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New Day Sunday

Trump Attends Army-Navy Game In Philadelphia; President Trump And Greta Thunberg Battle On Twitter; Scientists Say, Health Reef Sounds Lure Fish Back To Dead Coral Reefs. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired December 15, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:16]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another big week in Washington as the House of Representatives is poised to vote to impeach President Donald Trump. That is putting measure on moderate Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sources are now telling us that Congressman Van Drew, a Democrat from New Jersey, is expected to switch parties.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I want to tell Jeff Van Drew that he is welcome in the Republican Party, not just by me but our conference, and we would supportive him and we would welcome him to join.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. is preparing to announce a drawdown of about 4,000 troops from Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of this, of course, coming as the U.S. has restarted those peace talks with the Taliban.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of this is his way of demonstrating and while the Democrats are impeaching President Donald Trump is working.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. We are just days away from learning if President Trump will be impeached, but, today, we do have some information from one Democratic congressman where he is expected to vote against impeachment and switch to the Republican Party.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Sources tell CNN Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey will announce that move this week. And while the defection may give a symbolic victory to the president it probably won't change the outcome of the impeachment vote per se on Wednesday.

BLACKWELL: Van Drew has been an outspoken critic of the impeachment inquiry and the process to impeach the president but several Democrats say he's simply trying to save his own congressional seat by switching parties. PAUL: We want to go to CNN's Kristen Holmes in Washington. So we know the top Republicans, Kristen, are welcoming Van Drew to the party but we also understand that he met with President Trump on Wednesday. What do we know about that meeting?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi. Well, it appears that President Trump and the White House are welcoming Van Drew with open arms which is unsurprising given the fact that a high profiled Democratic Party defection in the middle of a historic impeachment vote would be a welcome distraction for Republicans and for the White House. Now as you said, they did meet, Van Drew and the president, and it appears there is an ongoing conversation about when exactly this announcement would happen and whether or not the White House wants Van Drew to wait to vote against impeachment as a Democrat and then announce that he would be a Republican. So something we will be watching closely there.

Now as for President Trump he has been on Twitter praising Van Drew, retweeting stories about him. One he said, thank you for your honesty, Jeff. All of the Democrats know you are right but unlike you they don't have the guts to say so.

And another tweet this was about a meeting with Trump says, wow, that would be big. Always heard Jeff is very smart. Again, that was about a story about President Trump meeting with Van Drew.

And as you said, Christi, it is not just the White House. Top Republicans are all really supporting this idea. Take a listen to Kevin McCarthy last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: I want to tell Jeff Van Drew that he is welcome in the Republican Party, not just by me but our conference, and we would supportive him and we would welcome him to join.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So there are two big takeaways here. One being that this is an attempt for Van Drew to save his political career. We know from sources that internal polling showed that Democrats were really moving away from this New Jersey congressman and switching parties might be an attempt to save his seat. He wouldn't then have to go up against another Democratic in a primary for 2020.

But, two, there's a larger picture here which is this is an enormous consequence. These are the enormous consequences of the vote next week on impeachment. We know moderate Democrats are having a hard time with this vote while many of them have come forward and they have said that they will support it. Others are still struggling. Van Drew was one of these moderate Democrats who won in 2018 in a district that President Trump won in 2016. And there is a large swath of them. So, even though some of them are supporting them, others are struggling with this decision that will likely have a big impact on the outcome of their 2020 elections. BLACKWELL: So, we heard from McCarthy there, we heard from the president how top Democrats or Democrats even in New Jersey reaction to the switch.

HOLMES: Well, Victor, they are not embracing it as much as Republicans are. We did hear from the New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy who essentially said this. He said, Van Drew is now willing to enable Donald Trump just to try and salvage his own election. Betraying our values by siding with Donald Trump is the final straw and made it impossible for him to continue being supported by our party as grassroots activists, local party leaders in his district. And I have made clear in recent weeks this party switch is cynical and desperate.

So some pretty strong words there from Democrats in New Jersey.

[06:05:02]

PAUL: All right. Kristen Holmes, always appreciate it. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's talk now with CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer, historian and professor at Princeton University. And Lauren Gambino, political correspondent for "The Guardian." Welcome back to both of you.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.

LAUREN GAMBINO, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE GUARDIAN": Thank you for having us.

