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New Day

Sinaloa Druglord Captured; Comcast and Netflix Partnership; Assessing The Sochi Olympics

Aired February 24, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST: That's Jason Collins, becoming the first openly gay athlete to compete in a major professional sport in the U.S. The 7-foot center played 12 minutes, pulled down a couple of rebounds last night in a 108-102 victory over the LA Lakers. He received a warm welcome from the folks at Staples Center when he entered the game in the second quarter.

To Ukraine where a warrant has reportedly been issued for the arrest of the ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. The charge is mass murder. Where he is is unclear. Lawmakers in parliament trying to restore calm, denouncing the Yanukovych for the deadly crackdown on the government protesters. They appointed Alexander Turchynov as interim president. Parliament is expected to elect a national unity government by tomorrow.

We could hear this week from Bernie Madoff's long-time secretary who plans to take the stand this week and defend herself in court. Annette Bongiorno is one of five former Madoff employees charged with fraud for their alleged roles in a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of $20 billion.

She and four other defendants all claim they were duped by Madoff and had no idea he was defrauding clients.

A 110-year-old British woman thought to be the oldest holocaust survivor has died. In 1943, Alice Herz-Sommer, called Gigi by her family, was sent to a concentration camp in what is today the Czech Republic. She and her son were freed from captivity in 1945.

A trained pianist, Herz-Sommer had a long and accomplished career as both a musician and a teacher. A documentary about her life, "The Woman in Number Six," is nominated at this year's Academy Awards.

In Missouri, an epic 66-round, 5-hour spelling bee called off because organizers ran out of words. After 19 rounds, just two out of 25 contestants were left. An 11-year-old, Sophia Hoffman and 13-year-old Kash Kasharma (ph), 47 rounds later, they were both still spelling. They were both still spelling five hours later.

The contest apparently will pick up next month. The winner will then head to the national spelling bee in Washington and this is going to be one to watch.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: What do they do?

PEREIRA: They ran out of words.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Use your words, Chris. Don't have any more.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: What do you mean they don't have anymore.

PEREIRA: They have the list of words they are able to use.

CUOMO: So there's a defined list.

Oh, OK.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: You can't say, here is dictionary.

PEREIRA: OK, here's a word they had: schadenfreude.

CUOMO: Oh. That's a German word. It means joy at other people's sorrow.

BOLDUAN: I didn't think that there was --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: S-C-H-A-D-E-N-F-R-E-U-D-E.

BOLDUAN: There would have to be an E-U --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Did the producer just spell it in your ear?

CUOMO: No.

BOLDUAN: Oh. Cheater.

He has good resources, though. I'll say.

CUOMO: No, they only give me wrong information in my head.

How did you do at spelling bees when you were coming up through school? Did you have any?

PEREIRA: I did pretty decent. One of my --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: -- no, no, no, actually --

BOLDUAN: This is a source of my insecurity. One of my saddest memories was my first and last spelling bee. I spelled bamboo, forgot an O and I'll never --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Did you? Because were thinking of what, booze?

BOLDUAN: I don't know. I was in the third grade and I will never forget that. I have never forgotten that.

CUOMO: Booze has two O's.

PEREIRA: (INAUDIBLE), which is --

BOLDUAN: The telling part of --

CUOMO: We use the word all the time.

I was terrible at it, spelling bees. I had nothing.

All right. Viewers are now bored of this conversation. OK. Move on.

All right. If you can -- I can spell bored -- B-O-A-R-D. All right.

So we have new details for you this morning on this big-time arrest of Mexico's most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin Guzman, known as El Chapo or "short squat one." It's also a name for porridge, but it probably referred to his height.

Anyway, he was captured by dozens of soldiers and police at a Mexican beach resort. Guzman had eluded police for 13 years after breaking out of prison. This morning we're finding out about his life on the run and the key role the U.S. played in his arrest as American officials are fighting to have him face justice on U.S. soil. CNN's Ted Rowlands is in Chicago with more.

Ted?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Thousands of families, both here and Mexico have been absolutely devastated because of this guy and the Sinaloa drug cartel. Well, this morning he is finally facing justice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS (voice-over): After alluding capture for more than a dozen years, how did authorities nab Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the world's most ruthless drug lord?

Focusing on five wiretaps, the DEA, U.S. Immigration and Mexican officials tracked Guzman down to this hotel in Mazatlan, Mexico. Also arrested, Carlos Hoo Ramirez, Guzman's alleged communication conduit, who authorities say was carrying multiple cell phones.

