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New Day

Fire Engulfs Dubai High-Rise Hotel; What to Expect This Election Year; Global Outlook for 2016. Aired 6:05-6:30a ET

Aired January 01, 2016 - 06:05   ET

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

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[06:05:14] JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: The gunman went into the offices during the editorial meeting...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police raids linked to the Paris attacks are underway in Belgium.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Active shooter in San Bernardino, California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ISIL wants to bring this as a war between the United States and Islam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbelievable scenes of lawlessness in Baltimore.

MARILYN MOSBY, STATE'S ATTORNEY, CITY OF BALTIMORE: To the youth of this city, I will seek justice on your behalf.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another tape the city of Chicago does not want you to see.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're bringing drugs. They're rapists.

Complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I cannot wait to stand on the debate stage with Hillary Clinton.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails!

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've lost more sleep than all of you put together.

KIM DAVIS, COUNTY CLERK, ROWAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY: You are wrong, people!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pope of the Holy Sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's anything true about Pope Francis, he is close to the people.

POPE FRANCIS, LEADER OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: God bless America.

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Happy new year -- or...

MICHAEL PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Happy new year.

CUOMO: It's a new year. It's a new day. So we have a special edition of NEW DAY for you. Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, Michaela Pereira, we're all here for you this morning. We're going to look into the crystal ball. How will all of the big stories from the past year play out into the new year this year? Will Donald Trump stay on top of the Republican field? Is he going to be the GOP nominee? Is he going to start his own party called the Trump Party?

CAMEROTA: And we have a lot of very serious issues that we'll be dealing with. How will world leaders respond to the growing threats from ISIS? Plus terror fears re-igniting the battle over gun control here at home. So will Congress and the president act on that divisive issue?

PEREIRA: And on the personal level, you're probably swearing, "This is the year I'm going to stick to my diet, you know, lose a few pounds here and there." What about your financial health? We want to talk about that. The resolution we all should be considering. That and so much more ahead.

First, though, let's check your headlines at the news desk.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good morning, everyone, and happy new year. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Let's take a look at the top stories this morning.

2016 entering with big celebrations around the world, including the big one in New York City.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four... three... two... one!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Four... three... two... one!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four... three... two... one!

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WHITFIELD: More than a million people packing into Times Square to celebrate. Security was tight: more than 6,000 NYPD officers on hand after New York, Los Angeles and Washington were targeted by a terror threat.

Intense security also greeting the thousands who jammed into central London for a spectacular fireworks display there.

And federal agents foiling an alleged New Year's Eve terror plot in upstate New York. The suspect, 25-year-old Emanuel Lutchman now in custody. Authorities say he planned to target New Year's revelers at a Rochester bar and restaurant in the name of ISIS. Officials say he wanted to sneak a bomb into the restaurant, then kidnap and kill some of the customers. Following the arrest, officials cancelled the city's New Year's fireworks show.

And a tense and frightening New Year's Eve in Dubai. A spectacular fire at a luxury high-rise hotel keeping firefighters busy deep into the night, while just three blocks away revelers were taking in the world's largest fireworks show.

Let's bring in CNN's Becky Anderson, live for us from Dubai. So how's it going there and what's the investigation leading up to right now?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, smoke is still billowing from what is a luxury hotel in Dubai today after it was engulfed in a massive fire on New Year's Eve.

As you rightly point out, firefighters continue the process of cooling down what is a smoldering building. According to authorities, the fire at the address downtown started at around 9:30 local time and quickly took hold, sending flames shooting out one side of the 63- floor building.

All this as revelers gathered close by to watch what was a specular -- spectacular firework display on the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

Now, firefighters battled the blaze well into the early hours. The government here in Dubai says everyone was safely evacuated from the hotel and only 16 people, they say, were treated for minor injuries and smoke inhalation. Investigators now clearly working to determine the cause of the fire, the second major fire to engulf a Dubai high- rise in 2015.

[06:10:03] Dhahi Khalfan, the deputy head of Dubai police, tweeting just in the past couple of hours, this photograph issued a while ago. He says it shows where the fire started last night, and finding one source telling CNN that the fire may have broken out in a residence on the building's 20th floor when curtains caught alight. Still working for you to get more information on this -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Becky, thank you so much. You and I spending a lot of time on the air yesterday, as it was happening. Remarkable that the casualty count was not even higher. All right. Thanks so much, Becky.

