Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Dating Coach Under Fire; U.S. Group Listed on UAE Terrorist List; State Department E-Mail System Hacked

Aired November 17, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

JULIAN BLANC, PICK-UP ARTIST: Basically I teach guys how to gain confidence. Most of them socially awkward. Teach guys how to gain confidence in order to socialize with women and perhaps get into a relationship with a woman.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: But it's really about how to have sex with women, right. That's what a lot of the details --

BLANC: That's part of it, but to be honest, to a lot of our clients do meet their spouses on these programs.

CUOMO: You think that men meet women and get meaningful relationships with the tips that you give them?

BLANC: More than you think, yes.

CUOMO: How do you know that? I'm baffled by that that's why --

BLANC: I receive e-mails all the time. I have been invited to weddings of previous clients. Yes, people are just --

CUOMO: You tell them to choke women. You tell them to take women's heads and put them in your crotch, in a man's crotch.

BLANC: That's where a lot of the confusion is coming from.

CUOMO: There is no confusion. There is no confusion. I'm telling you, I think if you want this to be meaningful for you in any way. You better own this stuff you are doing.

BLANC: You know, I 100 percent take responsibility and I apologize 100 percent for it.

CUOMO: You apologize because you got caught or because you are sorry?

BLANC: No. I am extremely sorry. I feel horrible. I mean, I'm not going to be happy to feel like I'm the most hated man in the world. I'm overwhelmed by the way people are responding.

With those pictures there that you're referring to, again, like choking women, I just want to make that clear, that is not what I teach. Like those pictures there are horrible attempt at humor, you know, they were also taken out of context in a way.

CUOMO: How could they be taken out of context? Give me a view of choke a woman?

BLANC: You can make anything look bad in a picture.

CUOMO: How does choking a woman look good?

BLANC: Those girls I was hanging out with, you know, during my time there I did place my hand around their neck. I did not physically choke them and again, I just wanted to trade a horrible sense of humor and just kind of provoke a shock, which it did but for all the wrong reasons.

CUOMO: How about this thing?

BLANC: That's right there, yes. That's been brought up quite a lot.

CUOMO: Now this is (inaudible) let's say what it is before what you perverted it into. This is an abuse hotline, a woman's protection palette where you are supposed to see different signs of things done to you that you should be careful about as a woman. You used it into an empowerment model for some, you know, pathetic man group, right.

BLANC: Well, this here is not something that I teach either. It's not a chart from my course. I do not show this on my course.

CUOMO: So you had nothing to do with this.

BLANC: So far in the opposite direction of what I teach, that I stupidly thought, you know, mocking it would be funny. It wasn't, I regret that out.

CUOMO: How did you get into this situation?

BLANC: Into teaching them confidence?

CUOMO: Yes, sitting where you are sitting right now, how did you get into this?

BLANC: Posting a lot of stupid stuff online. I thought once again it would be funny, it's stupid. I regret it and I'll definitely more careful in the future.

CUOMO: The question of what the future is all gray right now, right. I mean, you think guys are going to sign up and take your seminar?

BLANC: I hope so but I am also reevaluating everything I put out. Everything I'm going to be putting out.

CUOMO: Are your parents still with us?

BLANC: They know this, yes.

CUOMO: Do they know what you've been doing?

BLANC: Yes.

CUOMO: Your mother? What does she say? BLANC: Well, she's again overwhelmed as well. She thinks it's horrible. That was not my intention. The reason I was putting this out wasn't because I was advocating this.

You know, I teach guys how to socialize, how to approach women, but I also teach them how to back off and when to leave. I have been doing this for five years, and I've easily pushed thousands of clients.

There's never been a single incident and there is a reason for that. It's the bigger part of our seminars are focused on when to back off. How to read the signs of consent and this year, again stupid posts, I made stupid pictures I put up do not represent what I teach in anyway whatsoever.

CUOMO: What was the point of it?

BLANC: I was trying to be funny, stupid.

