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New Day

Driver Mows Down Dozens on Vegas Strip; Schools Closed Over 'Detailed Threat of Violence'; Trump: Hillary 'Lies Like Crazy'; Miss Universe Host Steve Harvey Crowns Wrong Contestant. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 21, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to your NEW DAY. Michaela is off this morning. And we do have breaking news to tell you about, this out of Las Vegas.

[07:00:08] One person is dead, dozens injured after a driver plows into the sidewalk on the Vegas Strip. Witnesses describe the driver mowing into the crowd repeatedly with a toddler in the car. As others tried, in vain, to stop her.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The driver is now in police custody. Authorities are calling this an intentional act, but quickly came out and said it is not terrorism.

We have CNN's Stephanie Elam live in Vegas this morning.

Stephanie, what do we know?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

It happened right down here. Right here you can see Planet Hollywood. And just behind that is Paris. It was an event that people just could not explain why it was happening. We know one person is dead and 37 other people injured. Some of them critically.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a huge tragedy that's occurred on our strip.

ELAM (voice-over): Breaking overnight, a massive and deadly hit-and- run on the famous Las Vegas strip.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have determined that this is an intentional act.

ELAM: Police say a female driver in her 20s ran her vehicle up onto the sidewalk, bustling with tourists twice, possibly three times, plowing into nearly 40 people between Planet Hollywood and Paris Resort and Casino. The fatal incident unfolding while the Miss Universe pageant was under way inside Planet Hollywood.

LT. DAN MCGRATH, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: She's in the detention center right now. She's speaking to detectives. ELAM: The suspect, speeding off with a 3-year-old toddler inside, was

quickly apprehended by police less than a mile away. Investigators believe she's not a Las Vegas native but say this is not an act of terrorism.

MCGRATH: The information I got is she may have been here for a short period of time, but she's not -- she's not from here. This is a recent move here.

ELAM: Shocked witnesses say pedestrians scrambled to stop the woman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The car rolled right in front of me. By the time I looked over to the right, all you could see was her driving away and people are, like, bouncing off the front of the car. You can hear. People were punching the window, trying to get the -- apparently, the child out of the back seat. She accelerated again and just kept mowing everyone down.

ELAM: Investigators turning their attention to the vast amount of surveillance cameras outside the casinos.

CHIE BRETT ZIMMERMAN, LAS VEGAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: We will comb through that footage to get a detailed idea of what occurred.

ELAM: This as witnesses describe a horrific scene.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looked like she wasn't even trying to stop the car. She had both of her hands on wheel and was looking straight forward, and there were men running after her trying to stop the vehicle. And they couldn't get to her. They were yelling, "Stop, stop," and she just wasn't trying.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And we know the woman is being tested, we understand, for drug and alcohol use. And at this point, investigators, police, are still conducting this investigation, but they are preparing to open up Las Vegas Boulevard so that the strip will be continuously open here shortly -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Stephanie, we heard the authorities there saying that she is talking to them and must be the basis of their saying this isn't terrorism so quickly.

Let's bring in Justin Cochran. He was a witness to the disaster in Vegas.

Justin, how are you? How are the people you were with?

JUSTIN COCHRAN, WITNESS: We're fine. Thank you. It's been a long night.

CUOMO: I'm sure. A terrible night. So you're out there on the strip.

COCHRAN: Yes. CUOMO: You're walking around, having a good time. What do you see?

COCHRAN: Well, actually, we with were having dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, my mother and my stepfather, and it's a restaurant right on the boulevard where you sit, actually, on the street, basically across from Bellagio.

And we had a seat that was right on the boardwalk, basically. And we heard a commotion on my left. We're watching -- I turned, stand up to see what's going on. I thought it might be a show. And a Buick, Oldsmobile- type car, tan, maybe silver, starts just mowing through people. And people are flying. And yelling at it.

And the window is crashed out on the front of the car, mainly just mowing through, like what I saw was, like, children because the kids weren't moving. They didn't get out of the way.

And then the car proceed to go past us, right in front of us, through the people and then off to the right. I look, and it's going toward like a truck or something that's pulling out of -- right past Mon Ami Gabi, which is in front of Paris. And the car proceeded to slow down, veer around it and then accelerate again into the people on the sidewalk.