All right. Right here in the states, it will be top-ranked Clemson against Alabama in college football's national title game. Clemson beating Oklahoma 37-17 in the Orange Bowl. They are now 14-0. And in the other playoff semifinal, Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry scored two touchdowns as the Alabama Crimson Tide rolled over Michigan State, 38-0 in the Cotton Bowl. The championship game is January 11 in Arizona.

All right. That's a look at your New Year's morning headlines. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Alisyn, Michaela and Chris, back to you.

CAMEROTA: The political season about to pick up speed. The Iowa caucuses just one month away. It will be the first time that we have real results from real voters.

CUOMO: We can't just mindlessly speculate anymore?

CAMEROTA: That is over. And we actually have a real political panel here now to give us some insight. CNN political commentator and former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz, Amanda Carpenter; CNN political commentator and former Reagan White House political director, Geoffrey Lord. He's a Trump supporter. And CNN political commentator and Jeb Bush supporter, Ana Navarro.

Hey, guys. Great to see you.

GEOFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Happy new year.

CAMEROTA: Happy new year to you, too. Great to have you with us today.

OK. Ana, let me start with you. Look into your crystal ball. What's about to happen now?

NAVARRO: Oh, lord, Alisyn, that crystal ball was so -- was so hard to read in 2015. I'm not sure I'm going to do a better job of it in 2016. But you're right. We are in a sprint. Chris, I'm glad to -- I'm very happy to tell you we do have about two more weeks of mindless speculation left.

CAMEROTA: Oh, good.

NAVARRO: You do know that -- Iowa voters, New Hampshire voters, these folks just take their time. They like to look under the hood. A lot of them, half of them, don't make up their mind until that last week, but certainly, we are in the sprint; and I think you're going to see a lot of candidates spending a lot of time, some of them focused on Iowa, some of them more focused in New Hampshire.

CUOMO: Too reasonable. Let's bite off some stuff and chew on it. OK.

CAMEROTA: Oh, good.

CUOMO: Geoffrey Lord. Here's the proposition. You tell me why it's true and/or false in the new year. Trump cannot hold on in Iowa, the evangelical base, too big. They don't like the negativity. They go Cruz. True or false and why?

LORD: Sure, possible. Sure, possible. Absolutely.

NAVARRO: What's all the hedge, Geoffrey? Come on, it's 2016! Take a risk.

LORD: Are you asking me, could Ted Cruz win this in Iowa? Yes. The question is what can he do beyond that?

And the one thing that I would add is Ronald Reagan, of course, lost Iowa and became president. Rick Santorum and Governor Huckabee both won Iowa and never became president. So winning Iowa in and of itself doesn't do anything.

I really do think this is going to be a long march here, a long march. New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and on beyond that. So whoever wins, even if Donald Trump wins Iowa, that's not going to solve anything.

CAMEROTA: Amanda.

LORD: Or settle anything.

CAMEROTA: Amanda, winning Iowa doesn't mean anything?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's always good to win Iowa, but here's the thing. Iowa doesn't crown a king, but it knocks out a lot of princes.

I think we're going to see a lot of GOP candidates -- remember how big this field is -- are going to get knocked out, and then we're going to have another big shake-up when all that polling gets redistributed.

Think about it. The guys in the undercard debate may only have 1 or 2 percent in the polls, but 1 or 2 percent could mean a lot for the top- tier candidates. And so after Iowa, we're going to see a big shake- up, and we may start again. Always good to win, but winning Iowa is not everything.

CUOMO: I can't trust the other two with this next one, Amanda, so I'll stay with you.

CARPENTER: Great.

CUOMO: After what we saw with Trump and Jeb at the most recent Republican debate, where Trump -- I know you're sick of it, but I'm saying it again, Trump looks at Jeb and says, "Who's talking, me or you, Jeb? Me or you?"

CAMEROTA: I'm talking.

CUOMO: And then she gives a little of that action, which is what Jeb Bush did, and I say this is a new Jeb Bush. He has decided to be the anti-Trump, and it is going to give him a boost. Yes or no, Amanda?

CARPENTER: Yes. I mean, it's always good to see Jeb assert himself on the national stage. I think a lot of people are clamoring for that, waiting to see real personality come out. And I think the more -- the less guarded Jeb Bush is, the better it is for him.

