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Crash Tests: Three Minivans Earn Poor Ratings; Obama to Unveil Immigration Plan Tonight; Cosby Declines Response to Rape Allegations; Russian Website Streams Private Webcams

Aired November 20, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Checking some top stories for you at 10:30 Eastern time. Academy award winning director Mike Nichols has died. Nichols got his start on stage co-founding the comedy troupe Second City and then directing on Broadway before he moved behind the camera. His movies include "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", "Silkwood", and "The Graduate".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUSTIN HOFFMAN, ACTOR: Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?

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COSTELLO: One of the few people to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award. Mike Nichols was 83 years old.

Bono is recovering from hours of multiple surgeries after what doctors are calling a high-energy bicycle accident. The U2 front man broke his arm in six places and fractured his eye socket and shoulder. The accident happened Sunday in New York's Central Park where Bono tried to avoid another bike rider.

New crash test results are of concern to parents. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested minions, giving three models -- or minivans, rather -- giving three models poor ratings. They are the Nissan Quest, the Chrysler Town & Country, and the Dodge Grand Caravan. CNN's Alison Kosik joins me now. These are, like, big- selling minivans.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Especially the Chrysler one. What the insurance institute did was test four models. Three failed, one passed, not necessarily with flying colors. What this test essentially did was test how these minivans did when they were hit in the front corner. Whenever they were hit by another vehicle or they hit maybe a tree or another object.

Let me go through with how these outcomes were. They were actually some of the worst possible outcomes. The Nissan Quest -- in these crash tests, dummies' legs were trapped. And actually, the dummy had to be cut out after the test was done. Not just cut out of the entire seat, but then they had to use a crowbar to get one of the feet free. And also the force of the metal coming into the car actually exceeded the limits of the censors on the tests.

And then you mentioned the Chrysler Town & Country, and the Dodge Grand Caravan, they also failed the test because the car wound up collapsing around the dummy. The head actually hit the instrument panel as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's very disturbing. Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

When President Obama steps before the cameras tonight to unveil his plans to overhaul the nation's immigration system, expectations will be high for millions of Americans who could be impacted. And while some undocumented immigrants say the action is long overdue, the President seems to be going back on something he said he would never do.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I taught constitutional law for ten years. I take the constitution very seriously. The biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that's what I intend to reverse when I'm President of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ana Navarro is a CNN political commentator and Republican strategist. Abraham Diaz is a student at the University of Texas Panamerican; he is also undocumented. Welcome to both of you. I'm glad you're here.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here.

Ana, I want to start with you. The President is going to go through with his executive action tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Republicans are enraged. Senator McConnell already took to the Senate floor to say Congress will act. Don't know how. But he said it has options. What was he talking about?

NAVARRO: I don't know. I think they have a whole host of legislative options on the table, which could include things from not confirming nominees. Look, they have the Senate. They have the House. They can put a hurt on President Obama and the administration if they want to. I hope that what they don't do -- and I have heard both Speaker Boehner and majority leader McConnell say they're not going to do is do a shutdown.

And I think that even if they figure out a way to express their distaste with this executive action, that doesn't mean they can't do comprehensive immigration reform. This doesn't mean that Republicans get to leave the playground, take their toys and go home. Because we still owe it to this country to fix a broken system.

With or without this executive action, we still have after it a broken immigration system. There's going to be millions of people left out. For national security reasons, if economic reasons, we need to address the issue in a comprehensive fashion through legislation.

COSTELLO: And for human reasons, and that's why we want to hear from Abraham. Tell us how the President's executive action will affect you.

ABRAHAM DIAZ, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: Well, personally, there is a chance that my mother will not be benefiting from these actions, but I'm very glad that around five million people will be kept together at this time.

COSTELLO: Right. And Ana, I think that what Abraham is talking about, the President's plan reportedly will not include the parents of undocumented immigrants. So Abraham might get to stay, but let's say his parents would not. Would that appease Republicans in any way?

