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L.A. Police Kill Teen Girl While Firing Shots At Male Suspect; White House Reiterates That U.S. Is Ready To Act If Russia Invades Ukraine; The World's Most Powerful Space Telescope Is Ready To Launch. Aired 5:30-6p ET

Aired December 24, 2021 - 17:30   ET

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

[17:30:00]

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: But a good rule of thumb is to maintain at least a basic level of situational awareness as we're going about our business this holiday season, Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: It doesn't hurt to be vigilant. Josh, stay with us. I want to bring in CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Anthony Barksdale into the conversation. Chief from this shooting in Hollywood to the killing of Daunte Wright in Minnesota, it seems like there have been a number of officer involved shootings that are described as deadly mistakes. I'm wondering if you're investigating this incident to figure out if this was an issue of perhaps improper training or misconduct? Where do you start?

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I am looking at both incidents. I am looking at the training. We're seeing officers in the split second decision, make fatal mistakes, make bad calls on when to discharge their weapons. So this is, you know, something that we really need to slow down and figure out what's going on with officer training. This is unacceptable.

SANCHEZ: It sounds like you're calling for changes to be made to the way that officers are trained across the board.

BARKSDALE: Yes, I -- we're seeing out from Daunte Wright, you have an officer that doesn't know her gun, from a taser. And now in this Hollywood, this incident with this 14-year-old shot inside of a store, you have to think about your backdrop when you pull that trigger. You need to know where that bullet is going. When you squeeze the trigger, you're accountable. You're not only shooting at the suspect, but you have to think who or what is behind that suspect.

This is training. The officers constantly, you know, they're the ones that the public is going to see an employee, but I look higher. I look at the supervision, I look at their training, I look at management, because this has to be dealt with across the board.

SANCHEZ: Josh, you were alluding to other incidents of violence and cities across the U.S. actually set records for homicides this year. We have a look at a map showing some of the places where we've seen spikes in killings. What are you hearing from law enforcement as to what is leading to these increases? CAMPBELL: Well, one thing that we hear are a common theme is that crime is complex. It's hard to draw a line through some different incidents. But experts who look at this say that there are some factors that are the leading cause they include the prevalence of guns on American streets. We've seen a number of gun sales spike over the last year during this pandemic. So more guns out on the street.

There are also issues of people being released from prison, which some criminologist say is to blame here as well. We know a lot of the jails were not empty, but a lot of the nonviolent offenders during the pandemic were allowed out. And so we've seen some repeat violence there.

So it's very complex. And this is something that's obviously gotten the attention of the White House as well. We are seeing in a number of cities across the country, those who are calling for a policing reform and the so called defunding of the police now reversing themselves in a lot of cities to include here in California, the city of Oakland and San Francisco, here in Los Angeles, as well, as these officials try to get a grasp and ahead of some of these waves that we've seen, again to try to protect the public.

One thing that obviously, that you just mentioned, that makes this so tragic, is that it as much as the cops go out there, and they're heroic cops every day that are trying to protect the public, you still see these incidents where even police officers themselves will make mistakes, sometimes criminal as we saw, in the case of Daunte Wright.

And so it is a complex thing, but it's obviously something that the nation needs to get a grasp on in order to try to help all of us, again, who are just going about our business on -- it's the randomness, Boris is what is so troubling here. Here we have a 14- year-old girl, for example, in LA trying on a dress in a dressing room, she now will not obviously be here for the holiday season.

SANCHEZ: Our hearts go out to her family. Yes, there's not much more you can say but offer condolences there. Chief, given the complexities that Josh just outlined, what can local law enforcement do to address some of these trends?

BARKSDALE: Boris, we got to get back to what worked. We have to get officers back to being proactive, back to being supportive. We need the politicians, the public, the prosecutors and the police to get back on the same page and say, Look, we need the police. But you have to get it right. We can't afford these deadly mistakes to innocent citizens. You have to be held accountable for the job and we'll support you but you are accountable.

We also have to start looking at what really can be done as fast as possible. Let's look at what happened in New York years ago, when they introduced under Bratton and Deputy Maple they introduced Compstat to New York. The four rules of Compstat real quick for everybody accurate title elegance, clearly disseminated to all, rapid deployment, effective tactics, relentless follow up in action and assessment.

[17:35:10] It can be done. It is the mindset. We have to get back to a mindset that we are losing too many people to violent criminals and get engaged and push. And let's move forward.

SANCHEZ: And important voice in a conversation Anthony Barksdale. Josh Campbell, thank you both for the time and Merry Christmas.

CAMPBELL: Thanks Boris.

