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American Morning
The Hunt for WikiLeaks Founder Continues; New Developments in Hollywood Publicist Murder; Extreme Weather Pounds Pennsylvania: State of Emergency in Butler County; A Look at Dow's December Rally; LeBron's Return to Cleveland; Football Firestorm; Dems Schedule House Tax Vote; Lennon's Final Moments
Aired December 02, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING, location disclosed. Breaking news in the search for WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. We may know where he is, but why is he not under arrest?
Good morning. Thanks so much for joining us on this Thursday, the 2nd of December. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We're going to have more on Julian Assange in just a moment. First, though, a check of the other headlines this morning.
Extreme weather pounding Pennsylvania now. Rivers keep rising. Homes and cars under water. Schools and roads shut down. And right now, there is a state of emergency in Butler County, a bit north of Pittsburgh, where the worst is expected to come later this morning.
ROBERTS: Tax cuts. Who gets to keep them? House Democrats plan to vote today for the middle class only. That has Republicans and the Senate using the "F" word -- filibuster, all while your take home pay for 2011 hangs in the balance. We're live in Washington with the latest on that story.
CHETRY: And it's all going to come out tonight. Cleveland bracing for the return of LeBron James. It will be his first time back since he decided to, quote, "take his talents to South Beach. So can LeBron handle the heat and will the fans behave? We're live in Cleveland with a preview.
ROBERTS: Up first this Thursday morning, new developments in the search for one of the most wanted man in the world right now. Reports say British police know where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is hiding but they haven't arrested him. He is wanted for sex crimes in Sweden and he's been called a traitor and a terrorist by critics in the United States for releasing diplomatic secrets for all the world to see.
Atika Shubert is following the search for Julian Assange. She's live in London for us this morning. What do we know, Atika?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, no one is quite sure where he is. His lawyer says, however, that security services in NATO countries know exactly where he is. The British police we have called, they won't give any official confirmation, but local media reports are quoting police sources as saying he's somewhere in the southeast of England and that they haven't arrested him because there is a procedural problem with the arrest warrant that was issued by Sweden. So what we did is we called Sweden's police and asked them what they know about this. And we got this statement from the national criminal police there. Tommy Kangasvieri said, "All we have heard is what has been reported in the media that he's supposed to be in the U.K., but we have no information at all of his whereabouts."
We also called the Swedish prosecutor's office to ask her, to ask the prosecutor there, if there was any problem with the warrants that have been issued. She said, "This is completely news to me." She also said that everything in Assange's case has so far been completely handled according to Swedish law. So it seems a lot of conflicting information out there on what his legal status is right now, John.
ROBERTS: Yes. At the same time, Atika, WikiLeaks running into some trouble staying up on the web. They got booted off of Amazon.com's computer servers which were hosting him. What's the story behind that?
SHUBERT: That's right. Well, basically, this seems to be -- WikiLeaks has come under repeated attack by hackers and otherwise they have put out a lot of Twitter postings saying they come under a massive distributed denial of service attack. And it has caused some minor glitches in their system. And that's actually why they transferred to the Amazon servers. It has a lot more space for them to operate on. But when Senator Lieberman started calling for a boycott of Amazon as a result of them hosting WikiLeaks, Amazon stopped, it seems, having WikiLeaks on its server.
Now, it's not clear exactly why Amazon decided to take that position. But WikiLeaks clearly feels that it's been pressured -- Amazon has been pressured to make that position. And WikiLeaks in its Twitter postings have said that it has been ousted by Amazon. And in fact last night, put out a Twitter message saying that if Amazon are so uncomfortable with the First Amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books. So clearly, WikiLeaks lashing out at Amazon.
ROBERTS: The intricacies of a battle in cyberspace. Atika Shubert for us this morning. Thanks, Atika.
The State Department on full damage control right now. And at the White House, the Obama administration appointed yet another czar, a career counterterrorism official to oversee the government's efforts to fix security gaps. But the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee says the government has been sitting on its hands for months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETE HOEKSTRA (R), MICHIGAN: I still don't sense an urgency to fix the problem. I think that there are still other government databases that are out there that have similar types of materials that may be vulnerable to penetration or vulnerable to being downloaded by employees or by other individuals or organizations in a way that would damage American interest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And coming up at 6:40 this morning, Congressman Peter Hoekstra will join us. He was in on a high-level briefly on the response to WikiLeaks yesterday, and he wasn't exactly impressed by what's going on.
CHETRY: Four minutes past the hour now. And new developments overnight in the shooting death of a famous Hollywood publicist, Ronni Chasen. You may remember she was gunned down last month on Beverly Hills while driving home from a movie premiere. Well, police now say that a person of interest in the case just committed suicide as investigators were questioning him in connection with her death. CNN's Kareen Wynter is following developments. She's up early for us in Hollywood this morning.