NAVARRO: You know, Carol, I'm not sure that's the way to look at it. The way to look at it is that it shows what I just said. This is a temporary band aid. Let's figure out what it is and what it's not. It's a temporary measure. It does not provide a path to legalization. It does not provide, you know, the ability to be able to petition for family. It is not a fix for all that ails the broken immigration system.

And stories, heartbreaking stories like Abraham may be the ones that we end up hearing about. It doesn't even address half of the folks here, and it needs to be done through legislation. That's just the bottom line.

This is not the way to do it. This is kicking the can down the road and putting a temporary band aid after a lot of political promises have been made by both sides. They need to focus on the end game, which is a permanent solution.

COSTELLO: Abraham, Senator McConnell also said on the Senate floor today that if the President goes through with his plan and pushes it upon the American people -- those are his words -- all of those immigrants waiting in line and going through the legal process will be hurt by it. How do you respond to that?

DIAZ: There's not going to be hurt. They're still in line. Unfortunately, there is not a line for all of those who have been here for many years. I've been here my entire life. Unfortunately, there's no line for me to continue in. And this is something that we've got to find out a way or reasonable solution.

COSTELLO: And Ana, the other thing that the President's plan reportedly includes, and he hasn't put forth his plan yet, so these are just reports. He says that the immigrants that will be allowed to stay here won't qualify for Medicare or health care under Obamacare or anything like that. Would that take care of the constitutional concerns that Republicans have? NAVARRO: Look, I think when we know what the details are, there's

going to be some legal scrutiny to everything that's in there. And there's going to be a determination, whether there is a legal basis or not. I suspect that the White House has been very careful to craft this narrowly so that it does have a legal leg to stand on. Because they know that if it doesn't, it's going to get challenged and it's going to get tossed out.

So I suspect that that's why people like Abraham's mom may not be included because of the legal standing issue and the legality and constitutionality. And it is true that President Obama has been saying for years that he doesn't have the constitutional authority to do this and he couldn't do it.

In the meantime, over two million people have been deported for all those years that he has been saying that he doesn't have the authority to do what he is doing now.

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens after 8:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm sure there will be continued fireworks.

Ana Navarro, Abraham Diaz, thanks so much for being with me. I appreciate it.

NAVARRO: Thank you.

Join us tonight, 8:00 eastern for live coverage of the President's primetime address.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, for years Bill Cosby made us laugh as America's most famous father. Now we're hearing from the comedian in his own words about recent rape allegations. CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti is here.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. In fact, you'll see what happens when an "Associated Press" reporter asked Bill Cosby about his accusers. Coming up, right after the break.

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COSTELLO: New fallout for comedian Bill Cosby as rape allegations continue to surface against him. One day after NBC and TV Land pulled the plug on the comedian, we're now hearing from Cosby in his own words about those scathing accusations. Earlier this month, Cosby sat down for an interview with the "Associated Press" in Washington. At the end of that interview, Cosby is asked about existing sexual assault allegations. He declines to comment. And then he makes several requests for the footage not to air. Once the interview was over, Cosby continues to push the matter and a camera is still rolling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY, COMEDIAN: Can I get something from you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that? COSBY: That none of that will be shown?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't promise that myself. But you didn't say anything --

COSBY: I know I didn't say anything. But I'm asking your integrity, that since I didn't want to say anything, but I did answer you in terms of I don't want to say anything, of what value will it have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The AP says it decided to air the footage because of the firestorm now surrounding Cosby and because so many women have now spoken out. Let's talk about this. Let's bring in CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti. I'm also joined by senior media correspondent and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter. Welcome to both of you.

CANDIOTTI: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So Brian, the AP says it did not have an agreement beforehand pertaining to what questions were on and off the table. During the interview, Cosby says, quote, "We thought, by the way, because it was AP, that it wouldn't be necessary to go over that question. If you will tell your boss the reason why we didn't say it up front is because we thought the AP had the integrity not to ask."

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Interesting use of the word "integrity". It's sort of flipping the word upside its head. Integrity would be what the AP did, which was asking the question. And I think one of the main reasons why it was being asked is because the comedian Hannibal Buress had been making comments, trying to make jokes or comments about Cosby and these long accusations, and that's what prompted the question by the AP. It makes a lot of sense that the AP asked.

