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Malta PM: Potentially Hijacked Plane Lands in Country; Official: Israel Asked Trump for Help on United Nations Vote; Mother Arrested After Calling Fort Worth Police for Help; Berlin Market Attack Suspect Killed in Shootout. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 23, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We are staying on top of this because there are other arrests and concerns at how broad this network was.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And we have more breaking news at this hour. This out of Malta where there are reports of a hijacked plane landing.

Let's get the latest from CNN foreign correspondent Ian Lee with all the details.

What have you learned, Ian?

IAN LEE, CNN FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

What we are hearing comes directly from the prime minister. He tweeted out that a plane has been hijacked and I spoke with the communications officer at the foreign affairs in Malta, and he was able to confirm to me that the plane was on the ground. This happened about an hour ago.

This flight was an internal Libyan flight that was hijacked and diverted to Malta. No word on how many people are onboard and have hijacked, although we're hearing from local media reports that there are 118 people onboard this flight. Security personnel are at the scene right now.

The prime minister is having an emergency meeting to discuss these ongoing developments. But, still, very much early in this situation.

CUOMO: As far as we know right now, the hijackers are still on the plane. This is an active situation.

LEE: That's correct. From what we're hearing is that they're on the plane. Local media is reporting that they're making some demands, but we haven't been able to independently verify that ourselves.

Still very much a fluid situation as this has just happened in the last hour. This Afriqiyah Airliner going from an internal Libyan flight being diverted to Malta, at the Malta International Airport. All flights there arriving in Malta are also being diverted away. CUOMO: All right. Ian, thank you very much. Please stay on it for

us.

President-elect Donald Trump jumping into Israeli/Palestinian politics before he takes office. Another tweet, how about this one. Did it go too far? Did he mean it the way it came across? What will its impact be abroad? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: OK. We need to talk about more fallout from Mr. Trump's tweets. This one about Israel.

So, let's bring back our panel to discuss. We have Josh Rogin, Jackie Kucinich, and former ambassador Nicholas Burns.

So, there was going to be a U.N. resolution. Egypt wanted a U.N. resolution to end a settlement activity in Israel. Egypt wanted it to be sort of deemed, you know, illegal and the U.N. was going to move forward. And then Israel, as we understand it, reached out to Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump weighed in.

Let me read to you the statement that he tweeted. This was via Facebook. So, yet another medium.

He said, "As the United States has long maintained peace between the Israelis and Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations. This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and extremely unfair to all Israelis."

Ambassador, again, what, what does this mean that the president-elect is weighing in on, you know, geopolitics before he's in office?

[06:35:03] NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Well, it is unprecedented. We have a tradition of one president at a time. This resolution was going to be voted upon by the United States. President Obama heads our government. He will until noon on January 20th. So, this is extremely unusual.

Second, it's ill advised. This was a resolution not on negotiations but on settlements. As our former ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, said yesterday, if Trump wanted to veto this resolution, we'd be vetoing 40 years of American policy on settlements. The United States, in Republican and Democratic administrations, going back to the 1960s has been against Israeli settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

So, I think President-elect Trump would be best advised to get his team around them, form their strategy, wait until January 20th. He will be our president and take us down this road or other roads, but he's making life, I think, very difficult for the Obama administration and if you're overseas and if you're Putin or if you're Netanyahu or anybody else, you're hearing two presidential voices. It really is not good for American credibility. CUOMO: Jackie, how big do you think this idea plays in our political

back and forth? Do you think there's a chance it gets dismissed as style points? Oh, he's not waiting until he's actually in. Do you think that's something that would resonate back here at home and do you think the focus will be on the substance, which is Trump has a new policy there and much more pro-settlement, he was personally, he donated on a personal basis, he just put in an ambassador who is very much in favor of this and this is the new policy?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's so much bigger than style points because it isn't just inside the United States. You can't view this through the prism of just being an American because it does have these global repercussions. So, I -- you can't.

What this does. One of the things this does is this sort of completely shatters the politic stops at the waters edge. It's very clear that everything is going to be politicized going forward. Be it, you know, foreign policy, foreign or domestic. So, it is, you know, some new territory that we're cruising into.

CAMEROTA: Josh, before we get to your reporting about what Mr. Trump's team sent to the request, that he sent to the State Department. Do you have thoughts on where he is with Israel?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think a couple things going on here. I think the Obama administration was definitely planning to not veto this resolution and this resolution was different than others. That would have been its own sort of landmark position for the United States, OK? Traditionally, we veto anti-Israel resolutions.

