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New Day

Nigeria University Under Siege; Potential New ISIS Threat; Congress Back in Session

Aired December 01, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Violence is unfolding right now as terrorists attack a university, running gun battles and explosions are being reported in a northern Nigerian city. Now, this follows violence over the weekend. More than 100 people were killed by suicide bombers and armed gunmen at a mosque. Locals say they are certain all of this carnage is the work of the terror Boko Haram.

Nima Elbagir is tracking the developments for us from London.

Nima, what do we know right now?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand it started about 4:40 in the morning local time, Chris. Locals said they were woken up by the sounds of explosions rocking the city. This wasn't just limited to that university campus and absolute mayhem after that.

Some of those that we managed to get on the phone were cowering in their homes. They said nobody has been able to step outside their rooms out into the yards to see what's going on him.

One lady heartbreakingly told us she had to get off the phone, because she believed they actually stormed her house. The last thing she said to us is please, please, pray for us.

This has been a horrifying few weeks, Chris. The violence seems to be ratcheting up. And although the Nigerian military are attempting to push back against the militants, they don't seem to be having much success.

CUOMO: And that's the problem, Nima. I mean, prayers should not be the first line of defense against a terrorist organization. We know that there were phone calls trying to negotiate. We are trying to find out the fate of the missing girls. It didn't happen.

Where are we in terms of getting an international force to help out there?

ELBAGIR: Well, the Nigerians have been offered help, and they have declined it. They say that, unbelievably, they have this situation under control and we should tell you that even just before we came on air, we were working to confirm reports that Maiduguri, which was the site of an attack earlier, at the beginning of last week, that there are explosions being heard there. And this is all before we get any closer to the Nigerian elections in

February, the passing previous elections has been the violence ratchets, ratchets up, before the elections happen, and Boko Haram weren't even as strong before the last election. People really are just bracing themselves and expecting the worse, Chris.

CUMO: Nima Elbagir, thank you very much. We'll check back in with you.

A lot of other news as well, let's get you to Mick. MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here are the headlines. Good morning, once again, everybody.

Secretary of State John Kerry appealing the Qatari government to allow an American couple to leave the country after they were cleared of wrongdoing in the death of their 8-year-old adopted daughter. Matthew and Grace Huang who were living and working in the country were acquitted by an appeals court Sunday. However, they had their passports confiscated at the airport. Secretary Kerry is urging Qatar's foreign minister now to allow the couple to return back to the United States.

Today, the Supreme Court will consider whether violent rap lyrics posted to Facebook are protected by the First Amendment. Anthony Elonis is convicted of threatening his estranged wife when he posted a series of rap lyrics on Facebook about killing her. Elonis argues the lyrics were simply a form of expression that should not be considered threatening if he did not really mean it.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to start off with the hardest question of all.

(GUNSHOT)

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

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PEREIRA: Imagine that, a very close call for a West Virginia news reporter who was shot at during a TV report. John Delancey with our affiliate WCHS was putting together a report on a shooting in Charleston when shots rang out during the interview he was conducting. Fortunately, neither Delancey or the woman he was interviewing were not hit by those shots. Police are now searching for the gunman.

Legendary actor Kirk Douglas is still with us, people, yes, despite what you may have read on "People" magazine's Web site. Douglas' obituary appeared by mistake on People.com. It was a pre-written obit detailing his life and accomplishments. Thankfully, "People" has since removed the article from its website. Kirk Douglas, by the way, will turn 98 on December 9th -- 98-years-old.

CUOMO: God bless him. Word of his death briefly exists.

PEREIRA: Briefly.

CUOMO: CNN money time. Let's bring in CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here with all the dirt on Cyber Monday, jingle, jingle.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Cyber Monday didn't exist more than a decade ago. And now, everyone is talking about Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday, Black Friday, al blending together. According to the National Retail Federation, 127 million Americans are expected to shop today on these Cyber Monday deals.

That is actually fewer than last year. It comes on the heels of a disappointing Black Friday, for retailers. The number of people out shopping fell by about 7 percent this year. Store traffic was down, so what gives? Why are you so frugal?

Two things are certain. More people are shopping online the holiday deals are no longer concentrated to just a few days. Web sites are pushing week-long Cyber Monday deals to create more shopping, convenient shopping, to get people more opportunities to spend.

Look, just because it's labeled a Cyber Monday sale, doesn't make it a bargain. If you can wait, there will be better deals closer to Christmas and after the holidays. My personal advice, if it's not free shipping and at least 40 or 50 percent off, don't even bother.

PEREIRA: She stopped me mid-purchase.

ROMANS: There is a lot of 30 percent off today, free shipping. You can get that any day, if you wait. So, be very, very careful.

Don't spend money you're not going to be able -- don't buy something you can't pay for in the next 30 to 60 days.

