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CNN NEWSROOM

Mission to Liberate Key Iraq City From ISIS; Rubio to Speak in South Carolina Today; Racial Tensions Flare Across College Campuses; Laser Target Three Passenger Planes, 2 Choppers; Obama to Award Medal of Army to Retired Army Captain; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 12, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:01] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: He gives way to some sort of starry, you know, more -- I don't know, vague in 2013. By now it's 2015 and it's just red, white and green. Starbucks said they wanted to allow every customer to tell their own story on the cup but a lot of people online thought that this is getting Christmas out of the spirit. I would say if you go to Starbucks --

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That snowman on the Starbucks cup is very Christ-like.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Go to Starbucks you can get two different kinds of Christmas blend. You can get a Christmas sweater cookie. You can get a Santa Claus cookie. I want everyone to be very aware. You can still make a lot of money selling these the Christmas spirit and -- and a lot of these companies still are even though --

COSTELLO: Dunkin' Donuts is. Thank you, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: The next hour of NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, American-led air power supporting Iraqi ground forces as they fight ISIS.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And the U.S. has a lot at stake here. It's about gaining momentum, cutting off Raqqa from Mosul.

COSTELLO: Why cutting a supply line could drive the terrorists out.

Also two students in Missouri held by cops for allegedly making threats against black students.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel upset right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somber.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just tense. It's really tense.

COSTELLO: Boycotts, resignations, and the protests now spreading to campuses beyond Mizzou. Plus --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can Senator Rubio beat Secretary Clinton?

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a better bet.

COSTELLO: The GOP candidates zero in on a new target -- Marco Rubio. He speaks in moments in South Carolina. Will he fire back?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We are following breaking news on what is being called a major offensive in the war on ISIS. Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led coalition air support are battling to retake the key city of Sinjar. That's a city where residents have fled from ISIS. CNN capturing that moment in 2014 in August. Dozens of civilians desperately scrambling onto a military chopper in order to escape the terror group.

Right now officials say Peshmerga troops have managed to secure a number of villages in that area. They've also taken control of an important stretch of highway used as an ISIS supply route into Syria.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is on the front lines of this battle just outside of Sinjar. He has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: And just behind me, you can see the thick black smoke that has been covering the center of Sinjar since pretty much about this morning when the offensive began in earliest of first light, and the distance over here, too, there's been pretty consistent exchanges of heavy machine gunfire.

I can't tell you precisely where we are -- we're on the outskirts of Sinjar -- because of the rules we agreed to while working with the Peshmerga on this embed. But there is intense fighting here. They are trying to dig themselves in and I'm standing on a key part of the strategic mission here, which is to take over this route that runs between ISIS' capital of Raqqa in Syria and the key town of Mosul in Iraq.

Now at this stage, the Peshmerga seem to hold this particular area, thanks to the noise I'm hearing above me of coalition jets, drones as well. And we also hear potentially military advisers in the local area, too.

Further down this road, though, the challenge gets messier. We're hearing a potentially 300 ISIS fighters still in the urban sprawl there. It's densely packed. The Peshmerga are moving round in an arch it seems to try and go round the entire city. But intense fighting potentially ahead here, no sense of things slowing and ISIS very closely to area, within a kilometer frankly of where I'm standing.

So much optimism at dawn this could be over in days. As the day ends, the booby traps, the mines, the sheer exhaustion potentially of moving into this city, the booby trap roads making some Peshmerga here slightly less optimistic this could be over as quickly as they'd hoped.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Nick Paton Walsh reporting. Thanks so much.

On to politics now, let's talk about the race for the White House. It's a busy day on the campaign trail. The Republican presidential candidates hitting some key battleground states today. Earlier this morning Senator Lindsey Graham filed his paperwork to get on the ballot in New Hampshire. Any minute now we're expecting Senator Ted Cruz to do the same, followed by Rick Santorum.

In the meantime, Marco Rubio is campaigning in South Carolina. Rubio now battling it out for third place against Senator Cruz in that state. These are live pictures from Hilton Head, South Carolina, where Rubio is getting ready to speak. There you see him approaching the podium right now.

Let's bring in CNN's Sunlen Serfaty. She's there, too. Hi, Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. Yes, that's right. Marco Rubio speaking in just a few minutes here at Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce event. As you mentioned he is third in this state running neck-and-neck with Ted Cruz behind Donald Trump and Ben Carson. We'll see how the latest polling after the debate really potentially shuffles the deck, if at all.

