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Deadly Tornadoes in Texas; Two Shot by Chicago Police; Europe on High Alert; Six People Have Died After Flash Flooding; Escalating Feud Between Trump and Clinton; DNC Fires Back at Trump; Top Health Stories of 2015. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 27, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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


[16:00:00]

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining me. I'm Deborah Feyerick in for Fredricka Whitfield.

And crews are continuing to come through the distraction and devastation in Texas after tornadoes ripped through the Dallas area killing 11 people.

A few minutes ago, the governor of Texas address the storm and its aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT, (R) TEXAS: At this stage, our key focus is this, and that is first rescue and recovery. Second, aiding and assisting those who need to get to shelter. Third is helping families and communities rebuild from the challenges they faced. Most immediately, however, in the next 24 hours, there is something that we are asking of citizens across the state of Texas.

We need you to remain vigilant. We need you to listen to local authorities' warnings about action you may or may need to take. It includes remaining in shelter in places where you maybe frost (ph). It ensures -- you stay off of roads unless you have to travel on those roads, understanding as the roads across the state of Texas, especially north of I-10 remain in a perilous condition, whether it would be the icy roads of the northwest or the rainy roads in central and eastern parts of the state of Texas.

FEYERICK: And we now know one of those tornadoes was an EF-4 with winds up to 200 miles per hour. It's a category 4. Suburbs of Garland and Arlington Texas taking the brunt of the damage, the storm ripping up houses and tossing cars like toys as it cut a path through all of these different neighborhoods, leaving them in just the state of disrepair.

I've got Douglas Athas, the Mayor of Garland on the phone with me right now.

And, Mayor, first of all, we all feel for you and what you and all Texans are going through. Describe what you're seeing in your town. What you're feeling, what you're smelling? What is it like there?

MAYOR DOUGLAS ATHAS, GARLAND: Well, we are receiving lots offers of assistance and aid, and we do very much appreciate that. It's a little bit early to be able to start distributing aid.

We have search teams in the area that were affected. It was actually a very edge of Garland where the tornado went across and then headed across the lake. It's about two square miles. We know 600 structures were affected. We have search teams from the state level, from other cities, from our Texas task force that are coming through.

We're going to look at every house. We're going to look at every car, trying to make sure that we find everybody. We do have eight confirmed fatalities as I'm sure you've reported.

And it's -- we're not letting people into the area right now. There is no power. There's power lines down everywhere, of course. We are in a process of staging materials and we'll get that power back on as soon as we get the all clear. But with search teams and possibly residents still in the area, you can't have live wires and things around. I've seen the damage. It's extensive. You see I-beams and things all twisted, twisted metal, cars. Look like they've been brought back from a war zone and put on display, upside down.

In a neighboring city, Sunnyvale, Tyler, RV Park was hit. All of those were just simply thrown around like blocks of foam or something of that nature. In our neighboring city, in Rowlett, they also took or have a lot of damage and probably in some areas had damage more extensive than ours.

FEYERICK: What is that? When you've been out there, you've been talking not only the first responders that I'm sure to people also who have been affected. How are they coping? How are they handling all of this? Knowing that they may have no place yet to go back to?

ATHAS: I think that's the incredible story. Everybody seems to be extremely resilient. They seem to be facing the fact that this is and facing the fact that this is and moving forward. People are not sitting and grieving over what they've lost. They're actually trying to assess that and I'm sure some of the shock will settle in later.

But people are doing what they need to do right now. I've been extremely proud of our emergency response. These are situations that we in Texas prepare for. We expect this to happen at some point. And we've been very well addressing all of the situations with the assistance of the state and county and neighboring cities that were not affected.

I've sent resources both impersonal and equipment (ph). And then, one of our neighboring cities is sending dump trucks to help with the clearing. We've got a lot of equipment in the area trying to move out power poles.

[16:05:00] Some of the light standards along the freeway had toppled over, and those are being removed. Everybody is being extremely cooperative. We've had a few people in the area but for now the area is actually closed until we can guarantee everyone will be safe when we go back in.

FEYERICK: Yes, absolutely. The governor is saying that everybody should shelter in place not only for their safety but obviously you don't want to pull first responders into situations that they can't get out of. On a personal level, Mr. Mayor, can you talk to us about something that you've experienced, someone you've spoken to that really just moved you given this tragedy?

