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New Day

Four Police Officers Shot in Targeted Attacks; Pence: Romney 'Under active and Serious Consideration'; Protests Turn Violent Near Dakota Pipeline Site. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired November 21, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:58:21] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, November 21, 6 a.m. in the east, and we have breaking news. Four police officers have been shot in a series of ambush-style attacks in several different states. All these shootings just hours apart. Let's take a look at the map. You see them in Missouri. Two shootings there. One in Florida. Another in Texas. The officer in Texas was killed.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: There's a manhunt underway in Texas at this hour to find that person suspected of killing a 20-year police veteran. CNN's Polo Sandoval is live in San Antonio with all of the breaking details. What's the latest, Polo?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn, good morning. Behind me outside the San Antonio police headquarters, a scene that is all too familiar for law enforcement agencies here in Texas, particularly after this year's Dallas shooting. This makeshift memorial continues to grow after the shooting death of Detective Benjamin Marconi. And this morning officers, not just here in Texas but across the country, are taking extra precautions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Four separate shootings targeting police officers across the country.

CHIEF WILLIAM MCMANUS: Unfortunately, like Dallas, like Baton Rouge, it's happened here.

SANDOVAL: A massive manhunt in Texas for a man suspected of killing a San Antonio officer. Around 11:45 a.m., Detective Benjamin Marconi was shot and killed while sitting in his squad car. The 50-year-old officer was writing a ticket during a traffic stop when a man walked up to his driver's side window and opened fire. He shot Marconi in the head from outside of the car. Police say the suspect then reached through the window and shot the 20-year veteran again.

Police releasing two photos of people would may have seen the suspect and this image of a car they say fled the scene.

MCMANUS: Most families will be celebrating the holidays. SAPD will be burying one of its own. SANDOVAL: Hours later in St. Louis, a 46-year-old sergeant was waiting in traffic when the suspect, a man wanted in other violent crimes, pulled up to the driver's side of his patrol vehicle and opened fire. He shot the 20-year-old veteran twice in the face.

CHIEF SAMUEL DOTSON, ST. LOUIS POLICE: The officers says he saw the muzzle flashes and felt the glass breaking in his window as the shots came through and struck him in the head.

SANDOVAL: The suspect, apparently worried about being identified, now dead after a shootout with officers overnight. No other officers were injured.

Another officer shot in Missouri late Sunday night in a traffic stop in Gladstone. That's near Kansas City.

And in Florida, a suspect already in custody after police say Officer Jared Ciccone was shot while conducting a routine traffic stop in Sanibel. According to police, Ciccone was on the side of the road when a suspect drove by and started shooting. Ciccone was injured but has since been released from the hospital.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Back out live to San Antonio. Some fairly disheartening statistics this morning of officers killed in the line of duty, particularly when you compare them with last year, when 125 officers were at least killed in the line of duty. This year 103, Chris and Alisyn. But as you hear from officials, particularly here in Texas, one is too many. Again, a state all too familiar with losing officers in the line of duty, at least this year.

CUOMO: All right, Polo, thank you very much. It's clear the solution is what seems to be alluding us.

Let's bring in former NYPD detective sergeant and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Joe Giacalone; and CNN law enforcement analyst and former ATF executive Matthew Horace.

Matthew, there is no proof at this point of these being coordinated attacks, meaning that there was some type of knowledge and planning into this. But have you ever heard of four shootings in three states in this type of period before?

MATTHEW HORACE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I have not. I think the closest thing I can think of is what happened during that time period in Tulsa and Dallas. And at this point, I'm sure the FBI and other organizations are going to look at the facts of the cases to try to draw some connection, if possible, but it may just be happenstance.

CAMEROTA: So Joe, let's talk about that. San Antonio, St. Louis, Gladstone in Missouri, just outside of Kansas City and Sanibel, Florida. What are the chances they're not connected, in your mind?

JOE GIACALONE, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE SERGEANT: Well, I don't think they're connected in any way but I mean, just -- no, I don't think they're connected.

CAMEROTA: This is just a terrible, terrible coincidence that this happened in these 24 hours?

GIACALONE: Yes. I just think maybe somebody saw something happen on TV, and it might have provoked them to do so, but not necessarily where there's a...

CAMEROTA: You think this is a copycat, not coordinated?

GIACALONE: Correct, yes.

CAMEROTA: Even though the M.O. seems to be the same in terms of a police officer sitting in his patrol car after a routine, so-called traffic stop and being shot.

