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Chicago Mayor to Reform Police Training; Heightened Security at College Football Playoff Sites; Trump on 2016 Race: "We View This As War". Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 31, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:37] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The mother of the so- called "affluenza" teen is back in the U.S. this morning. Tonya Couch arriving in Los Angeles early in handcuffs after being deported from Mexico.

Meanwhile, her fugitive son Ethan is fighting his deportation. He was granted a temporary three-day stay and will now go before a judge. The 18-year-old is wanted on a probation violation stemming from a drunk driving conviction that left four people dead.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A friend of one of San Bernardino terrorists indicted by a federal grand jury. Prosecutors allege 24- year-old Enrique Marquez conspired with Syed Rizwan Farook to plan terror attacks in United States in 2011 and 2012. Marquez is suspected of buying two of the military-style rifles used by the terrorists in San Bernardino attack earlier this month that killed 14 people. Officials say that as of now, there is no evidence that Marquez knew of that attack.

The White House is preparing new sanctions targeting international companies and individuals involved with Iran's ballistic missile program. According to "The Wall Street Journal", the sanctions target about a dozen companies and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates.

Under July's landmark nuclear agreement, individuals and groups suspected of helping Iran develop missiles can be black-listed.

CAMEROTA: Some terrifying moments aboard an Air Canada flight from Shanghai to Toronto, diverting the flight to Calgary. The Boeing 777 hit turbulence so severe that 21 passengers were hospitalized. And at least one person went flying through the cabin. Authorities say the injuries are not life-threatening.

I don't like that.

BERMAN: Particularly scary on those big long haul flights, because you're all just asleep. You're not paying attention.

CAMEROTA: I know.

PEREIRA: And you come from Shanghai. You're not really that far from your destination. They say they hit turbulence. Everybody was like, oh, wow, that's really heavy turbulence, and then it got bad.

CAMEROTA: I don't like hearing about that.

BERMAN: All right. Thirty-three minutes after the hour.

A taser in every police cruiser. That is just part of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's overhaul of his embattled police department. This is an effort to rebuild trust after a series of officer-involved shootings. But does it go enough -- go far enough.

We'll discuss, next.

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[06:36:58] MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL (D), CHICAGO: There's a difference between whether someone can use a gun and when they should use a gun. And we as the city must train for that difference.

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BERMAN: That was Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel making his first public remark since cutting a family vacation short to return to Chicago. Emanuel's reform follows a series of deadly police-involved shootings sparking weeks of protests.

So, will these changes bridge that gap of mistrust between residents there and the police?

Joining us now is "Chicago Sun-Times" Washington bureau chief, Lynn Sweet.

Lynn, thanks for being with us.

You are one of our country's great political reporters, yet we are watching this social unrest and really policy discussion taking place in Chicago. So, when you watched the mayor make those statements, promised these reforms, discuss these changes, do you see that as more of a political response or more of real honest to goodness change?

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: The answer, John, and good morning, is all of the above. No one would have imagined after that video surfaced in November of a teen shot 17 times that we would have another incident. And this tragedy happened just last Saturday, so soon.

So, the mayor put in a bunch of changes after the police shooting video surfaced in November and then he put in more changes now. So, is it enough? I think it just remains to be seen. And it depends if there's another tragic incident or controversial incident. Because we could never have predicted that we would have this second one.

So, in the meantime, though, is it political and policy?

Well, in Chicago, I think, it's one and the same. You know, they usually say good policy makes good politics. And good politics makes good policy. In this case, we have a mayor, national figure, who's at a low point in his career, because of these crises that happened. So, while some people have called for him to resign, I don't see it happening, because part of what his challenge now is, when I watched the press conference, to see whether or not he could fix this on his watch.

BERMAN: Talking about fixing it. He issues a promise of tasers with every cop which is a change that a lot of people say should have been made a long time. Surely, that can make a difference. But he's also talking about a significant cultural change within the Chicago police department. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: Ensure that our officers are not just operating in either first gear or fifth gear, but to recognize the degrees in between so they can respond appropriately to each individual situation, where force can be the last option, not the first choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know, that takes a lot. That takes more than just putting tasers in every police car.