CUOMO: I looked at your site, full admission. I didn't study because I didn't study it the way I normally would because I didn't really see the point, to be honest. I don't see anything about pulling back.

I see if you can't get it at your house, get it at her house. Put it off until another day. These are not healthy suggestions. We live in a culture that is constantly battling to teach men how to treat women with respect. We have problems with it everywhere we look. You do this. Why?

BLANC: As I mentioned, I should have put more focus on the consent 100 percent, but you know a lot of our clients, as I mentioned, are socially upper guys. Guys who are just too scared to walk up to women in the first place let alone say hi, let alone even ask for the time.

So we do teach when to back off like everyone is hammered in, unfortunately, it isn't condensed into those pictures there. But the main thing, too, it's OK to put yourself out there, to express yourself, and to say hi to someone, now again, only if the person wants to listen to.

CUOMO: Respect.

BLANC: One hundred percent.

CUOMO: This is all about disrespect. What I see.

BLANC: This is not what I teach. I don't do this, I don't teach it. It was something stupid that I put out. I regret putting it out. I apologize. I really, really do.

CUOMO: Your site is what the sells the seminar.

BLANC: This is not what sells the seminar. The seminar sells with the results they produces and no one, there will not be thousands of guys signing up for some seminar that promote those things.

CUOMO: But what are those results? The results of like what, is it like a sex to encounter ratio.

BLANC: Someone is like introverted. I used to be very introverted to allow yourself to express yourself.

CUOMO: But a guy who wants to do these kinds of things, should be introverted. These are the last, anybody who wants to pick up on this kind of behavior towards women. Those are the last men you should be encouraging to do anything. You should take your $3,000 to put them in a support group.

BLANC: As I mentioned, I did not teach them what you are mentioning here. I teach them how to socialize. I teach them how to express themselves. I teach them when to back off when the girl is not interested. That's what I teach.

CUOMO: Get down on your knees and call me master. Where does that leave you?

BLANC: That's again stupid things that I said. I thought the entire time I was being funny, a smart ass. It wasn't funny. I apologize, I regret that. But I just want to clarify that's not what I teach and I make sure that my clients know that.

CUOMO: The site is still up there. The stuff is still on there. You said you made your Twitter private. The stuff on your site, pimp my game. Not good stuff.

BLANC: I re-evaluated put down on my Twitter, took down my Facebook and videos. I want to make sure nothing is taken out of context here. I want to be very careful with, you know, what I release if I release one in the future.

CUOMO: Do you have any sisters?

BLANC: Yes.

CUOMO: What would you do if a guy did anything like this to your sister?

BLANC: Well, first of all, I would hope that he would know when to back off, which is what I teach guys.

CUOMO: Any of the stuff that's on your site.

BLANC: If there is any sign of lack of consent.

CUOMO: They talk to your sister like that. If they did that, put their hands on your sister.

BLANC: Which they never would without a sign of consent and that's what I hammer on.

CUOMO: I don't care what sign of consent says put your hands on some woman's neck. You don't follow that sign of consent.

BLANC: That's not what I teach. Don't again confuse what I teach versus some stupid attempt at humor.

CUOMO: I think you are backing away from what you teach because it's getting you in trouble.

BLANC: I'm not. Again, I apologize. I take responsibility for it. It was something I never should have posted online. I do want to clarify, that's not what I teach. None of my clients do this and I don't make my clients do this either.

CUOMO: Do you think that you are qualified to teach this kind of stuff after the behaviors you have been involved in?

BLANC: Once again, I re-evaluate everything. We'll see it in the future.

CUOMO: What do you say to the women who are watching this right now? You're 25. You're old guy. This is like the biggest fear of a woman is that there is some guy who is going to come up and play them and hurt them emotionally and maybe given what you are doing, physically. What do you say to them?

BLANC: Well, first of all, I say that's horrible and I'm sorry. That's what I say, I am sorry. I just want to clarify I do teach when to back off. The world's reaction is to broaden more focus on that and I'm definitely -- if I continue with to teach this.

