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American Morning
No New Taxes: Obama, GOP Close to a Deal; Fed Chief Says Third Stimulus Possible; Iran's Nuclear Breakthrough; Tiger Losing His Bite?; Facebook Facelift; Space Travel's First Hub
Aired December 06, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Monday to you. Glad you're with us on this December 6th on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry. Welcome, T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Yes, thank you. I'm a little thrown off. New digs, things are a little different, new music. Very nice.
CHETRY: Nice and pleasing.
HOLMES: Anything else I need to know about this morning?
CHETRY: You'll find out through the course of the three hours.
HOLMES: All right. Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for John Roberts, of course. A lot of people are starting their Monday going back to their workweek. You're off this weekend. Well, your senators were not. They were working. It was important because they were dealing with those Bush-era tax cuts. And you know what came out of that session this weekend? Not much.
So no new taxes. That's supposed to be the word. And right now, they're working on a compromise still. Behind closed doors, White House and Republicans, they're possibly ready to cut a deal here on extending those tax cuts even for the richest of Americans. That means the president could be on the brink of breaking one of his biggest campaign promises. But he is going to get something in exchange for it possibly. We'll explain that throughout the morning.
CHETRY: Well, it might be the most damaging Wiki-leak of them all. A secret list of sites around the world crucial to U.S. security exposed online for terrorists to see. The international fugitive behind it all, Julian Assange, still hiding out. But a deal for asylum could be in the works. We're going to find out where he could end up next.
HOLMES: Also this morning, Facebook could be getting a facelift. The world's most popular social network is updating your profile page for you and all of the 500 million users. But with every little change, there's some security concerns out there. We'll tell you exactly what you need to know about.
CHETRY: Up first, trying to cut a deal with your paycheck on the line. They're getting a bit closer to a compromise on Capitol Hill this morning on extending the Bush-era tax cuts. HOLMES: All of our taxes are on the line here. We're talking about trillions of dollars on the line here, as well. And as you know, the clock is ticking. We've got about 25 days until the end of the year. If something is not done, all of us are going to see a tax hike.
Ed Henry is on the job for us live this morning at the White House. Ed, good morning. Always good to see you, buddy. That was quite a show that took place over the weekend with senators. That was kind of a foregone conclusion what was going to happen. And here we are on Monday after they worked on Saturday in the same place that we were.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: T.J., I think you put it best. It was a show. I mean, these were symbolic votes in the Senate on Saturday. Really didn't go anywhere. And what it was is Democrats trying to get Republicans on record voting against only extending the tax cuts for the middle class. So Democrats can paint themselves as supporting an extension of the middle class tax cuts and not wanting the tax cuts for the rich to be extended. But it was symbolic because the Democrats simply did not have the 60 votes, the super majority to actually get that done. So where we're left here Monday morning is over the weekend there was sort of a flurry of activity here at the White House, the vice president's mansion. Democratic leaders huddling with the president, huddling with the vice president, what do we do next?
What's clear is what's going to happen next is Democrats are going to have to cave on that principle, basically, and let the Republicans extend the tax cuts for everyone, including the rich. And that is music to the ears of Republican leaders like Senator Mitch McConnell. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I think it's pretty clear now taxes are not going up on anybody in the middle of this recession. We're discussing how long we should maintain current tax rates. And there are other issues that many people feel are important to address. Obviously the president won't sign a permanent extension of the current tax rates. So we're going to have some kind of extension. I'd like one as long as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now the president will be in North Carolina today speaking at a community college. He's going to be talking about education but also the economy. A White House official put it this way to me. Quote, "The president will also renew his opposition to even a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts if it does not include an extension of benefits for the unemployed and extensions of other tax cuts that benefit middle-class families. Without them, taxes would still rise for 95 percent of Americans."
But the bottom line is despite that posturing, what the president is only really going to get out of this is maybe some other tax cuts like tuition tax credits and whatnot, and also extended benefits for the unemployed. That's important. A lot of people having those benefits run out here right before Christmas. But the president in the end is going to have to cave on a big principle, which is that he wanted that line in the sand, only extending tax cuts for those making under $250,000 a year. Now he's also going to have to do it for the rich, as well -- T.J., Kiran.
CHETRY: And the interesting thing is all of this boils down to money that the federal government does not have right now. I mean, when it comes to the tax cuts, but also when it comes to extending unemployment benefits for, you know, a record -- a record in the country --
HENRY: It does.
CHETRY: -- in the nation's history.
HENRY: I mean, you're right. I mean, both sides have been talking, especially going back to the midterm elections about cutting spending here in Washington, actually passing programs that are paid for. And instead, you know, the Republicans want to extend the tax cuts for the rich without really paying for that. That's going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars to the treasury. The Democrats want to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. They don't really have a way to pay for that or a way to pay for those extended unemployment benefits. But the bottom line is both parties are scared to tinker with either of those issues in the middle of this still dragging on recession -- T.J., Kiran.
HOLMES: All right. Ed, we appreciate you, buddy. So much for to come out of this. Thank you so much. Always good to see you.