SWEET: It does.

Well, there have been problems, like Chicago police -- they have done, isn't everything.

[06:40:00] It's the problems that get the spotlight, not the day-to-day good work of police officers in Chicago. But brutality has been a problem going back decades. Going back to the police riots from Grant Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention.

A code of silence has gone back decades. Rules that allow the city to pay off people who allege they've been victimized. Police have caused the city treasury to write checks for multiple millions of dollars while very few police are ever disciplined, who have records of not following the rules.

So, all of this is a system that needs changing that I don't know if it could move that fast.

BERMAN: What does he need to do, the mayor, over the next year? You don't think he's going to quit. I don't think a lot of people think he's going to up and quit despite the calls to resign? But how does he rehabilitate not just his image, but the public trust?

SWEET: This is the hardest thing. You know, let's say there are no more incidents than business can proceed with the Department of Justice investigation going on, that we'll look at best practices. Look at the past, present and future put in place recommendations that could be enforced by a federal court order.

Well, you know, I'm compounding this, John, when you talk about Mayor Emanuel and trust. He has a massive problem with the Chicago teachers union. They have a strike now coming up and massive problems with city finance and pension.

So, if he has problems with public schools and policing, he has to, in a sense, just have a change of course. He has to try and bill constituencies where none exists now. Being more, and I know this is kind of anti-Rahm Emanuel, of how he likes to approach things, be a little more gracious about listening and dealing with people.

It's just -- he has this abrasive way sometimes. I don't want to be saying that people can't change. But he doesn't have a real political base that is there to help prop him up. I think what he has to do is go out and find one. And create one.

BERMAN: New Year heading for Rahm Emanuel starting tomorrow.

Lynn Sweet, thanks for being with us. I appreciate it.

SWEET: Hey, thank you.

BERMAN: So, what is your take on all of this, tweet us @NewDay. Or post your comments at Facebook.com/NewDay.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, John.

Heightened security at three college football games kicking of this New Year's Eve. A look of security measures for the big games, next.

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[06:46:22] PEREIRA: All right. Time for a little sports.

College football's Final Four on tap this New Year's Eve. First up, top-ranked Clemson taking on number four Oklahoma this afternoon in the Orange Bowl. Tonight, it's number two, Alabama taking on number 3, Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.

We know security will be ramped up at both playoff semifinal sites. Andy Scholes is live in Arlington, Texas, in our bleacher report.

How are things looking? Dark, obviously.

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ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Michaela.

Yes, in light of the new terror warnings taking place in Washington, D.C., New York City and L.A., you know, officials are beefing up security for the football games for the next 48 hours.

At the Rose Bowl event tomorrow in Pasadena, California, more than two dozen agencies are joining force with police. There's going to be surveillance cameras, bomb sniffing dogs, radiation devices here at the parade.

Meanwhile, here in Arlington, Texas, a Dallas Cowboys official I talked to said, you know, they're treating the Cotton Bowl just like any other game they host. They're going to have bomb sniffing dogs checking all the busses and trucks entering the stadium. Fans will be screened when they enter as well. And, of course, they have the clear bag policy ban, only allowed to bring in clear bags or a small clutch.

Now, we do have two big playoff games today. It's going to get started with the Orange Bowl at 4:00 Eastern. You got undefeated Clemson taking on Oklahoma. And then, where I am right now, in Arlington, Texas, a big game tonight between Alabama and Michigan State. That one gets going at 8:00 Eastern.

It should be two very exciting games. Something we haven't had before, two big playoff games on New Year's Eve as opposed to New Year's Day, like we saw last year. The winners from the two games today will, of course, meet January 11th in Arizona for the national title.

John, definitely looking forward to the games today it's a cool way to lead off to the New Year.

