Transcripts For WJLA This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20141130

From abc news, this week with George Stephanopoulos begins now. Good morning. Im martha raddatz, and as we come on the air this morning, breaking news from ferguson, missouri, where abc news has confirmed officer Darren Wilson has resigned from the Ferguson Police force. The big question, will that resignation calm the protests in ferguson and around the country . Lets get right to it with alex perez, who joins us now from ferguson with the very latest. Good morning, alex. Reporter good morning, martha. A relatively quiet night of much smaller protests here in ferguson, just two arrested. Wilson says he hopes his resignation will bring peace. Darren wilson, a threeyear veteran of the Police Department in ferguson, said he had hoped to continue in police work, a job he told George Stephanopoulos that he loved. I greatly enjoyed working in ferguson, i did. Put that in the past tense, not going to happen again . Do you really think its possible . I mean, do you think they would accept me . Do you think it would be safe for me . Reporter in his resignation letter, wilson wrote, i have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and Police Officers of the city of ferguson at risk which is a circumstance that i cannot allow. After the grand jury decided not to indict wilson, violent protests erupted here and then spread across the country. All hands up, dont shoot. Reporter for nearly a week protests have continued. On black friday groups disrupting big box retailers and forcing one st. Louis mall to shut down. All no black friday. No black friday. Reporter pastor willis johnsons church is just down the street from the Ferguson Police station, the target of many protests. He condemns the violence but understands the anger. Why is this so emotional for so many people . Its so personal. Its so hurtful to know that theres no recourse. Theres no sense of respect. Theres no dignity. Reporter whats next for ferguson, you think . Very tough conversations, very real work. Reporter and pastor johnson says his sermon today will be about holding the entire Community Responsible and finding a place of hope and healing for ferguson. Martha. Thanks, alex. Id like to welcome st. Louis Alderman Antonio french back to our show. Mr. French had an office in the heart of ferguson on the street we have all come to know, west florissant avenue, and as you see right there, that office was torched during the first night of disturbances. Thanks for joining us, alderman. Lets go right to the risk for Police Officers and residents that officer wilson talked about, said thats why he is resigning from the police force. Your reaction . Well, i think that there are many reasons that officer wilson should have resigned and, quite frankly, officer wilson and others should resign. I think the safety of his officers and his fellow officers is one of many. But i do think it was impossible for him to return to the force but i think there are many more resignations that need to happen in order for this community to begin healing. And what kind of resignations . Who do you think should resign . Well, i think the Ferguson Police chief, i think its impossible for this community to move forward with him still in that role. I think at the st. Louis county Police Department level there still needs to be some people to answer for how the Police Responded to peaceful protests in august that escalated this situation. Frankly, the thing we havent seen is a lot of government accountability. Not many people have taken responsibility for whats happened and people are still waiting for answers and change. Did you believe officer wilsons testimony . No, i found officer wilson to be remorseless, cold, and, frankly, a lot of his answers sounded like they were prepared by a lawyer. And so what i worry is that as we said back in august, that the way this trial or this grand jury process was being carried out by the county executive, im sorry, by the county prosecutor, that it really doesnt give what the Community Needs in order to move forward. No closure, no resolve. And, in fact, just creates more anger. Lets talk about the aftermath. As we saw, your office was burned. Your own storefront office, which was called heal st. Louis. Do you think there could have been a better response . Lets listen to captain ron johnson from the murray Missouri State highway patrol. If any of us knew last night was going to be what it was, if we had a crystal ball, wed have probably done Something Different but we could have never imagined that. Is that right . Could they never have imagined that . No, i dont think thats right at all. You know, weve been talking for weeks about this and that, you know, we really had a powder keg here, and so for the county prosecutor to decide to release the grand Jury Announcement at nighttime, for the governor to preemptively call a state of emergency and call in the national guard, yet no one deployed them to west florissant or other areas that had been hit repeatedly by violence, it really showed a failure to grasp the situation and to handle it on the part of government. And so the fires that we saw, the violence that we saw was unfortunate. It is you know, it really hurts our hearts. Weve gone through a tough week here, but, you know, we knew that a lot of people were very angry, and we knew a lot of people were coming from other places, so we should have been better prepared for this. And well hope we can all move forward. Alderman, thanks for joining us. And now, lets turn to what this means for how our Nations Police patrol the streets. The officer at the center of this story, Darren Wilson, told george in their exclusive interview that what happened on that night in august was the result of his training. Take a look. You described i guess the fear you were thinking. You thought he was coming after you. Yes. On the street. Was any part of you angry . No. No anger . No, there was no time for anger. Like i said, training took over, it was survival mode. Because some of the witnesses have said they thought you were out of control, that somehow you had snapped. Uhhuh. That would be incorrect. There was never