Return to Transcripts main page

New Day Sunday

Darren Wilson Resigns; Holder in Atlanta Tomorrow for Ferguson Forum; Alabama Avenges 2013 Iron Bowl Loss; GOP Staffer Disses Obama Girls, Apologizes; Wilson Hopes Resignation Will Bring Healing; Pope Calls For End to "Persecutions"

Aired November 30, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's 112 days late. Thank goodness. We're so glad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Darren Wilson now a former police officer, the man who shot and killed Michael Brown resigned from the Ferguson Police Department, but a lot of people are asking what took so long?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We opened the compartment where he was and saw him and asked him to come forward and he was horrified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Found after nearly four years, a Georgia boy texts his mother from inside the house that he was being held. What happened next is just out of this world.

BLACKWELL: And the Obama daughters dissed. Now backlash against the GOP staffer who trashed Sasha and Malia.

(MUSIC)

PAUL: Rise and shine. We're glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell, 8:00 here now on the East Coast.

We're starting with Officer Darren Wilson no longer a member of the police force in Ferguson, Missouri.

PAUL: Wilson resigned five days now after a grand jury decided not to indict him for killing unarmed teenager Michael Brown. His lawyer tells CNN Wilson feared for the police department itself which apparently had been threatened with violence had he stayed. BLACKWELL: Wilson said he hopes his departure will, quote, "allow the

community to heal." But as protests continue overnight, a lot of people are saying it's not enough.

PAUL: We want to bring in Ed Lavandera who is live in Ferguson for us.

Ed, we're wondering, so was Wilson forced out?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, a lot of people did not envision in any way how Darren Wilson would continue to be a police officer here in Ferguson. We have been reporting for several weeks that there have been talks in the works behind the scenes planning the departure of Darren Wilson. But it became official last night. Darren Wilson releasing a statement saying, "I have been told my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the city of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow." He goes on to say in that statement, "It was my hope to continue in police work but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me."

Darren Wilson says, you know, he never wanted to be anything else other than a police officer, and his lawyers say now he'll have to try to find another line of work but reaction to this news last night as it came down, you might imagine many people critical over Darren Wilson over the last few months say it shouldn't have taken this long.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My reaction to Wilson resigning today is he should have been fired and in jail a long time ago for the murder of Mike Brown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It took too long.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's 112 days late. Thank goodness, we are so glad. He should have been fired on day one, once all the word came out on him shooting mike brown, I think they should have not put him on leave. I think he should have resigned or they should have fired him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, Christi, Darren Wilson's attorneys were telling us last night that one of the reasons the timing of this announcement why it was made yesterday, there were these threats coming in to the city of Ferguson and the police department if Darren Wilson did not resign by Saturday night, so those lawyers making it clear that that was one of the reasons behind the timing of that announcement, and as many people have been critical of Darren Wilson and have been critical of the grand jury's decision not to indict him, they also say they're hopeful something might come of the federal investigation into the shooting death of Michael Brown as well -- Christi and Victor.

PAUL: So, Ed, do we know specifically what the threats were to the city and police department? And are those threats now gone since he is?

LAVANDERA: We don't know what the specific threat was, and we haven't been told or got any more detail on that. That is coming from Darren Wilson's attorneys but we do know, officials have been telling us over the last few months that the issues of threats and the issues of threats against Darren Wilson have been very real for more than the last three months since the shooting happened back in August, and that is something all sides around here have been dealing with since then.

PAUL: All right. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much for all the clarity this morning. We appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Well, maybe you heard President Obama said that better police training and diversity in law enforcement forces is what's need to build the trust between police and the community.

PAUL: So, he's sending Attorney General Eric Holder to Atlanta tomorrow to hold the first of several meetings to discuss these kinds of issues.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Erin McPike is live from the White House.

Erin, what is the plan for handling the situation, not just in Ferguson, but with communities and these protests around the country?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor and Christi, President Obama is looking to the Justice Department to lead the way in promoting better race relations across the country and with law enforcement and he explained that on Monday night after the grand jury reached its decision.

Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The fact is, in too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color. Some of this is the result of the legacy of racial discrimination in this country, and this is tragic, because nobody needs good policing more than poor communities with higher crime rates. The good news is, we know there are things we can do to help, and I've instructed Attorney General Holder to work with cities across the country to help build better relations between communities and law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Now, tomorrow for Holder's meeting, he will be meeting with students and religious leaders as well as police and other members of law enforcement to break down barriers between all of these groups. We should also point out that these meetings are going tomorrow at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr. and his father preached, and I would also point out that President Obama, when he was a senator, also spoke there, Christi and Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Erin McPike at the White House for us -- Erin, thank you so much.

PAUL: Every now and then you see something that stops you in your tracks, right, something that might really help put things in perspective, because we get a bit distracted with things superficial sometimes. That's what a lot of people are saying about this photo putting things in perspective. White officer there hugging an African-American boy during a Ferguson protest. This is in Portland, Oregon.

Look at that boy's face. This is a story about how this hug came about that's even more intriguing.

BLACKWELL: So, you want to tune in to CNN later today 3:00 p.m. Eastern when the officer and this now famous photograph talks with our Fredricka Whitfield about what that hug was all about, how it happened, and the feelings and conversation in that moment. Again, that's 3:00 p.m. Eastern today.

PAUL: Boy, that little boy's face certainly said a lot.

BLACKWELL: Absolutely.

Hey, let's get you caught up with some other stories making news with your "Morning Read".

PAUL: Yes, the U.S.-led coalition battling ISIS launched at least 30 air strikes overnight in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa. This is a stronghold of the extremist group. Now, the offensive marks a sharp increase in coalition activity there. Recent attacks on ISIS in Syria has focused on the city of Kobani, near the Turkish border.

BLACKWELL: Medical news now. There's new hope for an Ebola vaccine. Scientists say 20 healthy adults received an experimental Ebola vaccine, just an experimental one, it's in the first phase of human trials. All of them produced antibodies for the deadly disease. No one had serious side effects.

The National Institutes of Health is now fast-tracking more trials.

PAUL: Eighty-one-year-old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg expected to head back to work tomorrow. She had a stent placed in her right coronary artery last week after experiencing discomfort while exercising. She's also, by the way, a colon and pancreatic cancer survivor.

BLACKWELL: Soccer legend Pele, he is improving, but he's still in an intensive care in a hospital in Brazil. He's being treated for a urinary tract infection.

Pele's aide says the 74 years old could be released as soon as Wednesday. The hospital says the three-time world cup champion may be taken off dialysis today.

PAUL: And last night's Iron Bowl lived up to the hype and then some, as top-ranked Alabama avenged last year's loss to 15th-ranked Auburn in a high-scoring instant classic. The Crimson Tide outscored the Tigers 34-18 in the second half, of the 55-44 Tuscaloosa slugfest.

ESPN says last night's shoot-out the highest scoring Iron Bowl in the history of the Auburn/Alabama rivalry. Congratulations to those of you who are celebrating this morning.

BLACKWELL: Well, for all of you dreading getting onto the roads, well, we have some good news and some bad news. Listen, this could be the busiest travel day of the year, some people before Thanksgiving head out on Tuesday, some on Wednesday. Almost everyone heads home on Sunday and there could be some slippery spots on the roads.

PAUL: And a hug between a mom and son four years in the making, how police rescued this 13-year-old that they say was hidden behind a wall, a fake wall, and hidden by his father, no less.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: This morning, a mother and her missing 13-year-old son are finally back together.

PAUL: This reunion, and take a look at this hug, took four long years. This is an incredible story. Police went to a home in Atlanta area Friday after getting a phone tip. They didn't find anything, but you know what? They just couldn't shake something, we don't know what happened but they went back a second time

BLACKWELL: And while they were there, the boy sent a text to his mother, who was in Florida. She told police to look behind a false wall in that house and that's when police found him. The boy's dad and four other people are under arrest.

