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Video of Teen's Shooting Death Sparks More Protests; Turkey Releases Audio of Its Warnings to Russian Jet; Hollande to Meet with Putin in Moscow; Obama: No Credible Threats to U.S. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired November 26, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A second night of unrest as hundreds of protesters return to the streets.

[05:58:19] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw, like, a killing and cover up. And both of those lead us to questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The video clearly shows Laquan walking away, and he was not threatening anybody.

DAN HERBERT, JASON VAN DYKE'S ATTORNEY: It doesn't show quite a bit. It's a limited video.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be a long, long, long battle.

GRAPHIC: This is Turkish Air Force speaking on guard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New fallout after Turkey shoots down a Russian jet.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: No one can predict what Vladimir Putin may decide to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not in the interests of either country to see this escalate.

ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: We are moving closer to a war in the Middle East.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Law enforcement on the alert across the country this holiday weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll never have 100 percent confidence in what's going on.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are taking every possible step to keep our homeland safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a special Thanksgiving day edition of CNN NEWSROOM. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. It is Thursday, November 26, 6 a.m. in the East. And we do have some breaking news to tell you about, because breaking overnight for a second night, demonstrators taking to the streets in several cities to protest the shooting death of that black teenager in Chicago at the hands of a white police officer.

MICHAEL PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Now four more dash cam videos have been released showing the moments that led up to that deadly confrontation. The city's police department warning its own officers of a potential ambush by gang members in retaliation for the teen's killing.

CNN's Ryan Young is live in Chicago with all the latest developments for us -- Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Look, as a slight rain falls here in Chicago this Thanksgiving day, let me tell you, protesters who are normally on the South Side moved to the North Side, came down the famous Magnificent Mile and blocked traffic for quite some time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG (voice-over): A second night of unrest in two major cities as hundreds of protesters returned to the streets. From Chicago to New York, demonstrators marching in frustration over the shocking death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Police arresting several protesters in New York City, their passion spilling into the Macy's flagship department store in the heart of Manhattan, their voices raging.

In Chicago, demonstrators staged a sit-in, blocking a major intersection, some trying to take police officers' bikes.

This as newly-released dash cam videos obtained by "The Chicago Tribune" captured the moment before and after 37-year-old Jason Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times last October.

This is Officer Van Dyke's own vehicle dash cam. While out of focus, you can see McDonald cutting across the front of his police car and passing a nearby Burger King. Moments later, after six seconds after getting out of his vehicle, Officer Van Dyke begins to shoot the teen as he walked down the street, wielding a knife, continuing to fire even after McDonald fell to the ground.

Just minutes later, this dash cam from another police officer's car shows McDonald lying on the street, the other officers at the scene never opening fire. Van Dyke's attorney says the officer was in fear for his life and said the videos don't show a complete picture, saying McDonald was...

HERBERT: Harassing business owners, waving a knife for about 18 minutes on a busy street. Him stabbing a squad car windshield that was manned with two police officers inside there.

YOUNG: Late Wednesday night, President Obama reacting to the deadly shooting saying he was, quote, "deeply disturbed" by the footage and is grateful to his hometown "for keeping protests peaceful."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: Now, also they went to Millennium Park. There's a new Christmas tree there. We saw them pulling lights off the tree before someone could kind of step in. But everyone's waiting to see what happens on Black Friday, because several protestors have told us they plan to come up this way, Magnificent Mile, and disrupt the sales -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Ryan. We'll be checking in with you as the day goes on.

We want to take a closer look at the videos with retired NYPD detective and CNN law enforcement analyst Harry Houck and also CNN political commentator Marc Lamont Hill.

First of all, I want to wish you both a happy Thanksgiving. And to say I'm very grateful for both of you being here...

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Happy Thanksgiving.

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Happy Thanksgiving.

PEREIRA: ... to bring your voices to this conversation. I'm hoping we can keep it reasonable and civil here, because I think so many of us are frustrated that we're still having these conversations, and we want to make headway. But it does warrant analysis, right?

HOUCK: Exactly.

PEREIRA: So Harry, first of all, you -- I remember you saying you don't believe that this officer should have fired, correct?

HOUCK: Correct.

PEREIRA: And you -- I want to show this video that I think we can -- well, actually, we can't show some of the video. But there's this new video from Officer Van Dyke's dash cam. It was a previous angle...

HOUCK: Right.

PEREIRA: ... we saw. Right? It showed what led up to that shooting, the moment, sort of, before. Do you still feel the same way, that the officer shouldn't have opened fire?