COSTELLO: Well, the AP would not have had integrity if it hadn't asked the question. Right -- Susan?

STELTER: Exactly.

CANDIOTTI: I mean, that's what reporters do. It's not unusual if a reporter asks a question that makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes for the subject of the interview, it is to attack the questioner. But we ask questions for a living, and one always has the capability of saying, it makes me feel uncomfortable, I don't wish to answer that question. That is one thing that could have --

STELTER: I think this may show how he has so consciously and intensely avoided these questions and avoided this issue. This is the kind of way he'd follow up afterwards. In this case, he had the microphone on, so we can hear him trying to get that part of the interview not to be shared.

COSTELLO: Well, he's long said, Susan, that he wouldn't dignify the allegations with a response. And this is probably part of that line of thinking.

CANDIOTTI: Well, that may very well be the case. Although it would seem on the face of it that if you're simply saying I don't have anything to say, it makes me uncomfortable -- that could be a sufficient answer here. And I think that there are other alternatives, of course. Look we've seen others write an op-ed piece. Issue a statement in their own words. Ask a surrogate to speak on your behalf. There are many alternatives.

COSTELLO: And at this point, I think that the longer he chooses not speak about this, Brian, the guiltier he looks even if he's not.

STELTER: That's the front page of the "New York Daily News" this morning. It says it's time for America's dad to talk, to confront this. He gave this interview to the AP. He also gave an interview to NPR about his art exhibit and that was the infamous interview out this weekend where he just went silent. Maybe he thought if he went silent in that interview NPR wouldn't air it. Maybe he thought the AP would be so intimidated by his power that they wouldn't share this video clip that's now come out. But clearly, that's not the case.

COSTELLO: And in the meantime, more women are coming forward, Susan.

CANDIOTTI: It isn't stopping. And, of course, we're looking into all of these things. But it is interesting to note at the very least, you have women who apparently don't know each other, who are telling very similar stories, and these things do need to be looked at. We're looking at them. No one is saying it's right or it's wrong at this time. But it certainly deserves a closer look.

STELTER: That's why NBC pulled out. It's why Netflix postponed. It's logical.

COSTELLO: TV Land pulled out -- right. Old episodes of the Cosby show are no longer running on TV Land. He's got a problem -- right.

STELTER: That's right.

There's one channel still airing them, by the way. It's called Centric. It's a channel that targets African-Americans, much smaller than TV Land. And I keep wondering if they air tomorrow or we will see them pull the episodes as well.

CANDIOTTI: And if I may there was one interesting part of an interview that Chris Cuomo did the other day, remember, with a prosecutor. The prosecutor said when he was looking into an allegation, well, we spoke to Mr. Cosby, and he said, and I'm paraphrasing here, it didn't happen, but if it did, it was consensual. Well, I mean that is a fascinating comment when taken in the broad context here.

COSTELLO: Interesting. I'm sure you'll continue to dig, as will you. Brian Stelter, Susan Candiotti -- thanks so much.

STELTER: Thank you. COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, from grandma to babies across the globe, hackers now putting private web cams online for anyone to see, whether you want anyone to see them or not.

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COSTELLO: Moments ago on Capitol Hill, a senior executive for Takata, the Japanese airbag maker embroiled in a fire storm after its airbags have been blamed for four U.S. deaths, made a statement before a Senate committee. Listen.

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HIROSHI SHIMIZU, TAKATA: We are deeply sorry about each of the reported instances in which a Takata airbag has not performed as designed and the driver or passenger had suffered personal injuries or death.

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COSTELLO: More than eight million cars have been recalled in the wake of those deaths.

Babies, hospital patients, and thousands of people across the globe -- their private moments are now being streamed without their permission on the Internet. It sounds pretty scary, and sounds like a huge invasion of privacy, which it is. A Russian Web site, though, is trying to prove a point. Anyone can access these web cameras. CNN money tech correspondent Laurie Segall joins me. What?

