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Tornadoes Hit Parts of U.S. Southeast and California; Events Related to Religion Occurring in 2015 Reviewed; Donald Trump's Meteoric Rise; Pope Francis Urges Catholics to be "Simple of Heart". Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 25, 2015 - 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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(SINGING)

[08:01:51] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to a special Christmas Day edition of NEW DAY. Merry Christmas. You have your news elves Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira, and whatever my name is. We're all here for you. You were just listening to the young people's chorus of New York City. They're going to be with us throughout the morning, a real big treat. We're also going to give you the latest news as well as going through 2015, all big stories from the rise of Trump to the ongoing terror threats home and overseas.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And on this Christmas day we'll have a look at the role faith played in headlines this year, including the Pope's historic visit to the U.S., of course, and Cuba. So we'll discuss all of that with our religious round table.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: And our show wouldn't be complete without talking about holiday returns. You probably got something today you probably didn't have on your list. We're going to share some tips to make the process painful, or painless, probably better.

CUOMO: Yes. Strong correction there.

PEREIRA: But first let's give you a check of your headlines at the news desk.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, and merry Christmas. I'm Boris Sanchez. Let's take a look at your top stories.

A severe weather death toll rose overnight, as officials count the number killed by dozens of tornados across the country. And the threat of severe weather continues along with record temperatures throughout the weekend. Rare twister sighting in northern California. Take a look at this. This triggered a tornado warning from the weather service. This funnel cloud, the apparent tornadoes left behind toppled trees and damaged homes and cars. Fortunately, though, no injuries reported.

It was a very different story in the southeast, though. Officials now say 14 died as a severe storm tore across the region. Dozens were injured. At least seven of the deaths came in Mississippi where the governor has declared a state of emergency. The Weather Service says at least 14 tornados hit that state alone. Listen to this man's terrifying experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When it started really whooshing and it started sucking my bedroom window open, I took off to take cover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Look at this footage. Officials say most of the damage came from one monster tornado that may have been on the ground for 150 miles all the way from Mississippi to Tennessee. Six people died there were a state of emergency has been declared, and in Georgia as well where there was widespread flooding from heavy rain.

The weather still causing headaches for holiday travelers. More than 100 flights already canceled this morning with major airports gripped by heavy fog and storms. More than 400 flights were canceled in the U.S. Christmas Eve, yesterday, with delays stretching several hours. Airlines also bracing for a winter storm that could wreak havoc over the weekend.

For the latest on the severe weather let's bring meteorologist Chad Myers. Good morning and merry Christmas, Chad. What do we know about the potential for more severe weather this weekend?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Certainly possible Sunday into Monday. There is another big storm that will make severe weather possible right through the same areas here, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. Yesterday, three reports of tornados, two in California. Don't hear about that very often, but it's not that rare. In fact there should be two in California each December, essentially with El Nino here. We probably could see some January, February, and March as well.

[08:05:06] Isolated severe storms across parts of the Midwest and also the southeast, but the big story I think today will be the flooding. Yes, there's a chance of severe weather, but that's not the main threat. If you are driving around a place where you are not familiar with because you are visiting someone, there are flood watches and flood warnings everywhere from Missouri back into Indiana back into Alabama and Georgia. We have seen significant rainfall. The red area south of Atlanta, four to six inches of rain. That water is in the rivers, many areas flooding roadways. Don't go around barricades if you see them. The rain is still coming down and it has no intention of stopping for the next 48 hours in some spots, Boris.

SANCHEZ: A very important message to keep in mind to, avoid those flood waters. Chad, thank you.

Protesters staging what they call a black Christmas in Chicago. More than 100 marched along the Michigan Avenue Thursday holding die-ins, blocking last minute shoppers in stores and calling for the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The protests happened in response to the 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

Some tense moments to tell you about inside a busy mall in Charlotte, North Carolina as police shoot and kill a suspect they say pointed a gun at an officer. The shooting started with a fight between rival groups, but the suspect allegedly fired his gun. That drew the attention of an off duty cop. Witnesses say the suspect pointed his gun at the responding officers who then shot and killed the suspect.

This morning Pope Francis called for peace in global hot spots and for compassion for the refugees, the poor, and people fleeing violence in his Christmas Day message to world. During Christmas Eve mass he denounced materialism, urging Catholics to not be intoxicated by possessions. We're going to take you to Rome live in just about 20 minutes. Until then that is a look at your Christmas morning headlines. Alisyn, Michaela, and Chris, back to you.

