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New Day Sunday

Columbia, Maryland Gunman Was Carrying Crude Explosives; Egypt's Interim President Expected to Address Country Today; Grammy Preview

Aired January 26, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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


PAUL: All right. You've made it to 6:30 already on a Sunday morning.

BLACKWELL: You're ahead of the game.

PAUL: Yeah, I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Here, five things you need to know for your new day. Up first, police now say the gunman who killed two people and then himself at a mall in Columbia Maryland was carrying crude explosives made from fireworks. And they say that he was heavily armed as well. And police have not yet identified the shooter, but a 21-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man were both employees at a skate shop were killed.

PAUL: Number two, Egypt's interim president is expected to address his country today. This is one day after protesters filled the streets. Now, a lot of the demonstrations proved violent. Ministry officials say at least 49 people were killed and supporters of ousted president Muhammad Morsi clashed with security forces on the third anniversary here of Egypt's Arab Spring revolution.

BLACKWELL: Number three, the French president and the first lady are calling it quits. This happens after weeks of speculation over tabloid reports that Francois Hollande was having an affair with the prominent French actress. The couple confirmed that they're going to split up in separate public statements yesterday.

PAUL: Number four, you've been waiting for it. The Grammys are coming for you tonight and you're in for one heck of a concert. We're talking about Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Daft Punk, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Jay-Z and Beyonce, oh, the list just keeps going and, of course, we're just going to have to wait and see who walks off with the big prizes. But you'll enjoy it in the meantime.

BLACKWELL: Of course, we will. Number five, President Obama is getting ready to give his State of the Union address. That's on Tuesday night. And he's trying to recover political ground after a rough couple of months that saw his approval ratings dip to 43 percent. Now, a senior adviser says the president will lay out proposals to grow the economy and help middle class workers get jobs.

PAUL: OK, we need to get back to, you know, this mall shooting yesterday that was just the latest attack in the string of shootings across the U.S.

BLACKWELL: On Friday, one student was shot and killed at South Carolina State University.

PAUL: On Tuesday, there was a student who was arrested, accused of shooting and killing a classmate in front of witnesses out of Purdue University building.

BLACKWELL: On Monday, a student was shot and critically injured at Widener University. That's near Philadelphia.

PAUL: None of the attacks are considered mass shootings and in cases such as yesterday, the motive just is not clear here. But let's bring in our HLN law enforcement analyst, Mike Brooks.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, we have got Mike Brooks here. And Mike, good to have you with us this morning.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be with you.

BLACKWELL: Help us understand this. So, we talked about not just the weaponry, not the shotgun but also the explosives.

BROOKS: Yeah. It seems that the crude explosives were made out of fireworks. So, you know, we don't know what this guy was going to do, if he would use them as a diversion. Now, because you don't know what was going on in his mind to begin with that brought him to that mall, which seemed like a targeted shooting on the second floor of the mall in Columbia. But no, he didn't use them, but, you know, we've seen crude explosives used in other shootings that we've seen over the last number of years. And this week, it was crazy. It was just nuts because it seems like we're having one almost every single day. And I was almost (inaudible) when we had the one - the Oklahoma - the University of Oklahoma.

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BROOKS: And then, you know, then Purdue right before that. What was going on? It was crazy.

PAUL: Well, I want to ask you about that, because there seems to be, I don't even, I hate to call it a trend, but maybe these people feel emboldened to go out and do things publicly because this thing at the mall does still seem to be targeted at these two people.

BLACKWELL: Right.

PAUL: But why are we seeing so many things happen in public places? I mean has something changed in people's heads that they think this is just how I can do it now?

BROOKS: Well, you know, these shootings that we saw at the colleges and at the mall, it wasn't someone walking into the mall and shooting everybody that they saw. PAUL: Right.

BROOKS: They all seemed like they were targeted. You know, so, with a lot of people, you never know what the shooter is going through. But many times something happened within the last 24 to 48 hours before the shooting that kind of kicks it off for them. Some precipitating of that happens. That's what we usually see. When I was a hostage negotiator and when I was talking to people, you always - when I was talking to them, you'd always see that something happened, usually 24 to 48 hours before that that brought them to that particular state. So, you know, is it something that somebody wants to send a message and someone here - carrying out a vendetta against someone in these shootings that we saw at the Universities and the mall? We don't know. We don't know the motive on all the shootings yet. We don't know the motive for sure yesterday, but, you know, right when it happened, I was on air on CNN and we were talking about it and it sounded to me it was targeted, possibly domestic and we still do not know a motive as of yet.

PAUL: But would you say people are emboldened now to be doing this so publicly as opposed to, you know, dealing with themselves and their private lives behind closed doors?

BROOKS: You know, we see shootings every single day across the country, you know, where people are shot in their houses and apartments. You know, it's murder suicide. Same kind of thing. But these were carried out publicly. Why? We don't know.