the only emotion i ever felt was fear and then it was survival and training. And the training kicked in. The training took over. It didnt just kick in. It took over. And in your training, there was no option in those moments when you were faced with Michael Brown but to shoot . Correct. Im joined now by ray kelly, former commissioner of the new york city Police Department and a consultant for abc news. Commissioner, give me your reaction to officer wilson resigning. Was that the right thing to do . Well, i think it was the right thing to do for ferguson and the right thing to do for officer wilson. I mean realistically he couldnt patrol those streets again. And well see if it has any calming effect on the situation, but that remains to be seen. Commissioner kelly, were not expecting you to be the spokesman for Police Across the nation, but you have spent your life as a Police Officer. What are the Lessons Learned here . Well, i think its when you say the Lessons Learned, i would like to sort of separate the incident itself from what happened immediately after the incident, and there are lots of lessons for policing. What people say is this was a major league event happening in a small town. They simply didnt have the resources to cope. They didnt put information out quickly. And that is like rule one. When something happens, you give the public what you have and say, hey, we dont have this, we dont have that. There was a long delay in putting information out. Obviously Michael Browns body laying in the street for four hours was just, no, a mistake and one of the reasons given was the delay for the crime scene unit to respond and took them an hour and 15 minutes. So how do you regain the trust of that community . How do Police Officers regain that trust . Its going to be difficult, no question about it. I think you need communication, lots of talking and i think they have to diversify the department. I would hope that the Justice Department is going to contribute or Homeland Security will contribute some money to this effort, but you cant have a city that is twothirds africanamerican policed by a department of 53 Police Officers where only 3 of them are a minority. It makes no sense and i think it really will refocus Law Enforcement on the issue of diversity because a department that reflects the city or the municipality that it serves is much easier to police. Its smarter policing to have that type of relationship. I just want you very quickly if you can on training, i know we heard officer wilson and others say they use deadly force when theyre threatened or someone else is threatened. Is there any other way to do that . A 12yearold boy was shot this week with a very realistic looking fake gun but can you try to disable a suspect instead of killing this em . Were talking about deadly force being used at the officer. Looking at four corners of his statement, thats what hes saying and, again, i know we have the issue with the 12yearold boy. But the notion that somehow you can shoot to wound just simply, you know, doesnt work. You train Police Officers to shoot for mass. You train them to shoot to stop. And the only way you ccan, well, wound somebody or shoot the weapon out of the hands is in the movies. Police only hit their targets 20 of the time. Okay, thanks very much for joining us today, commissioner kelly. Thank you. Now to the nfl and the bombshell ruling friday that former Baltimore Ravens running back ray rice can play again. In that ruling a retired judge said rice did not lie to nfl commissioner Roger Goodell and that the league was wrong to suspend the former all pro indefinitely after he was caught on tape punching his then fiancee. So whats next for rice and the league . Heres abcs ryan smith. Reporter that shocking video released in september of ray rice punching his then fiancee, janay, triggered a firestorm. Nfl commissioner Roger Goodell upping rices initial suspension for Domestic Violence from two games to indefinite claiming rice downplayed the assault in a june meeting. It was clear there was an act of Domestic Violence. But it was inconsistent with the way he described what happened. Reporter but in her ruling, a retired federal judge calling the nfls additional suspension of rice arbitrary and an abuse of discretion noting, i am not persuaded that rice lied to or misled the nfl even flagging the handling of previous Domestic Violence cases saying rices mishandled suspension speaks to their admitted failure in the past to sanction this type of conduct more severely. Goodell knew exactly what happened, and his reaction with the indefinite suspension was based more on public outrage than it was on fact and circumstance. Reporter when the assault happened back in february, rice agreed to a courtordered Domestic Violence program. Later, publicly apologizing to his wife. I made the biggest mistake of my life, me. She can do no wrong. Shes an angel. Reporter rice saying in a statement after fridays decision, i will continue working hard to improve myself and be the best husband, father and friend while giving back to my community and helping others to learn from my mistakes. And his wife janay telling Espns Jemele Hill, we have no guarantees about rays future in football, but i know this experience has made us far more aware of whats important and how fortunate we are. For the nfl, the controversy isnt over. Theres another investigation into the leagues handling of the evidence in this case. And rice claims hes owed millions lost since being suspended. But for now as rice hopes to get back on the field, the question is, will any nfl team have him . And ryan smith joins us now along with usa today columnist and abc news contributor Christine Brennan and Espns Jemele Hill whose new interview with janay rice was released on friday. Welcome to you all, and lets quickly get to the question you left us with, ryan, will he play again . Word this morning i think from espn that four teams are looking at him. Right, and i think thats common in cases like this. A couple of teams are looking at him, considering him. Its near playoff time so some teams need the help of a star like ray rice. But i think at this point nobody is speaking out and saying specifically