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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Freddie Gray's Family Upset At Mistrial; Republicans Back On The Campaign Trail; Clinton Sends Message To Supporter's Dad; FBI: San Bernardino Shooters Pledged Jihad; How You'll Benefit From The New Tax Deal; Putin Offering Support For U.S. ISIS Effort. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 17, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: -- first prosecution of the police officer in connection with Freddie Gray's death. CNN's Miguel Marquez in Baltimore for us with the latest.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cristina and Boris, there was an audible gasp in the courtroom when Judge Barry Williams announced that the jury was deadlocked on all four charges against Officer William Porter.

I think there was an expectation he would be found guilty perhaps on some of the lower charges or hung jury or not guilty on the upper charges that he was facing.

The family of Freddie Gray speaking exclusively to CNN, his mother saying she was upset that the jury wasn't able to come up with a verdict on this trial. His stepfather thanked the jury for its work and asked the citizens of Baltimore to stay calm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD SHIPLEY, FREDDIE GRAY'S STEPFATHER: We are hopeful that (inaudible) will retry Officer Porter as soon as possible and that his next jury will reach a verdict. We ask the public to remain calm and patient because we are confident there will be another trial with a different jury. We are calm. You should be calm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: In large part, that's just what they did. Just after the non-verdict was announced, there were perhaps a few dozen protesters outside the courthouse here. They marched to city hall and police headquarters, very large numbers of police.

Those police not in riot gear but just in force keeping them off the streets from blocking major thoroughfares. There were dust- ups along the way. Two were arrested.

But in large part, it's peaceful and boisterous, but not a huge problem for the city to face. The question now is what next for Officer William Porter? The prosecution would like to retry the case, but it is not clear how soon that will move forward.

The judge will hold a meeting tomorrow among the parties to talk about scheduling to see how this moves forward in the days ahead. We will see a lot of lawyer strategy and tactics before moving forward not just with the Porter case, but the five others they want to get done here -- Cristina, Boris.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Thank you, Miguel. On to politics, Republican candidates are back on the campaign trail after the debate. Trump in Arizona bragging about his huge poll numbers. Two candidates behind him in many surveys, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are taking aim mostly at each other.

Rubio in Iowa along with the man recently in fourth place, Ben Carson, as Cruz launches a week long campaign swing through Super Tuesday states.

Joining us to break it all down is CNN's politics reporter, Jeremy Diamond in the Washington Bureau. Good morning. Now Trump was on Jimmy Kimmel last night. He confessed about being very divisive. He kind of walked back from that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would like to see the Republican Party come together. I have been a little bit divisive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit?

TRUMP: I'm having a great time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALESCI: We have to come together and get this thing done. This does not sound like classic Trump. Jeremy, is somebody telling him to be a little bit nicer?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: We have seen this happen several times throughout the campaign trail where Donald Trump is saying I'm trying to be a little nicer. He comes back and hits them again.

You have to remember that Donald Trump can play two different sides of the coin. He is lower key in the debates. He only attacks when he is attacked.

He didn't really fire too many shots. On the campaign trail, when he is rallying his thousands of supporters at his rally, it is a different story. It is still classic Donald Trump.

He is talking about being divisive only because he's hit other candidates. Of course, there are million other reasons why Donald Trump has been divisive this campaign season.

SANCHEZ: He also says he's having a good time while he is doing it. On Jimmy Kimmel last night, one of his favorite targets Jeb Bush again came up in the conversation. Listen to what he said about Jeb.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Jeb Bush is scared of you or scared in general?

TRUMP: I think he's scared. He is having a hard time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think he wants to run for president?

TRUMP: No. No. He was a happy warrior. He is having a hard time running. He was supposed to be because of the name, everyone thought he was the odds on favorite. I gave him this term low energy. I said he is a low energy individual. We do not need in this country low energy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Trump saying that he defined Jeb. What is the Jeb campaign saying about him trying to breakthrough that definition? This last debate performance is more aggressive than he was and the others.

[05:35:08]DIAMOND: Yes, certainly Jeb Bush worked really hard to kind of improve on his debate performances. Before this last debate, he hired a debate coach to kind of try and improve those performances. We are starting to see the results shine through now.

