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Police Shooting: New Evidence Points to Possible Cover Up; Sanders Apologizes to Clinton for Data Breach; Life as A Teenage Syrian Refugee; Woman Rescues Abandoned Dogs in Turkey; Star Wars Movie Shatters Box Office Records. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 20, 2015 - 18:00   ET

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


[18:00:07] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to have more about the debate in just a moment.

But, first, new video of a deadly police shooting is sparking outrage and once again raising questions about a huge police department. The incident involving two Los Angeles sheriff deputies was captured on this cell phone video right here, and it's raising questions about whether the suspect was the victim of a cover-up.

CNN's Nick Valencia is sorting out the details.

Nick, what are you learning?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Pamela.

The new video was released by the victim's family's attorney. The eight-minute clip was edited to highlight portions of that shooting. In its raw form, the video was part of the district attorney's investigative file. We have to warn you, the report you're watching to watch is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): The video picks up after a foot chase of the suspect following the traffic stop in Long Beach, California.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to kill you.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

VALENCIA: The man on the ground, 23-year-old Noel Aguilar, he fled from police after they tried to question him. They believe he was armed.

You can see him struggling as two L.A. sheriff's deputies attempt to handcuff him. At one point, Aguilar slips away from the cops. And then, a gunshot. The painful scream are from the deputy. He doesn't realize it now, but he's been shot in the stomach by his partner Jose Ruiz. He tells investigators after the shooting, quote, "He believed that Aguilar had shot him." In a statement obtained by affiliate KABC, Ruiz says, quote,

"believing Aguilar was retrieving a weapon and would shoot Murade, he fired his weapon."

In the video, Ruiz never says that he's the one who fired the shots. The deputies proceed to struggle with Aguilar on the ground.

DEPUTY JOSE RUIZ: Where's the gun?

NOEL AGUILAR: I don't any.

RUIZ: I shot!

AGUILAR: I didn't shoot nobody.

RUIZ: Huh?

AGUILAR: I didn't shoot nobody.

DEPUTY ALBERT MURADE: I got shot in the stomach.

AGUILAR: I didn't shoot nobody. I didn't shoot nobody.

Why are you going to pull a gun on me?

(GUNSHOT)

VALENCIA: Ruiz fires a second round, this time into Aguilar. Aguilar's hand was on Ruiz's gun.

The deputy later wrote in a statement, "The shot prompts Deputy Murade to shoot three times into Aguilar's back."

Of the shooting, Murade says afterwards upon hearing his partner and believing Aguilar was going to shoot him again, he shot Aguilar three times in the back from close distance."

After a nine-month investigation, the L.A. district attorney concluded in February the deputies, quote, "acted in lawful self-defense of others."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: The incident took place more than a year ago, in May of 2014. Initially, the L.A. sheriff's department told the media Aguilar reached for the deputy's gun. They also alleged he was a gang member.

Well, a background check into Aguilar by CNN revealed no known criminal history. However, authorities say he was armed with a .45- caliber handgun at the time of the shooting. CNN has reached out to the attorney for Aguilar's family but has not heard back. But we did get a statement from the L.A. sheriff's department.

They said, quote, "Homicide investigators obtained cell phone video of the incident. However, that's only one piece of in evidence the investigation. We welcome any additional video that individuals may have."

Both deputies are back to work on the streets of Los Angeles. We should mention the family has filed a civil lawsuit against the individuals as well as the city -- Pamela.

BROWN: Nick, you have new information about the toxicology report run by police on Aguilar is that right?

VALENCIA: We got our hands on the paperwork filed by the district attorney's office, their investigative file. In it we realized -- it was reported the toxicology reports showed that Aguilar had marijuana in his system, as well as methamphetamine. She said the 23-year-old that was shot was killed.

We should also mention this report that it was well after the shooting that Officer Deputy Murade found out it was his partner that shot him, not Aguilar. So, during this whole struggle that we just saw in that report, Murade was under the impression that Aguilar was actually the one that shot him in the stomach, not his partner -- Pamela.

BROWN: OK. Nick Valencia, thank you so much.

Joining me now to discuss all of this, criminal defense attorney Danny Cevallos and CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Gilliam.

