Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

New Details in Ohio State Attack Suspect; Trump Flag Tweet Starts with College Protest; Trump Suggests Jail Time for Burning U.S. Flag; Colombian Soccer Team in Plane Crash. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 29, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:32:29] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Investigators still don't have the answer to the question why. Why did this young man at Ohio State University ram his car on campus and take out a knife and start stabbing students.

We are learning new details about the suspect who was shot and killed by police. Investigators say the attackers was an 18-year-old transfer student and Somali native who emigrated to the U.S. two years ago. He was a legal permanent U.S. resident.

But police are investigating comments they say he posted on Facebook right before he did this, comments that detail grievances about targeting Muslims. In part, it reads, "My brothers and sisters, I am sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters being killed and tortured everywhere. By Allah, we will not let you sleep until you give peace to the Muslims."

CNN's Rosa Flores is live in Columbus.

This is a piece perhaps of his mental state going into this. What more have you learned about him and his family?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, I've been talking to Somali community leaders here, one in particular who has been meeting with the family since this event. And he tells me that the mother is, of course, very sad and grieving because of her son, but is also worried about the Somali community and what this could mean for this community. As you were saying, police are trying to figure out the motive. So, I asked him ant that, what could drive this young man to do this. He said the suspect's mom describes the day yesterday as something very normal. He woke up, helped the family, and came here to school. It was a very normal day until there a door knock on the mother's door, and that's how she found out about her son being the attacker. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSAN OMAR, SOMALI COMMUNITY LEADER: The mother was very shocked and crying for her son and also she was crying for the Somalis, the backlash. She was saying my son is gone but what I'm worried about is the rest of the Somali community because this could be a collective, where the community has nothing to do with it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: As we all try to understand the why, why would someone do this.

I also asked this community leader about possible inspiration, was he inspired by somebody? Did the mother know or have any clue or suspicions, and the answer is no, Brooke. He says the family is just as confused as everybody else.

[14:35:07] BALDWIN: So while the motive is unclear, tell me about the police officer who jumped in and took him down.

FLORES: Brooke, he is the hero in this case and in this university. He attended this university and he was interviewed by the university newspaper a while back when he joined the force. And one of the things that stood out to me is that he was an engineering student and was so inspired by his work at the public safety office at the university that he switched majors, became a police officer. And now imagine the blessings for all of the people that were perhaps saved because he intervened. He was at the right place at the right time. Two minutes, is what police say, it took him to stop the attacker, two minutes. And for the people around him, they hail him a hero.

BALDWIN: Two minutes is stunning. And also, the way the university sent that tweet and a text out to the students, it helped after talking to a couple of them.

Rosa, thank you very much, in Columbus.

Just a quick reminder to you. Ohio State is holding a briefing on the victims of the attack. That's at the top of the hour. We want an update on how they're all doing. Some of them still in the hospital. So, we'll bring that to you as it happens.

Next, Donald Trump is busy selecting top members of his cabinet. Just spotted inside Trump Tower, former Vice President Dan Quayle. This, as Trump meets tonight with Mitt Romney.

We also just learned who else will be at that dinner. More details coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:41q:07] BALDWIN: I wanted to play this video just one more time. Next to Kellyanne Conway, former Vice President Dan Quayle. He was Bush 41's vice, and perhaps there's a connection with Mike Pence. Mike Pence being or having been the governor of Indiana and Quayle having been a Senator from Indiana. Maybe that's the connection. Who knows? We wanted to make sure to play that for you.

One other tidbit as far as secretary of state picks go, Senator Bob Corker at Trump Tower, meeting with Trump today. And we know about this dinner between Mr. Trump and Governor Romney. There will be plus ones at the dinner. Ann Romney will be attending as well as Melania Trump. Read into that what you like. Meantime, a head-scratching tweet from President-elect Trump. It

reads, "Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag. If they do, there must be consequences, perhaps loss of citizenship or a year in jail."

Yeah, that tweet raising a lot of questions, not the least, what is this at all related to? I can tell you that declaration was sparked by an incident at a small college.

Miguel Marquez is CNN national correspondent, here with what exactly happened there.

Miguel, fill us in.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, there's two things happening here at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. One is that there's a lot of bad information out there as well. There has been reported that all flags across campus have been banned. That's not true. That's a campus building there, the alumni office for Hampshire College and there are flags flying there. There is a single flagpole, the main flagpole in the center of campus where they are not allowing the flag to be flown at the moment because they say, after the election, students lowered it to half-staff during a protest, unhappy with the rhetoric of the election, unhappy with the election result.

The next night, which happened to be the very early morning of Veterans Day, student, still later, decided no flag on that flagpole until they have a dialogue across this campus to figure it out. This while veteran's groups became very upset because the flag had been burned on Veterans Day, because it wasn't flying at this campus. On Sunday, they mounted a big protest at the campus.

And then Donald Trump's tweet in the middle of all this that has taken what started off as a student protest and turned it into a national conversation.

Clearly, in 1989 and 1990, the Supreme Court ruled and affirmed, you can burn the flag. That is, in fact, free speech and that is in the Constitution. The only thing that could un-do that is a constitutional amendment, which the government could possibly do, but that's an extraordinarily difficult thing to do.

Where all this leaves Hampshire College is that they are having a series of discussions. I happened to run into the president of the college today who said, look, we're talking about this, we hope to have it settled. Other officials at the school say, hopefully, in the next couple days, the flag will go back up, students will get back to work, and the college here will get back to the process of learning -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Miguel, thank you for the setup and the genesis of this.

Now to the tweet and Trump. A number of critics are calling this tweet a bright shiny object. Others say it's a red herring suggesting it's a distraction from Trump's unfounded allegations of voter fraud or even perhaps a diversion from the cabinet picks he is making right now in his transition to become our 45th president.

