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Four Officers Shot Across Country In 24-Hour Span; Trump's Weekend Packed With Meetings; Trump Will Move Into White House While Melania & Barron Remain In NYC Temporarily; Facebook Vs. Fake News. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired November 21, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:20] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. Thank you for joining us. I'm Boris Sanchez.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to have you here this morning, Boris. I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour. Let's begin with this breaking overnight. A devastating Sunday for police departments across the country. Four officers -- four -- shot while on duty in just 24 hours. At this hour here's where things stand. Two of the incidents took place in Missouri, one in St. Louis, the other in suburban Kansas City. Two other officers were shot in Sanibel, Florida and San Antonio, Texas.

In St. Louis, a 46-year-old police sergeant was in his patrol car last night. He was shot twice in the face by a gunman in a silver car who pulled up beside him, opened fire, and then sped off. The suspect later killed in a shootout with police. The 20-year veteran officer, a married father of three, is in critical but stable condition after surgery. Fortunately, he is expected to survive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE CHIEF SAM DOTSON, ST. LOUIS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: This officer was not involved in a traffic stop. This officer was not trying to pull this car over. This officer was driving down the road and was ambushed by an individual who pointed a gun at him from inside of his car and shot out the police officer's window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All officers in St. Louis will now ride two to a patrol car until further notice.

SANCHEZ: And this, 10 minutes outside Kansas City in Gladstone, Missouri, a police officer shot during a traffic stop late last night. The suspect was also shot. Kansas City's Fraternal Order of Police tweeting that the officer is expected to survive. The suspect's condition and identity, though, have yet to be confirmed.

ROMANS: In Sanibel, Florida, just west of Fort Myers, an officer was wounded in a drive-by shooting las night. Authorities say he was in his patrol following a routine traffic stop. He was sitting in the car when someone pulled up and began firing. The officer was treated at a local hospital. He was released. Now, the suspect was taken into custody a short time later after exchanging gunfire with other officers. This is the first time in the history of the Sanibel Police Department that an officer has been shot.

SANCHEZ: And in San Antonio, investigators say the shooting death of a 50-year-old police officer was an intentional targeted killing. Detective Benjamin Marconi was gunned down in his patrol car Sunday outside police headquarters during a traffic stop. Officials are still searching for the suspect in this case.

We get more now from CNN's Polo Sandoval.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Police in San Antonio in the middle of a major manhunt. They're trying to track down the person or persons responsible for the shooting death of a 20-year veteran of the force.

At this point investigators believe that their officer was in the middle of a traffic stop just outside the police department. He was actually filling out a citation for a driver when a third vehicle pulled up beside side -- behind him. The person, again, getting out of that car, walking up to the passenger side of this patrolman's vehicle, and then shooting the officer. The police chief there saying that this gunman later shot the officer again. And now, the search is on for this individual. Here's San Antonio police with the latest on the investigation.

WILLIAM MCMANUS, SAN ANTONIO POLICE CHIEF: Witness reports indicate the suspect to be a dark-complected male, slim build, in his twenties or thirties. He was wearing gray pants and a gray shirt at the time. We've had descriptions with and without facial hair.

We are actively pursuing all leads and looking into all motives. All of SAPD resources, including from our federal enforcement partners -- our federal law enforcement partners and state and local government are all being utilized. We consider this suspect to be extremely dangerous and a clear threat to law enforcement officers and the public.

SANDOVAL: Well, condolence messages are now pouring into San Antonio from across the country. Governor Greg Abbott, in the state of Texas, also among them. He is an elected official who is also pushing for legislation to consider targeting police officers in Texas -- considering that a hate crime.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Polo Sandoval. Thank you for that this morning. Donald Trump back at Trump Tower in New York City this morning after a weekend spent at his golf retreat in Bedminster, New Jersey. Today we may learn the results of a packed weekend of sit-downs between Donald Trump and a host of advisers, experts, and potential cabinet picks, a dozen such meetings on Sunday alone. Right there in front of the camera -- aides have hinted -- well, at least the arrivals in front of the camera. Aides have hinted there might be some staffing announcements but Trump fended off questions about that from anxious reporters -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we've made a couple of deals but we'll let you know soon.