Danny, first to you, we just heard Nick say the deputy thought that Aguilar actually shot him until he later found out that actually, it was no, it was the other deputy. How important is that? Is the fact that he may have believed during that moment that Aguilar was the one that fired the shot?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It is maybe the most important part of the analysis because citizens would be surprised to learn that police can use lethal force even based on a mistaken belief that a suspect has a weapon if -- and this is the key -- that belief was a reasonable one. If the belief that there was a firearm or a deadly weapon and that there was a real threat was a mistaken one, as long as it is reasonable one based on facts and circumstances, police may avoid liability.

So, critical here -- if these police officers were ever charged, critical would be their defense that one brother officer was shot, I believed there was still a firearm and I acted reasonably.

[18:05:08] Because police are trained, as Jonathan is going to tell us, to stop the threat. They shoot to stop the threat. And if they believe it's a continuing threat, they continue to shoot.

BROWN: And their training -- how much training they received, I'm sure will be part of this investigation.

CEVALLOS: Huge.

BROWN: Jonathan, what is your reaction to that video?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I watched that video over and over, I watched it in slow motion, I watched it in regular speed.

And, you know, there's some policies and procedures I think that could be revamped to get people that are quicker instead of waiting that it gets to this level. But the critical part of this video is that we have to look at it from the officers' perspective, not the perspective of this video. Officers are not seeing things from this perspective. They're literally two, three inches away.

BROWN: And this video was edited given us to by the family's attorney.

GILLIAM: Right. But the officers are this close to that suspect. They don't necessarily see the whole picture so when a shot goes off, they've already identified that he has a weapon. The shot goes off. The officer knows he's been shot and he has a reasonable belief that this guy shot him because he doesn't have a reasonable belief that his partner would shoot him.

So, this individual who is struggling, who has a weapon, there's been a shot and now the way he is reacting is the way you would react to a threat. But we have to remember, it's so close a lot of the times like in this case right here, that the officers don't have the advantage of having the perspective that we have from this video, and that has to be taken to account as well in a court case when they're going after these officers.

BROWN: But, Danny, on the other side, the families' attorney saying that, look, this is murder. What happened here is murder. We know the family has filed a civil suit against the sheriff's department and demanding charges be filed against these officers.

Do you think they have a good case here?

CEVALLOS: Two separate cases you're talking about. One is the request for criminal charges against these police officers. The second whether or not they have a viable civil claim, and the reality is there are many more civil lawsuits than criminal prosecutions against police officers for unreasonable force and, of course, scholars and citizens sort of disagree on what that reason is for that.

So, in a case like this, whether or not there is going to be charges is going to depend entirely on the prosecutor or if there's an independent prosecutor or whatever system they decide to follow. However, whether or not there's civil liability will again depend not only on the facts available to those officers at the time but also their training, what kind of training did they get to recognize a threat and recognize a firearm and did they act consistently with that training?

And, of course, as we know, the standard for criminal prosecution is much higher than that for civil liability. So, that is why you may often find police departments civilly liable whereas there was no criminal prosecution.

BROWN: Which I think people are confused by. They say wait a second --

CEVALLOS: It doesn't feel right.

BROWN: Isn't the civil settlement acknowledging that something was wrong here?

GILLIAM: Right. And that's why you see in court cases a lot of outcomes people expect. So they're looking at a video then when a judge is looking at this, they're taking the totality of circumstances in account. And, you know, one thing that is definitely coming to light from all these recent shootings with officers in the videos is that people will see what they want to see in the public's eye. So the court of public opinion is completely different and justice in the public's eye is different than justice in a court of law.

CEVALLOS: Isn't it amazing that -- when videos first came out both defense attorneys and prosecutors said, finally, we have objectivity. But just in the last couple years since videos have been out, now we have what's called perspective bias. It may be the case that even video is not objective because video only shows you the vantage point of that camera and you don't get to see what was available to the actors' eyes at the moment.

And here, we have a video that was taken feet away from the incident, but yet, it obscures, we don't exactly see everything that's going on. So who knew we would be talking about videos in this modern era and say, darn it, they're not objective enough.

GILLIAM: But the one thing these videos are showing, if you wrestle with an officer, if you do drugs, if you carry a weapon and you belong to a gang, the chances of you getting shot when you have an encounter with law enforcement goes up. And that's the one thing that is not getting pointed out in all these situations is that somebody's running from the cops --

BROWN: That they weren't perfect angels, essentially. Is that the point you're making?

