Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Defiant Trump on Controversial Proposal; Learning More About Tashfeen Malik; Iraqi Forces Claiming Significant Advantage in Key City; Chicago Officials Release New Disturbing Video; Trump No Stranger to Controversy; Coal and Inda's Bottom Line; Cursing in the U.S. Presidential Race. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 9, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:01]

ERROL BARNETT, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the states and those of you watching all around the world. I am Errol Barnett.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: And I am Rosemary Church, ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, global reaction to Donald Trump's controversial proposal on Muslim travelers.

BARNETT: Also new revelations about California killer Tashfeen Malik and how she became radicalized.

CHURCH: Plus, Iraqi troops announce a major victory in their battle against ISIS. But first, we have some breaking news. The French Prime Minister has now identified another suspect in the Paris terror attacks. The 23-year-old is the third gunman who stormed the Bataclan concert venue last month.

BARNETT: That's cross right now to our Jim Bittermann who joins us live at the Paris bureau. Jim, this has just broken within the past 60 minutes. What do we know?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not a whole lot, Errol. But there are some things coming through. Apparently, this broke after some reports in the local media here and the Prime Minister confirmed the identity of Fouad Mohamed Aggad as the third attacker at the Bataclan Theater, where the bloodiest of the assaults took place on December 13th, and those assaults killing 130 people. This attacker was not identified, but apparently authorities knew his identity for about two weeks. And they have been withholding it, pending other investigations. They said it was part of the investigation, they did not want to release the name. That could be related to the fact that according to reports here, the mother of Mohamed Aggad here, her apartment was searched last night in the suburb of Strasbourg.

That's where he's from. He grew up there. He was known to police as a petty criminal. Apparently left in 2013 for Syria, according to the reports we're hearing, where he apparently was radicalized and chose to come back and be part of the team that hit the Bataclan Theater. One other fact that's emerged here in some of the reporting is that according to the reports, his older brother, 25-year-old is in prison right now, being held by police, because he also traveled to Syria and got himself on the radar of authorities. So they arrested him when he came back, Errol?

BARNETT: And the development that this suspect lives there in France and had traveled to Syria in 2013 will sound familiar to viewers who have watched the investigation into the other attackers, as it seems to be a trend or an aspect of culture that investigators are still trying to get their hands around.

BITTERMANN: Unfortunately, that's the case, Errol. In fact, this is the worst nightmare of French authorities. For the last two or three years now, they've had this concern that young French people would go off to Syria, become radicalized, pass under the radar because they're French citizens and be able to and -- in position to perpetrate the kind of attacks we saw on November 13th. So, yes, I think it is familiar, unfortunately so.

BARNETT: All right, Jim Bittermann, live in Paris for us with the breaking information, the identity of the third attacker revealed, Fouad Mohamed Aggad, a 23-year-old. Jim thanks very much.

Now to our other top story, U.S. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has no apologies for his controversial proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

CHURCH: Despite 24 hours of condemnation from fellow politicians and world leaders, Trump is not backing down. He spoke with Barbara Walters of ABC News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS: Do you regret your ban on Muslims, which some people think is un-American?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not at all. We have to do the right thing. Somebody in this country has to say what's right. I have great respect and love -- I have people that I have tremendous relationships with, they're Muslim, Barbara, and they agree with me 100 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Trump has been called a fascist demagogue, unhinged and reprehensible.

BARNETT: But as Jeff Zeleny reports, that's not changing his position.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Defiance today from Donald Trump.

TRUMP: We need intelligence in this country. We need certain toughness in this country. Or we're going to end up like a lot of other places and we're not going to have a country left.

ZELENY: In the face of unrelenting political backlash, Trump defended his proposal on CNN's New Day, seeking to block Muslims from coming to the United States.

[03:05:01]

TRUMP: Because you're going to have many more World Trade Centers if you don't solve it, many, many more, and probably beyond.

ZELENY: An overheated campaign season suddenly even hotter with Republicans rushing to join Democrats in condemning Trump.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUUSE: This is not conservativism. What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for, and more importantly, it's not what this country stands for.

ZELENY: Trump said his ban on Muslims would be temporary. He called it a modern day version of FDR's actions towards the Japanese in World War II. He announced his proposal last night on the deck of the USS Yorktown, a battle ship from that war.

TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.

ZELENY: His comments drew instant fire from GOP rivals.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's a race- baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn't represent my party, he doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we shouldn't do is to say all Muslims are not coming into our country. It's not about the blowhards out there just saying stuff. That's not a program. That's not a plan. This is serious business.