BARKSDALE: Merry Christmas.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Coming up, a blunt warning from the American President to Russia against invading Ukraine. Could Eastern Europe be on the precipice of war? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:17]

SANCHEZ: Washington and Moscow both say the ball is in the other's court when it comes to deterring a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has continued to amass forces near Ukraine's border, despite a direct warning by President Biden earlier to deescalate. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now live.

Barbara, obviously the Pentagon closely monitoring this situation. What do we know about what the United States is prepared to do if Russia invades?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Boris, The U.S., the Biden administration has been sort of if you will, messaging Moscow don't do it. They want to focus on diplomacy and trying to pressure Moscow to pull back those troops if Putin was to cross the border. And there's no sign yet, by the way, that he immediately plans to do that. All the indications are is the U.S. along with a NATO allies in the European allies would go for what they refer to as crippling sanctions, but there's been sanctions on Russia for years. And none of that seems to have deterred Putin. So would that really work?

No indication the U.S. military has any interest in getting into some hot combat situation with the Russians. I don't think anybody believes that's what we are looking at, at this point. They really want to pressure Putin to pull back those forces. Putin, for his part is continuing to say, the U.S., NATO, the West is just too close to his border. He wants them to guarantee Ukraine would never become part of NATO, and there wouldn't be a NATO nation on his border. Boris.

SANCHEZ: You have a big question about those economic sanctions and how effective they would be is how far European allies to the United States would be willing to go specifically Germany, which has very close ties with energy to Russia. So, Ukraine has been pushing for the United States to further assist with defense equipment, things like surface to air missiles, what's your sense of how far the U.S. is willing to go in that regard to assist Ukraine militarily? STARR: Well, it's really an exquisite calculation, how much do you give Ukraine in the way of U.S. weapons to defend itself and still make sure try to claim that it's not escalatory on the part of the U.S. There has been a U.S. team in Ukraine in recent days to look at their air defense to see what would be needed to defend against potentially Russian bombers, Russian missiles, that sort of thing. No word yet on their findings, no word yet on a next phase of any kind of us defensive arms package for the Ukraine, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Barbara Starr spending Christmas Eve at the Pentagon as she often does, thank you so much for the reporting Barbara.

STARR: Thank Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Up next, we're counting down to the launch of the most powerful space telescope ever built. What could it reveal about the origin of the universe when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:47:06]

SANCHEZ: The largest and most powerful space telescope ever built is scheduled to launch tomorrow. Scientists are hoping the James Webb telescope named after a former NASA Chief will unlock the mysteries the universe first revealed by the ageing Hubble Space Telescope.

Let's get more with CNN space and defense correspondent Kristin Fisher. Kristin, so this telescope cost $10 billion took almost 15 years to build and some are describing it as a time machine of sorts. Help us understand why.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: So this is an infrared telescope. And so it's really designed to see all the way back to the very beginning of the universe. And so it's designed to try to see that very first light that ever came out of the cosmos. And it's also developed to hopefully someday perhaps answer that question that we've been trying to get answered for so, so long, which is of course, are we alone in the universe.

But so many of the scientists that have worked on the Webb Space Telescope tell me that the thing that they believe is going to be the web telescopes greatest accomplishment is to answer some of the questions, that have not even been asked yet that we don't even know to ask.

And so just imagine some of these scientists and engineers, they have been working on this telescope for more than 20 years. And now it all comes down to tomorrow morning, 7:20 in the morning, Eastern Time on Christmas morning, that is when this telescope is going to lift off and an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.

But that is only the beginning of the web telescopes journey from there. It has to travel about six months, and it's going to unfold like an origami in space. So Boris, there are still a lot of places where something could go wrong. Hopefully, it all goes right. SANCHEZ: It is a lot of work. And we're watching the animation now of that origami unfolding as you described it, it's going to be a delicate process. I imagine. At what point do you think we're going to start seeing the images and data sent back from this telescope?

FISHER: It's going to take about six months because it's going about a million miles away from Earth. And because it's so far, it's going to be 100 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope. But it also means, Boris, that if something goes wrong, astronauts are not going to be able to fly out and fix it like they did for the Hubble Space Telescope. So, really is a very nerve wracking day tomorrow but also for the next six months or so until we get those first images back. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Fingers crossed for six months is a long time. I wouldn't want that kind of arthritis. CNN's Kristin Fisher, thank you so much for the time and Merry Christmas as well.

FISHER: Merry Christmas.

SANCHEZ: Of course. So the new telescope won't be up in time to see Santa Claus tonight but luckily the North American Aerospace Defense Command known as NORAD has been tracking him on Christmas Eve for years.

[17:50:00]

And tonight we're joined by Major General Michelle Rose. She's the Director of Logistics Engineering for NORAD. General, thank you so much for sharing part of your Christmas Eve with us. Merry Christmas. We've been following along as Santa has been delivering presents tonight. Can you give us an update on where he's been spotted and where he's headed next?

