERMAN: I didn't realized that either.
COOPER: Yeah, I know she's right there in front and center and I talk to one pastor who was from Virginia I believe are actually as many -- a number of churches but who is saying that Omarosa's role he felt was sort of to jump in any time some pastor asked something to Donald Trump that was, well, you should -- saying you should apologize to African-Americans, you should apologize to people disabled and she was sort of one of his defenders there.
HABERMAN: Human shield. I mean, you know, I think that this meeting, which I do think began as intended to be essentially a meeting. This was a connection of Darrell Scott, the pastor from Ohio who was the person bringing a lot of people in as a friend of Michael Cohen who was on before with Jake Tapper in that clip and he told me yesterday that he expected 100 people does not seem there was 100 people there.
That's very hard to tell how many people actually were there but it did seem like the event got away from them and part of it is because there is this improvisational quality to the campaign itself, Michael Cohen is not with the campaign with his company.
They tend to say things and sort of have to catch up later and this was one of those times and you had a lot of pastors say, you know, my name showed up on a flier and I never said that I was endorsing.
To be fair, this is not -- Trump is not alone in this. Lots of campaigns have that kind of thing happened. The Clinton campaign had this happen recently too, but for Trump it's coming on a very difficult issue.
It is interesting that he does seem aware that the criticism of how he handled Black Lives Matter Protester a week ago is sinking in and that he needs to address it.
COOPER: Interesting. Maggie Haberman, Ryan Lizza always great to have you on. Thank you both.
[21:35:00]
LIZZA: Thanks Anderson.
COOPER: Up next, the rhetoric that some say may have created the perfect conditions for the attack for the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs. What exactly have some of the presidential candidates been saying about it? We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: There's more breaking news tonight. Now, the investigators now believe the man accused of killing three people at the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs was working alone.
Today Robert Lewis Deer made his first court appearance from jail via video feed. As you can see, he's wearing a bulletproof vest. He's being held without bond. He's expected to charge with first-degree murder.
The judge said his next hearing for December 9th. Investigators are now publicly disclosed a motive according to a law enforcement official. The suspect mentioned baby parts to investigators and also expressed the anti abortion and anti-government views.
Friday's deadly attack comes in the heat obviously by presidential primary with abortion again at white hot issue and a controversial undercover video that's fueling the conversation. Reports has show that Planned Parenthood profits from selling fatal tissue. Here's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The undercover recording set off a firestorm with many calling to defund Planned Parenthood, some of the loudest voices Republican candidates for president.
[21:40:01] Candidate Mike Huckabee told a radio host it's the worst thing he's seen since Natzi Germany.
MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To watch this woman talk about selling baby parts, specifically, the lungs, the heart, the livers, the lower extremities and how to use the forceps so is not to crush them and damage the parts when the baby has already been murdered.
KAYE: At CNN's GOP debate in September more anger filled rhetoric and in passion to Carly Fiorina's...
CARLY FIORINA, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.
KAYE: Trouble is in this case, that wasn't video of an aborted fetus but of a stillborn child. The citizen journalist working with the group who made the video center for medical progress told CNN that while he does believe Planned Parenthood sold fatal tissue, he did get creative with the video admitting that it was edited a critical detail that seemed to be lost on all the GOP candidates.
Senator Ted Cruz calling Planned Parenthood a criminal enterprise funded by $500 million of taxpayer money.
TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch these videos, see senior Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings. And then ask yourself are these my values?
KAYE: Donald Trump also raising concern appearing on Laura Ingraham's show.
TRUMP: It's ike an abortion factory which is terrible. So you should defund anyway. But those videos are horrible. Every time you see them, they get worse and worse. It's like you are selling parts to an automobile or something.
KAYE: Candidate Jeb Bush re-twitted a post about the videos calling it a shocking and horrific reminder to foster a culture of life in America.
Following the shooting at the Colorado Planned Parenthood Clinic, the executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America had strong words for Republican critics writing, "It is offensive and outrageous that some politicians are now claiming this tragedy has nothing to do with the toxic environment they helped create."
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, last hour I talked to Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood about what the candidates have been saying about abortion. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CECILE RICHARDS, PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: It is really disturbing to see the kind of hateful rhetoric that's been talked about Planned Parenthood, about the other women who come to us, about the doctors who provide health care. It's very hard to see this kind of violent incidents and that I think sometimes is rhetoric fuels.
