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Athletes Arrive at Olympics Amid Terror Fears; FAA Orders Safety Checks on Boeing Aircrafts; Eyeing Markets After Worst Week; The Grammys Highlights; Florida Congressman Radel Resigning; Billionaire Says Attacking Rich Like Targeting Jews; Temps Up to 30 Degrees Below Normal

Aired January 27, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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


CHRIS CUOMO, NEW DAY HOST: All right. Let's get you to the "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello down in Washington -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks, guys. Have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

And good morning. Thank you so much for joining me, I'm Carol Costello in Washington this morning, and we do have breaking news.

Republican Congressman Trey Radel of Florida is quitting. Back in October Radel was arrested for drug possession in a sting operation when he purchased over three grams of cocaine from an undercover federal agent. Radel took some time off from Congress to go into rehab. He apologized and apologized to constituents, trying to explain that alcoholism led to the cocaine use.

Lisa Desjardins is following the story. She'll have more on this announcement in just a few minutes.

Athletes are starting to arrive for the Olympics in Sochi, Russia amid new terror threats in the country with more than 10,000 American athletes and their families expected there. U.S. officials are taking no chances. They're moving war ships in and putting evacuation plans into place.

Our senior international correspondent Ivan Watson -- Ivan Watson rather is live in Sochi. Tell us more, Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, a massive Russian security force presence here in Sochi, the site of the upcoming games. I'm going to give you a little bit of a look around the area. We've seen Russian Navy ships patrolling right off the coast here in the waters of the Black Sea. Very close to the Olympic park that was just constructed at a cost of billions and billions of dollars by the Russians for hosting these games.

A show of force perhaps in response to some of the terrorist threats that have come in recent days, in fact, to the Olympic Games, particularly from the troubled region of the Caucasus.

Now the war ships have been patrolling here in the waters of the Black Sea as the sun is setting. Now you can see -- we're going to pan across the area of the Olympic park, the white dome of the fish stadium where the opening and closing will be held. And there you can see in the distance here the Olympic torch, which is burning while athletes continue to carry the torch across Russia, they have traveled today to troubled region of Dagestan which is battling in Islamist insurgency where it was carried through a stadium under intense security.

And Carol, I'm going to keep doing this show and tell here. Panning across this area of Sochi, past new buildings, hotels, residents that have been built for athletes, for journalists, for entourages. And pan up to the mountains you can see here with insight of the Black Sea there is snow in those mountains.

There was a lot of concern that perhaps it's too warm here and there wouldn't be enough snow for the Olympics. As you can see fortunately it has dumped snow which is good for these winter games.

Back to you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll check back with you next hour.

Ivan Watson reporting live from Sochi, Russia this morning.

The Federal Aviation Administration is taking action over concerns pilots could lose control of Boeing 767s on takeoffs and landings. They are ordering safety checks on more than 400 of the popular jets that have carried millions of travelers across the Atlantic over the -- over the last three decades.

CNN's Rene Marsh joins me live with the latest from that front.

Good morning, Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, the 767 is one of Boeing's popular jets for those flights across the Atlantic but this concern surrounds a part in the tail of the plane that could jam and cause the pilot to lose control. So what they've done today is they've mandated that all carriers replace that potentially faulty part.

But for some perspective here this potential issue has never actually caused a plane crash or any other incident and it has been a known problem since 2000. As for the manufacturer's part they have largely address the issue through inspections. But what is new today is the FAA is mandating that everyone replace this potentially faulty part and by replacing it these carriers and manufacturers won't have to inspect the plane as often because obviously the part won't be there anymore -- Carol.

But the big takeaway here for the most part this issue has been addressed so if you are boarding that 767 the chances are you're just fine on your plane -- Carol. (LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Thank goodness for that.

Rene Marsh reporting live from Washington this morning.

Imagine being stuck on a boat with more than 600 sick people all fighting a violent stomach illness. It's disgusting and it's happening right now and what can only be described as a nightmare vacation.