Mark Winne of CNN affiliate WSB has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SGT. JOANNE SOUTHERLAND, CLAYTON COUNTY POLICE: We opened the compartment where he was and I saw him and asked him to come forward and he was horrified. He was frozen with fear.

CHIEF GREG PORTER, CLAYTON COUNTY POLICE: Good police work and hard determination by the victim who wanted to be reunified with his mother.

SOUTHERLAND: And he retreated away from us until he knew that those people weren't around him.

MARK WINNE, WSB: She says the child reached out for rescue. Clayton County Police Sergeant Joanne Southerland says a 13-year-old boy downloaded a phone app so he could text his mother in Florida he hadn't seen in four years.

SOUTHERLAND: We got a welfare check in reference to a child saying he was beaten. We came here to the home and were able to get inside the home, talk to the people inside after several minutes of denying the child was here, his existence was here, there was ever any assault or anything like that. We were able to find him in the linen closet. PORTER: The police department did an excellent job of coming out here

and responding to this 911 emergency call. We have five individuals who have been charged with various charges.

DANIEL DAY, CLAYTON COUNTY POLICE: I just can't believe it. I mean, we found him. We saw him. It was to say it was a great feeling was an understatement.

WINNE: What did he say to you?

DAY: He just can't thank us enough. He just kept saying thank you, thank you, thank you. Just overjoyed that we found him.

WINNE: Sergeant Southerland indicated the biological father and stepmother faced charges of false imprisonment, cruelty to a child and obstruction.

SOUTHERLAND: Children who are being abused need to reach out by any means necessary, whether it'd be cell or text to get help and don't stop. We will find you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Well, that was WSB's Mark Winne reporting for us. The boy's father and stepmother are scheduled to appear in court next hour.

PAUL: All right, guys, brace yourself for that other Thanksgiving ritual. I know, the overcrowded airports if you're there already, we feel for you. Today is expected to be the busiest travel day of the year for those of you who are flying. This is according to a group that represents some of the nation's biggest airlines, by the way.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Jennifer Gray joins us now with a weather and travel forecast.

So, the roads are expected to be better than the skies or vice versa? Who has the better end of the stick?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it all depends on where you are. We know that if there's trouble along the East Coast, it can mean disruption in airlines all across the country. Good news is the East Coast is looking fantastic today. We have partly cloudy skies, temperatures in the 50s and 60s. The South looks amazing.

We do have very cold temperatures in the Northern Plains. Of course, it's not really going to affect your air travel but if you are on the roads, it could make things a little bit on the dicey side. We are looking at rain and snow left over from yesterday. It did snow in the Pacific Northwest yesterday, not snowing anymore. Some of that snow still could be on the ground but we are looking at maybe some problems from the Rockies and points west.

So, California getting some rain today. They need it, but look at the east side of the country. This is your radar, satellite radar, barely even a cloud in the sky across much of the country. We are looking at temperatures feeling well below zero across the Northern Plains. Twenty-five below zero in Minot, feels like 20 below in Bismarck, very cold start to the day there.

Temperatures are going to stay on the cold side. Teens and single digits in Minneapolis today and tomorrow, those are high temperatures and looking at temperatures in the mid-70s in the south. So, quite a difference there.

Here is that rain pushing in. You could see delays anywhere from San Francisco, all the way up to Northern California, because of the rain, a little bit of snow, and some of those higher elevations, that system's going to push onshore, I don't think anyone in California is complaining today because you could get anywhere from three to five inches north of San Francisco, points south about an inch or two, even picking up some rain in portions of Oregon.

So, guys, this is excellent news for California, you may have a couple of delays because of it but we need the rain so bad.

PAUL: All righty. All right, Jennifer, thank you so much.

GRAY: All right.

PAUL: President Obama takes a lot of heat.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: He's got Obamacare, ISIS, immigration and even wearing a tan suit.

