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New Day

Search for Survivors of Oakland Warehouse Fire Continues; Donald Trump Tweets Criticism of China. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 05, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": In the Austrian case the guy, the right wing populist running, this is a party founded by essentially former Nazis. So it may have been one step too far. He lost, but he lost narrowly. I don't think it changes the fact that you have a wave of right wing anti-establishment populism running throughout the western world. It is largely, as I point out in that article, largely response to migration, because, you know, if you look again at economics, Sweden is doing very well, Germany is doing very well. They still have right wing populist movements. The core here is everywhere you see right wing populism, you see migration and migration of people who look very different.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Same things we heard in France and in Belgium you're now hearing in Italy. What does it mean to be Italian again? Who are we?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right, understood. Fareed, thanks so much.

ZAKARIA: Pleasure.

CAMEROTA: Always great to talk to you.

We're following a lot of news this morning, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could just see the flames coming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the most deadly fire in Oakland's history.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The reality, I think, for all of us is beginning to set in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire is getting too hot. The smoke is getting too bad and I wasn't able to get him out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there was an express way to cause a diplomatic uproar with China this would be the way to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a moment of courtesy, not a discussion about policy.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The secretary of state is incredibly important position.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this right to make false statements, to express his opinion?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This fake news story triggered an actual armed confrontation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. Up first, at least 33 people are dead, dozens are still missing in this massive warehouse party fire in Oakland, California. And the worst news is that number is not the end tally. It's expected to climb higher. Investigators aren't even through half the building yet. There's a lot of heavy and labored debris, and there are a lot of people still missing.

CAMEROTA: There are also criminal investigators at the scene looking for the cause of this inferno. Families and friends of those still missing of course are enduring this agonizing wait for answers. This is the deadliest building fire in the U.S. in more than a decade.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is live in Oakland with the very latest. Tell us what makes this so painstaking, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So painstaking, and, Alisyn, I just spoke to the Oakland fire battalion chief, and she told me that they do believe that they isolated the origin of this fire, but around 10:00 p.m. local time they had to pull out everyone inside the building because they were afraid that the building might collapse more. So they are working to shore up the building to make it safer. She did tell me, though, that they plan to get back in there today to continue these recovery efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: Officials launching a criminal investigation team and an arson taskforce to inspect the deadly fire that engulfed this Oakland warehouse hosting a party over the weekend.

ANNEKA HIATT, FRIENDS MISSING AFTER FIRE: It just doesn't seem that that's a fire that's survivable. So the reality I think for all of us is beginning to set in.

ELAM: Of the confirmed dead a teenager and an Oakland deputy's son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This tragedy has hit very close to home.

ELAM: But with less than half of the two-story warehouse searched, authorities fear the worst.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We anticipate that the number of victims will rise.

ELAM: Officials say firefighters with shovels are methodically removing debris bucket by bucket.

LIBBY SCHAAF, OAKLAND MAYOR: Our first priority is the humane and compassionate removal of the victims of this tragedy.

ELAM: The warehouse, known as "the ghost ship" was an illegal residence home to some artists now currently under investigation for city code violations for hazardous trash and debris and an illegal interior building structure. Friday night's electric dance party, one of many held in the space, operating without a permit when the building quickly erupted in flames.

BOB MULE, WAREHOUSE FIRE SURVIVOR: I broke my ankle. I need you to pull me out.

ELAM: One survivor, an artist, who used the space, describes the horrifying moment he had to leave his friend behind.

MULE: I wasn't able to just like pull him out, and the fire was just getting too hot, and the smoke was just getting too bad, and I had to -- I had to -- I had to leave him there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: It's horrible for those who made it out. And of course, the families and friends of those who did not, this is just beginning.

Joining us now is Oakland city council member Noel Gallo and Josette Melchor who knows six people that are still missing from Friday's fire. I know this this is not a conversation you want to be having right now. But it is important to keep attention on this situation until everybody is found who can be, and we understand why this happened. Councilmember, let's start with what you know about the status of the search. How much of the building have you been told has been gone through?

[08:05:03] NOEL GALLO, OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Yes, absolutely. The fire department and those involved in the rescue efforts, or at least trying to do the investigation, have kept us informed. And right now, you know, there's a concern regarding safety of building, so we are taking other actions to make sure that our firefighters are safe.

But I do want to first of all express my condolences to the families, and my prayers, and do give my appreciation to all those that have come forth in Oakland and California to provide support to the families.

CUOMO: And that's appreciated by many, I'm sure. Jossette, tell us about those who you know who are missing. Were they there just for a party, or are they some of these people that we're told were kind of living in the warehouse?

