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Trump Dominates GOP Field in New National Poll; Chicago Police Chief Fired Amid Outcry Over Teen's Death; Carter: Deployment Will be Larger Than 50; What Killed Juneau's New Mayor? Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are just destroying Hillary for being Hillary.

[05:57:49] Cruz is going to have to hit me. It's going to be a sad day, but we will hit back, I promise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he attacks everybody, it's OK, because he's sort of the ultimate outsider.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chicago's police chief fired.

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL, CHICAGO: He has become an issue rather than dealing with the issue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there a cover-up in the police shooting of a Chicago teenager?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are a lot of questions in this room about you and your office.

EMANUEL: We'll make that judgment. I think I'm doing my job.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds of U.S. Special Operations and support forces heading to dangerous ground in Iraq and Syria.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we winning, Mr. Secretary?

ASHTON CARTER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We will win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we winning now?

CARTER: We're going to win.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes is the answer for us. That's the good news. Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday,

December 2, 6 a.m. in the East. And we do have breaking news: Trump more on top than ever. The more he gets criticized, the more he seems to gain. Now with a double-digit lead at the top of the Republican field. But the real story may be the race for 2nd place.

CAMEROTA: So Florida Senator Marco Rubio ascends to second with Dr. Ben Carson losing ground, slipping into a third-place tie with Senator Ted Cruz. While over on the Democratic side, frontrunner Hillary Clinton widening her lead two-to-one over Senator Bernie Sanders.

So let's dig into the numbers and what they mean for this race with CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny. He's live in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Jeff, tell us what you see in the numbers.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

You're right. Donald Trump is on top of this new national Quinnipiac poll released just a few minutes ago. He's at 27 percent.

But let's take a look at the rest of these numbers and break it down for you here. He's at 27 percent, but Marco Rubio is just right behind at 17 percent.

But as Ben Carson's slide continues, it is the contest between Rubio and Senator Ted Cruz that is the one to watch here in the coming months. They're both at 16 percent. Rounding out the top five, Jeb Bush is at 5 percent. And the rest of the field is even further below that.

Now here in New Hampshire last night, Donald Trump barely mentioned any of his Republican rivals. But he did brag about his strength against Hillary Clinton. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Very importantly, I'm killing -- just -- we are just destroying Hillary. We're beating Hillary. Badly. We're beating her badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: But this new Quinnipiac poll this morning shows just the opposite. Hillary Clinton is up 47 percent in a matchup with Donald Trump, who is at 41 percent.

Now going forward at this, speaking of Clinton and Trump, one similarity they do share is this: that voters across the country both believe that they are not honest and trustworthy.

Look at these numbers. Clinton, 60 percent of voters say she is not honest and trustworthy. Donald Trump at 59 percent. So about six in ten voters are saying that. Now, we are two months out before any of this voting actually

begins. But guys, I can tell you: two months from this morning we will know the winner of the Iowa caucuses. This race is entering a brand-new phase -- Chris and Alisyn.

ZELENY: All right, Jeff. Please, stay with us. Alisyn and I are negotiating right now which numbers to dive into first.

CAMEROTA: There's so many.

CUOMO: I'm going to lose it as usual.

Let's bring in CNN political reporter Sara Murray, as well. Sara, you break the tie. What number pops out to you the most?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that, if you look at Trump's overall number. You look at his support there. But there's another number we haven't mentioned yet. And that's the 26 percent of Republicans who will say they will never support Trump. They say that in the Quinnipiac poll. And that's really the challenge for him going forward.

If you do see someone break out between Cruz and Rubio, and then you see Trump, he really needs to start broadening his base, coalescing even more support. He needs to be able to break beyond 25 percent, 30 percent. And I think it's still a question about whether he can get enough Republicans on board to really be the winner if it comes down between him and one other Republican in the race.

CUOMO: Because that's what Alisyn wanted to talk about first, I'm going to steal her question and go to what she's going to say.

CAMEROTA: I won.

CUOMO: You won again. About Bush, is it a bigger story that Trump is gaining when attacked by others or that Bush isn't just behind him but he's, like, really low in the field. Now, it's the lowest I've seen him, vis-a-vis everybody else at the top. I mean, look at him now. You know, this is it in terms of the -- his ability to catch on. I mean, this was supposed to be the new phase, wasn't it?