I'm going to reinforce that I do teach consent and I teach it, you know, in a very clear way for like any guy to understand, if there is how to read girl, what signs she is not into it.

To back off immediately and again don't overblow or don't, those pictures don't represent who I am or what I teach and I'm sorry.

CUOMO: The bright spot is that the rejection of the methods is a sign the culture is moving in right direction frankly because these are the worst kinds of message we have. An apology is about owning the situation, promising not to do it again and showing a difference.

That's the test for you, young man. You are going to have to show not only can you say it because it's convenient, but you're going to do things differently going forward.

It's a big question mark for you. I will be following you, all right, and so is the audience. You can tweet us your comments, use the #newday. We will share your thoughts. We will discuss this in the next hour. Alisyn, over to you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Chris, I cannot wait for that discussion when Michaela and I get to weigh in on what his videos have purported to teach men because he sounds like a total tool. So we look forward to 8:30 Eastern when we have that conversation.

Meanwhile, a U.S. ally in the battle against ISIS has just listed a Washington, D.C. Muslim rights group as a terrorist organization. We will speak with a top executive from that group, CARE, about that accusation. Another government agency hit by a massive security beach, it's the fourth in the last few weeks. So we'll tell you what you need to know to be safe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: The United Arab Emirates, a U.S. ally in the battle against ISIS has just listed a Washington, D.C. based Muslim group as a terrorist organization. The Castle on American Islamic Relations also known as CAIR is now on the list of 83 groups designated as terrorist. ISIS and al Qaeda are also on that list.

So let's talk about this with the executive director of CAIR, Nihad Awad. Mr. Awad, thanks for being with us this morning.

NIHAD AWAD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CAIR: Thank you very much for having me, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Awad, why would the UAE put you and your group on the terrorist list?

AWAD: Well, this is shocking to us in the first place. It's a bizarre move by the UAE. That's why we are seeking clarification by this decision, not only clear but other civil organizations including the largest Islamic community organization for Muslims in the west.

So it is quite frightening and shocking that a state like the UAE would designate an American civil rights and advocacy organizations like CAIR.

CAMEROTA: The UAE has not officially said why they included your group on its lists, but there is a press report out of gulfnews.com, a web site in the UAE that says that CAIR was included on the list because of your longstanding ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Are you still linked to the Muslim Brotherhood?

AWAD: We were never linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. We are not. We are an independent American organization. This association should not just be taken easily by these governments. The Muslim Brotherhood is not a terrorist organization.

It's widely recognized as a popular movement in the Muslim world and CAIR is not a Muslim Brotherhood organization. So their decision, if it's true, they have taken this decision it has no factual basis in reality.

In fact, it's all hearsay guilt by association and this should be challenged publicly, legally, and we do not feel that they have any moral or judicial or political basis that makes sense.

It's again, it's shocking, especially the UAE and the UAE Embassy in Washington have praised our work and even encouraged people to look at the organization as a role model in civic moderate work that's serving American Muslims and the American public.

CAMEROTA: But Mr. Awad, I just want to clarify your position on the Muslim Brotherhood though you say that you are not linked. Yet, it is a social organization and it has done charitable works, but for decades, it has also been accused of being behind violence and murder and political assassinations.

NAWAD: The only country that designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization was Egypt after the coup and I think the United States, many politicians have called it like it was, which is a coup, and the Muslim Brotherhood in the past was involved in violence.

They have denounced violence for decades. They have been widely organized by western powers, by common theatres, and objective researchers as the largest social opposition to dictatorial regimes and -- but again I'm just saying that objectively.

But the fact of the matter is other organization is not linked to any domestic or international organization.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Awad, also, you know that CAIR has come under the microscope even here in the United States. The FBI has said it has done a 15-years long investigation saying that they linked CAIR to funding for Hamas. Can you tell us whether or not CAIR is linked now or has ever been to funding Hamas?