So, the fact that the Obama administration was cooking this up, you know, even though it's a Egyptian resolution, in its last month as a lame duck, that's what people in Israel and the Trump administration were sort of fighting back against, and the way they did it was controversial. But that's what was really going on behind the scenes here.

And going forward what I think we're going to see is the Trump administration and Israeli government are going to be as close as lips and teeth, OK? And that is going to be the dynamic going forward and we have to see whether that actually helps or hurts the situation in the Middle East.

CUOMO: So, what do you know about what was just asked for by the State Department by the Trump transition team and what does it mean?

ROGIN: Yes. So, I reported yesterday in the "Washington Post" that the Trump transition team put out -- had the State Department put out a tasker, a request for every office in the State Department to give them all the information on staffing, funding and programs for gender and women's issues. OK? It was like by 5:00 today send us everything and everyone and whatever you know about everybody working on women stuff around the world. That's a lot of stuff.

Now, it's not clear whether or not that's because they really love women's issues and they want to make it a priority, they're going to go on top of it, or whether or not they plan to drastically cut funding for women's issues, as some Republicans have long sought. But State Department people were freaked out, OK? And they started telling me in large numbers that this stoked fears that the Trump administration is going to go around and find people who worked on these issues and single them out and perhaps get rid of them along with the programs they work on.

CAMEROTA: This is a tough one, Jackie. It's possible to know how to interpret it. Is it a witch hunt where anyone that worked on issue's issues? You're going to be gone. We have other priorities. Or is this Ivanka Trump's influence of, if you worked on women's issues we want to embrace you and hear more about it because we're interested in that? How do we know?

KUCINICH: He won't. He could also be striking at, you know, being a little vindictive and striking at the heart of one of the things that Hillary Clinton worked on as secretary of state. Women's issues were always one of her touchstone issues.

So, but we just don't know. There are so many open questions. And you can -- the Ivanka scenario is much rosier than perhaps what Josh was hearing in his reporting.

[06:40:02] CUOMO: Nick, give us the importance of these programs.

BURNS: Well, I've been in many transitions before. It's normal that any office in the State Department would be asked by the transition team what do you do? What is your budget? What are your priorities? What issues coming up?

So, this could be just bureaucratic. I hope they don't reverse the women's programs because they have been singularly successful and they're important for our society and for people around the world. But it might just be a bureaucratic exercise.

CAMEROTA: Good to know.

Panel, thank you very much. Great to talk to all of you.

We are staying on top of two big breaking stories, at least. The terror suspect has been tracked down and killed in Milan.

Also, there are reports of a hijacked plane that has landed in Malta and we are getting new information from the ground for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Well, the Eagles put the Giants' playoff party on hold playing the spoiler on Thursday night.

Coy Wire has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hi, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn. The Giants could have clinched the playoff spot with the win, but

those Eagles players with a losing record, they were playing for their job security. I've been on teams without a shot of making the playoffs and the last thing you want to be is the guy on video that the front office sees as someone who's not playing hard.

So, the Eagles playing hard against their division rivals in front of their home crowd, too, up there in Philly.

[06:45:02] Manning threw 63 passes in this one. The problem is, three of them interceptions. One for a touchdown and then at the end of the game, they actually had a chance to win it with this one, but, no. It would be picked off, sealing the deal. Philly never trailed in this game. Eagles win 24-19.

Next up, the mascot, the famous Idaho potato bowl getting busy in Boise last night. Check out home fries moves. But this was not a hot potato, 18 degree temperatures creating an ice rink of a football field for Idaho and Colorado State, just watch the carnage. Players slipping and sliding all over the field and the field may have been icy, but both team's offenses on fire in this one.

Final score, 61-50. Idaho stunning Colorado State. Chris, that was the third highest combined score ever in a bowl game.

CUOMO: Wow. Do you think that the score was that high because the traction was so off or do you think it would have been higher if they could have gripped and cut?

WIRE: You have no footing. The offensive players know where they're going to go, but the defensive players, you don't have a chance to follow those guys.

CAMEROTA: That's the first report I ever understood because he put it in food terms.

WIRE: There you go. I'm getting to know you, Alisyn.

CUOMO: Coy, always quick to make defense excuses. All right. Thanks to him. And best of Christmas to you and your family.

All right. So, we're following a lot of breaking news around the world this morning. Up next, shocking video leading to protests. All right, this mom sees her kid get grabbed by the neck by a neighbor. She calls the police and she winds up getting arrested. What? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: So, there's outrage this morning after video surfaces of a white police officer in Texas wrestling a black mother to the ground and arresting her after she called for help. That officer is now on restricted duty and protesters are demanding justice.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is live with more.

What happened, Polo? POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know, Alisyn, that that

cry for justice has only grown louder in the Lone Star State for last 24 hours or so.