GIACALONE: Right. I mean, we saw this in Iowa about two weeks ago. Same thing, where they drove up on an officer who was sitting at a traffic light. They shot him at the traffic light. So this is something that I have a feeling that these guys know this is pretty easy to do. And if they want to be able to go out and kill a cop, this is the easiest way. Totally defenseless.

CUOMO: Also just quickly, Joe, the reason for your rationale is you believe that the period between these shootings is what invited the copycat. Somebody hears about one on TV, and they go out and do it, and that's why they're also close. You believe one could have been the catalyst for the other.

GIACALONE: Yes, I think so. I don't think this is a group of people who decided they were going to do this. I just think that they get the idea and say, you know, listen, most people we're dealing with have a mental health issue, and they're watching things that happen on TV or on the Internet, and they get inspired by it.

CUOMO: The fact pattern here that Alisyn is referring to that's so specifically troubling is this hunting, right, right up to the car, right through the window, right next to them at a traffic stop. San Antonio, Texas, that's what happened and took the officer's life. Very brazen. It's not like this was part of a shootout. What does that tell you?

HORACE: Chris, cold, unmitigated execution of police officers is unacceptable. It's not the first time. We've seen it even here in New York City. These officers are defenseless. They're doing their jobs in their cruisers. They don't even have an opportunity to fight back. We teach officers to respond and fight and fight. They're not given that opportunity. And we want to find out who's responsible.

CAMEROTA: Joe, even if these are not connected in terms of some sort of coordination, do you think it says something about the climate out there and that things have gotten more dangerous for police officers?

GIACALONE: Well, absolutely. But a lot of people tell you that the statistics don't show that. But we're up triple the amount of numbers of ambush killings over the last two years combined. CAMEROTA: Is that right? Because I think we just saw more police

officers have already been shot this year than last year. But you think that it's even more than that.

GIACALONE: On the ambush...

CUOMO: He's saying ambush. This hunting of officers.

GIACALONE: I understand. Officers dying by gunfire this year is u or 70 percent compared to last year. That's a verifiable statistic. So that's something to be really concerned about.

CAMEROTA: So what's going on?

GIACALONE: Well, we have more access to guns. There are a lot more guns out there. There has been a nationwide talk about policing and how they get -- how it gets done. And I think a lot of people within communities of -- that feel that they've been oppressed, communities of color. And I think that they have, you know, acted out in certain aspects.

[06:05:12] Now, we've had the white survivalists. We've had the black militants. We've had -- you know, so it's been a variety of things that we have to look at, because the last number of officers have been done by the sovereign citizens, white nationalists.

CAMEROTA: So it's not just communities of color. I mean, you think that that...

GIACALONE: No, no, no. Definitely not.

CAMEROTA: I just want to clarify what you're saying. Not that communities of color, it's a wide swath across the country.

GIACALONE: Correct. I mean, this is something that we have to be concerned about.

CUOMO: Matthew.

HORACE: I think that enough question is out there. That whole "coptics," the whole optics of policing right now. When people see what's happening, no matter what the color, no matter what the gender, people get excited. And when you factor in mental health and those sort of issues, it gives people that opportunity to say, "Let me go do something."

CUOMO: Like what we saw here in New York with two officers. One guy -- guy was certainly deranged. What his diagnosis is remains to be seen.

What do you do about this? Is there a way -- there's a lot of talk in policing about buddying up, again. Not having -- but if somebody comes up and ambushes the car, you're really just creating a second victim scenario by having someone in the cruiser. What can you do in a situation like that? HORACE: Well, you know, in departments all the across the country

today, as always, they're telling their officers to be more vigilant, pay closer attention to everyone.

But you know, Chris, it presents a very interesting dichotomy. We want officers to pay closer attention, be more engaging to the public. We want officers to get out and speak to people and be that friendly person. But then you have situations like this, where someone pulls a car up to a police officer and shoots them in the head.

And people want to know why officers are on edge all the time or so much of the time. This is why. And it's very difficult to put that badge and gun on every single day and go out and do that job, knowing that things like this can and do happen.

CUOMO: People are surprised to hear, whether it's you guys or all my friends on the job say the same thing. That their goal every day is to go home.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. Matthew, Joe, thank you. As things develop during the course of the program, we'll bring you back with more detail. Thanks so much.

Well, to politics, President-elect Donald Trump set to announce new cabinet picks as early as today. The normally private vetting of cabinet hopefuls turning into a very public event. As Trump intensifies his Twitter feud with the cast of the Broadway show "Hamilton" and "Saturday Night Live." CNN's Jason Carroll is live outside of Trump Tower with more.