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship is cutting its 10-day trip across the high seas early and bringing the 15-deck ship back home to New Jersey in an unbelievable streak of bad luck, one passenger says the same thing happened to him two years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never come back again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not on this cruise line.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were here with them two years ago. The same thing. Ship was overrun with this sickness. You know, any -- sickness can happen but it's the most disorganized trip I've ever been on in my life. I'm almost 80 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Cause of the illness is not immediately clear, though the outbreak comes at the wake of another Royal Caribbean ship in the headlines last week for a norovirus outbreak.

Today in Columbia, Maryland, the shopping mall re-opens two days after a gunman walked into a store and killed two people and then killed himself. Police are pouring through a journal left behind by the gunman, 19-year-old Darion Marcus Aguilar. They are still not sure if he knew his victims, 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo, and 25-year-old Tyler Johnson.

Today their families are struggling to make sense of what makes no sense at all.

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SYDNEY PETTY, TYLER JOHNSON'S AUNT: With Tyler, we have lost a kind, positive who reached out to help others in need and he made a difference. It's so unbelievable. Our prayers are with him. The other victims. And all the people who have been touched by this senseless violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Police say Aguilar legally bought the 12-gauge shotgun back in December. Investigators say he was also carrying a backpack with two homemade bombs but both were disabled.

Edward Snowden is making headlines again this morning. Lobbying out new accusation about Washington's secret surveillance programs. Snowden tells a German public broadcaster ARD that the NSA's spying also included industrial espionage. He said companies were targeted even if there was no threat to national security and Snowden says U.S. officials want to have him killed.

He says, quote, "These people and they are government officials have said they would love to put a bullet in my head or poison me when I come out of the supermarket and then watch me die in the shower," end quote.

Investors are keeping a close eye on markets this morning after a brutal close Friday. The Dow dropped more than 300 points topping the worst week since 2011. Already overseas stocks are plunging.

So how soon before the market bounces back?

CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us from New York to tell us, because you are all knowing.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, man, if I were all knowing -- look it looks as though we've broken the cycle at least for now, Carol, because the Dow futures are up 50 points so you saw this thing go around the globe and then overnight Asia started the week with these big ugly losses.

But for now it looks like things will be stable here. Searching for stability. That's what it looked like overseas. You know, it's not going to be as easy this year as it was last year.

Carol, last year you just stood there and you made money if you were in the stock market. The Dow was up almost 30 percent. We haven't had a meaningful pull back as you pointed out since 2011? So is this the beginning of that?

Dow is down 4.2 percent so far for the year. A really rough stat to the year for a lot of reasons. The tone has turned negative here and this morning as I go through all the notes from the stock market experts they are all trying to get a sense of whether this is something that will continue to feed on itself and get a little bit worse or whether these are buying opportunities.

And right now there's a lot of notes out this morning saying overall they think this will turn out to be a buying opportunity.

But, Carol, this bull market is five years old. The S&P 500, that's the broadest gauge of stocks in your 401(k), right? It has tripled over the past five years. Look at that chart. You've only seen a couple three or four meaningful pullbacks.

COSTELLO: Wow.

ROMANS: Could this another one or Is this the start of a more difficult time for stock market investors. No one knows for sure. But at least for this morning things look a little more calm.

COSTELLO: OK. I'll take that. Christine Romans, thanks so much. We'll check with you again when the markets open in just about 20 minutes.

ROMANS: Sure.

COSTELLO: The Grammys titillated, entertained and oh yes, Beyonce and Jay-Z did perform together.

Oh, yes. But the big winners were Record of the Year, Daft Punk with "Get Lucky". Daft Punk also took Album of the Year with Random Access Memories. 17-year-old Lorde took home Song of the Year with "Royals." And this year's Best New Artist Grammy went to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

But the moment that created the biggest buzz perhaps was this mass wedding. Thirty-three couples, gay, straight, interracial got married to Macklemore's gay anthem, "Same Love."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEEN LATIFAH, SINGER/ACTRESS: As you take each other as spouses, by the power vested in me by the state of California, I now pronounce you a married couple.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yes, it's not every day that Queen Latifah like officiates your marriage.