REPORTER: Mr. President-elect, does that mean you offered a job to a couple of people and they accepted? Is that what you mean by deals?

TRUMP: Pretty true, pretty true. We'll let you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:35:00] ROMANS: CNN's Phil Mattingly among the reporters camped out at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey. He brings us the latest this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Christine, it was a weekend of marathon meetings. Meeting after meeting, cabinet potential official after cabinet potential official, and some advisers in there as well. But it really was all about reading the tea leaves trying to get a sense of who will fill out the top positions in the Trump administration.

The president-elect coming to the door greeting every single one of his visitors, but on Sunday there was a key focus on two indiv9iduals, Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani.Obviously, the former -- one of the most important early endorsements of Donald Trump's campaign who has fallen out of favor in recent weeks and has actually been removed as the head of his transition team. And all of his top allies have gone as well. A lot of question as to whether or not Chris Christie will actually have a job in the Trump administration. All signs right now are pointing to no.

Not so much for Rudy Giuliani, though. The former New York mayor also a very close confidant, adviser, aide to the president-elect throughout the campaign. He has been angling for a secretary of state job. We asked the president-elect if that's what he's looking at the mayor for. Take a listen.

REPORTER: Is the mayor a candidate of secretary of state, Mr. President-elect?

TRUMP: And other things. And other things.

MATTINGLY: So guys, obviously a little bit of hedging there. Maybe some other positions that he may be looking at. And this is all coming in the wake of Saturday's meeting with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, 2012 presidential nominee who we are told very definitely is under consideration for that state job. What I'm told from Trump advisers is Donald Trump very intrigued by

the idea -- the perception of what it would mean to have Mitt Romney in his administration, particularly in the wake of their 14-, 15-, 16- month battle back and forth. So it will be very interesting to see how that all plays out.

One key thing to keep an eye on as this week goes on, starting today there will be a focus economic jobs. The economic transition landing team's landing at all the agencies throughout the day, then domestic policy as well. Obviously, we're all keeping a very close eye on who the next big cabinet appointments will be. Trump advisers, some are coy about that but definitely making clear announcements will be made soon -- Boris and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Phil in New Jersey. Thanks, Phil.

So, Donald Trump could be placing a fellow billionaire in his cabinet. Wilbur Ross is a leading candidate for commerce secretary according to a source close to the transition process. He was a vocal Trump supporter during the election. He met with Trump this weekend. No final decision yet, but Ross is being seriously considered. The commerce secretary is the government's chief business advocate. The Commerce Department also compiles really important economic data on growth, trade, and incomes. And the next secretary will also oversee the 2020 census.

So who is Wilbur Ross? Well, he's worth $2.9 billion. He's the chairman of W.L. Ross & Company. He made his name buying distressed debt and resurrecting dying companies or finding the best parts of dead companies. Some of the biggest hits have come from steel and coal companies, two areas Trump wants to revive. He's an avid art collector. Sometimes billionaires, they've got some spare change for that. His art collection reportedly worth $150 million.

SANCHEZ: Just a tiny, tiny art collection.

ROMANS: Just a little bit. You know, we don't know who treasury secretary is yet either, so the commerce secretary and the treasury secretary are the two really important money cabinet positions. And treasury secretary, you're hearing Jeff Hensarling. You're hearing Steve Mnuchin, who is the campaign finance chief for Donald Trump. And even still hearing Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan Chase CEO. Not clear how serious any of those names are but we think we'll know more after Thanksgiving.

SANCHEZ: One that would be incredibly controversial going back to 2008, at least the image that he had --

ROMANS: JPMorgan, right, because of the bailout, right?

SANCHEZ: Right.

ROMANS: I mean, a banker -- it was seen really in the Obama administration that you could never have a banker now as a treasury secretary because of the bailouts. But Jamie Dimon never wanted to take those bailouts, right, so --

SANCHEZ: Right.

ROMANS: He was forced to for the -- for the good of the country.