ZELENY: Former Vice President Dick Cheney also weighed in, calling it a violation of religious freedom.

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: This whole notion that somehow we can just say no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion, it goes against everything we stand for and believe in.

ZELENY: And the White House called Trump's comments not only misguided, but dangerous.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The fact is that what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as President.

ZELENY: Trump brushed aside the criticism during a round of interviews today, saying his supporters are tired of political correctness. TRUMP: And got standing ovations as soon as this was mentioned.

ZELENY: Now there were standing ovations on Monday night in South Carolina. I was in the crowd and talked to many voters. Some said they didn't know the full extent of Trump's proposals and bristled at his ideas, but others said something must be done and they supported his plan. They're frightened, angry and believe the current administration is not doing enough. The condemnations are still coming in, but there's little reason to believe this will hurt Trump in the Republican primary. So far, nothing he has said has.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And CNN's Sara Sidner joins us now from Istanbul with the international reaction to Trump's plan. Sara, the international community has had more time now to digest the ramifications of what Donald Trump is proposing here, what's been the reaction across the region and indeed the world to his comments regarding banning Muslims traveling to the United States?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've heard from leaders of countries like David Cameron, the Prime Minister, basically saying this is absolutely just wrong, his idea of not letting Muslims in the country, as a group. But we're not hearing much official reaction from the heads of other countries, and that is partly because Donald Trump is not an official with the United States. He is simply a Presidential candidate. But as far as people on the streets, business owners, tourists alike, they're very disturbed about what they're hearing from this man, that he is targeting a group of people just because of their religion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's racist, yes. They are saying that Muslims are racist, no? He is refusing a religion. So he is -- himself, a terrorist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you would ban all Muslims that mean that the religion of Muslim and the Muslim people, they are all bad. And this -- and they're not, of course not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you're hearing words like racist, fascist, a joke. There are some people who also look at what he's saying and say, I think he's doing this for show business, so he's more popular with those on the far right in American society. But there's concern this could have fall-out, that this kind of language, and these kinds of ideas could create problems for Muslims already in the country, or visiting the country, especially women wearing the hijab, the head cover, that they could become targets of either violence or discrimination. So there is concern overall, that this is really terrible language to be using in a country that's supposed to be a country made up of immigrants. [03:10:01]

CHURCH: Interesting points there and also, Sara, many commentators suggest Trump's rhetoric feeds into ISIS propaganda. How much concern is there in the region that his words will be used by ISIS as a recruiting tool?

SIDNER: You hit the nail on the head. That is exactly what a lot of folks are saying that this could be used by ISIS. This is exactly what ISIS wants. It plays right into their hands. You're hearing that collectively from people that this is really what ISIS would like to see. An us against them mentality, saying, see, I told you so, they don't want us, they don't believe in us, and therefore, they are targets. So, yes, that's a great concern of the people and the governments in this region, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, our Sara Sidner joining us there, live from Istanbul in Turkey, many thanks to you.

BARNETT: Meanwhile in the U.K., there's an online petition calling the government to ban Trump from entering the country for hate speech. It's already received more than 39,000 signatures which are more than triple the number needed for the government to respond. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the petition could be debated in the House of Commons.

CHURCH: Now to the investigation into the massacre last week in California. Officials say one of the murderers may have plotted an earlier attack back in 2012.

BARNETT: Now, it's not clear how far Syed Rizwan Farook got into that plotting or what the target was.

CHURCH: Investigators say Farook and an accomplice lost their nerve and abandoned their plan after a round of terror-related arrests. A source also says in the days leading up to last week's attack, a man believed to be practiced firing an assault rifle at a local gun range. Authorities say the other attacker in last week's massacre was apparently radicalized long ago.

BARNETT: Tashfeen Malik went to University in Pakistan. CNN's Saima Mohsin met some of the people who knew her as a student.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A women's institute that teaches its own conservative and ultra orthodox version of Islam. And San Bernardino shooting suspect Tashfeen Malik studied here. A spokeswoman gave me a telephone interview.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible)

MOHSIN: But she didn't complete her course. In April last year, she announced she had to leave as she would be getting married in two months time. Teachers here, inside weren't willing to appear on camera, but they have given CNN a statement, describing Tashfeen Malik as a hard-working, helpful, obedient and positive-minded student. They said that no one here could ever have imagined that she could be behind what they describe as a horrible act that's 100 percent against Islamic teachings, and the teachings of the institute. She never raised any suspicions that she might be...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no, not at all.

