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New Day

New Violence Over Garner Chokehold Case; Philly Mayor on Strengthening Police Ties to Community; Senators to Debate War on ISIS; Interview with Sen. Tim Kaine; Report to Detail CIA Torture

Aired December 08, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't want any violence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A new night of violence and looting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chaos on the streets of Berkeley, California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And next thing you know, that window breaks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guy with a crowbar comes in and starts stealing stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Obama made an unexpected visit to the hospital. He has been complaining of a sore throat for the last few weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's still smoking, and that certainly could be contributing to his current symptoms.

LUKE SOMERS, HOSTAGE KILLED BY KIDNAPPERS: I'm certain that my life is in danger.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A U.S. Hostage is killed in a failed rescue attempt in Yemen. It's that element of surprise was taken away.

CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Is it imperfect? Yes. Is there risk? Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

There are violent clashes to tell you about overnight between police and protesters on the streets of Berkeley, California. Authorities say the situation is under control at this hour, and they confirm that five people were arrested. Some businesses, though, significantly damaged by vandals and looters.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: This is the fifth day of demonstrations, specifically in New York City. We have protesters staging die-ins, and they sang what were called "justice carols," all geared towards expressing anger over the police-involved chokehold death of Eric Garner and, of course, the shooting of Michael Brown.

Now, let's get some reporting on it from CNN's Alexandra Field -- Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Eight arrests in Oakland overnight; five arrests overnight in Berkeley. But police say there was a great deal of damage. Serious clashes between police and protesters. And in one case, a serious clash between a group of protestors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): Violence erupting for a second night in Northern California after 500 protesters swarm an Oakland freeway. A standoff with police officers who eventually deploy tear gas and arrest a small number of people.

In Berkeley, demonstrators looting multiple businesses. A peaceful protester trying to stop a looter was hit in the face with a hammer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A guy with a crowbar comes in and starts stealing stuff, like as much as they can get.

FIELD: This after a grand jury decided last week not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in Eric Garner's chokehold death.

GWEN CARR, ERIC GARNER'S MOTHER: Peace is the message. We don't want any violence, but keep on keeping on.

FIELD: Just the night before, a group of agitators in Berkeley, California, broke windows and threw what they could at the hundreds of local police in full riot gear. Some demonstrators saying on social media police were firing rubber bullets. Police have yet to comment.

In New York City over the weekend, a few hundred people clashed with police, staging die-ins at Grand Central Station, Apple's flagship store, and Macy's in Herald Square.

The national outcry even hitting the field.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He gets away, but he goes down.

FIELD: Washington Redskins defensive lineman Chris Baker making the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture after a play Sunday, and several NFL and an NBA player wearing "I can't breathe" T-shirts.

ERIC GARNER, KILLED BY POLICE: I can't breathe.

FIELD: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tells "ABC News This Week" his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, fundamentally misunderstands the reality.

BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: You cannot look at an incident in Missouri, another incident in Cleveland, Ohio, and another incident in New York City, all happening in the space of weeks, and act like there's not a problem.

FIELD: Giuliani blasted de Blasio on FOX News last week, saying it's, quote, "racist" to not acknowledge black on black crime after de Blasio said he tells his biracial son to take special care around police.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: You should spend 90 percent of your time talking about the way they're actually probably going to get killed, which is by another black.

FIELD: Garner's widow told NBC's "Meet the Press" she fears for her children.

ESAW GARNER, WIDOW OF ERIC GARNER: I'm so afraid of what could happen to them in the street by the police. I'm afraid of the police.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: These demonstrations have taken on a different tone and tenor in different parts of the country; certainly got uglier in Northern California than we have seen in most places. Police there say that five patrol cars were vandalized over the weekend. They also say that two of the officers had minor non-life threatening injuries, but already, Alisyn, we're hearing calls in different protests to continue at least throughout the week.

CAMEROTA: All right. Alexandra Field, thanks so much for that update.

Let's talk more about what cities can do to strengthen their relationship between police and their communities. We want to bring in Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

Mr. Mayor, thanks for being with us.

MICHAEL NUTTER, MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, Alisyn.

You said on one of the Sunday shows yesterday that we've had the -- two of the worst weeks in American history in recent times. What do you mean by that?