we are looking to sign him, so i think hes got a little ways to go before he gets back into the league. Christine, will he be back . I dont think this year. I think its too much of a Public Relations nightmare, really. Its a real roll of the dice, martha. The Indianapolis Colts were one of the teams being mentioned. Immediately they sent out word, we are not interested. I think well see that from other teams. Yes mell and welcome, jemele. Thank you for having me. It feels a little bit toxic still. I do expect fully he will play in the nfl again. Ryan, lets go to how the nfl handled this. We have word this morning from the general counsel, no part of judge jones decision questions the commissioners honesty or integrity nor his good faith consideration of the issue when he imposed the indefinite suspension. Is that how you see it . It depends. I think what theyre doing is a little bit of a pr campaign for Roger Goodell because think about this, its the owners who have the hiring and firing ability with respect to his job. So what they did was they put out something saying, well, this is what we did and this is what the explanation was, but, hey, he wasnt dishonest. He didnt do anything wrong. I think the proof in the pudding here is they made the distinction between her being hit or being slapped in an elevator but it seems clear to the arbitrator that ray rice had told them everything so to me from notes, from notes in that hearing. Exactly, so to me it seems that goodell wasnt telling the full story. Christine, you say and have been saying all along theres a larger issue here about Domestic Violence. September 8th will go down as one of the watershed moments in sports and in our culture. The day we saw the video. Everything changed. Look at the Atlantic City prosecutor slap on the wrist. The grand jury saw those videotapes and did almost nothing. So when the nfl was buffeted by this incredible news and seeing the video, all of a sudden a twogame suspension, they, of course it was double jeopardy went right to the indefinite suspension but the nation was screaming out for that. Internal politics, understandable and important between the union and the commissioner but then you also have the court of public opinion, which was really driving this story. Jemele, are we asking too much of the nfl to deal with this huge, huge problem . In some ways, yes, i mean, we have to remember the nfl is a talentdriven, productionbased business. Its a billion dollar business. Its first and foremost duty is to put on really good Football Games and entertain us and while certainly they can set their standard as a league and certainly for any corporation there should be a certain moral standard that you want to abide by, but were asking Roger Goodell and the nfl to fix domestic vice as christine noted. Lets start with where this started, the Atlantic City prosecutor with our laws. They looked at this video and this is what they ultimately decided so if you want to put any pressure, if theres any outrage, it should be on how this originally started because they felt like what the punishment that he received was suitable. So does goodell stay . I think he does for right now. But i think that comes down to more of a money point. I think my thinking is if you lose a major sponsor because of this controversy, his job could be in jeopardy. But right now, hes got an investigation going into things like did he know about this video . And right now it looks like he didnt, but if hes found to have known about that video, he could have real problems in terms of his honesty, but he does well by the owners, and the owners want to keep him in that spot so as long as they want to keep him he stays. How about getting a neutral arbitrator . Is that possible . Well, thats what the union wants, obviously. They hailed this decision. They did but the collective bargain agreement, they gave away that opportunity, they gave that power to Roger Goodell so jerry jones said yesterday or the day before, he said, we dont want to go back and look at the collective Bargaining Agreement on this. The owners are happy with the way it is. Of course, they are. Theyre billionaires and theyre also happy with Roger Goodell and the way hes handled it and i dont think hes going anywhere. Jemele, very quickly, what is your takeaway from your interview with ray rices wife, janay . Shes a thoughtful, impressive woman and circle the word young. I think lost in all this we forget their ages. She 26. Hes 27. Theyre a young couple and known each other since they were 14 and 15 and so while i know people, weve sort of been taught a narrative about Domestic Violence and i know some people will read this piece and say, oh, this is just in line with what we think and how we expect somebody to respond, but i thought i found her to be extremely genuine with everything that she said. Okay. Thanks very much to all of you. This issue will not be going away for sure. But coming up, its the busiest travel day of the year but if youre a frequent traveler, you know the lines, congestion and full planes are all just part of the new normal so what can be done . The head of the faa is here next. Plus, pope francis in a historic visit to turkey asking for tolerance. Will he become the Foreign Policy pope . Were back in less than two minutes. Twhat do i do . You need to catch the 4 10 huh . The Equipment Tracking system will get you to the loading dock. There should be a truck leaving now. I got it. Now jump off the bridge. What . In 3. 2. 1. Are you kidding me . Go. Right on time. Right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. We call that predictable. Thrillingly predictable. Use chase freedom at amazon. Com and get 5 cash back this quarter. So you can find the perfect gift for everyone. Including you. Activate your 5 cash back at chase. Com freedom chase. So you can. Back now with our closer look, and if youre watching us in an airport while waiting to get home today, good luck because youre not alone. Millions are expected to travel on planes, trains and, of course, automobiles today. Abcs david kerley joins us from Reagan National airport with the numbers behind a nation on the move. Good morning, david. Reporter good morning, martha. It really is remarkable. This holiday week nearly 13 of this countrys population is on the move. Today, though, the busiest air travel day with an air Traffic Control system that is in need of an upgrade. This sunday we could see Long Airport Lines possibly even delays for millions of americans. After the last leftover, were heading home. Wednesday travel was tough. More than 700 flights canceled. 