PAUL: OK.

BROOKS: Because but usually, as I said, there are some precipitating event that happened right before that and they were coming out there to send a message to someone.

BLACKWELL: Mike, when I leave my house and most people have this. There's this check list. I got my keys, got my phone, I like unplugged the iron.

BROOKS: Right.

BLACKWELL: Do we need a check list as we head into a mall and airport, we need to think, where is the safest place to hide and those things as we go into these public places?

PAUL: And where is the safest place to hide?

BROOKS: Well, you know, I always talk about when no matter where you are whether you're at the beach, whether you're at a movie, at the mall, situational awareness. Be aware of your surroundings. When you go in and you go into a restaurant. As a former cop, I always like to sit with my back to the door seeing people coming in and out, so I have a pretty good picture of everything. But normal people when they go in, just take a look. When you come in, you know, when you go to a movie, right before the movie, to tell you, look where the exits are. In case you need to get out. You should be doing this wherever you go. Look, you don't have to walk around scared all the time, but just have a little bit of situational awareness. You know, and know what's going on around you. And as we always say, if you see something, say something. Absolutely. And that goes anywhere you are. If something tells you in your gut that something just doesn't feel right, let somebody know about it.

BLACKWELL: Because so many times after these shootings you hear from the witnesses, I saw the man there, he was wearing all black clothes or he was wearing something unusual, but I didn't say anything. It just seemed weird to me.

PAUL: People are too afraid to speak up. They don't want to incriminate anybody.

BROOKS: No, and one of my cousins was on the way into the mall yesterday. One of my cousins was on the Colin Camp, was on the way into the mall yesterday, and as she was getting there, somebody told her, hey, there's shots going on inside it. So she turned around and left. My mom called me last night to tell me, yeah, Colleen was on her way into the mall.

PAUL: Thank God she's all right.

BLACKWELL: And that's the truth.

PAUL: Thank you so much for being with us.

BROOKS: Good to be with you.

PAUL: And I know you're coming back and I want to talk to you more about that, you know, gut feeling stuff.

BROOKS: Absolutely.

PAUL: We want to talk more about that a little bit.

BROOKS: Sure.

BLACKWELL: All righty.

A high-profile breakup in a city known for romance.

PAUL: The president of France is a bachelor again. Ladies, just in case you're interested. After the break, though, we're going to give you - I guess we've got all the dirt we found out on Francois Hollande's messy breakup.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: oh, breakups are tough, aren't they? Well, this one is pretty tough because it's so high profile. I'm talking about the relationship between the French president Francois Hollande and his first lady.

PAUL: Yeah, after weeks - you know, there'd been these rumors all over the place by tabloid reports that Hollande was having an affair with a prominent actress. Well, now the president of France announced, he has quote - this is a quote from him, "Ended my shared life with Valerie Trierweller." The first lady tweeted a message to the staff of the presidential palace as well saying that she would, quote, "never forget the devotion or emotion at the time of leaving." And I understand she just very discreetly - we're just getting word, very discreetly left France, got on a plane to go to Mumbai just in the last, I don't know when, hour.

BLACKWELL: No, this was a preplanned trip, but ...

PAUL: Mumbai.

BLACKWELL: She's off now to India. Joining us now to talk about this, CNN editorial producer Nadia Bilchik. Nadia, I mean there've been these whispers and questions and accusations. Finally, some answers about this relationship with the president.

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, to really understand the scenario. Can we look at all the players? So, I want to show you a photograph of the three women in Francois Hollande's life.

BLACKWELL: Oh, boy.

BILCHIK: So, on your left you've got Segolene Royal, and she's the mother of his four children, his long-time partner around 30 years. Then in the middle you have Valerie Trierweller who as of yesterday became his ex-partner. They have been together for about seven years. He left Segolene Royal for Valerie Trierweller and she's actually credited with assisting him becoming president. And then you have the alleged girlfriend Julie Gayet on the far right. So, these three women, and she's the woman, Julie Gayet that he was taken pictures of visiting on his scooter with his helmet on. And that just he visiting the girlfriend. So, he left, take a moment to think about this. He left the partner of 30 years.

PAUL: Right.

BILCHIK: For his partner, he's now left the partner for supposedly the girlfriend.

BLACKWELL: Were either the first two partners legally wives?

BILCHIK: No, he's never been married. But I suppose after 30 years it would become ....

BLACKWELL: A common law wife.

BILCHIK: And then his partner, again. And she became, Valerie Trierweller the premier dame, the first lady of France.

PAUL: Well, yeah, I mean think about it - this would be such a scandal in the U.S.

BLACKWELL: Oh, yeah.

PAUL: For one, with all the women and two, you wouldn't have a president in our country living with somebody he is not married to in the White House. And they would not be allowed in.

