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Likely Political Stories of 2014 Discussed; Possibility of Immigration Reform Legislation in 2014 Discussed; Will Other States Follow Colorado's Legalization of Pot?

Aired January 01, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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


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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back to a special edition of NEW DAY. Again, I say let's call it "New Year." It's January 1st after all, 2014, 7:00 in the east. We want to begin, of course by wishing you and yours a very, very happy New Year.

Now, we've already seen fireworks usher in the new year, right? How about political fireworks in 2014? The big player, the big issues everyone is going to be talking about, we'll take it on right here.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And recreational marijuana is now on sale legally in Colorado. Washington state is expected to follow suit at some point. Will other states follow their lead? How soon could that happen? We'll discuss.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: We're also going to take look at the future of medicine. We're expecting to see major advancements and important changes to the products we use, plus explain why telemedicine may be the big thing in 2014.

And the year in film. We preview the new movies and sequels you're going to be hungry for. Find out what's coming up at a theater near you.

BOLDUAN: That and much, much more. First a quick check of the headlines this morning over at the News Desk.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, I'm Ana Cabrera. Thanks for waking up early on this New Year. Here are your headlines for this first day of 2014. Cheers, cheers and tons of confetti, 1 million people packing New York's times square to ring in the new year. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor pressing that button to start the big ball.

In Key West, Sushi, the female impersonator dazzling the crowd at this annual shoe drop tradition at the Bourbon Street Pub.

To Dubai now, an incredible pyrotechnics show officially setting a Guinness world record for the largest fireworks display ever.

A new year brings new hope for peace in the Middle East. Secretary of State John Kerry heading to Jerusalem and Ramallah on this New Year's Day. He'll meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Kerry is said to be bringing a broad proposal outlining what a final Mideast peace agreement might look like. The secretary of state is hoping to negotiate a deal by April.

And a key ruling on Obamacare from the Supreme Court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor issuing an order temporarily exempting two Catholic church groups from the contraception mandate to the new health care law. Sotomayor is giving the Obama administration until Friday to respnd. Now, coverage plans kick in today for Americans who signed up for Obamacare. The administration says 2.1 million people have enrolled now, short of the original target of 3 million.

Along with Obamacare, about 40,000 other new laws went into effect at the stroke of midnight. So starting today, adults without health care face fines and insurance companies are required to cover immunizations and preventative care.

In Colorado, it's not legal to buy recreational marijuana. And 30 stores already selling medical marijuana, opening to a whole new clientele today.

And in Illinois, two new laws limiting the use of drones. One prohibits animal rights groups from using them to interfere with hunters and fisherman, the other prohibits the use of drones by law enforcement without a warrant.

Former first lady Barbara Bush is in a Texas hospital this morning. The 88-year-old is being treated for respiratory related issues according to a family spokesman. CNN's affiliate in Houston says this is connected to early signs of pneumonia. The spokesman says Bush is in great spirits and has had lots of family at her side.

Apple denying it works with the NSA to create a backdoor that would let the agency target iPhone users. Newly leaked documents published on a German website detail the spyware called dropout cheat. This software would apparently allow the NSA to go through text messages, listen to voicemails, and turn on the phone's camera as well as obtain contact information. Apple says it had no involvement or knowledge of this program.

While the minimum wage goes up today in 13 states and 4 different cities, affecting about 2.5 million low-income Americans. Workers in New Jersey will see a dollar increase to $8.25. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York will also see bumps between a quarter and 75 cents an hours. And nine other states will see some increases thanks to annual cost of living adjustments.

Markets are closed today. But stocks ended 2013 with more record highs. The Dow finished at an all-time high for the 62nd time, closing at 16,576. The NASDAQ closed at 4,176. The S&P settled at 1,848, again, a record high.

Let's check the weather this morning. It will be brutally cold for much of the eastern United States over the next couple of days. It's currently 21 degrees in Boston. People in the northern plains and the great lakes waking up to a little snow and single digit or even negative temperatures this morning. We're also tracking a big snowstorm. Right now it's on track to hit the Midwest and the northeast Thursday into Friday.