His campaign is also putting a lot of money in early states with ads that try both from the campaign and from his super PAC backing him that are trying to back him up and kind of define his story and who he is.

Of course, that's the lesson from 2012. Define yourself before your opponent defines you. It remains to be seen whether it is too late for Jeb to define himself given that now one of the things that people think about is low energy because of Donald Trump.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy, speaking of defining your adversaries, I want to bring up this ABC/"Washington Post" poll showing Ted Cruz surging nearly doubling his support from November to now and Rubio slightly slipping. Both of those have been going at each other. Do you see a trend continuing where Rubio starts to decline as Cruz ascends?

DIAMOND: I don't know about that. I think that right now kind of the general understanding in the pundit class, the Washington class is that Cruz and Rubio are going to go toe-to-toe at some point in this campaign whether or not Donald Trump will be in that mix also remains to be seen.

But certainly Donald Trump is continuing to rise. Ted Cruz is on the rise. Marco Rubio, if you get the last few weeks or months even, as far as his polling numbers, he is also on the rise. The Ted Cruz/Marco Rubio brawl, we started to get a bit of a taste of that in the last debate.

It's an interesting fight. You know, both of them freshmen senators on Capitol Hill, both of them Cuban-American and kind of both representing two different futures of the party.

One of them kind is of representing this return to the real hardline, most conservative principles of the party. The other one is representing a little bit more of an establishment side, the future of the party as far as diversity and a little bit more inclusive.

ALESCI: Yes, it seems like one of the ways that Ted Cruz is looking to distinguish himself very sharply from Marco Rubio is on the issue of immigration. Is Ted Cruz's message that he is tougher on immigration really resonating at this point? Is there a way to know?

DIAMOND: You know, what it seems to be is that Ted Cruz is really trying to eliminate all doubt that there is any inch of him that is not 100 percent conservative. He recently recanted his support for H1B visas, which he had initially supported.

We also saw in the past Marco Rubio suggesting that Ted Cruz supported a path to legal status and Ted Cruz had in fact left that pretty vague. Now he is really trying to lock up conservative support and lock up that whole spectrum of support from not only key endorsers in early states, but broader coalition to secure the nomination.

The way that Ted Cruz sees that is by inching to the right as much as he can because he is already pretty far to the right there, but certainly that is his strategy and Marco Rubio is presenting a little bit of an alternative to that so we will have to see which one is more palatable to Republican primary voters.

ALESCI: Now with all of the attention on the Republicans and in- fighting between them, we have not talked about Hillary Clinton. She has been having some fun and she was recently asked to comment on a Trump supporter. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dad is a Donald Trump supporter. Can you give him a message?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What is your dad's name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sean.

CLINTON: Sean?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

CLINTON: Hi, Sean. I'm here with your daughter. I hope you can see I don't have horns. I really do hope that as this election goes on, you will listen to your daughter. Thanks. Bye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALESCI: All right. Clearly she is just fooling around there. What is her strategy from here on out? Is it to kickback and watch the Republicans have at it for a while and not ruffle any feathers?

DIAMOND: Certainly she wouldn't say that. I mean, you know, Hillary Clinton's campaign throughout has been kind of considered the presumed frontrunner and the presumed nominee for the party, and of course, what she does need to do, though, her campaign is saying that she does need to campaign.

That they are campaigning for every single vote, not taking anything for granted. What Hillary Clinton has been able to do with this kind of Republican brawl that we are seeing on the other side is tie every candidate to Donald Trump.

[05:40:01]She has been able to take Donald Trump's most extreme and divisive comments in particular and most recently the ban on foreign Muslims entering the United States. And she is taking that and try to tie every other Republican to those principles.

Especially Democrats are pointing out to the fact that Republicans have said that whoever the nominee even if it's Donald Trump that they'll support him. So Hillary Clinton is certainly enjoying watching what's going on with the Republican side and trying to capitalize on it as well.

SANCHEZ: All right, Jeremy, thank you so much.

DIAMOND: Thank you.