BERMAN: I think college football playoffs are one of the great things to happen to America this century. Andy Scholes, thank you for bringing it us. Appreciate it.

SCHOLES: Completely agree.

BERMAN: All right. Forty minutes after the hour.

Donald Trump with new insults directed toward Bill Clinton, calling him, quote, "one of the great abusers of the world." A war of words between the Trump campaign and the Clinton campaign heats up.

So, will hitting the former president help Trump attract more voters? We're going to discuss, next.

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[06:52:01] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Low energy can be applied to Hillary. I just don't like to use the same thing twice on one of my enemies, right? Because I consider them enemies. We view this as war. Don't you view this as war? It's war. It's war.

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BERMAN: It's war. And that was Donald Trump describing his presidential campaign, in rather stark term. He's calling this war, and once again taking aim at his so-called enemies.

The Republican front-runner called Bill Clinton one of the great abusers of the world. Donald Trump insists he has no choice but to attack the Clintons.

Here to discuss the political campaign this morning, CNN political commentator and political anchor of Time Warner Cable News, Errol Louis, and columnist for "The Daily Beast", Patricia Murphy.

We saw a small slice of Donald Trump versus Clinton there. That's just one of the big bits of campaign that was happening right now.

The other bit of campaign news that happened yesterday, was a big shift in the Jeb Bush campaign. Jeb Bush pulling ads off the air in Iowa and South Carolina, which I'm told are important in early states, pulling ads off the air, deploying staff to early states.

Errol, not generally what you see from a general campaign that signals things are going well?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's right. What it indicates is a shift in strategy. I think it has become clear, they probably should have figured this out earlier, that going on the air and running lots of ads, which is the traditional ads which is sort of why you do that for your candidate is not going to work in this cycle for a lot of different reasons, including the fact that Donald Trump sucked all of the energy out of the room as far as media coverage.

For Jeb Bush now to sort of put his people on the ground, yes, that is how you do it, in Iowa in particular. South Carolina not so much, we'll see how that plays out. But it's people to people. You want folks to have their neighbor approach them. Have the guy from the local hardware store approach them. Have somebody you that know vouch for you.

This is what Jeb Bush needs right now, and this is, I guess, sort of an acknowledgement of what was probably true for a long time.

CAMEROTA: Patricia, why didn't Jeb Bush know this earlier? Why didn't he infuse Iowa and New Hampshire with resources of people?

PATRICIA MURPHY, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, it's a great question. I'm sure that's a question his supporters have been asking. I think there is a piece of this that has a lot to do with his super PAC. The fact that his super PAC has spent tens of millions of dollars with TV ads and has almost nothing to show for it. I think people would have liked to seen Jeb move those resources a lot sooner, particularly to Iowa, he's been stuck around 5 percent in Iowa for months. I think months ago, we were asking either to drop out or you need to do something drastic.

So, I think this will go down as an error on behalf of this campaign not to have done this sooner. I think it's smart at least now to admit that, yes, we need to make a change. But I don't know if this change is going to make a whole lot of difference for this campaign.

BERMAN: You know, there are a lot of TV people looking at it saying was it a strategy mistake? The problem is not the campaign per se, but is the problem Jeb Bush? We saw him on the stump yesterday in South Carolina. It was with a South Carolina state senator whose name I believe is Katrina Shealy, and Jeb Bush made a joke about her name. Let's listen to what he said.

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[06:55:05] JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know why your great state senator reminds me of a hurricane. But she does. She's strong and she's fierce and she's solving problems for you at the state capital. You should be honored to have her as your elected official. I hope you agree with that.

That's the new nickname. The Bush family always gives out nicknames. Yours is now Hurricane Katrina.

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BERMAN: So, Errol, I think a lot of people are like, Bush family and hurricane Katrina, ooh. Of course, you know, Jeb Bush, by the way, when he was governor of Florida, he was credited for doing a great job with a bunch of hurricanes, including Katrina.

But when people think Bush and Katrina, they think his brother.