CUOMO: So there's absolutely no question in your mind that the woman driving that car was trying to hit people and knew damn well what she was doing?

COCHRAN: Yes, it was mayhem. And it was -- looked very intentional. It was...

CUOMO: When she was driving down, how fast was she going?

COCHRAN: That's a little difficult for me to say. It happened pretty quickly. I mean, there was no other way I could stop this car or anybody could stop it, it was -- because the boulevard was basically barely moving.

[07:05:02] And this person, which I didn't know was a male or female, the windows again were -- you could barely see through it. I mean, the fact that she was even -- or she was even able to slow down for this car was amazing, because it was like you couldn't see through this crashed window. It was busting through people, but it was just thudding. The sound was -- so I'd say 30 maybe.

CUOMO: Wow.

COCHRAN: I thought it might be a little faster, but it seemed like it was going pretty fast. People were flying. This child that I saw, literally hit, the sound I'll never forget. It's horrible. And it just never stopped. It was people. It wasn't hitting cars. It was hitting people.

CUOMO: Were you able to see how it eventually ended? What stopped the car? COCHRAN: I mean, people were chasing after this car, right behind it,

and then it, as I said, it tried -- it slowed down to go around a truck or something that was pulling out of Mon Ami. And then went into the -- back onto the boulevard and then accelerated again into -- around that into more the -- into more of the sidewalk. And I think it ended around there. But I don't -- there was -- I didn't see any police at the time.

I didn't see any -- that was like 6:40 p.m. when it happened. We just sat down. And maybe around 7:05 p.m., it seemed like 20 minutes went by, we were -- that we were just -- we were just in chaos. And there wasn't really any police or we didn't really feel that there was any -- we were all sitting there, in the -- you know, waiting for our food going, "This is crazy. Where is -- where's the ambulance? Where are the people to help?" You know? It was horrible.

CUOMO: Were there people who were hit close enough to you for you to see if they were OK and how people were getting help, if there weren't any police there?

COCHRAN: Yes. There was a child right below me that was hit, and his mother was with her -- him. And then there was another young -- it seemed like a 10-year-old Asian child that was down pretty bad, flat, and I -- there was people surrounding him, and it was right -- right in front of me.

CUOMO: What do you make of the fact that the police came out right away and said, "This was an intentional act, but we don't think it's terrorism"?

COCHRAN: I have no idea. But it was -- I have never seen anything like that. It was chaos, and it seemed -- from the people around us, we felt that this was an intentional act. I don't know what terror -- I mean, it seemed terroristic. I mean, the fact that the person -- it seemed like it was intentional, like killing people, trying to kill people.

CUOMO: And it turns out that she had a kid in the car with her herself.

COCHRAN: Crazy.

CUOMO: So listen, I know this was a tough thing for you to go through and that you had your family there with you. We're happy that you're OK. And thank you for telling us what happened last night.

COCHRAN: All right. Sorry about that.

CUOMO: No, no, no. Be well. Be well -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh, God. What an experience.

OK, Chris, we have more breaking news to tell you about: several New Hampshire public schools are closed this morning after a threatening e-mail surfaces targeting students and staff. CNN correspondent Sara Ganim is live in Nashua, tracking the latest. What have you learned, Sara?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

You know, normally around this time, kids would begin trickling in for their school day. But this is not going to be a normal school day here in Nashua, New Hampshire, officials here saying that someone e- mailed in a violent threat, specific to the two public high schools here in Nashua. We're standing in front of one of them.

And because of that, they took it seriously. They shut down all 17 public schools in Nashua, New Hampshire, everything from elementary, middle and high school, as they investigate, as they work with the FBI to track down who may have sent this in.

At this point they're considering it credible. They did shut down schools.

You know, this has become part of a frightening trend across the nation in the last week or so of schools being shut down because of violent threats that were made, threats being made to schools in general, everything from California to Texas, to Florida, New York, officials in different states handling these threats in different ways. Some shutting down schools, some not shutting down schools, considering them to be hoaxes.

But Nashua, New Hampshire is a pretty high-profile place right now. As we approach the new year, the primary season begins here in New Hampshire with the first primary. A lot of presidential candidates are coming through here. A lot of people watching Nashua, coming through here, visitors, places like schools that are event spaces.