What is the latest? What are police saying this morning?
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kiran. Good morning. This truly has been a stunning development in the Ronni Chasen murder mystery.
Well, police, they were releasing very, very little details. But one of the new details to come out this morning regarding that man who turned the gun on himself. He was in his early 40s. A black male who residents say resided here at this apartment complex. It's located right in the heart of Hollywood, that he lived there on and off. But here's what we know went down yesterday with Beverly Hills police. They're the ones who, by the way, Kiran, are handling the Chasen case.
When they arrived at this apartment complex, and as you mentioned off the top, they're not calling this man a suspect. They say he was just a person of interest, someone they were looking to question. But detectives did, Kiran, they did have a search warrant with them. They wouldn't elaborate on the specifics. But when they approached this man, that's when they say he pulled a gun out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our detectives were here on a follow-up. And this person was a person of interest from the Chasen incident. And that's all we have at this point as the captain mentioned. This person shot himself. It was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Pronounced dead later on. And the investigation is ongoing at this time. We've got nothing further to disclose about the investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: And one thing, Kiran, officials were clear to highlight is that this is a case that is far from over. Meaning there could be another person, perhaps persons out there, that they're looking for who may be connected to Chasen's killing -- Kiran. CHETRY: It's also interesting one of the retired sheriffs in the case said that just the nature of the gunshot wound seemed that it was professional. Or at least to him that it was three shots right to the chest and then two in the shoulder. Meanwhile, obviously people are trying to find out more details on that from the autopsy report which was expected to be released earlier this week and now it's on a security hold. Do we know more about when that may be made public?
WYNTER: That's right. We've been looking out for it. We were initially told perhaps Monday, it's now Thursday. It could be released perhaps today, perhaps any day now. But it could, of course, provide so many clues here for police who, by the way, up to this point, they've been telling the press, we don't have any suspects. We don't even have a motive here. We don't know if it was a random killing, perhaps road rage. So that autopsy report is going to provide so many clues.
And also, when that autopsy report comes back on the man who killed himself, you know, one of the bullets that was used was from a 0.9 millimeter handgun in the Chasen case. In fact, one of those bullets was a hollow-point bullet. It causes extensive tissue damage when it enters the body. So was that perhaps the same type of weapon that this man used? We don't know. So still a lot to be revealed in this case -- Kiran.
CHETRY: But you're right, a stunning development this morning in this mystery right now in Beverly Hills. Thanks so much. Kareen Wynter for us this morning.
ROBERTS: Right now, in western Pennsylvania, the rivers keep rising and record flooding is driving people from their homes. A state of emergency is in effect for the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh. These are new pictures that we got overnight from our affiliate there. Three inches of rain fell yesterday. This is what it looks like on the ground. Homes under water. Roads impassable. The Ohio River expected to crest at 27 feet this morning. That is two feet above flood stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were checking every two hours in the back where the creek is, and it kept coming up. So at 2:30, 3:00, my dad said we got to get out of here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 3:00 in the morning?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Then at 10 to 4:00, he said we're getting out now. He took the cars out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The (INAUDIBLE) backs up. There's three ponds here. We're on the middle pond. And right now, we're all connected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A lot of people in western Pennsylvania holding their breath this morning to see what unfolds. Our Reynolds Wolf is in the extreme weather center in Atlanta this morning with a check on all of that and the rest of the nation's weather.
Good morning, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. At this point, we really could use some good news out of parts of Pittsburgh and parts of Pennsylvania. We do have some to offer for you, although we do have some big issues obviously on the Ohio Rivers. We go to the maps.
We have some better situations along parts of the Allegheny, the Clarion and the Monongahela River. They're expected to slowly begin to recede. They're probably not going to reach the original forecasted height. But however, they should still at the same time be above flood stage.
You're seeing Pittsburgh now. What we're seeing in terms of precipitation, there are some slight snowfall. But when you go a little bit farther to the north of Pittsburgh where they have the flooding situations, we're talking about something very different altogether. We're talking about some heavy snowfall. In fact, Buffalo is one of those locations that could get over a foot of snow between now and midday on Friday.
Now one of the reasons why we're seeing this, of course, is because that prevailing wind out of the west and northwest, you're going to have heavy snow not only in Buffalo, but also Erie back towards Syracuse. Also parts of northern Michigan. And also in parts of the Midwest, we could see a little bit of some rain, sleet, snow. Perhaps even some icing in portions of Missouri and then back into parts of Illinois. The reason for the big weather maker, of course, is this area of low pressure that we see that's chugging through the center of the U.S. Heavy snows still back in the northern Rockies and into the cascades and the Sierra Nevada.