In the end, it was a single wiretap linking authorities directly to where Guzman was staying, room 401. Federal prosecutors want him extradited to face trial in the U.S. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do think, though, the biggest problem in our convincing Mexican authorities to send him back to the United States is that he's a Mexican national. Most of his killings have taken place on Mexican soil and certainly a lot of Mexican families would like to see him tried and incarcerated in Mexico.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Guzman is known for his evasiveness. Just last week police raided one of his compounds while Guzman was still inside. The drug lord fled through a secret door beneath a bathtub, disappearing in a network of tunnels connecting him to his other six homes nearby.

Dubbed public enemy number one by Chicago's Crime Commission, a title once held by Al Capone, indictments have been filed in four states against Guzman and his lieutenants. The U.S. attorney general says the drug kingpin contributed to the death and destruction of millions of lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He escaped from a prison in 2001. There is corruption that country. And I would ask that the Mexicans consider extraditing him to the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: And it's unclear if federal prosecutors here in the U.S. will get a crack at Guzman. One thing to consider, Chris and Kate, Mexico does not have the death penalty and they will not extradite anybody to a country that faces the death penalty. That could be a factor in the decision process.

BOLDUAN: Could be a big factor. After 12 years on the run, a big success for both Mexico and the U.S., I would say.

Ted, thank you so much.

We're talking about another round of bitter cold moving in for most of the country. Despite what really has felt like soaring temperatures. I was completely inappropriately dressed. I was way overdressed this weekend. Hit pause; I corrected it before you could think about -- moving on.

Conditions are set to drop back to the teens, even the single digits in some places.

Meteorologist Indra Petersons is here to save me from myself.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: But it felt so good out there. It was so nice for like 24 hours. And now we know it's going to cool down again. For those not watching my forecast, you are going to be inappropriately dressed because it's going to get cold.

Look at these temperatures. We're going to about 20 degrees below normal. Chicago by Wednesday, 10 degrees as your high. And it's not just hanging out in the Midwest. Boston, you're in the 20s by Wednesday. All the way down to the south, Dallas, Charlotte also just the 40s by Wednesday. Each day successively getting worse than the day before. If that's not bad enough, Tuesday through Wednesday, remember that snow that we melted? We're going to add a little bit, not too much more, but enough, a couple inches, maybe three inches out toward D.C.

Keep in mind, I have one piece of good news. Ridge of high pressure bringing that exceptional drought or extreme drought to about 15 percent in California. That's changing. They are finally going to be getting rain, not one but two bad boys are making their way through.

You got something, Michaela?

PEREIRA: Michelle and I are going to be in L.A. this weekend. So yes, of course, it's going to rain.

PETERSONS: Of course, you are. But that was my attempt to spin it.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: They needed it.

CUOMO: Science has been obsessing about how dry it is out west, so that is good news. They were at a real risk for fire.

PETERSONS: They need it. They need it. Sorry, bad timing, Michaela.

PEREIRA: (INAUDIBLE).

CUOMO: Coming up on NEW DAY, stream shows online, of course, you do. Frustrated by buffering? Netflix and Comcast in a first-of-a-kind agreement between a cable company and a video provider say they are going to make streaming easier. The question is, what will easier cost you? We'll tell you.

BOLDUAN: And it was a spectacular end to the Winter Olympics. So after all of it, how did Russia do? We're going to ask the sports experts about it just back from Sochi.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: OK, welcome back to NEW DAY. It's money time. A new deal could mean streaming movies on Netflix could be faster -- see why I got one eye shut? -- for some customers, not everybody. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here to break it down and explain it.

So how does it work? What's the deal? Who is it between?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: For some customers, but maybe it's a start, kind of a landmark agreement between Comcast and Netflix. So no more slowing down for those customers of "House of Cards" that you're trying to stream. You can't watch it, it's buffering, it's got all these speed bumps. This is a deal that would connect Comcast and Netflix directly and take out the middle man. And apparently that's going to be better for you and your viewing pleasure.

PEREIRA: OK, so here's the deal. We know that Netflix is on the rise. In the evening hours it's kind of clogging up the old interweb.

ROMANS: They have a third of the traffic in those pipes that carry all that stuff.

PEREIRA: And there's only so much room.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: That means the rest of the folks that don't have this deal are going to see the buffering, buffering, buffering.

ROMANS: Or someone is going to have to spend more billions of dollars to make the pipes bigger.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: But what does that mean? If you don't have Comcast?