Officials did not want to take any chances, although it does seem that the closure for now will be contained to today, the superintendent saying he does expect students to be back in class tomorrow -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Sara, thank you very much.

Another story this morning: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton taking the gloves off in what could be a preview of next November's election cycle. He called her a liar after Clinton claimed that he is becoming ISIS's best recruiter, that the GOP frontrunner is actually in videos that are being used by ISIS.

[07:10:17] Now, Clinton is not the only one coming after Trump. He's getting it from Democrats. He's getting it from Republicans, and he is returning fire.

Let's bring in CNN's Athena Jones, live in Washington -- Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

That's right. Trump is the topic of conversation. No matter who you talk to, if you're talking about politics, Trump is the name that comes up over and over again. And that's exactly what happened at that Democratic debate in Manchester on Saturday night. He was the only GOP candidate whose name -- was mentioned by name, and he was mentioned repeatedly. Take a listen to some of what they had to say about him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump...

MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Fascist pleas of billionaires with big mouths.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Somebody like Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all the Mexicans are criminals and rapists."

CLINTON: He is becoming ISIS's biggest recruiter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So there you heard the beginning of that Clinton line that's getting her into trouble. She went on to say that they are going to people, ISIS is going to people, showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.

There is no evidence that there is -- that they're actually doing that, taking videos, showing videos of Trump to these potential recruits. And so Trump yesterday in an interview, also on Twitter, and this morning on Twitter is hitting back.

He put out a tweet not long ago, demanding an apology from Hillary Clinton for "the disgusting stories she made up about me for purposes of the debate. There never was a video."

So it's an interesting situation to have Trump doing the fact checking here. And, you know, the Clinton campaign was asked about this in the spin room on Saturday night. They cited an NBC News report. They cited some Middle East experts who keep track of ISIS's communications on social media. But neither of those reports actually cites an actual video. So there's a dustup there over this.

And of course, as you mentioned, Jeb Bush has also been hitting Trump. Trump labeled him long ago low-energy, and he's been trying to come back from that. Take a listen to what Jeb had to say over the weekend and Trump's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just one other thing. I've got to get this off my chest. Donald Trump is a jerk.

TRUMP: Jeb is an embarrassment to himself and to his family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So there again, Trump hitting back. We saw Bush repeatedly get into it with Trump at our debate last Tuesday in Vegas. And that is continuing. He seems to believe it's helping him. We'll see if it actually does -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Athena, we'll dive into all of that with our political panels later in the program. Thank you.

Meanwhile, an intense search for survivors underway in Southern China this morning, where more than 90 people are feared missing following a massive landslide. Hundreds of emergency workers are sifting through an industrial park in the city of Shenzhen after 33 buildings were hit. They've pulled 14 people from the rubble. Investigators believe a large pile of dirt caused this landslide.

CUOMO: A bail hearing expected today for the man charged in connection with that deadly San Bernardino terror attack. Enrique Marquez accused of buying the rifles used in the attack, plotting other terrorist attacks with the male shooter, and negotiating a sham marriage to a relative of the gunman. The 24-year-old faces up to 35 years in federal prison.

CAMEROTA: So there was a stunning moment at last night's Miss Universe pageant. Host Steve Harvey announced the wrong winner, creating pandemonium on stage and backstage.

CNN's Boris Sanchez joins us live with the latest. How did this happen?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's so hard to watch. We're still trying to figure out exactly how this happened. Steve Harvey says it was his fault. So far, reactions have been mixed. Some say it's sad. Others think it's hilarious. Chris is basically demanding a congressional investigation as to whether or not this was staged. Either way, this botched coronation is making headlines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE HARVEY, HOST, MISS UNIVERSE 2015 PAGEANT: Colombia!

SANCHEZ (voice-over): For a brief moment Sunday night, Miss Colombia celebrated being crowned Miss Universe, but her reign lasted only a few minutes.

HARVEY: I have to apologize. The first runner-up is Colombia. Miss Universe 2015 is Philippines.

SANCHEZ: Miss Universe 2015 host Steve Harvey misreading his cue cards and naming the wrong contestant as the winner. The two women awkwardly standing at the end of the stage, paralyzed by the snafu.