High temperatures for the day will be pretty comfortable as we wrap things up. Parts of the eastern seaboard, 50 degrees in Rowling. Not bad. And 66 in Tampa. Forty-three in New York by the afternoon, 53 in Denver, 76 in Phoenix, and 71 in Los Angeles.
Certainly those rough images that you see out of Pittsburgh, looks like things again are going to be a little shaky over the next hour or so. But the river levels should remain below the forecast. So that is certainly the best news of all, guys.
CHETRY: Yes, tough out there. And we're hoping to get some pictures a little bit later as well of the damage in New York, New Jersey area last night. Long Island saw 60-mile-per-hour winds in New York City, 40-mile-per-hour winds. And there was a lot of damage. This morning, they're still trying to get power on for a lot of people.
WOLF: Very rough, no questions. Millions without power. In fact, it's very similar to the situation that we had in parts of the southeast including here in Atlanta, which we saw the widespread damage yesterday which people are still cleaning up as we speak.
CHETRY: Yes, it was very odd, that weather. It felt more like a spring storm.
WOLF: Indeed.
CHETRY: Not the first meteorological, they have winter, right? Yesterday.
WOLF: No question.
CHETRY: Thanks, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet, guys.
CHETRY: Well, Wall Street opens this morning after having its best day in three months. The Dow closed up nearly 250 points. The Nasdaq up 51 points. Our Christine Romans joins us now with more on the rally. "Minding Your Business" this morning. Hey, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And watching to see whether it will continue today. You've got European stocks up. You also got futures up this morning. So we'll see if there can be day two, what was a pretty good rally yesterday.
Why the rally? Well, there was a report from a private payroll company that showed private payroll growth, pretty solid payroll growth of 93,000 and small business hiring as well. So that was something that really got people excited. If small businesses are hiring, and we're going to start showing some private sector jobs growth, how many times have you heard me talk about that, that will be something that will be good for the economy.
Also car sales really, really good. GM car sales up 11 percent. Ford car sales, over in Europe 20 percent. So something is happening out there with the consumer. Something is happening out there with a little bit of hiring. Also there was some relief, if you will, about China. China has been the engine of the global recovery. China had some strong manufacturing numbers. There's a lot of concerns about inflation, about China maybe overheating, about China maybe having what they call a hard landing.
But when they saw the economic data out of China, it really, coupled with the U.S. data, make people feel like they could put concerns about Europe's debt crisis on the backburner and get a little bit excited about things. With the jobs report on Friday, we'll see if this private sector jobs number is matched in the U.S. jobs number and also there's some housing data today. So we'll keep watching all of this for you.
ROBERTS: Amazing how the world has shifted though. We're looking to China for signs of good economic --
ROMANS: Yes. And that will continue.
ROBERTS: You bet. Christine, thanks. CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.
ROBERTS: Still to come, can he handle the heat, or more to the point, can he handle the Cavs? LeBron James ready to take the brunt of 50 years of Cleveland's sports frustration as he comes back to the city for the first time in a Miami uniform.
CHETRY: And he scores a touchdown, takes a knee, points to the heavens and then a high school running back gets flagged for excessive celebration.
ROBERTS: Oh, come on.
CHETRY: Now, everyone wants to know, what, why? The video and the controversy all going viral this morning.
Thirteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifty -- fifteen minutes past the hour. I'm fast- forwarding a little bit here on this Thursday morning.
It's not going to be a happy homecoming for the King. Tonight is the night that LeBron James comes back to Cleveland, and it's Miami's first game there since he ripped the heart out of fans, of course, by leaving.
ROBERTS: Left them crying.
CHETRY: Oh, yes. They watched him play as a kid in -- for seven years for the Cavs, and then he left.
ROBERTS: Yes. There's going to be extra security on handle -- on hand tonight to handle the 20,000 people who are ready to vent.
Our Carol Costello has gone back home for us this morning. She's in Ohio. She's live in Cleveland.
Good morning, Carol. What are we expecting?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's going to get loud here. I'm at the Q. The Cavaliers will play here on 8:00 P.M. tonight and, John and Kiran, don't you wish you had seats right there? It would cost you about $5,000 right now. That's how much tickets are going for, if you're brave enough to scalp them, and it's not -- I'm not -- I'm not saying that you should.
LeBron James himself and the Heat arrived last night, actually early this morning, around 3:00 A.M. by plane from Detroit where they just annihilated the Pistons. And then LeBron went into a hotel at an undisclosed location for security reasons.
Yes, security will be tight inside and outside the arena. Fans are prohibited from wearing profane T-shirts. Alcohol at -- at the queue will be poured into glasses. There will be no plastic bottles, prevent fans from throwing the bottles on to the floor.