SANCHEZ: Donald Trump taking a lot of visitors this weekend in New Jersey. One that he appears to be very enthusiastic about is defense secretary candidate Gen. James Mattis. The two met for a little over an hour on Saturday. Afterward, the president-elect characterized the retired four-star general as the real deal and a true general's general. A source tells CNN that no decision has been made but that Trump is "leaning in Mattis' direction".

ROMANS: Also meeting with the president-elect, high-powered Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel. A spokesman for Emanuel said Sunday's visit was not about a job. He represented Trump during some of the negotiations with NBC over the "Celebrity Apprentice". Emanuel is a longtime Democratic fundraiser. His brother, Rahm, was President Obama's chief of staff and is now Chicago's mayor.

SANCHEZ: A bit of a curious visit there.

ROMANS: It is, isn't it?

SANCHEZ: Yes. Donald Trump says he will live in the White House once he takes the oath of office but his wife Melania and their 10-year-old son Barron will remain behind in Manhattan, at least temporarily. That's going to allow Barron to finish out the year at his school. The Trump campaign is not releasing details about the timing of the family's move and they're asking for the same privacy and security considerations other first families have received. There's a lot of things to consider when --

ROMANS: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- you're moving, you know. Setting up the cable, the Internet, getting to know the neighbors, figuring out where you're going to put --

[05:40:00] ROMANS: How do you mount the T.V.

SANCHEZ: -- the $20,000 portrait of yourself. A delicate process.

ROMANS: All right, but this family does deserve the -- does deserve the privacy about the child, no question.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

ROMANS: All right. Facebook taking heat for not cracking down on fake news being shared on the site, but now CEO Mark Zuckerberg is taking a stand. He's got some new tactics he says will help crack down on fake news. We'll tell you what they are.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:44:30] ROMANS: All right. Facebook is cracking down on fake news sites. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reversing his position. He came under fire for saying it was a "crazy idea" that fake news played a role in the election.

"CNN MONEY" tech correspondent Samuel Burke is following the story for us. He joins us live from London. Samuel, nice to see you bright and early this morning. You know, Facebook is in a tough spot here. How is the company planning to filter out these fake stories, this fake news?

[05:45:00] SAMUEL BURKE, CNN MONEY BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. This really is an about face for Facebook because at first Mark Zuckerberg was completely dismissing all this talk of fake news saying well, it's just about one percent of the content that we see on our platform.

But now he's under so much pressure, not just from the media -- people like you and I talking about this -- but also from users wondering what is Facebook going to do? And also, the pressure on their stock price. Keep in mind, a lot of tech companies have suffered a lot since Donald Trump won this election.

So now, all of a sudden, he's come out with this Facebook and has three main ideas, and I just want to put up for you that he shared on his Facebook page about what Facebook can do. This is unprecedented because usually Facebook doesn't share plans. They only announce something once they're -- once they're done. But now he's saying Facebook is already working on a stronger detection system, so maybe using artificial intelligence to help figure out what is fake before users even start reporting fake news.

But also, number two, allowing users an easy system for reporting this. Keep in mind, for a long time anti-bullying advocates online said that Facebook needed an easier way for people to just do one click and report somebody bullying them. Now experts say they can do the same exact thing for fake news. One button -- you click it and then from there, if enough people are flagging it, maybe it could come off of Facebook's platform.

And number three, Christine, what I think is the easiest, the most tangible way to deal with this problem, a warning label on some of these stories -- but a warning label developed by fact-checking websites. Mark Zuckerberg says they're already working with companies like PolitiFact, for instance. So maybe if all these fact-checking companies -- platforms -- come together and say listen, this is for sure a fake story, then before you click that story you have this warning label that says PolitiFact and other websites have determined that this is fake news. That seems like a pretty fix to me.

SANCHEZ: Now, this is really interesting. An ethical dilemma here, Samuel, because the question becomes is Facebook a platform for free speech? Is it now a news gatekeeper? And we all have seen these stories. We all have that one friend who's convinced that aliens rigged the election.

ROMANS: Yes. SANCHEZ: So the question is, is this news just being shared or are fake news publishers actually going out and trying to deceive and target people?

BURKE: Well, that's the complex question here, Boris. I use the example of my mom. She's a very smart woman. She raised a journalist and we were always into news in my household and she was even fooled by one of the websites. And the reason why is because some of them aren't just fake news websites, they're fake imposter news websites.