Before we roll that video, let me very quickly set it up for you. This north Texas mother earlier this week initially called Fort Worth police, claiming that her neighbor had allegedly choked her 8-year-old son after the child allegedly littered in the streets. Well, police officer, at least one officer did respond and they took a very quick and drastic turn and it was all caught on video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE CRAIG: My son is 7 years old. You don't have the right to grab him, choke him behind no paper that he threw.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Jacqueline Craig heard stating her case to a police officer she called to her community in Ft. Worth, alleging that this man in a blue shirt, a neighbor, choked her young son for supposedly littering on his lawn.

[06:50:09] But the officer's response to charge is not what she expected.

OFFICER: Why don't you teach your son no to litter?

CRAIG: I didn't -- he can't prove to me that my son littered, but it doesn't matter if he did or didn't. It doesn't give him the right to put his hands on him.

OFFICER: Why not?

CRAIG: Because he don't.

OFFICER: What's that?

CRAIG: Because he don't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This man just asked my mama why does this white man not have the --

CRAIG: Why would you ask me -- why don't I teach him -- you don't know what I teach him and whatever you teach your kids don't mean that they go by your rules when they're not in your sight.

OFFICER: Why are you yelling?

CRAIGH: Because you just pissed me off telling what I teach my kids and what I don't.

OFFICER: If you keep yelling at me, you're going to piss me off and you're going to jail.

SANDOVAL: At that moment, Craig's daughter steps in facing her mother, the officer then grabbing Craig's daughter from behind. There is a jump in the video and the next thing you see is Craig on

the ground being arrested. The officer pointing what looks like a taser at witnesses. Another jump in the video and the officer is wrestling Craig's daughter to the ground, arresting the two.

A community is outraged and crowds gathering outside the Ft. Worth courthouse Thursday night.

Craig's attorney telling CNN he and his client believes race played a role in the incident.

CRAIG'S LAWYER: The officer came to that scene and he saw a white man and a black woman and he made up his mind before really asking any real questions that the white man was not going to be guilty of anything and that he was going to find a reason to be upset with the complaining witness, the black mother.

SANDOVAL: Ft. Worth Police Department saying in a statement, "We acknowledge that the initial appearance in the video may raise serious questions. We ask that our investigators are give on the time and opportunity to thoroughly examine this incident and to submit their findings."

The officer is now on restrictive duty as the department's internal affairs unit investigates the case.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Jacqueline Craig did speak to CNN, simply saying at this point she is not up to speaking on what took place on that street earlier this week, at least not for now. But we also reached out to Ft. Worth police who say an initial report was taken that the neighbor allegedly assaulted that child. No arrests have been filed, no charges quite here, Chris.

What is important to keep in mind, though, that officer was supposed to wearing one of the body cameras and investigators now poring over that footage to see what, if anything, went wrong there.

CUOMO: All right. Polo, thank you very much. Appreciate the reporting.

Let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst and retired NYPDT detective Harry Houck, and former prosecutor and civil rights attorney, Charles Coleman Jr.

Just to review, gentlemen, first, thank you for being here. Merry Christmas to all your families.

But, very simple fact pattern, OK? The kid does something involving the neighbor's lawn -- littering, throwing a piece of paper, nothing, who knows? But did something, aggravates the neighbor, then he grabs the kid, the mother gets upset, calls 911, the cops come -- and then let's play the piece of video that only shows the interaction between the cop and the mom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG: We have been living here for years. So, you know that my (INAUDIBLE), you could have came to me. Don't put your hands on my son.

OFFICER: Try not to litter.

CRAIG: This guy told me that my son littered. But it doesn't matter if he did or didn't. It doesn't give him the right to put his hands on him.

OFFICER: Why not?

CRAIG: Because he don't.

OFFICER: What's that?

CRAIG: Because he don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right, so, you have what is legal here, what the law is supposed to do and then how you're supposed to police.

Let's start with the policing first. The idea of getting a call like this and when the mother is talking to you about it, you ask her how she raises her kid. Is that for us who aren't in the police community, is that as dumb as it seems for someone who was in the police community?

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, it's pretty dumb.

The main thing here, when I first saw this video, the first thing I thought is, who brought this guy in? My God, the officer doesn't know how to react to a situation like this. It's clear, the mother called the police. We see him walking from the white male in the beginning of the video like he's talking to the white male first.

Now, I'm wondering who made the call to the police because --

CUOMO: She did.

HOUCK: Yes. But, also, there's another report that he called the police, also. Weren't the call came in, was that because he was the complainant or she was the complainant? Either way, all right, when he got there and he confronted the mother about what happened -- and let me tell you, what annoyed me was his comment that says, it doesn't give him the right to put his hands on me.