As for LeBron James, he says it will be an emotional homecoming. I think pretty much everyone in Cleveland will be emotional tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's responsible for almost half of the Heat's points.
COSTELLO (voice-over): LeBron James, used to unconditional love from fans, will experience something quite different tonight. Yes, he did see Cleveland fans burning his jersey after he ostentatiously announced on national television that he was leaving for Miami, but he hasn't yet experienced the anger live and in person.
Keith Dambrot coached James at his Akron, Ohio high school.
KEITH DAMBROT, JAMES' HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL COACH: I mean, he's never been booed in Cleveland, and he's never really been booed, hardly anywhere or anyplace in his whole life. So, again, I think he understands the business side of this and he understands that there's some animosity towards him.
COSTELLO: Keith Robinson, a life-long Cavs fan, will be sure James hears loud and clear. He'll be at tonight's game.
COSTELLO (on camera): Do you feel it's necessary for the fans to show something toward LeBron?
KEITH ROBINSON, LIFE-LONG CAVALIERS SEASON TICKET HOLDER: No. Hatred. (INAUDIBLE) --
COSTELLO: Really, hatred?
ROBINSON: You know, just like -- how about dislike? A little softer --
COSTELLO: Because hatred's a strong word.
ROBINSON: Yes. I will say dislike. I don't hate him, but I don't like him.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Robinson plans to boo James, but he and others fear some fans, a few, could try to hurt James physically, especially if he incites the crowd with his signature puff of smoke as he enters the game.
You could hear the concern as the Cavs practice Wednesday.
MO WILLIAMS, CAVALIERS POINT GUARD: The heckling, you know, it's part of the game. When we go on the road, we get it. Obviously, you know, this is going to be a little bit worse. I get that also. But once we get talking about harming people and their family and their well-being, I think that's kind of taking it a little too far.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready for the return of LeBron James? The two-time NBA MVP will bring his talents back to the north coast --
COSTELLO: On Cleveland's ESPN radio, they were urging fans not to embarrass the city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully, we don't see, you know, stupidity on some of the fans' parts, of throwing things or running out onto the --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going to the ATM today and tomorrow to put enough bail money in your pocket in case you -- you get incarcerated.
COSTELLO: Most fans will not be that stupid, but they will vent. Robinson only wishes he could do it face-to-face.
ROBINSON: What I would say to him is you're not the guy I thought you were.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: That's how so many people feel here in Cleveland.
As I said, LeBron James and the Heat played in Detroit. They played against the Pistons last night and the Heat absolutely annihilated the Pistons. But, let's face it, the Pistons aren't a great basketball team this year.
So it should be an exciting game here at the Q and, John and Kiran, fans are trying to determine exactly how they should show their displeasure towards LeBron James. I mean, should they just stand up and boo and maybe yell out a couple of profanities? Or should the entire crowd just stand up, turn their backs and, like, greet him with silence. I don't really think that'll happen, but that was one idea.
ROBERTS: It sounds like it's much more than a game there in Cleveland this morning, though.
COSTELLO: Much more than a game. It's very emotional. LeBron James was a hero here, and he sort of -- he symbolized what was good about Cleveland. And the way he left was so un-Cleveland like, so disrespectful, but --
CHETRY: The hour-long press conference to announce he was --
COSTELLO: -- Cleveland --
CHETRY: Yes, see you. It's going to take me an hour of torture to let you guys know I'm out of here.
COSTELLO: Yes. Exactly.
CHETRY: The other interesting thing, though, is they want their team to win. Clearly, that would be the biggest payback and they could distract their own team as well if everybody is just going crazy over LeBron.
COSTELLO: Well, we talked to a couple Cavaliers players and they're really psyched for this game, and that may feed their enthusiasm to win. So it might work the opposite way. So, if you're a Cavs fan, you're thinking positively, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Well, no question about it, this time tomorrow morning, we're going to have an interesting story to tell.
Carol, thanks.
CHETRY: Have fun.
COSTELLO: Sure.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, Auburn quarterback and Heisman Trophy favorite Cam Newton getting the all-clear from the NCAA. Officials say that Newton's father broke the rules by trying to get another school to pay for his son's services, but they determined that Cam didn't know anything about it.
Newton is now eligible to play Saturday, when this top-ranked team meets South Carolina in the SEC title game.
ROBERTS: And -- and have you seen this? It's awfully tame by NFL standards, but a Washington State high school player gets flagged for this touchdown routine, simply kneeling, quickly pointing to the heavens. But the referee called it excessive celebration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONNIE HASTIE, TURNWATER HIGH SCHOOL RUNNING BACK: And I asked him, you know, and he's like I was watching my conduct (ph). You can't draw attention to yourself. I do that to give glory to my Heavenly Father, Jesus. Something I just -- I feel like He gives me the strength. He's the one who gives me these abilities I do in the first place.