Thanks for joining us, happy New Year. I'm Ana Cabrera.

CUOMO: So do you think 2013 had its political ups and downs? Brace yourself for 2014 -- can't even say the year because it's too explosive. It's the beginning of an election year in Washington. It's a big deal, plus we have the debt ceiling battle looming. A major Obamacare deadline on the horizon. The president trying to get his second term back on track. Legacy time, we must be walked through it and see what we can expect, see what the flash points may be.

Let's bring in CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Ana Navarro on the right and CNN political commentator and host of "Huff Post Live," Marc Lamont Hill on the left. First, can I get a shout out for how well and quickly I got through your titles.

ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: And we apologize to the people of America for talking politics on New Year's Day.

(LAUGHTER)

NAVARRO: Nothing says hangover -- it's hangover treatment.

BOLDUAN: Just continue drinking, guys. Get that cheese burger and whatever greasy food you need and watch this.

CUOMO: There goes the resolution.

BOLDUAN: We were talking about this with John Avlon as well. What do you think is the biggest political story of the coming year?

MARC LAMONT HILL, HOST, "HUFFPOST LIVE": Of the coming year, Hillary's every move, everything she does, whether she buys a cheese burger, whether she sits on the right or the left, who she speaks to at a meeting. It's all going to be seen as some kind of index of whether or not she is going to run for office. That's all anyone cares about.

NAVARRO: I think it's what happens with Obamacare. Does it get better? Does it get worse? How does it play out in 2014? And I also think who ends up running. I think we'll hear a lot of announcements after the November elections from folks on the Democrat side and also from folks on the Republican side who we've been waiting to hear from.

BOLDUAN: Wouldn't you agree that Obamacare is a huge political story in 2014? President Obama, that basically ruined the end of his 2013.

HILL: Absolutely. He has a lot of grounded to cover in 2014 if he wants to cement his legacy in the short term. He's struggling right now. And one of the challenges is going to be in October when changes happen with Obamacare and people have to look for new coverage and things like that. He's right back in the bulls-eye. It's a great time for people running for office both in 2014 and also 2016 to really beat up on Democrats.

CUOMO: I wonder if the sands shifted with all the calls that came for, all right, Obamacare has trouble, problems, fix it. I wonder if that shifted the sands now. Do you think there's a little bit more pressure on not to beat Obamacare like a pinata but figure out some solutions you can get through.

NAVARRO: I don't know what to tell you, Chris, in an election year, this is what 2014 is, things get very complicated and everything gets more political than we thought it was in 2013. And this Obamacare is a political hot potato. It's really going to hurt a lot of the red state Democrats. A lot of them are nervous about this. Let's see how the corporate mandate, when it goes into effect, works out in October, right around election time, and let's see what kind of willingness the Republicans have to either fix it or not.

HILL: I'm cynical, Chris. I don't think fixing it --

CUOMO: No. Don't smile so much.

(LAUGHTER)

HILL: But I don't think it matters whether Republicans come up with solutions. I think their strategy of blame, blame, blame, blame, obstruct, obstruct, obstruct, it works. It just does. And again, they gave them a gold-plated watch by having a dysfunctional Obamacare --

CUOMO: It works for both parties except, until, and when it goes against the real popular vibe. That's a dangerous thing. We've seen it in politics again and again.

HILL: Absolutely.

CUOMO: Elections state and national. And a lot of it starts with the media. I do know, we're talking New Year's resolutions here. I believe the media should resolve, I know it will be close to our hearts here, to chase and attack these positions that are doing nothing but sustaining political leverage and not doing the work of the people.

HILL: That is a heck of a resolution.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: You look great. The political parties look much worse.

BOLDUAN: We are talking about, people hate to hear it, we're in an election year. Nothing is going to get done, that's what history has proven. Do you think there is possibility that significant legislation, immigration, actually tackling our debt and deficit, could happen?

NAVARRO: I think we'll take a shot -- my friends being cynical again. I think we'll have a shot at immigration reform.

HILL: Piecemeal.

