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Two New York Police Officers Shot and Killed; Interview with Charlie Rangel; No Charges for Milwaukee Officer who Shot Mentally Ill Man; Interview with Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

Aired December 23, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Assassination.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a difficult time for both of our families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until these funerals are past, let's focus on the families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The experience of this man in terms of some cops not liking him, it's nothing new.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired. Shots fired. Officer involved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A former police officer cleared after shooting and killing a mentally ill man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No mother should bury their child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A carryon back full of loaded weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And 129 weapons including an AK-47.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really makes you wonder how safe it is to travel.

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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome to NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, December 23rd, just after 8:00 in the east. Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota here. And the mayor of New York City is begging protesters and politicians to put down their signs, stop pointing fingers, at least until the force properly buries its dead.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: For the first time we hear from the grieving widow of one of the slain officers as the embattled NYPD unveils plans to heighten security in Times Square for New Year's Eve, this in the face of a growing number of threats. Let's bring in Alexandra Field. She begins our coverage from Brooklyn, New York. What do we know at this hour, Alexandra? ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. We are

hearing these continued calls for protesters to hold off. We're also at the same time seeing social media traffic suggesting that there could be demonstrations later today in New York City. At the same time the city has its own plans to honor the fallen officers gunned down right here on the corner. They say they will hold a moment of silence at city hall later this afternoon.

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FIELD: This morning police on heightened alert as Attorney General Holder condemns the killings of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, calling it an assassination. Mayor Bill de Blasio trying to ease tensions. Critics charge the mayor has not shown support for police, saying his sympathy for what they call anti-police demonstrations have helped pave the way for the deaths of the officers. On Monday, de Blasio meeting with the families of the slain officers, the mayor calling for unity and respect by halting protests until after the funerals.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, (D) NEW YORK CITY: In this tragedy, maybe we find some way of moving forward. That would be an appropriate way to honor these fallen officers and their families that are in pain right now.

FIELD: Also developing, new surveillance video captures the shoot Ishmaaiyl Brinsley about three hours before his deadly rampage at a mall in Brooklyn, carrying a Styrofoam box police believe with a gun inside.

Officials are now asking for the public's health in tracking his whereabouts leading up to the attack. Authorities believe based on social media posts that Brinsley wanted revenge against police for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. His estranged family speaking out for the first time described him as a troubled man whose life spiraled out of control.

JELNA'A BRINSLEY, SISTER OF ISMAAIYL BRINSLEY: This was a troubled, emotionally troubled kid. He needed help. He didn't get it.

FIELD: Monday night vigils lighting the city, the Liu family expressing gratitude to the police department and the public for their support.

PEI XIA CHEN, WIDOW OF OFFICER LIU: This is a difficult time for both of our families. But we will stand together and get through this together. Thank you.

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FIELD: There really is a tremendous amount of support being shown for both of these families. Behind me, this memorial that has been growing, flowers, candles being left by civilians and police officers alike have been stopping by here. We now know that a funeral service will be held for Officer Ramos on Saturday. Also Liu's family says they are waiting for more family members to arrive from China before making any arrangements. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Alexandra Field, thanks so much for all of that background.

Joining us now is Democrat from New York and founding member of the congressional black caucus, Representative Charlie Rangel. Congressman, good morning.

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL, (D) NEW YORK: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: What a tough week for New York city.

RANGEL: It's rough.

CAMEROTA: When mayor de Blasio went to the hospital to pay his respects to these two fallen officers, the NYPD officers who were flanking the corridor turned their backs on him, literally turned their backs as a symbolic show of how they feel he's turned his back on them. Have you ever seen a rift like this?

RANGEL: It's painful. It's painful. It's emotional, and it makes no sense at all. When we lost these two policemen, New York lost a part of their family. I don't think there's any New Yorker that doesn't appreciate the hard work, the danger, the courage these guys have. And when a family gets hit, and you have a problem with the family before, you have a murder that takes place, you're supposed to come together. You're not supposed to attack each other. We got problems with our family, that's what makes New York great. We're problem solvers -- 9/11, we take it all on.

But when you have something this painful, instead of talking about burying the dead, giving comfort to the family, it's a multilayered problem that we face, but right now, it's only one thing we have is pain, sorrow for those who have lost. Pointing fingers has no place at all with civilized people.

CAMEROTA: And the mayor tried to make that point yesterday in his press conference that he held. But it seems as though he has to do more than just words, than just claiming that he supports the police officers, because they don't feel that way. So where does he start?

RANGEL: Well, I don't know whether the mayor has to do all of that. I've been walking up to every policeman and I've been giving my sympathy, my condolence. The policemen have to know we love them, that we don't run up and kiss them every time we see them in the street. They have to know when we get teed off with lack of communication with them that we're going to speak up and we've got to protest. But it doesn't mean when we lose one of the family that we don't feel that pain.