I've done that every time I've gotten on the end zone and nothing's -- no one's ever said anything about it. So it's just something I've done as tradition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You can bet this one's going to be talked about a lot in the coming days. League officials say they're aware of the religious overtones, but the rules says players must give up the ball immediately after the play.
Hastie scored 17 touchdowns this season. If he does it again this weekend, he says he's going to kneel down and point from the sidelines, not the end zone.
CHETRY: He doesn't want to get his team in trouble, get them a penalty.
ROBERTS: This is going to be a point of controversy.
CHETRY: Yes. Excessive celebration, I mean, like three seconds. But, rules are rules.
Eminem's comeback is complete, the rapper leading the pack in Grammy nominations. We'll tell you who he's up against.
ROBERTS: And a Christmas classic about to light up the stage. We'll tell you what's next for the favorite film "A Christmas Story."
It's 22 minutes after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I triple dog dare you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Schwartz created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the throat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. "Morning Talker" time, these are the stories that got us chatting in the newsroom this morning.
Eminem wasn't kidding when he called his new album "Recovery." He got nominated for 10 Grammy nominations last night. That's more than any other artist. It includes album of the year, best rap album and song of the year for "Love the Way You Lie" featuring Rihanna.
Eminem's competitions include Bruno Mars, who nabbed seven nominations, Lady Gaga, Lady Antebellum six each, including album of the year nods. And the Academy also honored one of the year's most profane song, Cee Lo' "Bleep you" was nominated for both record and song of the year.
ROBERTS: And it's going to be an interesting one to say.
It's the perfect gift for anybody who wants wash board abs. The Situation from "Jersey Shore" programs a new workout video. You should know, though, that The Situation didn't just wake up with those abs. It took multiple takes to get them. Check out this blooper reel from his new DVD.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE "THE SITUATION" SORRENTINO, ACTOR, "JERSEY SHORE": It's the Abbenator (ph) himself. You know -- you know, like I said, and you put them in, so to speak, and we can re-do that right now.
(INAUDIBLE) butter? Come on. I'll just call you butter or brother?
Double on -- ha!
It is the Abbenator (ph) himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: I love it when he calls himself the Abbenator (ph).
ROBERTS: The Abbenator (ph).
CHETRY: He has a separate workout video on how to perfect the gym tan laundry, The Daily -- The Daily Grind.
ROBERTS: Video on the English language would probably have been a good idea, too. We'll see.
CHETRY: Poor guy.
Well, this next YouTube video will put a smile on your face. This is Emma, a little French bulldog puppy engaged in what can only be described as a tough battle with a door stop. Check it out.
ROBERTS: That's the great thing about being a dog. It's the small things that amuse you for hours end.
CHETRY: I know. Well, that puppy is so cute.
ROBERTS: And a Christmastime favorite from the 1980s, about to get the music of theater treatment. Peter Billingsley, you remember, he played Ralphie Parker in the classic "Christmas Story", well, he's producing "A Christmas Story, the Musical". The show opened last night in Seattle. Billingsley says the story has always meant a lot to him personally and he hopes someday to bring the play to more theaters, perhaps even the great (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Nice. One of the best Christmas movies ever.
All right. We'll do top stories coming up in just two minutes, including the Internet firm that may just be the fastest-growing company in history. Groupon, have you bought one yet? Have you used Groupon? Well, don't blink, because Google may be on the verge of buying them out for billions.
ROBERTS: Wow. And extending the Bush-era tax cuts, for everyone or just the middle class? Democrats and Republicans fighting again and your take-home pay is hanging in the balance, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Crossing the half hour right now -- a look at your top stories.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is in Britain, and according to published reports, police know where he is. Assange is on the international most wanted list, but so far, police have not acted on the Swedish warrant for his arrest for alleged sex crimes.
ROBERTS: President Obama decided that he won't allow any new drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for the next seven years. An oil exploration in the Arctic will proceed with utmost caution. The White House is saying these are the lessons learned from the BP oil spill.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is not pleased with the decision, saying it will cost his state and the United States more jobs.
CHETRY: Three days and counting, Verizon Wireless getting ready for the big launch of its new 4G network. It's going to happen on Sunday. The company claims it will be 10 times faster than the 3G network; 4G will debut in 38 major markets nationwide and more than 60 commercial airports. Verizon chief tech officer says the customers will feel like a 14-hour flight to Tokyo just reduced to just 80 minutes.
ROBERTS: And the Internet coupon firm Groupon maybe the fastest growing company in history. Two years after its launch, Groupon's revenues from 2010 are expected to a half a billon dollars. That would be a record. And now, reports are circulating that Google may be offering as much as $6 billion to buy the company.