Hi, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.

A very chilly Trump Tower out here today, Alisyn. Another full day of meetings scheduled today. One of those scheduled to show up here at Trump Tower a little later. Former Texas governor and former "Dancing with the Stars" contestant Rick Perry. Over the weekend, more back- to-back meetings as Trump struggles and tries to put together his cabinet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): President-elect Donald Trump interviewing potential cabinet picks but has not yet made a decision on who will be secretary of state.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've made a couple of deals, but we'll let you know soon.

CARROLL: Meeting with one of his top adversaries, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, about possibly joining his administration.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was not only a cordial meeting but also was a very substantive meeting. Governor Romney is under active and serious consideration to serve as secretary of state of the United States.

CARROLL: The two men frequently sparring during Trump's campaign.

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump is a phony.

TRUMP: Romney choked like a dog. He choked.

CARROLL: A steady stream of possible cabinet picks in front of the cameras throughout the weekend, including loyalists like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Trump repeatedly praising retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, the leading candidate for secretary of defense.

TRUMP: All I can say is he is the real deal.

CARROLL: Mattis, widely respected throughout the military, could be the first former ranking general to become defense secretary in nearly 70 years.

Trump also considering billionaire investor Wilbur Ross for commerce secretary. Ross, the type of administration official Trump pledged to appoint throughout his campaign, a businessman with a history of resurrecting dying companies who has billions in the bank.

But in the middle of assembling his new team, Trump making his grievances to Twitter. This time, criticizing the cast of the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton" for this message delivered to Vice- President-elect Mike Pence Friday night at the end of their performance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us. All of us.

CARROLL: In a series of tweets Trump says Mike Pence was harassed and that the cast was very "very rude." Trump insisting they should apologize for their, quote, "terrible behavior."

PENCE: I wasn't offended by what was said. I'll leave to others whether that was the appropriate venue to say it.

CARROLL: But Trump would not let it go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump, are you still upset about "Hamilton"?

[06:10:00] TRUMP: They were very inappropriate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: So as Trump continues to put together his cabinet, two people who will not be moving to Washington, D.C., at least not yet, Melania and their son, 10-year-old son, Barron. And that's because, Chris, what they want to do is they want him to be able to finish school here in New York City first -- Chris. CUOMO: Jason, don't say that too loud. All those morning commuters

behind you are going to hear that that Fifth Avenue area is going to be locked up for a while. They're not going to like it. And if you say it, say it on the run.

All right. So President-elect Donald Trump did promise to bring the best people into government. Is he? We're going to dig deeper into his shortlist, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: President-elect Donald Trump's administration is starting to take shape. So who will Trump name to his key cabinet posts this week? Let's discuss with CNN's senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein and CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich. Great to see both of you.

I heard your knowing murmur there, Ron. So where do we think we are with Mitt Romney?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, it's very interesting, because if you think back to the campaign, the biggest, most systematic breach between Donald Trump and the Republican establishment was in foreign policy. You had these two extraordinary letters with dozens of former top policy officials saying they do not consider him to be qualified to be president. He'd be -- they thought he was too reckless to be president.

Appointing Michael Flynn as national security adviser does very little to heal that breach. Right? And I think many of the kind of...

CUOMO: Why, by the way?

BROWNSTEIN: What's that?

CUOMO: Why?

BROWNSTEIN: Because they view him as someone who is kind of out of the mainstream, as well. And brilliant maybe, but erratic, as well.

CAMEROTA: And he's said incendiary things about Islam.

BROWNSTEIN: Exactly. Exactly.

So appointing Mitt Romney, if he could, in fact, find a way to get to Mitt Romney as secretary of state, could be his best opportunity to build a bridge back into the existing Republican foreign policy infrastructure. I think Rudy Giuliani would be seen, much like Michael Flynn if he's secretary of state.

Now, there are obviously lots of issues to get over, not only the personal issues in the way that Trump and Romney criticized each other, but as we were talking about before, what was Mitt Romney's principle foreign policy critique as a presidential candidate that President Obama was too soft on Russia. So there's a lot to work through. But you can see the benefits that

Donald Trump would see in this.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN ANALYST: And action was vindicated from that. He says that Russia was the greatest geopolitical threat, and lo and behold, that happened.

So he does have something to stand on. I think the question is not if Mitt Romney will take this. When I talked to Romney folks, he -- they say he's got a strong sense of duty. He likely would take this. This is Trump would offer it. So is this a head fake or is this actually real. Is this getting advice or this is a job interview? Pence says a job interview, but at the end of the day loyalty...