BLACKWELL: So, Lauren, let me start with you. Just three weeks ago, this was during a call -- a two-hour call with constituents about his opposition to the impeachment inquiry and the possibility that he would leave the Democratic Party. This is what Congressman Van Drew said. Quote -- let's put it up on the screen. "I am absolutely not changing." He went on to say, "When I run I will have Republicans beat me up pretty fierce. They know that I'm still a Democrat. A Blue Dog, a person who stands up and says what he believes. Sometimes not going along with the party, but that's OK."

That is according to his hometown paper. He is not the only Democrat who did not vote for the rules. He will not be the only one who votes against impeachment but he is leaving the party. What has changed?

GAMBINO: I think you're starting to see the pressure really mount on these front line moderate Democrats now that there are two articles of impeachment that they will have to vote on. This isn't a vote with about process and rules and how this process will be shaped. This is now, do you support articles of impeachment against the president of the United States? For some of these Democrats there is about 30 of them, more than 30 who won -- they are called the majority makers. They won in districts that Donald Trump won in or that are conservative leaning. And this is going to be a difficult decision politically. Now, of course, Democratic leaders are trying to say, this isn't about politics. We're not even whipping this vote because we believe this is about your duty, your oath of office but for many of these Democrats, this is going to have -- this could have, you know, an impact on whether they are re-elected.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Julian, let me come to you. FiveThirtyEight blog keeps what they call the Trump rating of how often members vote with the president's position. Now currently the House Republican who votes least often with the president is Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania's first. That's 66 percent of the time.

Jeff Van Drew votes with the president 7 percent of the time. Two impeachment votes, a funding bill, and holding a commerce secretary and attorney general in contempt of Congress. That's four votes out of 57. So this is not a man without a party. His votes are firmly in opposition to the president.

From a historian's perspective will this defection in the context of impeachment be seen as something significant?

ZELIZER: It will be in that Republicans are going to make a lot out of this, meaning the vote won't matter for the final impeachment vote. It doesn't necessarily reflect a tidal wave that is about to happen within the Democratic Party of people flipping but it's a story that Republicans can use about Democrats being uneasy with what they are about to do.

It's unclear if his career is going to survive after this and I think the major motivation was his standings among Democrats was weak but it matters as a story. And you are already hearing it this morning in what Republicans are talking about.

BLACKWELL: Let's go now to Senator Lindsey Graham and his discussion with CNN Becky Anderson. I want you to listen to what he said here about his impartiality as this is expected to move to the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I am trying to giving a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wasn't in any doubt.

GRAHAM: I'm not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Was not intending to be a fair juror here. Reconcile that with what he is expected to be, what the founding fathers expected the Senate, the role to play in an impeachment trial.

ZELIZER: You can't reconcile the two. He is not going to be impartial. Republicans including Graham, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are making it clear they will defend the president. They already agree with the president's position. And that is the story of 219.

It is Republican loyalty to the president and Republicans protecting him and that is what happens in the Senate trial. Don't expect a cliff hanger on the vote, at least on the Republican side. BLACKWELL: Senator Graham says he's not going to be a fair juror here. Let's put a full screen for -- before we go back to Lauren. This is the oath they'll have to take.

I solemnly swear or affirm that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald Trump, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God."

That is the oath you heard from Senator Graham.

Lauren, let me come back to you and Senator Angus King, he tweeted that the American people need to see impartial justice. History will record this as not only a trial in the Senate. It is a trial of the Senate.

Now we've heard from Leader McConnell. What do we know about his cooperation with Democratic leader Chuck Schumer?

[06:10:03]

GAMBINO: Well, we know that it's -- Mitch McConnell has made clear he is working hand in glove with the White House so that would seem to make it pretty difficult then to work also with the Democratic minority leader whose interest would be very different than that of the White House. So we are seeing -- with McConnell's posture, I think we are seeing something that, you know, the Senate majority and minority leader during the Bill Clinton impeachment trials are saying is pretty extraordinary. You know, they said they have come out and said, you know, we tried to do our best to put forward a very fair trial. We wanted it to be -- you know, we at least wanted the American people to come away from this trial thinking, OK, they did their best. And they are saying, you know, by declaring so early on that you are not only working with the White House, but that, you know, you want this to come to a swift end and you're already telling us the outcome, that that will be really hard then to turn around and make the case to the American people that this was handled in a fair and, you know, just manner.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Full vote is expected on Wednesday in the House. We will see what happens with Congressman Van Drew and what's next in the Senate. Lauren Gambino and Julian Zelizer, thank you both.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

GAMBINO: Thank you.