MURRAY: Yes. I think it's really incredible to see Bush's numbers this low, especially because, look, we are now in crunch time, as Jeff Zeleny said. We're just a couple months out from when states start voting. And now the Bush campaign, the Bush super PACs, they're spending money. They're up on the airwaves. It's no longer a question of people not really knowing or not being aware of Bush's record or not seeing him on the trail. He's been campaigning hard. They're up on the air, and voters just are not buying what he's selling right now.

CAMEROTA: Jeff, let's talk about how Trump was there saying, "I'm trouncing Hillary. I'm beating her in a huge way.

But Clinton, head-to-head matchup against Trump has, as you point out, Clinton beating Trump 47 percent to 41 percent. When you match up other people against Clinton, she still beats them until you get to Rubio. And then -- OK, here she beats Trump. With Rubio it's neck and neck. It's 45 percent to 44 percent. What do you see there?

ZELENY: And Alisyn, we can see that bearing out in real life. The Clinton campaign is the most concerned about Marco Rubio without question, for a couple of reasons.

One, he presents a generational difference. The biggest generational difference of any head-to-head matchup. He is a fluent Spanish speaker. He is a -- has a story about new beginnings in America. That is why the Clinton campaign believes that Marco Rubio could be their biggest rival here.

And you see this sort of playing out in the polls there. So they are digging into his background. They are looking into sort of what is next for him.

But Marco Rubio, of course, has to get through this Republican primary. And it is still a very interesting thicket there.

But Sara is absolutely right about one thing on the Donald Trump phenomenon. He has not grown as much. He's basically been staying right below 30 percent here. If he is to close this deal and to win the Republican nomination, which he certainly could, he needs to start coalescing some of that support from other Republicans in the race.

CUOMO: Sara, two other headlines here for people. One is that he's doing this the cheap way, Trump. He's spent $217,000 on ads so far. And look, let's be honest, a big reason why is us. Because we put him in the news all the time. We're giving him so much attention, he doesn't have to pay for ads.

But going down the line when you look at the field, Mick is looking at me, I feel like I make that point all the time, just so you know. But when you look at the field and how much money is being spent, what does this mean in terms of longevity?

MURRAY: Well, I think the really big "X" factor here is whether Donald Trump is going to start spending his own money. Like you said, so far he hasn't had to.

And when you look at everyone else, the people who have spent a lot of money, the Jeb Bushes of the world, even, you know, the Kasich folks, it really hasn't really moved their numbers all that much. The people we see on top, people like Trump, people like Carson, to a little bit of a lesser degree, were starting to see his support slip.

[06:05:09] But these guys who have risen to the top of the poll have done it spending relatively little to no money. So it's just kind of, you know, a different situation right now where voters are not looking to television advertisements to drive who they're supporting.

Of course, we know that that could change in the coming months. But right now, it doesn't seem like dollars are moving voters. CAMEROTA: I mean, look, here it is. So you can just see that

discrepancy between how much Trump has spent, $217,000 on ads versus -- look at -- look at Jeb Bush, $29 million. Look at John Kasich, $8 million. I mean, just incredible numbers there on your screen.

So I mean, Jeff, once again, this election defies logic. Everything that you were talking about. How is it possible that the frontrunners in this election cycle, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, are the least trustworthy? How is that going to work over the next year?

ZELENY: Well, it is a great question. And that is the conundrum here. But look, voters don't trust Washington right now. They don't trust their leaders. So it appears that they would be inclined to elect someone that they don't necessarily trust here.

But those are numbers that they would have to improve upon in the general election setting here. But I think, you know, this is a national poll. We talk about state -- presidential campaigns are run state by state by state.

The thing about Donald Trump is, he is leading in the state polls, as well in Iowa and here in New Hampshire, as well here. Yes, they have high negatives, very, very high negatives. But the reality is voters like his strength.

And on the Democratic side, voters believe that she is the most electable here. So it is not that surprising to me that voters don't find them honest. I mean, Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996. And a majority of voters said that he was not honest and trustworthy, but he was still, of course, re-elected by a very wide margin.

CUOMO: Sara, another big headline this morning is what the GOP is going to do about Trump. It is now seen as more likely than not that he will certainly be there come convention time. The risk is, if he doesn't like the deal that's brokered at the convention, he walks. And he walks with maybe 25, 30 percent of the vote. What to do, what to do?

MURRAY: Well, I think that we talk a lot about a brokered convention. We're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves there. A brokered convention is something that establishment Republicans talk about all the time with sort of a look of horror on their face, like could you imagine if this happens?