And so we have to go tell the policemen, listen, cease fire. Stop. Take time out, and let's bury our heroes. We can take care of the problems later. Pointing fingers has nothing to do with it.

And quite frankly, we're dealing with a whole lot of problems. We're dealing with guns. We're dealing with violence. We're dealing with racism. We're dealing with lack of communication. We're dealing with a lot of problems, but most of all, and it can't be challenged, we're dealing with pain.

CAMEROTA: So let's flip it around. Forget the mayor for a moment and forget politics for a moment. There's also this rift and divide between the communities and the police. What do the police need to do to make the communities feel comfortable that they really are there to protect them?

RANGEL: I really think this is a family issue, and the family has to be law enforcement and the community. I'm a former prosecutor, and I do know that in any family we have strong differences about anything. But when someone comes, a murderer comes and attacks someone in your family, what is the first thing that you do? You run to the rescue of those people that are hurt. It doesn't mean that all of the problems are resolved, no. So one thing you don't do is to start attacking each other.

We're dealing with a man that's mentally ill. Does that ever come into the question? We have 300 million guns on the street. Is that a factor? We have a guy that's been arrested 19 times. In any society, he's walking around with a gun, and there's some evidence that the guy's mentally ill. Is that a factor? Yes, take politics out of it, but we have to take a deep breath, bury the heroes, and see what is this all about? Is it about the president? About the attorney general, de Blasio, Lynch? Of course not.

CAMEROTA: If in fact he was mentally ill, there is a debate about that, because he acted rationally in that he knew what he was doing. So he wasn't schizophrenic. He wasn't hearing voices. He wasn't seeing things. He said that he was going to retaliate for these two killings by police officers and he was going to take out two cops. That is a rational actor, as crazy as that sounds. So what is the answer to stop an angry person with a gun?

RANGEL: If someone was to say they're going to take out two people in my family, I don't care whether he's crazy or not, it's wrong. I don't have to value -- it's wrong. I want the family to come together and feel my pain and let other people who are vulnerable. And the police out there, they have to know that just because we don't kiss and hug them every day that when some nut comes and kills them, that we feel that. And if we have to hug them and go into the precincts and sometimes not be accepted, hey, I'll take that. I've been walking up to cops and saying, you know, and I can understand their vulnerability.

There's one thing that we have to attack when this is over, and that is the blue wall of silence. There's a problem that we all have in protecting our own regardless of whether they're right or wrong, and recognizing that we have to come up and admit these certain things. But don't you truly believe that at a time that two people are murdered that politics and finger-pointing should have nothing, absolutely nothing? This is not a question as to what do the police do and what does the mayor do? This is a question saying my, god, this is living proof of how dangerous this job is.

And this is more than getting arrested for spitting on the sidewalk or being arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes. This is murder. There's no possible explanation, whether he's sick or not. We all have to join together and say cut this cancer not out of New York City, but don't let it spread throughout this great country. We need and we love and we embrace law enforcement. And if they got some bums on the force, we should come together and deal with that, but after a burial and respect for those people that put their lives on the line each and every day and no one says thank you.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Charlie Rangel, thanks so much for coming into NEW DAY.

RANGEL: Thank you for having me.

CAMEROTA: Thanks for the message. Great to see you.

Let's got over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn, let's head to Milwaukee, now, where a cop will not face charges for killing a mentally ill man. Christopher Manney shot Dontre Hamilton more than a dozen times after he got control of the officer's baton and hit him with it according to the officer. The officer has been fired for breaking protocol in the fight that led up to the shooting, but the D.A. judged the shooting itself to be justified. A civil rights probe is now under way. Let's get to George Howell tracking the latest developments for us live on the ground in Milwaukee. George?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, good morning. Before the events in Ferguson and the death of Michael Brown, even before the protests after the death of Eric Garner, people here in Milwaukee have been protesting. They want answers in the case of Dontre Hamilton. They got a decision yesterday. It was not to liking of many. The mother of the victim says it's a decision that she was not surprised by.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't breathe!

HOWELL: Outrage on the streets of Milwaukee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do we want?

CROWD: Justice!

HOWELL: After the D.A. announced a former city police officer, Christopher Manney, would not face charges in the shooting death of a mentally ill suspect, Dontre Hamilton back in April.

JOHN CHISHOLM, MILWAUKEE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: His use of force was privileged and was justified.

HOWELL: Manney says Hamilton resisted a pat-down, the two exchanged punches before, according to Manney, Hamilton started hitting him with his own baton.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if I was hit. I need an officer to help me here.