HARVEY: This is exactly what's on the card. I will take responsibility for this. It was my mistake. It was on the card.

SANCHEZ: Miss Colombia stripped of her crown, stunned viewers watching as Miss Universe 2014 placed it on the head of winner Miss Philippines, the show abruptly cutting to credits.

[07:15:07] Some of the other judges taking to social media...

NIECY NASH, MISS UNIVERSE 2015 JUDGE: Oh, my God!

SANCHEZ: ... Judge Niecy Nash tweeting this video.

NASH: Oh, my God! This is crazy right now. It's pandemonium in here.

SANCHEZ: Harvey himself tweeting after the show, saying, quote, "I'd like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines for my huge mistake. I feel terrible," even posting a picture with Miss Philippines backstage, saying he was able to apologize to her and Miss Columbia personally, who tearfully also spoke out after the show.

ARIADNA GUTIERREZ, MISS COLUMBIA 2015: Everything happens for a reason, so I'm happy.

SANCHEZ: But the newly-crowned Miss Universe perfectly summing up the shocking turn of events.

PIA ALONZO, MISS UNIVERSE 2015: It's a very nontraditional crowning moment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Isn't it?

ALONZO: It's very -- very 2015.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Nontraditional is right. Everybody is weighing in on this. Donald Trump, the former owner of the pageant, giving his two cents. He tweeted out, quote, "Very sad what happened last night at the Miss Universe pageant. I sold it six months ago for a record price. This would never have happened."

Pageant organizers also issuing a statement in which they apologized to Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines, as well as their fans. The write, "Unfortunately, a live telecast means that human error can come into play. We witnessed that tonight when the wrong winner was initially announced."

Vicariously, I feel so bad for Steve Harvey and Miss Colombia. But, you know?

CUOMO: He owned it.

SANCHEZ: He did. He did.

CUOMO: He owned it, which is rare these days.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

CUOMO: You know, he owned it right away. I think my new -- here's my new one.

CAMEROTA: Your new conspiracy? Go.

CUOMO: No, I'm done with the conspiracy. CAMEROTA: Oh, wow. OK.

CUOMO: Here's my new one.

CAMEROTA: It's only been an hour and fifteen minutes.

CUOMO: I think that they should have told Miss Colombia first.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: Before.

CAMEROTA: So she didn't stand there in stunned paralysis.

CUOMO: Right. But I guess that they were really just kind of, you know, going at random at that point, because they were, you know, reeling.

CAMEROTA: I blame the producers. It can't be the talent's fault. I blame the producers for mismanaging this somehow.

CUOMO: I respect that.

CAMEROTA: They should have told him in his ear who the winner was.

CUOMO: Yes, I respect that.

CAMEROTA: The producers are yelling at me.

CUOMO: They're an odd lot, producers in general.

CAMEROTA: There you go.

CUOMO: We told you Hillary Clinton is under fire from Donald Trump. Why? Because he says she lied about him. She said that there was a video that ISIS was using with Donald Trump in it to recruit new people. And he says that's not true. What do you think?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:21:22] CLINTON: He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people, showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton taking heat for those comments, especially from Donald Trump who is now calling the Democratic front-runner a liar. And now he's demanding an apology.

Let's bring in David Brock. He's the founder of the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC, Correct the Record.

David, thanks so much for being here in studio. DAVID BROCK, FOUNDER, CORRECT THE RECORD: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: So what she said was not accurate.

BROCK: Well, let's go to what the citation is, and I'll show you how it is accurate.

CAMEROTA: Go ahead.

BROCK: So counterterrorism experts who, for a living, follow ISIS and they follow ISIS on social media, as well, told NBC News that what ISIS does is take Donald Trump's statements, put them out on social media. They love what Donald Trump is saying. And ISIS says to people, "OK, here's proof that Americans hate Muslims." And what's the proof? The proof is Donald Trump's words.

So that statement was absolutely correct. He's being used as a recruitment tool. And he wants to evade the story by calling Hillary a liar. The real story, that he's helping terrorists, people that want to kill us.

