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More US Protests over Police Shootings; Charlotte Shooting Video; Syria War Update; North Korea Blames US for Nuclear Activities. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 24, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:13] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Demonstrators march for a forth night in support of black man fatally shot by police as victims family release it video of the shooting.

A cease fire in tatters. New air strikes kill dozens in Syria and diplomacy shows no sign of stopping the carnage. Plus, North Korea fires off provocative threats but the south is issuing its own warning toward Kim Jong-un.

It is all ahead here on CNN Newsroom. We're live in Atlanta. Thank you for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.

Protests in Charlotte, North Carolina are over for the night. A curfew went in to effect a few hours ago. Demonstrators continue to demand, officials release videos from Tuesday's police shooting death of an African-American man Keith Scott. There was a large demonstration Friday in Atlanta, Georgia about three hours ago. Peaceful, very peaceful here in Atlanta.

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have cancelled plans to visit Charlotte next week. The city's mayor says she appreciates the concern but resources are stretched too thin to accommodate them. The protests are likely to continue. Sources tell us police found Scott's fingerprints and DNA on a loaded gun at the scene. His widow recorded Scott's shooting and shared it on Friday.

Here's Brian Todd with more about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The graphic cell phone video which until today had not been shown by the police or the public shows parts of the confrontation between Keith Scott and Charlotte police.

RAKEYIA SCOTT, KEITH SCOTT'S WIFE: Don't shoot him. He didn't do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the gun.

SCOTT: He doesn't have a gun.

TODD: Scott's wife begins records police before her husband is shot. Throughout she can be heard imploring police not to fire.

SCOTT: Don't shoot him.

TODD: She tells officers her husband suffers from traumatic brain injury or TBI and maybe confused.

SCOTT: He has TBI.

TODD: The shouting between officers and Scott's wife is raise with profanity. As officers repeatedly tell her husband to exit his white vehicle ordering him to drop a gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the gun.

SCOTT: Keith, don't do it.

TODD: Scott's wife also begs him to get out.

SCOTT: Keith, get out of the car.

TODD: Scott can be seen getting out of the car. Then officers open fire.

SCOTT: Did you shoot him?

TODD: The video only offers a limited view of what happened and no explanation why.

SCOTT: He didn't do nothing to them.

TODD: Officers wearing bulletproof vests can be seen shielding themselves behind other cars but attorneys for Scott's family say the video and at least two videos from police cameras which have not been released do not show Scott threatening the officers.

JUSTIN BAMBERG, ATTORNEY FOR KEITH SCOTT'S FAMILY: He steps out of his vehicle. Doesn't appear to be acting aggressive whatsoever. Does not making any quick moves, move moving slowly, you know, he doesn't appear to be arguing or yelling at law enforcement. His hands are down by his side.

TODD: Several frames of the video do appear to show Scott exiting the vehicle but it's not clear if he moves toward police. Also unclear from the video whether there is anything in his hands. Police say they found a gun at the scene. This photo appears to show a gun lying on the ground but Scott's family and some witnesses' dispute that they saying Scott was not armed. Charlotte's police chief says that he believes he was holding a gun based on evidence and witness statements but has said the people dash cam video which he has refused to release is not clear enough to show it.

CHIEF KERR PUTNEY, CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POLICE: I don't have any visual, definitive evidence that I can show and I can see him actually holding and pointing a gun at an officer. The issue, though, is what I've seen is I'm not able to see the correct angle to see a weapon in his hand in the first place. TODD: Family lawyers who viewed the tapes say they see no evidence of a weapon or of Scott raising a gun to police.

A source close to the investigation tells CNN a gun found at the scene was loaded and had Keith Scott blood, DNA and fingerprints on it but it's not clear if that evidence showed that Scott was actually holding the gun at the moment he was shot.

Brian Todd, CNN, Charlotte.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Attorney and legal affairs commentator Areva Martin joins us now. She's in Los Angeles. Areva, thank you for being with us. I want to talk to you first about Mr. Scott's wife and releasing a video that she took. There's not much definitive about it, but what stands out in your mind when you watch it?

AREVA MARTIN, CIVIL RIGHT ATTORNEY: Well, I think we learned a great deal about Mr. Scott from watching and listening to the videotape from his wife.

[03:05:02] We heard for the first time that he may suffer from a traumatic brain injury and that apparently he takes medication. Those are two really important details in this case that before now had not been re leased. They raise for me the question of whether Mr. Scott had some kind of mental health issues or other neurological issues that may have made it difficult and possibly even impossible for him to even understand what was happening with the encounter he had -- the deadly encounter he had with police.

ALLEN: Right, because the chief of the police there in Charlotte has said that when he saw the police video that Mr. Scott looked confused. And to quote the chief he said "The video of the police video does not give me absolute definitive visual evidence that will confirm that a person is pointing a gun." There's so much that we don't know about this situation.