CUOMO: Let's begin this morning talking about the role of faith in some of the biggest headlines of the year. We all remember the Pope's historic trips this year. You had all the religious rhetoric surrounding the 2016 presidential race. And of course what we're dealing with in terms of terror. Let's discuss with a special group, Christine Lee, the vicar of All Angels Church, Father John Devaney, host of Sirius XM's Catholic channel, and McKay Coppins, he's not clergy. He's the senior the senior political writer from BuzzFeed. It's great to have all three of you here. Merry Christmas or whatever applies to you.

All right, so let's look at the best and the worst. Christine, I'll start with you. When you think about faith, best manifestation of it this year?

CHRISTINE LEE, VICAR, ALL ANGELS CHURCH: I think definitely Pope Francis' visit.

CUOMO: You give the nod to the big man out of Rome, do you?

LEE: I do.

CUOMO: Why?

LEE: I think there is something about Pope Francis, and he said this himself, that when he looks at people he sees the image and likeness of God in them and that gives them value and dignity. So whether he's talking to President Obama, whether he's talking to a homeless person, whether he's addressing Congress or meeting with Kim Davis, he sees each person as in the image of God and he treats them as such. And that's so out of the ordinary in our very politicized world.

CUOMO: Kim Davis, I like how you tucked that in there. I want to bring a little bit of controversy to the Pope's trip because he had struck this almost ecumenical, almost secular vibe where, boy, he's just doing the right thing, doesn't matter what you believe. And then there was that meeting with Kim Davis which started to play into the little inside politics.

MCKAY COPPINS, SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER, BUZZFEED: Yes. I mean, the pope has been interesting in the way he's scrambled the politics in this country. But I think the visit with Kim Davis is a nod toward the fact that the Catholic Church cares a lot about the issue of religious liberty. Kim Davis in particular, though, has been a controversial figure because she almost immediately was kind of co- opted as an icon of the religious right and the Republicans. You saw candidates like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz aggressively champion her and almost turn her into a stump speech line.

But I think that the issue of religious liberty, while this was a very controversial flash point, continues to feed into the 2016 race and will all through next year. And I think that there are also signs of real compromise that are to be had if people are willing to come together in good faith and work it out.

CUOMO: There was a real flip on the notion of religious liberty. We have been playing with it in terms of inclusion. This wound up about essentially the right to exclude. Kim Davis, of course, the Kentucky clerk, you remember, she didn't want to deal with gay marriage. So father, that brings you to you, the worst manifestation of faith. What do you see out there where you're like, wow, this is not good for the world of faith?

FATHER JOHN DEVANEY, HOST, SIRIUS XM'S CATHOLIC CHANNEL: Sure. Any kind of fundamentalism. Obviously what we've seen since June, 2014, now the threat of ISIS. But Pope Francis talked about this not too long ago. Any kind of fundamentalism in the name of God especially with murder is blasphemous.

CUOMO: Your brothers and sisters, some of them within the Christian faith, Catholic faith, do not like to hear that. They say the Muslims are different. They're different than us. Christians don't do that. What do you tell people?

DEVANEY: We're all people of good will.

[08:15:00] And we are all people who are children of God. I mean, that's what we truly believe. We believe in the one God who created us all who got the whole thing going, so to speak. And as we view him as the merciful father, that's the big thing the Catholic Church is in right now, the extraordinary jubilee year of mercy. And, for example, we have Christians in the Middle East show are finding a place where they can't live necessarily anymore. But we have to look at everybody as a children of God.

CUOMO: Christine, we're dealing with as a culture right now. Whether it is President Obama, what he decides to call terror, not saying the word "Islamist" or "Islamism" or "Islamic." What do you tell people when they say well Christians don't run around killing people in the name of Christianity the way Muslims do, they're different?

LEE: I always go back Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's great quote about how he says the line between good and evil doesn't run through religions. It doesn't run between religions or between nation states but through every single human heart. And I think that there can be a lack of humility on the part of Christians when we say, well, there is a good us and a bad them. And to me that sounds like a lack of self- awareness about the reality of sin in our own hearts and that it is not a Muslim or a Christian thing. It is a human thing. And so I feel there should be some kind of understand and a graciousness towards each other knowing that we're all just trying to do the best that we can.

CUOMO: High bar when people deal with fear and anxiety and terror. What do you think needs to happen in terms of bridging this gap of understand? What is it about faith versus what is simply a perversion of faith?

COPPINS: Well I think that -- and no matter what faith you come from you can find historical examples of your faith being perverted and turned evil, right? This is a point that President Obama once made and it became very controversial harkening back to the crusades.

