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Warmest Christmas Ever Recorded in NYC; Tornado Victims Share Survival Stories; Taliban Denies Russian Partnership; Tourists Avoiding Holy Sites This Holiday; Report: Deportations Could Start Next Month; Pope Delivers Annual Christmas Message. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 25, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[09:00:13] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, dreaming of a white Christmas? Tough luck, East Coasters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it was going to be snowing and really cold, but I'm, like, sweating.

COSTELLO: Sixty degrees and climbing in Manhattan today. No wonder this guy is skating in shorts.

Also new reports of plans to deport Central American families. Raids expected to start next month. And Donald Trump is taking credit for it all.

Plus retaking Ramadi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): None of them are still in east district. That's it. We retook it and it's over for them.

COSTELLO: Iraqi troops optimistic they can drive ISIS out and soon.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning and Merry Christmas. I'm Carol Costello live from Columbus Circle in Manhattan. Can you believe how warm it is along the East Coast? I know there is not much happening out here, but the weather is so bizarre we decided to take the first block of our newscast outside.

People are very confused. Some are wearing shorts. Others are bundled up in winter clothes as if they really can't quite believe it's, what, 66 because we've already broken the record in New York City. In Central Park, 66 degrees.

Let me go through my series of factoids for you. So that's a 25 degrees higher than average. Temperatures like this have not been seen in 33 years. The city's last record of 64 set in 1982. There was actually beach volleyball in Central Park yesterday. Temperatures soared into the '70s yesterday. Ice skaters in shorts at Rockefeller Center. And instead of jingle bells there were ice cream trucks.

Many are loving it. Others are afraid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's amazing weather, amazing weather to spend and walk around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it. I was able to wear a nice dress. Not be cold. Able to actually enjoy the city. So I'm all for it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm loving it. It's -- everyone should have a hot holiday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh, in all 50 cities across 19 states could make heat history. Take a look at the --

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Take a look at the cover of the New York tabloids this morning.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

COSTELLO: "Ho, ho hot." I won't show you this Santa for much longer because I don't want to spoil your Christmas. And this one, "Sauna Clause."

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: I mean, what is -- some people think the apocalypse is coming.

MYERS: Carol, I was standing in that exact spot 11 months ago with a snow storm bearing down on Boston, New York City, and ice in my face. So be careful what you ask for. OK.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: Because it goes downhill rather quickly after you start making fun of Mother Nature.

Don't you remember that, it was Orlando Lake or something, it's not nice to fool Mother Nature so -- then the lightning comes out.

Anyway, it is warm. It has already broken the records. 66 was the record after midnight last night. So we're already there. Don't have to worry about it now. We're going to 63 this afternoon. It will be warm all across the East Coast.

There's still a chance of some severe weather along the Gulf Coast where it's warm, muggy and there's a still threat down there. But I think everyone will know today or notice today that it is warm up and down the East Coast. Carol, there has been more snow in Las Vegas this year than in New

York because New York has zero and it snowed in Las Vegas last night. Not a lot but if you're in Vegas and you look out, what is it doing snowing here? I thought I went for a nice warm vacation. You went to the wrong coast because warm on the east, cold on the west, flooding across the Deep South. We'll keep watching it for you here all day.

I don't expect as much severe weather today as we've had the past couple of days. But certainly chance of some wind damage and a small tornado across Mississippi or Alabama but that's it. Enjoy your time outside. You know, El Nino does bring big snowstorms even though it brings warm sometimes. And we're above normal, so I get this. I get this.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: So you're so much above normal. I get this. But in December and January and February when you're above normal and normal is 10, then all of a sudden above normal should be 20 and that could be a big snow storm. So El Nino isn't going to ruin all of winter, just the beginning.

COSTELLO: Such a buzz kill, Chad Myers. And on Christmas Day, too. Thanks, Chad. We'll get back to you.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: We have to talk about the severe weather happening across the country because it's been severe down south, as in tornadoes. Actually there were even tornadoes in northern California which is very, very strange.