CHETRY: Well, the country's top economist, Ben Bernanke, defending the Fed's decision to pump $600 billion into the economy and even warning that they may have to spend even more. Our Christine Romans joins us now. We're on the topic of spending. That's the theme so far.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And the Federal Reserve chairman, very rare for a Fed chief to talk to the public like this on "60 Minutes." He did once before in March 2009, but this is probably the most important economist in the world and he's explaining why it's appropriate for the fed to do what's been called QE-2, quantitative easing, getting -- injecting money, injecting liquidity into the economy, lowering interest rates, buying up treasury securities to lower interest rates, the Fed chief says to try to spur more hiring. He says that the Federal Reserve's $600 billion plan is to weaken the dollar, lower interest rates and should help increase bank lending. He says that the critics on all sides of the Fed here, the people who are critical of this Fed stimulus, they don't get it that the risk is too great of not acting. The recovery is too slow here. Unemployment is still too high, and that's a big concern for the Fed chief. This is what he said about the possibility of doing it even more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you anticipate a scenario in which you would commit to more than $600 billion? BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Oh, it's certainly possible. And again, it depends on the efficacy of the program. It depends on inflation, and finally it depends on how the economy looks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He said they've looked at it every which way that it's possible, but he doesn't see inflation as a problem from this particular effort to try to lower interest rates and get the economy moving again. And he's concerned, Kiran and T.J., he's concerned about the unemployment rate. We know Friday the economy just created 39,000 jobs in November, that simply wasn't enough. He says it could take four or five years to get back to where we were before this crisis began. And that's -- that's something that's really sobering for the Fed chief. And he said it in quite sobering terms.
HOLMES: Oh, we need to hear the truth sometimes. It hurts but we have to hear it. Appreciate you bringing it to us, as always. Christine Romans, we'll see you plenty throughout the morning.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.
New developments this morning on North Korean tensions. President Obama placing a call to China's president last night urging him to tell North Korea that, quote, "provocations are unacceptable." Also today, South Korea navy ships firing live rounds off of the Korean Peninsula. The South says it is a routine monthly drill, but the North says the South is trying to trigger more trouble.
HOLMES: Also, I want you to pay attention to the TV screen here. I'm going to show you some video here in just a second. And when you see, you're not going to believe that nobody was killed in this accident.
We're talking about a plane crash here. This happened in Utah. The plane actually crashed into two homes. It was a single-engine plane. It went down in the town of Roy as it was preparing to land at a nearby airport. Crashed into a power pole, tore the plane apart, knocked out power to 1,700 homes. People inside the homes were able to get out without getting hurt. Witnesses now tell us what you saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY COX, WITNESS: I looked right out my window as soon as it happened, and there was big blue and orange flashes that lit up the sky. And I came out of my house and it's foggy out here, but I could see 15 to 20-foot flames coming out of the top of the house just a few houses away. So I came down here and we witnessed the pilot being pulled from the curb, away from the wreckage. He was in really bad condition. I mean, it wasn't a pretty site.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty banged up, burnt on his hands and face, but he was actually coherent and remembered what his name was and what he was doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: You're hearing them describe the condition of the pilot. Was able to seemingly walk out of there, even though he was badly hurt. He had some burns. Investigators still trying to figure this whole thing out and what led to this crash.
CHETRY: Unbelievable.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: Also some heart-stopping video this morning. This was a dramatic rescue at a subway station. It happened in Madrid, Spain. There you see somebody just literally fall into the tracks, that they may have passed us. Take a look at the upper left part of the screen. The man loses his balance, takes a hard fall from the platform. We've been told he was actually drunk.
Well, an off-duty police officer saw this, came across from the other side of the tracks, and you can see both of them. He dragged him to safety. And there were passengers screaming and waving for the train to stop. The conductor clearly didn't see that because the train continued on, so the man was literally dragged to safety with only a second to spare.
HOLMES: And we never would abdicate you stealing a vehicle, but if you're going to steal one, steal one worth stealing. Don't steal a dump truck. That's what this kid did apparently and went on a joyride of sorts.
This was in Ohio. Police say the driver was actually 17 years old. It was a 52-mile chase. This was the dash cam you're actually seeing here.
CHETRY: Yes. It looks like he was reversing into the police car.
HOLMES: He was ramming everything he could ram in sight. A witness said he saw the truck coming down the road about 50 miles an hour in reverse. He thought it was some movie he was watching. The driver ended up ramming into a guardrail. The truck kind of went out on the spot there. The kid was arrested. Still, we don't understand why a dump truck is what he went to go with.
CHETRY: I can't imagine how much trouble he's in.
HOLMES: Seventeen years old.
CHETRY: Ramming a police car. Brilliant.
Well, winter is still 15 days away, technically. But this morning, parts of the Midwest are being hit with six inches of snow in and around South Bend, Indiana and into southern Michigan. The lake effect snows coating roads and causing delays at the South Bend airport.
HOLMES: All right. Nine minutes past the hour. Let's check out the morning headlines with Reynolds Wolf -- Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: What's up, guys. What's happening?