NUTTER: I think the decisions or indecisions, if you will, out of Ferguson and Staten Island, the resulting response from people in communities who are angry about what has happened, the seeming failure of some parts of our criminal justice system and, at the same time, the outpouring of demonstrations and protests, the seeming fraying of relations at times between citizens and the police. The citizens need the police to protect them. The police need citizens to respect them. And have a good community-police type of relationship.

It really cries out for a greater national conversation on issues of race, on issues of justice, on violence and social equity. And so all of these issues have been building up for some time. But to have these decisions out of different grand juries and

different locations, back-to-back, one on a Monday, one the following Tuesday, for incidents that people cannot understand why Michael Brown is dead. People cannot understand why Eric Garner is dead, especially in light of the video.

We respect our police officers -- I certainly do, and many others do-- in Philadelphia. Police Commissioner Ramsey is very strong on community policing. Our officers are out on the beat on a regular basis.

But whether it's in Philadelphia or anywhere else in the country, let us at least acknowledge that there are some issues and challenges that people are dealing with that we have to keep the talk going and then action, in terms of the justice system. Clearly, there are some breakdowns in a variety of components. People don't understand. They want to be heard, and then they want action. And that really is our responsibility.

As elected or appointed officials, we must hear them. We must listen well and then put steps in place to fix many of the things that are broken in our criminal justice system and social equity, the issues of violence in communities. People are tired, and they're starting to lose hope. And that's a dangerous situation.

CAMEROTA: And Mr. Mayor, to all of those points, there are some new polls that I think capture some of what you're talking about. This one is an NBC/Marist poll. It just came out, and it asks the question, do you agree or disagree that law enforcement applies different standards to whites and blacks. Eighty-two percent of blacks agree with that statement.

That is a truism for blacks. Whereas only 39 percent of whites think that that's true. So how have you advised your chief of police to change how that department does business in light of all of this?

NUTTER: Well, Commissioner Ramsey and I have talked on a regular basis. I mean, this, you know, the leadership and the direction certainly has to come from the top. This goes back to our earliest conversations, even before he was police commissioner in Philadelphia. It's about how do we treat people?

I know how I want to be treated. The commissioner tells the troops treat people in the street the way they want your family members treated.

I'm born, raised, educated in Philadelphia. I know what it was like in the '60s and '70s and the dysfunctional relationship at times between police and communities, especially in the African-American community and other communities of color.

So I'm not going to stand for that. Police Commissioner Ramsey is not going to stand for that. And at the same, we have to be very, very careful. The overwhelming majority of our police officers in Philly and most other places want to do their job, took the job for the right reasons. They're not trying to hurt anybody. They also want to come home from their shift to their family. So this is a very dangerous position that these police officers' job, that these police officers have taken.

So we need to make sure that we respect the men and women who protect us on a daily basis. At the same time, because a few officers or because some systems have broken down, we need to make sure that we're not painting everyone with the same bad brush. And we must listen to people in the streets. They have legitimate issues and concerns that are being raised. And we need to pay attention. And to not pay attention is at our own peril, in my opinion.

CAMEROTA: Mayor Michael Nutter, thanks so much for taking time for us. Great to see you on NEW DAY. Best of luck with what's going on in Philadelphia. Thank you.

NUTTER: Thank you. Thanks.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Michaela for some other news.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn. Thanks so much. Here's a look at your headlines, eight minutes after the hour.

Two hostages held by terrorists have been killed in a high-risk secretive U.S. raid in Yemen. Luke Somers and Pierre Korkie were fatally shot by their captors in the al Qaeda compound as U.S. forces attempted to rescue them. The White House ordered the Friday-night rescue mission, saying Somers' life was in imminent danger. However, we are learning that Korkie, a South African teacher, may have just been hours away from a negotiated release that the U.S. did not know about.

If a Senate report on CIA torture is released this week, officials fear it could lead to deaths abroad. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee tells CNN extremists could use the report as propaganda to incite anger and violence. The 480-page report is a summary of a study on CIA investigations conducted several years ago. It could be released as early as tomorrow.

A massive fire shut down parts of two major freeways in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Over 250 firefighters on scene in downtown L.A. right now, trying to balance this blaze at a residential and commercial mixed-use building that was under construction. Officials do not believe anyone was living or working in the building when the fire broke out. So far, there is no word on the cause or the expense of the damage.