CHETRY: Let's talk about your paycheck now and just how much of it will be going to Uncle Sam in 2011. House Democrats are prepared to call for a vote today to extend the Bush era tax cuts for middle class Americans only.
Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar joins us on the phone this morning with more on what's going on there in Congress as it relates to tax cuts.
Hey, Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, Kiran.
Well, even the Democrats and Republicans are saying they're going to work together. They say that they've made strides after that meeting at the White House this week on this issue of tax cuts. And as partisan negotiations are just about getting under way here to extend the tax era tax cuts, the House is going to go ahead, Democrats leading the charge here to have a vote to extend these tax cuts just for the middle class and lower -- extending tax cuts for people who make $250,000 per year and less.
And so, the question is, why are they going ahead and doing this while negotiations are still taking place before there is an agreement? We caught up with Speaker Pelosi yesterday and she told our producer Evan Glass, this is to show our position very clearly that we support tax cuts for the middle class. So, even if the end, it doesn't shake out like this, it's the Speaker Pelosi and Democrats in the House making a point.
And so, you're seeing this discord on full display here. Republicans want tax cuts for all Americans, including for the wealthy, extended. Many Democrats don't want to extend them for the wealthy.
And then what else you have is in the Senate, Republicans who said they're blocking legislative action on any issue, whether it's "don't ask, don't tell" or any other non-economic issue, until there's a deal worked out on how to extend these tax cuts and also to fund the federal government, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. And, you know, normally very neat hallways on the Capitol looking a little different these days, more like a college dorm because, of course, it's moving day. What's going on?
KEILAR: Yes, life in a cube. I suppose that is not what you would expect from members of Congress, right? That's may be something you'd see on the office.
Well, yesterday was the deadline for defeated members to move their staffs out of their offices. And in the cubicles, among other places, so these offices can be readied for the incoming members of Congress. And there are dozens of them.
So, now, it's almost kind of a demoralizing sight. You have a lot of staffers who are now working off of banquet tables; some in the cafeteria of one of the Capitol Hill office buildings. They are in empty hearing rooms. This is really the cold reality of losing your seat or leaving Congress this month before things wrap up.
CHETRY: Yikes! All right. Brianna Keilar for this morning -- thanks.
ROBERTS: Wow. Thanks. Now, get up.
The White House is getting its holiday game face on. First Lady Michelle Obama showed off this year's holiday decor yesterday. It includes 19 Christmas trees in virtually every corner of the White House. A 350-pound gingerbread house covered in chocolate with a replica of Bo, the first dog, right there out front. It took White House chefs an entire month to create the gingerbread house.
This year's display, we should tell you, is more modest than most. The theme is simple gifts. The White House expects 100,000 visitors this holiday season.
CHETRY: Well, still to come, parts of Pennsylvania are still under a state of emergency this morning. Massive flooding just outside of Pittsburgh. Reynolds Wolf has the latest storm forecast -- coming up in 10 minutes.
ROBERTS: And why didn't we stop the leak? Congressman Peter Hoekstra will join us. He was briefed on the WikiLeaks situation yesterday and says the White House should have done something seven or eight months ago.
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ROBERTS: Thirty-nine minutes after the hour.
The White House facing criticism this morning for not moving fast enough to stop the WikiLeaks debacle and to prevent a young Army private from allegedly walking off with some potentially damaging diplomatic secrets.
Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra from Michigan is the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee. He was in on a high-level briefing on the WikiLeaks situation yesterday. And he joins from us Washington this morning.
Congressman Hoekstra, what was the take-away from that briefing?
REP. PETER HOEKSTRA (R), MICHIGAN: Well, my take-away was I'm not sure that we are moving fast enough to address the problems. I mean, I think we were aware that we've lost all of this data and this information, perhaps as far back as May of this year. And some of the steps are just now being implemented that would make sure that wouldn't happen again.
I think the other thing that I didn't see yesterday, I didn't see a passion from the people at the Department of State who were -- who should have been furious that this database at the Department of Defense has been compromised and that, therefore, they've lost -- potentially lost all of these documents to this private first class and then to WikiLeaks and then to "The New York Times" and other places.
I didn't walk way from there feeling really confident that there was a sense of urgency to fix the problem and to make sure that it would never happen again.
ROBERTS: Well, the White House has appointed a czar to try to figure out where the security gaps are in the administration's computer system. Russell Travers is the deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center. But his appointment has raised a lot of questions as to why, as you say, this wasn't done maybe seven or eight months ago. And some people sort of suggested it's like appointing somebody to look after the barn door after all the horses are gone?
HOEKSTRA: Well, you know, this should have happened years ago, right after 9/11. Then we had the 9/11 Commission and other inquiries into what happened on 9/11 and everybody said information sharing is a problem, having specific silos of information that prohibits the information going from agency to agency is a problem.