5,000 delayed because of that snow. In atlanta, delta invited us into its tower and showed us the complicated logistics to get you and your bag home. Here we saw some 40 miles of conveyer belts. Its our busiest day. It is truly our super bowl. Its one of our busiest days that well see all year including the summertime. Reporter one in eight of us traveled this thanksgiving weekend to be with family, 90 of us behind the wheel. With average gas prices well under 3 a gallon, its one of the best deals of the season. But airlines arent passing on their fuel cost savings. Tickets up about 1 this year as airlines hold the line on capacity keeping jets full. Those empty middle seats just about a thing of the past, but the future showed up this weekend with the faa activating its next gen air Traffic Control system in the nations capital. The gpsbased system gives pilots a Straight Line descent, their own lane into the airport saving fuel and more ontime arrivals but its not all clear skies out there. We just had a something fly over us. I dont know if it was a drone or a balloon. Reporter increased reports of drones flying too close in airport airspace illegally. 200 incidents since february. A half dozen of those close calls forcing pilots to change course. That sounds like a surge, and it may be. Earlier this year the faa asked pilots to report every drone incident, now numbering 25 a month as these relatively inexpensive drones become more popular and potentially more dangerous. Martha. Thanks, david. Michael huerta, the administrator of the faa joins us now. Thanks for joining us. Today is expected to be the busiest travel day of the year. I think about 2. 61 Million People forecast to fly home today. You said this week 15 to 18 increase in flights compared to a typical saturday. Weather looks good, so whats the most important thing here today to keep things moving . Well, 46,000 flights today, a little over that, and fortunately we have great weather today, a little bit of rain in the San Francisco bay area, which is very much needed there. But it should be a good day for flying. And going forward, i know you have this next gen system. Sure. That is supposed to reduce air traffic, save fuel costs, all kinds of things, dont have to talk to air Traffic Control enough, but its been criticized widely by democrats, by republicans, that its late, that the 2020 start date is fiction, that its moving at a snails pace. Why is that and what are you hopeful will happen . Next gen is now as you heard in davids setup piece. We just turned on some advance navigation procedures. Three airports. But thats in addition to four other metropolitan areas, in dallas, houston, seattle and in northern california. And the savings are dramatic. Here in washington, were expected its still way behind schedule. Its not. Actually we have built out the foundational technologies and that had to be put in place before we could start delivering the benefits and the benefits are being delivered right now. Lets move to the drones that david also mentioned in his piece. Your own faa numbers show that since june pilots have reported 25 near collisions. Could a drone bring down a plane . Im thinking of the geese that brought down the Us Airways Flight into the hudson river. That was a flock of geese and were talking about drones and theyre pretty big. The thing that im most concerned about is doing everything that we can to avoid conflicts between aircraft, whether theyre drones or whether theyre commercial airliners. And if youre using an Unmanned Aircraft, you need to stay away from an airport. You need to stay below 400 feet and you need to maintain line of sight. Theres also an educational component. Were working closely with the model aircraft industry to make sure that theres an awareness out there of the conflicts that could exist. And i think as a result of this awareness were seeing more reporting. Weve asked pilots to report them and we have enforcement tools. Theres a drone policy, an overall drone policy we can expect beyond what youre talking about. Well, sure. Last year we published a road map for integration of Unmanned Aircraft into the National Airspace system. Later on this year we expect to solicit comments on a rule for small Unmanned Aircraft, those that are under 55 what might it look like . Well, it looks at i cant talk about whats in the rule because were still in that process, but what it will consider is the full scope of activities, the certification of the aircraft, the qualifications of the operator and the sorts of uses, all with the goal of maintaining a safe system. And do you think the fuel prices, just quickly on the fuel prices that david also mentioned, i know this really isnt your avenue here, but should airline prices, should Airline Tickets come down because the fuel prices arecould go down, oil prices are coming down. Well, thats a decision for the airlines. Theyre always looking to reduce their expenditures, but you talked about metroplex earlier or next gen. Here in washington this is going to save the airlines 2. 