[10:05:04] But Rubio here last night in Columbia, South Carolina, he opened up his first office in the state and really talked about the importance that he sees for this first-in-the-south primary state to him. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We plan to be here quite often. Maybe not in the office every day but in the state because we want to do very well here. We want to be successful because this election could very well be decided, at least denomination could very well be decided in the state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now in the aftermath of the debate this week, much of the focus among the GOP candidates has been their distinctions over immigration policy, especially after Donald Trump says that his plans to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the nation by using something that he calls a deportation force. Now Marco Rubio still has not firmly come down where he thinks -- what he thinks about this deportation force. He is largely avoided being pinned down on any sort of specifics about this. So certainly something we look forward to hearing from him today.

But certainly his opponents, Ted Cruz, namely, is really trying to start drawing specific policy distinctions with him as they both buy for key conservative votes. Here's what Cruz said last night in New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If Republicans nominate for president a candidate who supports amnesty, we will have given up one of the major distinctions with Hillary Clinton. And we will lose the general election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And Ted Cruz really telegraphing in a big way, Carol, recently and since the debate that he intends to really go after Marco Rubio with more specificity in the coming days. Something we're already see him start to doing on immigration -- Carol

COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much. She's live in South Carolina this morning.

Many people are calling this the Marco moment. Rubio is on the rise, but don't expect the other candidates to go on the attack. Rubio is not Trump or Fiorina. As "The Washington Post" put it this morning, he's now the Republican establishment's golden boy.

With me now, columnist for the "Daily Beast," Patricia Murphy. I'm also joined by CNN political commentator and conservative talk radio host Ben Ferguson.

Welcome to you both.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

PATRICIA MURPHY, COLUMNIST, THE DAILY BEAST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. OK, so, a Bush supporter is quoted in "The Washington Post" this morning, I think he put it best. His name is Vin Webber. He said, quote, "Rubio's articulate, attractive and young. His rivals don't want him to win but no one wants him to lose."

So, Ben, what does that mean?

FERGUSON: It means that he is a candidate that's consistently done well at the debate and has had a consistent rise in the polls. It hasn't been overnight, like we saw with Carly Fiorina and then immediately dropped back down. And I think most people are starting to look at this as a very consistent, you know, momentum. He's been tested now multiple times, multiple candidates have come after him and he continues to be able to weather those storms and those fights. And so I think if you're around politics, if you're a voter that

really is keyed in on these primary states, you're paying attention to Marco Rubio. And you're liking what you're seeing from him because he seems to be getting better and better at this and not having big flubs or accidents or oops against Donald Trump or any other candidate.

COSTELLO: OK. On the subject of attacking Rubio, though, Patricia, Donald Trump is not afraid to attack him and because he's called Rubio a lightweight, it didn't hurt Trump. Bush maligned Rubio, though, and that hurt him. So how do you effectively attack Rubio if you're running against him?

MURPHY: I think the person who's doing it the most often and the person who's doing it best is Ted Cruz. And if you talk to people who kind of know things in the Republican Party, people who are the established men and I have been running campaigns a long time, they see Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as the guy who have the legs to go the distance. They do think that Donald Trump and Ben Carson are going to flame out somehow and it's going to eventually come down to Cruz and Rubio.

And look at what Cruz is doing. He's hitting Rubio not on his age, not on his experience, but on his position. Specifically on immigration and saying that Marco Rubio is not conservative enough to not only win the nomination but also to put up a contrast against Hillary Clinton.

And on immigration, Marco Rubio I think has a significant problem, you look at a state like South Carolina, very conservative. South Carolina has one of the toughest immigration laws in the country. And he's going to need South Carolina conservatives to come out for him. And when I talk to Tea Party supporters, they say they will never forgive Marco Rubio for supporting that gang of eight bill in the Senate. He was actually one of the key people to draft it and eventually --

FERGUSON: That's his biggest liability.

MURPHY: It is his biggest liability. He backed off of it but he's not getting supporters of immigration or against immigration because he's just a little bit somewhere in the middle. It's very hard to know where he is.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: And it's very hard to know where he is. And I wish during the debate last night somebody would have asked him, but nobody did, Ben. Do you know where Marco Rubio stands on immigration?