GILLIAM: Nobody is a perfect angel but if you just respect law enforcement, law enforcement will -- they'll taper down their reaction. All -- a lot of these reactions, most of these reactions that we're seeing where people get shot are the result of people not obeying the orders of a law enforcement officer.

[18:10:02] BROWN: Not always.

CEVALLOS: Interesting, it goes to training. I mean, a gentleman like Jonathan, you and I are just sitting here enjoying the afternoon. People who trained like Jonathan are constantly looking far threat. It's part of their training so that when they perceive a threat their training tells them to knew federalize the threat, stop the threat.

And that's what we see, is that how police officers are trained. Virtually, anything could be a threat. So that in a case like this, the analysis is after a brother officer has been shot, what was the reason for the shooting and is there still a present immediate threat? BROWN: So, to Jonathan point's saying, look, this is someone who had

a gun on him, he was disobeying, it seems, police, and the toxicology report shows he had methamphetamine in his system. How does that play into all of this?

CEVALLOS: It is a factor and in many cases, the kind of drug is a factor as well. However, that factor would not override a situation where, for example, you saw a video where somebody is clearly executed for no good reason. So, while it's an important factor because it tells us what kind of behavior the officers may have been perceiving at the time -- however, it's always possible that video evidence could override that inference or that presumption you may draw from a toxicology report.

For example, if somebody was on marijuana, from what we know about marijuana, you may draw one inference but if you have another video that shows the suspect posed no threat whatsoever, toxicology becomes less important in the analysis.

BROWN: That's why it's good to have more than one video.

GILLIAM: And the totality of the circumstances the officers are looking at. If an individual is on methamphetamine, it's likely that the officer can articulate their behavior as being odd. And that's a very important part of this. How are the officers articulating this person's behavior when they act?

But I'll tell you, the thing, is when it comes to justice, these lawyers, no offense, are out there talking about justice, justice really goes back to the point of when this starts. If the officers have good policy, if they know when to call backup and if people in the culture and the society will step up to the plate and start being more responsible, all this will be fixed and officers will be reacting differently and people will be reacting differently to the officers. But this is where we have the breakdown of this whole situation is that training doesn't go all the way a lot of the times.

I don't know if that's the case in this circumstance, but definitely when it comes to behavior, people need to modify their behavior when they interact with law enforcement. We can't go down this road.

BROWN: I think training is key in all of this, because different police departments get different levels of training and then the question is how often do they get -- go back to have their training again? So anyway, great conversation with both of you. I'm sure a lot more to discuss here.

Jonathan Gilliam, Danny Cevallos, appreciate it.

And up next right here, in the NEWSROOM, the invisible candidate on stage at the Democratic presidential debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is becoming ISIS' best recruiter. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Hillary Clinton looking past the rivals in her party to focus squarely on Donald Trump. That's next right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:16:20] BROWN: And turning now to the race for the White House. Today, we saw Donald Trump launch perhaps his harshest attack yet against Jeb Bush, calling him an embarrassment to his family. Bush also has been hurling insults at the GOP front-runner this weekend.

Here's some of what they said in the last 24 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's an embarrassment to the Bush family. He doesn't even want to use the Bush name, which is interesting. Jeb is an embarrassment to himself and his family.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One other thing, I have to get this off my chest, Donald Trump is a jerk.

(LAUGHTER & APPLAUSE)

BUSH: It was so sad to watch him. I so sad. Bush.

(LAUGHTER)

No, it was just sad. I mean, it's like close to incompetent, you look at that, it was terrible.

BUSH: For us to win? Donald Trump can't be the nominee. He's never going to beat Hillary Clinton. It's just not possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The two candidates have been sparring all week after Bush directly confronted Trump during the CNN debate in Las Vegas Tuesday.

And meantime, the last Democratic presidential debate of the year is in the books and it began with an apology from Senator Bernie Sanders for a data breach and then featured Hillary Clinton on the attack. Not so much against the candidates on the stage with her but, instead, taking aim at Donald Trump.

Chris Frates has all the highlights, including the apology to kick off the night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Finally, a Democratic debate with potential for drama. After days of smack talking among the DNC, the Sanders and Clinton campaigns, the debate stage was set for two top Democrats to throw down over accusations that Sanders exploited a software glitch to access Clinton's confidential voter information -- a move Clinton's camp call below the belt.

Clinton goes for the jugular, "Politico" trumpeted, signaling that Clinton was ready to throw some mud in Saturday night's debate.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I apologize.