5 million gallons of fuel a year. Just in washington. We hope we see that in ticket prices even though thats not your job. Thanks very much for joining us, mr. Huerta. Thank you. Coming up, qualified applicants needed. Must be able to juggle multiple world crises at the same time. President obama goes on the hunt for a new defense secretary. Plus, the roundtable tackles all the political fallout from ferguson. Were right back. Get to the terminal across town. Are all the green lights you . No. Its called grid iq. The 4 51 is leaving at 4 51. They cut the power. Itll fix itself. Powers back on. Quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. Thrillingly predictable. Is a really big deal. U with aches, fever and chills theres no such thing as a little flu. So why treat it like its a little cold . Theres something that works differently than overthecounter remedies. Prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. So call your doctor right away. Tamiflu treats the flu in people 2 weeks and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. Before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if youre pregnant, nursing, have Serious Health conditions, or take other medicines. If you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. Children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion or abnormal behavior. The most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. So dont wait. Attack the flu virus at its source. Ask your doctor about tamiflu. Prescription for flu. Coming up, yet another tough week for the president. His defense secretary steps down. He takes heat for his remarks about ferguson and one prominent democrat now questioning obamas signature legislative accomplishment, obamacare. Well break it down next. Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos brought to you by bdo. Hi, im Henry Winkler and im here to tell homeowners that are sixtytwo and older about a great way to live a better retirement. Its called a reverse mortgage. Call right now to receive your free dvd and booklet with no obligation. It answers questions like. How a reverse mortgage works, how much you qualify for, the ways to receive your money. And more. Plus, when you call now, youll get this magnifier with led light absolutely free when you call the experts at one reverse mortgage today, youll learn the benefits of a governmentinsured reverse mortgage. It will eliminate your monthly mortgage payments and give you taxfree cash from the equity in your home and heres the best part. You still own your home. Take control of your retirement today twhat do i do . You need to catch the 4 10 huh . The Equipment Tracking system will get you to the loading dock. There should be a truck leaving now. I got it. Now jump off the bridge. What . In 3. 2. 1. Are you kidding me . Go. Right on time. Right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. We call that predictable. Thrillingly predictable. Use chase freedom at amazon. Com and get 5 cash back this quarter. So you can find the perfect gift for everyone. Including you. Activate your 5 cash back at chase. Com freedom chase. So you can. Its usually considered one of the most prestigious of the president s cabinet appointments but for the fourth time in six years, president obama is on the hunt for a secretary of defense after mondays resignation of secretary chuck hagel. With trouble spots in iraq, syria, russia and a host of other countries, the landscape looks pretty complicated for the next nominee. The world looked a little different when president obama nominated chuck hagel for secretary of defense. Americas war in iraq will be over. Reporter with a bush era conflict seemingly coming to an end and a peace dividend to be reaped, the president decided reformminded hagel was the right choice for the job. As we complete our mission in afghanistan reporter guiding the pentagon through tough budget cuts and restructuring, but it was rough out the gate. Gaffes at the confirmation hearing. Ive just been handed a note that i misspoke and reporter and then the deluge of world crises. Just a few months after the secretary took office. Chemical weapons were deployed against the syrian people. Reporter and then we begin with the urgent situation overseas in ukraine. Reporter and finally isis. Hagel famously veering way off Administration Talking Points and hitting the panic button. They are an imminent threat to every interest we have. Reporter by last month he sounded a bit awestruck about it all. I think we are living through one of these historic defining times. I think we are seeing a new world order. Reporter add a thumping in the midterms, the president s Approval Rating on Foreign Affairs at a record low 31 and it was hagel, seemingly the odd man out in white house debates, who was pressured to resign less than two years after he started. And im joined by david rothkopf, the ceo and editor of Foreign Policy and author of the book National Insecurity and bret stephens, National Security columnist at the wall street journal and author of the book america in retreat. David, i want to start with you. You had been urging in your writing for the president to shake up his cabinet, his National Security team. But do you think they got rid of the wrong man . Oh, yeah, this hagel was a sacrificial lamb. The reality is the problem is in the white house, the problem is that this Administration Takes too many decisions there, micromanages too much from there and is divided themselves within the white house about whether they take a strong stance on a group like isis or they take halfway measures. That causes problems down the line. Hagel was a victim of those problems, not a cause of them. One of the things, bret, there were some whisperings that hagel had sort of gone native and channeling the frustrations of the military. So does that matter . Is that the point or do you agree with david . I agree with david in the sense that the whole hagel saga from the moment of his nomination up until right now is so emblematic of everything thats wrong with obamas management style. I mean, he went out of his way to pick a fight with congress in nominating hagel. I dont think the white house then saw just the kind of opposition he would get or how poorly hagel would perform. They also touted hagel as an independent thinker and yet when he turned out to be somewhat less politically pliant than they needed him to be, they turned on him. I mean, im almost tempted to suggest they should ask ron klain to be secretary of defense because if they want a political fixer in the pentagon, they ought to get one. And weve heard the names. Michele flournoy already turned it down. Weve got jeff reed who wasnt interested either. Does it matter who he puts in . I know the names floating out there, jay johnson, ash carter. It probably dont matter because at the end of the day because the white house micromanages, because so many of the decisions are taking place in the white