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Sources: No Grand Jury Decision Reached On Friday; Melting Snow Could Create Major Flooding; GOP-Led Report No Wrongdoing In Benghazi; America The Target Of A Cyber Attack?

Aired November 22, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Let's get right to CNN justice reporter, Evan Perez. He has brand-new information about the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri -- Evan.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning, Fred. We know from sources that the grand jury that was here considering whether to indict Officer Darren Wilson left the justice center here in St. Louis County without reaching a decision last night.

We don't know, at this point, whether they are coming back today, Monday, or some other day next week, perhaps. We do know that the prosecutors here had a plan, which was that if the grand jury did not reach a decision last night that they would come back today.

What we don't know is whether that plan remains the case, whether they're sticking with that plan. You know, our entire CNN team, Pam Brown, my colleague in Washington, we're all working our sources, trying to figure out what exactly is going to happen next.

But we do know that the original plan, with the expectation that the grand jury would reach a decision last night, that did not happen. So now that means that they have to continue their deliberations and we'll see when that happens.

WHITFIELD: Just so, Evan, just so people can kind of envision what this means, too, so very similar to, say, a trial jury. These grand jurors would deliberate. If and when they come back, they would be in the room. They would discuss the parameters of the case.

They would be pouring over documents about the eyewitness accounts, the evidence, all of that, and then try to render a decision, similar to how a trial jury would do.

PEREZ: That's right. You know, the big difference with this jury is that they've had the opportunity to talk about the case. And typical juries, you wait until everything, all the evidence is in, before you begin discussing this case.

And that's one reason why prosecutors had some comfort or some expectation that a decision would be made relatively quickly. But, you know, in this case, you know, these guys have been able to -- these 12 people have been able to talk about it. We know that they've been discussing it all along and so the idea was that, you know, they would come in yesterday, they would get the final bits of evidence from prosecutors, and then they would begin talking about it, begin deliberating and making a decision.

What apparently happened is once they got into the grand jury room, this was on the second floor here of the justice center, it appears that they decided that they needed more time.

WHITFIELD: OK, Evan Perez, thank you so much. Don't go away, though, because I want to also incorporate into this conversation, legal contributor, Lisa Monet Wayne and CNN legal analyst, Mark O'Mara.

So Lisa, to you first, how concerning, worrisome, or is this kind of a regular sequence of events in your view as it pertains to a grand jury?

LISA MONET WAYNE, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, with you know, I have to say, there are no regular sequence of events with a grand jury. They're all so very different and we're scrutinizing this grand jury because of what happened.

But I'm assuming that the grand jury charges that the prosecutor gave them are going to be more difficult than your regular drug case or the things that you normally see grand juries look at. And the jurors have to be cognizant of all the scrutiny of the media and the world on this case.

So I'm assuming that weighs heavily on their deliberations and they really want to do what's right. So it is more difficult as it relates to the scrutiny, but it's probably not any more difficult in terms of, you know, the evidence that they're receiving.

WHITFIELD: And Mark, it was, what, less than 10 minutes ago, we were all talking and you said that there's always the potential that the grand jurors would call back that eyewitness, potentially. We don't know if that's the case here.

But when they haven't rendered a decision and it's unclear whether they will come back throughout the weekend or whether it be next week, is there ever a deadline on something like this, especially when we are up against a holiday.

Is there, you know, certain pressure that is put on the grand jury to hurry up, or do they have, you know, in perpetuity, as much time as they want?

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, there's no rule that says they have to come back. They can deliberate until they're ready. Don't forget, in their context, they have go to the point where nine people agree that there should be an indictment.

If you do not get nine people to agree to indict, then there's no indictment and they're done. But there is difference, not like a regular trial jury, where evidence is presented, a grand jury can go back and get other witnesses and other testimony or evidence to undo whatever confusion may exist.

So while they can do and take as long as they want, I do think that the prosecutors have to be aware that we have a nation on edge and I think they should be working today. You know, regular jurors work through the weekend when they have to. Work, get it done, and let this nation get moving in one direction or the other.

WHITFIELD: And then, you know, we saw the graphic, nine jurors here or participants in this grand jury. They have to decide. Do they all have to decide in unison? This has to be a unanimous decision, Mark, or they simply all have to vote, essentially?