HOUCK: Yes. Yes, yes, definitely. I think the officer could have found a different way to be able to handle the situation here. Getting out of that vehicle that fast and firing shots that fast. And like I said, after seeing the video, my friend, Marc -- and happy Thanksgiving to you -- all right? After watching the video and seeing those officers' reactions and the other officer's actions, I can now say to myself and to the viewers that this shooting was unwarranted. PEREIRA: It didn't need to happen.

HOUCK: It did not need to happen.

PEREIRA: I mean, you even talked about the fact that you've had cases...

HOUCK: I've had...

PEREIRA: ... where you've touched (ph) your baton at somebody...

HOUCK: ... the same type of situation, exactly.

PEREIRA: ... and they dropped the knife.

HOUCK: Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, here's a guy who's got a lot of police experience, too. It's not like he's a rookie or anything. He's got, like, 14, 16 years. I'm not sure the exact time he's got on the job.

But he should have been able to take a little more time to assess what was going on there.

PEREIRA: Take a breath.

HOUCK: Listen -- listen, you know, a lot of cops talk about, you know, we can't wing a guy, shoot a guy in a leg or something. There's enough guys there, even if it got a little bit more worse, you could have shot the guy in the leg.

Now, I'm a good shot. I mean, I don't know how great a shot this guy is, all right? But -- but there are other things to do. And this man didn't have to die.

PEREIRA: Mark, I want to play the sound from the defense attorney, Van Dyke's attorney. And I want you to hear what he said just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERBERT: Everyone is looking for something on the video that would show Mr. McDonald charging at my client or raising his knife and moving in his direction. and it doesn't -- not necessarily show that. But that does that mean that my client's actions were criminal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Well, the fact is he goes on to say it does not show the incidents that occurred before his client arrived.

[06:05:01] Now we know what happened before he arrived. There's a different angle. This changes things a lot, for a lot of people. But I don't think it changes your perspective at all, does it?

HILL: It doesn't. I mean, there's always more evidence. There's always more context. There's always more nuance. But at the end of the day, officers have to make sound decisions in the moment, and they have to make decisions that are reflective of the most urgent sort of needs at the time. And the most urgent needs at the time was to secure the public and to make sure that no one was hurt.

PEREIRA: Right.

HILL: And it seems to me that they were able to did that without shooting. And the other five officers seemed to agree.

But part of what the defense strategy, of course, is going to be is to say, this guy was more dangerous than you imagined. The officer felt more threatened than you can perceive. And there's more context than you can see.

PEREIRA: So Marc, something else we're learning. There are reports that Burger King -- there's a Burger King in the area -- they had a surveillance camera. And we understand that it picked up the moments -- well, the shooting, what happened that evening.

The manager of that Burger King is said to have called police. Police reviewed the tape. After they viewed it, the manager said that footage simply was gone. It was missing. That's an hour and a half of footage. It begs the question, can the police investigate themselves if this kind of thing is happening?

HILL: Well, this is what I was getting at yesterday when I was saying that it's not enough to simply blame the city for the one-year delay. And we can't assume that the police had nothing to do with it.

The police -- if the police, in fact, did erase tape, or requested that footage that was erased, that only speaks to a bigger challenge here, which you point to, Michaela, which is that the police are investigating themselves. The police police the police. So when police says, "Oh, 99 percent of our harassment claims, our brutality cases have been -- have been exonerated, well, of course. You're the one doing the exonerating."

The question is, how can we get outside review boards, citizen review boards and other people to oversee a process the police clearly have lost control of in many cities?

PEREIRA: To that point, between the surveillance footage that's gone missing, we also hear Chicago P.D. says there was no audio recorded, because the batteries were put in the wrong way.

HOUCK: Exactly, exactly.

PEREIRA: Does that not all -- I mean, these irregularities don't help matters for police.

HOUCK: No, it doesn't -- listen, it doesn't help. I don't know what's going on here, regarding the Chicago P.D., whether or not somebody messed with that tape or not. There's a possibility. I don't know.

PEREIRA: Does it smell bad to you? You know what I mean? HOUCK: Yes, it always smells bad. Listen, you know, a lot of

cases that I've been involved with also, always turns out that, you know, that one camera that we needed to be able to identify somebody, all of a sudden, that camera wasn't working, or that camera was pointed in the wrong direction.