NAVARRO: I don't know what it's going to look like. I don't think John Boehner of the House knows what it's like to look like yet.

CUOMO: It's not going to be one big bill.

NAVARRO: They're not going to rubber stamp the Senate bill. I think they're in the process of trying to crack their own plan, their own deal and their own strategy. If it hasn't happened by early summer I think it's not going to happen.

HILL: They're going to talk about it until June and then all table it because nobody wants to deal with this in an election year. On the budge you will see progress. You're already beginning to see budget resolutions that would have never happened a year ago because nobody wants a shutdown in October or September or November because it looks bad. So you'll see a bunch of stuff happen. But immigration, not a chance. Maybe in 2016.

NAVARRO: At the end of 2013 we saw a new and unplugged John Boehner. Do not underestimate what John Boehner wants to get done this year.

HILL: I don't underestimate what he wants to get done. It's what he will get done.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about that. One of the next big battles coming up is going to be the debt ceiling yet again. Don't roll your eyes. It's back. I'm sorry. We had this bipartisan spirit at the end of 2013, Patty Murray, Paul Ryan coming together, passing something small though symbolic in terms of a budget deal. Can they carry that bipartisanship and the fact that they weren't kicking and screaming and lighting their hair on fire to the end?

HILL: No, because they submit these nonstarters as if they're reasonable.

BOLDUAN: Who's the unreasonable one?

HILL: Paul Ryan. I'm being nonpartisan right now.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Really?

HILL: When you talk about pension benefits for veterans, talk about unemployment extensions, these are things people want. To me they're nonnegotiable. And they want to negotiate on that.

NAVARRO: That's the problem, the nonnegotiable part. Really, I think that if Paul Ryan and Patty Murray showed anything -- let's remember that Patty Murray is progressive. Paul Ryan is a conservative with credibility in the base. They sat in a room, not doing public posturing, not arguing in front of the cameras, not yapping their gums all over the place. They sat down and they negotiated. They gave a little, they took a little. We have forgotten in Washington that is what deal-making looks like. CUOMO: No coincidence that the two people who got it done are in the spotlight right now. The spotlight comes with too much drama, too much hype, too much posturing because we've allowed politics to get so --

NAVARRO: These two can take the heat. If anybody can take the heat, it's Paul Ryan and Patty Murray. They have support of their caucus.

CUOMO: They can get the work done. Here's what I think, by metaphor. When do the kids clean the house? The kids clean the house when they're afraid of what will happen to them if they do not. I think that's what happened here on the budget. I think that's what happened going forward on the debt ceiling. You can say, I don't believe it's Pollyannaish. I believe we saw it in action, that they were afraid of people. I believe the Democrats research shows that saying I will not negotiate on the debt ceiling did not help them or the president. I think everything is negotiable and must be.

NAVARRO: I think the shutdown in October -- October of 2013 was a game changer. People got fed up.

CUOMO: Yes.

NAVARRO: Including people in congress got fed up with letting a small minority kind of wheel them all around the place and try to get them to do their will even though there was no purpose or end to it. So I think people are fed up in America. People are fed up in Congress.

HILL: Only with certain issues. There's no public clamor in terms of how it affects the voting.

CUOMO: True.

BOLDUAN: That's a good point.

HILL: It's unemployment, that's what people care about and that's what you'll see change on.

CUOMO: True.

NAVARRO: I think there's more public clamor on immigration than you're thinking.

HILL: From voters?

NAVARRO: From Hispanics. There are a lot of Hispanic voters. That makes a difference in elections.

CUOMO: Excuse the pun, they better get their Irish up then, because they need to start making this a much more demonstrated cause.

BOLDUAN: Very hard to translate, Cuomo.

CUOMO: Help me out. They have to show --

NAVARRO: Get your Cuban going. CUOMO: They have to show hostility, if you don't act on this, we will punish you.

HILL: I know they care about it, but the question is, are they willing to leverage their votes for it? The answer is probably not.

NAVARRO: They did it in the run-up of the 2012 election. Why do you think President Obama issued the executive order for the DREAM Act?

CUOMO: Follow the template.

