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EARLY START

Russia Vows Serious Consequences for Turkey Shooting Down Jet; Protesters March in Chicago Streets; Donald Trump Back on the Attack. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired November 25, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:30] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Russia vowing serious consequences for Turkey shooting down its war jets. Will there be retribution? And what will it mean for the international fight against ISIS?

Live team coverage ahead.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Breaking news this morning. Protesters marching through the streets of Chicago after video of a white officer killing a black teenager is released.

Welcome back to EARLY Start. I'm Boriz Sanchez.

KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour.

Happening now, world leaders bracing for a possible fallout after Turkey shoots down a Russian bomber, a deadly move that could derail any chance for a true international coalition to fight ISIS in Syria.

Turkey says the plane violated its airspace and ignored multiple warnings. Russia says its jet never strayed from Syrian territory. Russian news agencies report one of two pilots was killed, as was a Russian Marine trying to rescue them. A second pilot was rescued and is with the Syrian Army.

Now, Western leaders fear escalation. The head of NATO urges calm. That call echoed by President Obama, expressing U.S. support for Turkey's right to defend its sovereignty.

From Istanbul, let's bring in CNN's Ian Lee for the latest.

So you think about sort of historically, Russia -- it's not the first time Russia's gone into Turkish airspace, although Russia would deny that. This time it was very different.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. Just last month Russia violated Turkish airspace, according to Russian officials. And Turkey has warned them in the past that any sort of efforts could be met with like the incident we saw yesterday where Turkish jets shot down that Russian plane. Now, we're hearing literally right now from the prime minister of

Turkey talking about this incident. He said that there were two planes that violated Turkish airspace after the warnings. One of the planes veered off, and the other one continued to the violation. They said that they shot down the plane when it was in Turkish airspace. This is a narrow strip of land that goes into Syria, and they say that's when they shot down the plan over land in Syria.

But what hearing from Turkish officials is one of a conciliatory tone. They're saying that on one hand, listen, they are going to defend their territory, but on the other hand, they have no animosity towards Russia, that they want to create a dialogue to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. And they also say that it isn't in their interest to have a dispute with Russia, especially with the current civil war going on neighboring Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT: We do not have any intention to escalate this matter. All we are caring for is defending our security and the law and rights of our brothers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And we just heard from the president, and really Turkey says that they are defending their 10 in Syria -- their Turkmen who are ethnic Turks -- on the border. They have accused Russia of bombing them, killing civilians as well as the Syrian government bombing them as well.

They say that is their main objective is to protect them, but it could backfire, as this could escalate tension with Russia. But Syria -- or what Turkey right now really trying to deescalate the situation, hoping that they can come to some sort of negotiation so that this does not happen again.

KOSIK: And that is the hope. CNN's Ian Lee live from Istanbul. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin furious, accusing , Turkey, an important trading partner of stabbing Russia in the back, even calling Turkey an accomplice of terrorism for allegedly financing ISIS through illicit oil sales.

And this breaking news, Russia announcing it will deploy a powerful new surface to air missle system in Syria. It's not clear yet how the shoot down will affect Putin's meeting with the president of France tomorrow. Francois Hollande traveling the world trying to build a coalition against ISIS. It's expected he'll push for Putin's help, easing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad out of power, ending the Syrian civil war and refocusing all Russia's firepower on ISIS.

On Tuesday, Hollande met with President Obama. Afterwards, the president said Russian cooperation would be enormously helpful but signaled it is not essential.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got a coalition. Russia right now is a coalition of two, Iran and Russia supporting Assad. Russia's the outlier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: With the latest on Russia's reactions, CNN's Matthew Chance joins us now live from Moscow.

Matthew, good morning to you.

Putin has called this a stab in the back, saying there will be serious consequences. We've heard he may close Syrian airspace to NATO countries. What do you think? How far do you think this is going to go?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, if he deploys those missiles as he said he will -- the S- 400 missiles -- they're some of the most sophisticated surface to air missiles in the world, extremely capable -- could easily take down American fighter planes, for instance, and other NATO planes as well -- he'll certainly have the capability to close off Syrian airspace, although he hasn't suggested that that's what the intention is at this point.

But once they're in place, it's an escalation, because essentially, no one will be able to fly in the skies over Syria, unless Russia gives it the OK. And so that's a major -- I think the major significance of this deployment.

The fact that their plane has been shot down has essentially allowed Russia or forced Russia to boost its presence inside Syria effectively in the future -- the not too distant future -- giving it control of that Syria airspace. And so that's a major escalation, as I say.