FRATES: Wait. What?

SANDERS: Not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one --

FRATES: OK, but Clinton is not going to let him get off that easy, right?

CLINTON: I very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. I don't think the American people are all that interested in this.

FRATES: Instead, it seems Clinton thought Americans wanted to hear how she would take on the Republicans, a theme she stuck to throughout the night, largely ignoring her two Democratic rivals.

CLINTON: And we also need to make sure the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter.

FRATES: Clinton went on to say that ISIS is using Trump videos to recruit more jihadists. A claims there no evidence to support.

CLINTON: We are now finally where we need to be. We have a strategy and a commitment to go after ISIS, which is a danger to us, as well as the region. And we finally have a U.N. Security Council resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria.

FRATES: Republicans pounced on that remark. Jeb Bush tweeting, "No, Hillary Clinton, we are not where we need to be in fight against ISIS."

O'Malley, a distant third in the race, weaved national security implications into his pitch for tougher gun control.

MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ISIL videos, ISIL training videos are telling lone wolves the easiest way to buy a combat assault weapon in America is at a gun show, and it's because of the flip-flopping, political approach of Washington that my two colleagues on this stage have represented for the last 40 years.

FRATES: But even when she wasn't center stage, Clinton was still the center of attention.

CLINTON: Sorry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Thank you to our Chris Frates. [18:20:00] So, did anyone on the stage do enough to topple Hillary

Clinton? Our top contenders go head to head in their own debate right after this break.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: So, before the break, we showed you highlights from last night's Democratic presidential debate.

And joining us now for a lightning round to break it all down are CNN political commentators Marc Lamont Hill, a professor at Morehouse College and Ben Ferguson, host of "The Ben Ferguson Show".

All right. Ben and Marc, you know the drill, you have 30 seconds for each answer.

And, Ben, I'm going to who won the debate and why!

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You're talking about last night? I'd go with Hillary Clinton because no one hit her. And as for the other night, I think Ted Cruz actually won the GOP debate as well. I think they both had good nights. It will be interesting to see how -- especially for Ted Cruz how he can capitalize this going into Iowa. If he can win that, Donald Trump said he was going to win everything, it could change the selection big time.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Only Ben can turn a question about the Democratic debate into something about Republicans.

I think that Bernie Sanders won the debate. Bernie won it handily. He addressed the issues, he was respectful, critical.

He didn't beat up on Hillary. He didn't play to the cheap seats like Martin O'Malley with age jokes. He did the right thing. He kept on message and was strong.

Will it be enough to persuade voters? It's hard to say but he certainly was on message.

BROWN: All right. Ben, pretend you're Martin O'Malley's campaign director. Tell me how he wins the nomination.

FERGUSON: You don't. There's no way possible that you win this unless Bernie Sanders drops out and Hillary Clinton drops out.

I'm not even sure if they did something stupid that would even matter to the voters. So, if I'm him, sit back, relax, enjoy the holidays and send out resumes because you're going to be without a job soon.

BROWN: You don't even need 30 seconds, Ben.

Marc, to you. Your thoughts.

HILL: It's like a football team that's down by a lot of points like Ben's beloved Dallas Cowboys are every week.

BROWN: Ooh!

[18:25:02] HILL: It's true. You start throwing Hail Harys. Right now, he needs to throw Hail Marys. That means he needs to have a radical plan for changing America.

He needs to go hard at Hillary Clinton. I'm not suggesting that he does anything unethical. I'm not saying he does uncivil, but he needs to swing hard for Hillary and Bernie. He needs to make voters think that they are simply unreasonable candidates. That's his only hope. It's a very small hope, though.

BROWN: I want to play you a quick from "Saturday Night Live" where Hillary Clinton from 2008 meets Hillary Clinton from 2015. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now hold on, Hillary, even if you beat Bernie, aren't you worried about the Republicans? Who's their front-runner?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will tell you but only if you grab on to something to brace yourself because you are going to hit the F-ing floor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That will be fine. Just tell me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, you need to hold on to something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm warning you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just tell me!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: You got to laugh at that.

So, Ben if Clinton is the Democratic nominee, is Trump her dream opponent?

FERGUSON: I don't know if necessary dream opponent, it would make for a lively debate. If you're Hillary Clinton right now, I think your dream opponent probably would be Jeb Bush because I think you would think he's the easiest to beat. He's not a very fun candidate, he's a pretty boring candidate, he's the establishment candidate, he's not -- the voters if on the GOP side are not enthusiastic. He is literally Mitt Romney and John McCain 2.0.

