Top Housing Official Fired; Beyond The Call Of Duty
CAMEROTA: A new Trump administration speed bump to tell you about. A top aide to HUD secretary nominee Ben Carson has been fired after an article that he wrote criticizing Donald Trump has surfaced. CNN's Rene Marsh is live in Washington with more. What does it say, Rene?</s>RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Alisyn. This is 26-year-old Shermichael Singleton. He worked on several campaigns and was working as a top aide to Ben Carson, Donald Trump's pick for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Now, the young conservative is one of the few African- Americans in the Trump administration, but as of Wednesday, HUD confirms Singleton was no longer an employee. A source close to the situation tells CNN he was fired and escorted out of the building because of what he wrote in an article published in "The Hill" last October. He criticized Trump for taking the GOP to a "new moral low" due to comments like the Muslim ban, as well as rhetoric about the black community. Part of that op-ed read, "As an African-American, like so many of my peers, I am concerned about police brutality, the lack of economic and educational opportunities for urban cities, and the complete disregard for criminal justice reform. Hearing the nominee of my party ignore these harsh truths and opt for words like 'law and order' sounds like a coded message from an era in our history that should stay in the past." He goes on to say a Republican asks aren't we morally obligated to stand up to Trump? Of course, that was written in October, before Trump was elected. I spoke with several in the African-American community who say that comment was actually very reflective of how many in the community feel perhaps Trump may have learned from this individual instead of firing. That's the opinion amongst many in the African- American community I spoke with. Back to you, Chris.</s>CUOMO: All right. Good reason, no reason, bad reason. Those are the guidelines when someone's going to lose a job in government. If it's for bad reason, this may not be the end of it. Our thanks to Rene Marsh. Dramatic video captured on a police body camera shows a Washington State police officer going beyond the call of duty. The officer using his baton to shatter a car window and free a woman from her burning car. CNN's Dan Simon has the story.</s>DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The heart-pounding rescue captured on the officer's body cam.</s>TIM SCHWERING, SPOKANE POLICE OFFICER: We get there and all you see is this car on fire. We got you.</s>SIMON: Spokane police officer Tim Schwering using his baton to break a window, trying to free a woman from a burning car.</s>KIM NOVAK, RESCUED FROM BURNING CAR: It was so helpless. It's just absolutely helpless.</s>SIMON: Kim Novak had just come from the grocery store when she says her car hit an ice bump and lost all power.</s>NOVAK: They're electronic and I can't get out.</s>SIMON: She couldn't open the windows and even the manual door locks would not budge. 911</s>DISPATCH: What's on fire?</s>NOVAK: My car. 911</s>DISPATCH: Where in the car?</s>NOVAK: In the hood. Under the hood. I can smell it burning. Oh, dear God, please get me out. Please. Please hurry, I'm kicking, I'm kicking. Oh, God.</s>SIMON: Unable to kick her way out, there is little time before the smoke will render her unconscious.</s>SCHWERING: I just heard it on the radio and just said I'm going to go to that. So Ijust surveyed the scene and it was basically where you have to punch this window out to be able to get her out of here.</s>SIMON: After several strikes, a small opening for Kim to climb out.</s>SCHWERING: Move it.</s>SIMON: And you created just a big enough hole for her to climb through.</s>SCHWERING: Yes, so she was able to make it out of there and so I instructed her, you know, let's go. Come on, come on. I grabbed an arm, the neighbor grabs an arm.</s>NOVAK: Hold me. OK.</s>SCHWERING: And we pull her out of the car.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you OK? You went over the car.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are the medics here?</s>NOVAK: I was just at the -- at the mercy of whoever was going to come and save me. It happened to be Tim and thank God. Thank God for that.</s>SIMON: Because she knows that without his initiative and grit --</s>SCHWERING: Come on.</s>SIMON: -- she likely would have died in the smoke-filled car.</s>SCHWERING: How you doing? Good to see you.</s>SIMON: Dan Simon, CNN, Spokane, Washington.</s>CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, that's beautiful. They do God's work every day, every hour of the day, you know, and we don't always get a chance to profile it, but I'm so glad we did here.</s>CUOMO: It bears reminding and thanks.</s>CAMEROTA: President Trump declaring a war on leaks and leakers. What he plans to do to the Intelligence Community, next.