Actress Danielle Watts, who appeared in the film "Django Unchained," she will be in a California courtroom today, along with her boyfriend, to face charges of lewd public conduct. You'll recall that police detained them, because she is black and her boyfriend is white. Police say that witnesses, though, reported that the couple were having sex in a car with the door open.

CUOMO: Well, it's really the door open thing that really pushes the limit.

PEREIRA: Is that what it was?

CAMEROTA: Well, kind of.

CUOMO: Right?

CAMEROTA: I mean, if you're inflicting our actions on the neighborhood.

CUOMO: Right. I mean, even in New Jersey, you didn't...

CAMEROTA: Well, hands off New Jersey.

CUOMO: Camerota is from New Jersey. Cuomo's from New York. All right.

CAMEROTA: Constantly. All right. Secretary of State John Kerry is preparing to go head-to-head with senators to get authorization for military force against ISIS? Will they approve? A U.S. senator joins us to tell us.

CUOMO: And what's the government going to do? IS it going to stay open for business? Or is there really a chance of a shutdown around the corner. You just can't believe it, but they seem to surprise on the negative all the time. So John King will lay it out for you on "Inside Politics."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. There are some big topics on the table. We have a key U.S. senator to discuss them. First, authorizing the war the U.S. is already in against ISIS, and a related and controversial report on torture tactics that will be coming out tomorrow.

So let's bring in Senator Tim Kaine. He's a Democrat from Virginia; serves on the Armed Services Committee, Foreign Relations Committee and Budget Committee. You've got it all covered, Senator.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VIRGINIA: Glad to be with you.

CUOMO: Welcome to NEW DAY. It's good to have you on. Thanks so much.

So let's talk about this. You're holding hearings tomorrow. You're going to have the secretary of state, John Kerry, there. The obvious pushback is why have a hearing? Why not just vote already? Why isn't this happening? What's your take?

KAINE: Well, look, it's shocking that we haven't had a vote. The president started this war against ISIL, and they call it a war against ISIL, on the 8th of August. We are now four months today, four months into this war. Congress hadn't had a debate or a vote. I filed an authorization resolution with an authorization with limitations in September. And I've been trying to get a hearing on it.

Finally, we're going to have the hearing this week. Senator Menendez, our chair, has pushed. And we are going to have a vote in the Foreign Relations Committee either Wednesday or Thursday on this authorization. So I'm glad that we're finally there. It shouldn't have taken this long.

CUOMO: Why did it take this long? You have some of your brothers and sisters down there, want to sue the president for pretty much every executive action he takes. And yet, it seems that both sides of the aisle have gave a pass to this president and others, to be honest, with the most dangerous power that the president holds.

KAINE: And this is the most significant responsibility that Congress holds, is the power to declare war.

CUOMO: it is their power over the contribution.

KAINE: Absolutely. But what's happened is the leadership in both parties, both houses sent a message to the president beginning in June, you know, we would rather you do this without us having to vote right away. So I wrote an op-ed June 25. It was my first op-ed about this. President, do not start military action without Congress. And I had been really -- staying on this for months. We were told first that we should wait until after the mid-terms. And then we'll get right to it. And then the midterms are over. Well, we should wait until the new year, and we'll get to it.

The fact of the matter is the president should not be able to wage unilateral war without Congress weighing in.

CUOMO: Especially when they never seen to end.

KAINE: No.

CUOMO: Any more. And we know that the American people are fatigued. Our fighting men and women are having trouble both there and when they come back home. They're brilliant in the field. But this is a real issue here, and it's been skirted.

KAINE: It's the fighting men and women that makes me do this. I'm from Virginia. We're the most military state in the nation. Constitutionally, Congress is supposed to weigh in. But the real issue here is you shouldn't ask men and women to risk their lives. We've already had three deaths in Operation Inherent Resolve of troops. You shouldn't ask them to risk their lives unless Congress is willing to debate it and put their thumbprint on it and say this is a national mission that is worth doing. Then you can ask people to risk their lives. But if we're not willing to have that debate, It's really immoral for us to send people into harm's way.

So that's what this debate is about this week. The ISIL threat is a very real one. I support the president's mission. But I don't support the president, you know, not really pushing Congress and definitely Congress's abdication at this point.

CUOMO: Can you blame them? Why would you want to mess with Congress if you don't have to, as the president? So toxic down there. What's the chance that this vote comes out, and it winds up disapproving of the war and recalling any funding for it?