BLACKWELL: Yes. But are his daughters fair game? Hear how harshly a GOP staffer criticized the girl's demeanor and their style.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: A senior GOP staffer harshly criticized the nation's first daughters, Malia and Sasha.

PAUL: And now, she is getting slammed right back on social media and she's apologizing, we understand, but we're talking about Elizabeth Lauten, who works as the communications director for Tennessee Congressman Steve Pincher. She criticized the teens for seeming to look bored at Wednesday's turkey presidential pardon and put a long post on Facebook, which we have for you.

BLACKWELL: Yes, here it is. I'm just going to read it. "Dear Sasha and Malia, I get you're both in those awful teen years, but you're a part of the first family. Try showing a little class, at least respect the part you play. Then again, your mother and father don't respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I'm guessing you're coming up in a little short in the 'good role model' department.

Nevertheless, stretch yourself. Rise to the occasion. Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect and not a spot at a bar. And certainly don't make faces during televised public events."

Let's bring in CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. He's the host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."

Brian, some people on Twitter accuse Lauten of cyberbullying the Obama daughters. They are furious. Is an apology enough here?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I would be surprised if they go any further. We haven't heard from the congressman that she works for, but this is another reminder that what happens on Facebook does not stay on Facebook.

You know, what she was saying, lots of other people in the country feel. Lot of folks who support that congressman also feel that the president doesn't respect the country and that the first daughters, you know, should have put a smile on their face or something.

But that's outrageous to say on Facebook, especially when you're working for a member of Congress. So, I don't -- I don't think she's going to lose her job. I think they're probably going to stick with this apology, but it's just another example of social media's risks as well as rewards.

PAUL: You know, I mean, it's gone viral obviously on Twitter and some are tweeting that she should be fired, using #fireelizabethlauten.

Should children of presidents or politicians, should they be off limits at the end of the day?

STELTER: Well, traditionally, they are.

PAUL: Unless they do something criminal or something but should they be off limits?

STELTER: Historically, they have and that has continued to be the case with the Obama daughters. We don't see them very often. We don't see where they go to school. We don't see them with their friends.

The press, the White House press corps is very respectful of them in the same way they were respectful of the Bush daughters and many others before them and that's the way it should work, because they didn't choose to be living in the White House. Their parents did, but they didn't.

So, that's why it's such a breach of protocol and why so many people are outraged by it. Like I said, some people may agree with the criticism of the parents, but of the children, that is a different matter entirely.

BLACKWELL: So, Lauten apologized. She says that after, quote, "many hours of prayer", she can see how hurtful her words were. Some are saying the apology is not sincere. We've got a tweet here and this person tweeted "I know I'm late, but just read Elizabeth Lauten's comments and the so-called apology and I am so mad, those public comments are unacceptable." So, we'll just have to take her for her word on that apology.

I want to move on to something else, an interesting conversation about Bill Cosby coming up today on your show.

STELTER: Yes, on "RELIABLE SOURCES", we're talking to a writer who actually wrote about the sexual assault allegations against Cosby back in 2006. One of the interesting storylines to me has been, why these women weren't taken more seriously much sooner? You know, we live in a different age than decades ago, but that can't be the reason why the Cosby scandal suddenly became a big national scandal this month but not many years ago.

So, we're going to talk to the writer this morning about that, because even though as you all know Ferguson dominated the news in the past week, the Bill Cosby news sort of faded away a little bit, continues to be repercussions from that story, other universities have severed their ties with Bill Cosby, some of his performances have been scrapped. He's actually performing here in New York next week and they're going to offer refunds to people for that one. So, it's the kind of story that continues to develop even though we're not hearing as much about it anymore.