Now, in our time, obviously, Muslim people are dealing with this hateful ideology that's taken root in some parts of their community. But I think that one thing that could happen that hopefully would bring people together is if Christians and people of all faiths were able to reach out to Muslim people. I think we've actually seen an interesting example of that in Texas with the Syrian refugee crisis where you saw a lot of Christian religious organizations defy the conservative politicians in their state and take Syrian refugees in and say that we want to help these people regardless of what the pulpit pounders and the conservative political world are saying. We want to help these people, and they cite religious liberty as their right to do it. I think that the more we see that and we see religious organizations whether they are conservative or liberal or in the middle reach out to Muslims, I think that will help to bridge the gap.

CUOMO: Christine, McKay, Father John, thank you very much, and merry Christmas to you both. You too.

COPPINS: Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: Trying to give you a nod to objectivity. Alisyn, we'll end it where we started with the Pope. When he was asked this very convoluted question about what to do with Islam, and he cut it off saying be kind. Be kind. Always be kind.

CAMEROTA: Chris, that is so simple yet profound.

Now to the other end of the spectrum, politics. The political pundits dismissed him, but Donald Trump dominated in 2015, becoming the undisputed Republican frontrunner. Will the same be true in 2016? We'll discuss when our special Christmas Day edition of NEW DAY continues.

But first, let's listen to the young people's chorus of New York City.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [08:16:39] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump rewriting the political playbook this year, sparing no one his insults and making loads of controversial comments. What will happen next?

Here to predict and discuss this wild year in politics, John Avlon, CNN political analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast", and Errol Louis, political anchor at Time Warner Cable News and a CNN political commentator.

Gentlemen, great to have you here.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Merry, merry, happy, happy.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Merry, merry, happy, happy.

CUOMO: Merry Christmas.

CAMEROTA: So, no one other than perhaps Donald Trump saw this coming. His dominance in 2015, John.

AVLON: Yes. No, it's been through the looking glass this year. I mean, this is -- this is a circus unlike anything we've seen in modern American politics. I mean, for the sheer, the oratorical style of a celebrity demagogue. It's like Huey Long plus someone with a telethon.

But it's been remarkably powerful in rallying a core part of the conservative populist base. And at this point, it ain't no joke and the Republican Party needs to get its head around but this guy could be a real threat to be the nominee. To say otherwise is irresponsible.

CUOMO: Look, it was slow going for a lot of people to take him seriously. But now I hope it's moved past that. And people see it as a revolution, not a circus, who follow him. They are done with politics as usually. They want someone from outside who showed success and says it like it is.

What's the plus/minus on that?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Exactly right. Well, it's very interesting because you properly I think sort of pivot, where the media should have been all along, which is, not so much what's going on in Trump tower and Donald Trump, but what's going on out in the hinterland, the people who support him. Is it a moment or is it a movement? Is it a man or is it a movement?

I think there is something going on and it's clear it is wide spread distrust with many of our institutions. You can go interest the local level to the White House, and you see that the schools aren't teaching, the factories closed, it looks like the government has been bought by the wealthy.

And the people sort of get that there's this problem out there and so, they have seized many of them on Donald Trump because he has some very simple clear cut emotional solutions. Not policy specifics in most cases, but just this kind of raw emotion that something's wrong, something's horrible, let's go get them. Round up the pitch forks. And --

AVLON: Yes, and it's just the populist billionaire is an unlikely creature of this. And I think that two things that are different about this one celebrity, which becomes Teflon, right? It's the Achilles heel of our culture, because he's a celebrity and he's seen as being brass, he can't say anything that's so scandalous that people are actually shock. The second thing is the self-funding mechanism.

But there's no question. There are things that politicians can learn from Donald Trump in terms of being more authentic, more raw. But the real danger is forces we're playing with right now and we got to be real about that, too.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, that was one big political surprise of 2015. Another award goes to John Boehner. Let's remember the moment he announced his surprise resignation.

AVLON: I'm going to cry.

CAMEROTA: Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Here I rise to inform you that I will resign from speaker of the House effective upon the election of my successor. I will also resign as the representative from Ohio's eight district at the end of this month. I leave with no regrets, no burdens. If anything, I leave the way I started -- just a regular guy humbled by the chance to do a big job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Errol, there were lots of interpretations why he chose that moment.

[08:20:02] Some gave credit to the pope that he had had a come to Jesus talk with himself about what his future was.

LOUIS: Well, maybe the pope helped with the timing but the fundamental forces relates back to the Donald Trump phenomenon which is massive discontent. Over the last couple of cycles, we replaced conservative Democrats with whom Republicans normally had some sort of ongoing working relationship, with Tea Party Republicans who are unyielding, who are ideological, who made an enemy of Boehner, who wouldn't give him their votes, who forced him into all kinds of terrible choices about whether or not to keep the government open.

He got sick of it and I think he was right to get sick of it. It's been incredibly frustrating. And I think the public that support this is whole working arrangement right now is going to probably realize sooner or later that this is not the way to run our particular government.