ALESCI: Were the San Bernardino shooters lone wolves or did they have direct ties to ISIS? What the FBI is revealing up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALESCI: We have new details about the radicalization of the San Bernardino shooters. The FBI says Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook communicated with each other online about their commitment to jihad back in 2013 before they ever physically met. The FBI director insists there were no warning signs missed. We get more from CNN's Paul Vercammen in San Bernardino.

[05:45:04]PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: FBI Director James Comey said years before the attacks. Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook were showing signs of commitment to both jihad and martyrdom, but their messages were direct and private.

Comey in his talk said many times it was difficult to see the threat of ISIS because of encryption or these hidden messages. He also said that there were no signs or indications or direct links between the San Bernardino couple and overseas terrorist organizations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: We still see in San Bernardino no indication of direct contact with foreign terrorist organization, obviously that would include direction from foreign terrorist organization.

We still have not seen evidence although we constantly look for it and still working on it that they are part of an organized cell of some sort or that there were other parts to this plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: Comey added that there were no signs, no indications that the San Bernardino couple tripped any wires or came across any of the FBI's screens. He left everyone in the United States with a thought. He said if you come across something, tell us. Don't let these savages get what they want -- Boris, Cristina.

SANCHEZ: Paul, thank you. Terrorism and its most recent victims on President Obama's schedule the rest of the week. The president will visit the National Counterterrorism Center in suburban Virginia for an annual pre-holiday briefing this morning.

Then he travels to San Bernardino, California where he will privately meet tomorrow with grieving family members from the December 2nd mass shooting.

Breaking overnight, Defense Secretary Ash Carter was caught using a personal e-mail account to conduct official Pentagon business during his first months on the job. This report is according to "New York Times."

A White House contact for the Defense Department had made a question Carter's e-mail practices. In a written statement released yesterday, a spokesman for Carter says, the defense secretary, quote, "made a mistake and has since stopped using the account."

ALESCI: Who benefits from that big tax deal? It is parents, students, low income families, if the plan passes. First, let's talk about the child tax credit. That helps offset the cost of raising children. Parents can be refunded 15 percent of earned income above $3,000. This deal makes that threshold permanent. It wasn't before.

Next, a more generous tuition tax credit. The American Opportunity Tax Credit let's filers claim $2,500 a year and also higher refunds for low income working families. This deal would make more generous provisions designed to reward work also permanent.

Now a quick check of the markets, European and Asian shares are soaring. U.S. stock futures are up. This after the Federal Reserve agrees to raise interest rates for the first time in a decade.

SANCHEZ: It's something to keep watching as the economy responds. We'll see if they keep raising rates.

ALESCI: They will before. The question is how long will they go.

SANCHEZ: Let's look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Good morning, Michaela. How are you?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Boris and Cristina, always a pleasure.

I love this love fest. It's 48 minutes before the hour. We will look at the protests that are erupting in Baltimore after the mistrial declared in the trial for one of the officers charged in Freddie Gray's death.

Why couldn't the jury reach a decision? How is this ruling going to effect the trials of the other officers? We will put those questions to our legal experts as well as the attorney that represents Gray's family.

Also, the Republican candidates back on the campaign trial after this week's debate. Donald Trump is coming out swinging against Jeb Bush. How is that feud doing? And some of the other rivalries we saw on stage. How they are affecting the race. We will look at that on the "NEW DAY" show coming up.

SANCHEZ: We look forward to that dueling Republican Party. Thank you so much, Michaela.

ALESCI: Thanks, Michaela. Big oil set to get a big win in Congress. Why the U.S. could start exporting oil for the first time in four years. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:01]

SANCHEZ: Russian President Vladimir Putin again rejecting an international effort to oust Bashar Al Assad. Speaking in his annual state of the union news conference still underway in Moscow, Putin mentioned his meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this week.

Furiously he said that Russia and the U.S. are on the same page on Syria's future, but a political solution is the only way forward in Syria. He said Russian military operations will continue until that political process starts.

For the latest, let's bring in CNN's Nic Robertson live in London. Nic, Putin not as aggressive as he typically is going after the west.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: He wasn't this time. One of the big topics on the agenda that kept coming up in questions was the Russian economy. He talked about the price of oil falling and he thinks Russia is out of the current crisis.

One of the questions that came up in that context was how long can Russia sustain this from a Russian journalist. How long can Russia sustain its military involvement in Syria? He said it is not costing a lot with diverted money from training budgets to the military operations in Syria.

