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New Day

New Spaceship Orion is "Go" for Test Flight; U.S. Teacher Viciously Killed in Abu Dhabi Mall; How Can the President Help Race Relations

Aired December 04, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

All eyes are on Cape Canaveral this morning, you're looking at live pictures right now. In about 30 minutes, NASA is set to launch its newest spaceship Orion -- or Orion as I like to refer to it -- for its first test flight. Orion could pave the way for putting man back on the moon and in the future even on Mars.

CNN's Alina Machado is live at the Kennedy Space Center with more.

What are you seeing, Alina?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn. Good morning.

Orion is sitting just behind me at the Space Launch Complex 37 here at the Kennedy Space Center. Even though it's still pretty windy here, we're being told that the launch is still a go this morning.

Now, Orion will spend about four and a half hours in flight once it takes off in about 30 minutes. It will orbit the earth twice and reach an altitude of up to 3,600 miles from Earth. Just to get an idea of how far that is, that's about 15 times higher than the International Space Station.

Now, no one will be on board this flight. This is really a test flight to take a look at critical systems like the heat shield and also the parachutes that are supposed to slow down Orion as it makes its way back to Earth. And if everything goes as planned, Orion is set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean at around 11:30 Eastern.

Now, we are waiting for an update on the weather conditions. There's going to be a weather briefing in just a few moments. But so far, everything seems to be going on track -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. Good. We'll watch that live unless you tell us otherwise. Alina, thanks so much.

There's other news to get to, let's go over to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: But that's so cool.

But I like your pronunciation. It's very international. CAMEROTA: Orion?

PEREIRA: Yes.

All right. Thanks so much.

Let's take a look at the headlines, 33 minutes past the hour.

Three more women have come forward now with claims that they were sexually abused by Bill Cosby. The women were joined by attorney Gloria Allred who said Cosby should consider waiving the statute of limitations, or set up a $100 million fund for the alleged victims. In the meantime, Cosby's two shows scheduled this weekend in Tarrytown, New York, have been postponed, in the wake of nearly two dozen allegations of sex abuse.

A defiant Russian President Vladimir Putin defending his country's annexation of Crimea, in his annual state of the nation address to Russian parliament. He also condemned Western sanctions in response to Russia's role in Eastern Ukraine, saying they are harmful for all nations. Putin also had a message for the Russian people, saying they need to be more self-sufficient, because tough times are ahead.

Pope Francis has fired the head of his private security detail. The Vatican announcing that Daniel Anreg will no longer serve as the leader of the Swiss guard after the end of next month. Now, no official explanation was given for the decision, but it is widely believed the pope wasn't fond of the commander's iron-fisted approach.

Despite protests nearby over the grand jury's decision in New York, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony went off. Thousands of people packed Rockefeller Plaza to watch the 85-foot Norway spruce get illuminated with some 45,000 LED lights. I wonder who has to count those.

The star-studded ceremony included Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett as well, singing holiday tunes, getting people in the holiday spirit. Hard to do when there's a little bit of rain in the air.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Rain, yes, and rage.

PEREIRA: Rain and rage in full doses --

CAMEROTA: And New York is so big, they can do both. They can have a tunnel shutdown and a massive tourist attraction the same night.

CUOMO: And a lot of the protesters, there were some arrests there, but most of them were trying to be heard in those areas, as posed to being disruptive. And that made a big difference, also.

CAMEROTA: That's so true.

CUOMO: All right. So, extreme weather doing major damage, no question about it. Driving rain, you're looking at them right now, keeping drivers on their toes east of the Los Angeles, the rain opened a sinkhole in the road. But all this rain, Indra Petersons is about to tell us, could be a good thing because of the drought condition that California is dealing with.

Is that true?

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I mean, it's a good thing, it's going to help the drought, but they've had such a shortage of water, it will take more rain than this to recover. So, it's definitely going to take more systems along these lines. Of course, you never want this much rain in just one storm. Many places in Southern California, this is the biggest storm they've seen in nine months it looks like a little breather.

Here's the first storm pulling away, notice the big moisture source separated from the storm. But there is another storm making its way in, most likely just affecting Northern California through the weekend. But either way, more rainfall expected to impact the region.

Now, everyone has been asking, it was so cold in November, is this what we're expecting as we go through December, no. Take a look at November, all the cold air going down into the Southeast. Now, as we look through the outlook for the next several weeks, notice how high the jet stream is. It looks like everyone is going to be above average or near average keeping the bitter cold air where it belongs, back in through Canada.

