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Massive Turnout Expected for NYPD Funeral; Seven Arrested for Threatening NYPD; All Threats Will Be Taken Seriously By NYPD; "The Interview" Makes $1 Million at Theaters; PlayStation and Xbox Live Knocked Offline; "The Interview" Illegally Downloaded; President Obama Pays Christmas Visit to Troops; President Obama Marks End of Afghanistan Mission; Obama Visits Troops; Indian Ocean Tsunami; Top 10 of 2014

Aired December 26, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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


BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, I'm Brianna Keilar in for Wolf Blitzer. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thank you so much for joining us.

Police officers from all over the United States were preparing to travel hundreds, some even thousands of miles to pay their respects to fallen New York police officer Rafael Ramos. The 40-year-old father of two was gunned down in his patrol car on Saturday along with his partner, Officer Wenjian Liu. As many as 30,000 people are expected to attend Ramos' funeral in Queens tomorrow.

In massive turnout, that will also include several dignitaries. These are images of Ramos' casket being carried into the church draped in the NYPD flag.

Ramos' wake will be held there one hour from now. A memorial service is planned for tonight with a funeral to be held tomorrow. Funeral services for officer Liu are still being worked out. Liu just got married two months ago. This morning, his wedow -- his widow, I should say, wept as a nonprofit foundation announced that it will assume mortgage payments of the homes of Officers Liu and Ramos.

The man suspected of killing the officers was found dead of a self- inflicted gunshot wound right after the shootings. 28-year-old, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, is believed to have posted threats on social media before he committed the crime. Miguel Marquez is joining us live outside of the church where Officer Ramos' service will be held. Miguel, set the scene there for us. It must be very emotional.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is -- it is always hard to watch grown men cry, to watch police officers show such emotion. It's really, really tough to see that casket come in earlier, to see the salinity and the seriousness with which they take this is amazing. Already, hundreds of officers from the 84th precinct where Ramos and Liu worked and ceremonial officers from NYPD have arrived.

And for hours now -- we're still an hour off, as you said, from the wake starting. But for hours, there have been people lined up. And I can tell you this line now snakes all the way down and around the block. These are people from the neighborhood. These are police officers. These are friends and families of Officer Ramos. If you go all the way down the block, they have now blocked off streets here. And you can see that there are a large number of police officers, most of them from the ceremonial division of NYPD. But lots of people from the neighborhood, also, who have come out here to watch what is happening.

I'm watching now down the streets because we believe, we know that Officer Ramos' family will be arriving here at the church before very long to begin this wake which will go from 2:00 to 7:00. And then, there will be a church service that was prescheduled but now it will be in his honor from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

So, it'll be a very long period which people from the area, his friends, his family and other police officers will come through this church in order to say their final good-byes. It's going to be the -- it's the beginning of an extraordinarily emotional time. NYPD preparing for 25,000 police officers alone to be at this funeral -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And, Miguel, in the midst of all of this, as this NYPD community is dealing with their loss of their comrade, they're also having to focus on new threats. What are you learning about this?

MARQUEZ: Yes, look, they've had dozens of threats, some of them real, some of them bogus. You know, John Miller, he's an official with NYPD, told "The New York times" the other day that they are -- they are checking out all of these things. Some of these are just pranks, and pranks on the Internet, others are just drunks who are texting stupid stuff.

But they have made seven arrests. Two of those for individuals who have made false 911 calls, three of those for individuals who posted threats on social media. One, somebody was overheard making threats against the 104 precinct. And another one, somebody called into the 84th precinct where officer Liu and Officer Ramos worked, and they made a threat directly to that precinct. Seven arrests so far. NYPD says that they are watching everything across social media and other threats to make sure that this sort of stuff -- that there's no copy cats and nobody gets any bright ideas to try anything stupid -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Miguel Marquez, we'll be watching where you are. Thank you so much.

And I want to bring in now Tom Fuentes. He's a CNN Law Enforcement Analyst. He's also the former FBI assistant direct. And this is -- this is sort of what floors me is you can only imagine just how emotional this is for these police officers. And yet, at the same time, they're -- they have to be hyper vigilant because they're dealing with potential threats to themselves as well. What do you make of the threats?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think the emotion, this time, it's my opinion, is running higher, Brianna, because of all the other things that are going on and the appearance that many police officers believe of the public no longer respecting police officers, no longer regarding what they do as important or proper. And, you know, they -- so, they feel that, in many ways, they've been under this kind of criticism now, withering criticism nationally for a long time. And now, you have two officers that were absolutely targeted, ambushed, assassinated.