HOLMES: We were at CNN Saturday and Sunday morning.
WOLF: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: It's CNN Monday morning for us now. I've got a week here.
CHETRY: Well, we're glad you're both here.
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: Great to be here, guys. And guess what we're going to talk about today? You know, we were just talking moments ago about some of the snowfalls that we've seen in parts of the area and, of course, when winter begins.
Well, winter has officially begun for many people. They may have a foot of that winter on their front lawn later on today. Some of those places in the Great Lakes, we've seen plenty of snowfall there over the last week. More will become pretty much evident today.
Take a look at the maps. Let's go right to it. We're going to take it full and we're going to zoom in on the Great Lakes. We still have that wind that's coming in out of the north and the northwest and the effect is going to be some heavy snowfall. Again, as I mentioned, some places up to a foot off of the shores of Lake Michigan, off of Lake Erie, and into Ontario, as well. So just the east of Chicago, back in Lake Erie, even into Buffalo and Syracuse, you could see some heavy snowfall beginning to develop.
That wind that's going to bring in some of that lake-effect snowfall, the wind itself is going to continue to march its way to the south and that's going to bring a lot of cold air to the southeast and into parts of the mid-Atlantic states. Back out to the west, it will be warm in parts of the desert southwest. However, the mountains, still plenty of snowfall. Great time for skiers, no question about it.
In places like Salt Lake City, you're going to have few delays there with a high of 39 degrees, 51 in Denver as we wrap it up. Minneapolis with 16, your expected high, and along the avenue of the Americas today in New York if you're going for a stroll, 36 degrees and breezy. So bring the coats with you. You're definitely going to need them.
All right, guys, you're up to speed. Back to you.
HOLMES: All right.
CHETRY: Thanks, Reynolds.
HOLMES: Good to be back, buddy. Thanks so much.
WOLF: You bet.
HOLMES: Well, we've been hearing so much about WikiLeaks and those stolen cable that have been released. Well, now, some of the stuff that's coming out is proving to be downright dangerous. Essentially telling terrorists where they need to hit us. Coming up, we'll tell you about the latest leaked cables and how they pose a very real security threat.
CHETRY: Also, Iran's big nuclear breakthrough. The claim that they've been able to enrich uranium and what that could mean for talks set to start today.
HOLMES: Also, are you a Facebook user? Of course you are. There are 500 million of you out there. Your profile is about to look a little different. And changes allowing you to share even more. Great. But what about your privacy?
It's 12 minutes past the hour. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, welcome back, everybody. It's about 15 minutes past the hour now.
Not as if terrorists necessarily need, you know, help in trying to figure out where they want to hit us. But now, they are getting some help from WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks, of course, has released all of these secret cables. Now they've released a secret list of key sites around the world that are critical to U.S. security.
Places that the State Department says we cannot afford to lose in a terrorist attack. So in doing so, the web site many would argue has essentially handed terrorists a how-to guide.
CHETRY: And meantime, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is still a man on the run this morning. He's believed to be hiding out in Great Britain, but he's been hiding behind Swiss law to keep his web site afloat with a Swiss web address and Swiss Banks for cash flow.
Supporters say that Assange may even try to seek asylum in Switzerland. So what can the U.S. do to knock WikiLeaks off the web before more critical secrets are exposed? We're going to talk to international expert Jamie Smith about that coming up in an hour.
HOLMES: Let's turn to Iran now. Tehran now says it doesn't need any help from anybody. Says they've got everything they need to produce its own nuclear fuel. This announcement has come now and triggered new worries from the White House that Iran is trying to build new weapons.
CHETRY: It comes as long-delayed nuclear talks are getting underway in Switzerland today. Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is live in Geneva this morning.
Matthew, it seems that Iran has a history of saying one thing and doing the other. So on one hand, they're holding these negotiations, but also boasting of the uranium. So what's going on?
MATTHEW CHANCE, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's not clear. Clearly the Iranians are coming under a lot of pressure. Remember, it wasn't that long ago, a few months ago they face new economic sanctions at the United Nations Security Council.
And, you know, what happened there is that countries like Russia that in the past have provided support to Iran, they've been saying they're frustrated, as well to that WikiLeaks.
I mean, the Russians have been saying in these WikiLeaks cables, as well, that they're increasingly frustrated with Iran and so Iran is perhaps trying to shore up its diplomatic support saying it's willing to talk to the international community.
HOLMES: Matthew, as well, there was something very peculiar about the timing of Iran's announcement this weekend that they essentially have a self-sufficient nuclear program now.
It came just a day before the meetings, negotiations. They were supposed to take place. So what does that add to? Does it add to the urgency of these talks now?
CHANCE: I think it does. I think if there was any hope amongst the members of the United States delegation here or the other allies that are here talking to Iran that the Iranians were going to come here and ready to negotiate and talk and, you know, roll back their uranium enrichment program.