MOHSIN: You didn't see any idea that she was perhaps developing an extremist mind-set?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not at all. No one could even think she could do such a heinous thing.

MOHSIN: But critics and former students of the institute say the ultra conservative values promote an arrogant and isolationist viewpoint. Could this be a stepping stone to radicalization?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See, what these women learn in these classes is that there's one correct interpretation of Islam. In that sense, the world view that these women are learning, that can be intolerant and judgmental, but nowhere in the curriculum is there any sort of space for anything which condones let alone advocates militancy.

MOHSIN: They have condemned the attack and say it can't be held responsible for a student's act as an individual.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is inhuman. This is not allowed in Islam. It's against Islamic teachings. It was really heartbreaking.

MOHSIN: The teaching here don't seem to be enough to complete the picture of Tashfeen Malik's alleged radicalization. This is only one piece of a very complicated jigsaw puzzle that has pieces in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.

Saima Mohsin, CNN Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Still to come this hour on CNN NEWSROOM, Iraqi forces are claiming a significant advance in a key city after a major attack on ISIS. We'll look at their recent success and the difficulties that still lie ahead.

CHURCH: Plus, officials in Chicago are trying to keep the public from seeing video of another fatal police shooting. The details still to come.

[03:19:01]

BARNETT: The Iraqi military says its forces now control more than half of Ramadi after a 24-hour offensive against ISIS.

CHURCH: They were able to advance after troops, counterterrorism forces, and federal police attacked the militants on three sides and were helped by U.S.-led air strikes. BARNETT: ISIS has controlled Ramadi since May when it pushed Iraqi

forces out of the city. Earlier, I spoke to CNN Military Analyst Lieutenant General Mark Hertlin about this push by Iraqi forces. I asked him how difficult it will be for the military to maintain control of the city.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The intel estimate says there's between 600 and 1,000 ISIS fighters still remaining in the city. Now that's versus about 10,000 Iraqi security forces -- between the ISIS fighters and the civilians who are being required to stay behind by the fighters for fear of being killed by ISIS themselves. This is going to continue to be a very tough fight. This is not going to go down very quickly.

CHURCH: The United Nations refugee agency is urging Jordan to take in 12,000 Syrians stranded at its border. They say these people are camping in deteriorating and unsanitary conditions. There are disease outbreaks and among children, signs of malnutrition.

BARNETT: You can see some of the aerial images of those refugees. The agency is offering to help reinforce security at registration points in Jordan. Many of these people are fleeing escalating air strikes and violence from ISIS militants in Syria.

CHURCH: Back to the United States now and Chicago officials have released another video showing disturbing behavior by police.

BARNETT: Now, this one captures officers' tasing a man in his cell, then dragging his body into the hallway. All of this comes as Chicago officials are trying to keep yet another police shooting video private.

CHURCH: The case involves the death of a teenager nearly three years ago. CNN's Rosa Flores has details of the investigation and we do warn you, some images in her report are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First, there was the shocking video of Laquan Mcdonald, and then Ronald Johnson. Both shot and killed by Chicago police, cases that have caused outrage. But there's a third police shooting and video that few have seen. We've talked to two men who have seen it, and they say it shows, in detail, the killing of black teen Cedric Chapman, by a Chicago police officer in 2013.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's running as fast as he possibly can away from the police and he is shot.

FLORES: Brian Kauffman represents Chapman's family and has been fighting for the release of the video.

BRIAN KAUFFMAN: Approximately three to four seconds elapses and the first bullet is fired. And he is dead within eight seconds of getting out of his car and running.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw the commotion, and heard the gun shots. FLORES: Lorenzo Davis analyzed the video second by second and says

this case cost him his job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We felt like it was unjustified shooting.

[03:24:01]

FLORES: Davis led the review for the city agency that investigates all officer-involved shootings, called the Independent Police Review Authority, or IPRA. A former police officer himself, he describes what's on the video.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They pulled up alongside of that car.

FLORES: Chapman was running away from the stolen car he was driving when a police officer opened fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chapman was running along here. And got to roughly this location, I would say. There was a gunshot.

FLORES: Chapman was carrying a black iPhone box in his hand. The shooting officer would later say he thought it was a gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did not shout a warning. He did not use his radio to give direction of flight. He simply pointed his gun until he had a clear shot.