BOLDUAN: So what about Verizon?

ROMANS: So this is seen as the beginning of other agreements. We expect there will be more agreements. So we'll eventually not just be Comcast customers, but hopefully they will figure out how all of us can get this without the buffer.

The question is here as the cable companies are building bigger pipes, who is going to pay for it?

It costs a lot of money.

Do these cable companies pay for it? Do the Netflix, the people --

CUOMO: You know the answer to that. Come on. Answer the question.

ROMANS: Most people think eventually this means the more you use, the more you're going to pay.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Does that mean they didn't plan ahead? They didn't anticipate this much usage?

ROMANS: I think this shows us all new technologies, we are gobbling it up. It costs more and takes up more bandwidth to make it. And they are trying to figure out who's going to --

CUOMO: We are going to pay. And then once you get some scale to the competition, then the prices will start to come down.

BOLDUAN: Maybe. CUOMO: But as they are ramping up and being who -- deciding who is the best infrastructure wise, we're going to pay. It's going to go up.

PEREIRA: And we're stuck with Netflixus interruptus which happened to me over the weekend.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: You gave a really good analogy about like a tap with water.

ROMANS: So here's the thing. When we're streaming video or using the stuff that you can on the Internet, you want to turn on the switch and the lights go on. Or turn on the faucet and the water comes out.

And so to think about I have to pay more for something or less than something, but here's the thing, the more water you use, the more you pay. The more electricity you use, the more you pay.

So how are we going to figure out what the pricing structure is for me for how much I use?

CUOMO: And why are you so fascinated by this?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: You know you're going to pay more to get more. They do it now. When you pick your speed online, you pay more.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: How we view the internet, we still view the internet as kind of free and for everyone and it's kind of changing. You're now paying for some of your news website subscriptions. You can't get all access all the time all for free. It's kind of changing that relationship.

PEREIRA: We want to know that when I turn on the tap, it's a full stream not a trickle.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's the difference. that's the important part.

CUOMO: But they get you now. I mean, at least for me, when I signed up with whatever Time Warner Cable here, it's which speed do you want. So, first, I want cheap because I'm tight as two coats of paint.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: And I thought that they punished me and it was so ridiculously slow that I had to go to the super duper turbo speed.

PEREIRA: -- your hand.

ROMANS: Two coats of paints.

CUOMO: That's what my wife says. ROMANS: Another Cuomonism.

PEREIRA: Write that one down.

CUOMO: That's it -- Christine as or also known as the truth.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY, the Sochi Olympics have come to an end with fanfare and some pretty great fireworks with most complaints leading up to the games seemingly silenced after two weeks. So, did Russia pull it off? Can we call it a success?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So, get out they are saying. The Olympics have come to a close, but the discussion certainly has not. Leading up to the games, security concerns, construction delays, and stray dogs even were a lot of the conversation. But has it been a success after all? Here to offer her take is Shira Springer, reporter for the "Boston Globe." She just got home from Sochi last night. So, you're wide awake because you're still dealing with the time change, Shira.

SHIRA SPRINGER, SPORTS ENTERPRISE REPORTER, BOSTON GLOBE: Yes. I was going to say, this is what 27 hours of travel that included six security checks looks like.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: I guess. You look fabulous. Thank you so much for getting up and coming in. So, you just returned from Sochi. What's your big lasting Impression from the games would you say?

SPRINGER: I think I walk away oddly surprisingly impressed that they pulled it all off. I mean, actually, a masterful job, but I don't think it was intentional of setting a really low bar of expectations because when I arrived there, it was frightening in some respects at how little was finished and then you thought, I don't know how they're going to accomplish this.

I don't know how they are logistically going to pull this off. So, I walk away saying, wow! They actually did this and most of it ran exceptionally smoothly.

BOLDUAN: And Shira, when you say that you were kind of surprised that they actually pulled it off and because they set the low bar, I mean, going in, everyone was afraid of a terrorist attack. Everyone saw construction ongoing and continued to happen while folks were there throughout the games. Some of the runs weren't great. The weather was a huge factor.

So, would you say as you compare to other winter Olympics, though, it's a success or simply the bar was set so low that Russia pulled it off?

SPRINGER: I think it was a success outright. I mean, it's very difficult when you're comparing to past winter Olympics like Vancouver, for example, the last winter Olympics. Every winter Olympics has its own set of challenges. It takes place in sort of its own bubble with Vancouver. Transportation was a huge problem. And let's not forget that weather was also -- warm weather was also an issue in Vancouver.

