Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

David Bowie Releases New Single; Horror Of Theater Shooting Emerges; Gun Control; Giffords Takes On Gun Violence; Limiting Doctor Conversations; NRA Gun Provision in Obamacare; Stocks Falter Ahead of Earnings

Aired January 08, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: It's a slow dancing one. That'll do it for me. The CNN NEWSROOM does continue right now with the one and only Ali Velshi.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, good to see you, my friend. Long time no speak. Your watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ali Velshi in for Suzanne Malveaux. This hour, President Obama filling up his cabinet but where are the ladies? How his cabinet nominations lack diversity.

Plus thousands of homes flooded, millions left without power and more than 100 people killed. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on the state of Sandy. Is he setting himself up for a 2016 presidential run? Well, New Jersey thinks so. And three quarters of voters there give him a thumbs up.

And two years ago today, Jared Lee Loughner killed six people, wounded Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Giffords now speaking out about gun control. We'll hear what she has to say.

But first, a hearing is providing chilling, new details about the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado that left 12 people dead. This is day two of the preliminary hearing for suspect James Holmes. Casey Wian has just come out of the court. He joins us live from Centennial, Colorado. Casey, what's the latest from the hearing?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we heard, Ali, just inside the courtroom a little while ago, two of the 41 911 calls that were placed the night of that shooting. The two calls that were played by a detective were made from inside the theater. One of them was the first call that was made on that night by a gentleman named Kevin Quinonez. The call only lasted 27 seconds. It was very difficult to hear what he said, what the 911 operator had to say. But the unmistakable sound was the sound of gunshots, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. More than 30 gunshots in 27 seconds according to the detective.

Then he played another call, a heart wrenching call, from a 13-year- old girl by the name of Kaylan Bailey (ph). That 911 call lasted four minutes. She was there at the theater with her two cousins, both of them had been shot. One of them was not breathing. The 911 call -- 911 operator and the young girl were having a difficult time hearing each other, understanding each other. The 911 operator was trying to tell her to perform CPR but because it was so chaotic and noisy in the theater the little girl was sobbing, wasn't understanding what he was saying.

Finally, after four heart wrenching minutes she says that the police have arrived at the theater, the 911 operator tells her to go find the police and she says, thank you. As you can imagine, the family members who are of the victims who are in the courtroom had a very, very difficult time hearing these 911 calls. Many of them were holding hands, hands on each other's shoulder, fighting back tears. The prosecution warned these family members that the testimony was going to be graphic and dramatic and difficult to hear. And so far, it sure has been, Ali.

VELSHI: Casey, this isn't a trial. It's a preliminary hearing. They're trying to determine whether there's enough evidence for James Holmes to stand trial. So, what is the prosecution trying to show and what's the process -- what's the defense doing to try and suggest that there isn't a need for a hearing or are they doing that?

WIAN: Well, I think clearly what the prosecution is trying to show is premeditation and all of the planning that went into this attack. For example, today, we got the first look inside James Holmes' apartment. You'll remember, that apartment was booby trapped. It was very difficult for law enforcement officers, SWAT teams to try to unbundle all of that. Now, we know why. Let me describe to you what the scene inside that apartment looked like. Detectives -- or the FBI bomb technician said, there was a fishing line strung across the apartment at a level of about five feet clearly intended for someone to walk into. It was attached to a front -- to a container of glycerin which was up on a shelf above a frying pan that had another material in it. And the idea was for the glycerin to mix with that other material and explode.

Also in the apartment, Napalm, the floor was soaked with gasoline. There were canisters on the floor of some other type of explosive materials. And now, it gets -- I mean, if that's not enough, it gets even more bizarre. Outside of the apartment, there was a boom box playing music. Next to it was a remote control car that was also intended, apparently, for someone to go look at the music, maybe play with the remote control car, that would have also set off the explosion. So, given all of this planning, I think they're trying to show premeditation.

Also, there was evidence presented yesterday in the afternoon about him buying his ticket. He purchased his ticket online 12 days before the shooting. There was video that showed him using his cell phone to enter the theater. That clearly goes to the concept of premeditation. You asked about the defense. They are clearly going to be working on some sort of diminished mental capacity defense. There has been testimony from police officers who encountered Holmes after the shooting saying that he seem out of it, not normal, not a normal emotional response, and he was very, very relaxed. So, that kind of sets the scene for what the two side -- the picture, the two sides, are trying to paint -- Ali.

VELSHI: That's pretty remarkable. OK, Casey, we'll visit with you later on. Casey Wian now for us in court for this preliminary hearing. Thanks, Casey. The shooting, along with the recent shootings in Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut has got a lot of people debating gun laws in the United States. Coming up, we'll talk to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, about how guns are the third leading cause of death for kids between the age of five and 14 and how something that was stuck into Obama care is changing how doctors try to prevent these types of deaths.

Well, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords launches a new effort to reduce gun control -- or gun violence, that is, and it comes on second anniversary of the shooting that left her critically wounded. Giffords says the country has witnessed 11 more mass shootings since the Tucson rampage with no action by lawmakers in Congress. Last week, she and her husband, Mark Kelly, visited the scene of the latest massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. There they are. A gunman there, as you remember, killed 27 people, most of them first graders. Giffords and Kelly met with the families of those who died. They talked about the experience in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE SAWYER, ANCHOR, ABC: We saw you in Newtown. How was Newtown?

GABRIELE GIFFORDS: Tough.

MARK KELLEY: It brought back a lot of memories about what that was like for us some two years ago today. And you hope that that's -- this kind of thing doesn't happen again. But you know what? It does happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Well, today, Giffords and Kelly unveiled a Web site called Americans for responsible solutions. They say it's designed to promote a national conversation on preventing gun violence and to raise money to balance the gun lobby's influence. Giffords was one of 19 people shot during a political meet and greet at a Tucson shopping center exactly two years ago today. Six people died in that shooting including a nine-year-old girl. In just a few minutes, bells will ring in Tucson in honor of all the victims.

David Mattingly is following that story for us. He joins us with an in-depth look at the new initiative by Giffords and her husband. David, good to see you. They are both being critical of Congress and the gun lobby. So, this new initiative, who does it go after?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you just named the two targets there. First of all, the gun lobby. Giffords and her husband, Kelly, are talking about very clearly their opinions of the influence that the gun lobby has in Washington. And in an op-ed that was released today in "USA Today," this is what they said, we saw from the NRA's leadership's defiant and unsympathetic response to the Newtown, Connecticut massacre that winning even the most common sense reforms will require a fight. And they're not letting Congress off the hook on this either. Giffords making comments directly to her former colleagues pointing out it's been two years since she survived that deadly attack in Tucson and now she said, Congress, in that time, has done something extraordinary, nothing at all. Very strong words to start this campaign. We're going to wait now to see where they go from here -- Ali.

VELSHI: Well, what's our sense of it? We don't have details yet about how this Giffords' campaign is going to work. What does it look like their strategy might be based on what you know so far?

MATTINGLY: Well, vaguely, they're talking about creating a conversation about, quote, "a gun violence prevention." But most of all, they're also calling the fact that they want to be able to match the gun lobby not only in its influence but also in its resources. So, when you go to their Web site, now this new Web site they've created for Americans for responsible solutions, it's very clear there they have a place where you can click on it to contribute. So, they're going to be looking for donations to get their effort up and running, but it's clear they're going after voters here and the influence voters will have on this Congress and future Congresses.

VELSHI: All right, David, we'll be following this closely. David Mattingly for us on the story.

According to centers for disease control and prevention, guns kill more than 5,000 kids each year. Now, doctors usually try to educate parents about gun safety during regular checkups but a new law could change that. We'll talk with Dr. Sanjay Gupta about that a little bit -- well, there's Sanjay -- we're just promoting that Sanjay's there. It's so good to see you, Sanjay. I think that means we're taking a break, but we will come back and talk to you about it when we -- when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Parts of the New York Police Department so-called stop and frisk policy are unconstitutional. That's from the ruling by a federal judge in Manhattan. Just a short time ago, the judge ordered police to immediately stop performing trespass stops outside of privately owned buildings in the Bronx. Owners of the buildings enrolled in the program have asked police to seek out trespassers and arrest them. The ruling says the NYPD has systemically crossed the line between what's constitutional and what's not when making those stops.

Well, President Obama has made gun control a key part of his second- term agenda. But did you know that his signature health care bill contains a little known item about guns? It bars health professionals from collecting data about their patients' firearms use. That was pushed into the bill by the National Rifle Association.

Sanjay Gupta has been looking into this. Sanjay, good to see you. I don't -- I never quite understand how these unrelated things get into bills, but how did anything about guns end up getting into this Obama care bill to begin with?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the NRA has lobbied for this and I think quite public about this, Ali, for some times, lobbying to try and get specific provisions into the bill. And I will tell you that it was Senator Harry Reid who ultimately got these things put into the Affordable Care Act. It's a small little provision which is, I think, why, in part, it's been overlooked. But, Ali, as you say, it doesn't specifically forbid doctors from asking their patients about guns. But it does -- it does prohibit people writing this stuff down, using it for purposes of research or data collection, having it as part of wellness programs.

If you ask the NRA, they say, look, if people know, if doctors know, if the health care establishments know that their patients have guns, it may increase their insurance premiums, although there's been no record or history of that in the past. People who want to be able to ask these questions say, look, this is part of how we make things safer. This is how we create more safer, you know, swimming pools, for example. Smoke detectors in homes, this is part of that same path. So, this is sort of the collision here, Ali, between these two things. But it is in the Affordable Care Act, as you point out.

VELSHI: So, this provision may not prevent doctors from asking their patients about their gun use or whether they have guns, but in Florida, and a few other states, there are laws being proposed that would make it a crime to even ask about a gun. I know in Florida, the law was unsuccessful but the governor is actually looking at getting something like that put into place.

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, a federal judge overturned that, said, no, doctors should be able to ask about guns and the governor is appealing that decision right now along with seven other states. So, you're absolutely right. That takes it a step further. It's not just that, look, you can't make it part of someone's permanent medical chart. You can't use it for research purposes. They're saying, in those states, the conversation should not happen at all. It just shouldn't be part of the dialogue between patient and physician. Again, that's not happened yet but that's what some want in those states.

VELSHI: Where do doctors stand on this? Do they -- do they want a discussion about guns to be a discussion about public health?

GUPTA: I think if you look at sort of the formal, you know, statements from the medical societies, this isn't about getting rid of guns, it's about taking things and making them safer. I mean it's a public health issue. Some of the numbers, I think people may have heard of in the past but, you know, look, Ali, 5,740 children and teens killed over the last two year -- I'm sorry, in a two year period, I should say, 34,000 children and teens injured. And look at that last line, Ali. It's the third leading cause of death.

I mean, we asked these questions as physicians and, again, it's try to make things safer with regard to swimming pools. If your house has a swimming pool, the next sort of part of that dialogue is, here's what you can do to keep your kids safe if you have a swimming pool at home. The same thing with --

VELSHI: Right. Well, that's a -- that's a good analogy. That's a good analogy because when you ask if you've got -- kids -- families, if their kids have a -- if they have a swim pool, you're not suggesting swimming pools are inherently evil, you're going to direct your conversation.

GUPTA: That's right.

VELSHI: So, for doctors, is this more of a wellness health, you know, prevention thing, or is it -- is it the data collection which is also interesting?

GUPTA: Yes. No, you know, I think for doctors, I'll tell you, it's just an anecdote. I went to the doctor not that long ago and I was asked about -- I have three small children between the ages of three and seven. They asked me about guns. They also asked me about swimming pools, about smoke detectors, about carbon monoxide detectors, all of these things. So I think it's one-on-one patient care. But ultimately organizations like the Centers for Disease Control, they say their funding is dried up in terms of gun safety research. They would like this data -- who are these people, who's getting injured, how can we reduce those injuries.

VELSHI: Yes. Sanjay, always my pleasure to see you. Thank you for being with us.

GUPTA: You too. You got it, Ali.

VELSHI: All right, more than 100,000 people signed a petition on the White House website to deport CNN's Piers Morgan. He confronted the author of the petition last night on his show. Piers Morgan's going to -- we're going to play you that and then Piers is going to be with us to react after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX JONES GUN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: It's a huge trending topic on Twitter right now, Piers Morgan versus gun rights activist Alex Jones. Jones appeared on Morgan's show last night. He is behind a petition to deport Piers Morgan back to England because of his views on gun control. It's an actual petition on the White House website that has more than 100,000 signatures, but White House Spokesman Jay Carney says while they will respond to the petition, quote, "it's worth remembering freedom of expression is a bedrock principle in our democracy."

Jones got extremely heated as he explained his views against gun control last night. Watch for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX JONES, GUN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: And I have FBI crime statistics that come out a year late, 2011. Twenty-plus percent crime drop in the last nine years. Real violent crime because more guns means less crime. Britain took the guns 15, 16 years ago, tripling of your overall violent crime. True, we have a higher gun violence level, but overall muggings, stabbings, deaths, you -- those men raped that women in India to death with an iron rod four feet long. You can't ban the iron rods. The guns, the iron rods, Piers, didn't do it. The tyrants did it.

Hitler took the guns. Stalin took the guns. Mao took the guns. Fidel Castro took the guns. Hugo Chavez took the guns.

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": How many --

JONES: And I'm here to tell you, 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. It doesn't matter how many lemons you get out there on the street begging for them to have their guns taken. We will not relinquish them. Do you understand? That's why you're going to fail. And the establishment knows no matter how much propaganda, the republic will rise again when you attempt to take our guns.

My family and the Texas revolution against Santa Ana, my family was at the core on both sides starting that because Santa Ana came to take the guns at Gonzalez, Texas. Piers, don't try what your ancestors did before. Why don't you come to America. I'll take you out shooting. You can become an American and join the republic!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: My word.

Earlier today, Piers called in to CNN to explain what he thinks the audience takeaway should be from that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: I can't think of a better advertisement for gun control than Alex Jones' interview last night. It was startling. It was terrifying, in parts. It was completely deluded. It was based on a premise of making Americans so fearful that they all rush out to buy even more guns. It showed no compassion whatsoever to the victims of gun shootings. And, you know, the kind of twisted way that he turned everything into this assault on the Second Amendment is exactly what the gun rights lobby people do. And it's a lie. It cannot be allowed to continue. They have to be confronted and challenged occasionally, as with last night. I think silence was the best weapon against him because he just dug himself an ever bigger hole. And the general reaction, I think, has been one of real horror that somebody with such a voice, a platform, as Alex Jones, he has millions of Americans listen to his show every week, and he spouts this kind of dangerous nonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Want to hear more of that, by the way? You can watch the fallout from Pier's interview, whatever you want to call it, Piers Morgan versus radio host Alex Jones. As Piers said, that wasn't so much of an interview as Alex venting. Anyway, there will be more of that tonight, Piers Morgan, 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Listen, some news I want to bring you about Boeing's new aircraft. It's got another problem. It's one of its 787 jets, the Dreamliner. You're looking at it right here. It caught fire. And then just moments ago another Boeing 787 flight has been canceled due to fuel leak. This plane is at Boston's Logan Airport. There is an issue, obviously, with this. This is two planes. This one was Japan-bound. It was about to take off. And, in fact, you're looking at live pictures now. That plane being towed back after a fuel leak. You see the fire trucks behind it. We'll be looking into the story a little more closely. It's safety is being called into question.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let me show you this again. Live pictures at Boston's Logan Airport. That's a Boeing 787. It's the newest passenger aircraft out there. It is the Dreamliner, as you know. That plane, Flight 007, was scheduled to leave at noon Eastern. It's been canceled after a fuel leak was discovered while the plane was getting ready to depart. It was on the airfield at Logan Airport in Boston. They're cleaning up the oil spill. You can see that plane being escorted to the gate with fire trucks behind it.

Now, here's the interesting part. There have been some discussion in the past about fuel leak problems on the Dreamliner, but a different Dreamliner, also operated by Japan Airlines, also had a problem yesterday. It had a fire break out yesterday. We're not quite sure whether there's a connection between the fuel lines and the fire, but Japan Airlines' Dreamliner, a different one, caught fire yesterday at Boston's Logan Airport. Now this one has a fuel leak. So we are trying to figure out what this story is with these Dreamliners or whether it's got to do with the Boston Airport, which I doubt. Anyway, no other delays, no weather delays at Boston. This seems to be the only problem there right now. But if you're flying in and out of Boston and you see a lot of action there, that's what it is.

Let's take a look at Wall Street. Corporate earnings start today. The markets already skittish. Alison Kosik's at the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, the reason people need to think about earnings is that four times a year it's kind of like your kid's report card. This is your portfolio's report card.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Yes, the expectation here isn't so terrific. We're going to be watching for these earnings to come rolling in beginning after the closing bell today. This is for the months from October, November, and December of 2012. And already some groups are coming out saying, you know, if you look at the S&P 500 companies, that's the broadest index, that those companies earnings will rise only 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter. You know, it's not terrible, but it's really not fantastic either, especially when you compare how earnings did from the fourth quarter of 2011 when earnings were up more than 8 percent.

You know, funny thing is, Ali, some are calling the fourth quarter kind of a throwaway quarter because there were just too many factors going on. It's an earnings season that comes with a lot of, you know, excuses that companies can use for showing weak results. And that includes the impact of Hurricane Sandy and all that caution ahead of the fiscal cliff. So what you may wind up seeing is the focus is going to be less on those headline numbers and more on what these companies are saying, what they expect to happen in 2013. What they often call guidance.

Ali.

VELSHI: All right, people not happy about unemployment here in the United States at 7.8 percent. A lot higher in Europe.

KOSIK: Oh, yes. I mean, you know, you think you've got it bad here. And we -- and, listen, our unemployment situation is bad. But then you compare it to other countries. Gosh, look at Spain. The unemployment rate at 27 percent. You know, the youth unemployment rate is twice that, 56 percent. This is a big worry for us because, you know, Europe is our biggest trading partner. We don't want to see them slow down in their spending anymore. That could directly affect us.

But those unemployment numbers, they're really stunning. I mean, look at that. You know, Greece, 26 percent. It's just -- it really is eye popping. And then, you know, you look at us, 7.8, yes, it's high, but, hey, it could be a heck of a lot worse.

Ali.

VELSHI: Alison, you've got kids. Disney, they're going to start tracking visitors with magic wrist bands. What is that all about?

KOSIK: Yes, isn't that a nice little name for it.

VELSHI: Yes.

KOSIK: So Disney's actually already doing this in Florida. Disney World. And what Disney says is it's a great way to, you know, organize your vacation at Disney. So for you, yes, you can manage your vacation.

But for them, they get something out of this, too, because they're hoping that you spend more money when you're in the park. So what you would basically do is get this wrist band and it would literally track your every move at the park, let's say. It will track what you buy, what rides you go on. You know, did you shake Winnie the Pooh's hand and not Piglet's hand or Eeyore's? Because before when you needed, you know, a ticket to get in, you had to go through the turnstiles. This band will get you in. You can also -- if you hook up your credit card to this, you can use it to scan for, you know, for making purchase at restaurants.

Also another good thing about it is, ahead of time, before you go to the parks, you've heard of the fast pass. You know what that is?

VELSHI: Yes, I totally know what that is.

KOSIK: So instead of --

VELSHI: That's so you can -- yes, you can sort of dodge some lines. You can figure out timing when you go on a ride so you don'' have to wait in line forever.