PAUL: All righty. Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

PAUL: Be sure to join him, too, for "RELIABLE SOURCES". It's at 11:00 this morning, right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: So, we see a lot of disguises when bad guys commit crimes, nothing like this. So, if you look closely, this guy's wearing a werewolf mask and police are trying to figure out who this gunman is who shot up a check cashing business.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Bottom of the hour now and so grateful for your company as always. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Pleasure to be with you.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BLACKWELL: Five things you need to know this morning -- starting with number one in Egypt. One man has been killed during protests after a court dropped all criminal charges against former President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak had been convicted in 2012 of issuing orders to kill peaceful protesters during the country's uprising, but he appealed and was granted a new trial last year. The prosecutor told state media that he will appeal this verdict.

PAUL: Number two: in Qatar, an American couple convicted in the death of their adopted daughter has won their appeal in a Doha court. Matthew and Grace Huang were arrested last year when their 8-year-old daughter died. Now, they were charged with starving her to death but the couple said their daughter suffered from an eating disorder. They were convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.

BLACKWELL,: Number three: a woman shot by her former boyfriend in a Chicago Nordstrom's Store, she has died. Nordstrom confirmed her death and posted a message for the family on their Facebook page. The store was packed with shoppers when the man shot the woman and then turned the gun on himself, that was on Friday. That shooter died there at the scene.

PAUL: Number four, take a look at this werewolf mask-wearing gunman because there's a massive manhunt in southern California for him right now. Police say he went through the rear door of a check cashing business that was closed for renovation at the time and he shot a construction worker. The bullet grazed the 58-year-old victim who has since been released from the hospital thankfully.

BLACKWELL: Number five, the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown has resigned from the police department in Ferguson, Missouri. Darren Wilson said he feared staying on the force would endanger his fellow officers. Now, the grand jury decided last week not to indict Wilson in Brown's death, a federal investigation, two federal investigations are ongoing.

PAUL: In his resignation letter, Wilson said he hopes his departure will, quote, "allow the community to heal." But protestors were out again in force overnight in Ferguson and some said Wilson's departure 112 days after Brown's death is simply not enough.

We're going to talk to Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. about this. He's senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Maryland and a member of the High Impact Leadership Coalition.

Bishop Jackson, thank you for being with us.

BISHOP HARRY JACKSON JR., HOPE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: Thank you for having me.

PAUL: Of course. What is your reaction to Wilson's resignation and is it enough to help this community heal?

JACKSON: Well, I think it's a good first step that he gets out of the picture, but there are long-term problems in Ferguson. I was there last weekend and for the announcement of the grand jury's decision, and I believe that a Bridges to Peace program that is just beginning with numerous churches around the metro St. Louis area will be part of the answer. They're going to have a community engagement process where black, white churches, Hispanic churches come together.

And they reach out to the poor. They've got generational poverty there. The amazing number of dropouts from high school and people who only have high school diplomas are huge, and they have in the greater region well over a third of the people are at or below the poverty level.

So, educational problems, economic problems, historic injustices are part of the landscape. So, MLK gave us six principles of nonviolence, and he really called for a group, I believe the church has got to be the bridge to bring reconciliation and peace, and then "befriend your enemy", quote/unquote, is what King said as a way of beginning the process of healing.

Those are just some initial thoughts that we've had in this Bridges to Peace Initiative is, was conceived right before the grand jury and they're having a major organizing meeting this next weekend. I'm quite excited about that.

PAUL: Well, we know that underlying all the fear there and the anger is most likely a sense that people don't feel they're being heard.

JACKSON: Yes.

PAUL: If you were in that community, what did you hear from them specifically and how open do you think they are to this bridge program that you're talking about?

JACKSON: Well, I think that they were very concerned just as you say that the average person wasn't being heard. Young people especially want to change their options, their opportunities, jobs, upward mobility, and it seems like the specter of racism was what most black people in the region were dealing with, and I think this season that violence was unfortunate, but that venting of the pent-up anger was what you saw.

And I think that they're going to be opening positive train tracks can be laid out so that we could have forward motion toward real peace. I think that's critical. There have to be groups like this that give specific steps of interaction or we really won't see anything positive come forth and we'll be looking for the next Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown shooting in the future, unfortunately.