ATHAS: Not -- it's the ones I haven't spoken to that, I would almost want to be able to know their story and hear their story. Some of the people that have been lost, I have not been able to speak to their families. I know that there was a young boy that was lost.

Those are the ones that I most grieve for, those that lost their lives. Some of those were caught in vehicles that were just there on the freeway or on the turnpike where they intersected when the tornado came through. And those that just lost their homes and other things, I know that they will cope and go on. I mean, this is our history. We very extremely resilient in community and we'll start to begin the repair almost immediately.

FEYERICK: All right, Mayor Douglas Athas from Garland, Texas, we really appreciate your time. We will let you get back to the work that has to be done, and our sincere wishes for all of the best and speedy recovery. Thank you so much.

ATHAS: Thank you.

FEYERICK: And CNN's Nick Valencia just arrived in Garland, Texas and he joins us on the phone.

Nick, this has been incredible. You, like so many other people who were trying to either get home or get there, had to go through a lot of different things in order to be where you are right now. Tell us what happened to you?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been quite an ordeal after just get here to this area, and our story unfortunately for the hundred of people that are traveling along with us (ph). It's not a unique one.

We started our journey here to the Dallas area about 7:00 this morning and because of severe weather that continues and persists around this area of Texas. We are forced to divert to Houston where we sat on the tarmac for at least an hour before we were able to get in line to take off.

Once we did finally get in Dallas, the airport there at Love Field is, it's just a mess -- people sleeping on floors, delays if not just all straight out cancellations, people standing around really hoping to get out of town here to get back to their homes after the Christmas holiday week. But, you know, we spoke to somebody as we were going towards our rental car saying that they weren't getting or enable to get out of Dallas today, so they actually were driving back to Atlanta, that ten-hour drive. And as I mentioned, this is not a unique story, but so many passengers dealing with the same issues of this severe weather system.

Here in Garland as we're driving through the streets, we see lots of road closures, power facility, power crew staging in the area. We also understand that the National Weather Service had a team here assessing the damage. This was a really significant storm system that swept through here, an EF-4 tornado. There's just a one notch higher on the scale, EF-5 which what we saw back in 2013 at there in Moore, Oklahoma.

But the damage we have yet to get close enough just because of the all the road closures. You just heard the mayor talk about. The authorities are still going door to door. Until those door to doors are complete, and they can, you know, fully realize the scope of damage and just really how many lives were impacted by this. They are not letting anyone back into those areas that were hard hit.

But we have traveled down those roads where the tornado made its way, down Lion Road, and Berlin Texas near Rowlett, just South of Rowlett, that was also hard hit with an EF-3 tornado. And really, you know, this is of course about the lives lost, 11 people killed as a result of these storms. There are 15 people hurt. Hundreds of structures damaged and we're still getting sort of getting through the full scale of the damage caused by the storms, Deb.

FEYERICK: Yeah. And we know that you're trying to get close and the governor has also warned people really to shelter in place to be very vigilant, to also be very careful. So we're telling you if you didn't hear the governor earlier, to avoid rising water because those can come up suddenly and can be deadly.

You heard the mayor just earlier talking about how some of the victims were on the highway, were in cars when the tornado touched down. We're going to let you get to your next location and establish a shot. We know you've been traveling a long day and we hope to see you in person in just a little while.

But thanks for that report. We know it's been a tough day for you and all of those who are there in Texas dealing with the weather system. Thanks, Nick.

VALENCIA: Thanks, Deb.

FEYERICK: And tornadoes are not the only severe weather. There are blizzard warnings in effect for parts of Texas and New Mexico.

[16:10:00] The Governor of New Mexico, there's a picture right there, has declared a state of emergency in her state, up to 16 inches of snow has fallen. The governor of New Mexico says roads in several counties are simply impassable.

In northern Texas, snow and ice is blanketing the roads, turning to ice. The Mother Nature is just getting started. 21 million people under a winter storm watch today.

Karen Maginnis is in the CNN Weather Center.