CAMEROTA: Except that those counterterrorism experts who have spoken to NBC, as you point out, they say he -- that terrorists will surely use Donald Trump's words in the future. They may even make a video. There is no video that anyone can cite that is actually being used. She said it in the present tense.

BROCK: What ISIS is doing is all over social media right now. "The New York Times" fact checker says it's all over Twitter. So if we want to get into what the social media content is, is that they're transcribing his statements on Twitter, or they're using a video, that's a meaningless nit.

The real issue here is Donald Trump, what he's doing. And it's not just Hillary Clinton bringing this up. Senator Rubio yesterday, on Sunday morning, said, "Look, the impact of this on patriotic Muslim- Americans, whose support we need to win this fight."

CAMEROTA: Counterterrorism experts have said that they believe that Don -- this is the wrong narrative. What Donald Trump is saying could be used.

I think that the point is, instead of just parsing words back and forth like you and I are...

BROCK: Sure, sure.

CAMEROTA: ... is that Donald Trump is the person in this race who relies on hyperbole. And so to hear Hillary Clinton rely on hyperbole and say that there is a video that now cannot be found sort of puts her in that same Trump category that she doesn't want to be in it.

BROCK: She wouldn't want to be in it. But let me tell you this. I mean, you're right about Donald Trump and hyperbole. Look, the idea he is calling Hillary Clinton a liar, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black. We all know that Donald Trump has keep fact checkers in business most of this year. And Politifact, very recently, rated all the candidates in the race. Who's the most honest and most trustworthy, according to a nonpartisan fact-checking site? Hillary Clinton.

I'm glad she had the guts to get out there and call this extremism out.

CAMEROTA: Here's what Donald Trump is saying this morning. He was on NBC. Let's hear what his response to this has been.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will demand an apology from Hillary. OK? You can be the messenger. I will demand an apology from Hillary. She should apologize. She lies about e-mails. She lies about Whitewater. She lies about everything. She will be a disaster as president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Is Hillary Clinton going to apologize for saying there's a video that people can't find right now?

BROCK: I don't know, but I don't think she should. I've given you the citation. I think what she said was accurate. And I think that we're playing Donald Trump's game here by focusing on a video when, in fact, it's his statements that are endangering our lives.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about something that her fellow Democratic rivals are saying, and they're actually going after the DNC. They believe that the DNC is working in cahoots with Hillary Clinton and that they're being unfair to O'Malley and to Bernie Sanders.

[07:25:05] So let me play for you what happened over the weekend with Martin O'Malley saying this.

BROCK: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "STATE OF THE UNION": Do you think the reason two of the three Democratic debates have been scheduled on Saturday nights is because the DNC wants to limit the audience and thereby, under this theory, help Hillary Clinton?

O'MALLEY: Yes. In fact that's also why, for the first time ever, they've limited the number of debates to just four.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, I mean, why are the debates on a Saturday night before Christmas when the viewership will be low? I mean, you can understand why Martin O'Malley thinks something is amiss.

BROCK: That's really a question for the DNC. The Clinton campaign doesn't set the schedule. Hillary Clinton has said she'd be happy to do more debates. So their issue is with the DNC. It's not with the Clinton campaign.

And let's be clear that Hillary won all three of these debates so far. So for her supporters, nobody wants to hide Hillary Clinton. Let's see more.

CAMEROTA: Bernie Sanders also believes that the DNC is cooperating somehow with the campaign in order to help Mrs. Clinton. Let me play you what he has just -- what his press secretary said over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYMONE SANDERS, PRESS SECRETARY FOR BERNIE SANDERS: I do think that, you know, the pattern shows that the establishment is not leaning in Senator Sanders' favor. But despite the fact that the establishment tried to cripple our campaign yesterday, we fought back. And we were successful, and we won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Do you think that the DNC -- I know you don't control them...

BROCK: Sure.

CAMEROTA: ... is leaning in Hillary Clinton's favor?

BROCK: I don't. I don't see any evidence of it. If these candidates want to run against Debbie Wasserman Schultz, let them.

CAMEROTA: David Brock, thanks so much for coming in. Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. The big question of this morning is why would someone get in their car and mow down a crowd on the Vegas Strip? That's what officials are trying to figure out this morning. They have the woman who hurt so many and killed at least one. We have the latest when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)