Look, not a single state has voted yet. So we need to get through these states that are voting and sort of see where we are. That can be a big game changer, and it could sort of narrow down what will happen coming to the convention.

But I think that there's no doubt that when you talk to establishment Republicans, they'll say things like, "Well, I think Ted Cruz -- Iowa is Ted Cruz's to lose."

There's sort of a wishful thinking that somehow Donald Trump will evaporate, and then support will coalesce behind one of these other Republicans.

On the other side of that, there's a fear that Donald Trump keeps growing, that he could potentially be the Republican nominee. And they haven't found any way to stop him. The one thing they do know is that, if a bunch of establishment Republicans get together and hit Trump, they expect that to backfire. Donald Trump supporters are not going to like a coalition to establish a Republicans saying, "We don't want this guy." He's going to say that's the problem with the party right now. It's left its supporters behind.

CAMEROTA: We're going to be talking to Kevin McCarthy, Congressman Kevin McCarthy about this and how establishment Republicans are feeling later in the program. Sara, Jeff, thank you.

CUOMO: All right. Look, this is going to just make even more excitement surround the next debate. Mark your calendars. The CNN Republican debate is less than two weeks away. We know every time one of these happens the race changes. Somebody else makes the case. Numbers change. Wolf Blitzer moderated the last GOP debate, moderated this -- will moderate this debate for us. Sorry.

Last debate of the year, December 15 at 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN -- Mick.

PEREIRA: Mark our calendars. All right.

Meanwhile, a big shake-up in Chicago, the city's mayor firing his police superintendent in the wake of public outcry over the department's handling of the shooting death of a teenager. Illinois attorney general, that woman now calling on the Justice Department to investigate the embattled police department.

CNN's Ryan Young is live in Chicago with more on what's going on in that city -- Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Look, a lot of people are still talking about this. We had protesters outside the police department just last night. People are saying one down, two more to go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't shoot!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't shoot!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't shoot!

YOUNG (voice-over): Days of protests in Chicago leading to one official calling for a federal investigation into the Chicago Police Department.

Illinois's attorney general sending a request to the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division. This as a Chicago police board is set to begin a nationwide search for a new superintendent.

EMANUEL: He has become an issue rather than dealing with the issue. And a distraction.

YOUNG: The firing of Chicago Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy continued fallout over the city's handling of the shooting of Laquan McDonald by Officer Jason Van Dyke. Video of the teen, who died in a hail of 16 bullets, igniting days of outrage and growing distrust.

[06:10:15] EMANUEL: Now is the time for fresh eyes and new leadership.

YOUNG: Reacting to the pressure Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a new task force to review how the city trains its officers. But many now wonder if the mayor and Cook County prosecutor's jobs could also be in jeopardy, accusations swirling that the city tried to keep the shooting under wraps during re-election season, shelling out a $5 million to the McDonald family before a lawsuit was ever filed.

EMANUEL: I think I'm doing my job, and I try to do it every day and do it in a professional way.

YOUNG: A second dash cam video shows McDonald running across the Burger King parking lot, moments before the shooting. Also fueling suspicions of a cover-up, allegations that Chicago police deleted footage from that Burger King surveillance camera that may have captured moments leading up to the shooting.

MICHAEL ROBBINS, ATTORNEY FOR MCDONALD FAMILY: There was -- I think it's 83 minutes of video that was missing.

YOUNG: The prosecutor insisting that the tape was not tampered with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: There's been a lot of conversation about that Burger King video. In fact, they came out and said the FBI has actually looked at the files and said no one has tampered with that video. So they don't believe that was deleted afterwards -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Ryan, thanks so much for that update.

Meanwhile, more American boots will be on the ground in Iraq to fight ISIS. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announcing plans for additional Special Operations forces.

CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with the latest. This is a big story, Barbara. What do you know?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, in the face of continuing withering criticism, to say the least, by many Republicans and others that the president isn't doing enough to fight ISIS, Carter appeared on Capitol Hill, unveiling a number of new ideas, trying to show some muscle, some forward movement on that fight.

The big idea, send about 200 forces to Iraq. Many of them will be Special Forces, some support forces, helicopters, other support gear. Listen to how Carter described what these units will do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: These special operators will, over time, be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders. This force will also be in a position to conduct unilateral operations in Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Think of this now as a so-called hunter/killer force. It's the same idea they've used in Iraq and Afghanistan. It hasn't worked there. Will it be a game changer in really defeating ISIS? Very few people think so.