house, this person is being seen as somebody to follow through on that. There are some names that are a little stronger. I mean ash carter is a very tough, independent guy, and if they picked him, they would be sending a message that they do want diversity of opinion more than it seems to right now. Lets move on to the crises that were facing in the coming years. A lot of president s want a legacy of Foreign Policy. President obama seems to be concentrating on domestic issues but these crises are going to slap him in the face. Isis isnt going away, syria is not going away, ukraine is not going away. Just take us forward here. The scary thing is that we have a series of crises and we have adversaries who think that theres a weak president in the white house whos not going to act against them, and i think thats true of vladimir putin. I think thats true of the Ayatollah Khomeini in iran, throughout the world so its important not to just put in a technocrat in the pentagon. You have kind of a flock of seagulls with the Obama Administration team. There needs to be a hawk there in a prominent position, so the president would be making a mistake by putting in a technocrat like ash carter. He needs a strong voice. Weve got about ten second, david, and just looking forward with the Foreign Policy crisis. I think its going to get worse. Its going to be very tough last couple of years for the president. Well, on that note, thank you very much for joining us. Coming up, did the president miss the mark when he spoke out on ferguson . The roundtable is here to debate that in less than a minute. Back now with our politics buzz board. Topping it off, democrat versus democrat. New york senator Chuck Schumer said his party misread the results from the 2008 election and its now costing them politically. Following major midterm losses, schumer took aim at president obamas signature legislation, the Affordable Care act. Democrats blew the opportunity the American People gave them. We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem, health care reform. He said democrats should have focused on issues affecting the middle class first. Criticism of obama continued with tweets and headlines drawing attention to the monday night split screen image of president obama calling for calm even as smoke filled the streets of ferguson. And were joined now on the roundtable by bill kristol, editor of the weekly standard, democratic strategic donna brazile, jelani cobb of the new yorker who was in ferguson as the rioting broke out this week and our own cokie roberts, welcome, everybody. Jelani, i want to start with you. You told me when we talked yesterday that you do not believe officer wilson. No. The story he told was fantastic. It almost sounded like the kind of beginning of a superhero film of some sort. He actually said that when Michael Brown was shot, it seemed that he was bulking himself up to run back toward him. And what exactly does it mean . You know, bullets dont cause people to gain mass. You also had some pretty strong words about the president. Let me read what you wrote in the new yorker. Obama took pains to point out that there is never an excuse for violence. The man who once told us that there was no black america or White America but only the United States of america has become a president whose statements on unpunished racial injustices are a genre unto themselves. What do you mean by that . What i mean is the president spoke in a very evenhanded way about this, as he tends to do in these matters. But not everything is even. Theres not kind of an even distribution of concern here. People became very upset about the prospect of Property Damage in ferguson. But the people in the community were saying, we are concerned about not only Michael Browns death but the context in which his death seemed almost, if not predictable, then not shocking and so in that regard we cant make a property offense the equivalent of a person losing their life. Now, im not going to actually defend attacking someones business, but these two things are not equivalent. Well, but and whats mystifying to me is why they did anything they did. Why would you not have youre talking about the grand jury. Yes. Why not have a regular grand jury proceeding and then go to an open trial where you have a defense lawyer and a prosecuting lawyer and all the evidence is out there with a jury and everybody can hear it. This way it just seems that they were fixing it, and thats, of course, how the community feels. And it contributes to the sense that black americans, particularly young black males, do not get a fair shake in the american justice system, and now its not just black people who feel that way, young white people feel that way too. The numbers have changed dramatically on this. Yeah, this was their broadcast news moment, im angry as hell. They were looking at this and saying this could be me. This is the authorities. This is these are people who are sworn to protect me and now theyre coming after me. Look, the tragedy was out there. Weve known since august that there was a tragedy. The Fatal Shooting of an unarmed teenager. The grand jury decision, deliberations, i read most of it. I couldnt i had to put it down because when you are at page 120 yes, bill, i sat and read all of it. More than i did. I give you credit. Then i did too. You look at all this witness testimony and then you get to page 209, 210 and you see Darren Wilson, he wasnt crossexamined. The county prosecutor acted as if he was the defense attorney. Right. Bill kristol, i want you to jump in on this. Should it have been a different procedure . Should they have not had the grand jury or people i know who are both prosecutors and Defense Attorneys think there were no grounds to indict officer wilson. A lot of young people you know, hes a Young American too and a lot of Young Americans look at that situation and say we shouldnt have Political Correctness or the understandable anger of a Community Lead to a railroading of the criminal justice system. No serious legal person i know thinks he should have been brought to trial. Not that he acted in an exemplary way perhaps as a Police Officer but thats a tough job but he has his rights too. On what