So I think that Donald Trump would probably not be that guy that she necessarily wants to jump into the ring with. She knows how good he is. She's seen -- (BUZZER)

BROWN: Marc, before you answer, I want to make it harder for you. A CNN/ORC poll shows she'd only narrowly beat him in a hypothetical general election matchup as you see right here.

HILL: That's true. But some of that polling is about favorability and likability.

It's going to come a moment where people have to say do I want Donald Trump to be my president? And the truth is, there are many old guard Republicans who absolutely will not vote for Donald Trump. I'm not saying they will vote for Hillary, but they will stay home.

If Hillary Clinton has an energized base and Donald Trump doesn't have an energized base and I think a Donald Trump general election could keep more people home than a Mitt Romney general election. If that happens Hillary Clinton would love to have Donald Trump across the aisle. I think anybody if they were running for president would like to have Donald Trump running against them.

I could probably win against Donald Trump.

BROWN: All right. As we know, the Iowa caucuses are about six weeks away. I want you to take a look at this new ad from Senator Ted Cruz. It ran in Iowa during last night's episode of "SNL." Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: The whole family will enjoy reading stories like "The Grinch who lost her e-mails."

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I know just what I'll do, she said with a snicker, I'll use my own server and no one will be the wiser.

NARRATOR: If you act now, we'll throw in the inspiring Christmas story soon to be an instant classic.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Please read this one, daddy.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: OK!

NARRATOR: The senator who saved Christmas.

CRUZ: This is a good one.

NARRATOR: If you are not completely satisfied with this collection of Cruz Christmas classics, you probably hate Christmas and America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. So, Ben, is this a smart way of attacking Hillary Clinton?

FERGUSON: Well, it's a brilliant move for the fact that you've got to make people want to laugh and realize that you can have a personality that's fun to be around. Ted Cruz is a very smart analytical guy. He's a constitutional lawyer for goodness sakes and he needs to make himself look like he's more relaxed and you can hang out or connect with him and his family.

The other thing is there's really no downside to doing this, because you're only asking Republicans to look at you right now. This is not a general election play. This is a primary play to get some momentum early on. I think it's a very smart move and it will probably work out well for him?

BROWN: All right. Marc?

HILL: It will absolutely work out well for Ted Cruz. He's going to be the next -- no, it's not going to work, Ben, it's stupid.

BROWN: I was like wait a second!

HILL: Ted Cruz is a second-tier candidate. He's polling higher in the last month but at the end of the day I don't think people like him. Democrats don't like him and, quite frankly, Republicans have shown for the last two years they don't like him because he doesn't play ball and because his personality seems to be at odds with other people inside the party.

So, yes, this is a nice fun thing to do on "Saturday Night Live" but it's laughable he could win the nomination and presidency. So, you know, go ahead and do it, Ted, but I don't think it's going to help.

BROWN: You're agreeing with Ben at the beginning of your answer, I thought? They're agreeing?

HILL: That won't happen.

BROWN: All right. Ben Ferguson, Marc Lamont Hill, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Happy holidays.

And right after the break --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hear shots and everything. Our mom told us keep our front windows, stay in the house, no school. I remember, like, two nights we couldn't sleep. My mom was awake for two days just to make sure we are safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We're going to meet a teenager whose family sent him to America to protect him from the fighting in Syria and why he wishes he could return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00] BROWN: Family sent him to America to protect him from the fighting in Syria and why he wishes he could return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: So imagine taking the combined populations of Memphis and New Orleans and moving them all to another state. That's the sheer magnitude of what is happening with the -- refugee crisis in Syria. By the time the year is over, more than one million refugees will have risked their lives to travel to Europe by sea. That's five times the number of refugees who fled last year.

HLN's Yasmin Vossoughian spoke with a teenage refugee from Syria whose family sent him to safety and he lives in America now but his heart is overseas with his family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YAMEN KHALIL, SYRIAN REFUGEE: I go to school, I come back home by myself every night, every day. I'm alone.

YASMIN VOSSOUGHIAN, HLN'S "CHILDREN OF WAR": Your dad is here.

KHALIL: Yes, but he'd be working. He comes back I think 11:00 every day. So from 5:00 to 11:00 I stay home by myself every day. I always want to go back. I don't want to stay here.