JOSETTE MELCHOR, KNOWS SIX PEOPLE MISSING AFTER FIRE: I don't know anyone that was actually living there. I'm more associated with the producers and the community surrounding the event, the art and technology community that supports this important ecosystem that exists. We are missing a female musician that is one of the only women that's using technology and electronic music to create her work. We are missing Chelsea Faith (ph). We are missing Garrett (ph) Clark (ph), our sound engineer at gray area.

We are missing so many important people in terms of the community, and I'm here to support a fundraiser that we launched, a crowd funding campaign at Youcaring.com/Oaklandfirefund. And I am here as a beacon for my community and as a community organizer and a leader to try to be a foundation as an organization to sport the community's existence and survival as we go through this together.

CUOMO: Josette were they there? Did they produce the show that was going on that night? Were they just there hanging out and enjoying it? Just give us a little bit of the background so we understand a little bit of what has happened here.

MELCHOR: In San Francisco we're desperate for venues that can support this type of intersection of experimental music and art, and they were there to support the community that surrounds this type of music. These are engineers that support the backbone of theaters and venues all across San Francisco, all across the Bay Area. These are professional engineers, artists, and technologists, producers. They were there, my friends were there to support the community and be there for each other to support this. This is a close-knit community. I can't express how important and how close-knit everyone was.

CUOMO: Noel there's no question that right now the focus has to be on friending Josette's friends and all these family members who are still desperate for answers, no question. And yet, as you know, it cannot provide that big a distraction from finding out why that building went up the way it did. Why the occupancy levels weren't understood, supposedly there've been problems there before. "The San Francisco Chronicle" reporting about people living there. Very often people are forced into situations creatively and in term of their own existence, and it's the job of government to make sure that it's a safe situation. What do you know about what was going on inside this building?

GALLO: You know it's absolutely right. It's our responsibility. We have many commercial buildings along these corridors where many of our young people with their college degrees that are coming to Oakland. They want to make their living, raise their families, and start their job experience. And certainly there are -- we need to make sure that one is the property owner. It is the property owner's responsibility to make sure that they have a fire code permit, that they have a building permit, and that they also have a public safety permit.

And when it comes to any activity where you invite the public to celebrate, and so forth, then you need to have an assembly permit that's provided by the police so they can make sure that it's safe for everybody.

We're not in -- we're going to take an action here in Oakland to make sure that we enhance the number of code enforcement, as well as the fire marshals to sure that our artists, that our residents, whether you're in a home or you're in an apartment complex or you're in a warehouse type setting that you are safe.

And so my -- my message to everyone is to make sure you look around you, where you live, and certainly we have a great deal of change in Oakland in terms of investments from outside of the country coming in and buying these properties. We want to make sure that our children and families and all those coming to enjoy Oakland are safe.

CUOMO: But, Josette, what you're speaking to is that this place, the ghost ship, was a happening as much as it was a building. You had people going in there who were making their own furniture, who were staying there for extended periods, were coming there, young ages, teens, as well as 20s and 30s, to kind of come together. There was something going on in this warehouse that was bigger than just a party, right?

[08:10:07] GALLO: Right.

CUOMO: Noel, I --

GALLO: I know and I know the manager as well as the owner of the property. And we've had a good number of conversations regarding the upkeep of the facility on the street level, sidewalk level, as well as on the inside.

CUOMO: Right.

MELCHOR: I think there's a middle ground here in terms of regulations and in terms of education for the general community. I think there's something that can be done. As someone that has managed several commercial venues and operates an 800 person theater in San Francisco called the Grand Theater, I know and I know so many of my community members that had they known lighted fire exit signs, or only 49 people up on the second floor, or these sorts of just little things that you can know and we can train people on, I think this is the key thing that I'm learning and that I hope to work with city officials on. And I hope that my community will support this, because we don't want more people to be displaced from their homes in the housing crisis that already exists today in the Bay Area.

CUOMO: You've got a robust community out there that's only getting stronger, young people are seeking out that part of the country for their creative existence. They've got to have safe places to go. We'll be watching this very carefully to make sure that the respect is paid to those whose lives were lost and those who are still missing, and that hopefully things change for the better in the future. Josette, I know this is not a conversation that you want to be having right now, but we want to give full respect to the situation in all its different facets. Noel, thank you to you, as well. We remain an outlet for information on this story now and into the future.

GALLO: Thank you.

CUOMO: The both to both of you.

MELCHOR: Thank you.