That's probably been dashed by this announcement just 24 hours before the talks have started, but what U.S. officials are saying, actually it doesn't change the issue they're grappling with. They're still trying to get Iran to roll back the nuclear program, to allay the suspicions in the west that it's building a bomb.
That's what these talks are all about in the hope, of course, of trying to avert tougher sanctions or possibly avert war in the future with the Islamic Republic.
CHETRY: All right, well, we'll see how the talks go as they kick off today as you said. Matthew Chance for us this morning in Switzerland. Thank you.
HOLMES: Coming up, we know it has been a difficult year for Tiger Woods off the course and certainly on the course, as well. But in his last tournament of the year, in the first three rounds, he was doing things he hadn't done all year.
CHETRY: There was so much hope.
HOLMES: And then --
CHETRY: There was so much excitement.
HOLMES: And then in the last round, he did something he'd never done in his entire career. It did not go well for the tiger. We'll explain with our Max Kellerman, he's coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 21 minutes past the hour. Time for our "Morning Talkers" this morning. Gone in 30 seconds. Half a football stadium, take a look. Like butter. That was a perfect, perfect implosion.
HOLMES: Yes, as implosions go, that was pretty good.
CHETRY: This is Amon G. Carter Stadium at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Charges were set to -- were set on Sunday to take down the high-rise, the stands and the press box. It's stood since 1956. TCU's Horn Frogs have won their last 20 home games and is will be playing there amid renovations, which will be complete until 2012.
HOLMES: We know what that got them. They're not getting a spot in the national championship. Sorry about that, TCU. Had a great year, though. Are you a Christmas carol fan?
CHETRY: Of course.
HOLMES: All right, you like this? Do people still, do they really go by door-to-door? He's saying no. We've got different opinions on the floor, but what you're seeing here is in Boston.
Thousands of folks showed up there to try to break the world caroling record, the record for everything. Now 3,200 people sang 15 minutes of classicals. Unfortunately, they didn't break the record and they weren't even close because the record is held by South Carolina some 7,500 so they were way off.
CHETRY: But they were led by the Boston Pops, it was a beautiful site. So I hope they had fun anyway. I never understand this - I understand caroling, I don't understand people who decide it's a great idea to plunge into the freezing cold waters of the coldest cities, like Buffalo, for example.
There they go, the polar bear plunge. Hundreds of thick-skinned souls jumped into Lake Erie on Sunday and I can tell you that is some cold water even in the middle of summer. I can't imagine what it felt like there. It was all to raise money for the Special Olympics, brought in about $130,000. By the way, it was only in the upper 20s.
HOLMES: I've always wanted to do it. Just do it just to experience it. They always raise money for a good cause.
CHETRY: Yes. With a wet suit or I'll be in a kayak next to you waving. That's about it.
HOLMES: I haven't seen this video yet. Everybody was raving about it this morning. A dog -- let's just go ahead and roll this video. I think there's sound with it possibly, as well.
CHETRY: The dog got sick of waiting.
HOLMES: The dog is waiting in the vehicle and starts blowing the horn. Clearly he's not happy. Well, we pulled this video off YouTube. What kind of dog is that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it, no!
CHETRY: That is so funny. It looks like a poodle. HOLMES: Do you think the dog was enjoying that? Actually was hearing the sound, just having fun or just happened to be stepping on the steering wheel not even knowing what he's doing.
CHETRY: Well, she said stop it and he continued to do it, so who knows. Sounds like my husband waiting for me in the car. He lays on the horn in the garage until I get out there. It's pleasant.
Well, still to come this morning, it looks like Derek Jeter will remain a Yankee for the rest of his career, perhaps. But did the Yankees overpay to keep the captain in the Bronx? Our resident sports guide Max Kellerman joins us just ahead.
HOLMES: And Facebook rolling out a new look for your profile. Supposed to make it easier to tell your story instead of calling your friend and telling the story. You will learn all about this when we come back. Is there anything to be aware of here, any security concerns with this new Facebook look? It's 25 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. We're at the bottom of the hour. It's usually not a big story when Tiger Woods just gets close to winning a tournament, but it's a big deal right now.
CHETRY: It's been a tough year.
HOLMES: We're going to be talking about that. Also, Derek Jeter will not be a Red Sox after all.
CHETRY: A Red Sox, I love it. Well, joining us to talk about it is Max Kellerman. Always great to have you on a Monday morning.
MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's a pleasure to be here.
CHETRY: We always laugh, because Tiger usually charges in at the end of the tournament and gets the guy who has been in the lead the whole entire time and knocks him off. In fact that happened to him yesterday. He had a four-stroke lead going in and then ended up missing the putt, losing the playoff. What happened?
KELLERMAN: Well, in the first place, not only would he rally back in the past, but if he had a four-stroke lead, it was a rap. Never blew it with a four-stroke lead that late.
You can see the glass as half full to begin with, which is that Tiger hasn't won all year, he hadn't been playing particularly well and here his game is improving. If you want to look at it as half empty for Tiger, in the old days, it didn't happen and now it does. And a lot of people are talking about the idea that his aura of invincibility isn't what it once was.