PEREIRA: Can we make a Christine Roman's app you turn on those holiday season that tells you when to buy and when not to?

CUOMO: Husbands across the country are in love with Christine Romans right now.

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CUOMO: This is really something. Just the what you represent.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: You made them happy.

Christine Romans, thanks so much. Don't buy that.

All right, there are new concerns about the threat from ISIS. Do the extremists possess a dirty bomb? We are taking a closer look.

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CUOMO: All right. Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Intense fighting overnight along the Turkey-Syria border as ISIS is renewing its push for the city of Kobani.

But we have another headline for you this morning. There are new reports ISIS grabbed nuclear material from a university in Mosul back in July. What could that mean?

Let's bring in retired Major General James "Spider" Marks.

Sir, always a pleasure to see you, help us understand this, having nuclear material, how close is that to having a bomb? How real a threat is this?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's not a real threat. The fact that they had the uranium they took from Mosul is a concern simply because it demonstrates the lawlessness we have been witnessing over the course of many, many months, that this is ungoverned territory and ISIS can do essentially what it wants to do in northern Iraq and pushing over into Syria.

But the fact that this uranium is not enriched, it's not highly enriched uranium. It would take a very long process. So, the short answer is ISIS does not have a capability to create either a nuclear weapon or a small nuke in some capacity. That's a very extensive process they have to go through.

CUOMO: Appreciate it.

All right. The next headline is we will familiar for fighting for control of Kobani, the border town between Turkey and Syria. But is it relevant that ISIS is now attacking from the Turkey side of the border?

MARKS: Well, yes, it is. I think it is important in that what that really demonstrates again is the lack of what I would call integrity that exists among those nations that are in the Levant. The fact that Turkey has decided not to get involved directly in this fight a very complicated discussion because it has to do with Kurdish fighters that have Turkish blood on their hands, they're in that part of the world, in Syria, very specifically. Turkey doesn't want to do anything that would support the PKK, those Kurdish fighters, even though they're fighting against ISIS.

So, the fact that ISIS can get across the border where Turkey agreed not to get involved should not be surprising. However, I can tell you that that is very much contained. Turkey is not going to allow that to encroach into their territory.

CUOMO: Well, they certainly have the largest military capabilities in the region.

MARKS: They do.

CUOMO: And that's a part of the frustration with them.

So, bottom line, General, what is going on? Are we making progress? Are they winning? What is going on with the coalition? How is it evolving? MARKS: Yes, I think what you see, Chris, is a very frustrating state

of what a new normal looks like. Everyone in our national security arrangement here in the United States has said this is potentially a generational fight. This has a very long horizon. Nobody in this administration would expect to have a conclusion to this fight any time soon. In fact, this will be handed over to President Obama's successor.

CUOMO: Right.

MARKS: So, what we see is a form of containment. It's keeping what is within a certain box, certain immense amount of atrocities will take place within that box and, frankly, that's OK. We don't want it to expand any further. That's very frustrating.

CUOMO: OK. How about some perspective on what seems to be the renewed threat from Taliban and Afghanistan? It seems the past is the present once again there, in terms of their capabilities to get very close to highly populated areas and, more importantly, that, once again, we see people in the outlying community starting to embrace the Taliban because there is no one to protect them from the Taliban.

MARKS: That's right. And there is no alternative. That's what it comes down to, Chris.

I mean, frankly, Afghanistan, has been essentially defined by the borders of its neighbors. Afghanistan really doesn't have this deep cultural history as a nation. It does in terms of tribal relationships. And those are the pockets throughout the country.

So, you know, Kabul is not unlike Las Vegas. What happens in Kabul, stays in Kabul. It doesn't emanate out into the countryside.

So, the local tribesmen will embrace that which they can and those who are going to provide either the security or what they need in forward exist in the way that they want to exist.

So, in terms of any type of central government in trying to control water taking place, again, during this period of transition, the government if Kabul has just changed. And so, the Taliban is taking advantage of it. Also, it has to do with our ability to share intelligence and to continue to work these intelligence networks that we have put in place over the course of the last decade, how well can the Afghans pick up on that and take the lead in that effort. Clearly, we are seeing that they can't.

Attacking the Taliban is all about good, solid intelligence, that starts with human sources on the ground and real deep knowledge, and what I've said is that you don't have that deep knowledge inside Kabul.

CUOMO: Right. And, unfortunately, human resources is code for U.S. resources, and there is supposed to be an extraction plan there. We'll have to see what happens with that going forward.

General, always a pleasure to have you on NEW DAY, sir. MARKS: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, Chris.

Congress is back in session this morning. First up, the brewing immigration battle, and a possible government shutdown. What exactly can they get done in their final two weeks?