MAJ. GEN. MICHELLE ROSE, DIRECTOR OF LOGISTICS AND ENGINEERING, NORAD: Yes, thanks, Boris. So currently, he just left Morocco and he's heading towards Spain. So he is in Europe right now and heading towards the United States here soon.

SANCHEZ: Potentially enjoying a nice play as he stops along Spain. How hard is it for you to track Santa? He's making a lot of stops tonight.

ROSE: He makes -- he does make a lot of stops. In fact, he so far has delivered almost 4 billion gifts to kids all over the world, so far today. But yes, we track him, actually it's not hard for us to track him. We have a series of radars up in Canada and Alaska. We also track them obviously on satellite and that's what you see when you go to noradsanta.org. That is our satellite. And then we also have a lot of jet aircraft that will escort him especially in bad weather. And so we have those three ways to track Santa. So it's actually pretty -- been pretty easy for us the last 66 years to track him.

SANCHEZ: It isn't impressive work you do at NORAD. General, I see that Santa -- actually I don't see the image is kind of small, but I heard that Santa was wearing a mask on his sleigh tonight, just like a lot of other folks that have been flying commercially around the U.S. this holiday season.

We know he's fully vaccinated, got his booster shot and all. How is important -- how important is it I should say for St. Nick to mask up as he travels around the world and goes inside folks home?

ROSE: Oh, yes, of course Santa is going to take every precaution possible out there. Although he does wear a mask in the homes, when he's talking to the reindeer, when he's up in the sleigh, he doesn't have a mask as I get to be able to hear him. But he has definitely taken all the precautions both last Christmas and of course this Christmas.

SANCHEZ: And General as you noted at NORAD, you track everything that flies in and around the United States. I'm wondering if this mission is a personal favorite for you?

ROSE: Oh, actually, it is a new tradition for my family. We answer a lot of phone calls, in fact about 20,000 phone calls last year, hoping that it'll go up this year since we've got more volunteers. I have about 500 volunteers, both military civilian and the local community here in Colorado. So it is definitely a new tradition for us.

SANCHEZ: Santa, we should note now heading toward Tunisia. What does the rest of the night look like for Santa? Any indications the reindeer might have trouble navigating the sleigh.

ROSE: Oh, no, not tonight. In fact, you will be, you know, you will be in the area here in the United States very soon. And I will just say we don't know exactly where he's going. We don't have an itinerary. We kind of know it just based on historical data but he usually arrives in our local communities between nine and midnight so make sure the kids are in bed and ready for him to come.

SANCHEZ: I will be up awaiting hoping for anything but another lump of coal. Major General Michelle Rose of NORAD, thank you so much for the time. Merry Christmas. Appreciate you.

ROSE: Merry Christmas, Boris. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Still more news ahead don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:57:57]

SANCHEZ: So we've got a bit of a Christmas Eve gift for you. An exclusive joint interview with singer songwriters James Taylor and Carole King. They open up about their decades long friendship and professional partnership in a new CNN film. And in this clip from "Carole King and James Taylor, Just Call Out My Name." King recalls how Taylor played an instrumental role in her launching her singing career.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROLE KING, AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER: I was your sideman. And that's all I ever wanted to be. And you said to me, I want you to go on stage tonight and sing your song. Oh, wait, What? What? No, no, I can't do it. No, you're going to do it. No, don't worry. And you gave me the loveliest introduction. And it might have been -- I could be wrong might have been Queens College, which I went to.

JAMES TAYLOR, AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER: I seem to remember that it was a good school.

KING: Yes. And you said, OK, everybody, I'm going to turn the stage over to Carole King, you all know her as a songwriter. She wrote that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he listed the whole thing. And what he did was he made me pre-loved because everybody knew all those songs.

And I started singing, I just -- I wrote about this in my book, like, it's hard to, but I am like, this world starts getting -- and start playing and I'm terrified. And I start feeling the love. And by the time I got on the roof, it's -- well let me tell you now and you made me do that. And I will always be grateful for your love, your support and shoving the kid out to nest.

TAYLOR: Right.

KING: And I watched you on stage and you were yourself. However you were, you were authentically you. And you love being up there and you played the music and your level of consciousness varied but you were always present for that and I watched you just be yourself. I was like, oh, that's what you do. So thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The CNN Film "Carole King, and James Taylor Just Call Out My Name Airs" this Sunday, January -- actually Sunday January 2nd at 9:00 p.m. So not this Sunday but the next one.

[18:00:09]

Thank you so much for joining us tonight. I'm Sanchez. I hope you have a Merry Christmas. Feliz Nochebuena. Our coverage continues now with a "CNN SPECIAL REPORT."