PAUL: Well, we know Attorney General Eric Holder is going to be in Atlanta tomorrow. Dr. Martin Luther King's former church, for this first in a series of meetings that will be focused on policing in communities of color. What do you think he should say? How should he approach this conversation?

JACKSON: I think he should approach the conversation by saying that justice is going to be served when individual citizens are treated with love and respect and proper protocol by the police, but also there have got to be some community forums in which the community is given an opportunity to interact about what their rights are, and I think that that spirit of reconciliation should try to permeate what he says. I think it's a good move that he's going to talk to the police and talk to policemen about how they conduct themselves. I think also they should use, commute groups and churches, to educate people about what their rights and their responsibilities are.

I think those are some great beginning steps.

PAUL: All righty. Well, Bishop Kerry Jackson Jr., so good to hear your voice today. Thank you for being part of the conversation.

JACKSON: Thank you for having me.

PAUL: Certainly.

BLACKWELL: The pope and the leader of the world's orthodox Christians say they cannot resign themselves to a Middle East without Christians.

PAUL: They say Christians are being persecuted and they're calling for tolerance among all religions. We're taking you live to Istanbul, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Thirty-nine minutes past the hour right now.

And Pope Francis is calling for an end to persecutions of Christians in the Middle East.

BLACKWELL: He's wrapping up a three-day trip to Turkey. In a joint declaration, the pope and the head of the world's orthodox Christians said they're worried about the situation in Iraq, Syria, and the Middle East.

Let's bring in senior international correspondent Arwa Damon in Istanbul.

Tell us more about this declaration, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have to look at the current situation of Christians in the Middle East to really understand and appreciate what it is stemming from. The levels of persecution are something that we haven't seen arguably in the last -- first by al Qaeda, and then ISIS in both Iraq and Syria, forcing the vast majority of Christians from their homes directly under threat, having been attacked numerous times.

The two issuing this statement coming from both the pope and the patriarch, they're saying, "We cannot resign ourselves to a Middle East without Christians who have professed the name of Jesus there for 2,000 years. Many of our brothers and sisters are being persecuted and have been forced violently from their homes. It seems that the value of human life has been lost and the human person no longer matters and may be sacrificed to others' interests and tragically, all this is met by the indifference of many."

They then go on to say that they are concerned not just for the plight of Christians who are in the Middle East and that notion that this is indifferent to many. That's something that we have been hearing echoed time and time again from refugees from Iraq and from Syria, from Christians, from Muslims and from everyone, who have really been suffering the brunt of the violence, whether it's violence brought on by ISIS, by the Assad regime, by rebels, by various different sects.

This is a region that has been mired in violence and this persecution of the Christians is just one of the many devastating consequences.

BLACKWELL: All right. Arwa Damon reporting for us in Istanbul -- Arwa, thank you.

(MUSIC)

PAUL: All right. There are alarming new discoveries about the number of drones that are in the sky and not just how many are there, but how close they're getting to passenger airlines.

BLACKWELL: Take a look at this, between February 22nd and November 11th of this year, the FAA says there have been 193 reports of drone sightings during flights. In October alone, 41 pilots reported seeing a drone or unmanned aircraft in the sky.

PAUL: CNN's Candy Crowley joins us now from Washington.

You hear this, Candy, and you think, my gosh, what a risk to travelers. What is the FAA doing about it?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They're studying it.

In 2012, the Congress passed a law that said we need to set up regulations for these drones, how high they can fly, who can fly them, what they need to know before they can fly them because they're remote controlled.

As far as the FAA is concerned, the Federal Aviation Administration, they will have regulations put out for public comment by the end of this year, but in the meantime, as you can see, you see sort of an increased awareness and increased if not alarm, at least concern from pilots both commercial and private about the number that are up there and the close calls that are happening. And I keep thinking, do you remember what caused Sully Sullenberger to have to land --

PAUL: Yes.

CROWLEY: -- that plane, you know, on the Hudson was geese.

So, you know, a drone about this big, you know?

PAUL: Yes.