[10:10:02] FERGUSON: I think he's trying to figure out exactly how he wants to play this because his record is different probably than what he's going to say. The gang of eight is his biggest vulnerability. And I think that's where you see a candidate like Ted Cruz is going to have the biggest chance to really gain momentum and maybe, you know, topple Rubio in some of these polls by saying you're not exactly as conservative on these issues as you're claiming. And let's go back and look at your record. Let's go back and look at the time when you were in the Senate and you did work with the gang of eight. Let's go when you had to pull back off that because you were taking so much heat.

Ted Cruz is a guy that I think can pull the most supporters not only from Tea Party members but also from people that support Ben Carson and for people that supported Donald Trump. I think he can actually pull more from them because of how conservative he is compared to Marco Rubio. And if they go toe-to-toe towards the end, that might be the advantage that Ted Cruz needs over Rubio. And if they go toe-to- toe on stage together without all these other candidates around, it would be a pretty incredible debate, especially with Rubio being such a good counter-puncher.

COSTELLO: All right. I've got to leave it there. Ben Ferguson, Patricia Murphy, thanks to you both.

MURPHY: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: You're welcome. Just a quick programming note for our viewers. Donald Trump sits down for a one-on-one interview tonight with Erin Burnett to talk about his strategy and his plan for keeping the competition from surging ahead. You can catch it 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

And this just into CNN. The biggest union endorsement yet for Democrat Bernie Sanders. The American Postal Workers Union, more than 200,000 members strong, is backing him. Sanders, in part, won the union's support by opposing privatization of the postal service.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's not just the university of Missouri. Rising racial tensions and protests across other college campuses are problems as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:57] COSTELLO: A second person has been arrested in connection to threats made on social media against students at the University of Missouri. In the meantime, a Mizzou school official, the campus director of Greek Life, has been placed on leave while the school investigates her actions during a student-led protest.

The University of Missouri is just one of several college campuses across the country dealing with flaring racial tensions. And students and faculty try to create a safe space on campus for living and learning.

Paul Vercammen is following the story. He's in Los Angeles this morning. Good morning, Paul.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And these protests sparking up on other campuses and now within the Ivy League, at Yale University. About 1,000 demonstrators marched in solidarity for students of color.

And on many campuses the refrain seems to be the same. They're calling for more diversity among the faculty. They're also asking for scholarships for minorities and cultural centers. And at Yale they say that there's long simmering racial tensions. And then just recently some black students were denied access to a fraternity party. Basically, the claim was they said that the students were told that this is a whites only party, but the fraternity denied that.

And then at Ithaca College a walkout yesterday. Students walking out calling for the resignation of the school president there, basically chanting, "No confidence, new president now." And they cite what they call his lackluster response to racial insensitivity on campus now.

Now social media you will see that some people are saying that this is politically correct, overblown reaction. But the student body president at Ithaca doesn't think so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINICK RECCKIO, ITHACA COLLEGE STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT: These students are not overreacting. All of these scenarios, all of these words and all of these situations have students of color at Ithaca College very, very unsafe. They do not feel emotionally safe or physically safe in many scenarios on this campus. And I think that it is really important to foster a school and an institution where students can feel safe and can feel that they're just as included as any other student.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: A common refrain seen on social media among students of color is, you see diversity on the brochures, but that is not their everyday experience.

Back to you now, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Paul Vercammen reporting live for us from Los Angeles.

Checking some other top stories for you at 18 minutes past. Disturbing new video shows officers repeatedly tasing a handcuffed man who would later die in police custody. This video was taken in 2013. It's now a key piece of evidence in a $25 million wrongful death suit filed by the man's family. The suit claims the officers used their tasers 20 times in a half-hour period. None of the officers have been charged in the case. The Halifax County Commonwealth attorney said the case is still under investigation.

Firefighters have managed to contain multiple grass fires are burning throughout northeastern Oklahoma. The fire sparked Wednesday afternoon and quickly grew, torching more than 500 acres. At least one home has been destroyed.

And the U.S. Soccer Federation is issuing new guidelines to try to lower the risk of concussion. The policy prohibits children younger from 11 from heading balls while players ages 11 to 13 can only do it during practice and not at games. The changes will settle a class- action suit brought last year by a former child athlete which alleged the organization failed to protect young players from head injuries.

The FAA now investigating a major concern in the skies overnight. Five aircraft targeted by laser pointers. This video taken in New York City. A chopper with a news crew on board captured the moment during a potentially blinding beam. It was shot straight into the cockpit of that helicopter.