FLORES: Lorenzo Davis said that when he deemed the shooting unjustified, his boss at IPRA asked him to change it to justified. When he refused, he says he was fired. IPRA assigned another investigator and called part of Davis' report glaringly biased, saying there was a significant discrepancy between Davis' findings and what the facts of the case actually show. The officer who shot Chapman was exonerated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't want to say that the shooting is wrong.

FLORES: Why is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because then it makes it look like some police officers are killers. And they don't want it to look that way.

FLORES: In fact, not only was the officer cleared, two of Chapman's accomplices were actually charged with first-degree murder, even though they were at least ten blocks away when he was shot. Prosecutors said the two were involved in the carjacking, which led to Chapman's death. They pled guilty to lesser crimes. Chicago police officers have shot 409 people since 2007, a third of them fatally. According to a CNN analysis of IPRA's data, that's one person shot about every week for the past eight years. An analysis of the 260 closed cases shows in only 6 cases, or 2 percent, officers were found to be not justified in the use of deadly force.

We keep on hearing from activists in the community, from members of the community, there's a cover-up culture to protect police officers, to protect politicians. What's your reaction to that? Do you think that culture of cover-up exists?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I do. That protects the reputation of the police department. That protects the reputation of police officers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: That was CNN Correspondent Rosa Flores reporting, and you could see a peaceful protest in Chicago again in the coming day, because in the coming hours, a federal judge in the city will decide if that video will be made public.

CHURCH: We'll take a very short break here, but still to come, the world's Muslims are reacting to Donald Trump's proposal to ban them from the United States. We're live in London with reaction from a counter-extremism think-tank.

BARNETT: Also, Muslims aren't the only group Trump has offended. Coming up next, how attacking a fellow candidate looks and calling Mexicans rapists has impacted him at the polls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:01]

BARNETT: A warm welcome back to our viewers in the U.S. and those around the world. This is CNN NEWSROOM. I am Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. We do want to check the headlines for you this hour.

(HEADLINES)

BARNETT: Now to more on the international outrage over Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner in the U.S. Presidential race -- keep that in mind, calling for a ban on Muslims entering the country. We want to bring in Managing Director of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter extremism think-tan think-tank. Thanks for your time and thanks for coming to talk about this. As outrageous as Donald Trump's idea is, have you taken any solace in the universal condemnation of it coming from within the Republican Party?

HARAS RAFIQ, MANAGING DIRECTOR QUILLIAM FOUNDATION: I think it's very difficult to take solace, because at the end of the day he's the front-runner within the Republican Party. He's somebody who could well be their Presidential candidate. And what's really -- I think alarming here, we're living in a time where there's the politics of grievance, the politics of hatred, and the politics of trolling, if you like. One of my colleagues yesterday called him a Presidential troll. And that in fact is exactly what he is. He's behaving like a demagogue, and we've seen this in the past, in Europe after World War I, where 15 years after the Great War -- Germany actually really had some of its most libertarian growth, if you like, and we saw the same cycle of politics being played out.

I think it's very difficult to take solace when we have somebody like Donald Trump, who is the front-runner of the Republican race to become the President doing the recruitment for ISIL.

BARNETT: We have got people watching us right now in the U.S. and all over the world. So just so we can clear up any doubt, here's the reality when it comes to Muslims in the U.S., a 2009 poll by Gallup found Muslims have the second highest level of education among religious groups, second to Jewish people. It also found that more U.S. Muslim women have a degree, a college degree, than U.S. Muslim men, and when it comes to fighting terrorism, a Duke University study from 2014 found that U.S. Muslims have brought more terror suspects and perpetrators to the attention of law enforcement than official U.S. government investigations. It's precisely the moderate, educated and progressive Muslims who are key to fighting terrorism, not just in the U.S., but globally. So why isn't this the dominant image of Muslims?

RAFIQ: I think essentially what we have -- first of all, I think the fact that there's a belief out there that it's the Muslims who are not educated, the Muslims who are not integrated who the ones are becoming the Islamist terrorists. That's a fallacy. If you look at the statistics and the data here in the U.K., for example, 47 percent of the convicted Islamists terrorists in the U.K. actually have university degrees and further education, higher education and have been integrated and middle class within our societies. The third thing, really, around the Muslims being one of the most effective keys and one of the most effective tools against terrorism, I think is very, very important.