AWAD: Absolutely not. The further laws show that the government was wrong by targeting the organization and disclosing its name along with more than 300 unindicted co-conspirator individuals and organizations.

We are a prominent civil rights organization. We are limited to the United States. We are law abiding organization serving millions of American Muslims and the general public when it comes to information, civil liberties and advocacy world. We are some of the most and strongest opponents to extremism and terrorism.

CAMEROTA: Nihad Awad, thank you so much for taking time for us on NEW DAY today to explain your position. We appreciate it.

AWAD: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go back to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn, if it sounds familiar, it's because it is. Another hack, this time it's the State Department saying that they were hacked and it caused a system wide shut down.

This is the fourth government agency involved in a security breach in the last few weeks. How did it happen? Who is to blame and how do we make this stop, if we can, ahead?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: The State Department has been hacked. Officials confirming they recently detected activity of concern in portions of their e-mail system. We're told the department's classified systems were not compromised.

But security with its unclassified network is being stepped up during a system wide shut down. Want to turn to Fran Townsend, CNN national security analyst and former Bush Homeland Security and Counterterrorism advisor.

Almost seems like we do weekly hacking updates, Fran. Honestly, so who -- looking at this from what you know, who do you think it was and why? Is the threat still there?

FRANCES TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The threat is for sure still there. The question is how widespread is this? You know, the big one that we heard about was the one at the White House --

PEREIRA: Last month.

TOWNSEND: That's right. Sources suggested that was coming from Russia. You know, when they first reported this system wide shutdown, they said it was being brought down for maintenance, which we now know wasn't entirely accurate.

PEREIRA: I'll get to that in a second. I had red flags on that.

TOWNSEND: Absolutely. Look, the State Department -- we ought to wonder whether or not this is more pervasive throughout the agencies. If it's a state actor, they may have gone into the White House. They would have used that as a launching off point.

Today, we are hearing about the State Department. We ought to be asking the question. When they saw the White House hack, they would have done a forensic analysis of it. Did they share that? How pervasive was this?

PEREIRA: You're looking at what they attack and try to understand why. If they're trying to get closer and closer do that classified stuff, are they testing out our security?

TOWNSEND: Sure. Absolutely, they are. They're looking for where the vulnerabilities lie in the system. You know, look, all of the unclassified government systems are connected to the internet. They have to be to be effective.

That's also their point of vulnerability. So when they do the forensic analysis, they look at not only what was being targeted, but how did you get into the system. Once you understand that, you can sort of reverse engineer it and then protect the other federal agencies.

PEREIRA: Let's talk about the timing now because now we know that it was first identified as shut down for maintenance, how long could they have known about this? Why discussion about what it actually was?

TOWNSEND: That's right. You know, we don't know the answer. It's the right question. We don't know the answer to that.

PEREIRA: Does it make you suspicious?

TOWNSEND: It does. It makes me suspicious that it's a wider, more pervasive problem across the federal government unclassified systems. Frankly, what you want to know, you want to understand the forensics of how they got in because you want to be able to protect the classified systems.

PEREIRA: I'm curious because, you know, we've heard Silicon Valley often point finger at the feds and the government that they're not quite as up to date. I mean, we are seeing this now. We saw UPS hacked, White House and now the State Department. Is this new reality? Does the government need to be stepping up their game a whole lot more?

TOWNSEND: The government does need to step up its game. Let's be honest, you know, the real expertise, the crown jewels, if you will, of expertise are in the private sector. I was down in Washington just last week talking about the need for better private public partnership.

But you know, it's hard for the federal government to ask the private sector to help them when at the same time the leadership is pointing at the private sector. They're criminals, greedy, corruption. It's a little hard.

PEREIRA: Talking out of both sides of your mouth. Fran Townsend, it feels like we are talking about this a whole lot. Thanks for coming bringing your expertise to us. Appreciate it -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela, an American hostage has been murdered by ISIS. The terrorist releasing new video showing the aftermath of the beheading of U.S. aid worker, Peter Kassig. Reaction from his family and White House ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)