The consequences for Turkey, they've already been quite severe. There's been diplomatic reviews, obviously. The foreign minister of Russian called off his trip there. Vladimir Putin called it a stab in the back.

All sorts of other issues as well. Economically, it could be difficult. Tourists from Russian are being told not to travel to Turkey, which is a major industry for Turkey. Some chicken producers, for instance, have had their products banned from import into Russia as well from Turkey.

And so there are a sort of range of diplomatic, economic and military measure that the Russians are now imposing as a response to what they call a major violation of humanitarian or international with the shooting down of their aircraft, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now, Matthew, the major point of contention in this conflict is whether or not Bashar Al-Assad stays in power. We know Francois Hollande is pushing Putin to kind of ease on that. Putin has been very vocal about keeping Assad in power. Some analysts, though, say that behind closed doors, Russia's not married to Assad long-term. What's your reaction to that?

CHANCE: Yes, no, I think that's probably a good analysis. I mean, the individual, I think, for the Kremlin isn't as important as the interests that he protects. I mean, Russia's interest in Syria is that it has an airbase there, it has a naval base in Tartus that's on the coast of the Mediterranean, it's got economic ties as well. It sees Bashar Al-Assad as the individual -- with his family members, of course, who control the Syrian government -- who will continue to back up Russia in that sense and not let those interests go and give them to somebody else.

I mean, if there is another individual who could also -- Russians could also be convinced will protect their interests, then they will go for it. But at the moment, what they're saying is that Bashar Al- Assad is the legitimate president of Syria. It's not for anyone else to decide who should be the president. It's for -- the words of the Kremlin, it's for the people of Syria. And so at the moment, there's no sign of them withdrawing their support from Assad at the moment.

SANCHEZ: All right, Matthew. We'll continue to monitor the situation. Thank you.

KOSIK: The latest now on the manhunt for a new suspect in the Paris terror attacks. He's 30-year-old Mohamed Abrini, and police believe he drove a key terrorists to Paris just two days before the attacks.

We're also learning more about the group's ringleader. Police say Abdelhamid Abaaoud, returned to the scene of the shootings at the Bataclan Concert Hall while police were still battling the gunmen inside. Abaaoud has since been killed.

This morning, the city of Brussels remains on high alert while trying to return to normal. After four days of lockdown, subway schools and businesses slowly starting to reopen right now.

Let's go live to Brussels and bring in CNN's Alexandra Field.

So what has changed between, let's say, yesterday and today? We've got the threat level still at its highest level. We've got military equipment still on the streets there. And I'm sure parents are really, really worried this morning as they sent their kids off to school.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Alison. And frankly, the Minister of the Interior has said that the city will remain under the highest threat level at least until Monday, and yet the decision was still made to open up these schools, to open up parts of the metro and to allow people to try and get back to some kind of sense of normal.

Yes, it is certainly unnerving for some of the people in the city. There are others who have been really just itching to resume their normal daily activities since this lockdown -- this partial lockdown really went into effect on Friday night.

But people are coming out. We're seeing them in the streets. We're seeing them at the school behind me. We heard from one mother this morning who was dropping off a child at the elementary school, and she said, you know, as a parent, you always worry about the safety of your children. Those words ring perhaps more true today then any other day.

But people feel that there is the necessity to get back to life as usual. We also saw some journalism students, who were going to the school behind me here, and they said that they do have a certain level of anxiety about resuming their activities, but they are comforted to see a very heavy police presence out here. There are hundreds of police officres who are patrolling in the areas of the school. There are hundreds of military personnel who are in the metro, as people begin to take the trains again.

But the minister of the interior has said that operations will continue to try and ferret out -- root out -- anyone who could be connected to the terror cell that perpetrated that attack in Paris. So far, the Belgium side of this investigation has already netted five arrests that are connected to those attacks.

And we know that there is an international manhunt for two men, Salah Abdelsalam and also another man, Mohamed Abrini, and police have now released a picture of Abrini. They say that he was with Abdelsalam just two days before the Paris attacks.

So while people here in Brussels try to return to life as normal, they know that there are two men who are believed to be armed and quite dangerous still on the lose.

Alison?

KOSIK: And very good point. Reminder that all is not back to normal per se there.

Alexandra Field, thanks so much.

And breaking news this morning, protesters demanding justice. Newly released video showing a white police officer shooting a black teenager.