CHETRY: So maybe he's not rattling his competitors as much.
KELLERMAN: But think of whom the competitor is who beat him, a 31- year-old who's on the rise. So this is a -- in the old days it was Tiger Woods coming up, he's going to be the greatest golfer ever putting all this pressure on all the older guys.
Suddenly it's a kid who grew up with the awareness of Tiger Woods watching his game, thinking, I'm sure to himself, one day I'm going to play this guy, I'm going to beat this guy. And so it's not Phil Mickelson feeling pressure late, it's a young kid thinking I want to get what Tiger has.
HOLMES: But you kind of alluded to it at the beginning too. It is kind of a big deal he got this close. He played the best golf of the year, probably. He was leading after bogie-free golf the first couple of rounds. He was doing really well. So will this give him the momentum possibly into next year? At least some confidence knowing he can still compete out there?
KELLERMAN: Yes, it's interesting with momentum in sports because as Nate Silver from 538.com wrote about projecting elections, momentum doesn't win elections, delegates do. You know, putts win tournaments, right? And if McDowell hits it then he wins and if Tiger had to do it. The question is I guess, does Tiger still have that kind of singular focus to hit those incredible putts late? And it seems as though that's coming around for him. He played better later after he kind of choked a little bit. So, I would say things are looking good for Tiger in the not too distant future.
CHETRY: Things are certainly looking good for Derek Jeter. Of course, the famous captain and shortstop of the New York Yankees -- he ended up signing a $51 million three-year contract, option for a fourth. He's 36 years old, a lot of money for him. Obviously, he's a good player.
But was it too much money and too many years?
KELLERMAN: Yes. Derek Jeter is one of the greatest players of all time, by the way, just purely statistically, with no extra credit for being the captain and all this stuff. But there's not much thing as a 37-year-old shortstop. And Jeter is coming off by far the worst year of his career offensively, by far, not even close.
So -- and shortstop is the position where you need the least offense. So, if Jeter -- it used to be Jeter's bat played anywhere on the field. If he couldn't play shortstop eventually, they'd move him to another position, he hits well enough. But if Jeter, next year, suffers further decline, he's not going to hit well enough to play shortstop anymore. That means you don't hit well enough to play period anymore. And he has a three-year deal.
That said, he -- the year before last, he had one of the best seasons of his career. So, he could easily bounce back in '11.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: This damaged his aura, as well? He has been squeaky clean in everything right by the Yankees and the fast over the years, does this damage his -- it's kind of ugly in this public negotiation. Damage his relationship with the Yankees or with the fans?
KELLERMAN: That's a great question. I think that's 100 percent right.
His agent miscalculated, I think, when he wasn't giving what they want. He figured we'll play this out in the press and make the Yankees look bad.
But fans are a little more sophisticated about this sort of stuff than they used to be, and everyone was going, wait a minute? Three years, $45 million offer for a guy coming off the worst season of his career at 36 years old, that sounds pretty good. And Jeter's agent backed off.
HOLMES: Nobody else. They said go shop. Nobody else is going to give him that.
CHETRY: But all they needed to do is show the pictures -- the Photo Shopped images of Jeter in a Red Sox uniform, and I think that would drive the fans a little more crazy than five extra million dollars.
KELLERMAN: Well, that happened to Mariano Rivera. They wanted to give Rivera, the greatest closer of all time that plays in the Yankees, a one-year contract. The Red Sox stepped in and said, we'll give you two years, the Yankees quickly said, fine, two years.
CHETRY: Yes, that's what happens when you have that type of rivalry.
KELLERMAN: That's right.
CHETRY: Good stuff. All right.
HOLMES: Good to see you, Max.
CHETRY: Great to see you.
KELLERMAN: A pleasure.
CHETRY: Top stories coming up, by the way. The White House and the GOP said to be close to deal on extending the Bush-era tax cuts this morning for all income brackets. The Senate on Saturday defeated two attempts by Democrats to extend tax cuts only for the middle class. Everyone, rich or poor, will see their tax bills go up if they didn't do anything by the end of the year.
HOLMES: Also, a high seas rescue operation off the Alaskan Aleutian Islands. The Coast Guard is trying to tow a huge, disabled tanker. That was the risk of this thing running aground, it's carrying some oil aboard. The engine failed on Friday. There's been some bad weather in the area. The thing was taking on 20-foot waves, 35-mile- an-hour winds.
The ship was transporting canola seeds from Canada to the United Arab Emirates. But again, it had half million gallon of oil, also some diesel fuel onboard, as well.
CHETRY: Iran with a bold announcement on nuclear talks. They resume today in Geneva. Tehran now says it has everything it needs to make its own nuclear fuel, the production of yellowcake uranium -- meaning, they no longer need to import uranium, which is a big breakthrough. The White House thinks Iran may be trying to make nuclear weapons.
HOLMES: All right. Facebook getting a new face, possibly, streamlining the profile pages of 500 million users. What's new exactly?