KEILAR: Sitting in their -- sitting in their --

FUENTES: Sitting in their car.

KEILAR: -- squad car.

FUENTES: It wasn't a wrestling match. It wasn't a traffic stop. It wasn't an encounter with a criminal or a bank robber. They were just sitting, you know, being available on patrol in a difficult neighborhood, a high-crime neighborhood, as Commissioner Bratton has said. And this happens.

And, as if that's not bad enough, the threats keep coming. And some of them credible. And I think it just heightens what police officers already know that they are already under this. I mean, more than one police officer per week is killed in the United States somewhere. We had an officer killed, shot to death, in Tarpon Springs, Florida just two, three days ago since the incident in Ferguson. Ironically, he spent more than five years on NYPD. You would think when he went to Florida, he thought, well, it's got to be a lot safer than New York.

KEILAR: Sure.

FUENTES: But it's not, he's dead.

KEILAR: But what is -- what does the NYPD do? What do the other police departments do to protect their officers?

FUENTES: Well, first of all, they just have to be as vigilant as ever. And they have to take the threats now. There's a constant, you know, drumbeat of threats to public officials. And we've seen the ISIS threats come in to anybody in uniform, so they already have that. They've already had NYPD officers attacked by a man with a hatchet as an act of terrorism. So, they have the normal treats. And then, they have all the times they encounter people who may be drunk or mentally ill or on drugs and mean them harm.

So, that's just an everyday part of the job that goes on. And then, you have this. You have this extra heightened threat level of somebody like Brinsley who -- you know, he shoots his girlfriend in Baltimore. What led him to go all the way to New York City, to Brooklyn, and then assassinate these two police officers? And I think that's where the extra difficulty comes in for police officers everywhere in this country that it's bad enough, on a daily basis, you might not come home from work that day. But, in this case, just way more tragic than normal.

KEILAR: Completely unexpected. All right, Tom Fuentes, thank you so much.

And now, to the movie that North Korea wanted, well, no one to see but many of you did. The Seth Rogen, James Franco comedy, "The Interview" made $1 million at the box office on Christmas Day. Not bad considering the film was showing in just over 300 theaters nationwide. Meantime, two online gaming networks, Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox Live, have been hit by hackers. But we're learning the attack may have nothing to do with the cyber-hack on Sony.

Our Dan Simon joining us now live from San Francisco to talk about this. And, Dan, many people thought that this gaming attack may have been the Christmas surprise that Sony hackers were warning about. They -- that may not be the case though, right?

DAN SIMON, CNN SILICON VALLEY CORRESPONDENT: It's not the case. You know, this was a group called Lizard Squad and they said they just wanted to expose the security holes in the PlayStation and the Xbox networks. And to that, I say mission accomplished from this hacking group. So, Brianna, obviously got a lot of people who are unhappy, who are unboxing their brand-new consoles and they can't get them to work properly.

And, at this point, it appears that Xbox may be up to par, at this point, that it's working normally but PlayStation is still down. And this is a group that is notorious that it's done this in the past and we'll just see how the day carries on. But at last check, people still complaining, particularly about PlayStation that they can't get on, at this point -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And tell us about "The Interview." Are you hearing anything about it being pirated, perhaps?

SIMON: Well, at this point, 750,000 people have downloaded "The Interview" illegally, that's according to the stats that we're seeing. It's probably a lot more than that. And, really, that's just indicative of the times that we live in, Brianna. The fact that it wasn't available for legally purchased people online outside of the United States I think, you know, shows that there is an appetite for this, at least internationally.

But I think the bigger question is how many people actually did pay real money to watch this and will that factor into Hollywood's decision, maybe in the future, about simultaneous releases online and theaters at the same time? I know a lot of people want to see that happen and people willing to pay good money for that. So, we'll see if those numbers come out later today -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Dan Simon, we'll wait for those numbers with you. Thank you.

And still ahead, the president makes a holiday visit to troops stationed in Honolulu and he thanks them for their service in Afghanistan.