Nick Valencia is covering that part of the weather story for us. Hi, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The warm weather you're getting there in New York not the case so much here in the south. It's been kind of a miserable start for some people here in the south. Fourteen people killed across three states and the damage we're seeing across those states looks more like something you'd see during the spring.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): This Christmas, scenes of devastation in parts of the south and Midwest. Heavy rain causing widespread flooding across North Georgia and tornadoes tearing across several states.

[09:05:07] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Started here, real loud, roared, just started to get louder and louder, and I told her, I said, we need to get in the house now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounded literally like a freight train. Sounding of the horn. It was coming.

VALENCIA: In Ashland, Mississippi, all that's left of Teresa McKay's (PH) home is the porch. She and her husband were inside when they saw the tornado coming. They ran and hid in this truck.

TERESA MCKAY, SURVIVOR: Nothing left of my house. Not one thing. Nothing but all that debris.

VALENCIA: This building may have saved Tony Goodwin's life when a tornado hit Perry County, Tennessee.

TONY GOODWIN, STORM SURVIVOR: I had my grandson in my arm, under my arm, and everybody got in except for my sister-in-law and I'm yelling at her, come on. You know? And she got in. As soon as she did, I shut the door.

VALENCIA: A tornado knocked his house off its foundation, but he and six others survived by taking cover in the storm shelter.

CAPT. BART ROSSON, PERRY COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: You'll never know how important it is to seek shelter immediately however you can because it's a lifesaver.

VALENCIA: Two of those killed in Tennessee were husband and wife, Ann and Antonio Isaguerre (PH). According to the Storm Prediction Center, at least 14 tornadoes hit Mississippi on Wednesday, but a single twister did most of the damage.

DR. PATRICK WASHINGTON, ASHLAND RESIDENT: This is a miracle. There's no way that three individuals were in this house at this time and they were able to walk away.

VALENCIA: Communities coming together, thankful to be alive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went and bought toys for kids because I also have a little girl, and for them not to have Christmas and toys and stuff, there's -- it's not a holiday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: So sad. Among the youngest victim is a 7-year-old boy in Mississippi. Several people are still also unaccounted for but the Storm Prediction Center says that the risk for violent weather thankfully has dropped for now -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Valencia, reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

A strange twist in an already bizarre story. The Taliban now denying claims made by the Kremlin that the two are working together and sharing intelligence in the fight against ISIS.

CNN's Robyn Kriel is following that story live from London. Hi, Robyn.

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, yes, so just today the Taliban releasing a statement saying that it has not asked the Kremlin for help in fighting Daesh. It does not need anyone's help in fighting who they called Daesh, that is known to us as ISIS. They say that while they do reserve the right to ask countries for help in the fight against ISIS that they have not reached out and they do not deny the claims made by the Russian Foreign Ministry earlier this week that they are intelligence sharing.

I'll just tell you a little bit about what happened earlier this week. The Russian Foreign Ministry saying that they had reached out to the Afghan Taliban to ask them to share information in the fight against ISIS. The Taliban also obviously concerned about ISIS in Afghanistan. We do understand, according to the U.S. military who recently told Congress, that around 3,000 ISIS fighters are currently in Afghanistan. And of course the Taliban saying of course that they deny this. We do not need any help, they said.

Now the ties obviously with -- in terms of Russia's Vladimir Putin, he is incredibly interested in fighting ISIS especially because of the interest in fighting the insurgency in the north caucuses. A number of ISIS fighters have left there, we understand, to fight inside Syria. So this is a part of closing that pipeline.

Now we're not sure if this is just a propaganda move by the Taliban or a propaganda move by the Russians but we do know that if this is the case, if it is true that it would be -- it might be a case of Russia making the enemy of his enemy his friend.

COSTELLO: All right. Robyn Kriel reporting live from London for us. Thank you.

It is Christmas Day but the normally festive mood in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, well, it's tense. Security concerns have scared away many of the Western tourist who normally flock to Bethlehem at this time of year. Manger Square is crowded but there are far fewer Americans and Europeans than usual. One factor keeping tourists away is the almost daily attacks against the Israelis. At least four Israelis have been attacked by Palestinians in just the past 48 hours.