LOUIS: Yes, of all the things to invoke your family name around, maybe not the best choice.

And, look, one factor you've got to keep in mind here, John, is that you've got consultants who get paid in many cases by how much they place on television ads. So, there's part of this whole big money problem that has affected American politics that really I think is on display here, which is that, you give $10 million to some consultant. He says, well, if I buy a bunch of ad time I can take a percentage of that and put that in my back pocket, compared with spreading it out over a whole bunch of volunteers who are going to go out and knock on doors and do other stuff. They line their own pockets.

I mean, the political consulting industry has done very well by the Bush family this year. They are the big winners, may be not so much their candidate.

CAMEROTA: Patricia, before we leave the Hurricane Katrina reference and move on, what is that? I mean, is that Jeb Bush just being tone-deaf? Why did he make a regrettable reference like that?

MURPHY: Oh, my God, I think it just shows he is rusty and he's not that great of a campaigner, honestly. We've heard recently that he is so much better than he used to be. He is not good, just not good, so tone-deaf.

And with $40 million in advertising, it just shows you can't make people want what they don't like. I think Republican voters are just not buying Jeb Bush this cycle. And that's a good example of why I think he -- really, if his last name wasn't Bush, I think he would have dropped out a long time ago. He would have been basically George Pataki if he weren't Jeb Bush.

And I think nobody with those retail skills at this point in the game without all that money would still be in it.

BERMAN: So, what some Republican voters seem to like this cycle, Errol, is Donald Trump, at least according to the polls, at least in New Hampshire right now.

Donald Trump on the trail, we've been talking about it, going after the Clintons. Donald Trump on the stump said he didn't want to do it, felt like he owed to them. He said he had no choice. Let's listen to Donald Trump.

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TRUMP: She came out with that -- no, she came out, remember she wrote, she said, he's demonstrated a penchant -- I demonstrated a penchant for sexism. Do you believe it, me? Nobody respects women than Donald Trump, that I can tell you.

(CHEERS)

Nobody. Nobody.

And you know, when she said that, I had no choice, because I didn't start it. I had no choice. And I did have to mention her husband's situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It will be interesting, Errol. When we see Bill Clinton out on the campaign trail next week in New Hampshire. Does Bill Clinton address -- within a million miles of any of this?

LOUIS: Well, you put your finger on exactly what is going on here, is Donald Trump wants to take Bill Clinton out of the equation, wants to embarrass him or frighten him off the campaign trail, unlikely to happen. But that is the strategy, to sort of get him out of the picture, so that he can go after Hillary Clinton without her biggest booster, one of the most popular Democrats in the country.

I don't think that's going to happen. But, you know, after what we've seen with Bill Cosby, accusations, there are about 14 women who can said to have made claims at one time or another --

CAMEROTA: Is that right, 14?

LOUIS: Well, I mean, that's -- if you go to the sort of right wing websites and talk radio crowd, there are about 14 names out there. The once that we all remember were not in that list. We remember Gennifer Flowers, we remember Monica Lewinsky, we remember Paula Jones. Paula Jones was an accusation, the other two were consensual relationships.

So, for most of the country, this is old, old news. But, you know, you've got this x-factor out there, Trump is strongly insinuating, as has talk radio for a long time, conservative radio, that this surge could come forward, that this could become a hard factor. I have a hard time believing that, but, you really -- you never know. It depends on what the claims are, what the credibility of the accusers are, how much attention it actually gets and whether or not it turns into something that Bill Clinton and others would have to respond to.

My guess is that probably not. This is the most well-known couple. The marital affairs have been the stuff of public discussion for over 20 years from now. I have a hard time believing that something new could happen, shortly of something new, I think Donald Trump falls on his face on this.

CAMEROTA: It's going to be an interesting 2016.

Errol, Patricia, thank you so much. Happy New Year to you.

LOUIS: Happy New Year.

MURPHY: Happy New Year.

BERMAN: Following a lot of news this morning. Let's get right to it.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reopening this case was our duty.