Christine, we were just talking about this. Anything new immediately?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's meant to tell your story a little more clearly and a little better. So, when you log on, your Facebook page will look different. Mine doesn't yet, but other people around here do. And this was unveiled yesterday. Mark Zuckerberg on "60 Minutes" unveiling what this would look like.
So, let's take a look at how they would tell your story. First, your biographical information would be a little different. It will be all right at the top.
It would say where you were born, where you're from, who you're in a relationship with. Then it would list the important people in your life so that someone looking at you and what you're about would see who these important people are and would actually be able to click on your wall posts back and forth with those people and see the history of you talking with those people a little more easily.
And then you would be able to, for example, click on someone -- for example, Ali Velshi. The history of your relationship with your friends -- you can click on your relationship with Ali Velshi and you could see everything you and he have said to each other over the course of the relationship from the very moment you became friends.
HOLMES: Oh, wow.
ROMANS: All of this information, I guess, there is some reason why people need it. I personally don't need to know everything I've said to Ali Velshi over the last six years. But, look, in 2004, we didn't know what Facebook was. Now, it has more than 500 million users worldwide. So, it is definitely a force.
And Mark Zuckerberg on "60 Minutes" really hammered about privacy, because when we see these pages change, we see all this information, we all think about very well-known privacy glitches. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZUCKERBERG, FACEBOOK FOUNDER: Do we get it right all the time? No. But it's something that we take really seriously. And, you know, every day, we come to work and just try to do a good job on this.
LESLEY STAHL, "60 MINUTES": And yet, you've got the FTC looking into it. You have members of Congress looking into it. There have been privacy groups have lodged formal complaints. You've hired a lobbyist in Washington to deal with this. So, you know it's a problem.
ZUCKERBERG: Well, I think that this -- it's a really important thing for everyone to just be thinking about. I mean, privacy and making sure that people have control over their information is, I think, one of the most fundamental things on the Internet.
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ROMANS: Right, which is why we keep asking Mark Zuckerberg, why we feel like we don't have control over our own privacy? So here, new streamlined Facebook page you'll probably start to notice. Whenever they change how they show you information, people go crazy.
You guys are on Facebook. You see how people get very upset about changing it around. So, this is their newest iteration to tell your story a little bit better.
CHETRY: So, the oversharers can overshare even more and you have to recheck the settings.
ROMANS: That's right. Absolutely. Absolutely.
CHETRY: If you can click on and read all of the history between me and Ali, which I'm sure don't even know if there's enough bandwidth for that, you know, you need to figure out who you want to know about.
ROMANS: That's right. And I always say, you know, if you are a prolific user of social media, please don't assume you have a private relationships, private information, private anything, because there have been a lot of glitches and a lot of well-known breaches. Just be careful out there.
HOLMES: Glitches and breaches.
ROMANS: Glitches and breaches.
HOLMES: All right. Christine, good to see you as always. Thank you so much.
ROMANS: Bye, guys.
CHETRY: Well, her murder rocked Hollywood. A publicist to the stars gunned down, and coming up -- a twist that has police back to square one today.
HOLMES: And if you think your holiday flight costs a lot -- well, wait until you hear how much it's going to cost to take you into space. John Zarrella giving us a sneak peek at your next vacation.
It's 36 minutes past the hour.
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HOLMES: Forty minutes past the hour right now.
The mystery surrounding the murder of a well-known Hollywood publicist deepens this morning. Three weeks after Ronni Chasen was gunned down in her car after the premier of Cher's new film, "Burlesque," the trail appears to have gone cold. And what looked like a promising lead turned into a dead end. With me now is Bill Bratton. He is the former police chief of Los Angeles and the former police commissioner of New York City.
Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
WILLIAM BRATTON, FORMER NEW YORK C ITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: Great to be with you.
CHETRY: We're talking about Harold Smith when we say the dead end. He was the man that was questioned by Beverly Hills police as a person of interest. And when police went to go actually speak to him, he ended up killing himself. Ballistic tests came back. It looks like the gun doesn't match the gun that killed Ronni Chasen.
So, does this eliminate him as a suspect?
BRATTON: Well, it would appear that this is a dead end for them. They have multiple avenues of investigation they're pursuing. One of the reasons you don't close off all the avenues when you have a promising avenue (INAUDIBLE). For circumstances like this, apparently he has nothing at all to do with the murder several weeks earlier.
CHETRY: So, the reason they started questioning him in the first place, it was a tip because this was featured on "America's Most Wanted." So, some people called in, and that's how they found him in the first place. He wasn't linked in any other way to the murder.
BRATTON: That's apparently the information that they were working with. You have now several witnesses who claimed that he claimed that he was responsible, took part in the murder. It does not appear to be the case.
It looked very promising as the police investigation goes forward, you get this tip, he's a felon. And the fact that he kills himself when they approach him. They get a pistol from him. But unfortunately, ballistics determined that that weapon was not apparently the weapon used to kill her.
CHETRY: So, it seems like they're back to the three theories that they were originally, whether this was a drive-by, it was, you know, a contracted hit, or perhaps a case of mistaken identity. Where do they go from here? What is the latest in terms of what they're looking at?