CNN's Oren Liebermann live in Jerusalem to tell us more. Hi, Oren.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it's those attacks that have led to the State Department issuing a travel warning to the region. That's why some of the vendors and tour guides we spoke with say that Americans as well as Europeans have really not come to the region.

Manger Square yesterday, although it did have a bit of a festive atmosphere, trying very hard to hang on to that festive atmosphere on Christmas Eve. Was certainly lacking tourists. Many of the people there were locals and by the time midnight mass the square had largely emptied out.

Again as you said that's because of what's been going on here. We've seen attacks against Israelis. We've seen violence. We've seen clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers. That has become a daily or near daily, I should say, reality ever since the beginning of October and it doesn't seem like that will end.

[09:10:04] It did, and I should say there was a sense in Manger Square in Bethlehem that they were trying to hang on to that festivity that on Christmas eve all of that could be put aside even if just for one evening to make sure that it really was a merry Christmas. Still throughout the West Bank many Christian Palestinian communities have scaled back or even held off on celebrating because of the numbers we've been looking at.

Since the beginning of October some 25 Israelis or so have been killed in attacks carried out, according to Israeli Police, by Palestinians. At the same time more than 130 Palestinians have been killed. Israeli authorities say some 70 or 80 of those roughly have been killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis. That unfortunately is the reality of Christmas here right now in the Holy Land -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Oren Liebermann, reporting live from Jerusalem.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, reports of a U.S. plan to deport thousands of families living here in this country illegally. Now candidates from both sides of the aisle are sounding off. We'll dig in. Next.

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COSTELLO: At odds with the character of our nation, turning our backs on that essential element of who we are as a nation. Those were the reactions from Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders after the "Washington Post" reported the U.S. plans a mass deportation of thousands of undocumented Central American migrants.

The plan, which the DHS reportedly has not given final approval to, would be nationwide and could begin as early as next month. It applies to families fleeing violence in Central America who came here for safety specifically adults and children who have already been or had removed from the United States by an immigration judge.

[09:15:00] They would be detained where they could be found and immediately deported.

And while the 2016 candidates on the Democratic side, including Hillary Clinton, had expressed concerns about the plan, Donald Trump has a different reaction, tweeting, "Wow, because of the pressure put on me, ICE to launch large scale deportation raids. It's about time."

So, let's talk about this. Josh Rogin is a "Bloomberg View" columnist and a CNN political analyst. And Ellis Henican is a columnist and co- author of "The Party's Over: How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat".

Welcome to both of you, and merry Christmas.

JOSH ROGIN, BLOOMBERG VIEW: Merry Christmas.

ELLIS HENICAN, COLUMNIST: Good morning. Merry Christmas.

COSTELLO: OK. Josh, a judge has ordered these undocumented immigrants to leave the country. So, why the controversy?

ROGIN: Well, this is a complicated issue because the Department of Homeland Security and Jeh Johnson have been trying to figure for over a year to deal with the specific problem. People in Central America are getting the message that if they make it to the United States and they make it to the country, that they'll be fine. So, he's trying to correct that perception. This is his way to do it.

So, Donald Trump taking credit for this is kind of like the rooster taking credit for the sunrise. This was well in the works. The problem is that for people in DHS and the immigration enforcement community, they haven't really thought through the politics of this. So, the Obama administration has the luxury of sort of not worrying about it because they are not coming up for election but for all the candidates, especially Hillary Clinton, this is a tricky thing to navigate.

COSTELLO: It is. She's been sort of on the fence. I mean she's sort of criticized it but not. She said, well, I have to look into it. She gave that political answer.

ROGIN: Well, she's got a problem.

COSTELLO: She's got a problem.

And, Ellis, just jump into that. You know, what's the big problem with that? Because, again, as I said, a judge has ordered these people leave the country. They've had a hearing.

HENICAN: Yes, but it is a little perplexing from the administration's point of view, right? Up until now, the principle had been there are 11 million or 12 million illegal people in this country and you can't get rid of all of them.

And so, the focus is really on the criminals and bad people. Why at this point you focus on moms and their little children? The politics of it are a little strange and the humanity of it is a little strange. I think the Democratic candidates are absolutely right to jump on the thing and say, whoa, hold a second. Why are we doing this? And why are we doing it now?

COSTELLO: Yes. But, Josh, is it really strange? Because the Obama administration has deported 235,000 undocumented immigrants --

HENICAN: That's true.

COSTELLO: -- in 2015 alone.

So, it is not really that unusual, is it?

ROGIN: So, the Obama administration, as the other guy said, has been trying to prioritize in a world of limited resources. And now there is a good argument to be made that this increased flow from Honduras and El Salvador where violence is high and flow is increasing is something that should be addressed.

The problem for people like Hillary Clinton is they can't win, right? If she supports the Obama policy, she doesn't really get anything from the right who are not going to all of a sudden believe that she's good on immigration. You'll see a lot of criticism of the Obama policy from the right.

On the other hand, if she support -- if she doesn't support it, then she opens herself up to more criticism. So, in the end, she's probably got to side with her other competitors in the primary. She's got to take the side of her base. But there really is no political win for her here. But again that is not something that the people who are in charge of this policy are really considering.

COSTELLO: I don't think there is a political win for anybody else. Because most of these people who are going to be deported, are sitting in detention centers in the Southwestern United States, in Texas, right?

ROGIN: Exactly. And that's what Jeh Johnson and when I've talked to him about this. He said actually the more humane thing to do is to stop them from coming at all, because once they get here they have a life that is very uncertain. They can be in limbo for a very long time. They can face very harsh consequences.

So, if he can send the message back to these countries, hey, it's not a free ride. Maybe you should think twice before you try to come here. That might be the best thing for them, at least that's what Jeh Johnson believes.

COSTELLO: So, Ellis --

(CROSSTALK)

HENICAN: Yes, there is one last piece of this that's worth considering. Four years ago, the Republicans did this great soul- searching and said, do you know what? We need to not be so harsh on these issues. It's driving the largest voting bloc in the country away from us. We need a more human face.

The more that Republicans are in the corner of seeming to be harsh on this and the more the Dems are seeming to be human and open and expressing the priorities Josh has alluded to, I think the politics do balance in Hillary's favor in the long run.

ROGIN: Yes, I would just say that the demographics are on Hillary's side, but in the 2016 election that is coming up soon, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to want tougher immigration policies.

[09:20:05] And that's what the Republicans are banking.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: All right. I got to leave it there. I got to leave it there. Ellis Henican, Josh Rogin, thanks to both of you. And thanks for being with me on Christmas Day.

Checking some other top stories at 20 minutes past: a feud leads to a deadly shootout at a North Carolina mall. Authorities say a man went to the mall yesterday and when he ran into someone he didn't like, he started arguing with him and shot at him multiple times. Witnesses say the gunmen turned his weapon on an off duty responding officer and that officer shot and killed him. No one else was hurt.

Demonstrators blocked entrances to several Chicago stores along the city's Magnificent Mile, chanting "Sixteen Shots and a Cover-up". They spent Christmas Eve protesting the police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Authorities released the video a year after Laquan's death, showing an officer shooting the teenager 15 times in just 16 seconds. Protesters are demanding Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Cook County state attorney resign.

"Iron Man" actor Robert Downey, Jr. is off the naughty list. Downey was one of 91 people who received a Christmas Eve pardon from California Governor Jerry Brown. Downey spent time in prison after a 1996 drug conviction. The governor says Downey has paid his debt to society.

In Vatican City, a holiday tradition as Pope Francis delivers his annual Christmas message. Part of the message included a prayer for Syria and his desire that a recent U.N. peace deal would end the suffering of people in that war torn country.

Senior Vatican analyst John Allen has more from Rome about what the pope said.