[06:55:01] And the officer says, why not?

CUOMO: Right.

HOUCK: I was floored.

I'll tell you, Chris, I wanted to smack this officer myself for his stupidity and the way he acted. My analysis is based on this video and this video alone. But I think this video shows pretty much everything that was going on. This police officer is bordering misconduct and maybe even criminality in this certain instance.

CUOMO: Could anything have happened that you don't know that would have made what the officer says and does with respect to the mother OK?

HOUCK: It's kind of hard, because you could see the point where the daughter comes to grab the mother. Why the officer put his hands on her, I have no idea. It was clear to me that, you know, the mother started getting mad and it looks like the daughter tried to come and intervene and keep her mother, you know, started to make her mother calm down.

Then the officer just grabbed her like that. I was just like shocked. You know, like I said, this is poor training. This guy got like two weeks on the job or has he been on for five years.

CUOMO: Then you have the legal part. If I call you, let's keep to the fact that -- if a mother calls and says, the guy grabbed my son by the neck, what triggers the bar for probable cause to make an arrest in a situation like that?

CHARLES COLEMAN, JR., FORMER PROSECUTOR: At that point, Chris, you have to assume the mother has given the officer probably cause in the situation, barring any sort of unforeseen circumstances where we haven't seen when someone says, you know, there is a litany of other witnesses who says this is not true, that this is not what happened. After placed a 911 call and being on the scene, no reason to believe that that officer may have thought that this woman was not telling the truth.

And, so, from everything that I've seen on this video, that officer absolutely had probable cause to effectuate an arrest or the gentleman who was called on by the police. So, when I watched this video, I'm wondering, what was the question, what was the issue the officer had? Even with respect to what you were talking about regarding that woman raising her child, that's not relevant to what was going on in that situation.

CUOMO: And no police are taught to have that kind of conversation in that situation, right?

HOUCK: No, they are not. This is the problem we have with community because of actions of officer like this. A woman calls for the police and calls for help. She winds up being arrested for absolutely no reason here.

This is why I am so mad when I saw this video. This one incident, there must have been 10, 15 people maybe watching it. They all have a bad idea about police now because of that one incident.

COLEMAN: And that's a really important point when you start talking about communities of color and policing, and why there's such a mistrust between those two factions in many respects, because now, you're watching a situation where a woman has actually called the police. The police are sworn to protect and serve us, and in our communities come in and now becomes a referendum on this woman and her child rearing practices and, essentially, she's been doubly victimized.

She's victimized first because her son is assaulted and now she is victimized because she essentially has to validate how she has chosen to raise her child by someone who is supposed to be authoritatively be in a position to protect her. And that's a real problem.

CUOMO: What is the range of reaction from the police force that should come out of something like this?

HOUCK: Well, I'll tell you -- you know, the internal affairs is going on. If their investigating concludes that this officer acted improperly and I think that's what's going to happen and there's probably going to be some steps taken against this officer, I think that the police department ought to go and speak to the mother and the daughter and the community and say, listen, please don't judge all our police officers based on the action of one officer here.

CUOMO: What about the guy that grabbed the 7 or 8-year-old by the neck? What happens to him?

HOUCK: That guy should have been collared. Let me tell you, when you first --

COLEMAN: Absolutely, plain and simple.

HOUCK: When you first get to the scene like that, you take the mother to side, you don't let them engage in conversation. You talk to them and say, tell me what happened? We have witnesses. Did anybody see what happened?

If that did in fact happen, then that white gentleman should have been arrested.

CUOMO: Got it. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

Tough conversation to have, but an important conversation. And again, best to you and your families for Christmas.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Chris, we are following a lot of breaking news this morning including an end to the manhunt for the Berlin terror suspect and reports of a hijacked plane in Malta. So, let's get right to it.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY.

We do start with breaking news for you. The manhunt for the Berlin Christmas market terror suspect is over this morning. It has ended with a dramatic shootout near Milan. CUOMO: Investigators say Anis Amri pulled a gun and the police

returned fire and the early reporting is that he injured a policeman during this altercation but was killed by the police.

We have every angle covered beginning with CNN's Ben Wedeman live with the latest from Italy.

Actually, we're going to go to Chris Burns in Germany.

So, Chris, you heard about the reporting from Italy about this. What does it mean to the authorities in Germany about how he got there and who else may be involved.

CHRIS BURNS, JOURNALIST: Well, Chris, this is what we know so far as far as Anis Amri at this Christmas market that he crashed into that truck of 25 tons into this Christmas market on Monday, he fled.