And later, President Obama takes executive action on immigration reform. It's one of the political stories of 2014. We'll be counting down the top 10.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KEILAR: In one week, the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan draws to a close and in a Christmas Day visit with the troops in Hawaii, the president lotted (ph) their achievements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is an important year. We've been in continuous war now for almost 13 years. Over 13 years. And next week, we will be ending our combat mission in Afghanistan, obviously because of the extraordinary service the men and women in the American armed forces. Afghanistan has a chance to rebuild its own country. We are safer. It's not going to be a source of terrorist attacks again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's bring in our White House Correspondent Michelle Kosinski. She is in Honolulu. And, Michelle, this was, obviously, a sort of feel-good visit that the president pays every year to troops there in Hawaii. But the president said, as well, Afghanistan is not going to be the source of terrorist attacks again. But 2014 was the bloodiest year in the war. You had a high civilian and law enforcement casualty --

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right.

KEILAR: -- count. How's the U.S. planning to shift away from this leading role to a supporting one?

KOSINSKI: Yes, I mean, and it's shocking to see that statement that it was the bloodiest year. And these are civilian casualties. When you look at the kinds of attacks happening there on a weekly basis, including in the capital, attacks on convoys. Those would involve contractors and, as you mentioned, law enforcement. There was an attack on a French school not long ago. These continue and that is going to continue to be a problem. But it's considered to be more of a problem for the Afghan government. What the U.S. has tried to do is cement this relationship with the incoming Afghan government. They've signed the bilateral security agreement only weeks ago. That was a big deal. The U.S. wants to leave some troops there, continuing to draw those down there. But hopefully that's going to be the security buffer to keep things stable for the long term.

Training has been a big deal, continuing to train Afghan security forces. But that's a big statement that the president made there. As he said during this feel-good visit, that it's not going to be a source of terrorist attacks. I mean, we hope it's not going to be a source of terrorist attacks. Not only within that country, but without that country, and we hope that stability will continue there. It's been a long time of building up that security and building up the government that is there now. But, remember, that government is new. And it's still going to take work moving forward, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And it certainly will be tested, Michelle, no doubt. We heard the president there saying the combat mission is over. You

know, you can't really miss the fact, though, that there are still 11,000 troops that are going to be remaining in the country.

KOSINSKI: Definitely. I mean, and as the president often puts it, not only in the case of Afghanistan today, but also in terms of the troops that were put in Iraq to fight ISIS, but they're not really on the front lines of battle. As he says, it's not a combat role. It's more of training, stability, helping the government, helping protect U.S. assets in those places. So, yes, they are boots on the ground, absolutely. And if absolutely necessary, they would defend themselves and whatever assets they're defending. So it's not a traditional combat role where they are - they are mapping out the battle and pushing the line forward. But you're right, they are there and it remains to be seen how that role will evolve and hopefully end in the future, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Michelle Kosinski for us in Honolulu, thank you.

Pakistani intelligent officials say that at least seven people were killed Friday morning in two suspected U.S. drone strikes. This happened in North Waziristan, a mountainous region where Pakistan's army has been battling Taliban militants. One strike apparently targeted a Taliban commander and it's not clear if he survived.

Jordan's Queen Rania is taking to social media to show her support for a coalition pilot captured by ISIS. She published the hash tag, "we are all Moaz" on Instagram. She was referring to Pilot Moaz al- Kasaesbeh. His plane went down earlier this week over Raqqa, Syria. He was subsequently captured by ISIS. In a statement carried by Jordan's state run news agency, the lower house of parliament issued a warning to ISIS saying the militants and their supporters would face, quote, "grave consequences" if the pilot is harmed.

And up next, 10 years after a massive tsunami rocks the shore of an Indian coastline, one survivor recounts his ordeal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A somber day across coastal cities lining the Indian Ocean. Here, families and friends in Indonesia remember those killed 10 years ago by the Indian Ocean tsunami. The 2004 tsunami was triggered by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia and it swelled into deadly waves, as tall as 100 feet. In the aftermath, entire towns were flattened, businesses and homes crushed and more than 225,000 people lost their lives.

A city on the southeast coast of India, one of the many hard-hit areas, is paying respects to those lost with a march through the center of town. Ten years on, much of the region has rebuilt fully, but for those who survived, the memories of the devastation that day remain fresh and painful.