I think the perception, what we're facing is a perception deficit. We don't have enough people talking about the issues within the U.S. and British and worldwide Muslim communities, about the problems that we're facing within our societies. We do have a problem and we need to combat this and we need to tackle it, but we can't do it on our own. People like Donald Trump really actually need to understand what the problem is, and actually work together with the whole of society and take on this Islamist, totalitarian fascism, rather than actually blaming all Muslims.

[03:35:01]

BARNETT: What Donald Trump is saying, a lot of people are buying. One way to look at it, Donald Trump is a successful businessman who knows what his customers want and he's simply giving that to them, playing on conservative Americans' fears. How do you feel knowing that that seems to be working? Historically, that has a very negative outcome.

RAFIQ: You're absolutely right. One of the things that really alarmed me, if you like, was that when he made his speech the other day about his suggestion to ban Muslims. Well, first of all, how do you identify a Muslim? We're not a race. There are people who are different colors, different ethnic origins. We look different. We don't have Muslim stamped on our foreheads. One of the most alarming things for me was not just that he made the speech and actually the suggestion for this plan, what alarmed me more was the number of cheers that he received within the audience. This seems to be a view amongst some of his customers, if you like. And that's absolutely the right way to actually frame this.

He's trying to sell a product. He's behaving like a demagogue. He actually is somebody who has been successful at being a businessman. He's now becoming a Presidential troll, selling the politics of grievance, and it looks like some people are actually receiving that message and that's what's alarming and that's what's dangerous.

BARNETT: And there's an unanswered question as to how many people truly believe and support him. In our last few seconds here, do you think he'll be the next U.S. President?

RAFIQ: I pray that he isn't. There's always a chance that he could be. But I believe that the U.S. public is a lot more sophisticated and intelligent than to allow somebody like him to become their next leader.

BARNETT: Haras Rafiq, let's continue to have more discussions like this, Managing Director of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter- extremism think tank. Thanks for joining us this morning from London.

RAFIQ: My pleasure.

CHURCH: And Donald Trump has offended several other groups from Mexicans to women, and he's made several highly inflammatory comments, but they haven't kept him from leading the political pack. Randi Kaye takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When Donald Trump first announced he's running for President, he made it memorable. Remember this comment about Mexican immigrants?

TRUMP: They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists and some I assume are good people.

KAYE: The blowback was fierce, some in the Latino community calling him a racist. Major corporations breaking ties with him, political insiders saying he was a doomed candidate. But they were wrong. Trump jumped seven points to second place in a Fox News poll, the first poll done completely after his Presidential announcement. And it quickly became clear he was just getting started. In July, he said this about Senator John McCain, a former POW.

TRUMP: He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured. I hate to tell you. He's a war hero because he was captured.

KAYE: Again, the blowback was intense. And Trump did take a hit in the polls, dropping 6 points from an ABC/Washington Post poll to 18 percent support in a CNN/ORC poll, but still he held on to the top spot among all the Republican candidates. And his numbers quickly rebounded. The next month, Trump had women up in arms with this bizarre comment about Fox debate Moderator Megyn Kelly.

TRUMP: She starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions and you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.

KAYE: Trump later denied he was referring to menstruation. Potential voters must have believed him, because he held steady with support from about a quarter of GOP voters, before and after the remarks according to Fox News polls. In September, Mr. Trump made disparaging comments about Carly Fiorina, telling Rolling Stone Magazine, look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next President? A CBS/New York Times poll showed he dropped six points after that, but was still in the lead, and while we don't know yet how Donald Trump's call to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. will play out, we do know what happened after the Paris attacks, when Trump told MSNBC he would strongly consider shutting down U.S. mosques.

TRUMP: Some of the hatred, the absolute hatred is coming from these areas. The hatred is incredible. It's embedded. The hatred is beyond belief. The hatred is greater than anybody understands.

[03:40:01]

KAYE: He escaped unscathed, again, defying conventional wisdom, and jumping in the polls by four points, according to a Fox News poll, and eight points in an ABC/Washington Post poll.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: More news for you after the break. People in India are gaining more access to electricity, but it comes at a huge cost, pollution. We'll look at the challenges India is facing with the use of coal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: And our international viewers can watch the full debate on Wednesday at 8:00 in the evening in London, right here on CNN.

BARNETT: Now, environmentalists say coal is the world's dirtiest fuel, but despite that, India continues to open new coal plants every month.