And Carter is still getting a lot of criticism. Asked point blank if the U.S. is winning against ISIS, he responded the U.S. will win -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Barbara Starr, thank you very much.

Also related here, the British Parliament is about to debate whether the U.K. should begin airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. Prime Minister David Cameron warning members of Parliament that ISIS is a threat to their nation's security, as well.

If military action is approved, strikes could begin within days. Meantime, German lawmakers are debating whether to increase their military role in Syria. This is us following how strong this coalition gets, Mick.

PEREIRA: Meanwhile, back here at home, top Republicans voicing opposition to a proposal that would use the must-pass omnibus spending Bill to defund much of President Obama's refugee policy.

Congressman Michael McCaul says it wouldn't work, because the agency that oversees the refugee program is not covered by the spending measure. Instead, he suggests including language from a recently-passed House Bill that would strengthen vetting of refugees in the year-end preparations package. The spending Bill must pass by December 11 in order to avoid a government shutdown.

CAMEROTA: We give this next story a big "like." Facebook co- founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife are celebrating the birth of their daughter, whom they named Max, by giving away 99 percent of their Facebook shares over the course of their lives. The donation, currently valued at $45 billion, will go towards several humanitarian projects and charities. Zuckerberg says he is doing this to make the world a better place for his new baby girl.

PEREIRA: I love what they're doing. I just had a funny thought. You know how the first kid always has all the pictures taken and, like, the big fuss, and you paint the room? What do you do for the second child? What does he do for the second child? He really...

CAMEROTA: I don't know. A mere savings bond is not going to cut it for the next child.

PEREIRA: Not going to cut it here. Not at all.

CAMEROTA: Wow, wow, I mean, $45 billion.

PEREIRA: That is life-changing for millions of people, potentially.

CAMEROTA: What a wonderful -- I mean, it's beyond a gesture. It's...

PEREIRA: It's real.

CUOMO: It's also a little bit a sign of what we're seeing a little bit more at the top of the scale also. If you see with Bill Gates at the COP-21 becoming part of the solution, using incredible personal wealth to make positive change. You're not going to see many better examples than this.

CAMEROTA: So inspirational.

CUOMO: Congratulations on the baby.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CUOMO: All right. So the Chicago situation seems to get worse and worse. Chicago's top cop is out. But it's just led to calls for more change. A federal investigation of the entire police department is being asked.

[06:15:09] What is setting this off right now? Laquan McDonald, shot 16 times, took a year before we saw the video and charges. Why? What does it mean for Mayor Rahm Emanuel? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Chicago police superintendent Gary McCarthy out. The reaction? Not enough. The state's attorney general now calling for the Department of Justice to investigate the entire department.

The flash point for all this, Laquan McDonald. He was shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke in October of last year. It took more than a year for the video of the incident to be released. It took more than a year for charges to be filed.

Let's discuss. CNN law enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander and retired NYPD Detective Sergeant Joseph Giacalone.

Gentlemen, thank you for being here. Cedric, I start with you. Give me the 30,000-feet view of what is wrong in Chicago.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, you know, they have a very challenging situation going on there. It's unfortunate that this case had to, Chris, be learned of the way that it did. Because it certainly does create a great deal of suspicion. It gives the impression of cover-up. And I can't really think of any positive adjective that I can use to describe the situation there in Chicago.

[06:20:15] You know, my mentor and good friend, Commissioner Chuck Ramsey out of Philadelphia says it's best, is that bad news does not get better over time.

And in situations such as this, as soon as you report to the community when you have an issue which should have been reported, actually, 13 months ago, I don't think they'd be in this position they are right now. So this is just not a very good optic for the leadership and not just Gary McCarthy in this case. But, of course, the state attorney and the mayor, as well.

CUOMO: All right. So you have optics, Cedric's right. But you also have the reality. The pushback is, they say, well, it would have compromised making the case if it had come out earlier. Have you ever seen a case with video like this take a year to make?

JOSEPH GIACALONE, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: No. I mean, this is -- for a 13-month investigation, to look at this, I mean, you can look at it in 13 minutes and decide that this is not a very good shooting, not a good shooting at all. So I mean, there's a lot of problems, because listen, the chief of detectives and chief of internal affairs, the Commissioner, they're all investigating these things together. All police-involved shootings. The mayor gets notified immediately.

CUOMO: Who has to be involved to keep the tape quiet? It wasn't a judge. A judge didn't put it under seal. The judge wound up releasing it, you know, recently obviously. So who has to be involved?