American Dwayne Meadows was on vacation in Thailand when the Indonesian tsunami hit. And after his bungalow washed away, he was sure that he was going to drown. Ten years later, he relives the trauma of that day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DWAYNE MEADOWS, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: As I was in my bungalow, in my room, kind of poking through my backpack and looking for my stuff, that the first signs of the tsunamis were taking place, but I was completely unaware of what was going on at the time.

The folks on the beach who were out there had noticed that this kind of white line that they had seen on the horizon was starting to grow and build into this wave and people really realized that this not really tall looking wave was actually very dangerous and powerful, and the people started to scream and turn around and run away from the beach.

I realized that it was a tsunami. The water was way away from the shoreline where it should be. And I also realized there was no way for me to go all the way down the steps and out to the front and then start running backwards. It was going to be on me in a matter of seconds. And I remember just thinking, I really need to hold my breath for as long as I can because this is going to get kind of big and kind of scary.

And then it started to come under the building. And I could feel the building kind of collapsing. And I remember the water coming in at the same time and kind of just diving and sliding into the water and hoping I would get away from the building and the roof kind of collapsing on me, spinning and twisting and my body going every which direction.

It was completely black and I had no idea what was up and down. I was clawing for what I thought was a surface but I really had no idea. And like I was running out of air and I wasn't getting any closer to the surface and eventually I just sort of accepted that this was the end.

Lo and behold, I actually did sort of pop up to the surface and was able to take some breaths, but quickly realized I was in this really, really fast-moving whitewater that was going like a whitewater river and that all I could do was kind of look in front of me and try to not hit trees, as it turned out, was the first thing I realized I was hitting. But eventually I did kind of slam into a tree and grabbed on. I thought I was going to - going to be safe because there was something stable, but I realized there was a lot of junk hitting me in the back. There was wood. I remember some nails kind of scratching across my back. So I decided just to kind of let go. That I'd be safer if I just kind of went with the flow of all this water.

Now the debris was starting to pile up and you could see in some cases whole bungalows still floating, beds and big propane tanks and refrigerators, you name it, in the water. When I got to shore, I remember there were - in the beginning there were three or four women and they were all looking for boyfriends or husbands that had gotten separated from them. We all made our way up to a resort that was on a hill. It was kind of the highest, safe place. And we got up there. There were some folks who hadn't been injured who were already doing first aid for people and throughout the day folks found water somewhere and there was a little bit of food.

It was horrible, just horrible looking at especially the children who didn't know what was going on, who were kind of shell-shocked because it was just - just horrible to look around at all the damage and destruction and injuries and everyone that was looking for children and spouses and friends. And it changes the way that you think about what's important in your life, what's worth making a big deal about, what's worth getting worried about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: You'll hear more of Dwayne Meadows' story later today. He'll be joining Pamela Brown live at 3:00 p.m. on CNN "Newsroom."

And just ahead, President Obama opens the door to diplomatic relations with Cuba. He also opens the door to more criticism on his foreign policy. Find out where that ranks in our top 10 political stories of the year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Wolf Blitzer.

It's been a challenging year for the president, attacked over a high- profile prisoner exchange, blasted for his executive move on immigration and watching his party lose control of the Senate. Jake Tapper has those stories and more in our politics "Top 10 of 2014."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Politics grabbed big headlines in 2014 with criticism and praise for the president's foreign policy, some stunning congressional dysfunction and a crushing defeat for Democrats in the midterm elections. Here are our top 10 political stories.

Number 10, 2014 offered a preview of what the 2016 presidential campaign might look and sound like as Hillary Clinton hit the road to promote her latest book. The media blitz and book tour looked a lot like a presidential candidate gearing up.

Number nine, Republican incumbents kept feeling the heat from the Tea Party, which showed it isn't going anywhere.

CHRIS MCDANIEL (R), SENATE CANDIDATE: The conservative resurgence for this country starts right here in Mississippi.

TAPPER: A Tea Party campaign by Chris McDaniel nearly cost a long-time senator from Mississippi, Thad Cochran, his seat. The primary run-off crated one of the strangest political coalitions of the year, Republican Cochran courting black Democrats in the Magnolia state to bail him out in the run-off.

SEN. THAD COCHRAN (R), MISSISSIPPI: This is your victory.

TAPPER: Cochran survived, but others were not so lucky.