PAUL: New this morning, China says it will not put additional tariffs on some U.S. goods that were set to kick in today. This comes after both countries announced they had reached an interim trade deal. The U.S. is also putting a hold on tariffs on Chinese goods that were set to go into effect as well.

BLACKWELL: We know at least one person is dead after a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the southern Philippines. "The New York Times" says the victim is a 6-year-old girl who was killed by a collapsing wall.

PAUL: This all happened on the southern island of Mindanao. Earlier reports from the U.S. GSA the epicenter was inland. It was not in the water and that there is no chance of a tsunami.

BLACKWELL: This video was captured right when the earthquake hit. A swimming pool at a hotel. You could see it here shaking violently here. And customers -- let's show the next video -- leaving a restaurant trying to get to some safety, get away from structures.

PAUL: The situation there is still very much active. There's a search and rescue operation underway right now as well.

BLACKWELL: Yes. We just got this video a moment ago showing rescuers pulling someone from a partly collapsed building. Look at this.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

PAUL: You can hear some cheering there as they got somebody out. We're going to continue to monitor this throughout the morning. We'll bring you any updates as soon as we get them.

BLACKWELL: An administration official says that President Trump plans to call for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan as early as next week. This morning, the Taliban is weighing in on that anticipated announcement. We'll talk about this with Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton: He's with us next.

PAUL: And the FBI says it recovered new evidence possibly connected to that shooting in New Jersey.

BLACKWELL: And a family in Kansas they say they feel violated after they say their home security cameras were hacked and now they are talking about that incident. We have that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking pictures of the baby. I'm (ph) (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:22]

BLACKWELL: New this morning, the Taliban says the anticipated U.S. troop reduction in Afghanistan is a good step. Just yesterday a senior Trump administration official said the president plans to pull almost 4,000 troops out of the region. The announcement could come as early as next week.

PAUL: Let's bring in Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton with us. He's a CNN military analyst. Good morning to you, Colonel.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Christi. How are you doing?

PAUL: I'm well. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here.

I want to read to you the full statement from the Taliban, the response to this. A spokesman responded to CNN via text saying, "This is a good step, but resolving the issue is possible when all U.S. forces leave Afghanistan."

I want to focus on that last part real quickly because I think it very clearly states out that the Taliban wants U.S. troops out of the this territory. What is your concern or what do you think the Taliban has planned for that region if U.S. troops are absent?

LEIGHTON: Well, they want to take over Afghanistan. There's no question in my mind, Christi. They are interested not only in a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces but want they also want to do is they want to make sure that they can safeguard in the future Taliban government of Afghanistan and there's no way that they could have a completely Taliban government if there is a U.S. presence in that country.

BLACKWELL: Colonel, just a couple of weeks ago, the president at Bagram in Afghanistan they said, we are going to stay until such time as we have a deal or we have total victory and they want, speaking of the Taliban, want to make a deal very badly.

"NBC News," which was first to report this expected announcement also reports that the president tells advisers that he wants a full withdrawal by the 2020 election. Is that time line realistic considering what we have seen up to this point?

LEIGHTON: Well, Victor, it's not realistic if we want to make sure that Afghanistan doesn't fall into the hands of the Taliban but I'm not sure that is U.S. policy now. It seems to me that the political calendar is going to dictate exactly what happens in Afghanistan and I think what that will mean is that we may see a precipitous withdraw of U.S. troops without any concurrent effort by the Taliban to make any concessions whether it's a power sharing concession with the existing Afghan government or some other concessions that would be part of this type of an arrangement. So what we are at risk here of doing is withdrawing without any real gains for the basically 18 years of effort that we have put into Afghanistan.

[06:20:02]

PAUL: Right. And I think a lot of people are sitting at home watching this thinking, what does this mean for U.S. national security if these troops are pulled out? What is your concern, Colonel?