COOPER: I want to read to that point you said earlier today you said hateful rhetoric and words and harassment of doctors and harassment of women going to health centers have real implications and you've said quote "and you've never seen the kind rhetoric that we're seeing from presidential candidates."
Do you directly link the rhetoric that you're seeing -- you're hearing from presidential candidates to what happened?
RICHARDS: Well, I can't. Of course, I can't directly link it, Anderson, but I do think that everyone in public office, people who are leaders in this country have a responsibility to think about the words they use, the language they use and the possible repercussions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, we're learning more about the victims in Friday's attacks. Ke'Arre Stewart, an army veteran and father of two daughters is being held as a hero, his last moments were spent trying to save others.
Mr. Stewart was 29 years old. Amburh Butler is a close family friend and she joins me tonight.
Amburh, thank you for joining us. I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend. First of all, how have you been holding up?
AMBURH BUTLER, FAMILY FRIEND OF VICTIM KE'ARRE STEWART: My eyes are pretty bloodshed right now because not too well.
COOPER: I understand, I mean, you knew each other since sixth grade. You were high school sweet hearts, is that right?
BUTLER: Yeah.
COOPER: What kind of a guy was he?
BUTLER: Amazing, just an awesome type of a person that anybody would have been lucky to have known. He was a giver. He was sincere. I tell people all the time like he was for sure undoubtedly one of the most sincere person I've ever met in my life.
COOPER: And I understand you just spoke to him the day before the shooting?
BUTLER: Yeah, and I think that's what killing me the most because had I known that would have been the last time I talked to him, I probably wouldn't have joked about him not eating a lot of turkey and watching his hips. I probably would have said something more sentimental, you've enriched, you know, my life in so many capacities. It definitely wouldn't have been a joke about turkey.
COOPER: Yeah, I can understand that. I know he left behind two daughters, 11-year-old and a 5-year-old. What was he like as a dad?
BUTLER: Oh, incredible. His girls were the world to him.
[21:45:02] In Waco, he was working at Caterpillar and his daughter had a ballet program. One day I called him, I was like hey, you know, how is the job going and he was like "Oh, it's going good. I'm actually getting ready to leave." I was like, oh, OK.
And he's like "No, no, no my daughter has a recital and they didn't want to let me off so I'm going to go ahead and tell them I quit because I will not miss my daughter's recital." And I thought that that was amazing.
You know what I mean? Because a lot of people wouldn't do that but Ke'Arre, it was just way too easy for him and, you know what I mean, and I just -- and we laughed and joked about it and then I thought it was just awesome. That was probably the best story I can share about his -- how he was as a father.
COOPER: I do want to mention there is a gofundme page that has been set up to honor Ke'Arre Stewart which you can find the link to other website of the ac360.com. And it is important to use. So thank you so much.
BUTLER: Yes, thank you so, so much. That is very important for him and his girls. You know, they now have to grow up fatherless because of this terrible, terrible tragedy, and that fund is going to be used for a trust fund managed strictly for their college career, or their college schooling and to help with his funeral costs, as well. So thank you so much for sharing that.
COOPER: Well, I appreciate you sharing your -- some of your memories with us and again, I'm so sorry for your loss and obviously for his whole family. Thank you so much.
BUTLER: No problem.
COOPER: Just ahead, a closer look at just how far some of these clinics now have to go to keep patients and staff safe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:50:20]
COOPER: Well, the week of the shooting at the Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado, Springs. The focus is on security at any clinic that provides abortion services. Gary Tuchman went to one such facility in New Jersey to show us the extensive precaution they have to take to protect the patients and staff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Almost every patient who walks into the Cherry Hill women center in New Jersey comes in for abortion services which to the perpetual sadness of the employees here mean their building is a target.
JENNIFER GROVES, CHERRY HILL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: I worry about my patients every day.
TUCHMAN: Jennifer Groves is the executive director of the facility. She says, she herself was threatened by a protester outside the clinic.
GROVES: He said he wanted to put a noose around my neck and throw me in the ocean like it says in the Bible.