KAINE: I think the chances of a disapproval are pretty low. The president had the votes in September. I kind of did a rough headcount on the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate. It was probably a 2-to-1 vote. I wish we had done it then, but we need to do it now, so that the men and women who are fighting every day, who are going to miss their holidays fighting this war, they know that the political leadership has debated it, and the American public's behind it.

CUOMO: All right. Now let's talk about what poses a risk to our fighting men and women abroad. I would submit that this report that's going to come out tomorrow may do that. And I'm taking my information from Chairman Mike Rogers.

It's a torture report, basically...

KAINE: Yes.

CUOMO: ... what's coming up, on what was done under the administration. The practices, if they were true and bad practices, are no longer done, supposedly...

KAINE: Right.

CUOMO: ... under the Obama administration.

KAINE: That's correct. They have been stopped.

CUOMO: So why put out a report that will incite violence from your opponents, put men and women at risk, if they've already been stopped? What's the upside?

KAINE: Chris, we're a democracy, and you're in the information business. I mean, we do feel, and I deeply believe, that things that are done in the American people's name, the American people ought to know about them.

Now, this report about the torture interrogation techniques during the previous administration has been worked on for a number of years, including it's been worked on to -- to, you know, redact or structure some of the reporting so that identities are not known. But I think it's important for the American people to know what was done in their name, because we need to guard against it happening in the future.

So I do think there's effective protections in the language. I'm not on the intel committee. I haven't seen the report yet. But I know how hard they've worked to try to effectively inform without needlessly exposing people to risk.

CUOMO: You know the Bush administration is going to push back. They're going to say the CIA has hard-working men and women, and they do this for us, and it's what guarantees our safety and that these methods led to that. Do you think that -- it's so easy to say to people, "Look what they did with this water boarding." Nobody is going to like it. But isn't that pandering to the naivete of the uninitiated of people? Isn't war an ugly business? Isn't this the reality of what it takes sometimes?

KAINE: Well, I think we're going to learn through this. Look, there's two aspects that I think you'll see covered in the report. What information did we get because of detention? Nobody is arguing that we shouldn't have detained terrorists. We needed to detain them. What information did we get with respect to detention? And then what information did we get with respect to these enhanced interrogation torture techniques?

And I think what you're going to find is the detention worked. The interrogation didn't. And what that means is for the future, we know what works and what doesn't. And that's what's important.

CUOMO: Does it concern you that many intelligence types say, either on background or off the record, to the media and probably to you, as well, "Listen, I'm not a sadist. I don't want to hurt people. This works, what we do. That's why we do it"? Does that discourage you in terms of wanting to expose these methods? Because you know, if you expose them, you wind up ending them.

KAINE: You do.

CUOMO: You're not going to have the American people saying, "Water boarding, hooray." It's not going to happen.

KAINE: Chris, the issue is do they work? We're going to find out not only what was done, but more importantly, did they work. And if they don't work...

CUOMO: Not easy to quantify them.

KAINE: Well, but I have a feeling you're going to see this. if they don't work, and if you can get the information you need from detention, but you don't need the enhanced interrogation techniques, then that tells us what we ought to be doing going forward and what we should not do going forward.

CUOMO: Senator Tim Kane, it's great to have you on the set. We'll be watching these hearings. We'll be watching what happens with the report. We look forward to speaking with you about it again.

KAINE: OK, thanks.

CUOMO: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, as you know, the Bridge-gate scandal has been dogging the New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, for months. Now, there's a new report about what really happened. Will it resolve questions about Christie's potential 2016 presidential bid and about what happened at Bridge-gate once and for all? John King has all those answers when he takes us "Inside Politics."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Here's a look at your headlines. Police in Berkeley, California, say the situation there is now under control following a night of violent protests on the street. They confirm five arrests were made. Protestors shattered store windows, looted businesses. They even blocked freeway traffic.

Meanwhile, in New York, demonstrators staged a series of die-ins, some singing so-called "justice carols" inserting Garner's last words, "I can't breathe," into the lyrics of Christmas carols.

According to Syrian state media, Israeli warplanes have conducted airstrikes near Damascus International Airport and also in a small town near the Lebanon border. No one was killed, but buildings were reportedly damaged. It's believed the facilities may have been used to store weapons intended for Hezbollah. The Israelis, for their part, are not commenting.