And, Karen, you're looking at all of this and I guess people who are there want to know, when is this going to end?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm sure everyone is scratching their head because this is a triple whammy. We have the flooding, we have the violent severe weather and now we've got blizzard conditions and icing.

So just separate weather events all across the South Central United States, now two tornado watch boxes. They include Texas, Louisiana and portions of Arkansas. But, we do have a tornado warning, that means it's the Doppler radar indicated or it has been spotted by the public. This time it is Doppler radar indicated.

This is in Mississippi because temperatures are still very warm there. It is just to the south of Jackson, Mississippi. The other warning area for about the next 30 minutes or so, counties or Bowie County and the Red River County, those in north central Texas.

And -- but I wanted to point out that even in Mississippi where there's not a tornado watch out, there is a tornado warning. What are the dynamics now? We've got that warm moist there, coming up in the South Shreveport to Houston, violent weather possible. High wind gusts and isolated tornadoes and I want to point this out as well.

We have kind of the defining line, warm moist there returning from the Gulf of Mexico. And it's fairly brisk, moisture laden. But back here, these are feel like temperatures that because we've got ice and snow and blizzard conditions. Wind gusts over 50 miles an hour.

But look at Dallas. It feels like its 33 degrees. There's an area of low pressure here back behind this weather system, that's where all of that cold air is.

And, Deborah, for the folks in Dallas for tonight, it could see combination of rain and snow as temperatures drop into the 30. Yesterday, they were 82 degrees.

FEYERICK: Yeah. I was just looking at that map. It's incredible the range of temperatures just sort of crossing Texas.

Karen Maginnis, thank you very much. We appreciate that. We'll touch base with you a little later.

And it has happened again. Police in Chicago shot two people dead. One was a 55-year-old woman who officers now say was killed by accident. You'll hear from her family members coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I stand here because I love my nephew, but I also stand for the other young teenagers that have gotten shot down in the streets like dogs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And that is the aunt of a 19-year-old man shot and killed by Chicago police. It's putting the department under scrutiny once again. Police say an officer fatally wounded a 19-year-old Antonio LeGrier and 55-year-old Betty Jones, a mother of five, while they were responding to a domestic disturbance call involving the 19-year-old.

Chicago P.D. now says Jones, her death was a tragic accident. Her childhood friend spoke out this afternoon in anger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACQUELINE WALKER, FRIEND OF 55-YEAR-OLD SHOOTING VICTIM: It hurts me all over that the family is going through this tragic day that's going on, police shooting without asking. Why you got to shoot first and ask questions later? It's ridiculous. You know, somebody needs to do something about this, this is ridiculous. What about the tasers? Taser them down, don't shoot innocent people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And our Ryan Young joins now from Chicago, outside the house where the two victims lived and were killed. Ryan, tell me about the crowd and tell me about the mood.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deborah, you know, we've been doing this for about an hour and a half now and you really feel the pain of people who are in this area. They are upset about this and they want to know what happened. They want to know why the officers had to open fire.

If you look behind me, you can see the crowd now has kind of go it down in size because some started marching off, some people were doing a chant a little earlier. But if I'm going to walk you this way, you can see some of the family members actually who are on this porch who are standing here.

They just addressed the crowd a few minutes ago. They were saying they were very upset. They wanted to know from police why this happened, why did they have to shoot first, like you heard in the sound bite. People want to know why a taser couldn't be used in the situation.

If you look in the same area right there, the green dot that's right there above the ledge, that's one of the evidence markers we can see where the bullet went through the door. This family actually stood in front of the door and said this is where the bullets came through the door and killed a mother of five and grandmother.

Of course, police were responding to a 19-year-old who had a bat in his hand and his father had called 911 asking for help, when police arrived, apparently fired several shots into this area. The family saying that the 19-year-old was hit seven times, they wanted to now he was shot so many times if I had a bat in his hand? Did anyone try to talk him down, did anyone tried to stop him the time before the shooting started? Obviously, this community is already upset and they already don't trust police. And you have a lot of questions being asked. And, of course, we talked to some people (inaudible) remembers earlier, who just beyond belief in terms of upset about what's going on in the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET COOKSEY, MOTHER OF 19-YEAR-OLD VICTIM: Antonio was a good child, the child that wanted things. He always say, "Momma had millions because you know what? I'm going to work hard and study hard." And he was a honor student. Seven times my son was shot, one in the buttock, that showed he was turning away. He was turning away but I got to turn today for him and I have to be there. This needs to stop. No mother should have to bury her child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: So just really raw emotion out here at this point. Sometimes you're walking around us and we're really seeing people pouring their hearts out. They're crying, they're showing pictures of their family members. In fact, there's a picture that's being shown. We're going to walk up a little bit just to see we can get an edge of that picture right here.