CUOMO: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Turning to politics now, president-elect Donald Trump naming Dr. Ben Carson as his pick for secretary of housing and urban developments. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump blasting China in a series of new tweets, breaking decades of diplomatic protocol by speaking with Taiwan's president. CNN's Jessica Schneider is live outside of Trump Tower in New York with more. What's the latest, Jessica?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, we were told that this would be a quiet weekend for the president-elect. But if you count Twitter, it was anything but. Donald Trump taking to social media to slam China, calling it a currency manipulator, putting American businesses at an unfair advantage -- I'm sorry, putting China at an unfair advantage over American businesses.

But the foreign ministry of China says that it will refuse to speculate on Donald Trump's actions. All of this coming as uncertainty mounts as to exactly what Donald Trump's position on China will be.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: The president-elect lashing out at China, only two days after his unprecedented phone call with the leader of Taiwan. Donald Trump accusing China of keeping its currency artificially low -- monetary experts say it's fairly valued -- and decrying their military presence in the South China Sea. Trump stepping up some of the tough talk from the campaign trail.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT: They've taken our money and our jobs, our manufacturing. They've taken everything.

China is responsible for nearly half of our entire trade deficit.

SCHNEIDER: But the timing of his tweets indicates those campaign promises could potentially become policy. Over the weekend, China launching a formal complaint about Trump's call with Taiwan's president.

MIKE PENCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT ELECT: That was nothing more than taking a courtesy call, a congratulations.

SCHNEIDER: But "The Washington Post" reports that the call had been planned for weeks. Experts warn the call carried major diplomatic risks, citing the U.S.' one China policy which considers Taiwan to be a part of China. This is the first known communication between the U.S. and Taiwan since 1979. Trump also taking to Twitter this weekend to threaten any business that leaves our country, warning of a whopping 35 percent tax on products shipped back into the country as, quote, "retribution." Trump tweeting he would keep jobs in the country by lowering taxes for companies and slashing regulations.

All this playing out as the president-elect is widening his list of contenders to be secretary of state, a process starting to look more like a reality show.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP SENIOR ADVISER: That position with other candidates for secretary of state and other cabinet positions.

SCHNEIDER: Former Republican of Utah Jon Huntsman, President Barack Obama's first ambassador to China, now in the running, and disgraced former general David Petraeus making a public case for the top post.

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS (RET), FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Five years ago I made a serious mistake. I acknowledged it. I apologized for it.

SCHNEIDER: Arguing that his guilty plea for revealing classified information to his former mistress should not disqualify him from serving as secretary of state.

PETRAEUS: I paid a very heavy price for it. And I've learned from it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: So the intrigue continues to swirl over that top post of secretary of state. Top adviser Kellyanne Conway saying that interviews will continue throughout this week as to that position. But Conway also saying that it's a position that demands loyalty to the president, to President-elect Donald Trump. Could that potentially be another slam or a jab with at one of the leading contenders at least over the past week or so Mitt Romney. We shall continue to wait and see -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We will and that's why they love drawing ought the process, Jessica, because the media just eats it up. What a beautiful distraction they've concocted for all of us.

All right, so let's take a quick break. A D.C. pizza shop caught in the middle of a conspiracy theory also known as a lie and how a fake and baseless idea called a conspiracy theory brought a real gunman to their door, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: So this really happened, a suspect, armed with an assault rifle, was arrested in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, after opening fire inside a pizzeria. They weren't there to steal. The guy wasn't there because he had a grudge. Police say the North Carolina man went to the restaurant because he was trying to self-investigate an anti- Hillary Clinton conspiracy theory.

CNN's Joe Johns is live outside the pizza shop. Thank God everybody's OK, and sure they may find out that this guy had some kind of an emotional or mental problem, but this goes to something larger that you and I deal with all the time, Joe, the straight up b.s. on the internet that people choose to believe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Chris, that's absolutely right. This guy's name is Edgar Madison Welch. A mid-20s, from Salisbury, North Carolina, and police say he came here over the weekend with a rifle in his hand, apparently fired that rifle. At least think they he did. No one was hurt because people saw the gun and started running. [08:20:12]Police took him into custody and then they sat down with him and talked to him and what he said was that he came here to self- investigate the online conspiracy theory known as "pizzagate."

This is a story that's been around for weeks and weeks, alleging that there was a child sex ring running out of this restaurant, somehow involving Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager, John Podesta.

The restaurant has been dealing with this issue for weeks. The restaurant owner put out a statement that said, in part, what happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences.

I hope those involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today and stop promoting these falsehoods. Certainly have been dealing with this for weeks, and at this stage, very hard to say whether some sunlight on this issue is going to help or hurt putting the issue to rest, at least in the short term. Back to you, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're going to try to shine some sunlight on it, Joe. Thanks so much for all the background. Let's get reaction to this as well as the latest cabinet pick, with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a senior adviser for the Trump transition team. Good morning, Sarah.