basis should someone be brought to trial . The forensic dont you think the forensic evidence was pretty determinative in this case . No, it actually wasnt because they said his blood was inside the vehicle. Dorian johnson, the person the only other eyewitness who was there said his blood was in the vehicle because officer wilson grabbed Michael Brown. Do we really believe the officer pulled up and said, hey, guys, wont dont you get on the sidewalk. If as Bob Mcculloch was aware he said, they were aware about the purported robbery, why not ask about that . There are inconsistencies throughout the story. There are also 16 i think 16 of the 29 witnesses who said they saw him raise his hand. Right. I mean how lets just move forward with this. How do you reestablish trust in that community . Well, i mean one of the things that i cant get over is here we are in 2014 and were still having these all white or almost all white Police Forces in majority black neighborhoods. Thats just nuts and why would that be true . We know how we know how to fix this, and we know it works, by the way. It does work to have people who are from the community in the community. Okay. I want to move from 2014 to 2016. Not a very smooth transition, i know. But rand paul, jelani, rand paul is the only potential 2016er whos wading into the ferguson discussion and really trying to reach out to young africanamericans and bring them into the republican tent. You wrote that republicans didnt lose the black vote but forfeited it. What advice would you give to paul to get the black vote back . Well, i mean, his main problem is the republican party. Right. You know, because you cant attract this is not something thats just simply him. You know, you know, george bush said this in 2000. If you go back even earlier to the late 80s, lee atwater said something similar but you run into the conflict of the other parts of your party. You cannot attract africanamericans on one hand while you have blatant issues of Voter Suppression on the other. Right. 123w4r people are going to vote their interests. Okay, rand paul is targeting younger voters, as well. Lets take a look at our facebook sentimeter. He is among the most talked about potential gop candidate in the 18 to 34yearold range second only to ted cruz and take a look at how they view him. Perry, 61 positive. Rand paul, 57 positive. Ted cruz, 37 positive. What do you think there, bill kristol . I think rand paul is totally overrated for 2016 possibly. The media loves him. The media loves him. At least he takes a couple of liberal views, publicly sides them in an incoherent way. I predict rand paul will get fewer votes than his father got in 2012. Hes more dovish than president obama on Foreign Policy. Republican voters arent and on law and order Republican Voters and i think most americans and an awful lot of africanamericans think whatever injustice happens and cops do what they shouldnt do, nonetheless there is no excuse for rioting and people apologizing for the destruction of property and the endangering of life. Law and order is not just a political slogan but part of a decent society. I want to very quickly because this was stood out to me, the face speaking of facebook, the facebook pt on sasha and malia at the tury pardoning this week. We saw president obama pardon a turkey in honor of thanksgiving. We saw the 13 and 16yearold girls, theyre looking a little bored but then we hear elizabeth lauten, who is a congressmans communication director, dear sasha and malia, i get youre both in those awful teen years but youre part of the first family. Try showing a little class. At least respect the part you play. Then again your mother and father dont respect their positions very much. Dress like you deserve respect not a spot at the bar. Give me ten seconds on that, cokie. Its ridiculous, but shes probably 18. I mean, comes across that way. Social media is a problem and people should stay off of it particularly if theyve had any substance they shouldnt be on. Or a big thanksgiving meal and its late at night. Very good advice. Insulting but she did apologize. She did apologize. She did apologize. They looked really exciting. They looked really excited when they were buying books the next day. Thats right. Thats a good thing. Always exciting to buy books. Pardoning that turkey is pretty dumb. Not my favorite event of the year either. Okay, coming up, whats it like to be the tailor to the president s . David wright explains. But before we go to break, our powerhouse puzzler, and its thanksgiving inspired naturally. Of course, we now celebrate thanksgiving on the fourth thursday of november. But that practice was solidified only after one of our president s tried moving turkey day. So heres the question, name the president who moved thanksgiving up a week from when it had been traditionally celebrated up to that point. Back in less than 60 seconds. Catch this week online all week at abcnews. Com, on facebook and twitter. So which president moved thanksgiving . Lets see those white boards. Cokie, fdr. Jelani who is going, what are we doing . Harding. Roosevelt. Who was roosevelt. Fdr. Okay, 3 for 4. Pretty good. The answer is fdr who concerned with a shortened Christmas Shopping season in 1939 issued a proclamation moving the holiday up a week to the second to the last thursday in november. The result was kind of a mess with some states going along with the move and others not. It was two years later that congress ended the confusion by passing a resolution making the fourth thursday of november the day we now mark the holiday and begin shopping. Well be right back after this from our abc stations. Pope francis spending his thanksgiving weekend in turkey. His first visit to a predominantly Muslim Country in a message directed at a larger audience. The pope called for the people of the middle east to reverse the trend of violent conflict. Abcs Alex Marquardt has been along for the trip and joins us from istanbul where the pope is finishing up this landmark trip. Good morning, alex. Reporter good morning, martha. The pope today is wrapping up his threeday trip to turkey, a trip that is focused on improving dialogue, not just with the muslim world but with christian, as well. Its that kind of interfaith dialogue, the pope says, that will help bring peace to the region and help stop the spread of extremism. His visit comes as turkeys government grapples with how to deal with the threat from isis across its borders highlighted yesterday when isis attacked a Border Crossing between turkey and syria with suicide bombers. This morning, the pope held a service for some of turkeys tiny christian minority with the head of the Orthodox Church part of his effort to bridge the divide with the catholic church. This came after his visit on saturday to turkeys most important mosque, the famous blue mosque where for two minutes he bowed his head in what the vatican called a moment of silent adoration and this afternoon he will cap off his trip by meeting with a group of iraqi and syrian refugees, just a fraction of more than 1. 