Just keep in mind, if you're looking at the weekend forecast each day, we'll be talking about a little bit more moisture spreading into the Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic and Northeast. It looks like by tomorrow or Saturday, it's going to be the soggiest day of the week. I did want to give you that big forecast out wards Orion, Cape Canaveral, right now, it looks good, almost 70 out there. Winds generally calm but they are expected to pick up throughout the day. I'm sure that's a discussion they're having through the day and visibility only about five miles. So, something they'll be looking at closely.

CAMEROTA: All right. We'll keep an eye on that. Thanks so much, Indra.

CUOMO: All right. So, a grisly murder, a mystery now and it's unfolding in Abu Dhabi. This surveillance video shows the suspect in the murder of an American teacher at a luxury mall. Did the teacher ignore warnings about her safety? We'll tell you the story.

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CUOMO: We have news of an American being killed abroad just this past Monday. A teacher stabbed to death in the bathroom of a high-end mall in Abu Dhabi. Now, investigators are trying to track down her suspected killer seen on surveillance video before and after the crime, sending terrified shoppers running for safety.

We have Becky Anderson joining us live from Abu Dhabi with more this morning.

What do we know, Becky?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the assailant, Chris, is being dubbed the "Reem Island Ghost". The unknown suspect who brutally murdered an American teacher in a mall in the United Arab Emirates' capital city.

Now, authorities here are baffled by this attack, desperately trying to find out who killed this American woman and why. We must warn you some of the images you are about to see are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON (voice-over): Police in Abu Dhabi now on the hunt for this -- masked assailant, accused of fatally stabbing Ibolya Ryan, a 47- year-old American school teacher and mother of 11-year-old twins in the bathroom of this upscale mall.

This CCTV surveillance video captures the before and after. The suspect is seen entering the mall from an underground parking garage wearing an abaya, a full-length black gown gloves and a niqab, a Muslim veil that conceals the face.

The clothing is traditionally worn by local Emirati women, but police haven't identified if the suspect is a woman or a man.

Watch as the suspect talks to a security guard, then walks towards the women's rest room. But stops to remove what appears to be a newspaper. According to police, an argument breaks out inside. The reason, still unknown.

Ryan is stabbed with a kitchen knife six times before her assailant is seen running for the elevator and fleeing from the parking garage roughly 90 minutes later. Ryan was taken to the hospital but later died of her injuries.

Police now asking for the public's help to track down this killer, as fears mount about whether or not this was a targeted attack.

Just a month ago, the U.S. embassy in the UAE issued a warning to Americans urging them to be careful, following a recent anonymous posting on a jihadist Web site that encouraged attacks on teachers at American and other international schools in the Middle East.

MARIE HARF, STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON: U.S. embassy is working with the appropriate authorities to seek further information in this situation and shouldn't jump to any conclusions. We just don't have all the facts here yet.

ANDERSON: Officials now advising U.S. citizens in the region to take extra precautions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: And, Chris, Ryan's children are in the care of local police while they wait for their father, Ryan's ex-husband, to arrive from abroad. Violent crime in Abu Dhabi, I have to say, is very, very rare. And eyewitnesses and residents alike expressing shock in the aftermath of this attack. Chris, we are about to leave the bureau here for a press conference

and a statement from the interior ministry here. We'll know more about perhaps who and why on this incident about 90 minutes from now.

CUOMO: Absolutely. Becky, we know how well you understand the region and it is known as being safe. There was a caution in effect for U.S. travelers going to Abu Dhabi. It is yet to be seen how there's a connection between what that threat might have been and what actually happened in this situation.

But thank you for staying on it for us. Becky, always good to have you on the show.

All right. So, in the wake of the no indictment decisions in the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases, understandably racial tensions are high. Is President Obama doing enough to lead on this issue? We will ask people on both sides of the aisle and let you decide.

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CUOMO: OK. So, racial tensions are rising over the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. Many are going to look for leadership here. There's a big vacuum of it in Ferguson. And at the top of the food chain is President Obama. What can he do to create positive change here?

Let's bring in Paul Begala, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, he's also senior adviser to super PAC, Priorities USA Action. And, Mr. Kevin Madden, also a CNN political commentator and a Republican strategist.

Let's do this, gentlemen, let us have agreement first. Do we all agree that there is a need for change? Yes?

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely.