NAVARRO: Or did he feel the pressure from Hispanic and knew they were disappointed? It needs to happen again.

HILL: In June both sides sat on their hands --

BOLDUAN: Is there something specific about June?

PEREIRA: We start getting close to re-election.

BOLDUAN: Just wanted to make sure, what am I missing?

NAVARRO: The tides of the moon, the phases of the moon.

CUOMO: You measure the election year in months until summer. In June you get a slide right through to the fall.

BOLDUAN: Happy New Year, you two.

PEREIRA: Happy New Year. We'll be seeing a lot of you this year. This is going to be a good one.

CUOMO: Lord willing. It's good for the American people. We need it. We need it.

BOLDUAN: Love you guys.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, Rocky Mountain high. Today, selling marijuana becomes legal in Colorado. Will other states follow?

CUOMO: And the year ahead in film. A look at the movies you won't want to miss. I'm high on life!

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: I love you two.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right, starting today, selling recreational marijuana is legal in Colorado. Hundreds of weed dispensaries are slated to open across the state. So what does this mean and will more states follow suit?

Joining us for more is CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin. Do we believe the basis of the Colorado state decision is repeatable in other states?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Washington, too. Washington state, too is --

CUOMO: So there's our answer.

TOOBIN: It's happening there. You know, this is a big American experiment. Louis Brandeis famously said the states are the laboratories of democracy. They're going to be the laboratories of weed, you know, these two. And I think there's a lot of curiosity. If you look at public opinion polls, there is growing sympathy for the idea.

PEREIRA: Fifty-eight percent.

TOOBIN: Right -- of legalizing it. But you know, it's very complicated.

BOLDUAN: Right. So what's allowed and what's not allowed? I think people have to be reminded of this.

TOOBIN: In Colorado, the way it's working, is they're very much working on an alcohol model, that stores, dispensaries will apply for permits from the state. You can only buy a small amount, an ounce or less. Obviously, children can't buy it. And everybody's gonna watch and see. You know, what about driving? Are there going to be accidents in the drunk driving mode?

Are children going to get it? Is it going to create some sort of social disorder? Or is it going to create a situation where people who were perceived to be criminals are just living their lives in an ordinary way and it will not -- and of course the state will get a lot of tax revenue from it.

PEREIRA: And compared to Washington, is it the same -- is it an exact replica of what's going on there?

TOOBIN: No. Washington is not fully implemented. They have a much more broad -- much broader program. They're going to be producers who are gonna be regulated there. They're going to try to, I think, do it on a bigger scale, but they haven't put their laws fully into effect yet.

PEREIRA: It's funny because you were talking about how it's sort of this grand experiment. But we've been here. We were here in the '70s in a way, weren't we? We tried some of this legalization stuff out before.

TOOBIN: Not to this extent.

PEREIRA: Not to this extent.

TOOBIN: You had decriminalization of small amounts. That's different from legalization. PEREIRA: Decriminalization and legalization. That's a good point.

TOOBIN: Well, because decriminalization means if we find you with a small amount of pot we're not going to prosecute you.

Legalization means there's stores. You can just walk in and buy pot.

CUOMO: Now that's the window into change here. It's not really going to be about court cases at all. It's going to be about state by state, them deciding that they want to pass this law.

And I will tell you this, I do not believe that in most of the states of this country you can get elected by saying, "I want to legalize marijuana." I think the cultural taboos, the stigmas -- even in New York state, they wanted to decriminalize personal use in the state legislature.

TOOBIN: But I think that's why Colorado and Washington are important. You know, there are a lot of people in this country who smoke pot. And I don't think most of them think of themselves as criminals.

And if Colorado and Washington have an experiment where you don't see social disorder, you don't see social disorder, you don't see a lot of car accidents, you don't see the kind of things people -- kids getting more in trouble, although kids, of course, now still smoke a lot of pot. It's not like they'll suddenly be introduced to it. People are gonna --

CUOMO: Stigma is not always about proof, though, is it?

TOOBIN: It's not, but, you know, I mean, as Michaela said, the stigma is changing. What did you say, 58 percent wanna legalize it?