This is what's going on right now in terms of people showing these pictures of their family members, of their loved ones, wanting a change. And you can see this picture that's being held out right here, right now.

For the last two hours or so people have been standing out here just asking and begging for there be changes in the Chicago Police Department, changes in the city. A there's something that lot of people can understand obviously with shootings that happened in this city, the questions about the police department.

But obviously, when you see family members coming together like this and community support, you can understand that there's a lot of raw emotion in this community right now.

FEYERICK: Yeah. There's no question about it, Ryan. And, obviously, police officers when they are responding to a call from a family about an emotional disturbed person with a bat, you have to wonder what kind of training the officers have in terms of how they use force and under what circumstances, clearly all of that will be under investigation and review by an internal police investigators.

[16:20:00] Ryan Young, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

YOUNG: Thanks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Police in cities across Europe are on high alert at this hour. They've ramped up security measures. Then police say they've received a warning from an intelligence service that piece of this (ph) like Vienna could be attacked sometime between Christmas and New Years Eve.

The threat was not specific except to say that it could involve gun or explosives and it also provided names of potential attackers.

I want to bring in CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier.

And nice to see you, Kimberly, what does it tell you that police in fact are sharing this information even though it appears to be vague?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, the fact that they are sharing it at all is a bit of an improvement over the historical record of European intelligence agencies sharing data. They have created a database at Interpol where they're supposed to upload the identities of suspected terrorists. And they have uploaded 100 times moreover the past year according to the Justice Department here, than they have in the past.

Now, that they are actually sharing with each other word of a possible plot, that's progress. The lack of details in the plot, well, work to be done.

FEYERICK: Well, absolutely. This is so interesting because, you know, I think about the Paris attacks recently and we're one country had stopped a Macedonian man who had weapons in his car and who talked about possibly concerts as being a target. And that information was never passed onto other countries. So this does seem to be at least step in the right direction.

Authorities are going on the assumption that there are terror cells in Europe just waiting to be activated. How does that affect the policing and just sort of the climate there?

DOZIER: Well, the French have talked about the fact they are deploying far more policemen for this holiday than they have in the past. And that is being reflected also in other European cities. But by putting this warning out across such a broad area, what it does is incorporates the eyes of everyone who was out on the streets.

And possibly also, puts them on their guard in a way that maybe they won't have that second bottle of champagne and they'll be a little more alert. The sad part about that is, in some ways it means that the ISIS P.R. campaign is winning.

[16:25:00] And that it's changing the behavior of people who can't now just go about their normal lives.

FEYERICK: Absolutely. And I think especially during Christmas and New Years, that law enforcement is being told just to be a little bit vigilant. Because you don't know what's going to happen.

You know, it's interesting, there was a report in "The New York Times" about one of the Paris attackers basically saying that he dropped out of high school, he was becoming increasingly radicalized, all of that information of teachers and others never made it to the right authorities. From your experience in this area or vast experience, is there a sense that law enforcement and authorities are really going back and looking at any kind of information they may have because there is a possibility, a prevailing threat that the terrorists could do something like this again?

DOZIER: Yes. But how do you differentiate either here where the FBI is following people suspected of ISIS activism or in Europe, where there's a strong tradition of human rights and civil rights. How do you distinguish between someone being a rebellious teen and someone on the edge of violence?

That's one of the toughest things for everyone to go back and not assess, was there something that we missed somewhere along the way, some trigger? Or does this mean we have to change our laws and start contemplating breaking down what we considered a national or international right in terms of self-expression. That way, it's really scary time.

FEYERICK: Yeah. And the French are now talking about taking away citizenship for people who do commit the acts of terror.