ROMANS: Right.

BURKE: Websites that are made to look like abcnews.com, the old logo of ABC News, but it's abcnews.com.co. So you have some lower hanging fruit there that Facebook could help eliminate. But Mark Zuckerberg did admit that this is a very tough issue, both technology and philosophically because, of course, they don't want to wade into news that you might disagree with, whether it's FOX News or --

ROMANS: Right.

BURKE: -- or MSNBC. They're just looking to get rid of the fake news and, of course, there are some gray zones sometimes.

ROMANS: Of course. You know, and they're not a journalist. I mean, Mark Zuckerberg is not a journalist. It's a platform but there have to be rules of the road for that platform, otherwise all of that information -- all of that -- all those words become meaningless. You know, it strikes me that -- Samuel -- that the Oxford Dictionary word of the year is post-truth. It's almost as though there -- even if you tell somebody the sky is blue they will not believe the sky is blue. If you say up is up and down is down they will not believe up is up and down is down. It might be a little bit of that out there, too.

BURKE: Especially if it's posted on Facebook so many times. But what I find most fascinating here, Christine, and you will also as a financial journalist, is follow the money. A lot of this just comes --

ROMANS: Yes.

BURKE: -- back to people trying to make money. Don't forget that when they share these stories a lot of times they were getting ad revenue shared from Facebook and Google, and Facebook and Google have already taken action to shut -- to stop sharing money with them. So as we find out more and more about these websites that are confusing us between up and down and whether the sky is blue or not, you have to follow the money and realize that maybe they're not completely ideologically driven, they're just driven by the bottom line, a buck.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

ROMANS: Everything you read on Facebook turns out isn't true.

SANCHEZ: Who knew? Who knew that was the case? The other big thing here is if you'll recall during the campaign, Facebook got in some trouble because former employees were saying that they were skewing conservative stories away from showing up on people's profile. So, again, how do they find that balance? Any indication so far, Samuel?

BURKE: And I think that's what's making it so difficult for Facebook, is because they had those allegations during the election. That makes them have to work even harder as they go across -- as they go after these stories. And I think that's why, at first, Mark Zuckerberg was so reluctant, as Christine said, calling this idea crazy that it may have swayed the election because they had faced such tough allegations.

ROMANS: Right.

BURKE: But remember, the more content they have the better, so Facebook also has to deal with their own bottom line as well. So they're having to walk a very thin line here, but I think at the end of the day enough users putting pressure on them is already having them reconsider what they need to do. And I think the bigger question is what do the other sites do next? There's already talk about Google changing that little "in the news" box at the top of their website. And what will Twitter do next? So, oftentimes, one of the social media companies does something and then all the other tech companies follow suit.

[05:50:04] ROMANS: All right, so interesting, thanks. Nice to see you this morning -- this Monday morning from London, Samuel Burke. Thank you, Samuel.

SANCHEZ: All right. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris Cuomo joining us now. Good morning, Chris.

ROMANS: Hi, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": My good friends. Happy Monday to you. We're going to be keeping track of a really string of terrible crimes. Officer-involved shootings shaking communities across the country. Three different states involved. We don't know if these were coordinated or not. It doesn't look likely at this point but we have the latest on all three. One of those officers lost his life. We're going to talk to experts about what can be done to keep officers more safe while they're on the beat.

Plus, we have presidential news. President-elect Donald Trump's transition team starting to take shape. Some of the appointments are coming out. Who's coming on next and what do the selections that have been made say about the face this administration is going to put forward to the rest of the world?

Kellyanne Conway, one of his main advisers, will be on "NEW DAY". Is she in or out? We'll try and get you an answer to that, Christine.

ROMANS: Yes. I mean, usually this stuff happens behind closed doors --

SANCHEZ: Right. ROMANS: -- and so secretive. We're waiting for any kind of morsel of information. This weekend we had photo ops all weekend from New Jersey.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: There you go, Boris, just like that.

ROMANS: All right. Chris Cuomo, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Chris.