PEREIRA: Fifty-eight percent. Gallop says 58 percent of people favor legalization. That's --

CUOMO: And I betcha police organizations, I betcha the number would be even higher because they don't want to process the cases they're forced to do right now.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: You want to talk about a racial issue. You know, the big dispute about stop and frisk. Black kids get arrested for pot on a much more widespread extent than white kids do. So you have all these black kids who wind up with criminal records for doing something that white kids do.

I think it is sort of an under the surface civil rights issue that if you legalize it, you even out law enforcement in a way that would, I think -- I think that's a very good argument for it.

BOLDUAN: You have this grand experiment kind of beginning today. And you talk about will you have to wait and see exactly what happens, especially in Colorado and Washington? How much time do you think allows before people say this worked or this is a disaster? TOOBIN: That's a good question. I don't know. I assume it will not be kind of Obamacare, the website doesn't work on day one, everybody knows it's a problem.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, it's gonna be much more --

CUOMO: But there is no "It works." That's the problem will be. It will be nonexistence of a fact. It will be that you don't see these statistics going up.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: California has legalized -- has had these medical marijuana with a very generous definition of medical.

PEREIRA: Very generous definition.

TOOBIN: And they have found that with a lot of more -- a lot of pot being smoked legally in California, that there has not been a lot of the social problems people expected.

PEREIRA: And it takes time for some of that to sort of see, right?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: One of the problems here that cuts against it, is that there is this newer research now that -- not the regular old pot, but the new hydroponic, chemically infused pot, does show in research --

PEREIRA: In younger people.

CUOMO: That's right -- that it does have addictive elements in things that usually were not put (ph), that usually was part of the stigma of marijuana. That may complicate the analysis, as well.

BOLDUAN: The more it's regulated, the more they can control that, though.

TOOBIN: Well, that's true. But also, the issue of kids is gonna be, I think, the big issue. Because if they find that kids are using fake I.D.s to a great extent and buying pot, that's the kind of thing that could kill this experiment.

CUOMO: The chance that that doesn't happen is very small. I mean, that's -- kids are going to get what they want out of it.

TOOBIN: Fake I.D.s are not exactly unprecedented in American history.

BOLDUAN: None of us ever had one.

CUOMO: I was known as Jeffrey Toobin.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: It's so weird! So was I.

CUOMO: The dumb Jeffrey Toobin.

TOOBIN: Mine was McLovin. I had one name.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: A one-named organ donor from Hawaii, McLovin.

BOLDUAN: Jeffrey Toobin, can't top that.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, the doctor will see you now, remotely. The cutting edge medicine coming in 2014.

CUOMO: And they say a bad day fishing beats a good day at the office any day. So I decided to share my love of fishing with Kate and Michaela. You are invited. I'm going to call you Michaela.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back to a special edition of NEW DAY. It is January 1st, 2014. We're going to look at the future of medicine.

But first, let's get a check of the headlines this morning right now at the newsdesk.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. I'm Ana Cabrera. Thanks for starting you new year with us.

It is cold outside there this morning. But frigid temperatures did not stop about a million people from packing Times Square to ring in 2014.

Check out the fireworks in Las Vegas. This display launched from seven different rooftop locations including Planet Hollywood.

London, another dazzling fireworks show, kicking off the new year complete with choreographed banana-flavored edible confetti for the crowd there to snack on.

Rescue efforts to free the stranded passengers in Antarctica are still on hold this morning. They'll now have to wait until Thursday for weather conditions to hopefully improve to try for a rescue attempt which will likely be by helicopter.

Meantime, the 74 people on board ringing in the new year, you can hear, with their own special celebration, singing and dancing.

More fall-out, though, from the government's botched fast and furious firearms operation. Officials now confirming at least weapon recovered from a December 18th shoot-out between police and drug cartel members in Mexico was sold to cartel members by U.S. authorities. American agents sold the firearms to suspected gun smugglers between 2006 and 2011 hoping they could track the weapons to high-profile Mexican drug traffickers.