O'MARA: Absolutely not. You don't need 12 to vote on anything. But nine have to agree in order to come back with an indictment. So they have to agree, first-degree, second-degree, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.

You have to have consensus as to one of them. And if you don't get consensus to anything, then in reality, you don't get an indictment and the grand jury is done.

WHITFIELD: And Evan, do you have something to add to that?

PEREZ: Well, you know, Fred, you know, the prosecutors can have a plan. And this is what they had a plan here, for this grand jury to do. And you know, once day get into that room, it's really up to them. It's up to them how long they want to go. It's up to them, I think, you know, obviously, everyone knows what's going on in this case. They're not sequestered.

So they've been able to read the media and see all the TV coverage and they know all the preparations that have been made. For possible trouble if they decide not to indict the officer here. So I'm sure they want to make sure they've considered everything.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and I'm sorry to interrupt you, Evan. But I wonder from your perspective and where you are there, tensions already very high, anxieties already very high, I wonder if this adds to that. More uncertainty if people are, you know, apt to kind of read between the lines and make a decision on what this grand jury is able to do -- Evan.

PEREZ: You know, that's actually the big concern among law enforcement here. You know, however long this goes, that you really keep the tension up so high for so long that anything can really get out of control.

Now, you know, Fred, as you know, most of these protests that are going on, they have been almost nightly, are relatively peaceful. You have a few people who go out of line and then you have arrests. It all depends on how long this goes.

And that's one of the big concerns, is the tension here is, you can feel it. It is palpable and people are concerned about how long it can go. WHITFIELD: And while no one can really read the grand jury, you know, Lisa and Mark, as we just said, as it pertains to the prosecutor, Mark, you kind of alluded to it a moment ago, talking about the prosecutor's role.

And you've heard the discussions that this is a case in which a special prosecutor should have or perhaps it should have been entertained, a special prosecutor should have been involved here, too, that this current prosecutor should have recused himself because of other cases that he has that involve officer Darren Wilson.

And that Darren Wilson's demise may potentially impact those impending cases. Is that a valid argument, perhaps even heard from the State Senator Nasheed earlier who said, this is a case where a state prosecutor should have been brought in. Mark, I'm curious to know what your point of view on this is?

O'MARA: As to one particular point, anytime you investigate a cop, you may be destroying his other cases. So I'm not too convinced that that was a reason for it. The national publicity may have been, but McCullough said, I'm not going to get out of the case, because this is what I've done for 25 years.

But here's the one insulation that he's put in place and I like that this is done. He's being very, very transparent with the transcripts. So if, in fact, he is leading the grand jury down a path that will cause him consternation, some concern with other people, we're going to know about it.

We're going to see it in the transcripts and know whether he truly did this in a way that he should have, which is impartial, get it all out to the grand jury, and let them make a decision, not something that the prosecutor wanted.

WHITFIELD: OK. Still, lots more to talk about. Lisa, Mark, Evan, we'll talk again later on in the hour.

Meantime, just to review for some of you who are just now joining us. Now we know, the grand jury did not reach a decision yesterday. Still unclear if that means a grand jury will be meeting again today, next week, we don't know.

But perhaps McGraw Milhaven, who is a radio talk show host in St. Louis, perhaps, McGraw, you're getting a sense from your listeners whether they are, I guess, deciding what their next steps are, predicated on what the grand jury does.

How might this information that no decision reached by the grand jury will in any way kind of dictate the actions of some people there who are planning to gather or some people who are just listening intently about what will happen next?

MCGRAW MILHAVEN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, you have to sort of set the scene here in St. Louis. And everything that is being done here in St. Louis is based on fear. There is this elevated level of fear of the unknown. We don't know when the decision is coming. We don't know what the decision is going to be, and when it finally does come, what's going to happen?

So schools are being closed, people are stocking up on food, people aren't leaving their home. There is an ominous feeling, and I've never lived through some type of martial law, but downtown Clayton feels like something's about to happen. And so the streets are empty, Ferguson, behind me, there's just sort of this ominous feeling, waiting for this shoe to drop.