5 million refugees who have fled to turkey to escape the fighting in those two countries. Martha . Our thanks to alex. Back now with the roundtable. Cokie, the pope really walked a very fine line on the visit to turkey. He did it just right. I mean, he went to the president who is an islamist and said we have to stop this barbaric violence, but youre doing a good job of bringing in the refues, and then he went to the mausoleum, which is a secular, very secular scene and then on to the patriarch of the eastern Orthodox Churches to try to bring together unity there. His message has been consistently, you know, we have to do more to end violence and to promote a wellbeing. In hunger in europe he did the same thing. Done quite a job. We couldnt let this weekend pass without talking about our own thanks and what were thankful for this thanksgiving weekend. Donna. Family, my family came up from louisiana. They bought their own crabs and crawfish and had a delicious gumbo. Im going home and make creole cornbread that cokie just gave me a recipe and im also thankful for so many friends and let me just say there are many Public Servants retiring this year, tom harkin, of course, George Miller and theyve been great people, as well. Bill kristol. Yeah, family and friends and country, and i think those, youd agree with this, those who serve us overseas and were deployed this thanksgiving and werent with their families. I certainly would echo that. Im thankful for my family, especially my nephew josh who im very proud of, a budding journalist himself and particularly im also in the political arena im thankful for the example of sustained mostly nonviolent protests that people were able to organize in ferguson for so long prior to regardless of whatever happened last week. Cokie, very quickly. Family, of course, and weve had a tough year in our family this year so having the people who have been so supportive makes a huge difference, but politically im really glad that we havent diminished the number of women in politics and might even be higher. Thanks very much to all of you. Im thankful as well for so much and well be right back. Finally, from prison camp to president ial outfitter, its in every president ial photoop. Yet you almost dont notice the perfect cut of the president ial suit. Martin greenfield tailor to the president explains in his new book measures of a man, whats hidden in those president ial pockets. Reporter barack obama and Michael Bloomberg have at least one thing in common, their tailor. I dress both sides of the aisle. Reporter martin greenfield whose suits are a cut above the rest. This is president obamas jacket. Only the president. Reporter only for president s this stitching here. He dresses hollywood too. He made Leo Dicaprios suits for the wolf of wall street. Paul newman was a customer of yours. Paul newman. Paul newman was not a customer, was a friend. Reporter greenfield sewed his first stitch not on Seventh Avenue or saville row but in auschwitz where his job in the camp laundry kept him alive. And you had never sewn before. Never sewn. I never washed. I never did nothing. So the tailor says, youre a tailor. 15 years old. Reporter when the allies finally liberated the camps, he had lost his whole family. He had little idea that the dashing American General who freed him eisenhower. He was like our giant. Reporter would one day become a customer of the brooklyn tailor who taught greenfield his craft. The first time i could touch something for the man that liberated me, do you know the feeling . Must have been amazing. Reporter he couldnt resist slipping notes into eisenhowers jackets offering advice on the suez crisis. He liked it because he thought what did you write . He told a reporter about it. Reporter later bill clinton turned to martin greenfield too. He says, can i tell you something, martin . Do me a favor, dont write notes in my pocket. I said, what . Who told you i wrote notes . No, no, im going to give you a fax number and you fax me anything you want. Reporter greenfelds atelier in brooklyn is old school. Everything is made the oldfashioned way. Reporter about 120 workers, mostly immigrants, many of them have been working here 20 plus years. This is charlie. Hello. How are you doing . Hello, charlie. All right. How are you . Reporter greenfield doesnt dwell on the holocaust, always keeping in mind his fathers advice. The last words, you honor us by extending our life by living, not by crying, and thats what i do every minute of my day. Theres that old saying, the clothes make the man. Do you believe that . I believe it. But a tailor also knows people in an intimate way and i suspect that part of you would think that the measure of the man isnt just the clothes. The measure of the man is not just clothes. The measure of the man is more. Reporter by any measure, martin greenfield is a treasure. Look how that fits in. Reporter for this week, david wright, abc news, brooklyn. Our thanks to david. You can read an excerpt of martin greenfields book at abcnews. Com thisweek. And now we honor our fellow americans who serve and sacrifice. This week the pentagon announced the deaths of two soldiers killed in afghanistan. Thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your thanksgiving weekend with us. Check out world news tonight and well see you back here next week. Have a great day