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, SENIOR ADVISER FOR PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD J. TRUMP: Good morning. Great to be with you.

CAMEROTA: So this is a terrible situation in Washington, D.C. where this guy fell for fake news, I mean, just the most outlandish, outrageous conspiracy theory. What can be done? What can the president-elect do to try to quell this stuff rather than generate it?

SANDERS: Look, this is certainly not something the president-elect condones, and certainly not something he supports. I want to be very clear about that. I don't think I know anybody that supports pushing fake news. I think this is a terrible situation and hopefully one that can be remedied.

One of the biggest fake news stories o of this cycle, though, that I've seen was the media constantly telling everybody that Donald Trump was going to lose and lose badly.

You know I think that was a big problem throughout this process and one that I hope we don't take part in in the next election cycle.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

SANDERS: I think we need to find every way we can to move away from fake news, whether that's in -- on mainstream media, or on social media, in every market we need to look at ways to bring that down.

CAMEROTA: We couldn't agree with you more. Fake news is a scourge and we are trying to bat it away whenever we see it. There was a miscalculation certainly by pollsters during this election. And as you know, we're all soul searching and talking about it.

So that's different than what the fake news sites do which is they don't admit there was any problem with what they did and they never take responsibility. And you say that the president-elect is trying to stomp it out.

That's not what his national security -- his national security adviser fell for it and in fact tweeted this out. Let me read some of that. General Flynn, this is one of his tweets, "You decide, New York NYPD blows whistle on new Hillary e-mails, money laundering, sex crimes with children, et cetera. Must read."

He's linking to a fake news site there. Here's another one of his, #spiritcooking with #neverhillary, drain the swamp, NYPD ready to make arrests in Weiner case. Not true." Why is General Flynn putting those out?

SANDERS: Look, I don't think General Flynn's purpose is to try to push fake news. He must have thought that there was some validity there. What I do know about General Flynn is he's an American hero who has served with honor and distinction and put his life on the line for our country.

And I think we owe him some respect and maybe a little bit of grace in that. But certainly I think he's going to make a fantastic addition to the Trump White House.

And again, he's an American hero, and somebody who I know has gone out there and put his life on the line for our country, and somebody that I think deserves a great deal of respect and hopefully he'll look into some of these stories before pushing them out the next time.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, that would be nice. Obviously we -- we are grateful for his service to the country, but this ended up in a violent situation. I mean, it -- it does take a level of gullibility to think that there is a pizza parlor in downtown Washington, D.C. that is popular that is operating a child sex trafficking ring that no one else knows about, no one's talking about, other than this weird fringe news site.

SANDERS: I certainly don't think that we can put the actions of what seems to be maybe a crazed individual on that of General Flynn about trying to make matters into his own hands. One thing I can assure you is that General Flynn is a man that follows the letter of the law, and certainly wouldn't encourage anybody to take that law into their own hands and try to go in and self-investigated as this person has claimed to do.

[08:25:05]Look, again, I think that he is a man of great honor and distinction, and is going to serve the president-elect very well in the White House.

CAMEROTA: And as the head of the Trump transition team, will you talk to him about not tweeting erroneous fake news stories?

SANDERS: I'll see if I can pass that message along, certainly will. CAMEROTA: I mean, it's important. You know. Look, I mean, I know that on some level it's absurd and funny but it did end up in violence you know we have to sort of crackdown on this.

SANDERS: I don't disagree with you at all that we need to stop fake news. But again, I think that -- that lies a lot on main stream media, as well as all media outlets to further investigate. I've seen quite a few things put out from mainstream media that strictly aren't true particularly in this election cycle. Some of the most outrageous things that the way that Trump rallies were characterized. The way trump supporters were characterized.

That's some of the worst fake news I've seen in this cycle and certainly think it incited real violence versus this which was thankfully caught and stopped before any violence took place.

But I think there's a lot of pressure that lies with you guys to really thoroughly investigate and make sure that the stories you're pushing are off of very valid and not inciting things that simply aren't there and aren't true.

CAMEROTA: We fight the good fight every day here to try to get to these primary source and figure out what is truth. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, thanks so much for coming on with your perspective on all of this.

SANDERS: You bet. Thanks so much for having me.

CAMEROTA: Chris.

CUOMO: You got to question the desire to get fake news, which is also known as b.s., I really hate that label, when at the same time you distinguish people who put that stuff out versus mainstream media. Like it's either/or. Please.

Anyway there was a monumental victory for opponents of the Dakota access pipeline. Up next, Van Jones is going to explain why he thinks that standing rock is comparable to the civil rights movement and is far from over, next.

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