HOWELL: This newly released audio captures Manney calling in for help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy started beating me. He's got my bat and going to hit me in the head with my own bat, and shot twice.

HOWELL: The officer shot Hamilton 14 times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired. Shots fired. Officer involved.

HOWELL: Manney has since been fired for not following proper protocol but now faces no charges.

EDWARD FLYNN, MILWAUKEE POLICE CHIEF: I think it's extraordinarily bad judgment that day that basically put him in a position where he had no alternative but to use deadly force.

HOWELL: Manney is the same officer seen in this bizarre cellphone video back in 2012, Manney seen here throwing punches at a local activist dressed as a clown. Police say the clown was darting in and out of traffic going up to cars with the squirt gun and that he resisted arrest. In an exclusive interview with CNN the victim's mother, Maria Hamilton, tells me he thinks he's an overzealous cop who got away with murder.

MARIA HAMILTON, MOTHER OF DONTRE HAMILTON: No mother should bury their child for something this tragic.

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HOWELL: The mother expressing her frustration with the case, saying that she's not satisfied with the decision but the Department of Justice will be looking into this case as well, and she remains optimistic to see how that plays out. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, George Howell, thanks so much for that.

Well, a terrifying scenario to tell you about at the height of the Christmas travel season, alleged gun smuggling between two of the nation's busiest airports. A Delta baggage loader allegedly conspired with a former employee to move the guns between Atlanta and New York. We understand some of those guns were loaded. CNN's Rene Marsh has the latest from Washington. Rene?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we're talking about assault rivals, an AR-15, an AK-47, along with handguns, some of them loaded, smuggled onto passenger planes in carryon luggage. Now, it happened at least five times on Delta airplanes going from Atlanta's Hartsfield airport to New York's JFK. Now investigators closed in on the operation, they arrested one man, Mark Henry, when he landed at JFK, and here's the breakdown of what they found on him -- 18 handguns were in his bag, seven of them were loaded. A total of 129 handguns and two assault rivals were smuggled in this entire operation. They were being then sold. The problem was they didn't realize they were selling to an undercover cop. Investigators say the gun supplier was an Atlanta based Delta airlines

baggage handler. His name is Eugene Harvey. He used his airport security clearance to get the guns in. Once his accomplice cleared TSA the two men would communicate via text message. They met in a man's bathroom. They transferred the guns, and that's how more than 100 guns were smuggled onto these passenger planes during a seven month period.

As for the airlines, Delta says that it is cooperating with the investigation, but really, this is an alarming breach of airport security -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: It sure is and good police work to track all of that case.

Rene, thanks so much.

All right. Let's get over to Christine Romans. She's in for Michaela this morning for other some top stories.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again.

Let's look at those headlines now.

North Korea's Internet struggling to stay online right now after it was knocked out for more than nine hours. Now, we're told it's been spotty since first coming back. American officials won't confirm if the U.S. had any hand in it. The incident, of course, comes amid escalating battle between the U.S. and North Korea over the Sony hack attack. More in this in just a few moments.

French leaders calling for calm after the second car attack on pedestrians in two days. Eleven people were injured Monday when a driver slammed into shoppers in the western city of Nantes. The suspect then stabbed himself but is expected to survive. On Sunday, a man shouting "God is great" in Arabic mowed down pedestrians in Dijon in Eastern France, injuring 13 people, this one day after police shot and killed a suspect who stabbed three police officers in central France.

Despite initial outrage, an independent review find the two-hour execution of Arizona inmate Joseph Wood was not botched. The report concluded wood was fully sedated, was totally unresponsive and as a result did not suffer when he was put to death in July. But in the letter to outgoing Governor Jan Brewer the deputy of corrections will not use the same two-drug cocktail used on Wood. It took some two hours and 15 doses.

Ticket holders in Spain are celebrate their winnings of $3 billion, you heard me right a $3 billion lottery jackpot. About 150 tickets won the prize of $490,000, why so little the prize is so big? Instead of offering one large jackpot, Spain's Christmas season "El Gordo", that means fat, lottery distributes prices to thousands of people. Tickets cost between $23 and $25 and a lot of people shared in that big fat jackpot.

CAMEROTA: Spread the wealth. They look happy about it. ROMANS: Yes, they've been doing it over 100 years. It's a really old

lottery system. It's always around Christmas, people look forward to it.

CAMEROTA: It's great.

CUOMO: The one time you look forward to being called El Gordo is when it's -- because you won the lottery.

CAMEROTA: That is great. Good for them.