GIACALONE: Well, I mean, you have to look at the Cook's [SIC] County prosecutor, because all police-involved shootings, even just regular murders, they go to the prosecutor's office. They should be looking at this stuff immediately. They had the video. They had, you know, the dashcam, everything. The chief of detectives. The chief of internal affairs. They work these cases together. The chief of internal affairs, their job is to work, you know, concurrently with the chief of detectives as they do their investigation. I mean, we're missing videotapes. We have different...

CUOMO: Eighty-three minutes one source involved in this story says we're missing or not used that could have been.

GIACALONE: Sure. I mean, and then couple that with the officer's statements that don't reflect what we see in the video. I mean, this isn't just one person. This is like...

CUOMO: And it's also not one element. Chicago paid $521 million in the last ten years for police misconduct places, you know, according to a local nonprofit watchdog group, Better Government Association. That's very high. Even for a big city, it's very high. Cedric, the question becomes what needs to happen for it to be

better? Does -- you know, how high do you have to go on the accountability chain to make change, and how much of systemic change is needed?

ALEXANDER: Well, you're going to have to go all the way to the top. At the end of the day, certainly the mayor is the CEO. And you have a state attorney there, as you just heard Joe say, who had eyes on this.

There are a lot of people who have their fingerprints on this video, Chris. And it'd really would have to start at the top of government. You have a community there in Chicago, residents of that community who don't feel safe, who don't feel that they can trust their local leadership. And that, in and of itself, is a problem.

CUOMO: You think Rahm Emanuel has to go?

ALEXANDER: Well, what I -- I think that's going to be left up to the citizens in Chicago. But it's very clear to me, and here again, I will be very straightforward about this, there are a number of people who have their fingerprints on this. You cannot solely hold Gary McCarthy responsible for a lack of integrity that should have been demonstrated from the top of that city all the way down to the last person hired. That is a real systemic problem in that agency. We see that.

We all have challenges as chiefs. But it is not chiefs solely. Chiefs oftentimes, Chris, end up being the scapegoat for these types of situations.

CUOMO: Well, that's why I ask. Very often, a lot of people wind up being scapegoats. You know, the mayor will say he's going to be made a scapegoat in that effect, you know, that he doesn't run the police department specifically. Every time something like this happens, he gets a chance to respond. He'll say, Giacalone, "I just put the task force together."

So the question becomes what is the change you need to see? Do you think it is time for big cities or their states to pass laws that say every time there is a police shooting of a citizen that gets called into question, we have somebody prosecute it outside the ordinary chain? Not the prosecutors who deal with the cops all the time and have almost an inextricable intimacy with them.

GIACALONE: That's where we're headed with this. Unfortunately, police departments, like in this incident here in Chicago, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for what activists have been saying about the police all along during this whole -- during these incidents that we've seen, whether it's Ferguson, whether it's Baltimore.

So yes, I mean, there's going to be some changes coming very soon about how these police-involved shootings are going to be handled. And unfortunately, they're not going to always work out in the way that people expect it to do. This one we have on video. And now every time we have a shooting that's not on video, people are going to question it.

CUOMO: But that's where, Cedric Alexander, you've made this point many times. You just made it, Giacalone. What people want more than anything else is justice. And that fairness is seen as a function of transparency.

ALEXANDER: Absolutely.

CUOMO: And that seems to be something these cases always get hung up on. Cedric Alexander, thank you very much. Joe Giacalone, as always -- Mick.

GIACALONE: Thank you.

[06:25:10] PEREIRA: Chris, there is quite a mystery unfolding in Alaska. The newly-elected mayor of Juneau discovered dead in his home. Police say his body showed signs of injuries. What or who killed him? NEW DAY digs deeper next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: There's quite a mystery surrounding the death of a newly-elected mayor of Juneau, Alaska, Stephen Greg Fisk. An autopsy is set to happen today. Police have already revealed that Fisk had some injuries. No gunshot wounds; no sign of suicide or drug overdose. CNN's Randi Kaye tries to unravel the mystery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): About 3:30 in the afternoon, the 911 call came in. Mayor Stephen Greg Fisk of Juneau, Alaska, was dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At about 3:34, we received a 911 call from a man, and there was someone who appeared to be deceased inside. The officers were on scene in about four minutes.

KAYE: Mysterious deaths like this one, let alone the mayor, rarely occur in this remote capital city of 32,000. A community tucked away on Alaska's panhandle, often reached by boat and sea plane.

The strange circumstances have many...