LEIGHTON: Well, first of all, the reason that we put troops in Afghanistan was to prevent Afghanistan from becoming another jumping off point for a terrorist group like Al Qaeda because as we all know Al Qaeda used Afghanistan as their staging base for the 9/11 attacks back in 2001. So that's a concern that Afghanistan would once again become a spring board for the kinds of things that we don't want to have happen, for a terrorist organization to take over. So today it may not be Al Qaeda, it might be some kind of remnant of ISIS that might do it or some other group that we don't know about yet. So those are all possibilities. That's one big concern.

The other concern is that we leave Afghanistan we leave a void geopolitically between Pakistan on one side, India on the other because both countries are involved in Afghan politics and they may very well use Afghanistan as a way to conduct proxy wars without going to war directly with each other so that is a possibility. Plus, on the other side of Afghanistan, on the western side, you have Iran and Iran is also very interested in what is going on in Afghanistan and they will seek to influence things there as well and if we are not there, we lose all influence.

BLACKWELL: Yes. "The Washington Post" published the Afghanistan papers, thousands of these documents and memos through interviews just a couple of days ago showing that the Bush administration, the Obama administration, the Trump administration were not fully candid with the American people and sometimes -- or just not telling the clear truth.

With that reporting does it now become harder to justify these troop levels knowing that some believe at several points in the Afghan war that it was just unwinnable?

LEIGHTON: Right. And I think the Afghanistan papers that "The Post" published are key element in how flawed (ph) U.S. policy has been in Afghanistan. That is a real significant concern. So politically, I'm sure that there's going to be a lot of support probably on both sides of the aisle where drawing down our troops and, you know, operationally it also makes sense to draw down troops in many respects. The problem is diplomatically that's where we get into trouble potentially at least.

So from the standpoint of the Afghanistan papers, it's very clear that there were a lot of mistakes made in Afghanistan and the shame of it all is that lies were told to perpetuate to this deployment and that is something that is -- you just don't do to the American taxpayer or the American public.

PAUL: Colonel Cedric Leighton, we are so grateful for your perspective and your time this morning and for you in general. Thank you so much.

LEIGHTON: Thank you, Christi. It's great to be with you guys.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

New this morning, the FBI says it is -- recovered -- says it has recovered a white van possibly connected to a shooting in New Jersey City last week. They plan to examine it for any evidence. It's unknown if that is the same van neighbors say the suspects lived in there. Other neighbors who knew one of the suspects, Francine Graham were shocked. They described her as a good person and say that was not the Francine that they knew.

Francine Graham and David Anderson are accused of killing three people after a standoff with police at a Jewish market. Investigators believe the shooters were motivated by hate and acted on their own.

PAUL: Well, President Trump taking part in an American tradition, Army/Navy game in Philadelphia. We have a report from there for you.

BLACKWELL: Plus, disturbing video from a North Carolina middle school. A school resource officer is accused of slamming a student to the ground and dragging that child down a hallway. What we are learning about the investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:43]

BLACKWELL: Police in New Zealand have released the names of three more victims killed in Monday's volcano eruption on White Island.

PAUL: Forty-seven tourists and their guides were exploring the island when the volcano shot molten rock, ash, poisonous gas into the air. We know now at least 16 people died in that disaster. Twenty-eight are being treated for severe burns in New Zealand and Australia.

Recovery efforts are still ongoing now. Authorities believe there may still be another body on that island.

BLACKWELL: Lambeau field will be game day ready today despite seeing massive snowfall. An army bearing shovels help clear the snow from the stands. The Green Bay Packers host their rivals, the Chicago Bears, today.

PAUL: Oh, my goodness! Look at all that snow! 600 members of Packer nation showing up to make sure the stadium was ready for the big game. Those are dedicated folks there.

CNN's Ivan Cabrera with us now. I understand a second winter storm is brewing that could bring more problems to football fans although it's fun to watch them in the snow.

IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Always -- always a second winter storm brewing, right? I have a feeling they have done that before there at Lambeau Field. Maybe once or twice so kind of used to it.

Yes. We do have a second storm -- guys, good morning. It's brewing out west and it is going to be bringing problems. I think not so much because it's going to be snow but we are going to have a mix where it is going to be icing here and I'll show you that. That is going to be a huge issue.

So this is coming out of the Rockies really where Colorado has been slammed over the last several days by a fast flow up above. That is bringing significant amounts of snow across the mountains. So winter storm warning is still there. But then these are for later today and into tomorrow, winter storm warnings several portions of the Missouri Valley as this low begins to take shape with this front as everything pushes east. But notice the colors here. That is going to be key.

