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Trump Considers Visiting Troops; Trump Blasts McRaven; Northeast Braces for Cold Thanksgiving; Chiefs and Rams Game. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 20, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:55] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We are following some breaking news right now.

A police officer was stabbed outside of a police station in central Brussels. Authorities say the officer was not badly injured. They are not saying yet whether they consider this attack terrorism. The suspect was shot after the stabbing, but is expected to survive. The stabbing took place on the second day of a state visit to Belgium by French President Macron.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Three people are dead following a shooting at Chicago's Mercy Hospital. Authorities say the incident started outside the hospital when the gunman killed a woman he was once in a relationship with, identified as Dr. Tamara O'Neal. Police say the gunman then shot at officers when they arrived, killing Officer Samuel Jimenez. Authorities say the shooter then ran into the hospital killing pharmaceutical assistant Dayna Less as she walked out of an elevator. The gunman also died, but it's not clear if it was by police gunfire or a self-inflected gunshot wound.

CAMEROTA: All right, the White House Correspondence Association will not be inviting a comedian to roast President Trump and the Press Corps at its annual fundraising dinner in April. You may remember last time it was a tad controversial. Instead, they will have author Ron Chernow, who will to the featured speaker. He has a best-seller about Alexander Hamilton that inspired the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton." Chernow is promising a history lesson that won't be dry.

BERMAN: I think he should surprise everyone and come out with like the most biting comedy routine ever.

CAMEROTA: Baudy (ph).

BERMAN: And just go after people in the room.

CAMEROTA: As controversial.

BERMAN: As controversial as he can.

CAMEROTA: OK, that would be fantastic.

BERMAN: How great would that be?

CAMEROTA: That would be really great. I hope he does that.

BERMAN: All right, President Trump will officially pardon the annual Thanksgiving turkey and already comics are having fun with it. Here are your late night laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": President Trump will pardon two turkeys tomorrow, but first Robert Mueller will subpoena them.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": And Americans can vote on which turkey gets pardoned. You can tell the turkeys want to drag it out as long as possible because today they asked if that vote could happen in Florida.

JAMES CORDON, HOST, "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDON": While touring the disaster areas, Trump suggested that in order to prevent future fires, the state should rake forest floors. That's right, rake forest floors. There are 33 million acres of forest in California alone. So that's our show tonight. Everyone grab a rake on the way out. It's going to be a busy Thanksgiving week. Let's go. Come on.

[06:35:15] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was with the president of Finland and he said we are a much different -- we're a forest nation. He called it a forest nation.

MEYERS: Look at everyone else trying not to look at him. They all look like parents at the grocery store whose toddler just said, daddy, that lady is fat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That's so funny.

But I have something to say about the turkey pardon. Of all of the norms that President Trump has broken, he can't break that one? We're sticking with the turkey pardon?

BERMAN: There are some things that are too important.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BERMAN: There are some things that are just too important.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BERMAN: Have I told you my proudest moment at CNN?

CAMEROTA: No.

BERMAN: When I was doing at 11:00 show, I got them to put a countdown clock up at CNN until the turkey pardon. I'm hoping they do it again today. CAMEROTA: That's fantastic.

All right, well, producers, you heard him. Get on that.

OK, President Trump may finally visit troops in a combat zone. What took so long? We'll talk with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:14] BERMAN: President Trump has been in office nearly two years and he has yet to visit troops in a combat zone. "The Washington Post" writes this morning, quote, he's never been interested in going. That's what a former senior White House official said of Trump visiting troops in a combat zone, citing conversations with the president. Quote, he's afraid of those situations. He's afraid people want to kill him. But now "The Post" reports the president may finally visit those troops.

Joining us now is former director of intelligence, CNN national security analyst, retired general, we should note, James Clapper.

General, let me ask you, just as a general question, why is it important that a U.S. president visit troops overseas in war zones?

JAMES CLAPPER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, when you have troops in harm's way where they are at risk on a mission that they've been given by the U.S. government and specifically -- which stems all the way from the president as commander in chief, I think it's absolutely critical that the president show his support for the troops that have been deployed under his auspices regardless of how he feels about -- personally about the missions that they're performing.

BERMAN: And, again, because that's in the article. The article suggests that one of the reasons he's been hesitant to go is that he was not for, for a period of time, although he initially supported the invasion into Iraq, where he doesn't support some policies of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. And that is not a reason not to go, in your mind?