CUOMO: Although it does seem that the GOP avoided the baby bath water dilemma with Paul Ryan. That getting him to come in and take it over maybe does become a breath of fresh air and what looked like a real miscalculation for the party overall.

AVLON: Well, absolutely. I mean, you know, once you RINO hunted Boehner and Eric Cantor out of office, you had this real crisis where Kevin McCarthy, the heir apparent all of a sudden pulls out of the race under sort of cloudy, murky circumstances. And really, the entire leadership has to go beg Paul Ryan to come in and save their bacon, which he ultimately did. Didn't want the job. Ultimately took it.

But in this transition was actually two minutes of grace, may be not worth of papal grace, but one is that they don't really made an effort, as he said, clean the barn for the next guy. He took on a lot of tough legislation. He didn't just leave Paul Ryan with a festering mess when it came to bill.

Second thing is Paul Ryan has been a breath of fresh air. You talk to people on Capitol Hill. You talk to staffers and congressmen. They feel galvanized. They feel optimistic. They feel a more open style of leadership.

And probably, Paul Ryan is the only person who could have united the disparate factions of the GOP.

CUOMO: For now.

AVLON: For now, that's the big thing. That's for the New Year's Day show.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Very, very quickly on the flipside, Hillary Clinton had an interesting 2015. How would you categorize it at the end?

LOUIS: I think she got lucky a couple of different times. And, of course, she made her luck. Lot of hard work. She diligently put together a very impressive campaign organization.

She did the same in 2008 and it didn't work out. But she's got the wind at her back at this point, a lot of experienced hands who are not going to make some of the mistakes in the past. And because of what was going on, you could call it a circus. You could call it something unusual happening on the Republican side, she really kind of got a pass on many things.

The e-mails never took hold with her base. They just don't care. There is a lot of other stuff going out in in the world. She has an opponent in the form of Bernie Sanders, who right up front said I'm not going to attack her personally.

It's a gift and she's made very good use of that gift. She stayed out of the headlines. She's continued to raise money. She's continued to line up endorsements. She's got an eye fixed on the delegates where she screwed up last time in 2008 and it looks like smooth sailing for her going into 2016. CAMEROTA: There you go.

AVLON: Yes. I mean, look, she had a rough spring and summer. Don't kid yourself. And the Bernie Sanders phenomena, the fact that all of the energy in the activist class is surrounding is surreal.

But Hillary Clinton, I agree with you it's -- you know, merry Christmas, Hillary. You got out of it OK.

CAMEROTA: The gift of the Berni.

AVLON: That's right.

CAMEROTA: John Avlon --

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: -- Errol Louis, thank you guys so much.

Let's get over to Michaela.

CUOMO: That was very good. A play on Magi there. Very good.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I saw that. Very clever.

All right. One of the biggest political debates is President Obama's strategy against ISIS. We're going discuss the effort to defeat them next.

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(CHOIR SINGING)

[08:27:50] PEREIRA: Good morning on Christmas morning. Welcome back to our very special Christmas edition of NEW DAY.

That was the Young People's Chorus of New York City for us.

Certainly, a lot to get to this half hour, including a look at the ongoing threat the ISIS poses to us here at home and around the globe.

CUOMO: First, let's get a check of your headlines at the news desk right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and merry Christmas. I'm Boris Sanchez. Let's take a look at your top stories this morning.

Pope Francis called for peace in various hot spots and for compassion, for refugees, the poor and people fleeing violence in his traditional Christmas Day message to the world. During midnight mass, he urged Catholics reject lavish living and focus on being simple of heart.

Let's bring in CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen in Rome for us this morning -- John. JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Hi, Boris. Happy Christmas

to you.

Well, you know, pope's usually use this Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" message to the city, meaning Rome, and to the world, to offer a kind of 360 degree review of the global situation, and that is very much what Pope Francis did today, beginning with a strong plea for peace. In a series of global hot spots, the pope mentioned the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, he talked about the conflict in Syria, in Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, expressed hope for a breakthrough in peace talks in Colombia, to try to end the world's longest running civil war.

He also, in the midst of Europe's most dramatic refugee crisis since the Second World War, called for compassion for people fleeing situations of violence and conflict, called on host nations to be generous. The pope also denounced what he called a series of brutal acts of terrorism in 2015, including, of course, the November attacks in Paris that have left such a scar on Europe.

He mentioned a series of other social ills that concern him -- child soldiers, trafficking in human persons, unemployment. He also acknowledged the many Christian victims of religious persecution around the world, calling them our martyrs of today, enclosed with a strong plea for concern for prisoners in the context of a special jubilee year of mercy that the pontiff has called.

So very much what we saw today, Boris, was a peace pope trying to use the visibility afforded by one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar.