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Iran Talks Near Deal; Obamacare Apology; More Stunning Behavior; The Force Will Be With Us; Final Sermon From America's Pastor; "Discrepancies" In Benghazi Account; Controversial "Time" Magazine Cover; Could Candy Prank Hurt Kids?

Aired November 08, 2013 - 07:30   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: So much so, Secretary of State John Kerry changed plans and he is flying there to join negotiations. Iran's chief negotiator at the table tells CNN a deal to limit Tehran's programs in exchange for dropping sanctions could come as early as today.

President Obama saying he is sorry some Americans are losing their health coverage because of the Affordable Care Act even though he said they would not. The president says his team is working to close the holes and gaps in the new law. In the meantime, two senators, Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Mark Kirk have introduced a bill that would delay by a year the penalty for those who choose to go without insurance.

Just when you thought it couldn't get more bizarre up in Toronto, the Mayor Rob Ford there, well, this video of him has surfaced, him making violent threats. Unclear we should point out, who his tirade is aimed at. In it he says he'll rip that person's throat out, poke out his eyes and make sure the person is dead. Ford already admitted earlier this week to smoking crack cocaine, but says he will not resign.

A date has been announced for the release of the next "Star Wars" film. "Episode 7" will hit theaters for holidays, right around the 18th of December, 2015. Mark your calendars. Details of the film are being closely guarded. There are reports Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford will reprise their roles. Filming set to begin in London this spring. We just had a nice very visit with Harrison Ford, which you might get to see coming up -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Michaela. A milestone birthday for America's pastor, the Reverend Billy Graham, he is now 95 years old. That was celebrated with a huge party and hundreds of guests in attendance. He's releasing a new video being called his final sermon. In it he reflects on history of preaching and what's needed in religion in American today. Take a look at that celebration.

Franklin Graham joins me now. He is the son of Reverend Bill Graham and the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Franklin, great to see you. Thank you so much.

FRANKLIN GRAHAM, PRESIDENT AND CEO, BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION: Thank you. BOLDUAN: Quite a celebration last night for America's pastor. What was it like? What did that mean to him?

GRAHAM: Well, you know, of course at 95, he's just happy to be able to get up in the morning. It was a great celebration. He saw a lot of friends he hadn't seen in a long time. People came from all across the country and to attend it and honor him. What's so wonderful about my father, his message at 95 has not changed.

With all of his heart he wants America to know the truth, that Jesus Christ is God's son who took our sins and died on a cross and God wants to forgive our sins. He'll heal our hearts, but the only way we can do that is by accepting Christ by faith, that he died for our sins and that god raised him to life. We can invite Christ into our heart and he can change our lives. My father's message in all these years has not changed. It's marvelous to see him at 95 just committed to this message as he's ever been.

BOLDUAN: He has changed so many people's lives. You know that even without seeing the celebration of his life last night. He's ministered to multiple presidents. What does he say today is his legacy? It's quite an honor to be able to have the ear of presidents and be able to advise a president, but also to have millions that follow him.

GRAHAM: Well, I think his legacy is he's been faithful. He's been faithful to the gospel message of Jesus Christ. He hasn't changed. When he's with a president, he says the same thing as if he was sitting with you and me. He doesn't change his message. It's the same. He wants people to know about God's love and forgiveness. All of us are sinners.

We've all been separated from God because of our sin. The only way we can approach God is through Christ. Christ is the only one that came to this earth that was sinless. He never sinned is. He was God's son. He died on a Christ for you and me. That's my mother's message if he was with a president or if he was standing talking to you or me, it's the same message.

BOLDUAN: You know him better than all of the people that follow him and love him. What was it like for you to experience that celebration last night?

GRAHAM: It was a lot of fun. And daddy, of course, he was just overwhelmed that people would come to celebrate his 95th birthday and at 95 he thinks people have forgotten who he is. He doesn't think anybody remembers him. It was a lot of fun. He was just thrilled.

BOLDUAN: I'm sure you were thrilled as well. I have a grandmother who just turned 100 years old. We call it 100 years young. We will celebrate that. He is 95 years young. We celebrate his life as well as the love you have in your family. Thank you very much for your time, Franklin. It's great to see you.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Of course, Chris?

CUOMO: Coming up on New Day, CBS is admitting their "60 Minutes" story on the Benghazi attack was wrong. What did their source really see that awful night and what are the legitimate questions about what happened at Benghazi versus just political posturing? We will talk Benghazi when we come back.

And what Jimmy Kimmel did to kids may make you laugh, but it's making some people squirm. Why? Is this too P.C. or is there something in here that is bad for kids? We'll discuss and get your take.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY, everyone. There are new developments in that controversy over "60 Minutes" report on what happened the day of the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi. As we've been reporting, a contractor told that broadcast that he fought back militants at the compound, but he said something else to investigators. We're now learning and now CBS is admitting that it made a mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARA LOGAN, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: We no longer had confidence in our source, and that we were wrong to put him on air and we apologize to our viewers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That's Lara Logan, the correspondent on that piece. Joining us now to talk more about this is Joe Concha, a columnist "Mediate" and Josh Sparrow, a politics editor at "Business Insider." Great to see you both. Thanks for coming in -- so Joe, what do you think of the "60 Minutes" report and the apology we just heard from Lara Logan?

JOE CONCHA, COLUMNIST, MEDIAITE: That was awesome. That's what every news organization should do. We made a mistake. It was fog of war, we trusted a source and we're sorry. This is why "60 Minutes" has been on the air for 45 years. It's a top ten show. Because they make mistakes, they own up to it. You know, media today, there's a lot of mistrust. It's at an all-time high when you look at polls. "60 Minutes" when they say we made a mistake and we're sorry, the audience will forgive them.

BOLDUAN: Politicians could learn there from that apology. Americans are forgiving everyone says over and over again, if you mess up and say you're sorry.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Fair criticism that you were too eager to have a gotcha and you wound up going with something that was shaky. Is that fair criticism in this situation or no?

JOSH BARRO, POLITICS EDITOR, "BUSINESS INSIDER": Because there's a lot of appetite for stories on how the Obama administration screwed up in Benghazi. When you have a light presence you expose yourselves to things like not being able to respond quickly to these sorts of situations. But I think also "60 Minutes" have experience from ten years ago with the Texas Air National Guard memos. Remember the story about George W. Bush not being present when he was supposed to be during his time in the Air National Guard.

It turned out that the memos were written in Microsoft Word 30 years after that. There were all these blog posts going back and forth trying to match up the fonts and figure out they couldn't have been written on a typewriter. It was another embarrassing error for them. I think they learned that you need to own up to these things quickly.

BOLDUAN: This apology is happening. You have the lingering questions of what really happened that day in Benghazi. We've been talking about it. I think this just adds to the fact that the narrative around this tragedy is so convoluted. There are still lingering questions. You have Republican senators like Lindsey Graham that jumped on this report to say we need answers and we need testimony from the folks who are on the ground. Do you think this diminishes their request to request that?

CONCHA: This story isn't going away. It's not because we don't have all the answers right now.

BOLDUAN: Maybe it shouldn't go away.

CONCHA: Ho, maybe it shouldn't because there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Here's the thing. Hillary Clinton will probably be your Democratic nominee in 2016. She was secretary of state at the time. What difference does it make what happened. It will be played over and over again on this show and everyone else.

CUOMO: That's where the media comes in. Is this a story that has the legs that it should be reaching into this far unknown or is this political posturing?

BARRO: I do not think this is a scandal that's broken into the mainstream in the way that, for example, the problems with the Obamacare web site or something that both conservatives and people across the political spectrum are upset about. I think the right has been desperate for something to fit its narrative that Obama is a weak president on foreign policy. He surprised both the right and the left by continuing so much of George W. Bush's foreign policy and having big successes like killing Osama Bin Laden.

And look, four Americans died. This is terrible, but it was a war. I mean, you know, we had a war in Iraq and a war in Afghanistan with a lot more deaths on our side and way more deaths on the other side. Things like this happen in wars. People are expecting an excessive level of success when you say we're never going to have any deaths.

CONCHA: I agree with John.

BALDWIN: The people think it was preventable, if there were real security concerns.

CONCHA: Sure. We're talking in a bubble right now. I swear to god if you go to a party and ask normal folks, people that don't work in jour journalism, what do you think about Benghazi, they like, that club on the upper west side?

CUOMO: When you use negativity as a proxy for insight you get into trouble in this business. You may get people giving you wattage because we love to hate, but you can also get into trouble. That is the concern with Benghazi. Also, the cover of "Time" magazine, the elephant in the room and it's Chris Christie. Is this a fat joke or do you think they're going for spectacle?

CONCHA: This is absolutely a fat joke. This is fat shaming at its very worst. "Time" magazine, by the way, kudos to CNN, kudos to you guys for not pushing this under the rug because Time Warner owns "Time," Time Warner owns CNN.

CUOMO: We do?

CONCHA: That's a big problem now, isn't it? If you did talk about his weight you would learn that reportedly he has lost 70 pounds since he got lap band surgery.

PEIRERA: Doesn't happen overnight.

CONCHA: He's the next Al Roker. As far as looking like a guy that looks to be fit enough to be president. You're trying to sell more magazines, create controversy. Talk about it here on CNN. Guess what, four days later, someone will do a reader, you'll say "Time" magazine has sold more of this edition than they have in three years.

BOLDUAN: Welcome to today, though. It is a bit of the reality. They need to sell magazines just like --

CUOMO: It's how you do it.

BOLDUAN: We need people to watch the show.

BARRO: Chris Christie has to get used to it and he is used to it.

BOLDUAN: He can handle it.

BARRO: There you went again.

BOLDUAN: I'm not making a joke. That's people reading into something I'm saying.

BARRO: You know, I think he just got re-elected with 61 percent of the vote. This hasn't been a big problem for him in New Jersey. I don't think it will be a big problem nationally. I think he knows that. He knows people will comment on his weight, even with his lap band surgery. He's still over weight, not as much as before. It's something voters don't think about enough.

PEREIRA: Fit enough to be president. Define it and does that change now?

CUOMO: One of the big concerns about Vice President Cheney.

CONCHA: What about Hillary Clinton by the way? She fell and hit her head, was hospitalized. Let's see both sides. By the way, elephant in the room means something you don't talk about. With Chris Christie, that's all we've been talking about.

CUOMO: The play was on elephant.

CONCHA: It's amazing, a double whammy.

BARRO: No voter in history said I agree with this candidate on the issues and I think he's the best leader, but I'm not going to vote for him because I think he's underweight.

CUOMO: Are they trying to say he's fat so you must not like him as much? That's why it becomes an ugly think worthy of debate. Glad to have you here.

BOLDUAN: Stick around.

CUOMO: Take a little break. As always, tweet us #newday.

Here's another one for you. Jimmy Kimmel's Halloween prank, made parents laugh, made me laugh, made children cry. Is that always bad? How the joke could have lasting effects. Is that true? We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: "That's not very kind." Welcome back to NEW DAY. A Halloween prank from Jimmy Kimmel, literally taking candy away from babies, it's funny, funny. It's turning up controversies. It's dangerous. Parents tricking their kids into believing they ate their candy, they're damaging them. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The candy monster strikes again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night, we ate every bit of your Halloween candy.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: No! No! It took all day!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Funny, yes, but are these parents taking a joke too far, damaging their children, scarring them. That's why we have a psychologist here Robi Ludwig. Tell me, Robi, it's great to have you.

ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOLOGIST: Great to be here.

CUOMO: Mother and a psychologist.

LUDWIG: Yes.

CUOMO: What do you make of this?

LUDWIG: Well, it's funny because the first time I showed this video my 14-year-old showed it to me because he thought it was funny. Mom, what are you talking about ruining anybody, it's funny, don't you get the joke. But I think it's very different if you are a parent who is tricking a child videotaping the reaction, and actually putting it on the air, or trying to get it on the air. It really shows impaired judgment that you would do that to a child.

PEREIRA: Is it a matter of putting it on the air that you take issue with the most or the fact you're playing pranks on your kids?

LUDWIG: As a parent you're a role model so you're showing your children how they should behave. What do you want to show your kids? I think it's a bit sadistic. There is that sadism I'm going to see my kid cry.

CUOMO: Sadism directed toward your child?

LUDWIG: How could any parent in the morning who is overwhelmed? It could happen. These elements are there, is it going to send a child into 20-year analysis, does it mean the kid is going to have to be on medication, no but the potential to shame or humiliate a child is certainly there, and what are you doing it for, to get 15 minutes of fame? It is not the wisest decision a parent can make.

BOLDUAN: I don't think anyone can really with a straight face jump, too, like you are ruining your child for life if you do this but what are you doing it for which makes me wonder, what is Jimmy Kimmel doing it for?

LUDWIG: He's a comedian.

BOLDUAN: It's funny.

CUOMO: I would be afraid what my kids would do to me if I were to mess with their candy. I think it's funny because I have kids and of the dependence on the candy. That's why it's funny to me as a parent, look how much they care about the damned candy.

PEREIRA: You care about the candy?

PEREIRA: I don't think it's damaging them and showing them their candy, here's your candy, relax.

LUDWIG: Spiking your fear and anger and letting you down that's an unnecessary spike.

CUOMO: It's called life.

LUDWIG: The poor judgment is misleading to get that 15 minutes of fame. That's what I take issue with, not pretending you took your kids' candy.

PEREIRA: I believe that salt would turn green if it wasn't passed along the table with a pepper. My parents played those jokes to teach us manners.

CUOMO: My sister told me a grilled cheese was called a grilled cheese, I did that until 24 that's not the only reason I'm in therapy.

LUDWIG: Look at how healthy you are. This generation of children are going to be putting things on social media and so what message are you sending? These kids whatever they put up are going to leave a technological footprint that's going to follow them. This all needs to be put in context as a parent.

CUOMO: I was winning with the PC then you took the high ground of what you put online and on that I give you, it never goes away.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Robi. Great to see you.

LUDWIG: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: We'll take a break.

COUMO: I need it.

BOLDUAN: Coming up on NEW DAY a massive, historic storm the super typhoon slammed the Philippines with punishing winds at 235 miles an hour. Millions of people are in the path of the destruction. We'll get an update coming from Manila right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: The apologetic president, a new layer of regretful explanations for the struggling health care web site, promises to make it better and to help people who want to keep their plans. We look at whether parts of Obamacare will be delayed after all.

BOLDUAN: Breaking news, what may be the biggest storm ever to make landfall now pounding South Asia, hundreds of millions in its crosshairs. The storm stronger than Katrina and Sandy combined.

PEREIRA: Caught on tape the mayor of Toronto inebriated, threatening to kill people. Will this finally force him out?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

BOLDUAN: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY everyone. It's Friday, November 8th, 8:00 in the east.

We are starting with breaking news this hour, Super Typhoon Haiyan unleashing its wrath on the Philippines. The storm is simply massive. You can see it here covering much of the island nation, too early for reports of damage, but the devastation is expected to be widespread. The wind gust reaching historic levels about 235 miles an hour, per perspective, that's stronger than Katrina and Sandy combined.