BRATTON: Well, in terms of, back to square one. It's like playing multiple chess games, and one of these games really moves to almost a checkmate position. Unfortunately, the death of this gentleman closed that avenue.
The road rage is quite possible. We had many of those each year in California, unfortunately.
Mistaken identity is always certainly a possibility. Some type of business or romantic entanglement.
This is a tough one. Good news in terms of from a police perspective because they're keeping a lid on whatever information they do have. But at the same time, that might indicate they don't have any information at this stage of the game.
CHETRY: It was leaked, though, I guess, the autopsy, some of the results of that. And some people who have seen it say it points to a contract hit because of the accuracy of the bullets. You don't agree there with that.
BRATTON: I would -
CHETRY: There was three in the chest, two in the shoulder. They all seemed to be going for the upper right quadrant?
BRATTON: Contract hit, they're going to shoot in the head, being quite frank with you. Shooting for body mass that, you know, you hope you hit a vital organ. But all these so-called experts and the pattern of the bullets, I wouldn't read anything into that at this stage of the game.
CHETRY: So, if it was a road rage incident, they could hit with that type of accuracy?
BRATTON: Oh, sure. If the car was stopped and basically the individual was familiar with the weapon that he was shooting and was taking his time -- the pattern of bullets and, being quite frank with you, the pattern the bullets seemed to have been a little larger than the concentration they're talking about. I believe we're dealing with unofficial autopsy results. In any event, I'm not sure that they'll even release the official results.
CHETRY: Right. Apparently, it was a preliminary one. You've seen many, unfortunately, murders as chief of police and New York City police commissioner. Did -- what's the likelihood that this gets solved given that she's a high-profile person, there's so much attention on this case, and that eventually somebody may be talking?
BRATTON: The longer it goes on, the concern is that, you know, before the resolution, you usually try to get all of the information you can as quickly as you can. The fact this is three weeks in now and there seems to be very little to work with, now you go back once again to the public appeals, if anybody has any information. And then farther down the line, somebody involved in this basically slips up or the police are able to actually develop something that they can work with.
But at this stage of the game, it doesn't look particularly promising three weeks in. Not much information. In a town like Los Angeles, where they're good with ferreting out gossip and stories and police leaks, that's fascinating how little they've (INAUDIBLE). Maybe that because there is not much to leak.
CHETRY: And that's -- the other fascinating part is -- I mean, this happened after a movie premiere. It was in public, it was in her car, to think that nobody saw anything.
BRATTON: Well, Beverly Hills -- not too many people moving around Beverly Hills other than the cars that time of night. So, a lot of people heard it, but apparently, there were no eyewitnesses to the incident. So, that neighborhood, I'm familiar with. It's -- that hour of the night, they would not be much vehicle traffic on the street at that time of night.
CHETRY: Really? Well, hopefully, the police will get closer, they'll get some leads.
William Bratton, great to see you as always. Thanks so much.
BRATTON: Nice to be back. Thank you.
CHETRY: T.J.?
HOLMES: Well, still coming up this morning, something a lot of people need to know, your travel forecast. Reynolds is going to be up in just a moment, and let you know if there's problem spots out there having to travel. Also, a lot of people trying to travel where these days? Space. Spaceport America is rising from the desert. Our John Zarrella is getting a sneak peek for us.
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CHETRY: Forty-seven minutes past the hour right now. Time to get a check of the morning's weather headlines. Reynolds Wolf is in the Extreme Weather Center. T.J. wants to know if you'd like to take a field trip with him to run through the freezing, cold, frigid Lake Erie waters next year.
HOLMES: I wouldn't be surprised if Reynolds has done this before.
CHETRY: I bet he has.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Do the counseling now, do the counseling move (ph). Yes, I'd do it, absolutely. Absolutely. No fear whatsoever, but --
CHETRY: I'll take the I-reporter from the shores, OK?
WOLF: Fair enough. But it is one of those bucket list kind of things. One of the things you got to do once in a lifetime. So, that might be the one time. One time, one time only. Hey, a lot of folks have got to go a lot of times out to the airport. Today, it's going to be kind of a tough call for you in places like New York metros where you're going to be waiting for a bit, at least over an hour, many of your airports. Same deal at D.C., also in Philadelphia, all because of that wind you might be delay for about an hour or so.
In Atlanta and in Detroit, wind will also be an issue, same deal in Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh, but the wind is also going to have a double effect in those locations due to some lake-effect snowfall that's going to be very impressive over the next couple of days. In Salt Lake City, low clouds may give you a delay about anywhere from half hour to a full hour. Same story in San Francisco.
Let's get moving and show you what's happening. We've got a trough in the east and ridge out towards the west. Trough in the east means temperatures will be above average, but with this trough that we have towards the east, we're going to have that wind coming across the Great Lakes with it, that snow is going to begin to pile up in a lot of places. Take the temperatures by themselves, I mean, 22 degrees in Chicago, that's the high temperature for today, 16 in Minneapolis, 40 in Washington D.C., 36 in Boston, 54 in New Orleans, 51 in Denver, and 66 in Los Angeles.