CUOMO: Do we all agree that it must come if our political leadership? Yes?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, in part. It has to come from we the people.

MADDEN: That's right. Not just political leadership. Paul is right.

CUOMO: All right. So, what is the role of political leadership here, Kevin Madden, and is it getting done effectively?

MADDEN: Well, I think it's -- you know, I think, look, I think the president is taking a very measured approach. You know, in some of the remarks he made when the president said this is not a black problem, it's not a white problem, this is an American problem, I think if you take out whether or not he's an African-American or whether he's white, or take out whether he's a Republican or Democrat, that's a statement that so many Americans would agree with, and so many Americans I think would say at part of how we understand the problem and how we go about fixing it. So, in that sense I think the president's measured approach while it

may not please everybody might be the right approach.

CAMEROTA: So, Paul, you're a Democratic strategist. What would you have President Obama do and say today?

BEGALA: Well, today, you have to set the tone and you have to set the policy. I think he's trying to do that. The tone has to be an appeal to unity, to community.

And Barack Obama's brand, if it stands for anything, it stands for unity. It's the reason we made him our president, is that we called to bring this country together. He -- first time on the national scene saying, there's no red states or blue states, there's only the United States. I think you got to set that tone.

Second part of setting the tone is hearing, listening -- listening to the people who are so frustrated, so heartbroken. You know that a lot of pain out there he needs to listen to that and absorb it, and also reflect to people who don't understand perhaps what's going on. But then you have to set policy and that's where you have to get all the big brains in and talk about what do we need to do different and better in terms of policing, perhaps in the use of grand juries and you've been discussing earlier with other guests. So, those types of things have to come, too.

CUOMO: But now, Kevin, these are not new complaints that you're hearing here. You do have a flash did the point because you have back-to-back cases, timing is important in terms of how people think things. But these are not new issues.

What do you think is the obstacle to change?

MADDEN: Well, you're right, these are not new issues and I think one of the big challenges that the president has here is he has suffered from very high expectations, almost unrealistic expectations, when the president first came into office in 2000 -- early 2009, so many people believed that he was going to be able to improve race relations. But, as we know, many of the divisions are very deep-seated. No one person is going to solve them.

So, I think that the president right now, one of the -- what he has to do is he has to go back to being a unifier. I agree with Paul, that he has used to have a unity brand. But one of the big problems is over the years that he's actually become very divisive, a divisive political figure.

So, this is one of those instances where he has to again be the president of everyone. I think he's trying to do that and I think it's difficult, given the fact that he doesn't have as much political capital as he used to have.

CAMEROTA: Well, it is difficult, Paul, also because at times in the past President Obama has stepped in it a little bit. I mean, I'm thinking of 2010 when he waded into the controversy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he -- when, you know, Henry Louis Gates was arrested by the Cambridge police and President Obama called that stupid -- and then ended in a beer summit, because he sort of had to apologize to the police.

He can't be seen as always siding against the police.

BEGALA: That's a good point, and especially on that case, you're right. I think it hurt him in the polls, but he spoke out. It's an eminent professor at Harvard arrested in his own home, and falsely presumed to be breaking into his own home. The president is a friend of Skip Gates, and I understand how he reacted there.

But I think now that he's been president for a long time, he also understands he's the leader of the executive branch. And so, there are ongoing civil rights investigations in Ferguson, apparently now in New York. He can't prejudice those, even though he may have personal feeling as a citizen, he can't go as far as some of his supporters might want him to go, because you don't want to prejudice a federal investigation.

CUOMO: You know, Kevin, when you're out there with the protesters, they are not talking politics, but what they're asking for is almost exclusively political, a little legislative in terms of You're getting to see how local leaders respond. In Ferguson, we saw I would submit, a vacuum of leadership, a governor who seemed remote, a mayor who didn't seem to get it. You know and local officials who were largely absent. Not all of them, but some.

What did you see in this situation in New York? Did they do better?

MADDEN: Well, look, I think at the heart of it is it's not just politicians, I think it's political leaders, it's community leaders, and I think what we've seen with so many of the incidents, there are problems or frustrations or tensions at the local level.

CUOMO: Right. But Kevin, you had the mayor out front with his biracial family saying how this affects him as well. Do you think that made a positive impact?

MADDEN: Well, I also think that you have one in New York, I'm a New Yorker, I'm from Yonkers, New York, you also have a much more diverse police force, you have a lot of community policing, so many of these police are embedded in the communities that they are policing. That is also one important step to having a different situation than you may have had what we've seen in Ferguson.