All right, Kim Dozier, thanks so much. We always appreciate your insight.

DOZIER: Thanks, Deb.

FEYERICK: And the candidates will be back on the campaign trail tomorrow after the holiday break. And some are questioning in the frontrunner Donald Trump can maintain his momentum and whether supporters will actually vote for him on Election Day? We're going to ask our experts next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: And we have breaking news on deadly weather in Missouri. Authorities say six people have died after flash flooding on rural road in Platte County. That's between Kansas City and St. Louis.

[16:30:04] The sheriff tells CNN that a car with two people was carried away by rising floodwaters. A second car with at least four people was also swept up in the floodwaters and one person is missing.

And to Presidential politics now and the escalating feud between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the Republican front-runner sent out a tweet slamming Clinton's recent announcement that her husband, former President Bill Clinton will hit the campaign trail for her in January. Trump tweeted Hillary Clinton has announced she's letting her husband out to campaign. He's demonstrated a penchant for sexism, so appropriate. CNN's Investigations Correspondent Chris Frates is in our Washington bureau. Chris, it just keeps on coming.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It does just keeps on coming, Deb. This fight between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is getting a little personal with the billionaire attacking Bill Clinton for sexism. Trump sent his tweet last night, attacking Bill Clinton's "penchant for sexism" turned the tables on Hillary Clinton because she used the same phrase to criticize Trump earlier in the week after he used a sexist vulgarity to describe Clinton's loss to Obama in 2008.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he is fair game because his presidency was really considered to be very troubled to put it mildly, because of all of the things she's talking to me about. She's mentioning sexism. I actually turned her exact words -- I turned her exact words against her from that standpoint and she's got to be careful. It's got to be fair, and we all have to fight fairly and we have to fight for the good of the country, for the good of the people and good of everybody, but we have to fight fairly. She's playing the woman's card and it's like give me a break.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So the Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee fired back saying Trump is practicing gutter politics and the whole GOP field is following him down the sewer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL), DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRWOMAN: It's really outrageous the depths and how low he has allowed the campaign to sink, the rest of the Republican field is going along with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now Trump slam on Bill Clinton's marital infidelity and alleged sexual misconduct comes a week after Hillary Clinton announced her husband will hit the campaign trail for her next month. And the attack appears to be a kind of preemptive strike on the man regarded by many as one of the country's best campaigners and also suggested the GOP front-runner is feeling secure enough in the lead to take on the leading Democrat. Trump and Clinton are neck and neck in hypothetical match-ups, and of course, it doesn't hurt that criticizing Clinton is also very, very popular among Republican primary voters, Deb.

FEYERICK: And has the Clinton camp said anything about this most recent comment by Donald Trump?

FRATES: You know I reached out to the Clinton campaign earlier today and not yet heard back. The interesting thing to remember, this plays for both of them, Donald Trump, beating up Hillary Clinton, shows that he's strong. He wants to take on Hillary Clinton. He doesn't want to take on Bernie Sanders and he wants Clinton and of course, that fires up his base. But Hillary Clinton wants to show she's tough enough to take on a guy like Donald Trump who she says is a demagogue, and that she should be the standard bearer for Democrats going into this election.

So while we've not heard anything yet, I would not be surprised if Hillary Clinton does use this to her advantage. She's been punching at the Republicans more than she's been punching down at Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, her Democratic rivals for the nomination in her party.

FEYERICK: Absolutely, a preemptive strike to weaken perhaps the opponent before they can hit, all right, Chris Frates, thanks so much. We appreciate that. And Donald Trump's controversial remarks and statements have not hurt his poll numbers or number of people flocking to see him at rallies as he campaigns across the country. Will these huge crowds of 2015 actually turn into voters in 2016? Brian Morganstern is a Republican Strategist and CNN Contributor Bakari Sellers is a former Democratic State Representative from South Carolina who backed Hillary Clinton.

So I want to start with you, Brian, Donald Trump sounds very self- satisfied when he's talking about you know that he turned the tables on Hillary. This is a man who has been married three times. He was called out during the debates for comments about Carly Fiorina which is extremely negative, and Bill Clinton had a lot of strong women in his cabinet -- and as a Ruth Bader Ginsburg was somebody who he selected, so how does it play it -- for him or against him.