All right. Well, is North Korea being victimized by a cyber attack? The internet went down for hours and is still struggling to recover. Few people have a lot of insight into North Korea but one of them joins us. Former New Mexico governor and ambassador to the U.N., Bill Richardson, will be here.

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CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

President Obama promised to retaliate against North Korea for that Sony hack attack. The question is, has it happened? North Korea's Internet went down on Monday for more than nine hours, it's still limping this morning. Is that America's handiwork?

Officials are staying quiet, but let's get somebody to weigh in who knows the situation here very well -- former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. He's has made multiple visits to North Korea on diplomatic missions.

Gov, good to see you on the show. Happy holidays to you and your family.

BILL RICHARDSON (D), FORMER NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR: Same to you, Chris, to all your family.

CUOMO: Thank you.

Now that I've buttered you up, come on, did the United States do this shutdown in North Korea?

RICHARDSON: I don't think so, Chris. It's not proportional.

I've been to North Korea, looked at their internet. I went there two years ago with Eric Schmidt of Google. It's very limited. You know, it's like RadioShack computers, only very few of the elite handle it.

What I suspect happened is a breakdown, a defect in their system or the North Koreans on their own shut it down temporarily. This happens when regimes like Syria, there's tense periods, they shut it down.

Another possibility is China. You know, a lot of their telecommunication system in North Korea goes through China. It's possible that China is ticked off at North Korea, and they did that to send a signal. The other option is, other foreign hackers.

But I don't believe we did it because it's not proportional. It's a very small response to what they did to Sony.

CUOMO: All right. We're going to talk about what proportional should mean and what the response should mean. You bring up an interesting point about China. There are questions whether or not the United States can get China to cooperate in its efforts vis-a-vis the Internet capabilities, hacking capabilities of North Korea.

But you suggest there may be tension there. Do you think China can be a friend to the U.S. when it comes to combating North Korean hacking?

RICHARDSON: Well, they could be a friend but they're not being a friend, because the telecommunications system of North Korea goes through China. There are a lot of hackers from North Korea based in China. A lot of the Internet system of North Korea goes through China.

So, if they really wanted to help us, like if they wanted to help us curb North Korea's nuclear proliferation, they would, but they apparently don't want to do that.

China, I think, likes the tension that exists in the Korean Peninsula. So they could help, but I don't believe they're doing it.

CUOMO: That's good because the State Department is putting some credence in that, oh, we can go through China, that's one of our options. But it's good to get perspective on how likely that is.

Now, the other is how does it seem, what just happened here. The president comes out and says, this is not warfare, this is vandalism.

I don't get it. Help me understand that, Governor. How is this not a warfare, if they drove a truck into Sony Pictures, bashed through it, stole all this stuff and left, and we knew North Korea did it, the United States would say this is an act of terrorism. This is war.

Why not this?

RICHARDSON: Well, I think the president is trying to be measured in his response. He wants to get all the facts.

I think, I believe the FBI and our experts saying it is North Korea, but then what you have to do is what's the most expected response on this? And rather than raise the stakes, because you know, North Korea reacted to this out of petulance. They're upset over the personal insult to their leader. This is a cult of personality.

I remember when President Bush was president, he called the North Korean leader, the father of Kim Jong-un a tyrant. They got equally upset. This is very personal to them.

So, I think President Obama is trying to be measured, sensible, and there will be a response, and I believe there should be a response. CUOMO: Well, what should it be? Because it seems like, you hack the

United States, now the United States is going to figure out how to hack you, that seems petulant. That seems immature for what a nation should do when a nation is saying it's better than its opponent.

So, what do you think should be done here?

RICHARDSON: Well, I would look at various options. One, you put North Korea on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. That affects a lot of their landing rights. It has economic costs.

Another option is put on some sanctions that were put on before that were taken off, on banking and Chinese banks, affecting the cash of the leadership of North Korea. That's another option.

But, you know, the best alternative I believe, Chris, is get Japan, South Korea, China, the six-party countries surrounding North Korea, to come together in an international effort that deals with cyber. I mean cyber warfare, this is the new national security contests of the future. We have to figure out a way to have responses that involve not just the responsible actors, and the industry.

And I personally think that Sony's taken some bad hits that it did not deserve. They're a good company and we should find ways to work together with the entertainment industry, telecommunications, technology industry, on a response, because this is a worldwide problem. It's not just North Korea.

CUOMO: Can't have this happen twice, that's for sure.

Governor Richardson, thank you very much for joining us on NEW DAY, sir.

CUOMO: Alisyn, over to you.

RICHARDSON: Thank you, Chris.

CAMEROTA: Chris, we have a heartwarming coming. We followed CNN anchor Erin Burnett tracing her roots. You're going to watch as she goes back to the house she grew up in one last time and where that visit leads her.

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