But with the prevailing wind out of the north and out of the northwest, you're going to have that moisture pick up off the Great Lakes. And when that happens, take a look at what you can anticipate, some heavy snowfall in places like Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, over a foot of snowfall, possibly over a foot in parts of Lake Erie. You guys just a bulls eye there. Also, southwest of Ontario. Buffalo, not so much for you. But along in (INAUDIBLE) and Syracuse, you might see anywhere from 10 to 12, even 20 inches of snowfall over the next 48 hours.
As a quick snapshot in your forecast, guys, again, becoming part of the polar bear club sounds great, but on a daylight today, not so much. Let's give it back to you.
CHETRY: That's the day you're supposed to do it when it's freezing and frigid and you're dodging the lake effect snow.
WOLF: You know, maybe you're right. Just get a go whole hog do it and then just write it off the list, maybe so.
CHETRY: See, knowing you two, you'll be like, oh, it's July. This sounds perfect. Let's do the polar bear plunge. Just going up to (INAUDIBLE)
WOLF: There you go.
HOLMES: We'll get that on the list. Talk to you soon, buddy. Thanks so much.
We're going to have your top stories here coming up in just a few minutes.
Also, it's a question a lot of people always have about the gift to give. Is it ever OK -- can you just give cash? Are you uncomfortable --
CHETRY: Who's complaining about that?
HOLMES: It's not very personal is what some would say. You didn't even try.
CHETRY: One size fits all. Everyone likes the color green.
HOLMES: OK. We will talk about this more. Clearly, she doesn't find it tacky, but some do. Christine Romans is going to give you some tricks on how to not be tacky with it.
CHETRY: Also, four-time NASCAR champ, Jeff Gordon, he's joining us live next hour. He's driving for a great cause next year. He's got his new car, he's got a new design on it, and he's going to show it to us. Unveiled for the first time. HOLMES: Also, you don't need the right stuff, you don't need a fancy degree from M.I.T. You don't need to go through the training to be an astronaut. All you need is $200,000 and you, too, can go to space. John Zarrella will explain. Ten minutes till the top of the hour.
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HOLMES: About seven minutes to the top of the hour now. All you need is $200,000 and you, too, can go to space. Spaceport America is popping up. Our John Zarrella is going to explain this to us. And John, I think, one very important part here, you're not getting a whole lot of time in space for that $200,000. So please, explain all this to me.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, you're really not if you break it down. You know, T.J., in the not too distant future, taking a trip to space is going to be no more difficult than getting on an airplane and flying to grandma's for the holidays. But if you're going to take one of those departing flights, you're likely going to have to leave from the desert.
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ZARRELLA (voice-over): Southeast of the elephant butte dam tucked away in the middle of the New Mexico desert. Right there, you see it rising up from the scrub brush? This is where the future of space travel has taken root. Spaceport America. It is still in its infancy, growing with each steel beam, each pounding of the dry dirt. Funded by taxpayers and private industry, this $200 million facility will be the world's first commercial space port.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pinch myself sometimes and say what -- how often does one have the opportunity to be part of a project that is so historic? This is the birth of the new commercial space age.
ZARRELLA: The vision, private companies will launch cargo and humans from here, perhaps to orbiting hotels. That first vacation in space you take might start right here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're going to have commercial operations taking tourists into space, you know, safety has to be your guiding star all the time.
ZARRELLA: Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Company has taken the lead. A year or so from now, a mother ship will roll down this runway, lift off at 50,000 feet, release a space plane. The six passengers and two pilots will reach 350,000 feet and weightlessness for four minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our flight is not as aggressive on the stomach as you would think because it's straight up right over the top and straight back down again.
ZARRELLA: When you're back on the ground, your wallet is $200,000 lighter, the cost of the ride. By next summer, the 3-storey center piece building should be completed. ZARRELLA (on-camera): On the first floor, the civilian astronauts will get ready for their flight, the second floor will be mission control. And on the third floor will be an astronaut lounge where they can hang out and wait for their flight.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): For New Mexico, the venture is risky. How many companies will see commercial space as smart business and how soon will this place be a thriving hub of space flight or the outpost of a dream born before it's time?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (on-camera): Now, so far, more than 350 people have signed up either paying in full or putting down deposits for the flight. I'm not one of them, T.J. and Kiran, unless I can get CNN to pick up the tab.
HOLMES: OK. We know that ain't happening. So, who is on the list? You said a few hundred, but do we know who's going for sure yet?
ZARRELLA: Yes, first flight as you might expect, Sir Richard Branson and his family are slated to take that first flight -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. We appreciate you as always, john. I love to see the expense report too, by the way, buddy.
CHETRY: Maybe they'll give him a discount.
HOLMES: They won't.
CHETRY: Richard Branson told us he wanted to take his family because they would think it's really cool.
HOLMES: He's doing it, and he can afford it. It's his venture.
CHETRY: Oh, yes.
We're going to take a quick break. Your top stories coming up in just two minutes.
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