CUOMO: Loyalty is his primary commodity. How do you trust a guy who you think thinks that you are completely unqualified and that is the highest praise that Romney would give Trump, is that he's just unqualified. He actually said a lot more about his character. If loyalty is his thing, how do you put a guy there who you're just waiting to turn against you?

KUCINICH: Well, that's the question. And not only that, there's a lot of tape. Mitt Romney didn't say that in private. He said it in public many, many, many times. Trump is not known for letting things go. Water under the bridge.

BROWNSTEIN: I don't think there's a previous nominee of the party who has said the kind of things that Mitt Romney did about...

CAMEROTA: But then why meet with him? Why meet with him?

BROWNSTEIN: Because I think he does, so far, what he has appointed has kind of reinforced, you know, candidates govern the way they ran. I mean, that is -- the academic research is very clear. But so far Trump has spoken to his slice of the party and the appointment of Jeff Sessions, for example, as attorney general. Mitt Romney, even meeting with Mitt Romney, I think, is seen as a gesture toward reaching out to the broader Republican coalition. But let's see if he can get over all these hurdles.

He said that he was going to bring the best people in from government, from the private sector. And the reality seems to be, Ron, that people aren't banging down the door to work in this administration. Isn't that part of it? How you wind up with a Jeff Sessions? Yes? He's loyal.

But if a man was denied a judgeship in 1986 because of what was believed about how he talked about the KKK and the NAACP and, you know -- I know it's 30 years ago. But we're talking about somebody's fiber as a human being not just a clumsy slip of the tongue. Is he getting the best of the best?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I said I think in the foreign policy world in particular, there's enormous ambivalence we saw about whether or not to join the administration. We saw the op-ed last week from L.A. Cohen (ph), the former top official in the Bush administration which was extraordinary. Basically saying I advise you not to do this, not to join this administration. Ultimately, you will regret it.

I think on the economic side, I think where much of his agenda, at least on the domestic side in terms of rolling back regulation and cutting taxes, I think it's not going to be as difficult for him, because he's more in tune with conventional Republican thinking.

But I think on a lot of the foreign policy side and the trade side, he is going to have to go outside of the mainstream of the Republican Party because he is, basically, you know, advancing a view that is a challenge to what has been the mainstream.

And with Jeff Sessions, look, Donald Trump has a lot of freedom in this, because he had fewer elected officials supporting him than just about any nominee ever. He doesn't have that many chits he has to -- checks he has to cash, because there weren't that many people there who were there shoulder to shoulder with him.

KUCINICH: But he has to get them through a confirmation hearing.

BROWNSTEIN: There's also that.

KUCINICH: And that is also an issue that could be an issue for Rudy Giuliani. That could be an issue for John Bolton. Rand Paul said this weekend that he -- it's not a lock for those -- those two nominees.

CUOMO: You think Sessions gets through, though, because this is so old and people have known him since or no?

KUCINICH: He's definitely going to be questioned about this. I would expect him to have a very contentious confirmation hearing. That said, you aren't hearing the same opposition and saying, "I'm going to block this person" like you hear from the others.

CUOMO: Rudy's issue is, allegedly, that he's got a lot of foreign business interests and how would that dovetail. But the distraction to that will be Trump's own conflicts. Why did he allow it, at least, to get out that he was meeting with Indian businessmen about their future plans for Trump? You know, that's a real-time conflict he has.

BROWNSTEIN: I think that came from the other end. I don't think the Trump team was promoting that. You know, I think it was the Indian business leaders.

Look, yes, do the thought experiment here. If several of the things that have happened just since the election, if Hillary Clinton had won and was meeting with big donors to the Clinton Foundation, or if Chelsea Clinton was sitting in on a meeting. Chelsea Clinton as the potential leader of the foundation was sitting in on a meeting with a foreign leader, what would we be hearing from Jason Chaffetz right now on this show? What would Jason Chaffetz be saying right now?

CAMEROTA: Right.

[06:20:19] BROWNSTEIN: And the initial instinct of the Republicans in Congress will be to kind of rally around their nominee and not to question him too hard on these issues. You can make an argument that is not necessarily in his long-term interest, because these are now kind of early kind of little foot falls.

But if this kind of goes in this direction as president, you could get in a lot more trouble than we are seeing right now. And it's an open question whether not challenging some of these pushing of the norms at the outset will serve the president in the long run.

Look, the White House counsel is going to have a very challenging job in this administration.