Does it look suspect to the normal person that all this evidence is missing? Yes, it does. Can Chicago P.D. investigate itself? I'm sure they can. They've got internal affairs division that goes after that. They go after cops all the time. I was in internal affairs in New York City for seven years. We went after cops all the time.

So, you know, let's wait to see if there's any evidence to indicate that somebody actually stole that tape and, you know, what's going on. I'm sure there's an investigation going on.

PEREIRA: With less than a minute left, we have had these conversations before, and we ask the question, what can be done? We have to keep asking this question, "What can be done?" until something is done. First, let's start, Harry. And then, Marc, we'll get your response.

HOUCK: As far as what, what can be done? As far as police officers acting the way this officer did?

PEREIRA: Yes.

HOUCK: Well, listen, you know, I like to be realistic about this kind of thing. You know what I mean? Police officers aren't perfect. Just like anybody else. Every once in a while, one is going to get through somewhere and do something wrong. You know, what we can do is we have a lot more training. I think what we ought to do now is have more training on the use of force on use of force for police officers, you know, especially on the fact that, you know, if you fire a couple shots and the man is down, stop shooting.

PEREIRA: Right. Marc, how about you? A quick thought on what we can do. Where do we start?

HILL: It's somewhat stunning that we would have to tell someone that someone after someone's been shot and on the ground after they walk up and shoot them 14 more times. And I think that speaks to a question that's bigger than training.

PEREIRA: Sure.

HILL: We have to ask fundamental questions about who we're recruiting, about who we're hiring.

But also, even more, really difficult question, which is what is the role that police should play in our society? And what is the role that police should play in our neighborhoods? Because at the end of the day, this isn't happening every once in a while. You know, this is happening, like, every Tuesday we're talking about this.

I love NEW DAY, but I'd love to be talking about Syria or how awesome our Philadelphia Eagles are or Thanksgiving and not the fact that once again...

HOUCK: You don't want to get up early (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

PEREIRA: We would love to, as well. Unfortunately, you're right. This is -- this is happening all too frequently.

Gentlemen, I hope you get a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families.

HOUCK: Same with you.

PEREIRA: Thank you for joining us and working on today with us.

HOUCK: Same to the viewers. Marc, too.

HILL: Take care, buddy.

PEREIRA: All right.

HILL: Pleasure.

PEREIRA: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, we'll talk about Syria for you guys. Russia and Turkey still butting heads, despite cause to de-escalate the tensions after Turkey shot down that Russian jet. Turkey releasing a recording of the warning they say they issued to the Russians about violating their airspace. But the Russian pilot who survived says they never got any warning.

[06:10:03] CNN's Ian Lee is live in Istanbul with all the latest. What do we know, Ian?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we're hearing at this hour that there is heavy bombardment in the area where the plane went down. Russian air force has carried out at least 12 airstrikes.

We also are hearing that the regime forces of Bashar al-Assad have bombarded it with mortar shells and artillery, going after those rebels that are backed by the Turkish government.

Now, they have -- Turkey and Russia have ruled out going to war over this incident. But it looks like we're now seeing Russia's retaliation going after Turkey's interests inside of Syria.

But also, we're hearing of economic retaliations also against Syria. Mind you that Russia is the second largest trading partner for Turkey. They get 60 percent of their natural gas from Russia. And today, we're hearing that Russia is going to put tighter controls on food imports into Russia, saying that at about 15 percent of those imports do not meet Russian standards.

So while they're saying they're not going to war, it doesn't seem like Russia is going to forgive and forget anytime soon.

PEREIRA: All right, Ian. Thank you so much for that. Meanwhile, just hours from now, French President Francois

Hollande will meet with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. He'll be trying to get the Russian president to focus his attacks on ISIS and compromise on a political solution to the Syrian crisis. Certainly, a tall order on both accounts.

Senior European correspondent Jim Bittermann is live in Paris with more for us -- Jim.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: No question about it, Michaela. In fact, it may have just gotten taller because of that shoot-down of the Russian jet on Tuesday.

In any case, Hollande is probably going to hear an earful about that. But he's also going to hear an earful from Vladimir Putin about the idea that Bashar al-Assad has to go. Hollande has been saying all along that Bashar al-Assad can no longer be the president of Syria, after any kind of an operation is finished there. But Russia has not compromised at all on that. So that's one of the things the two men will be talking about.

The Russians looked like they were coming along, maybe acting like they were going to compromise, until that Russian fighter yet was shot down.