CROWLEY: Some of them, and the biggest fear obviously is taking off and coming down, because that's, you know, landing and taking off, because drones can, you know, are flying at that height.

PAUL: Yes, exactly. Very good thought.

Hey, listen, we understand that you're interviewing some of the top police chiefs in the country, about bridging the trust gap, you know, between police and the communities they serve, this in the wake of Ferguson grand jury decision. What do you hope to hear from them?

CROWLEY: Yes -- I want to -- I want to talk about that whole black and blue dynamic, and it's minorities as well, Hispanics and Latinos. We're talking to police chiefs from Dallas and Detroit, the former commissioner of New York City, Bernie Kerik, as well as the police chief from Montgomery County just to say, so one thing we know is there is huge mistrust in minority communities for policemen. What do you do? You know, without trust, what have you got, nothing,

right? So how do you do that? That's what I want to talk to them about.

PAUL: Good conversation.

All righty. Candy Crowley, thank you so much.

CROWLEY: Thank you.

PAUL: Sure.

And stay here for "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy, starts at the top of the hour, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't anybody step up here until I walk out of here!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: It's just a TV. It's a television. Calm down.

Listen, if the Black Friday insanity is not for you, maybe this is.

PAUL: You can snag the best deals right from your couch. You don't need to deal with this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Well, for a lot of Black Friday -- for a lot of Black Friday shoppers, like myself, everything started on Thursday this year, and I'm not ashamed. I've got great deals 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

PAUL: Good. I'm proud of you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you very much.

PAUL: Because I'm a deal shopper myself.

BLACKWELL: A lot of the deals are carrying through the weekend, but just when you think you survived the shopping mall madness other reason to pull out your credit card, Cyber Monday tomorrow.

PAUL: Brad Wilson is with us, the founder and editor-in-chief of bradsdeals.com.

So, Brad, here is the question. Are the really top online deals tomorrow or can we go now?

BRAD WILSON, FOUNDER & EDITOR IN CHIEF, BRADSDEALS.COM: So, you know, they are normally tomorrow but the good news that I woke up to this morning is a lot of the best deals tomorrow are actually starting today. So, I'd be happy to walk you through some of those. PAUL: OK, what are they?

BLACKWELL: Let's do it.

WILSON: Sure. So, there's two types. One is the score wide coupon code. So, for example, Macys.com is going to be doing 15 percent off, Kohls.com is going to be doing 20 percent off. Amazon has a 30 percent off coupon code for fashion and clothing and shoes. Gap.com and Oldnavy.com and Bananarepublic.com are doing 40 percent off. You see a lot of them on Cyber Money.

You know, if you're not doing 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent off, you're just not going to get our attention.

So, the good thing about these site-wide coupon codes, so they can be combined with other sale prices and promotions and rebates and discounts to create really, really compelling individual product deals. So, I'll give you an example of that. So, at Kohls.com, there's a kitchen aid stand mixer for normally $220. But there 30 percent, the code cuts it down $20 and $60 in Kohl's cash. So, it actually gets this kitchen mixer down to about $120, which is just an incredible price.

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's a good deal. Let me ask but this, because I love a door-buster, right? Get there first, you get the best deal. Is there the equivalent online to the brick and mortar door-buster?

WILSON: You know, there is, basically tonight. It's 12:00 a.m. Eastern, there's a lot of things that are going to break right then and sell out within a couple hours. So, I actually think it's a great night to stay up for an hour or two and sort of pick off some of the best deals.

That's your equivalent to standing in line on now Thursday evening, and snagging the best deals in store while they still last.

PAUL: And you could just set the alarm and get up at midnight rather than having to stay up since I'm going to take a nap if I try to do that today.

But what is -- let me ask you this, what is the best way to find, compare, keep track of deals that are online?

WILSON: So, we actually run a site called cybermonday2014.com which will be tracking all the best deals from now through the end of the day tomorrow. So, that's certainly one source.