You know, back when we did the intelligence reform bill, you know, we appointed the director of national intelligence to take a look at information-sharing. Databases were created. They were put together, but they were done, from my perspective, it was sloppy. It was lazy.
This big database called SIPRNet should never have been created. We should never have put all of that kind of -- you know, that range, that diversification on one database. And we should never have made that database available.
Think about it, 500,000 people. You know, if you're telling 500,000 people about a meeting with General Petraeus and the president of Yemen, that's no longer a secret.
ROBERTS: Yes. But it raises the question, you know, we wanted to have open lines of communication between all of the agencies post- 9/11. But how does -- it's alleged that this fellow, this Private Bradley Manning, who was stationed in a remote area of Iraq was the source for at least some of these leaks. It raises the question, OK, you've got this massive database, you've got all of this intelligence sharing, which were probably be a good thing if you want government coordination -- but how was it accessible to somebody like him?
HOEKSTRA: Well, that's exactly the problem. It's a problem with system design. You want to get the information to the people that can use it and that it will enable them to do their job better. So, you have to -- you have to segregate the data and then create the passwords and the funnels to get the information to the right place.
What the government did in this case, is they just said, we'll dump -- or we'll dump a lot of database into one place. We'll get -- we'll let a lot of people have access into it. Then if Congress asks us, are you doing information sharing, they can come and say, yes, we are.
ROBERTS: Let me ask you about some of the substance of this. In particular, this directive that apparently came from the State Department for its diplomats to collect information on foreign dignitaries. It's been likened to spying. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, said if it's found that, in fact, the secretary of state did direct her diplomats to do that, that she should resign.
What do you think about that statement?
HOEKSTRA: Well, I think, you know, clearly everybody has a role. There is a role for spies. Diplomats should not be spies. It would potentially compromise their role as being effective diplomats.
You know, I've gone on a lot of congressional delegation trips where we've met with heads of state.
ROBERTS: Sure.
HOEKSTRA: We should not be given the role of spying and we have not been.
ROBERTS: But, again, Congressman, if the secretary of state did direct her diplomats to do that, should she resign?
HOEKSTRA: Well, I'm not sure we'd go as far as resigning. But we need to take a look at it and see whether what we have asked the department -- or, you know, perhaps an ambassador to do, whether we've crossed that line and whether we need to step back. And whether -- but you do bring up a very interesting point. Throughout this whole process, it appears that no one has been held accountable either for the leaks, creating the database.
And in, you know, the case that you're now bringing up, who directed, and should the secretary of state be held accountability. We do need accountability throughout this process.
ROBERTS: And in this fellow Assange, do you believe he's guilty of espionage?
HOEKSTRA: I don't think -- I don't think that our legal system, our framework of laws allows us to go after him and get him for espionage.
ROBERTS: Really?
HOEKSTRA: Now, we can argue about whether that's right or wrong, but I don't think our current legal framework allows us to do that.
ROBERTS: An interesting point.
Congressman Peter Hoekstra, thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate it.
HOEKSTRA: Hey, great. Thank you.
ROBERTS: All right. Reynolds Wolf has got the latest forecast right after the break. Stay with us.
Forty-five minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: It's 48 minutes past the hour right now. We want to get a check of this morning's headlines and show a little bit of video of what a mess it was yesterday. Reynolds Wolf is in the Extreme Weather Center. The New York and New Jersey tri-state area pounded yesterday by that storm.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Very quick moving storm just came through brought over 2 inches of rainfall and, of course, widespread power outages. Let's go right to the video to give you an idea of just what happened and what people are going to be dealing with as the sun comes up. A lot of power outages. People waking up. Things are greatly inconvenience for them. No question about it.
Thankfully, there were no fatalities with the system. No sign of tornadoes yet, but straight-line winds caused all kinds of damage to roofs, to power lines, to trees and, again, the cleanup is getting under way. But farther out to the west, the situation is going to be not to have -- in terms of wind damage, but it's going to be flooding in parts of Pittsburgh. Also, when it comes to wind, though, take a look at this, the wind could cause a few delays in the airport today.
In fact, all your major airports up in New York could be delayed for about an hour. Seattle, beside of the continent, low clouds to keep you delayed about 30 minutes to 60 minutes this morning. Again, the big story we have is back towards Pittsburgh this morning, and the situation we have there, of course, the flooding. We still have the flood warnings in effect for Pittsburgh. Some of the rivers are probably not going to reach the high levels that we anticipated, but still above flood stage, and over the next several hours, we're going to see waters beginning to scale back.