Organizers say this mass wedding was not a political stunt but some conservatives took it that way. The "Drudge Report" dubbing the Grammy the "Gaymmys."

With me now, Mikael Wood from the "Los Angeles Times."

Good morning.

MIKAEL WOOD, MUSIC WRITER, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Hi, how are you?

COSTELLO: I'm good. So it's interesting that this mass marriage took place very late in the show. Do you think the producers did that on purpose?

WOOD: Sure. I think, you know, if you got a hot button segment in your show, you might make sense to put it after what the kids are in bed or, you know, put it after the 11:00 p.m. hour. I think that was no coincidence for sure. COSTELLO: No -- well, I asked that because some conservatives object to Macklemore's songs because its lyrics say, in part, well, they say it trashes right-wing conservatives. But I tend to think that's not really the Grammy's audience anyway.

WOOD: Right. I mean, I think the Grammys -- they know their audience. This is a -- you know, a bit that was going to go over pretty well and was really pretty well done. I mean, whether or not you're a fan of Macklemore I think it was a pretty sweeping segment to have on the show last night for sure.

COSTELLO: Yes. A lot of people were touched in the audience as well.

WOOD: Yes.

COSTELLO: So let's get back to the music because supposedly that's what really matters when you watch the Grammys.

WOOD: Supposedly. Yes.

COSTELLO: Biggest moment -- supposedly. Biggest moment of the night in your mind?

WOOD: You know, I'm going to go with Lorde doing "Royals." This is a 17-year-old performer, someone who probably a year ago was playing in clubs or maybe even smaller. Now she's on one of the biggest stages that you could have as a musician. And so totally poised. So totally in the moment. Letting there be a long stretches of virtually silence.

I think that you just saw such a confidence that was pretty amazing to see from someone so young.

COSTELLO: Well, the other amazing thing about her, she was actually had clothes on. That was one thing. Most of the female performers did not. Right?

WOOD: True. True.

COSTELLO: And you could see her singing because so many of the performers, they had that fake fog machine going and you couldn't really tell whether the singers were singing or not and I kind of wanted to know.

WOOD: Yes. I mean, Lorde is giving you a little bit -- stripping away some of the artifice. I mean, you know, look, it's an act, it's a persona. It's -- she's no less interested in show business than anyone else but her version of it is a little bit more stripping away the artifice, stripping away the spectacle or at least the spectacle that we're used to. And I think she's getting, you know, really a kind of dangerously good at it especially at an awards show where I think she really stands out.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Dangerously good at it in a good way.

OK, so the musician in your mind who lost out. WOOD: I think I probably got to go with Kendrick Lamar, the great L.A. rapper, another young guy who was up for a ton of awards and lost them all including several to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis which, you know, even after the show Macklemore went on Twitter and posted sort of an apology to Kendrick about having taken the Best Rap Album award from him, which he's kind of right.

Kendrick's record was much more thoughtful, much more interesting, much more adventurous. I think that he definitely, you know, kind of got robbed here.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for your insight, Mikael Wood from the "L.A. Times." We appreciate it.

WOOD: Happy to do it.

COSTELLO: Still ahead in the NEWSROOM why Jay Leno's wife says she does not like Conan O'Brien.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Following that breaking news out of Washington that I told you about at the top of the hour, the Republican Congressman Trey Radel of Florida is quitting. Back in October he was arrested for drug possession in a sting operation when he purchased over three grams of cocaine from an undercover federal agent.

Radel took off some time from Congress to go into rehab. He apologized and apologized to constituents, explaining that alcoholism led to the cocaine use.

Let's go CNN political director Mark Preston for more on this.