CAMEROTA: But you think that you will, at some point, hear, if this continues apace, you would hear from a Jason Chaffetz or other...?

BROWNSTEIN: No, no. Look, what I said -- what I said, what will stop -- you know, the problem is the challenge is they are -- they are clearly, you know, first of all, an unusual situation. We haven't had a president with these kinds of business interests.

Second, we don't know the full extent of them, because they did not reveal his tax returns. We didn't know as much as we might about where the conflicts might arise.

And, third, you have this potential very unusual situation with his family running the business, rather than a blind trust. All I'm saying is...

KUCINICH: He doesn't need to have a blind trust. There's no rule that says he has to have a blind trust. That is not -- he was exempted. Congress exempted presidents.

BROWNSTEIN: All I'm saying is that if you -- if no one, if no one inside the Congress or the administration challenges it, the odds are high that they will get in a much stickier situation somewhere down the road than these initial ones.

So you can make a case that kind of raising yellow flags now would, in fact, would, in fact, be in the interest of the president-elect and that this idea of kind of protecting him really is counterproductive in the long run.

CUOMO: What does it say to you that he's not playing it more safe? As I've been saying, you know, the blind trust is a complicated issue. I don't know how you do it when his family are involved in running the business.

The whole idea of a blind trust really only works for securities. You know, you have stock in a particular company. You put it into this trust. It's gone. You don't know how your guys are investing that money. So it's kind of blind. Here, it's going to be his family. It's never going to go away.

But meeting about these Indian officials about an ongoing business concern. Encouraging foreign diplomats to stay at his own hotel. Why is he being so obvious about this? You think he's just thumbing his nose and saying, "This is who I am. This is how I got elected"? KUCINICH: Donald Trump is someone that has rewritten the rules

throughout this process. And it seems like he's intent on continuing to rewrite the rules.

That said, you still have Mike Pence. You still have Reince Priebus saying this weekend that he is going to establish a blind trust. Mike Pence said -- Reince Priebus said the White House counsel is going to be very busy, is going to vet all of this. So, we don't know how far he's going to push this. And it's going to be very -- it's going to be very important to hold them accountable if these things continue to happen.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. We have to leave it there, Ron. Thank you very much.

Jackie, thank you.

CUOMO: All right. So coming up on NEW DAY, we do have some more insight into these questions. We have senior adviser to the president-elect Kellyanne Conway in the 7 a.m. hour.

CAMEROTA: There's a standoff between protesters and police over the Dakota Access Pipeline, and it is turning violent. We have a live update for you next on NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:30] CAMEROTA: We have some breaking news for you right now. Hundreds of protests and police fight of the proposed Dakota Pipeline. Officers -- protestors say that officers are using tear gas and water canyons in freezing temperatures as demonstrators set fire to cars and parts of a bridge.

CNN's Paul Vercammen has all of the breaking details -- Paul.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, ongoing riot is the term they used at one point to Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The sheriff's deputies called the demonstrators very aggressive as they try to cross police lines on a bridge and go north on a freeway.

Protesters reportedly set several fires, and then authorities responded with water cannons on both the fires and the demonstrators. On social media the Standing Rock medic and healers' counsel called for an immediate stop to use of the water cannons in these very cold, 20-degree temperatures saying that hypothermia could lead to loss of life.

So far there has been one arrest during this clash with police. This, of course, the latest incident in a series of them along the pipeline, which will stretch from western North Dakota down to Illinois.

Back to you now, Chris.

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

First responders are calling the past six days the deadliest week that Syria has seen since the start of the civil war five years ago. You've got renewed airstrikes now that have killed more than 300 people, destroying all hospitals in eastern Aleppo.

The U.N. ready to roll out a new plan to help the hurting Syrian people.

We have CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, who is in Amman, Jordan with the latest. What's the serious situation on the ground there. What can you tell us?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, is the past hour or so, activists in eastern Aleppo are reporting renewed attacks on several neighborhood of eastern Aleppo. They say there are casualties and this coming after this devastating week of violence, as you mentioned.

Hundreds of people killed and wounded as these besieged neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo have been pounded by hundreds of airstrikes. We've seen barrel bombs, those indiscriminate barrel bombs being dropped by helicopters on civilian neighborhoods and really intense artillery shelling.

At least four hospitals have been hit. Those include eastern Aleppo only pediatric hospital and two trauma hospitals. And this really leaves eastern Aleppo with very little medical care by all accounts.

We have seen schools on both sides of the front line also being bombed.