That's next.

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SANCHEZ: A tense night in the city of Chicago. Protesters taking to the streets after the release of a disturbing dash cam video showing a white police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times. Mayor Rahm Emanuel admitting the actions of the officer are disturbing and that people have a right to be angry.

We get more now from CNN's Rosa Flores.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, Alison, Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke faces first degree murder charges in the killing of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old here from Chicago. All of the shooting was caught on tape.

I want to show you this video and take you second-by-second here. According to prosecutors, the police officer arrived on scene and started shooting six seconds after that.

Now, if you look at the video, you'll see Laquan McDonald towards the center. He's walking, kind of running. Then you see a police officer on the left side of your screen pointing his weapon.

According to the prosecutor, he fired his weapon 16 times. According to autopsy, he hit the body 16 times.

Now, the prosecutor made it very clear, she says that this police officer abused his power.

ANITA ALVAREZ, COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: Clearly, this police officer went overboard, you know, and he abused his authority, and I don't believe the force was necessary.

FLORES: McDonald's family settled with the city of Chicago for $5 million and didn't want this video to be released. But as you might imagine, a lot of the protesters in this community, a lot of activists, wanted the release of this video for transparency purposes. And as soon as this video was released, there were protests planned.

Now, as for the defense, the defense attorney of this police officer keeps asking for a fair trial.

Boris? Alison?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: The Chicago Police Department has now fired Jason Van Dyke. The defense attorney for the former officer says his client feared that he would be attacked. He says the officer's actions were appropriate. Van Dyke wants the case tried in court, not the media, and he says he has a presumption of innocence like every other American.

KOSIK: It's time for an early start on your money. Stock futures here in the U.S. trading higher, and U.S. oil futures are -- oil future here are looking a little volatile, more volatile than usual -- the tensions between Turkey and Russia. The price for a barrel of crude oil actually spiked 3 percent during the day yesterday. It's now just about $42 a barrel.

Hilton Hotels hit with a cyber attack. The hotel says hackers gained access to computer system twice, once between November and December of last year and a second time between April and July of this year, so look at your statements if you stayed there during that time.

Hilton hasn't said yet how many customers were affected. So what was stolen? Credit and debit card holder names, numbers, security codes and expiration dates but no addresses or pin numbers.

Hilton is offering customers free credit monitoring for a year. Hilton is just the latest hotel chain to be hacked. Both the Mandarin Oriental and Trump hotel chains were hacked earlier this year.

The sad part about that is, you know, it's becoming so commonplace where a hack is just, oh, OK, we'll get credit monitoring. What can you do?

SANCHEZ: It doesn't really make the news anymore, does it?

KOSIK: It just did.

SANCHEZ: It just did. That's right.

Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Alisyn Camerota joining us now.

Good morning, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hey, good morning, guys. Great to see you.

So we will have much more on the outrage in the Chicago that was sparked by that video of a deadly police shooting. Why did it take a year for police to release this video and to charge the officer involved? We will be speaking live, exclusively, with that officer's lawyer.

Also for the first time on New Day, we'll be joined live by Republican presidential candidate, Jeb Bush. He is struggling in the polls, so what's his plan to bounce back. And what are his thoughts on Trump's commanding lead and all Trump's controversial comments?

So we have all of that ahead on New Day when we see you in about 11 minutes.

KOSIK: OK. Alisyn, thanks very much.

And you may have seen these ads featuring Nazi symbols for Amazon's new show. Well, Amazon's ad campaign may have backfired.

An early start on your money is next.

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SANCHEZ: Republican presidential candidates taking a break from campaigning for the Thanksgiving holiday, but Donald Trump not taking a break from attacking his rivals. At a rally in South Carolina Tuesday he went after Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. Trump also not backing down on the claim that he saw people cheer when the Twin Towers fell. We get more from CNN's Sara Murray.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison and Boris.

At a raucous rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina last night, Donald Trump stood by his claims that he saw crowds of people protesting in New Jersey on 9/11 when the Twin Towers fell. He appeared to continue trying to ratchet up his anti-terror rhetoric in the wake of those Paris terrorist attacks, saying we need to take a closer look at mosques, saying there's some nastiness coming from there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's something going on in the mosques and other places. And we have to at least say there's a problem, so we can solve it. We can't close our eyes. I don't know what's wrong with Obama. He wants to close his eyes and pretend it's not happening. Why is he so emphatic on not solving the problem? There's something we don't know about. There's something we don't know about.