TUCHMAN: Patients aren't seen on Mondays, which gives us a chance to see the safeguards that this abortion clinic says it has to have.
You notice the elaborate security as soon as you arrive. There are lots of cameras. They don't want us to say exactly how many. But they see you when you come in. They see everyone who is anywhere around this building. One buzzer lets you into this door. And come to another door if you buzzed into this one also, they know I'm here so they're buzzing me in. You enter the reception room. The first thing you see is this very thick window separating you from the people who work here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pray that you would inspire me and...
TUCHMAN: People protesting outside abortion clinics is very common, it has been for many years. That is also the case in Cherry Hill, where staffs constantly monitor the protesters on their live video feeds.
GROVES: Anybody that spends the bulk of their week outside of a clinic screaming at women, I'm suspicious of them.
TUCHMAN: There is a sophisticated alarm system in the building, including a panic button in strategic places, one right outside of the operating room. Security guards are in place when patients are in the building. Employees here say they know they have a responsibility to protect those patients and their health care and from outside violence. But...
JENNIFER BOULANGER, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS CHERRY HILL WOMEN CENTER: We can't hold the entire burden of protection. I think this rhetoric that we've heard, especially recently in the nation has led to increased violence and especially rhetoric, anti abortion rhetoric from lawmakers.
TUCHMAN: One way the staff here fights back is by placing their own religiously oriented placards on the end of their property. But this video from the camera system shows what happen sometimes, a protester taking the signs out of the ground. And in light of the Colorado shootings, this clinic is now deciding what else might need to be done to further improve security.
Do you think there will come a day when you don't have to worry about it?
GROVES: I don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Gary, did any of the people who you talk to at this clinic have second thoughts about the work they're doing in the wake, certainly, of this violence?
TUCHMAN: They say, Anderson, they have no second thoughts whatsoever. As a matter of fact, quite the contrary they say this type of violence motives them to work even harder for their patients. But the patients are a different story. If this clinic and other clinics around the United States, when there is violence, when there are loud demonstrators in front of the clinic, many of them don't show up. Many of them cancel their appointments. Anderson.
COOPER: Gary thanks very much. Now Chicago in continue intention after last weeks released police dash cam video showing a police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting and killing an African-American teenager Laquan McDonald. Tonight, Vandyke, who is charged with first degree murder, posted bond walks out of jail. Ed Lavandera joins us from Chicago. What's next for this officer?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jason Van Dyke is expected to make another court appearance on December 18th. But he walked out of the jail here just about four hours after the judge had announced the $1.5 Million bond which came as a surprise and another source of frustration to many of the people who don't believe he should have been let out.
He had to come up with 10 percent of that we're told. It was presented in the form of a cashier's check, a $150,000, to be able to post that bond. And it was quite a scene and a scrum as he left the jail there flanked by a number of plain clothes police officers alongside of him as well as the head of the fraternal order of police here in Chicago. But Van Dyke left the jail without saying anything. He was pushed into a truck and drove away from the scene tonight.
COOPER: The threat against the University of Chicago that closed the campus today, there was an arrest in that investigation as well. And the suspect is actually seems to have, I don't know, have been motivated by or talked about the shooting of Laquan McDonald, right?
LAVANDERA: That's what Federal Investigators here are saying. They're say they took into custody a 21-year-old student at another university, from another university here in the Chicago area, a man by the name of Jabari Dean. And according to the indictment or the arrest papers and court papers that were filed today, that Jabari Dean had made a number, a social media posting over the weekend where he wrote "I will execute 16 white male students and/or staff which is the same number of times Laquan McDonald was killed."
[21:55:13] He also went on toto say "I then will die killing any number of white policemen that I can in the process. This is not a joke. I am to do my part to rid the world of the white devils. I expect you to do the same." So those sinister postings made over the weekend were enough to shut down the University of Chicago here on Monday, but University officials say they will be back on Tuesday, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Ed Lavandera, thanks very much. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: To go quick update on a story we brought you earlier, work from Reuters and French media that the Ringleader of the deadly attacks in for Paris was planning another active mass murder and had enlisted his female cousin to buy him expensive clothing so he could fit in, in case the location.
[22:00:02] That does it for us tonight. CNN tonight with Don Lemon starts now.