That -- this effort by Hollande, the worldwide diplomatic effort that's involved -- Angela Merkel and Justin Trudeau and President Obama, any number of other world leaders, all comes because of the attacks two weeks ago, the bloody attacks in Paris which killed lots of people.

And we're still getting unbelievable details about how those attacks took place. On stage at the Bataclan where the worst massacre took place, where -- was the band the Eagles of Death Metal, and they have been speaking out about what they saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT MCJUNKINS, BAND MANAGER, EAGLES OF DEATH METAL: There was a woman in front of me, who, it was scary, because she was bleeding -- you know, she got shot like right here, you know, on her upper side. And there was nothing to do except for -- there's this guy. I don't know, you know, he was holding her, and he was keeping pressure on her. And she had a friend who was doing the same thing. And this guy was just trying to, like, keep her comfortable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BITTERMANN: Matt McJunkins there of the Eagles of Death Metal speaking about to Vice Magazine -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Jim. It's just -- it's fascinating to hear from the band. It's so, so traumatic still. Thank you for that, Jim.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron making his case right now to Parliament -- We have some live pictures right there -- about getting ready to launch airstrikes against ISIS in Syria.

The U.K. is already part of the coalition in Iraq, but now, they're vowing to ramp up efforts after the Paris attacks. Cameron says the longer ISIS is allowed to grow in Syria, the greater the threat becomes. But he will have to convince members of British Parliament there that the strikes are unlikely to result in civilian casualties.

PEREIRA: Here at home, President Obama trying to reassure Americans celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday that they are safe. The president says there are no credible threats to the homeland but ask that Americans maintain vigilance wherever they go.

CNN's Joe Johns live at the White House, and a happy Thanksgiving to you, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy Thanksgiving to you, Michaela.

Yes, this is an acknowledgement by the administration that people are thinking, they're talking, and they're concerned about whether it's safe to travel, whether it's safe to gather together.

So the president meeting with his national security team, then filing into the Roosevelt Room here at the White House. Really a show of force with the attorney general, the FBI director, the homeland security secretary. And the president delivering a carefully calibrated Thanksgiving security message. Go about your daily lives. No credible threat. Be vigilant, however. And try to enjoy the holiday. So listen to what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:15:03] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right now, we know of no specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. So as Americans travel this weekend to be with their loved ones, I want them to know that our counterterrorism intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement professionals at every level are working overtime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: And while domestically, they see no evidence of a credible threat, there are big concerns about what's going on overseas. With -- what's happened in just not Paris, but also Beirut. Also Egypt. And other places, including Tunisia just yesterday.

So, once again, the administration with that worldwide travel alert for Americans to watch out.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK. Joe, thanks so much for all of that.

Well, a grim admission from America's top commander in Afghanistan. General John Campbell confirming that that deadly U.S. airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz last month was avoidable. Campbell says the attack that killed 30 people, mostly patients, was, quote, "a tragic mistake caused by avoidable human error." Several service members now suspended following an internal investigation.

PEREIRA: ISIS is claiming responsibility for a blast in Tunisia killing 13 people. The explosion took place at a bus stop where the presidential guard picks up and drops off its staff. In a social media message, the terrorists said that a suicide bomber carried out that attack. Authorities have since imposed a nationwide state of emergency and a nightly curfew in the capital.

The family of the late NFL great Frank Gifford revealing that he suffered from the traumatic brain disease known as CTE. The degenerative condition is brought on by repeated head trauma and often associated with concussions. Gifford died in August of natural causes at the age of 84. And his family, including his wife, Kathie Lee, agreed to have his brain studied to advance medical research.

Russia and Turkey refusing to back down over the shoot-down of a Russian warplane. Putin sending anti-aircraft missiles into Syria. How far will Russia go to avenge what they are calling a planned provocation?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:02] CAMEROTA: Well, the Russian pilot who survived being shot down above the Turkey border this week says he never got a warning about being in Turkish airspace. But Turkey releasing audio of a message it claims it radioed to the pilot.

For more analysis, let's bring in retired Major General James "Spider" Marks, a CNN military analyst and the executive dean at the University of Phoenix; also our counterterrorism expert and senior fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross.

Gentlemen, happy Thanksgiving. Thanks so much for being here.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Happy Thanksgiving, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's start with this audio that Turkey says it radioed to the pilots. We have a little portion of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unknown air traffic position to Humanynim. 040, this is Turkish Air Force speaking to you. Change your heading south immediately. Change your heading south.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. They say change your direction immediately. Change and start -- change your heading south, they say. Spider, is there any way to know who is telling the truth? MARKS: Oh, sure, we could look at the -- the actual radar

signatures that take place. I know the United States probably had an AWACS aircraft in the air at the time.