LAURI SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Those images are unbelievable. Looking at that and, you know, what's so scary about this Web site is we're looking at 4,600 cameras in the United States and cameras of these intimate moments all around the world. You know, a baby in a cot sleeping in New Jersey, a hospital room in Minneapolis. But, you know, we take a step back, and covering the hacking community, this doesn't shock me.

What's more shocking, if this isn't a hardcore hack, how easy it was for hackers to access this information is what people should be really concerned about. And it's all because a lot of these cameras that people buy, that you might buy to be a baby monitor or something, these have default passwords that if you don't change the passwords, there are all these passwords online and these online forums that anybody can access. I actually spoke to a hacker who showed me how easy this was. Take a look at this.

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KYLE LOVETT, SECURITY RESEARCHER: It is a live shot of somebody's home. And there are many others out there like that.

SEGALL: You were able to actually turn on a camera on someone's computer within their home, and now we're looking at a person talking?

LOVETT: Yes. Not only the camera, but on a lot of them, you can also get audio. People don't change the default password. So while they may not think people were looking at their home, there are people out there that are searching, looking for the default user name and password, which are publicly available.

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SEGALL: And let me preface this with saying he's an ethical hacker. He did ask a friend's permission to be able to do this. But he was able on a couple of clicks, without his friend even knowing, to go online, find her default password because she hadn't changed it. And automatically get into her home. It's as easy as just knocking on the front door.

COSTELLO: But it's a Russian Web site. What is this Russian Web site?

SEGALL: The idea behind this Russian Web site is to actually say this is so easy to do, let's call attention. Because when you put the vulnerabilities out there in such a dramatic way, maybe manufacturers --

COSTELLO: So they're doing it for the good?

SEGALL: They say they're doing it for the good. If anything, it's eye opening. And if I can say anything, if you have these cameras that are connected to the Internet, make sure to change it from the default password. And also we should call on manufacturers to say anyone who buys some of these cameras should be prompted to change the passwords.

Because as I said before this is not a hardcore hack. Kyle as an ethical hacker was able to do this within about two minutes. Now we're seeing with this Russian Web site how easy it is and how widespread it is.

COSTELLO: Laurie Segall -- thanks so much.

SEGALL: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, residents in Buffalo leap into action after the monster snowstorm. We'll check out the best pics and videos.

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COSTELLO: Well, there actually were some light moments after the heavy snow. Buffalo residents stuck in their homes are not stuck for ideas to show their incredible surroundings. Jeanne Moos takes a look.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Meteorologists -- who needs a meteorologist when your average citizen is using his own body to measure the snow. Not merely reporting the amount of snowfall, but making snow fall off the roof.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole thing is snow.

MOOS: Now that everyone has a camera phone, everybody is a weatherman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm buried in my own house. This isn't fair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's extremely hard to walk through this.

MOOS: Even Little Bandit, the German shepherd, had a hard time getting through. Some dogs don't like to go in the snow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. Go in your little poop cave.

MOOS: That's not an igloo. It's an ig-poo.

And what's with all the guys venturing out in t-shirts and shorts. Buffalo Bills wide receiver Maurice Goodwin posted a photo of himself going deep, saying, "This snow doesn't scare me."

The mailman would have to go deep to get to this mailbox.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: UPS is stuck?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MOOS: Why leave your nice, dry garage. James Grimaldi just sent out a drone to get the lay of the land. Same drone, 24 hours later, what a difference a snow day makes.

Of all the photos posted to social media, doors opening onto walls of snow are among the most popular. Of those, this beer and liquor fridge drew the loudest chuckle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's how you spend a snow day.

MOOS: From morning TV to Britain's "Daily Mail", turns out the beer fridge is frozen in time. It's been circulating for several years. It's not from this storm. Talk about a snow job.

Jeanne Moos, CNN --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

MOOS: -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Oh, I was so disappointed in that. A snow job -- but I did like Marquis's picture.

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" starts now. MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST: Well, it comes down to this. In just a

few hours time, President Obama lays out his executive order on immigration. His plan could shield more than three million undocumented immigrants. Some members of Congress want to stop it, though. Is it already too late?

He didn't want this interview to go public but it did.