But at the heart of it, Chris is that dialogue between all local leaders, not just relying on local politicians to propose a bill, then pass a bill and think all the problems are going to go away.

CUOMO: True.

CAMEROTA: Paul, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Ben Carson, who is considered a potential candidate in 2016, said yesterday about Ferguson. Now, this was before the grand jury decision came out here in Staten Island. This is what he said in terms of not setting up the conversation against the police. Let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON, FORMER NEUROSURGEON: I challenge people all the time. Imagine living for 24 hours with no police. People would be walking into your house saying hey, I think I like that television, I'm taking that. It would be total chaos.

So, the police are our friends. Are they perfect in all cases? Of course not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Paul, does President Obama need to reflect some of that sentiment? The police are our friends.

BEGALA: Oh, yes. He's, again, he's the leader of the executive branch. I don't know how many cops he's got under his jurisdiction in the federal police force.

Let me say, Dr. Carson, eminent surgeon, holy smokes, if I ever need brain surgery, I would go to him. Not much of a politician.

Really? Nobody is saying we should do without cops. That's the kind of thing that frustrates people.

There is legitimate pain out here in America, there's legitimate anger, and politicians and Dr. Carson is one now, they need to listen to that and reflect that.

You also saw on the graphic refer to Mike Huckabee, a really good guy, leading Republican, he won the Iowa caucuses a couple of years ago, he called Mike Brown a thug, which can only, I think increase the pain and the frustration and anger, and exactly politicians ought not do. They need to listen first before they open their big mouths.

CUOMO: People make judgments in the absence of fact and transparency. And one thing we've seen in both of these situations, guys, is that when you don't have a process that people can see and judge for themselves. That seems open and honest, you're going to have trouble. That's something that require a political fix.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Paul, Kevin, we're going to leave it there.

MADDEN: Glad to be with you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much, guys.

CUOMO: It's a big story, but we have a lot of news for you this morning. So, let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm determined to get justice for my husband.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Protests erupting in New York and across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police here have shut off the Henry Hudson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The grand jury decides not to indict a white police officer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was an arrest for an extremely minor crime.

ERIC GARNER: I can't breathe! I can't breathe!

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: Black lives matter, it's a phrase that should be self-evident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We see a man dying on video and there's no indictment. How frustrated do people feel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you imagine if we didn't have this video what their story would be?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The grand jury saw a lot more than what we have seen.

BARACK OBAMAS, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time for to us make more progress than what we have made.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are marching against wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we want you to rally, but rally in peace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

We do have breaking news. I'm Alisyn Camerota with Chris Cuomo.

If Ferguson was a tipping point in this country, communities across America this morning say they feel like they are more on edge. A white New York City police officer was let off the hook after being caught on videotape choking an unarmed black man during an arrest. A grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in Eric Garner's death yesterday.

CUOMO: And obviously, the move sparked protests across the country. We're out in the thick of it last night here in New York. Similar scenes played out across the nation. Dozens of hands, people hauled off in handcuffs in New York.

But no real violence or destruction, and that's important to note. Attorney General Eric Holder is launching a probe into Garner's death as he did with Michael Brown and the garner family is speaking out.

Before we get to our coverage of what happened, we're also monitoring something else. NASA's test flight of the Orion spacecraft. The launch is a few minutes away, we'll bring it to you when it happens, it will be in the corner of your screen so you can watch. But, first, let's get to our top story. We've got Jason Carroll

joining us live from Times Square with more of what happened overnight after the Eric Garner decision. This was a very different feel than Ferguson last night, Jason. There was a different tone, but also different tactics by the protesters.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. Much different, we saw the protesters out here it they marched, they chanted, they held signs. They gathered throughout the city, to speak out for Eric Garner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PROTESTERS: I can't breathe, I can't breathe!

CARROLL (voice-over): Protesters poring into the streets of New York last night after a grand jury did not indict New York City Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo, in the chokehold death of 43-year-old Eric Garner.

DE BLASIO: It's a very painful day for so many New Yorkers.

CARROLL: Arrests made throughout the night as outrage pulsed throughout the city streets for more than nine hours.

PROTESTERS: Black lives matter! Black lives --

CARROLL: Most chanting garner's last words --

PROTESTERS: I can't breathe. I can't breathe --

CARROLL: -- before dying on this Staten Island street.

ERIC GARNER: I can't breathe. I can't breathe.