You know, the stores themselves obviously are pushing out different promotions via different channels. It's something to both pay attention to and be careful of, so for example you might find one discount via e-mail or another discount on their Facebook page and another discount in their app.

But, you know, there's a lot of noise that they're going to be pushing at us, but there's a lot of great deals tucked in there as well.

BLACKWELL: All right. I have to get my nap in early to be sure to get the door-buster online.

Brad Wilson at bradsdeals.com, thanks so much, Brad.

PAUL: Thank you, Brad.

WILSON: Thanks for having me on.

PAUL: Sure.

All righty, if you are a fan of Snooki, MTV star, something big is happening in her world.

BLACKWELL: I don't know how many people are. But here is a hint, gentlemen, she's off the market.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: We're just talking about shopping and how about shopping for some hot stuff and I mean that in a literal sense.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: Buying stolen goods for your friends and family this year? What?

BLACKWELL: It's cheaper.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: And you can do it legally.

PAUL: OK.

BLACKWELL: We promise.

PAUL: That's what I want to know.

BLACKWELL: Here's CNN's Paul Vercammen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm at the Property Room warehouse here in the City of Industry. There are several of these warehouses around the country. Right here, bicycles, about 2,000 of them.

All of these hot items were hot, almost all of it stolen evidence contributed by 3,000 police departments around the country. They ship to all over the country, and then they soon start to ship to Canada and Mexico. Items include everything from desktops, these are scrubbed and clean they say here by the Department of Defense standards so they wipe all of this off.

CHRIS TEWFIK: Make sure that people don't get other people's information or, you know, explicit pictures or anything crazy like that. VERCAMMEN: If you go down the line all sorts of other items up for

bid, you've got a snare drum, you can get yourself a backpack blower and even a karaoke machine. And then, over here power tools galore and even a brand new chainsaw.

Property Room was started by an ex-police officer who saw an opportunity here and seized it. And so, as we said, you've got items that were taken in by all these police departments that nobody claimed.

AJ JABER: Police departments like it because all they have to do is just follow the program by listing the item, take pictures of the front, left, right, rear, et cetera, and put it up online for auction. Typically, it's a 50/50 split.

VERCAMMEN: By the way, if any of the items are bad, or counterfeit or fake, they just go ahead and destroy it.

Over here a very interesting room, it says JW Center. JW stands for jewelry and watches. So, where does all this stuff come from? All over.

Look in here. Evidence labels, this one from Indianapolis, a homicide it looks like. In Kansas, this is the jewelry room, that's why the small bags and if you look around here, some astounding deals. They say this bag alone probably worth more than $100,000. This watch a Patek Philippe estimated at $60,000. Next to it, a presidential Rolex, $35,000 to $40,000.

And on this jewelry and 95 percent of the items in here, the opening bid on the auction is $1.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: We're jaw-dropped here. Paul Vercammen, thank you so much.

You can find the deals online at propertyroom.com. If it's stolen, what if you get on there and go wait a minute, that's my bike and you're going to ask me to pay?

BLACKWELL: I also don't want to buy the watch off of a dead man's wrist. I don't know. I just feel that's bad luck somehow.

So, Snooki, let's talk about her. She's married. There you go.

PAUL: She's married.

No, the MTV star made famous by the show "Jersey Shore" tweeted this picture, there she is, it's her first dance, Nicole "Snooki" married the father of her two children. They got married at a Catholic Church in East Hanover, New Jersey.

You can watch her show. It's on her MTV show, "Snooki and JWoww". It's Wednesday, 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

BLACKWELL: Setting the DVR when I get home. PAUL: Right now.

BLACKWELL: Um-hum.

PAUL: That's right. Congratulations to them.

And thank you so much for starting your morning with us. We hope you make great memories today on this last day of what is, you know --

BLACKWELL: The holiday week.

PAUL: The holiday weekend. Yes.

BLACKWELL: And if you're headed home, be safe, be careful. It could be slippery on the roads.

"STATE OF THE UNION WITH CANDY CROWLEY" starts right now.