CLAPPER: I think that's immaterial. The fact that they're there, they are at risk, they are sacrificing, their families are sacrificing, that of all the places that he goes, notably his golf courses, he ought to be able -- ought to have been able to find a time to go to both Iraq and Afghanistan a long time ago.

BERMAN: And what message does it send the fact that he hasn't?

CLAPPER: Well, I don't think it sends -- I think the obvious message to the troops is that, you know, he doesn't support them. He's not concerned about what they're doing and their welfare and the performance of their mission.

BERMAN: He talks about the troops an awful lot, though. And he talks about the pay raises that he's pushed through and the military spending increases that he helped usher in. CLAPPER: Well, that's all good, you know, to the extent that it's

sustained. I think there's concern now about whether this budget increase is a one and done proposition or will be sustained. And that's the important thing, that it will be stable funding for the Department of Defense.

BERMAN: Does it raise questions for you about how the president views the military, the fact that he hasn't been to a combat zone? The fact -- and this had been discussed a lot -- that he didn't go to Arlington on Veterans Day and the fact that, within the last 48 hours, that he choose to go after -- chose to go after Admiral William McRaven, who was in charge of special operations during the raid on the bin Laden compound when you were the director of national intelligence.

CLAPPER: Well, it does -- to me, it cause -- it causes me to question just the extent of the president's sincerity about his purported support for the military. I thought his failure to go to Arlington Cemetery and his lame excuse that he had phone calls to make, he would have been better served not to have said why he didn't go. People -- if you're going to be called by the president of the United States, they'll take a call at any time of the day. And I don't know why he couldn't spare a couple of hours to make the trip to Arlington.

And, similarly, the attack on Bill McRaven, which I thought was absolutely reprehensible, he is a national hero who has given his life to this country. He's a patriot, a professional and highest integrity, impeccable integrity. And here the president talk -- chose to take him on because he was allegedly a Clinton supporter. And even if he were, which I don't think he was, but even if he were, the point here is his accomplishments and his stature. So this is just another indicator that makes me wonder about just how sincere he is about supporting the military.

BERMAN: Yesterday the president tried to explain some of his criticism, or comments, on the bin Laden raid by suggesting that he had warned the country about bin Laden. Let me read you what he said yesterday. He says of course we should have captured bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just before the attack on the World Trade Center. President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan billions of dollars and they never told us he was living there. Fools.

[06:45:02] Well, his book actually said, the America we deserve in 2000 was, one day we're told that a shadowy figure with no fixed address named Osama bin Laden is public enemy number one and U.S. jetfighters lay waste to his camp in Afghanistan. He escapes back under some rock and now, a few news cycles later, it's on to a new enemy and a new crisis. That's hardly saying I know where bin Laden is, go get him there.

But as someone who spent years involved in the intelligence gathering and assessing of finding Osama bin Laden, what do you make of this second guessing?

CLAPPER: Well, I think this is unfortunately typical of the president of the United States. And, you know, finding Osama bin Laden was a very, very difficult thing to do. And, to me, it's a tremendous testament to the perseverance, the patience, the professionalism of the men and women of the intelligence community, notably CIA, that were involved in this. And to demean it or to say, well, sure, it would have been nice to have gotten him on September 12th, but it was a very difficult thing to do. And the actual raid itself was a textbook example of the professionalism of our people, both the intelligence community and our special ops -- the magnificent men and women of the special ops community, led by a tremendous leader, Admiral Bill McRaven. And to -- so, for me, this is a great accomplishment for this country, not something to be demeaned or marginalized.

BERMAN: Director Clapper, thank you very much for being with us. Appreciate your time, sir.

CLAPPER: Thanks, John. Happy Thanksgiving.

BERMAN: You, too.

CAMEROTA: All right, John, could this Thanksgiving be the coldest in the Northeast?

BERMAN: I have a feeling the answer is yes.

CAMEROTA: I am proactively cold right now just thinking about this. I'm --

BERMAN: You're prophylactically cold.

CAMEROTA: I'm prophylactically freezing. What you need to know as we head into the holiday. Somebody hand me a shawl.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:51:06] CAMEROTA: All right, this Thanksgiving could be one of the coldest in a century for parts of the Northeast, including New York City's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

CNN's Chad Myers has the frigid forecast.