Good morning.

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Pope Francis today delivered the traditional Christmas "Urbi Et Orbi" message. That's a message directed to the city, meaning Rome, and also to the world.

Now, the pope's traditionally use this platform to issue a kind of 360 degree review of the global situation and that is very much what Pope Francis did today. The note was a strong plea for peace in a series of global spots. The pontiff mentioned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war going on in Syria. He talked about Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine. Also called for a breakthrough in the peace talks in Colombia currently aiming to try to end the world's longest running civil war.

And these are all, of course, situations in which the pontiff has been personally involved, either out front or behind the scenes. As Europe grapples with the most significant refugee crisis it's faced since the Second World War, the pope also issued a strong note of solidarity with migrants and refugees, calling for passion for people fleeing violence and conflict, and calling on host nations to be generous in receiving and integrating them.

The pope also in the context of a year in which terrorism has been one of the major themes around the world denounced what he called brutal acts of terror, including the November terrorist attacks in Paris. He tipped off a series of other social ills that kind of occupy his heart. He talked about child soldier. He talked about unemployment, trafficking in human persons.

And in the context of a special jubilee year of mercy that he's decreed for 2016, he also issued a strong plea, a special dose of mercy for prisoners, visiting prisoners has been one of the hallmarks of his papacy.

So, essentially, what you saw today was a pontiff who very much aspires to be a peace pope. Using the visibility afforded by one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar to try to raise his voice around the world in defense of peace and human dignity and that was very much the story from Rome here Christmas Day 2015.

COSTELLO: All right, John Allen. Thank you.

Still to come on THE NEWSROOM: using terrorists to help fight terror? Russia says it is sharing intel with the Taliban, but the Taliban says, hey, that's not true. We'll talk about that, next.

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[09:27:32] COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

New questions swirling around Russia's alleged working relationship with the Taliban. The Taliban now says it has had no contact with Russia, even though Russia says it's exchanging intelligence with the Afghan militant group in the fight ISIS.

So, what should we make of this?

Let's bring in CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd.

Hi, Phil.

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORIMS ANALYST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So, why would Russia say it's sharing intelligence with the Taliban, and then the Taliban released a press release and it did release a press release saying we haven't talked to Russia?

MUDD: A whole lot of them here. Let's untangle this spaghetti. I think there's a couple of things to think about.

First, especially starting last summer with the announcement that the long time leader of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, had died, there's been a lot of factualism in the Taliban. So, when you have to talk about the Taliban in Afghanistan, you got to figure out which faction you're talking about and which faction put out this press release.

The second issue is the Russians didn't say they had a relationship with the Taliban. They said they had a channel of communications, which in my world suggests they might have contacts in the organization for passing intelligence but not an overall relationship. So, if you put those two together, Carol, the fact that there's a lot of factualism, and the fact that they may have only a channel through a few people. I don't think necessarily this press statement from the Taliban is incorrect. It might be a faction they are not talking to.

COSTELLO: OK. So, let's say Russia is exchanging intelligence with some faction within the Taliban. How worried should U.S. officials be? MUDD: I wouldn't be worried about this. To my mind, it makes perfect

sense. I would do the same thing if I were the Russians.

There are a couple things going on here. The first is the extension of power by ISIS into Afghanistan, and Afghans have been talking about this for some time. I think what the Russians are saying is, we don't necessarily want to support the Taliban.

But if they have information about ISIS extending into the northern Afghanistan, which borders some of the former Soviet states, Tajikistan, for example, Uzbekistan, I think the Russians would say we don't want those ISIS guys going into Central Asia. We want a partnership with the Taliban at some level to prevent that from happening.

So, in my mind as former intelligence guy, it makes perfect sense to trade information to protect some of your partners.

COSTELLO: Well, from an American perspective, though, the Taliban just skilled six Americans, in Afghanistan.

MUDD: Sure. But the Russians aren't saying they want to support the Taliban against the Americans in a fight that results in a murder of American citizens or in a fight against the American soldiers.