So why did he finally decide to resign?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, Carol, we're still really trying to figure out the details of why he decided to step down. We expected him not run for re-election in November anyway.

However I've been on the phone with folks down in Florida as well as here in D.C., just in the past 15-20 minutes, and they are telling me that, in fact, the investigation into him, into him buying that cocaine was moving along at a very quick pace. Perhaps he wanted to get out of Congress before other things more embarrassing could be unveiled.

In addition we're told this was quite a strain on his family. He has a young child. His wife stood by his side when he gave that press conference, very bizarre press conference where he answered a lot of questions but it seemed like the strain in end, Carol, was just too much.

Trey Radel will step down. This will be a Republican seat. We expect to it be a Republican seat.

For our viewers out there in terms of geography, this is located just south of Tampa down to the Naples area, a very affluent and a very conservative area.

I have to say one thing, there will be a lot of people running for this, Carol. But one person who might have the front-runner status at this point is the state Senate majority leader. She's a woman, Lizbet Benequisto (ph). If she were to win the race at a time when the Republicans are getting rid of perhaps one of their problems with Trey Radel they would be bringing another woman into their fold.

So there you are, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Mark Preston. Many thanks to you.

It is open warfare in San Francisco between the haves and have-nots and one quarter people like billionaire venture capitalist Tom Perkins who actually said, "Demonizing the rich is like demonizing the Jews in Nazi Germany."

Really?

Perkins wrote this in a letter to "The Wall Street Journal," quote, "I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its 1 percent, namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American 1 percent, namely the rich."

Now in the other corner, middle class San Franciscans who say they are being pushed out of San Francisco by their wealthy neighbors.

Vicky Ward is a contributing editor with "Vanity Fair." She joins us now to talk about this.

Welcome, Vicki.

VICKY WARD, EDITOR, "VANITY FAIR": Hi, Carol, how are you?

COSTELLO: Good. We're glad you're here. You've written a series of in-depth articles on the 1 percent. Perkins, he's not ashamed of what he said. He said he would say it again. I mean, seriously?

WARD: Well, Tom Perkins, the last time I remember really hearing his name was when he wrote a book, a novel called "Sex and the Single Zillionaire." He's clearly a very eccentric man.

And I think what's interesting, if you really look at the sort of short letter he wrote to "The Wall Street Journal," he goes on to talk not just about the war on the 1 percent as he sees it, but about how upset he is about the way the "San Francisco Chronicle" has called his ex-wife, Danielle Steele, the romantic novelist, a snub, this despite all her good charitable works.

So what I think you have to really see this is is an 82-year-old billionaire with a lot of time on his hands who has had a glass of merlot at a dinner party and he's annoyed and he's expressing his irritation in a way that is obviously completely inappropriate and shows how out of touch he is with what's really going on.

COSTELLO: But why did "The Wall Street Journal" print this guy's letter, then?

WARD: I think they must have thought it was a gift. They probably wanted him to write longer.

How often do you get an 82-year-old billionaire who is a name in the corporate world, you know, sending off missiles like this with incredibly offensive language?

They probably said could you make it three times as long? Let's hear what you really think.

It clearly will offend everybody and "The Wall Street Journal" thought let him, you know, let's hear what he wants to -- really put it out there.

COSTELLO: Well, there's something strange going on in San Francisco, I must say, because Perkins isn't the only wealthy San Franciscan to enrage the middle class.

The CEO of Angel Hack wrote on his Facebook page about the homeless -- I'm going to quote here. This is what he wrote on his Facebook page about the homeless.

Quote, "The difference is in other cosmopolitan cities the lower part of society keep to themselves. They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet and generally stay out of your way. They realize it's a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests. And that's OK."

Now he came back and he apologized for writing that, but obviously not all wealthy people are this clueless.

So what should we make of what's going on in San Francisco right now?

WARD: Well, I think San Francisco, a bit like Tom Perkins, is a bit of a bubble itself. You have all of these technology companies with their own very strong cultures.