We took a still from the video, here it is. This is what it looks like when the pilot takes a direct hit. Listen to the reporter's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:20:01] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I see the people involved right now. They're walking in and out of the building. Hitting us right now. Don't look, George. Oh, yes. You think this is a joke, huh?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Rene Marsh is live in Washington with more on what happened next. Good morning.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. I mean, it was a busy night in the skies. We're talking about five laser strikes. This happening in two major cities. Pilots flying, two local news choppers in New York City say that someone shined the blinding light into their cockpit.

Now the NYPD is telling us that one chopper was targeted over Brooklyn. That's the one you just saw there. It's often tough to track down the culprit, but the pilot of this news chopper, you saw that video, zoomed in on the culprits, pinpointing their location. Police arrested the two men. In that case charges are pending. Take a listen to the reporter who was on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS PROTSKO, WNBC CHOPPER 4 REPORTER: We're talking about a helicopter here that weighs almost two tons. I mean, imagine that coming down on your house because the pilot's vision is impaired. Even more serious is if it was a jetliner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: This is a serious situation. I mean, blinding a pilot even temporarily could be catastrophic. Minutes later a second news chopper targeted near Newark Liberty Airport, and then separately the FAA says three commercial passenger planes were hit with lasers in the Dallas area. All three were at altitudes of about 3,000 to 4,000 feet coming in for landing. That is a critical point of flight.

Police have not made arrests in those cases just yet. But these lasers can temporarily blind pilots, even cause permanent damage to the cornea. We should remind you, this is a federal crime. But unfortunately it happens so often. The number of lasers reported, Carol, laser strikes, thousands every

single year. This year through October, more than 5300 already reported.

COSTELLO: All right, Rene Marsh reporting live. Many thanks.

I was a little distracted there because I do have breaking news to pass along to you. New video from ISIS threatening to attack Russia, quote, "very soon." The five-minute clip showing generic video of Russian cities and buildings. It's titled "Soon, very soon the blood will spill like the ocean."

We just got this news into CNN. We'll have much more in the hours to come.

Also to come in the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Chi-raq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Spike Lee's latest -- latest film. The film taking on violence in Chicago and comparing the Windy City to Iraq. We'll hear from the controversial director next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:27:04] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories at 26 minutes past. Shocking images of a small corporate jet's final fiery moment. Investigators say this surveillance video from a nearby construction site could provide valuable clues about why that plane fell short of the airport. It shows the aircraft flying at low altitude, and then banking to the left before slamming into an Akron, Ohio, apartment building. All nine people on board were killed. No one on the ground was hurt.

A mix-up in the packaging of birth control pills has led to a multimillion dollar lawsuit by more than 100 women who say they got pregnant. The mothers are seeking millions in damages, including the cost of childbirth and raising the baby. The mislabeled pills were recalled in 2011, but many of them had already been used.

And after 15 months of living in church -- living inside a church, I should say, to avoid deportation, an undocumented woman is back in her Tucson home with her husband and two children. Rosa Robles has been in the United States illegally for about 20 years. She was granted sanctuary inside the church in 2014 as she faced deportation. Her attorney says she now has nothing to worry about after a deal was worked out with immigration officials.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

A historic moment set to begin soon at the White House. A retired army captain will be awarded the Medal of Honor. Captain Florent Groberg is being awarded for his selfless acts during a suicide bombing in Afghanistan in 2012. He tackled the terrorist and saved many lives.

CNN's Joe Johns is here with more. Good morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That ceremony is scheduled to begin here at the White House around 11:15 Eastern Time. Captain Florent Groberg was in Afghanistan the summer of 2012 when the security detail he was working on was approached by two suicide bombers on motorcycles. Groberg grabbed one of them, tackled them, pushed him away. The suicide vest went off and a number of people were killed, including two army majors, one Air Force major and an individual with the State Department.

So he was very badly injured and actually had to have more than 30 operations on his leg to try to repair it. Listen to what he had to say about that day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. FLORENT GROBERG, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Motorcycles coming towards our patrol. When I looked to my left, I saw a young Afghan male. So as soon as he started moving towards our patrol, I left my position to go meet him because he's a threat and, you know, I need him away. So I hit him with my rifle. And that's when I felt I hit a vest under his clothing. And so at this point all I could do, you know, is just get him away as far as we could. So I grabbed him by his vest and, you know, I'm trying to push him down, throw him. And Sergeant Mahoney the whole time followed me, you know, into this and, you know, as I'm throwing him down, Sergeant Mahoney is throwing him down and then he detonated at my feet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)