MARTIN: Well, it's good that you point out the chief's statement with respect to the police video because in the wife's video we also hear her say anywhere from three to five times he doesn't have a gun. He doesn't have a weapon. So you have the chief of police stating that there was a gun found at the scene. That they are attributing to Mr. Scott but you hear his wife on the videotape saying to the police he doesn't have a gun. He's not harmful. He's not going to do anything. So we're getting two conflicting stories about what was happening at the time that Mr. Scott was shot by police.

ALLEN: Also what about what we can tell from her video, the video that we've all seen now about whether these police officers it appears their lives are in jeopardy and isn't that what police officers have to discern as they decide whether to fire their weapon?

MARTIN: You know, we still obviously haven't heard from the wife. We don't exactly know where she was standing in relationship to the police, how close, how far, if others were in the near vicinity. But when I listen to her videotape, it sounds like she's engaging in dialogue with the police and it doesn't seem to be an urgent situation.

And the first thing that came to mind for me is how unfortunate it is that this encounter seemingly a very simple encounter. This man is not committing a crime he does not seem to be dangerous, but yet in less than a minute the situation escalates from a couple of commands that are shouted by the police to them actually shooting. So it just raises the question about whether they could have taken some alternative actions.

Could they have, you know, what they call fallen back? Could they have sought cover? Could they have spent some time talking to the wife, trying to learn more about this traumatic brain injury, the medication that he was on? Just seemed like there were so many other options that could have been pursued, short of discharging in a weapon and shooting and killing Mr. Scott.

ALLEN: Do you think the wife video will cause the police department or make them think more about releasing their video? They seem to indicate their video wouldn't, you know, wouldn't solve these questions everyone has either.

MARTIN: Well, it's pretty clear if you listen to what the mayor said, and the chief of police that the police video is not positive on a lot of questions but I think for purposes of the protesters and the community. And issues of transparency and accountability the police need to move with due speed to release their video. What they are doing, which causing more distrust in the community is they're selectively leaking information. Like today we hear reports about there being fingerprints on the gun that was found at the scene.

So the police are putting out pieces of information, but not giving the entire story. And that just causes more distrust amongst the protesters.

ALLEN: Right. Because we know that in the video from the wife it doesn't like there is anything near his feet. And in the picture there is. We've got to leave it there for now. We'll continue to talk about the story of course. Areva Martin form Los Angeles. Thank you so much.

MARTIN: Thank you.

ALLEN: We turn to other news now. Police in the state of Washington are looking for an armed man who killed four women and wounded at least one person at a shopping mall. I happened in Burlington, that's about an hour north of Seattle on Friday night. No word on his reasoning or motives or if he said anything during the shooting. Here's a picture of the person they are looking for. They say he opened fire in a department store with a rifle. Witnesses described the scene chaos as employees were evacuated. Local authorities are asking people to stay inside of their homes.

[03:10:05] The situation in Aleppo, Syria remains quite dire as the war there continues. New air strikes killed more than 120 people on Friday. The air raids are so intense activists describe them as unprecedented. And the Syrian government is launching new military operations against rebels. Residents desperately need food and aid in Aleppo, but they have not received it. Whatever was left of the cease fire has completely collapsed.

CNN Senior International correspondent Ben Wedeman joins us now from the region. He's in Baghdad, Iraq. Certainly, Ben, this is the last thing anyone wanted to see.

BEN WEDEMAN< CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, what we understand from activist in Aleppo. We've spoken to him. Yes, that was yesterday was the worst bombardment bombing of Aleppo that's been since the outbreak of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in march of 2011 now what's making it far worse is that now Aleppo, the entire city, the eastern part which is occupied by the opposition and the rest of the city, which is loyal to the government, around 2 million people are now without water.

Yesterday they have night of pumping station in the eastern part of the city was hit by an air strike knocking out water to the 250,000 people who lived in the eastern part. And then-- those the rebels who control the other pumping station which provides water to the government controlled areas switched that off.

So the UNICEF, the United Nation is very concerned about the situation because now people without any running water are going to be drinking out of contaminated wells. And so we can expect many illnesses as a result. What we are seeing really is a medieval siege at this point with the shortage of medicine, food and now water and the potential for the spread of disease as well.

Now, yesterday we saw this picture come out of Aleppo of a man who was killed at 5:00 a.m. with his son, crushed under the rubble in Qaterji which in eastern sector of the city. And this is one of the iconic images that have been coming out of the Syrian civil war that really shows the extent of the suffering of the people.

Now we understand the man in this video and his son and another son were killed when their building was hit, but the mother and one of their daughters survived. They are currently in hospital. And of course this kind of picture certainly does upset people. It reminds them of the urgent need to bring an end to this slaughter in Syria. But unfortunately, the urgency quickly wears off. Natalie?