ROMANS: If you procrastinated, Chris Cuomo, on refinancing your mortgage you may have missed out. Mortgage rates are surging -- surging. We'll tell you why when we get a check on CNN Money Stream, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:40] SANCHEZ: Breaking overnight, a violent confrontation between hundreds of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters and police. Authorities are calling this a riot. About 400 demonstrators are trying to cross a bridge in order to breach a police barrier and reach a nearby highway. One person, so far, has been arrested. Protesters claim they've been attacked by officers with tear gas and water cannons in sub-freezing temperatures, but police say that these protesters were setting fires nearby and that they deny using those water cannons.

The 1,200-mile pipeline would connect oil-rich areas of North Dakota to distribution networks in Illinois, but protesters say it would threaten the environment, including drinking water and it would destroy Native American burial and prayer sites.

ROMANS: All right, 56 minutes past the hour. Let's get a check on CNN Money Stream. U.S. stock futures turn higher as the markets are closed Thursday, of course, for Thanksgiving. But with President- elect Donald Trump quickly filling -- or beginning to fill his cabinet, investors will stay focused on his appointments and his policies. Stock markets in Europe and Asia are trading mixed.

All right, the downside of the Trump rally in stocks, mortgage rates are jumping. Check this out. On the day of the election the national average for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 3.625 percent. Today, it's 4.125, an incredible rise in less than two weeks. Most of the increase is because the yield on the 10-year treasury note is rising rapidly, as well. Mortgage rates are tied to that. Investors are dumping bonds in favor of stocks. They see faster growth and higher interest rates when Trump takes office. So mortgage rates -- refi, refi, refi.

Apple is having battery problems with some iPhone 6S devices but it's nothing like the Samsung Note 7 issues, but here's what's going on. Apple says a small number of users have reported phones shutting down unexpectedly. It's not a safety issue. It only affects devices manufactured during a few weeks last fall. If you have an iPhone 6S and have experienced this issue bring it to an Apple store. It will check you serial number and replace the battery for free.

Check out the new CNN Money Stream app. It is business news personalized. The stories, videos, tweets, and topics you need all in one feed. Download it now on the App Store or Google Play. And, of course, politics will be the big story in the shortened market activity this week because we'll be looking to see will Wilbur Ross get the commerce secretary job. Who will become the treasury secretary? Back in 2008, it took President-elect Barack Obama until the twentieth day of the transition of name his treasury secretary. Remember, that was -- the world was falling apart.

SANCHEZ: Right, right, financial crisis then.

ROMANS: So we'll see -- we'll see how the transition goes from here. All right, that's EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez. We're following breaking news this morning. Let's get to "NEW DAY" starting right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, November 21st, 6:00 in the East, and we have breaking news. Four police officers have been shot in a series of ambush-style attacks in several different states. All these shootings just hours apart and let's take a look at the map. You see them in Missouri, two shootings there. One in Florida, another in Texas. The officer in Texas was killed.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: There's a manhunt underway in Texas at this hour to find that person suspected of killing a 20-year police veteran. CNN's Polo Sandoval is live in San Antonio with all of the breaking details. What's the latest, Polo?

SANDOVAL: Hey, Alisyn, good morning. Behind me, outside the San Antonio police headquarters, a scene that is all too familiar for law enforcement agencies here in Texas, particularly after this year's Dallas shooting. This makeshift memorial continues to grow after the shooting death of Det. Benjamin Marconi. And this morning officers, not just here in Texas but across the country, are taking extra precautions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Four separate shootings targeting police officers across the country.

MCMANUS: Unfortunately, like Dallas, like Baton Rouge, it's happened here.

SANDOVAL: A massive manhunt in Texas for a man suspected of killing a San Antonio officer. At around 11:45 a.m. Det. Benjamin Marconi was shot and killed while sitting in his squad car. The 50-year-old officer was writing a ticket during a traffic stop when a man walked up to his driver's side window and opened fire. He shot Marconi in the head from outside of the car. Police say the suspect then reached through the window and shot the 20-year veteran again. Police releasing two photos of people who may have seen the suspect and this image of a car they say fled the scene.

MCMANUS: Most families will be celebrating the holidays. SAPD will be burying one its own.