BILCHIK: In France. Exactly. Look at Sarkozy. Sarkozy in 2007 five months into his presidency leaves his wife, divorces her and marries Carla Bruni and, of course, very famous of all French presidents for having affairs, is Francois Mitterrand, so Mitterrand, in fact, had a love child with his mistress and at the funeral there you have wife, mistress, love child. But Mrs. Mitterrand always said about Francois's affairs, she said, "At the end of the day, just remember, I am still Madame Mitterrand."

BLACKWELL: You know, I find the timing so interesting because the announcement comes one day after Hollande met with Pope Francis. So he announced the end of the relationship and he has got a visit to the U.S. and the White House coming up soon.

BILCHIK: February 12th. He will meet with Michelle and Barack Obama and, of course, Valerie Trierweller was supposed to accompany him as premier dame, first lady of France. Now, remember, in France it's not an official title. So, here Michelle Obama has a staff, there she doesn't. But I was thinking about Valerie Trierweller on my way in this morning. Here she was so looking forward to this visit. She was supposed to go to India in official capacity today. She's now going as a private citizen. But can you imagine, knowing that your partner is having an affair on an alleged affair and having it to play out so publicly and being the woman who supposedly has been instrumental in getting him elected. She even changed his suits and his hair. And so, she must be going through a very, very tough time right now.

BLACKWELL: However, is it - you said she's the woman for whom he left the first for her.

BILCHIK: He left Segolene Royal.

BLACKWELL: For her.

PAUL: So, you're thinking karma?

BLACKWELL: Listen, the way you get them is the way you lose them.

BILCHIK: Oh ...

BLACKWELL: The way you get them is the way you lose them.

(CROSSTALK)

BILCHIK: Now, will he be alone at the White House? Supposedly he will.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BILCHIK: Will it be with Julie Gayet or will he find someone else by then?

PAUL: It would be quite more - at this point. Would it match to bring somebody else? We'll see.

BLACKWELL: Maybe.

PAUL: Editorial producer Nadia Bilchik, thank you so much.

Walking us through that.

So, guess who is performing at the Grammys tonight?

BLACKWELL: Yeah. "The Beatles": Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr taking a stage on music's biggest night. Oh, I can't wait. It's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: 12 minutes to the top of the hour now. Let's take a look at what is in store for this week ahead. Tomorrow this heartbreaking story in Texas. The court deadline for the hospital to remove a brain dead woman from a ventilator and a feeding tube. The machines there in the hospital. Now, the company that runs the hospital, they fought to keep her heart beating because she was pregnant, but the family argued that Marlise Munoz was dead and the fetus was not viable.

On Tuesday, President Obama his sixth State of the Union address is expected to address immigration reform, Income equality and lay out a modest agenda for the next year.

Coming up on Wednesday the Federal Reserve will give a decision on what to do with the interest rate. It's also the last meeting for outgoing chairman Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen will become the first woman to head the Federal Reserve.

Then on Thursday, get ready to see the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Well, again, the CNN films "The '60s: British Invasion" will air.

And Sunday the big game, the Super Bowl. Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos for face off at MetLife Stadium, as we said a moment ago, not in New York, but in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Get it right. Christi?

PAUL: All right, hey, it's tonight. 56Tth Grammy awards. Everybody is waiting, I know. Big draw of the evening, you were talking about it, Victor, "the Beatles." Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performing tonight. They'll receive the lifetime achievement award and, of course, there's this all-star lineup. We have got Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Madonna. Well, let's bring in, I'll tell you what, a woman who could show them a few things on the red carpet. Wow, Ebony Steele co-host of the Ricky Smiling (ph) money show, and Jimmy Alexander, co-host of Star 94's "Mornings with Cindy and Jimmy." Thank you both for being up early on a Sunday, my goodness.

All right, so, what do you think? Will they perform together, do you think?

EBONY STEELE: Here's the deal, I think me and Jimmy were talking before the show, and this year with the Grammys, it is actually all about the performances and not so much what mom gets to put on her mantelpiece so much. You have the Beatles coming back, you've got some of these - gosh, and when you talk about Beyonce and Jay-Z, there are certain people who will tune in. Who cares about the awards? They just want to see these performances.

PAUL: At the end of the day, does it matter who wins?

JIMMY ALEXANDER: I think five, six years ago they changed the way the Grammys were. They would show who won best polka music, and I'm not kidding. And no one really-

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Not that there is anything wrong with polka, people. We're not taking a shot at you.

ALEXANDER: Okay, there's nothing wrong. OK. Anyway, they said this is a concert and people want to see stars and performers. When you see Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr together, that is impressive. And the only way I think it could be better if two things happen. You can either have Miley Cyrus come out and she can twerk with Ringo, or you have Kanye go, I'm Yeezus, move out of the way. Be great, I'm not kidding.