I did write a piece about Hewlett-Packard when it was in the midst of its massive proxy fight back in 2001 and there was agony across Silicon Valley and San Francisco as it had to confront change.

You had all these people who aren't just rich but they're in the technology sector. There's a lot of change going on. It's their own little microworld, their own little microcosm and I think what we're really seeing is a little bit of reflection of that. I don't think it says anything else about the rest of the country.

COSTELLO: I hope not.

Vicky Ward, contributing editor for "Vanity Fair," thank you so much for sharing your insight this morning. We appreciate it.

WARD: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM the wind howls and the mercury falls. Indra Petersons has the latest blast of bitter cold.

Good morning.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Right now it feels almost like 40 below in Minneapolis but this cold air will not stay in the Midwest. We'll tell you how far it will reach and for how long, coming up next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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COSTELLO: This morning the eastern half of the country is divided into two groups.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO (voice-over): That even sounds cold. Millions of people are shivering in the latest blast of winter and millions more who are just hours away from plunging into a deep freeze of their own.

Right now temperatures are as much as 30 degrees below normal in the Northern Plains and Midwest. In some places like Chicago today's high temperature won't even break zero so Chicago shut down schools for the day and that arctic air is heading south.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN meteorologist Indra Petersons is in our Weather Center.

Really?

PETERSONS: Forget 30 below normal, try 30 below zero on top of that. Right now Minneapolis feels like almost 40 below. If you're waking up in Chicago right now, 22 below zero. That's the wind chill.

Unfortunately this cold air is spreading farther to the south today and tomorrow straight into the Northeast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETERSONS (voice-over): Another round of frigid arctic air is already gripping the Midwest. Today it moves down the East Coast and by Tuesday it flows into the Deep South. The bitter cold system will bring another round of subzero temperatures.

This morning schools in Chicago, Milwaukee and parts of Minnesota and Iowa closing their doors and asking parents to keep their kids home. Wind chills of 30 below in Chicago are forcing officials to action.

MIKE CHAPIN, CHICAGO SCHOOL SYSTEM: There's too much of a danger of them getting frostbite or hypothermia. PETERSONS (voice-over): In northern Texas Mother Nature is leaving many with weather whiplash. It was in the 70s on Sunday and just 24 hours later temperatures expected to plummet around 30 degrees.

These cities saw subzero temperatures way below average this month, and the worst has yet to come, a mounting concern for families in the Midwest who rely on propane to heat their homes. Shortages and price increases making it hard for 12 million Americans to stay warm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are people that are down to 5 percent, 10 percent and with this cold weather coming up, they are going to be out.

PETERSONS (voice-over): In New Jersey, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks are arriving in the area for Sunday's Super Bowl game. The menacing winter weather has officials anxiously monitoring the forecast. They need to decide by the end of the week whether to move up the date of the game or change its time.

As of today, the forecast says a chance of snow for the weekend, but just cloudy conditions during game time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PETERSONS: A lot of people have been asking is this the coldest air we've ever seen? No. We're actually very far off from the records that are out there today. But regardless if it feels cold you know we're still dealing with it in the next 48 hours.

Let's put in perspective. Remember that huge ridge on the West Coast? Anchorage, Alaska, today, looking for a high of 40 degrees. Then you go to Chicago where we're talking about temperatures at 1 below.

COSTELLO: That just isn't right. There's nothing we can do about it. Thank you so much, Indra Petersons.

All right. Let's head to Wall Street now. You're looking at live pictures of the opening bell. Investors are holding their breath this morning after stocks tumbled Friday, closing out the worse week for the S&P 500 since 2012. Ooh!

Christine Romans and Alison Kosik are at the New York Stock Exchange.

So Alison, the bell just rung. What are traders saying to you?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The bell is ringing now and it looks like we're going to start off with some red arrows, although it was expected we'd start off in the green.