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CAMEROTA: Congress is back in session this morning, to cram all of their left-over business from the past two years into just the next weeks. Will lawmakers even keep the government running into the New Year and how about all that fallout on social media and from social media of that attack on the Obama girls?

Let's talk about all of this. Let's bring in CNN political analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast", John Avlon, and Republican consultant and CNN political analyst Margaret Hoover.

Great to see you, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's very quickly, John, what will they accomplish in the next weeks?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Oh, this is going to be the lamest of lame ducks. Basically a win is not having the government shutdown on December 11th. Anything ambitious, off the table.

CAMEROTA: Might they shut it down?

AVLON: Look, the government will start shutting down if money isn't misappropriated December 11. So, there's the hard stop on this that's 10 days. And, boy, the White House and the Republicans aren't getting along, and yes, it's still a Democratic-controlled Senate, but there is a lot of bad blood out there.

CUOMO: But at this point should we say, fine, it's awash until you get the new people in place and then just go on, it's no so much a tactic, it's just the inevitable?

MARGARET HOOVER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Mostly, I think that's right, Chris. I think in lame duck sessions, it's taking care of old business. We're not going to see them try to tackle immigration reform until the new Congress is in January, if they decide to at all. This is simply a matter of keeping all of the blood running, keeping every alive until the next session gets in the Congress.

AVLON: But, look, in the past couple sessions, we seen the gutless wonders in Congress say they couldn't do anything until the lame duck as the elections had to be safely over them to take a controversial vote. That ambition that existed in previous lame ducks is absent here. This is just keep the body alive.

CAMEROTA: All right. We have a couple polls. There are hot off the press, they were just released in the past hour.

This is a new CNN/ORC poll and it shows the public's opinion of the new GOP-led Congress. It asks GOP control of both houses for Congress will be good for the country, 44 percent, bad for the country, 50 percent.

Margaret, is this buyers remorse after the mid-terms? What is that?

HOOVER: You know what this is? Alisyn, this is exactly what the Republican Party knows it is, which is that news flash, we got a brand problem. All right? That's stuff we know.

What we also know is that with Republican unified control of Congress, there is an opportunity to show stark contrast, actually get things done and set the table for 2016.

So, actually, just because people feel badly about Republicans, you know, we know that. We know that. We actually now have an opportunity to help them feel bad about Republicans, that's what I think and I certainly hope Mitch McConnell and John Boehner will do going into the next session of Congress.

CAMEROTA: Because what people think it means is gridlock. Let me show you the next poll. This says GOP victories in 2013 will mean more gridlock. Yes, 52 percent. Less gridlock, 9 percent. No difference, 37 percent.

CUOMO: You got the American people agreeing on something.

AVLON: The amount of sort of cynicism and low expectations greeting this new Congress is kind of stunning. And that 9 percent number is important, because Mitch McConnell's closing argument was if you elect me Senate majority leader and give Republicans control of Congress, gridlock will end. Margaret was arguing, look, they'll be more responsible. They need to show they are getting things done.

Nine percent of the people are buying that, which means a vast majority of the American people ain't buying that, and that's more than a brand name. That's a hey man, we seen how things are run the last six years, that's going to be a heavy, heavy lift to show they can get things done.

HOOVER: I just like to make a point that historically --

AVLON: Yes.

HOOVER: -- the times of the most legislative achievement happened when the legislative branches of one party and the presidency is in another party.

AVLON: Historically, that's been true.

HOOVER: Think health care reform, think Social Security reform. (CROSSTALK)

AVLON: That's a different era.

HOOVER: So you know what, it actually is the functioning of our Democratic balanced government. Let's see what happened.

AVLON: I hope you are right, Margaret.

CUOMO: Let's talk about brand problem. I think what happened with the Obama kids over the weekend is a metaphor. It is so wrong, talking crash about politician's kids.

Yes, I'm a politician's kid, but the Cuomos were raised differently. We're like wolves. We take on aggression.

You don't go after the kids. She did it. Don't you think she should have been fired right away?

HOOVER: I would have had no qualms about her being fired right away. And what we're talking about is a relatively mid-level staffer for a mid-level stature --

CUOMO: Senior aide.

HOOVER: She was called a senior aide, but let's be clear, there were 435 members of Congress. She works for a relatively, you know, one from Tennessee who's not very well known. But there's no excuse.

CUOMO: You're mitigating.

HOOVER: I think you are over estimating how important this was. The tone was awful. Nobody should say that about the president's daughters. Children of presidents should be totally off limits.

What I despise, A, was how she acted. But, B, is this notion that she represents the main stream Republican Party. And there is an effort, it seems to me, by some to --

AVLON: No.

HOOVER: -- pretend like this is what is happening in the Republican circle everywhere.

She -- the leadership is right on her, because within what a few hours she had a massive apology on her Facebook page.