All of this is objective data. The key thing, though, Alisyn, is that the Russian aircraft should have known it had all the capabilities in the world to determine where it was, relative to the Turkish border.

And Turkey had every right in the world to say, "Look, you're infringing on our airspace. You need to divert. You need to go away."

The key issue is was that Russian aircraft a threat to the Turkish airspace, to the Turkish aircraft in the air? And truly, there's judgment that should have been -- and discipline that should have been exercised before Turkey took the shot.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Yes, so I mean, you believe that Turkey had other options, that Turkey should not have shut down this plane?

MARKS: Oh, absolutely. Turkey had -- Turkey had the ability to de-escalate at that moment. If this Russian aircraft was in an attack posture, it would have already painted, as we say; it would have already gotten a radar signature off that F-16, that Turkish F-16, and the Sioux Coy (ph) would have engaged, but that didn't happen.

But the F-16 painted the Russian aircraft and shot it down. There are options that could have been exercised that could have moved that aircraft off of Turkish airspace. And clearly, you know, the conditions on the -- in the region are that Russian as a -- Russian military provocation is not unusual. It's a matter of routine. Turkey should have exercised a little bit of what we call tactical patience.

CAMEROTA: Daveed, some analysts say that Turkey was completely justified in doing this because there are so many Russian provocations. How much does the country take?

Yet, other analysts say that this shows that President Erdogan of Turkey is a bit of a loose cannon. And that, in fact, is willing to sacrifice NATO stability for his own agenda. How do you see it?

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Well, with respect to those two views, it's a little bit difficult to understand from our vantage right now what the relationship between Erdogan's policies and this shoot-down is. I mean, it could have been a much more spur-of-the-moment decision.

But in the broader picture, Turkey has been moving in a very dark direction. It's been taking a tilt towards greater state authoritarianism. Turkey responded terribly to the ISIS attack at a Kurdish peace rally recently. After that happened, they blamed Kurdish terrorists, actually, for carrying out that attack and started bombing Kurdish positions, including those in Raqqah providence, ISIS's capital, where the YPG, the Kurdish militia, had been making great advances against ISIS.

So, the reason I bring this up is because it's a very dangerous situation right now. On Monday on NEW DAY, I compared the situation to the start of World War I, where you had all these powers who didn't want to prolong war. But there was too much going on. There was too much in terms of the wrangling between the various European states. And right now, you have that situation that Turkey could, if the situation with Russia escalates, invoke the right of collective self- defense under the NATO agreement. And to that extent, Turkey's reliability as an ally is something that we do need to think about very carefully, in my opinion.

[06:25:10] CAMEROTA: Spider, would President Erdogan have to have given this order? Or could have the pilots just have acted alone?

MARKS: Well, the pilots could have acted alone, absolutely. I mean, the point, I think, that's being made is if you're going to be provocative at the strategic level, that seeps through the organization. If you want to exercise a little bit of patience and caution, measure your response to what is routine provocations, that, too, gets pushed down through the organization.

So what's -- what's at the bottom reflects what's at the top. So the pilots could have acted differently.

CAMEROTA: OK.

MARKS: You know, Alisyn...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

MARKS: ... I need to say, I think it's very interesting that some analysts are indicating that they're certainly -- Turkey had the legal right. But there's sort of a bellicose response to what we see vis-a-vis Russia.

Yet, simultaneously, we hear a little bit more caution relative to ISIS. And I look at these two conflated, and I go, my God, you've got to be kidding me. We're going to be cautious against ISIS; yet we're going to be bellicose against Russia, a nuclear power, incredible military history of animosity?

This is -- this is a difficult situation right now. And I think we need to look and breathe through our nose and look at this through a filter of a little bit greater caution.

CAMEROTA: Spider, you have set us up perfectly for what's going happen in our 8 a.m. hour, where we're going to have a debate between you and General Hertling, who have very different opinions of what happened...

MARKS: Sure.

CAMEROTA: ... over the skies over Turkey. So we'll look forward to seeing you again. Daveed, thanks so much. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Let's get over to Michaela.

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Thank you.

PEREIRA: Well, Alisyn, Pope Francis joins (ph) thousands in Kenya as he begins a six-day visit to Africa. He's ditching his Popemobile for a Honda. We'll tell you more about his historic visit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)