[16:35:01]

BRIAN MORGANSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, to an extent it can play for him because -- again, he doesn't mince words and back from his comments, he doesn't care. Meanwhile, he is -- you know painting Hillary as a typical politician at that time when Bill Clinton had his affairs and sexual harassment allegations. She was the hatchet woman going after attackers and called them the bimbo explosion or whatever. The approach is obviously very different. That's highlighted for him in this instance, whether it will play to his advantage and as we said actual votes, we'll be able to discuss remains to be seen.

FEYERICK: Ok, so Bakari Sellers, Chris Frates called this a preemptive strike. So let's talk about how Hillary Clinton ultimately does respond and how Bill Clinton also responds since they were at his third wedding, Donald Trump's third wedding.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think Hillary Clinton has to respond. Hillary Clinton is standing on her own two feet. I don't think Donald Trump wants to go toe to toe with Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton is a consummate politician. It bears repeating. I am an avid Barack Obama supporter, but I can objectively tell anyone listening or watching that Bill Clinton is the greatest politician of our generation. I don't think there are any ifs ands or buts about that. And I don't think anybody is going to follow Donald Trump down the rabbit hole other than GOP candidates. We're talking about a candidate who's bigoted and candidate who's sexist. That's not going -- the GOP wants to win in Florida and Ohio and Colorado or Virginia. It just won't.

FEYERICK: And so Brian, what do you think about the gender politics of all of this because Donald Trump saying oh, Hillary Clinton is using gender. Should Trump be saying I am a great businessman and I am going to fix America? MORGANSTERN: They are apples and oranges, and attacking Hillary for

using gender card in a way he does is making a mockery of it, which is what the American people want to see because they are tired of the identity politics and want the most qualified person and ideas to win. They are tired of people being symbols of something and then when it gets down to nuts and bolts can't govern. They don't want to hear about how Hillary Clinton is a woman. How would they govern? I think the answer to that is going to be not very well.

FEYERICK: Have we heard real ideas how Donald Trump is going to govern? We've heard about what he's not going to do. He's not going to let Muslims in or allow anybody to come over the border or do those things, but...

MORGANSTERN: So you're touching on something that Bakari touched on as well, which is Bill Clinton and Donald Trump has something in common, which is a cult of personality, they are compelling figures. They are characters who will galvanize an audience and suck you in and you'll be captivated by what they say. Then afterwards, when you come to your senses you might realize, what the heck was that? So maybe we're still in that first in the before phase before we get to the after phase.

FEYERICK: I want to ask about this as a Democrat and one who supports Hillary Clinton, the interesting thing is that now Jeb Bush is sort of starting to backtrack a little bit, not quite sure that he's willing to support Trump's loyalty oath because Trump simply doesn't support who he is or values are as a Republican. Do you think that many Republicans might feel the same thing once the show is over that they are simply not going to vote for him?

SELLERS: First, let me comment on something quickly that Brian said. I never heard Donald Trump and Bill Clinton in the same sentence. People are mesmerized by both and Bill Clinton's depth and the sideshow that is Donald Trump. It's a delicate balance. What Donald Trump is doing is building excitement in a base. He is a symbol for something. He's a symbol for 1940, 1950, 1960 hate politics. That's what he's a symbol of. But you have to be very, very careful about disassociating yourself with somebody who has that much energy. It's going to bode serious problems for Rob Portman in Ohio and Florida, all of these contested senate races and Reince Priebus is not going to sleep if he's sleeping now.

FEYERICK: Bakari Sellers, Brian Morganstern, certainly a lot of stuff to talk about and it just keeps getting better and better, we thank you, gentlemen for being with us here today.

MORGANSTERN: Thanks for having us.

FEYERICK: And they made us gasp and shake our heads and say, huh, the top scandals and controversies of 2015 coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:01]

FEYERICK: Scandal and controversy in our top ten of 2015 series, Joe Johns looking back at this year's most jaw dropping scandals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Number 10, most hated. Pharmaceutical company CEO Martin Shkreli makes our list. Not just because he jacked up the price of a drug to treat AIDS and cancer patients over 5000 percent, also because he took too long to stop talking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a lot altruistic properties to it.