ALLEN: Absolutely. Ben Wedeman for us there out of Baghdad. Thank you, Ben.

All eyes are on Russia and the U.S. to find an end to this war, but as the Syrian cease fire has unravelled, so too have relations between the U.S. and Russia.

CNN Senior International correspondent Matthew Chance has that from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fury at Syria's military and its allies unleashed once more on the city of Aleppo. As the truce in this country is shattered, relations between Russia and the United States sponsors of the peace deal have also been pushed to new depths. Not since the end of the Cold War has rhetoric between Moscow and Washington, who back opposite sides in Syria been so acute.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: How can people go sit at a table with a regime that bombs hospitals and drops chlorine gas again and again and again and again and again and acts with impunity, you're supposed to sit there and have happy talk in Geneva.

CHANCE: It was the bombing of the U.N. aid convoy near Aleppo on Monday that appears to have been the last straw. At least 20 civilians and aid workers were killed and the desperately needed humanitarian supplies, they were preparing to deliver incinerated. Russia denies the war planes for those it Syrian government allies are to blame.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I think we need to refrain from emotional reactions and make public comments immediately a public comment, but first to investigate and be very professional.

CHANCE: Of course, this diplomatic clashing of swords over Syria didn't come out of a vacuum. Russia and the United States have been have been log ahead for years over issue from the Gulf War in 1990 to the Arab Spring uprisings that began in 2010.

[03:15:06] Add to that, NATO expansion into former soviet territories and you get a sense that even though the Cold War ended, the mutual rivalry and suspicion never really did.

The latest round of U.S./Russia tensions could be traced to Ukraine in the fighting that followed a popular pro-western uprising there in 2014. As well as backing the rebels, Russia quickly annexed the strategic Crimea and peninsula where its Black Sea Fleet is based. The U.S. responded with outrage and economic sanctions and continues to criticize Russian policy in Ukraine and elsewhere.

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: We see Russia attempting to recover lost glory through force.

CHANCE: But it only seems to have bolstered Vladimir Putin, his muscular foreign policy in Ukraine and Syria forcing the world to recognize Russia as a major power once again, and major critic of the United States.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (Through Translation): Instead of triumph of democracy and progress, we've got violence, poverty and social disaster. I can't help asking those who have caused the situation, do you realize now what you've done?

CHANCE: When it comes to Syria, the test of whether Putin and the United States can work together now hangs by a thread.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: Next here on CNN Newsroom. We'll take you on the U.S. campaign trail and tell you about a surprising endorsement for Donald Trump.

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ALLEN: And welcome back to CNN Newsroom. North Korea says it's growing nuclear program is America's fault. The country's foreign minister told the U.N. that Pyongyang would not need nuclear weapons if it weren't under constant threat from the U.S.

Meantime South Korea says it will assassinate North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un if it feels threatened by a strike from the north.

Here's our Paula Hancocks in Seoul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fact that there is an South Korean assassination plan against the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un doesn't not actually surprise many at least here in Seoul. What is more surprising is the fact that the defense minister has been so candid about it.

Now this happened back on Wednesday. It was a meeting within parliament and the defense minister was asked by a lawmaker, are you creating a Special Forces unit to eliminate Kim Jong-un, a very blunt question. His answer equally blunt he said "Yes, we have such a plan." Also went on to talk about the precision missile capabilities which would target the enemy's facilities and take out the leadership.

[03:20:04] Now this is if they are feeling particularly threatened by North Korea's nuclear weapons. Now we've really seen a slight change in the past couple weeks since September 9th and that fifth nuclear test by North Korea where they claim to have tested a nuclear warhead. Within hours of the test, we heard from the South Korean joint chief of staff that they had a plan, there was a plan if necessary in a time of war to take out the leadership.

Now, of course we're hearing these quotes from the defense minister this week. So is North Korea and they are not happy about what they're hearing about these threats to their leadership. We've heard from statement media KCNA they're putting a spokesperson from the KPA from the North Korean military saying that they are going to wipe out Seoul and reduce it to rubble. Now this is the first time that they've said that kind of thing and threatened Seoul in that way.

But they've also said that they're going to wipe Guam off the map. Now the reason for this, they've threatened Washington, New York, other U.S. states before but threatening Guam because over the past couple of weeks, there have been two separate flyovers from U.S. bombers. B1b bombers that are based in Guam and just last week there were bombers which actually flew close to the DMZ, the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. A U.S. military source telling me that is the closest this kind of bomber has ever got to North Korea.