One of the things won't be scaling back but rather increasing is going to be the snowfall. And no, not in Pittsburgh, but farther to the north in Erie, and then, back over towards Buffalo. By the time we get to Saturday on midday or rather Friday on midday, we could see up to a foot of snowfall and even more of that falling back out towards the west. The reason why is area of low pressure, and of course, the prevailing wind coming in from the Midwest that going to give you that lake-effect snow action.
Temperatures today, 35 in Chicago, 43 in New York, here in the 30s currently, 53 your high in Atlanta, 66 in Tampa, back over to Salt Lake City, 43 degrees, and 60 in San Francisco, 76 in Phoenix, 44 in Seattle with those low clouds. There's a quick snapshot in your forecast. We're going to talk more about the travel weather and what you can anticipate with the sneak peek into the weekend. That's coming up after the top of the hour.
ROBERTS: Good to you. Looking forward to that, but we are sick of the wind here in New York City.
WOLF: No question.
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) last seven months or so.
CHETRY: Not as bad as yesterday, 60-mile-an-hour winds.
ROBERTS: No, but we've had a bunch, haven't we? All these more researches could blow it in. I wonder what the winter is going to be like?
Top stories just minutes away now, including the worldwide search for the man behind WikiLeaks that may be over this morning. An international police alert out for him, so why isn't he under arrest?
CHETRY: And some good news about your money. The Dow posting its biggest gain in three months. Why the rally and will it continue? Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
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ROBERTS: It's coming up now at 54 minutes after the hour. The CNN documentary "LOSING LENNON" premieres this weekend. Just ahead of the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's murder. That's next Wednesday. We talked to people who witnessed the tragic events of December 8th, 1980, some of whom have never spoken publicly about the experience before.
This morning, the final moments of John Lennon's life as he arrived at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, not in an ambulance but in a police squad car. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two police officers came around the corner, one with the body over his shoulder and the other was yelling. He was holding him just like the fireman hold. And the other one yelled, gunshot wound, no vital signs.
ROBERTS (voice-over): Dr. Steven Lynn (ph) was the director of emergency services at Roosevelt Hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was lifeless. He had no pulse, no blood pressure, he was unresponsive.
ROBERTS: Lennon was wheeled into a trauma room. Lynn opened his chest and with Lennon's heart in his hand, tried to massage back a pulse. Doctors transfused massive amounts of blood, but as fast as it went in, it leaked right back out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After trying for about 10, 15, 20 minutes, it was clear that nothing could be done, and John Lennon was pronounced dead.
ROBERTS: 11:10 p.m., Dr. Lynn knew what had to be done next. The devastating task of telling Yoko Ono that John was gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was sitting in a little room right off the E.R
ROBERTS: Hospital administrator, Sandra Schoen (ph) was with Ono. She has never spoken about that night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was in shock, and she was certainly anticipatory because, at that point, she was still expecting that John could be saved, I'm sure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have probably said something like, I have very bad news, in spite of all of our efforts to save your husband, we were unable to, and he died.
ROBERTS: Ono was devastated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was literally lying on the concrete floor of our emergency room department hitting her head against the wall. I put my hands behind her head fearful that she was going to hurt herself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (on-camera): Now, I talked to Dr. Lynn, I said, OK, this is 1980. Obviously, medicine was good in 1980, but in 2010 at the same thing were to happen, with medical advances, would you have been able to save him. He said the degree of his injuries were so extensive that nothing could have possibly saved him.
CHETRY: I was wondering the same thing. You know, because yesterday, you had talked about how they decided they couldn't get him there in time for an ambulance. So, they decided to put him in a squad car and drive as quickly as possible. Could that have made any difference or it didn't matter how quickly he got there?
ROBERTS: Dr. Lynn told me that the one bullet, because Mark David Chapman was using hollow-point bullets, the one bullet that went through creased his heart, basically, obliterated every major vessel coming out of his heart. Literally, it took the aorta and disintegrated it. And so, there was just no way to put him back together again. They just didn't have anything.
So, regardless of how quickly that they got him there, regardless of the technology that they might have had been or even now, when you literally remove all of the major blood vessels coming out of the heart, there's just nothing you can do.
CHETRY: It's amazing. It's amazing that they described Yoko Ono and how she responded and how difficult the doctors have to go through that everyday, but to tell Yoko Ono that John Lennon wasn't going to make is just unimaginable.
ROBERTS: Yes, you could imagine, because they just come back from the recording studio. They had a great night working on her song "Walking On Thin Ice." They were just walking back home, and then the world changed in a heartbeat.
CHETRY: Sure did. The documentary, "Losing Lennon: Countdown to Murder" premieres this weekend. It's Saturday and Sunday night, 8:00 eastern, right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: And tomorrow, we're going to hear from Julian Lennon on the program, so you make sure you join us then.
CHETRY: We'll look forward to it/
Meanwhile, we're going to take a quick break. Top stories coming up.
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