JOHNS: Or tweeting, trying to make his case to people like Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton who did not want to hear it. Shkreli was indicted for unrelated fraud and resigned before the end of the year. Number nine, state of denial, 2015 was yet another banner year for Illinois politicians in big trouble. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert got caught up in sexual misconduct and hush money allegations, former Congressman Aaron Shok resigned after misusing taxpayer money, including redecorating his office in the style to the Downtown Abbey TV Show.

And Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel was on the ropes for his city's handling of a video that didn't go public until the mayor got reelected.

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL, CHICAGO: I don't shirk that responsibility.

JOHNS: Number eight, the year of family values.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a story of my family. We're the Duggars.

JOHNS: Conservative family man and reality TV star Josh Duggar quit the Family Research Council after admitting that while in his teens he molested four of his sisters, and Duggar popped up when the Ashley Madison hacker started naming names. Though he wasn't the only one, 32 million people buying into the website slogan, life is short, have an affair. Number seven, black like me, the story was hard to watch but impossible to turn away. President of Spokane's NAACP outed as white by her parents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you African-American?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't understand the question...

JOHNS: No crime, of course and a color blind society it wouldn't matter, but this is not that America. The telling part was the overheated reaction to Rachel's story that said more about our times than she ever could.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she's out of her mind to be quite honest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At first, I thought maybe this is a psychological disorder. Now I am convinced she's a con artist. JOHNS: Number six, at least they are consistent, the U.S. Secret

Service who protects the first family seems to stay in the spotlight and not always for their heroics, sometimes it's not even their fault. This year some rocket scientists flew a drone over the White House that crashed on the lawn. What are you supposed to do about that? In March, two senior agents who had been drinking crashed a car into the White House barricade. There's that. Number five. Journalism's naughty list is anchored by nightly news anchor Brian Williams.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC HOST: I want to apologize. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire.

JOHNS: And managed to turn his credibility into a late night comedy routine. Not to be forgotten, Rolling Stone Magazine, which this year had to retract a story by Sabrina Ruben Yeardley who managed to take a serious issue of national concern and change the focus with her deeply flawed opus on the alleged sexual assault at the University of Virginia. Number four, no sense of humor. Here's a question, three top officials of FIFA, the governing body of professional soccer all traveling in a car, who's driving? Answer the police. It's almost not a joke considering so many officials who control the world's most popular sport have been implicated by the Justice Department for allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering.

That joke was so not funny to FIFA that when one of its P.R. guys told it in public, he quit his job. Number three, speaking of sports scandals, we can't forget Tom Brady of the NFL's New England Patriots who faced down allegations that made both a joke and a punch line. Grown men accused of playing with deflated balls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our equipment guys do a great job of breaking the balls in. To me those balls are perfect and that's what I expect when I show up on the field.

JOHNS: Number two, I am Alice in wonderland and I approve this message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a place like no place on earth. Some say to survive it, you need to be as mad as a hatter.

JOHNS: When Lewis Carroll wrote this fantasy classic, he could not have foreseen the unparalleled political (Inaudible) coming from candidates in both parties in the U.S. Presidential race.

CLINTON: Everything I did was permitted by law and regulation.

JOHNS: Where being a leader can mean insulting millions.

TRUMP: They are rapists.

CARSON: I would not advocate we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.

JOHNS: Even billions of people.

[16:48:01] TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

JOHNS: And the great thing is the general election is still more than 10 months away. And finally, number one, policing in the age of candid camera phone. It has dominated the headlines for more than a year, separating the vast majority of officers just doing their jobs from those who abuse their power. Nowadays, if a police report says a guy who got locked up or beat up or worse was supposedly resisting arrest, pictures sometimes tell the rest of the story.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

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FEYERICK: And up next, our look back at the top health stories of 2015, including one featuring a former drug company CEO who has been called one of the most hated men in America. That's next.

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FEYERICK: And we're taking a look back at the year that was all this week. Today, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us. He runs down the top 10 health stories of 2015.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to war with a corporation that owns a day of the week.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The NFL's under increased scrutiny that the release of the new movie Concussion. Will Smith plays a real life doctor who discovered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. It's a progressive degenerative brain disease, but we're seeing here this definitely caused by blows to the head?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's never been seen in any reported case except in a case of repeated blows to the head.