VOSSOUGHIAN: You don't want to stay here?

KHALIL: No, I always want to go back.

VOSSOUGHIAN: Even now?

KHALIL: Even now.

I'm Yamen Khalil. I'm a Syrian refugee.

VOSSOUGHIAN: What was it like back at home before you came here?

KHALIL: We hear, like, shots and everything. Our mom told us keep our front windows, from doors, just stay in the house, no school. I remember, like, two nights we couldn't sleep. My mom was awake for two days just to make sure we are safe.

I'm from here, Tartus. In 2011 I moved from Tartus to Lebanon, I got my visa with my family. Then we moved back to Syria. Then we moved to Egypt.

[18:35:04] VOSSOUGHIAN: And then where did you go?

KHALIL: I moved to U.S., United States. Education is my future. I never miss a class.

MARGARET HARRIS, ESOL DEPARTMENT CHAIR: He knows what's expected of him and his family is always on his mind, and everything he does is with the knowledge that he's got family back home counting on him to succeed. So that's a heavy burden, I think.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sodium and then NA plus. VOSSOUGHIAN: So many of these refugee kids have similar stories to a

lot of the American kids in the school. Maybe the American kids didn't spend five years in a refugee camp but they're coming from homes where they only had one parent there or they're living with their grandmother and their siblings are in another state. So they actually have a lot of similarities. Do you guys try and integrate in that way?

HARRIS: I think that is something seriously lacking and the more kids we get from other countries the more important this is to do.

American kids have trauma. Urban youth have a lot of trauma in their lives, too. No, they didn't spend their life in a refugee camp and no, maybe there isn't a war going on but in some ways there is.

VOSSOUGHIAN: How's school going?

KHALIL: Good. Better than the last year.

VOSSOUGHIAN: It's easier?

KHALIL: Yes. Last year was hard.

VOSSOUGHIAN: Is it easier because your English is better?

KHALIL: I think -- yes, I think that's why.

VOSSOUGHIAN: Where's your mom?

KHALIL: She's in Turkey now with my youngest brother. And they have oldest brother in Germany.

VOSSOUGHIAN: Why aren't they here?

KHALIL: They didn't give my older brother a visa. Here's my mom.

VOSSOUGHIAN: She's very pretty.

KHALIL: Thank you.

VOSSOUGHIAN: You look a lot like your mom.

KHALIL: Yes. Everybody say that. And here's my oldest brother.

VOSSOUGHIAN: So this is your oldest brother who's in a refugee camp now.

KHALIL: Right.

VOSSOUGHIAN: In Hamburg.

KHALIL: That's me and my youngest brother Jawad.

VOSSOUGHIAN: What happened to your brother?

KHALIL: The TV fell on his head when he was 3 years old. VOSSOUGHIAN: Can you ask Jawad if he misses you?

KHALIL: He said yes.

VOSSOUGHIAN: Come on, Yamen. Can you do any footwork?

KHALIL: Not really?

VOSSOUGHIAN: No.

KHALIL: Only this.

VOSSOUGHIAN: You seem like you really love soccer. Why don't you play here?

KHALIL: I mean, if you play soccer after school you have to stay after school for two -- sometimes two hours and I have to catch the bus. I will be home at 8:00. And I still have others -- like homework, quizzes to study. So I feel, no, I should study instead of playing soccer in school.

I was lucky to come up here and get education and be in a safe place.

VOSSOUGHIAN: If your family were able to come here, would you want to stay?

KHALIL: Yes. I would stay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: What a story.

And coming up right here in the NEWSROOM --

The stream -- the social and political debate in this country being generated by the stream of Syrian refugees. What happens if they are no longer welcome in the U.S.? Right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:50] BROWN: Millions of people are forced to face a life-or- death decision today -- stay in Syria and risk their lives or join the flood of refugees, itself a dangerous journey, hoping to make it to Europe or America.

It is an undeniable humanitarian crisis. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and knows this problem all too well. She's recently back from Turkey where she met both refugees at the center of this story.

And Gayle, first off, from all of your experiences, what did you learn seeing the refugee crisis from the perspective of the outside looking into the U.S.?

GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Yes, I mean, what you hear in American political discussion -- and I say that as someone who spent a lot of time covering campaigns -- is really divorced from the reality of moms and dads who are fleeing bombs falling from the skies on to their children. You know, people who are trying to figure out how to basically allow their children survive through the next day, let alone the next year.