The Gulf of Mexico is going to basically ruin things for us here because it's going to bring in some warm air up above. You get water falling from the sky on ground that's below 32 degrees, you've got problems and so we're going to have some icing here as we head through the day on Monday. This is going to wreak havoc across the highways here along interstate 70 specifically here.

This is the accumulating snow anywhere from 5 to 7 inches. So again not a blockbuster storm but this is going to be the key here. We have an area that's going to ice up. In fact we could get upwards of three-quarters of an inch of ice and that obviously is going to bring down power lines and create all sorts of problems with this (ph).

[06:30:02]

By the way, this is also quite a dynamic storm as a result of that Gulf of Mexico, moisture on that front coming in, a severe one, the potential, and enhanced risk, actually level three out of five, guys, heading into tomorrow for the potential of damaging winds to large hail and even some isolated tornadoes. So we have basically the kitchen sink here with this second storm as it comes in.

By the way, if you want to see something very interesting and cool, watch the game today, Broncos at KC. It is going to be snow and big time throughout the game between (INAUDIBLE). Guys?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN NEW DAY: All right, we'll be watching. Ivan Cabrera, thank you so much.

CABRERA: Yes, you bet.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN NEW DAY: So President Trump is taking part in the Army-Navy game. They didn't disappoint, did it, Coy Wire?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It did not disappoint. And in a game that celebrates the future defenders of our nation, one side will celebrate and a whole bunch more than other. We'll talk about America's game, the Army-Navy game coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

BLACKWELL: President Trump hit the road yesterday. He was there for the annual tradition of the Army-Navy game.

PAUL: Yes, second year in a row that the president attended the game. Here he is greeting players in the locker room. He went to both locker rooms, by the way, just to say, also took part in the ceremonial coin toss at the 50 yard line.

BLACKWELL: Now, the president watched the game from both sidelines starting with Army then switching over to Navy. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other military leaders joined the president as well.

PAUL: Coy Wire was there as well in Philly. I'm betting you're glad to be there and not in -- is it Kansas where it's supposed to be -- Kansas City where it's supposed to be snowing so bad today?

WIRE: Yes, I'm happy here. It's not snowing in past years, like it's been with us. Good morning to you both. You think about after three straight losses with these Navy Midshipmen, it would have been heart breaking had they graduated and never beaten their bitter rivals, Army, but they finally taste victor.

Navy held nothing back. Check this out, bringing out a trick play just before halftime, notice the Philly special here in Philly, Chance Warren throwing to Jamale Carothers for the touchdown. The Midshipmen lead 14-7 at the half.

And from there, Senior Malcolm Perry takes over, over 300 yards on the day. He breaks Navy's all-time single season rushing record during the game. Not bad for the kid who three years ago was pulled out of the stands and put into the game. Navy wins 31-7. I caught up with some of the happy men after the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS PEARSON, NAVY NOSE GUARD: They have led us and we love them. We play for the love of our brothers. And (BLEEP) shows. It shows.

MIKE MAUAI, NAVY RUNNING BACK: Malcolm Perry is very good at football.

MALCOLM PERRY, NAVY QUARTERBACK: It means so much to everybody in the locker room. Everybody went out there and fought their heart out. It was just -- it's really great to come out with a win.

ERIC CAL, NAVY CENTER: Go Navy. Beat Army. Let's go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: This win was extra special for senior Paul Carothers. When he was a freshman, his dad was shot and killed while serving our nation as a U.S. Marshal. The pain eventually strengthened Paul. He was voted as team captain this season. And I caught up with him and his sister after the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL CAROTHERS: NAVY LINEBACKER: We love you, padre. We love you. He knows that.

Go Navy. Beat Army.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go Navy. Beat Army, baby.

CAROTHERS: Yes. Come on. Come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WIRE: That's what it's all about.

Let's stay right here with college football. What a night it was for LSU's quarterback, Joe Burrow. He wins the Heisman Trophy in New York City, capping off meteoric rise to the top of the college football world. He finished the Heisman voting with the largest margin of victory in the awards history. He's the first LSU player to win it in 60 years, overcome with emotion afterwards. He thanked his head coach Ed Orgeron./

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BURROW, 2019 HEISMAN TROPHY AWARD WINNER: You have no idea what you mean to my family.