[06:15:05] That said, I still think it's a very bad idea for try -- for Jeb Bush to define his candidacy via Trump. He needs to be his own man, quit looking back on his Florida record, trying to run on that, and look forward at the current fights that have happened with the Obama administration and get in the middle of that.

CAMEROTA: Ana, you're close, of course, to Jeb Bush. Was that the moment in the last CNN debate where he found his sea legs? Does he feel that he found his voice that night?

NAVARRO: You know, I'm seeing a different Jeb Bush in the last several weeks. I think that, really, since what seems like ancient history, but since the very bad debate in Boulder, I think he figured out that theatrics is part of the job description, and he's now doing it.

I also see him doing much more focus on New Hampshire, which I think is smart, you know, as we've discussed. Iowa means something. It doesn't mean everything. The only time Iowa means something huge is when it's an upset, like in 2008 when Barack Obama upset, then, Hillary Clinton. If we see that kind of thing, either on the Democrat or Republican side, it would be huge.

On Jeb, I think you're going to see him, you know, keep grinding away. A lot of retail politics, spending a lot of time in the early states, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and I think you're going to see him try to do this the old-fashioned way, one voter at a time.

CAMEROTA: Amanda, do you want to jump in?

CARPENTER: But -- yes. Well, one thing about that, the interesting part of the new Jeb dynamic is that a rising Jeb, a rising Chris Christie makes life a lot harder for Marco Rubio. In many ways, they're competing for the same type of voter. And the more they clash, the more, you know, those three continue to be competitive with each other, makes it easier for a Cruz or a Trump to take the bigger lane.

NAVARRO: Well, actually, I think it's the two young bucks that have been locking horns. And I think we're going to continue seeing Cruz and Rubio, who are so evenly matched, who are both rookie senators, who are, you know, both lawyers, very different styles. One goes poetic. The other one goes legalese on us.

And I think you're going to see the two of them clash a lot, which I'm not sure doesn't open up a space for another candidate, maybe Geoffrey's, maybe somebody else.

CUOMO: All right. Geoffrey, what about this one? The chance that Donald Trump picks a female running mate before the convention?

LORD: Before the convention?

CUOMO: Yes.

LORD: Possible, yes, sure. I can see it.

CUOMO: Possible. It's possible that Alisyn knocks me unconscious in the next 15 seconds.

CAMEROTA: Probable!

LORD: I heard (ph) that once. You know, so I think, sure, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, if Donald Trump wins this nomination or it becomes certain ahead of time that he's going to do it, yes. Yes. That's possible. He could pick Carly Fiorina. He could pick...

NAVARRO: Oh, come on, Geoffrey! He can't stand Carly Fiorina. He has said over and over again that five -- five minutes of hearing her voice is, you know...

CARPENTER: But Carly holds her own in the debate.

LORD: Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait. JFK couldn't stand Lyndon Johnson either, but he made him vice president.

NAVARRO: Yes, well, Donald Trump is no JFK.

LORD: There's one -- there's one other thing here. I really do think this is going to be the year of the outsider. Again. And, I mean, election year itself.

So whether it's Donald Trump or Ted Cruz or whomever, I think the outside is winning. I think that's why Donald Trump picks on Jeb Bush all the time. Not because he thinks Jeb Bush is a threat, but because Jeb Bush is the very symbol of the establishment.

And whether it's Jeb Bush or John Kasich or some of these others, I think that's a real weakness, and I think that somebody on the outside is going to win this nomination.

CAMEROTA: I think we're going to leave it there.

CUOMO: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: Geoffrey...

LORD: Happy new year.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, guys. Thank you, Amanda and Ana, great to see you.

NAVARRO: Feliz ano nuevo.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

CUOMO: Mick.

PEREIRA: The evolving threat from ISIS growing deadlier, downing a passenger plane over Egypt, carrying out simultaneous attacks in Paris, inspiring the first deadly attack here at home. How will world leaders unite to combat ISIS? We're going to discuss that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:22:31] CUOMO: Now, in 2015 the number of refugees fleeing war- torn countries like Syria reached the level of an international crisis. Thousands have died making dangerous journeys to escape turmoil at home. Millions more have simply nowhere to go. Will there be a solution? What's going to happen in Syria? What's going to happen with DAISH? What will this new year bring?