Security officials in Pakistan say a drone strike killed a top al Qaeda commander in that country along with five other militants. They say the drone fired two missiles on a compound where Taliban militants have been holed up. This comes just after Pakistan claimed it killed another al Qaeda leader who faced charges in the U.S. for a plot to bomb New York's subways.

Five American performers honored for their creative genius and cultural contributions, receiving the coveted Kennedy Center honors at a ceremony Sunday night. The honorees, of course, Tom Hanks as you saw there, comedian Lily Tomlin, singer Al Green, ballerina Patricia McBride and Sting, who is apparently admired by President Obama for more than just his music.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not everybody can pull off a name like Sting, but this guy can. His wife, Trudy, calls him Sting. Apparently, his kids call him Sting. POTUS is a pretty good nickname. But let's face it. It's not as cool as Sting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: He dipped his hat to Sting. He said -- he delivered that very well.

CAMEROTA: He has good delivery, the president, with his jokes. People liked that.

There's a new report that draws some conclusions about the Bridge-gate scandal. Let's get to "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with John King.

PEREIRA: Which rhymes with Sting.

CAMEROTA: It does.

CUOMO: King is as good as it gets.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": I guess the question is, will that report sting Chris Christie? PEREIRA: Oh.

KING: We'll get to it. We'll get there in just a second. But a busy week in Washington. Let's go "Inside Politics."

With me this morning to share their reporting and their insights, Julie Pace of the Associated Press, Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times."

The big question in Washington this week is, is this a government shut-down week or is this, I'll call it question the Tea Party week in the sense that the past several times we've been through this, the Republican leadership, especially in the House, has been nervous, because the Tea Party forces.

In this case, they're mad about the president's immigration executive actions. They say deny him any money to implement them. Don't put any money in the spending bills that will allow the president to do this. The leadership says, "No, we're not shutting down the government."

This time the leadership seems a lot less nervous than in past fights. They think they've got a handle on this one.

JULIE PACE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yes. Boehner and McConnell feel much more confident that they have -- certainly, last year when we were going through this. They think they've come up with a good plan. They know they're not going to get the most conservative Tea Party line members of their caucus to vote this. But they also don't think they necessarily need them. They're going to try to get Nancy Pelosi to get some Democrats behind this. She has signaled that she's not going to whip her caucus against it.

So if things go as planned this week, looks like everybody's going to get out in time for the holidays without a government shutdown.

KING: In this last act of the old Congress, Jonathan, especially when it comes to McConnell and Boehner establishing their power, their new -- their expanded power. How much is the last act of the old Congress important for setting the tone for what will be a more Republican new Washington in just a few weeks?

JONATHAN MARTIN, "NEW YORK TIMES": I think it's hugely important. And I think you're going to see Boehner and McConnell flex their muscles and send a signal to their own caucus that, hey, a new sheriff here in town. And we now run this place, and we have to act like we run this place.

And you're right, there is a sense of confidence. I was on the Hill last week. You don't see the sort of frantic scramble on the Republican side that you did before past deadlines here in recent years. They're confident the votes are there.

One thing to watch, though: some of those Democrats in the House who might balk at the idea of not funding DHS next year. KING: Right. The current proposal is to fund most of the government

but DHS only for a short few months. So they have to re-visit that one. And that's obviously the agency that does most of the immigration enforcement.

But the Republican leadership are willing to make that compromise, because they'll have more members next year. But again, McConnell and Boehner think more members who think like them, not more members who think like the Tea Part. The question is, is that the right guess?

MARTIN: Yes, I think it is. Certainly, in the Senate it is. And I think the question is next year can the Senate GOP assert their power on the House GOP, and can Boehner use McConnell's strength there to sort of push his members? That's going to be the real tension next year, John, is the hardliners in the House versus the more establishment folks in the Senate.

KING: And the exclamation point to 2014 came over the weekend. That was in Louisiana, in the Senate runoff. Bill Cassidy, the Republican candidate, he's a physician, he's currently a member of the House of Representatives; he will be the new Republican Senator from the state of Louisiana come January, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Mary Landrieu. That means, Julie, Republicans went from 45 -- they will have 54, a huge year for them in the Senate. The House majority is expanding. Southern Democrats are now almost disappearing. It's hard to find.