I didn't play for three years. You took a chance on me not knowing if I could play or not. And I'm forever in your -- forever grateful for you.

I sure they give him a lifetime contract. He deserves it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Congrats to Joe Burrow. And, Victor, Christi, congrats to Navy. They finally beat Army. And I want to give a quick shout-out to Master Sergeant Tony Scott. He gave this bracelet. He watches us every morning. He says he is grateful for us but he said tell those troops out there around the world to keep strong, keep their heads up, keep fighting.

PAUL: Thanks to all of those players and their families who give it everything they got in every possible way. Coy, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Coy.

WIRE: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: A family in Kansas that claims its home security cameras were hacked reveals some details about this and they relived the terrifying moments of being watched by a total stranger.

PAUL: Also, it's a natural wonder of the world and it's endangered. There is hope though. How scientists are actually tricking fish into revitalizing Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

BLACKWELL: And the final presidential debate of the year is coming to CNN. It's the PBS NewsHour/Politico Democratic Presidential Debate live from Los Angeles. And you can watch it Thursday night here on CNN and on your local PBS station. Coverage starts at 8:00 P.M. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

PAUL: So we have some disturbing video to show you out of North Carolina and I know you'll be caught off-guard, but this is hard to watch.

BLACKWELL: The video shows advanced county middle school students walking with a school resource officer. Suddenly that officer appears reach over, grabbed the child and then slammed the student to the ground. Authorities say the child is between 8 and 13 years old. But with that said, why the child was with the deputy. The Vance County sheriff immediately suspended the deputy and launched an investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you saw that video, what was your reaction?

SHERIFF CURTIS BRAME, VANCE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: I was stunned. I was shocked.

Seeing a child that small reminds me of one of my grandchildren.

MIKE WALTERS, VANCE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This is a use of force case. And the sheriff appropriately has called in an outside agency to investigate. And I can just assure -- I've been able to assure the family that this is being conducted appropriately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, the school district issued a statement. It reads this. We are deeply concerned by the actions that took place. School and district officials are working closely and in full cooperation with the local authorities to address this matter consistent with school board policy and state laws. We'll keep you updated on what we learn about that story.

But we also want to bring you this. We had two different stories yesterday about this. This is a new one. A Kansas family claims that their home security cameras were hacked and they are talking about this incident now. The couple says they were at home when a voice came over their ring home security camera saying this.

[06:45:01]

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm taking pictures of the baby. I'm asleep.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit the (BLEEP) back down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Wow.

Now, the family has since removed this device from their home understandably. They say they feel violated. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE NORRIS, CLAIMS SECURITY CAMERAS HACKED: We are sitting here watching T.V., hanging out as a family and someone is using it like a reality T.V. show or something.

ASHLEY NORRIS, CLAIMS SECURITY CAMERAS HACKED: My kids were here and he is talking to my kids and spying. It's just so wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, Ring, which makes these devices, says its services are not been compromised. The company encourages its users to use different passwords for each account and set up two factor authentication.

PAUL: So aside from the impeachment fight, President Trump is taking on a climate activist, Greta Thunberg, and it might have been really the biggest story last week.

BLACKWELL: The president trolled the 16-year-old after she was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year. CNN's Jeanne Moos has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Global warming aside, it must be heartwarming for a 16-year-old climate activist to be defended by a former first lady when attacked by the current president. Michelle Obama tweeted, don't let anyone dim your light, ignore the doubters, after President Trump said this about Greta Thunberg, Time Magazine's Person of the Year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is his tweet, so ridiculous. Greta must work on her anger management problem. Hello, look in the mirror.

MOOS: The president continued, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend. Chill, Greta, chill. Reaction wasn't chill. What kind of president bullies a teenager, thundered Joe Biden. One cartoonist pictured them as Greta and Regreta. Thunberg, herself, responded by changing her Twitter bio to a teenager working on her anger management problem, currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.

One fan compared Greta Thunberg in a war of wits Donald J. Trump, just shooting fish in a barrel. But Republican Representative Mike Johnson defended Trump's tweet mocking the teen with Asperger's syndrome.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The president communicates in unique way.

MOOS: After Greta communicated her thoughts on climate change at the U.N. in September --

GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: You have stolen my dreams, my childhood with your empty words.