Whatever the reasoning, the tweet brings up important constitutional issues about the First Amendment.

And the man to discuss them with is Jeffrey Toobin, our CNN senior legal analyst.

Listen, we've heard from Senator McCain, Senator Cruz, so many people. No one wants to see the American flag burned.

[14:45:13] JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALHYST: Of course.

BALDWIN: It's a deplorable act but you are protected within the First Amendment. Have people challenged that through the years? I imagine it has a checkered past.

TOOBIN: It was a hot issue in the '80s and '90s, flag burning. That was a big social issue people talked about a lot. But the court settled the issue in 1989 and '90 with these very clear opinions that said as much as we find this behavior distasteful, it's protected by the First Amendment. There have been occasional discussions of constitutional amendments to overrule the Supreme Court but they've never gotten very far. And certainly, for the last decade, this has been a settled issue, which is why I think people were surprised by the president-elect's tweets last night.

BALDWIN: So it would take a constitutional amendment. I'm just thinking of -- I know there are people thinking is there any way or anything, he will be the president, that he could do? He's talked about opening up libel laws and tossing people into jail. If he doesn't like flag burning --

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: There's nothing he can do.

BALDWIN: There's nothing he can do.

TOOBIN: Interesting, there's another legal mistake in that tweet which is --

BALDWIN: Throw the tweet back up again, please.

TOOBIN: -- where he says -- Here let's look at the tweet itself, "Perhaps loss of citizenship." The Supreme Court has also said that that cannot be a penalty for any crime. You can't be -- you can't lose your citizenship. You can lose your right to vote, you can lose your freedom by going to jail, but you cannot be sentenced to loss of your citizenship, which is just another aspect of the legal problems with the tweet.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: But I don't think the president-elect is thinking deep legal thoughts about this. This is obviously an issue people feel emotionally about, even though it's sort of antique by this point. BALDWIN: Understandably, so.

TOOBIN: Absolutely. And a lot of his supporters, I think, will be encouraged by this, what effect it has, what meaning it has, why he did it. Greater minds than I will have to answer that question.

BALDWIN: I can't imagine that.

TOOBIN: Yes, like you.

BALDWIN: I can't imagine that.

Even the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who we've heard Trump praise, said flag burning is protected by the First Amendment. Here was the late justice in 2012.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIN SCALIA, FORMER SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: Burning the flag is a form of expression, of speech. It doesn't just mean written words or oral words. Burning a flag is a symbol that expresses an idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Does this go anywhere from here or riles up supporters and that's about it?

TOOBIN: You have to tell me what he's going to tweet next, and then I'll tell you where he goes from here.

BALDWIN: I can't do that.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I cannot read minds.

TOOBIN: I bet you can.

But I think the overwhelming likelihood is it will fade away. And his motivations, was he trying to attract attention away from something? It seems to me his cabinet selections are going as he would like, so I don't know why he would be trying to detract attention from them.

BALDWIN: We're talking about it, four-minutes' worth. He's the president-elect.

Jeffrey Toobin, thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: No smarter legal mind than you, by the way.

Coming up, more on this tragedy in the Colombian jungle. The plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team crashes. More than 70 people killed, but miraculously several manage to survive. What we know and this incredible Cinderella story of this team. Also ahead, we are back at Trump Tower where major selections for the

president-elect's cabinet are being made. We will take you there. Again, Dan Quayle walking in the building with Kellyanne Conway. What's going on?

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:52:58] BALDWIN: The sports world is mourning after a plane carrying this popular Brazilian soccer team crashes in Colombia in South America killing nearly everyone on board. This accident brings an end to really the Cinderella story of this underdog team that has captured the hearts of soccer fans around the world.

CNN' senior Latin affairs editor, Rafael Romo, tells their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN LATIN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A devastating sight, the Colombian countryside littered with debris after a charter plane crashed into a town southeast of Medellin. Among the dead are players from the Brazilian football team Chapecoense. The aircraft was carrying 81 passengers and crew, including more than 20 journalists. Search efforts have been difficult due to the rugged mountains and inclement weather.

Chapecoense was on their way to Colombia to compete in the first leg of the South American Cup finals.

The team took a commercial flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where they picked up this charter flight. They were headed to the Airport in Rionegro, Colombia, when it went down.

According to Colombian officials, the pilot declared an emergency a few minutes before the crash, saying he was having an electrical failure on board.

Satellite images show scattered showers and thunderstorms hovering through the area at the time of the crash, which would have caused some in-flight turbulence. However, it will take some time for investigators to determine the cause of the crash.

The Colombian Air Force had to abort their mission to the site due to poor visibility.

Chapecoense had just celebrated a win last Wednesday. The team has been described as a Cinderella story, having surprised many with their winning performance in recent years, making it to ninth place in Brazil's Tier One League with.

(on camera): The Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency says they denied the charter request of the Bolivian Laniea (ph) Corporation from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Medellin, Colombia. Why was the request denied? Apparently, it didn't comply with international regulations.

(voice-over): Rafael Romo, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[14:55:15] BALDWIN: Rafael, thank you so much.

Coming up next, new faces at Trump Tower today, including former Vice President Dan Quayle. Here he is walking in with Kellyanne Conway. We're live outside Trump Tower at the top of the hour where we know cabinet selections are under way right now. We'll have the latest.

Also, ahead, the 18-year-old Somali immigrant who attacked his classmates on campus in Ohio yesterday morning reportedly ranted about the treatment of Muslims on Facebook. We have new details today on this 18-year-old and about the police officer who stopped him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:03] BALDWIN: And we continue along. You're watching CNN. Hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

Let's begin with two new members of Donald Trump's official inner circle, who are long-time --