GUPTA: I asked the NFL's first chief and medical adviser all about this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Over the past three or four years we've had over 30 rule changes.

GUPTA: She hopes those benefits will trickle down to college, high school, even youth football.

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think that we've always known or at least in the 20th century we understood that environment has an impact on public health.

GUPTA: In April, I sat down with President Obama as he kicked off his campaign to reframe climate change as a public health issue. Later, he made major progress at the Climate Change Conference in Paris with the signing of the cop-21. Critics say its short on specifics but the President claimed victory back at the White House.

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OBAMA: This agreement represents the best chance we've had to save the one planet that we've got.

GUPTA: And in October, the American Cancer Society issued new breast cancer screening guidelines, recommending that women start getting mammograms at age 45, not 40. This is pretty controversial. Apart of the reason for the change is that false positives are higher in women under the age of 45.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wasn't getting any blood flow to the left side of the heart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I could do is believe in his words.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't feel the need to tell you what happened there before.

GUPTA: Investigation by CNN's Elizabeth Killeen uncovered mortality rates more than three times the national average for pediatric open heart surgery at one Florida hospital. From 2011 to 2013, at least six babies died after undergoing operations at Saint Mary's Medical Center. The hospital disputed CNN's calculations and closed down the program in August and the hospital CEO resigned.

In September, Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli was dubbed the most hated man in America after he jacked up the price more than 5,000 percent.

MARTIN SHKRELI, TURING PHARMACEUTICAL CEO: We also feel this is a more appropriate price and we're certainly not the first company to raise drug prices.

GUPTA: In just the last few weeks, Shkreli's been at it again, seeking FDA trials to raise the price of another anti-parasitic medication. The week before Christmas, he was indicted on an unrelated securities fraud. Having lost two more jobs but confident he'll be cleared of all charges. On August 12th, President Jimmy Carter made a candid announcement.

SHKRELI: I found out I had definitely cancer.

GUPTA: Then on December 6th at age 91, he delivered another surprise, this time at Sunday school.

SHKRELI: When I went this week they didn't find any cancer at all, so I have good news.

GUPTA: President Carter was treated with a new kind of medication that helps boost the immune system to fight off the cancer. Not only President Carter but thousands have already benefited from this type of therapy.

For the first time in 25 years, the number of new cases of diabetes has dropped, from 1.7 million to 1.4 million. It's good news, but 29 million Americans still have diabetes, 86 million more are pre- diabetic. I want to point out the new study showing what happens when you go without sugar for just ten days. Triglyceride levels drop and blood pressure drops, and all of that in ten days without added sugar. This year saw an unprecedented measles outbreak, with the epicenter in California, now big reason, children not getting vaccinated. I talked about this with the surgeon general.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The vaccine is safe and effective and it's something I want to urge every parent to provide their children with.

GUPTA: We don't know what causes autism, but we do know that vaccines do not.

Remember this story? The antibiotic resistant super bug outbreak that time involving endoscopes the cleaning protocols weren't working so some hospitals were forced to improvise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One dollar disposable brush. We're going to do to be on the safe side. We're going to take it under water and brush in there.

GUPTA: The reason I bring this up is because I believe that this could be the biggest health threat facing us today, antibiotic resistance. We have taken too many drugs and as a result they don't work the way they used to. The race to find new antibiotics is on. In the deep sea off Norway, frantic dredging going on to try to uncover the next generation of antibiotics before it's too late. But perhaps no story garnered more attention and outrage than this one.

I think that depends on how much you want to tolerate risk and how much you love bacon.

On October 26th, the World Health Organization classified processed meats like bacon and sausage and ham as carcinogenic to humans. The report outlined that simply eating 50 grams each day, the equivalent of two slices of ham increased risk of cancer by 18 percent. Unprocessed red meat such as steak is now classified as probably carcinogenic. All of this is food to thought for the New Year.

[16:58:01]

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FEYERICK: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.

And thank all of you for spending part of your Sunday with us. I'm Deborah Feyerick. The next hour of NEWSROOM with Poppy Harlow starts after a short break.

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