MOOS: President Trump tweeted, she seems like a very happy young girl, looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. She then made that her bio.

Things came to a head when President Trump's campaign war room literally used his head, leaving critics shaking their heads over this. The president's head photo shopped on Greta's body. President Trump used to like to ask this question --

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Would you rather see Person of the Year? Man of the Year?

MOOS: Just call Greta Man-Eater of the Year.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

PAUL: If you all could make this step up (ph).

BLACKWELL: Yes. Well, the president has made up his own covers of being Man of the Year, Person of the Year and hung them at his clubs. So you can actually make it up.

PAUL: Make it up.

BLACKWELL: Scientists may have discovered a way to trick animals into repairing the damage caused by the climate crisis. How scientists are using underwater speakers to bring life back to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

PAUL: While, an effort to revitalize the Great Barrier Reefs, scientists replicated the sound of a health coral reef using loud speakers underwater, basically, the sounds of fish from 2012 at the reef. And they used those loud speakers to entice fish to come back to dead coral reefs. And guess what? They did, they returned.

I spoke with Steve Simpson, a marine biologist, about the significance of this research.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE SIMPSON, PROFESSOR OF MARINE BIOLOGY AND GLOBAL CHANGE, UNIVERSITY OF EXETER: We discovered probably nearly 20 years ago the coral reef fish, baby fish, so these are three or four weeks old, they've spent the first few weeks developing more plankton. They can hear their way home. The can hear the sounds that other animals make on the reef and this gives them a really powerful way of choosing where to go and spend the rest of their lives, like they listen in to different habitats.

Now, unfortunately, on the Great Barrier Reef, where we have been working five years ago, there were two cyclones back-to-back year- after-year, and then two years of very intense bleaching where the water temperatures got so hot, they cooked the corals. And as a result, the reef went quiet. The animals died. The reef died. And when we went back there, it was ghostly quiet. It was really a very sad season where we could just see how devastated this reef was.

So thought, well, hang on a minute, because we know that our historic recordings from when the reef was healthy are really attractive to fish. So if we play those around the degraded habitats, maybe we could actually get the fish to start coming back in to the environments that we'd like to try and restore the coral reef fish communities.

So with loud speakers, we played out 2012 recordings, 2014 recordings, and when the reef had been healthy. And, sure enough, we were able to restock these areas with young fish that were coming back from the plankton. And then by tracking them for six weeks, we found that they stayed there. The community started to rebuild, which is exactly what the reef needs to have any chance of recovering.

PAUL: Do you have a percentage or an idea of how much this reef has recovered up to this point?

SIMPSON: So we've just got some photos back. My team are around on the Great Barrier Reef at the moment. And they're starting to see corals that are back at the size of dinner plates again. So these corals are growing quite quickly.

[06:55:00]

And what we think by restocking the fish community is that we accelerate that process and ensure that it develops in the right direction, rather than turns into a slime covered or a muddy sea bed bottom.

PAUL: How long do you think it will be before you'll see something that reflects what it used to look like?

SIMPSON: Yes. So, certainly, five good years would make that reef look far, far superior to what it looks like at the moment. Obviously, it needs to be good years, so more bleaching events will be a real challenge. And some of the corals that died are obviously hundreds of years old. So it would take a long time for some of those species to recover.

So we are seeing the fast-growing branch in corals grow back very quickly at the moment, and that then starts to create a more solid structure that the rest of the corals can grow in amongst.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: And we'll keep up with that, find out how it continues to go.

Next hour of your New Day is up after the break. But --

BLACKWELL: But, first, SNL, they make fun of how families are discussing the impeachment story over the holidays. Watch this. It's pretty funny.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate to say this but could we please talk about politics instead?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you mean how Trump is definitely impeached and then definitely getting re-elected? I'm good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don't understand who o earth could vote for Trump after this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How could anyone not vote for Trump after this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who do you think is going to get voted out The Masked Singer next week? I think it's fox.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mean Wayne Brady?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What? It's obviously Jamie Foxx. Fox, Jamie Foxx, it almost makes too much sense. I bet you Jamie Foxx could beat Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dad, Trump is not going to win and people aren't going to vote for him again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What people? White people? If white people tell you, I might not vote for Trump this time, do you know what that's called, right? A lot. Nobody was going to vote for Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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