CHURCH: CNN's Mallika Kapur goes deep inside a coal mine in eastern India to examine what coal does to India's bottom line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We plunge underground, deep into darkness. We walk almost an hour, we can barely breathe, then a burst of activity. Machines blast through rocks excavating coal, a fossil fuel that's heavily polluting, but for India, still precious. I am more than 200 meters under the ground at a coal mine in eastern India, and it's mines like this one that power 60 percent of the country.

[03:48:01] Abandoned and cheap, coal is an economical way to feed India's

voracious and growing appetite for power, 300 million Indians still don't have access to electricity. Imagine the entire population of the United States living in darkness. Coal, though, comes at a cost, pollution. India is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases and already has a problem with dirty air. Burning coal makes it worse. So what are we measuring here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This machine is going to measure the air pollution. If you see, it's close to 280 or 290.

KAPUR: What's the limit?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 100.

KAPUR: And we're at 290?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. So it's almost three times.

KAPUR: Switching to cleaner alternatives will take time, says a leading energy researcher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will mean every new capacity we set up, we should use the most efficient technologies that are available in the market.

KAPUR: Which is not as polluting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which is not as polluting, but which is very much more expensive.

KAPUR: India faces a dual challenge, development versus environment. For tens of thousands of miners who work round the clock, these dark pits are a livelihood. And for tens of thousands who still live in darkness, an affordable source of hope, Mallika Kapur, CNN, India.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: If you think the U.S. Presidential race seems a little more foul-mouthed than usual, you're not alone, the strategy behind all the language on the campaign trail when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:53:01]

CHURCH: You heard it here, some very excited Star Wars fans there. The new movie debuts in nine days, but they're already camped out at a Los Angeles theater, trying to secure a spot for an advance screening on December 17th, one day before its official launch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came out first for episode one, then I did it for episode two and three and now we're like family. We're all friends and family and it's like a reunion, and this is what we do, so I couldn't not be here for this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Now much of the plot for this new movie has been kept under raps, but the producer said there's one character you will not see. She confirmed that Jar Jar Binks won't be in the new film, thank goodness. Many fans consider him just an annoying character.

CHURCH: Record rains have fallen in parts of the western U.S. this week, while in some places, more than ten feet of snow could fall just this week alone. Our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has been keeping an eye on this, some happy skiers out there, right?

(WEATHER REPORT)

BARNETT: Yeah. Thanks, Pedram.

Voters hear a lot of promises from candidates. What's unexpected is hearing them swear.

CHURCH: But as CNN's Jeanne Moos reports, cursing has replaced civility in the U.S. Presidential election campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's as if they're vying for curser in chief. And guess who's in the lead.

TRUMP: Would I approve water boarding, you bet your ass I'd approve it.

MOOS: Are you trying to make America swear again?

GRAHAM: Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.

MOOS: Gone are the days where politicians confine themselves to swearing on the bible. Even mild-mannered Jeb Bush erupted.

BUSH: We're Americans, damn it.

MOOS: Most credit Donald Trump for lowering the bar.

TRUMP: It's political bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Do you understand?

MOOS: But everyone seems to be following a Trump well-manured foot steps...

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need more phone surveillance, bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

MOOS: Foul-mouthed and proud of it is how the New York Times put it.

TRUMP: I would bomb the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of them.

MOOS: It adds to the macho factor, makes them sound like one of us. Even cerebral Bernie Sanders got sick and tired of hearing... SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: --

about your damn emails.

MOOS: And President Obama complimented the U.S. women's soccer team by saying...

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Playing like a girl means you're a bad ass.

MOOS: Of course, Presidents are expected to swear privately. But it got this Fox contributor a two-week suspension when he used the P word to describe President Obama's cowardly...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy is such a total (EXPLETIVE DELETED), it's stunning.

MOOS: When Rich Lowry described how rival Carly Fiorina bested Donald Trump during a debate...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carly cut his (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off.

MOOS: The Donald wanted an apology for such foul language, unheard of. Well, un-hear this, the mayor of Philadelphia just said this about you, Donald.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's an ass hole.

[03:58:01]

MOOS: And if you add something profane, the crowd just might go insane.

PAUL: Bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

MOOS: Jeanne Moss, CNN.

TRUMP: I would bomb the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of them.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: As an Australian, I am totally shocked. Thanks for watching CNN. I am Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I am Errol Barnett. Keep it clean if you message us on social media. Also tell us from where you're watching. "EARLY START" is next for those of you in the states.

CHURCH: And for our viewers elsewhere, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM. Stick around.

[04:00:00]