Let's talk with Bobby Ghosh, CNN global affairs analyst and managing editor of "Quartz."

Happy new year to you. I wish you all the best always.

So let's take a look into the ball. We have an unreasonable expectation of speed when it comes to dealing with terror, when it comes to dealing with DAISH, or ISIL or ISIS, whatever you want to call it. How do you see progress in this year?

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: You'd have to color me skeptical. I think that it's good thing that there are more negotiations taking place, that all the different foreign players are trying to push Assad and the rebels into some kind of a negotiated settlement, but I'm not very optimistic that that's going to go very far.

The problem is that all the outer, outside players, whether it's Russia, Iran, or the United States, Saudi Arabia and so on, none of these countries seem to agree on the basics. Who are the bad guys? Different player -- different people have different ideas of who the bad guys are. Who are the good guys, therefore? Can Assad stay? Can there be a solution with or without -- with Assad? Some people say yes; some people say never.

So because these other groups cannot arrive at a common idea of what progress looks like, any negotiations towards progress, I don't think will go very far.

It's a good thing they're talking. Always better to talk than to shoot, but the problem is that, unless you have a real framework, conversations are not going to go anywhere.

CUOMO: You see -- you see a massive deployment of U.S. troops on the ground?

GHOSH: I don't see that happening, unless -- absent a major event in the United States. I think public opinion in the United States will remain strongly opposed to putting boots on the ground, and no American president, especially not a lame duck one, let's not forget, is going to be able to persuade the American people that we need to put American boots on the ground.

So absent, and let's hope that never happens, absent a major terrorist event against an American target, I don't see big numbers of American soldiers going.

CUOMO: Is 2016 the year that Islam takes on the scourge of Islamist extremism within its own faith. The battle for the soul of Islam. Do you think we'll see the Muslim community coming on the state level and on the popular level against the enemy?

[06:25:03] GHOSH: Well, I would argue that's already going on. It will continue to gain steam, I think. There -- there are conversations taking place among Islamic scholars about how to deal with this. I was in Iran earlier this month, earlier last month, and there was a lot of conversations taking place there.

The Islamic community is already grappling with this. I don't think they need a major event or a major calendar event to take place for them to accelerate. I think that's taking place already.

CUOMO: But you don't have the massive armies, let's say, of you know, Saudi Arabia -- go either way on that -- but Turkey. You know, massive. You don't have them saying, "This is our fight."

You know, "Yes, U.S., you can help us. Give us some money. Give us some planning and intel, but this is us. Nobody's going to tell us what being Muslim is. We'll take it to them." We don't see that and many say that's what should be happening?

GHOSH: Yes. I don't think that's a realistic expectation, because the enemy is not a traditional nation state, even though ISIS controls territory. It's not as if a Muslim country can say, "We are going to go and send our troops there and fight those people."

These guys are everywhere. Turkey is dealing -- you mentioned Turkey. They're dealing with extremism within their own country. ISIS is already, you know -- there's been landfall in Turkey, and the events have been killings within Turkey. This is -- this is a struggle within, not a struggle without so much, and that struggle is already taking place.

I would pay less attention to political leaders in the Muslim world and more attention to -- to civil groups, I mean, sort of activists, religious figures. And I think if you focus your attention there, you'll see there's a lot of struggle already going on about how to deal with extremism alarmists.

Politicians have different agendas to deal with, and sometimes they are contradictory to what we'd like them to be doing, but in -- in ordinary civil society, there's a lot taking place. That's room for optimism.

CUOMO: So we have a lot of time before we're going to see real change on the ground, and it will all be about how we spin it.

All right. Any chance of a new look from Bobby Ghosh in 2016? Not that this one isn't killer. Is there any chance you're going to grow out the hair again? I know you had a big -- big head of hair at some point.

GHOSH: That was a long time ago. I'm not going back to that. The world doesn't need to see that, trust me.

CUOMO: It's a successful look. Everybody loves you.

Bobby Ghosh, thank you very much, always.

GHOSH: Thank you.

CUOMO: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: He looks fantastic.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump rewriting the rulebook for presidential campaigns but how will the presidential race effect Congressional races this coming year? John King is here with his magic wall, next.

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