What does it say, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm afraid the windchill is just going to be ridiculous out there. So if you're going to plan on getting out early and standing there to get the front row, there may not be anybody behind you anyway, it's going to be that cold. Some light snow right now, but this is not the cold air yet.

This weather is brought to you by the Shark Ion Robot Cleaning System. One dock, two Sharks.

So where is the cold air right now? It's over the Great Lakes. But it will be in the Northeast by Thursday. Now, it's going to be warm in the west, don't get me wrong. Denver it will be 60. So if you have lots of sky miles, maybe that's where you want to go. But it is the arctic air coming down for just a couple of days and the wind behind it that will make all of the difference.

Temperatures will be around 20 in the morning. That's not really too bad for Thursday morning. But the problem is going to be the wind and the windchill. Highs tomorrow, 41 in New York, 51 in D.C. Still a good couple shopping days here.

But look what the morning windchills do by Thursday and Friday. Think about standing outside in Syracuse waiting for the doors to open for Black Friday at a windchill of 7 below zero.

Now, will the balloons fly? This is always a big question. The cutoff is 23 miles per hour and the forecast is for 20. That is close enough that it's going to be a -- kind of a touch and go moment by moment decision, but temperatures are going to feel like, at the parade starts, 6, John, 6. Wish I could put a zero on the back of that, but that just isn't going to happen.

CAMEROTA: Chad.

BERMAN: Game time decision. It will be a game time decision.

MYERS: Yes, it is.

CAMEROTA: Let's decide now and say no. Let's just do it now.

MYERS: No.

BERMAN: The kids love the parades, though.

MYERS: They do.

BERMAN: Snoopy doesn't so much. Going out in the cold like that --

CAMEROTA: Wow, it's horrible.

BERMAN: It's tough -- it's tough out in the cold.

All right, this was a game to remember, the Chiefs and Rams living up to the hype, arguably playing the greatest Monday night football game in NFL history.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."

All right, live up to that, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, I'll tell you what, John, this game lived up to the hype. You know, it was billed as the mid-season Super Bowl, 9-1 Rams hosting the 9-1 Chiefs. It ended up being the highest scoring game in Monday night football history. And Rams quarterback Jared Goff, he called the game four quarters of craziness, and that's a perfect way to sum this one up.

There were four lead changes in the fourth quarter alone. Under two minutes to go here, Goff finds Gerald Everett down the sidelines for a 40-yard touchdown. That gave the Rams the lead. The Chiefs did have one more shot at this. An MVP front runner Patrick Mahomes ends up throwing an interception on this play as the Rams win 54-51 in the third highest scoring game in NFL history.

Here are a couple more records that fell last night. It was the first time ever both teams have scored more than 50 points in an NFL game and the Chiefs becoming the first team ever to score more than 50 and lose an NFL game. And Patrick Mahomes, he set a Monday night football record throwing six touchdown passes in this one.

All right, the Rams, they gave away thousands of tickets to first responders who had been dealing with the fires in California for the game last night. Many of them got to be on the field for the national anthem. The Rams also wearing some L.A. Fire Department hats on the sidelines for this one.

Then, after the game, Jared Goff and the Rams lineman Andrew Whitworth, they met with families of victims from the Thousand Oaks shooting earlier this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED GOFF, RAMS QUARTERBACK: It was good to get in front of our fans for sure in a time like this where, you know, a lot of stuff has been going on in the last couple weeks and, you know, hopefully we could provide some joy, some normalcy in the last few hours and, you know, a lot of fun for people hopefully and get their minds off of anything they're dealing with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:55:00] SCHOLES: Just an awesome game and good timing, guys, with everything that the state of California has been going through to get to have that game and the Rams play so well for them.

BERMAN: Yes, good for the Rams for doing that. Good for the Rams. That's such a big game. They really kept sight of what was important there.

Thanks, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

BERMAN: All right, a new legal setback for the Trump administration. A federal judge bars the White House from refusing asylum to migrants who cross the border illegally. So, what happens next? A big development overnight. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: A federal judge blocks President Trump's new rules, making it harder for migrants to request asylum.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: What this administration has done is undermining our values. The president does not recognize the law of the land. DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our immigration laws are

incompetent. They are the worst laws any country has anywhere in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There have been a number of e-mails from Ivanka Trump sent from her personal account about government business.

[07:00:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her father was out there chanting "lock her up."

TRUMP: She has to go to jail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To say she's not aware is intellectually dishonest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a big