So North Korea is not happy about what it is saying, of course, South Korea is now looking to see whether or not it is just a verbal reaction there going to see from North Korea. They've already said that they believe North Korea is ready for nuclear test number six.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: In Colombia, the FARC guerrilla group will sign a peace deal on Monday to end the longest running armed conflict in Latin America. The revolutionary armed forces of Colombia unanimously approved the agreement on Friday. Now the rebels will become a political party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN MARQUEZ, FARC COMMANDER (Through Translation): We call on making a reality of the call on all parties' political and social movement and all the forces in the country to focusing on creating a national political agreement aimed at deciding reforms and institutional adjustments needed to meet the challenges of peace laying the ground work for a new framework for political and social coexistence just as it established in the final agreement.

The war is over, let's all work for peace. Long live Colombia. Long live peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Colombians will vote October 2nd on whether to approve this deal. About a quarter million people have died in over half a century of fighting.

A surprising move in the U.S. presidential race, Ted Cruz has endorsed his former Republican rival Donald Trump. The two had a series of personal run-ins during the primary season. On Friday the Texas senator said it took him months to make the decision to endorse Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED CRUZ, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: A year ago, I stood on stage in front of the American people and I made a promise I would support the Republican nominee. That's a promise I made to people across this country. And as I thought about it and prayed about it what to do, what my conscience told me is I needed to keep my word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Donald Trump replied with a quote "I am greatly honored by the endorsement of Senator Cruz. We have fought the battle and he was a tough, brilliant opponent. I look forward to working with him for many years to come in order to make America great again."

Israel's prime minister is set to meet with both U.S. presidential nominees. Benjamin Netanyahu will meet separately with Democrat Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Sunday in New York, that just one day before Trump and Clinton square off in their first presidential debate. Israeli prime minister met with Barack Obama on Wednesday. No word yet on what is on the agenda for Sunday's meetings.

Derek Van Dam is here now with a check on the weather. And I have a feeling you are going to talk about Taiwan.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is like becoming more of broken record. We had typhoon Meranti and then Malakas and now we have tropical storm Megi that is threatening Taiwan and Southeast China, basically the same locations that have already been hit week after week with these tropical systems.

Take a look at this satellite and you can see the latest.

ALLENL: It seems unfair.

VAN DAM: It is, it almost seem unfair. And there's a reason for this activity Natalie and it has to do with the water temperatures over the Western Pacific. When you start to rise above 27 degrees celsius, that is the fuel necessary for these types of storms, these types of monsters to really form. Look at this tropical storm Megi over the Western Pacific. Here's Guam, here's the Philippines, there's Taiwan and China in the top portion of NanaWall (ph) here.

[03:25:07] And this is thing is really starting to gain shape. It starting to organize itself and it's looking more and more like a developed tropical storm. At least in my professional opinion. 85 kilometer per hour sustained winds. Near that center of circulation. And by the way on this satellite you can start to see what is at least trying to form an eye. And that's the first signs of a deepening and strengthening center of circulation of a typhoon or a hurricane.

This particular case a tropical storm because of the strength of the winds as we speak. But as we go forward, according to joint typhoon warning center, we do anticipate over the next three days this storm to strengthen to about 160 kilometers. Probably that puts it equivalent to category 2 Atlantic hurricane for a North American viewers just to put that in perspective.

And this timing this out, we do expect it a land falling typhoon in Taiwan late Monday night in to early Tuesday morning local. Now the bulk of the strongest winds are to the north of the storm. But look how our computer models starts to formulate that strong wind streams right across the center of storm that shading of red of course indicated wind in excess of 100 kilometers per hour.

And this shading of yellow here just gives you and indication of where are the tropical storm-force winds will be located. This is Monday evening local time. And that just starting to reaching the outer edges of Taiwan. I believe overnight and into Tuesday. That's when they'll start to feel the strongest winds. It'll be a big rain maker for this area as well. Remember Taiwan has the highest concentration of mountains over 3,000 meters in the entire world.

This is not the only area that's been hit heavy with rain lately 191 millimeters of rain in the past two days in Vietnam. Take a look at some of the visuals coming out of Thailand. You'll be able to see what people have been contending with there. Flooded roads. Obviously this is a health concern as well. Natalie, I think of the standing water in this location. There's more rain and this is all thanks to monsoon that continues to impact the region.

ALLEN: And Thailand, Taiwan.

VAN DAM: Thailand and Taiwan the two Ts, it's been a difficult go for them.

ALLEN: OK, we'll check this out we're going to end on a very positive note here. Incredible story of survival. A 3-year-old boy found alive after spending three nights lost in Siberian forest.

VAN DAM: Incredible.

ALLEN: He was on his own the whole time facing near freezing temperatures and the threat of wolf and bears. 100 people searched for him. He was found safe and sound on Wednesday. Emergency officials say he ate chocolate that was in his pocket and slept under a tree. That's a scrappy little 3-year-old. Few bites (ph)

VAN DAM: So happy.

ALLEN: Thank you for watching CNN Newsroom. "Political Mann" is up next.

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