(CROSSTALK)

AVLON: Look, the reason this resonates is because it's emblematic of something bigger. Right, that's the reason. We have a long history over the course of this administration of Republican staffers and officials on social media saying really stupid, occasionally racist and hateful and hurtful things. The persistent disrespect for the first family and the way it's evidenced for the first lady who are normally off-limits in politics is an indication of a tone inside these offices that is really troubling. It doesn't affect the vast majority of Republicans, they should be condemning it.

CAMEROTA: Or is this an indication of how social media (INAUDIBLE)

(CROSSTALK)

AVLON: No, it's an indication the way the social media reveals. These are the things that would have been said in private in the past, but are now surfacing in public, and that's what's really --

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: Correct. Thank you. I think that's a really fair point. That didn't happen in the past, because social media wasn't a factor in the Bush presidency or the Clinton presidency or any presidency --

CAMEROTA: And there are times in the Bush presidency and the Clinton presidency that we did see the daughters attacked. I mean, I remember that Rush said something very unkind about Chelsea Clinton, he then apologized. By the way, everybody bristles when the kids are brought into it.

So, this woman said that she didn't like the way they were dressed. She didn't like their facial expressions. It was at a turkey pardoning, forcing teenagers to enjoy a turkey pardoning is another thing to talk about, any teenager should --

CUOMO: They don't need any defense at all. But just an ounce of perspective, these are teenage kids desperate to be like their friends. They have been put in a very artificial set of circumstances. Sure, it's a great privilege for the family to observe, but they're dealing with that.

It's so cool to see a turkey get pardoned. Not when all you want to be is normal.

And I think, do you want to change your brand? Come out and say this was the worst thing ever.

(CROSSTALK)

AVLON: Really bad at being a communications specialist.

CUOMO: Not you, the leaders of the Republican Party.

HOOVER: I agree with you, I agree with you. Republicans can go a long way towards condemning bad behavior within their own party.

CUOMO: Own it. Use it.

HOOVER: I think you are exactly right.

CAMEROTA: You think she should lose her job?

HOOVER: Yes, I don't think that's totally --

AVLON: She's not good at her job. HOOVER: She's awful at her job, actually.

CUOMO: Communications, what is she communicating?

HOOVER: She's communicating exactly what we don't want.

CAMEROTA: Got it.

CUOMO: She's like a hate chairman. Here we are.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Margaret, John, thank you. Great to see you guys.

AVLON: Good morning.

CUOMO: You see that Obama's dog? Boom, she like (INAUDIBLE)

All right. We are following a lot of news this morning, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Rams acknowledge the events in Ferguson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Darren Wilson is no longer with the police department.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's 112 days late.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our number one goal is to bring together the police department and our community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the last moments in this 12-year-old's life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three commands were given, show your hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a hate crime.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIEDFEMALE: Ray Rice reinstated and is now looking for work.

JANAY RICE, RAY RICE'S WIFE: In my heart, I knew our relationship wouldn't be over, this isn't him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to NEW DAY.

President Obama about to get an earful on the tense and often volatile situation in Ferguson, Missouri since the Michael Brown shooting. The president today will meet separately at the White House with his cabinet and a group of young civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials. CUOMO: Now, back in Ferguson, the mayor is announcing efforts to

recruit more minorities to serve on the force. They only have like three on the whole force. That was an issue. He also revealed that Officer Darren Wilson did not receive any severance pay or anything else after making the decision to resign from the police force over the weekend.

Now, this "hands up, don't shoot" motto has carried into the NFL. You're looking at it right now. There are some St. Louis Rams players.

The reaction of this is very interesting. Police are calling on players to be disciplined.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is following developments for us. He is in Ferguson, as he has been from the beginning -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Well, you know, that pick, that image of the St. Louis rams players coming onto the fields in that "hands up, don't shoot" pose that has been become synonymous with what has been going on here in Ferguson, really ruffled the feathers of the St. Louis Police Officers Association. They condemned that, as you mentioned, asking for players to be disciplined.

But Ferguson waking up to another quiet night, which is good news for folks around here, also the news that Darren Wilson is no longer a member of the city of Ferguson police department. The mayor announcing that he accepted Darren Wilson's resignation and also made the point of making it clear Darren Wilson would not be receiving any kind of compensation or severance package.

The mayor is also pointing to efforts to try to turn the page and look ahead. Efforts to recruit more police officers, African-American police officers to the force here, as well as outreach programs that will be implemented over the course of the next year to bridge that gap. What he says is the gap between the black community here in Ferguson and the police department, as well.

And one other photo, Chris and Alisyn. There's a lot of talk over the last few months, a lot of criticism of the police chief here in Ferguson, as well. He said yesterday that he has no intention of resigning -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Ed. Thanks so much for that update.