STEELE: I could see him snatching the mike and saying the same thing about Beyonce's album. She didn't even really - (inaudible), wait a minute, come on, Yeezus, she's not nominated this year.

PAUL: What about Macklemore and Ryan? These guys don't even have an agent and they don't have a producer, a record company behind them.

STEELE: Their first song "Thrift Shop" is really true because they used to shop at thrift shop. Literally. I have to say this, and it may be unpopular, but it's true, no offense, I call this the year of the right white boy. When you talk about Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, there are so many people that are on this docket and I see them doing really, really well.

ALEXANDER: I am hashtagging that. The year of the white boys.

(CROSSTALK)

STELE: You're in this year. You're in.

ALEXANDER: No, this year I'm out. But that's a different story altogether. The great thing about the Grammys, you see performers who you wouldn't put together. I think--

PAUL: So, will we see Beyonce with Madonna?

STEELE: That's going to be a great surprise. I think they're throwing these names out there, and I think we'll be surprised as to how some of these people-

PAUL: How they pair up?

STEELE: Yes, how they may pair up and collaborate together. ALEXANDER: I read Robin Thicke and Chicago are going to be together tonight.

PAUL: You did not.

ALEXANDER: I swear.

STEELE: Are you making stuff up?

ALEXANDER: Would I lie to you? No, I would not lie to you.

PAUL: Robin Thicke and Chicago?

ALEXANDER: I kept reading it over and over. Is this a joke? Is this a joke? But they put performers that you wouldn't automatically put together. That would be a show. Now, if Madonna and the material girl and then the Queen B, Beyonce, got on one stage, I think that would explode.

(CROSSTALK).

STEELE: That would really do it, especially if we added Nicki Minaj or somebody like that. That would be a whole another story.

ALEXANDER: Those egos on one stage.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: What about Jay-Z? He is nominated in nine categories, but none of the big ones. Are you surprised by that?

STEELE: I think that happens sometimes. Sometimes when you have an album in a year that comes out and you have so many new people, and new -- you have to think about it, we're in a microwave society now. Everything's quick. So many people turn out from just being on Youtube or the Internet, and that sometimes -- you have to think about the academy and the people who chooses the awards. When you balance that all out, he leads with nine nods, but I wonder how many nods he is really going to have at the end of the night.

ALEXANDER: The history of the Grammys, they pick the strangest songs as best record. If you go back in the '70S, "Afternoon Delight" won all the awards. That was one album. Christopher Cross, "Sailing," that won all the awards and then he was gone. Somebody like Justin Timberlake. Has he won a lot of Grammys? I think tonight you'll see him win a lot of stuff, but not the major awards.

STEELE: And then people like Bruno Mars who is performing at the Super Bowl, some of the categories he's in because he has so much visibility right now. You wonder, is he going to win simply because of that? You just have to think about those things.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: We didn't even get to talk about who will be on the naughty list, we ran out of time. That's okay, we'll have you come back. ALEXANDER: "Downton Abbey" is on tonight. Hashtag, gaymanproblems.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: "Housewives" is also on tonight. "Housewives," "Downton Abbey."

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: I'm so excited. I just realized my co-anchor watches "Housewives."

BLACKWELL: Oh yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Thank you for being here. Come back any time. We had so much fun.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk movies. Leonardo DiCaprio, movie star, put him on television, cameo on "Saturday Night Live" last night, and he has a special formula to help Jonah Hill with his stage fright. Wait until you see this, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: This is funny. Actor Jonah Hill hosted "Saturday Night Live" last night and has been nominated for an Academy Award for his performance opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street."

PAUL: But he comes out bragging about his own role in the movie and says DiCaprio got the role because Hill asked Scorsese to add him in, only to realize DiCaprio heard every word he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEONARD DICAPRIO, ACTOR: Why don't you just be honest about what you're doing right now. Seriously.

JONAH HILL, ACTOR: I was like being a big shot.

DICAPRIO: What did we say about acting like a big shot in public like this?

HILL: We said that like, like I shouldn't do it. Like I shouldn't do it, ever.

DICAPRIO: Right. And what should you do instead?

HILL: Just like try to like be the best version of me or whatever. Hey, Leo, remember when we were on set and I would get really nervous?

DICAPRIO: Yeah, yeah, I remember.

HILL: Can we do the thing that we always did every day, the thing that made me feel safe? DICAPRIO: Is it going to help you be less nervous?

HILL: Yeah.

DICAPRIO: Yes, sure we can do it.

HILL: Thanks, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Oh, my goodness.

BLACKWELL: I love it. I loved Jonah Hill since "Super Bad." Hilarious.

PAUL: That is awesome.

Thank you so much for starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: The next hour of "Your New Day" starts right now.

PAUL: All right. Good morning, everybody.