And they really do not have any other option. You know, as one aid worker said to me, these people are not fleeing Syria for a fancy life. You know, these moms and dads are fleeing Syria because they want to survive and they want their children to have a shot at something better, which is something I think a lot of Americans would very much understand but there's a huge gap between the political discourse in this country about who these refugees are and the reality of the lives these parents are facing now in war.

BROWN: And we know that -- we've seen it play out. Americans, Europeans, are wrestling with whether to accept these refugees. Some of them are fearful of terrorists sneaking in. As we saw in the Paris attacks a couple of the gunmen apparently came in with the refugees. No easy answers here but what is the solution in your opinion?

LEMMON: I agree with you, there are no easy answers and, of course, America's anxiety is very much understandable. We saw what happened in Paris, we certainly saw what happened close to where I am right now in San Bernardino and that awful tragedy. But I think it's important to remember that these are parents, these are moms and dads fleeing the same kind of terror that Americans fear. Right? And they have no other place to go. And the process that brings refugees to the United States is one -- and I say this as somebody who covered Afghanistan and have tried to help some of my colleagues from Afghanistan into the U.S. -- it takes years.

All right. First there's a vetting from the United Nations, and then there's a whole beginning of a process, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, that begins, you know, at least months into the U.N. process and definitely less than 5 percent of those who've applied so far have gotten permission to enter the United States. So we're not talking about anything easy where people could simply wash up on American shores and be considered.

BROWN: And some would make the argument if you're a terrorist, you're not going to wait the two years to go through this vetting process.

LEMMON: That's right.

BROWN: But, look, there are some serious questions about whether this vetting process is foolproof. Listen to what Reverend Franklin Graham had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. FRANKLIN GRAHAM, BILLY GRAHAM'S SON: I don't believe in banning Muslims from coming. I think we should put a halt on immigration because our borders are broken until we have a proper system to vet people.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: So what's your reaction to that? Can any vetting process weed out terrorists?

[18:45:02] LEMMON: I think that there is nothing that is 100 percent but I think you can have a vetting process that takes long enough that is requiring of enough proof and enough forms of identification that still actually could be worth something even with the failed state in Syria, that you could be more certain that these are people who are really are coming for exactly the values Americans understand.

Talk to Syrian refugees, they wanted two things, one is to go back to their country and two is to send their children to school in the meantime because they are really worried that if their children are out of school they will never get those years back and it was Ronald Reagan who talked about the incredibly crucial role that immigration and refugee policy plays in America because of our vary foundation.

So I think we absolutely have to pay attention to the concerns, but I think it's important to remember who these, you know, moms and dads and young people really are who are trying to come to the United States. And far more of them are unsuccessful than even get considered.

BROWN: All right, Gayle. Thank you so much. Really interesting to hear your perspective. Appreciate your sharing your experience with us.

LEMMON: Great to join you. Thank you.

BROWN: And coming up next right here in the NEWSROOM, someone with a big heart for animals in need.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All these dogs are here because of Yasmin Baban. All of these dogs were once abandoned and unwanted on the streets of Istanbul. And you won't believe where they're about to end up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: One woman's daunting challenge to rescue abandoned dogs in Turkey after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, life for humans can be hard enough in Turkey, for abandoned dogs it's miserable. One woman in Istanbul has made it her mission to save them and find them homes in America.

Here's Sara Sidner.

SIDNER (voice-over): It's playtime.

[18:50:04] First, this ruckus crowd greets each other in all manner of ways. Then they turn to the humans. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love and affection.

SIDNER: All these dogs are here because of Yasemin Baban. All these dogs were once abandoned and unwanted on the streets of Istanbul. And you won't believe where they're about to end up.

YASEMIN BABAN, DOG RESCUER: Dogs have no chances, they cannot talk, they cannot beg, they don't steal. They just want food and affection.

SIDNER: After seeing the conditions of the shelters 12 years ago in Turkey, she dedicated her life to saving domesticated animals.

BABAN: I left the shelter crying and I once again, then I cried and then I said, crying is not enough, someone has to do something. And I started to volunteer in shelters.

SIDNER: She was soon warned of a disturbing trend.

(On camera): The reason you see so many golden retrievers here being rescued is because people in Turkey love the puppies. They're really popular. But once they get grown up, they end up putting them out either on the streets or in the forests and also why they're all so good natured because these were people's pets at one time.