But I think overall, it was a success. The venues were spectacular and as advertised. And yes, there were some issues with runs and weather and security was looming -- issues were looming over the whole event, but I think of the people I talked to there, they were having a good time. The competitions were engaging and thrilling and all the things you want to see out of a sports competition.

And people felt that they got to experience a culture that was different and new and exciting in some ways. Now, I don't know if we saw a real version of Russian culture, but people got the Olympic spirit, and you know, the Olympic experience in the process.

BOLDUAN: And Shira, one of the interesting story lines coming out of this Olympics, I think, is that the big names going in didn't necessarily medal. That didn't necessarily pan out. It was the lesser known athletes that we really saw shine, by and large, in this Olympics. I mean, you're also specifically talking about team USA.

They're facing headlines back home like team USA disappoints, falls short, collapses, what do you think of how team USA did? Is that a fair portrayal of how they did over there?

SPRINGER: I don't think it's that fair a portrayal. I mean, yes, Shaun White did come in fourth in the half. Yes, Shani Davis did not medal, but you know, did not perform as expected. But, you know, there were some of the big names that did come through. You had Ted Ligety winning the gold as expected in the giant slalom, and then I think you had, you know, for me was one of the most thrilling performances of the games, 18-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin winning her signature event in the women's slalom competition.

And you know, you had this outside of the Americans other teams doing well. I mean, team Canada and all the NHL stars there doing well. Now, was it a poor games for the Americans? You could say that, but you know, it didn't live up to expectations, but I think there were some names that are going to be coming out of here that we're going to look to in the future like Shiffrin that will be exciting for fans, you know, down the road in Olympics and international sports competition.

BOLDUAN: And I guess looking back, especially all the fears going in, by and large, nothing happened in terms of the terrorism that was expected. Everyone can say at least we can say at the very least the players and the fans, their families all were safe as they concluded the Olympics which is a very good thing. Shira Springer, it's great to see you. Welcome home.

SPRINGER: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Of course -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Coming up on NEW DAY, the Pentagon is making plans to shrink the army, scaling it back to the size it was in 1940. There are two takes on this. One side says lean and mean is the new reality. The other side says you're trading size for safety. Who is right? We'll lay it out for you.

PEREIRA: And a controversial "Jeopardy" champ returning. He made a few folks angry when he last gone with his habit of grabbing daily doubles before anyone else could. Will he get a warm welcome this time around and will his strategy work again? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. It's Monday, February 24th, seven o'clock in the east. And we're going to start with our news blast. That is the most news you can get anywhere, but you know that by now. Let's go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have to hide who I am. I can just be my normal self.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ousted president is wanted for mass murder and on the run.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's in nobody's interest to see violence return.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Las Vegas police are calling this case of road rage attempted murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's really the godfather, if you will, of the cartels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of his killings have taken place on Mexican soil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia waved farewell to the world's Olympians with style and grace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Breaking this morning, Attorney General Eric Holder wants to hold companies responsible when their data is stolen. He says Congress should pass a law making companies disclose data breaches immediately so customers can act quickly to protect their personal information. Holder says the higher standards would help companies be held accountable when they fail to keep data safe.

BOLDUAN: A history-making night on the hard court. Jason Collins becoming the first openly gay athlete to ever compete in a major pro- sport in the U.S. The seven-foot center broke down the barrier when he stepped on the floor of the Staples Center last night as the newest member of the Brooklyn Nets. He played 12 minutes and recorded two rebounds just hours after signing a 10-day contract with that team.

PEREIRA: A whopping 65 miles of the Mississippi River is closed in Louisiana because of an oil spill. The oil leak from a barge after it ran into a tow boat Saturday. Officials don't know exactly how much oil was released, but only a sheen was reported on the water. Drinking water intakes on the river were closed as a precaution. Officials say the water supply is safe.

CUOMO: In Egypt, the prime minister and his entire cabinet just said "I quit." The interim government has only been in power for six months and no reason was given. But there has been a lot of economic strife recently. No word on who will replace the prime minister even if the interim president has accepted the resignations.

BOLDUAN: Pressure is mounting on Arizona governor, Jan Brewer, to not sign a law that could make it harder for gay couples to eat and even shop. The state legislature passed a bill allowing businesses to refuse to serve gay couples if it conflicts with their religious beliefs.