Indeed he said that Syria, for its pilots, Russia's pilots, is the best form of training they could get. He is not talking in any way shape or form there about backing off the military engagement in terms of the diplomatic front. Yes, he says he supports President Barack Obama's initiative.

At the moment, this is part of the initiative that the Russia will be presenting with the United States today at the United Nations Security Council to strengthen resolutions against ISIS and other terror groups to control their financing, to put pressure on the U.N. member nations to stop ISIS selling its oil to share intelligence information to better control their borders.

Not just talking about Syria here, but Yemen and Libya and all those other places where ISIS is operating. Coming back to what Vladimir Putin going back 15 years or so there, Vladimir Putin saying that Assad's position remains a choice of the Syrian people.

[05:55:10]It's something he said all along, but he does agree on a step by step process to get to that point. That is where the agreement with the United States is -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: We will keep an eye on what the U.N. does in response to this attempt. Thank you, Nic.

ALESCI: All right, the U.S. and Russia are also focusing on a long term political solution to the grinding civil war in Syria. Talks continuing tomorrow in New York as Russia's military keep up airstrikes on targets across the country.

Senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance is embedded with the Russian military at a Syrian air base with more -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have the rare access to Russia's huge air base in Syria. It means we are able to see close up just how hard Russia is pressing air war in the country.

To give you a sense of the atmosphere, it is tense, a real military operation. We are under tight security. The air is thick with the smell of jet fuel. The whole base reverberates to the roar of jets on the way to bombing missions.

Russian defense officials said they carried out dozens of strikes killing more than 300 militants including ISIS fighting the Syrian government. We got a sense that this is a fight the Russians believe they are winning.

In the past two years, one Russian military official explained to me the area controlled by rebels in Syria has expanded massively. In just three months since Russia has been waging its air war, the targeted areas have decreased.

So the Russians believe they are getting the upper hand and there is no sign that the level of intensity of their air strikes will decrease, at least not that we've seen. Matthew Chance, CNN, at the air base in Western Syria.

ALESCI: Let's get an EARLY START on your money. It is an amazing day for stocks around the globe. Maybe we will get the Santa rally. European and Asian shares are soaring. U.S. stock futures are pointing up too after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the first time in a decade. The increase is small, but significance is huge, a vote of

confidence in the American economy. Investors cheered the news. Yesterday, the Dow closed up 224 points.

SANCHEZ: It's probably no lump of coal for Janet Yellen.

A mistrial for a police officer charged in Freddie Gray's death. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mistrial in the first trial of the police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The judge determined it was a hung jury.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We asked the public to remain calm. We are calm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we believe injustice, we must have respect for the outcome of the judicial process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Rubio's campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the stage talks tough.

TRUMP: A person who is not been able to carry it forward.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald doesn't talk about anything serious. He doesn't have any ideas of how to keep America safe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing in the investigation so far has shown the U.S. government missed any red flags.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were no public postings, only private messages.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Vegas, baby. Wait a minute. Good morning. I'm back? Welcome to NEW DAY. It is Thursday, December 17th, 6:00 in the east.

Protesters are taking to the streets in Baltimore demanding to know why a jury failed to reach a verdict against the first of six officers being tried for the death of Freddie Gray.

The judge declared a mistrial after the jury said they were deadlocked on all charges. Baltimore's mayor urging calm hoping to avoid a repeat of the rioting and looting that followed Gray's funeral in April.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So the big question this morning, will the state retry the case against Officer William Porter and what impact will that one have on the other officers' trial?

Let's start our coverage with CNN's Jean Casarez in Baltimore with the latest. Good morning, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. When would they have the retrial? There are five other officers waiting in line to be tried. Yesterday, when the judge was announcing that there was a hung jury, the community began to form around the courthouse and there was even some with a megaphone announcing there has been a mistrial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ (voice-over): Protesters outraged over the mistrial in the death of Freddie Gray.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are calm. You should be calm, too.

CASAREZ: Officer William Porter could be facing the possibility of a second trial after a jury of seven blacks and five whites failed to reach a unanimous decision on any of the charges against --