(Voice-over): But their sweetness hurts their chances of survival on the streets of Istanbul where tens of thousands of hardcore stray street dogs live.

AHMET, DOG RESCUER: We vaccinate them, we neuter or spay them. And then we put them a chip which is for the identification of the dog. And we issue their health certificates, their passports.

SIDNER: That's where the story turns into a very long journey for these goldens from Istanbul, turkey, to Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Turns out Americans love their golden retrievers and Baban down just the place, Adopt a Golden Atlanta.

HARRIS: American raised golden rescues have lists of people waiting to adopt dogs. And here we don't find anyone.

SIDNER: So far, adopt a golden Atlanta has taken in 123 golden retrievers from Istanbul. They call them Turkey dogs.

With all the animosity building between east and west, this is one connection that has no bark or bite.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The force. It's calling to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: And as it turns out the force was calling to a lot of people this weekend. Wait until you hear how well the new "Star Wars" movie did at the box office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was raised to do one thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:01] BROWN: Well, the long awaited new "Star Wars" film, "The Force Awakens," just wrapped up the biggest opening weekend in movie history. "Star Wars" has of course been massively popular dating all the way back to the first installment in 1977. "The Force Awakens" is the first "Star Wars" film in more than 10 years and first release since Disney bought the franchise in 2012.

CNN's Brian Stelter has more -- Brian.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela. Yes, the force has awakened in a very big way.

"Star Wars" blasting past even the very rosy projections for how well it would do this weekend. You might feel like you're the only person who hasn't seen it at this point when you look at these numbers. Disney is projecting the movie will make $238 million by the end of tonight. Now that compares to the prior record for a opening weekend here in the U.S. of $208 million. That was set by the movie "Jurassic World" just six months ago. That was the remake of "Jurassic Park" that the Universal Movies Studio released and of course it was the record holder until now.

And they're not just breaking records here in the U.S. "Star wars" is also setting new opening weekends records in countries like Germany, we've seen it in Australia, you've seen it in the United Kingdom as well. In fact the movie has already made more money in other countries than it has here in U.S. overall, it's already made half a billion dollars.

Now Disney spent $4 billion to acquire the "Star Wars" franchise from Lucas Film several years ago. This is the first weekend where that's really paying off in a big way. So over $500 million so far. But this movie is going to continue to pick up steam for many more weeks. In fact some on Wall Street now say the movie could make $2 billion when all is said and done.

It really goes to show that in an age where all of us are watching movies on Netflix or on Amazon, or you might be watching online in digital ways, there's still great reasons to go to the old fashioned movie theater especially for a big event like "Star Wars."

And you might be wondering it's Sunday afternoon, how do they already know how well the movie did for the whole weekend? Well, it's because studios like Disney are very good at projecting how every single day is going to go. So once they saw the Saturday results which were through the roof, they knew they were confident in saying that Sunday would also break a record.

Now the final numbers will come in tomorrow but it does look like it's a new all-time record with "Star Wars" and of course there's several more "Star Wars" movies in the works.

Pamela, back to you.

BROWN: All right. Brian Stelter, thank you so much for that.

Well, the force was definitely not with moviegoers in Hollywood of all places. They were watching "The Force Awakens" when this happened. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No. No. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So they weren't just upset about a scene they saw, this is actually cell phone video capturing outrage from fans when the film suddenly stopped during a midnight showing of "The Force Awakens." Apparently the projector had a technical glitch. So the film it went to black then jumped ahead to a scene 20 minutes later causing fans as you hear right here in the video to freak out and think the end of the film was about to be spoiled. Well the theater gave everyone a refund along with a voucher for a free movie.

Sounds like he's about to have a heart attack. I hope those fans are OK now.

And right back here on earth, some other star gazers got a dazzling display in the skies over Washington state early this morning. These amazing images of the aurora borealis or northern lights were captured between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. Pacific Time. They were taken in the area around the liberty lake regional park near Spokane. The photographer says he shot these photos with law exposure but did not use any filters. Absolutely beautiful.

And up next right here on CNN, explore the clues Jesus left behind. Watch back-to-back episodes of the CNN original series "FINDING JESUS." Tonight starting at 7:00 Eastern Time.

I'm Pamela Brown. Have a great week. And happy holidays, everybody.