WHITFIELD: And then, Clayton is kind of nearby, you know, or in between kind of Ferguson and St. Louis. But all of these communities are impacted, is what I'm gathering from you. Not just Ferguson, but neighboring communities are impacted too. Why is that?

MILHAVEN: There is no question, because a list of protesters put out a list of potential targets and those targets aren't just in Clayton --

WHITFIELD: What do you mean targets? What do you mean by that? What do you mean by that, targets?

MILHAVEN: I mean exactly what I mean. There was a list of quote/unquote "potential targets" that was released earlier in the week, which is what makes people so fearful. And it was law firms and political offices and it was schools and it was churches and it was hospitals, all throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area.

We have had elected officials go on national TV and say, if we don't get the decision we want, you haven't seen anything yet. So these fears, these threats, real or fake, are out there, and that's why so many people are on edge.

WHITFIELD: So, help me understand the whole fear because we hear the use of the word "fear" in so many different ways. When many people in the community said that there has been an ongoing fear of distrust between particularly the black community and the police community, it was very clear what that was.

And then, following the death of Michael Brown and protests, then there was also the use of fear, but it was used in a very different way. Fear of one another. Can you help us understand what people mean when they say they're fearful right now?

Are they fearful of law enforcement? Are they fearful of one another, fearful of people who are coming to the community, who are not from the community? Help me.

MILHAVEN: Well, there was a story this morning that came out that Jennings has canceled their school all of next week. Why? Because there were people who were handing out flyers that were saying, kids, you need to help agitate, you need to be disrespectful. You need to say things I can't say on a family news program.

So, the school decided it's safer to just close the school down. They're talking about canceling school. Schools want 48 hours' notice before something happens. There are families that are just fearful, fearful, I guess of what the police might do, of what the protesters might do, fearful of the anarchists who have come to town to cause trouble.

The fear of the unknown, nobody knows what's going to happen. And that's when the fear kicks in. Let me also say, the fear of the elected officials to actually inform the public of how it's going to work, what's going to happen. Go back to Giuliani during 9/11.

Whether you like his politics or not, at the top of every hour, he held an hourly news briefing, when you have Governor Nixon hold a news conference saying, he's calling for a state of emergency and when asked who's in charge, he can't answer that question, that instills fear with everybody.

WHITFIELD: McGraw Milhaven, thanks so much, radio talk show host. Thanks for explaining and helping to convey the sentiment that you're hearing from a number of your listeners. Appreciate it.

MILHAVEN: Anytime.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, mountains of snow melting with absolutely nowhere to go. Buffalo is bracing for dangerous floods after being socked by record snowfall. A look at the sudden warm-up heading their way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Deadly and massive snowfall. Now the threats of major flooding in Buffalo, New York, officials are confirming 13 deaths from the storms, which have blanketed the area with 7 feet of snow in just days. That's a year's worth of snow before the end of November.

Roofs are buckling under the weight and with rain and warmer temperatures now on the way, swift water rescue crews are in place as well, as fears of flooding are now rising.

Alexandra Field joining us now. So, how are people coping in general?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, a lot of people look at Buffalo and say, they're used to snow, but so many people here telling us that they've been harder hit than ever before. Now the secondary threats, the warmer weather, the rain that's starting to come down now.

But you can see that there are people who are out here, they're doing their shoveling, they've got the snow blowers out, they've got plows on their trucks and there's so much work to do.

When you finish your house, it's on to a neighbor's house or on to a family member's house, but as the rain comes, a lot of people telling us, their number one priority right now, getting their roof cleaned off. Listen to what one man said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON BUNSON, RESIDENT OF SENECA, NEW YORK: obviously, with the rain coming up and the temperatures getting warmer, just worry about the snow getting heavier, obviously. So we've got 6 feet, average, across the roof. These roofs are going to give out so just trying to take precaution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: Massive effort underway right now to get some of this snow out of here especially in the city. South Buffalo is one of the hardest hit areas. Right now, there are 1,600 dump trucks on the road.

Their job, to come on through and pick up some of the snow that's being piled up in these snowbanks, they're trying to haul them out of the city, out of the surrounding areas, in order to control the floodwaters once the temperatures begin to rise a little bit later this week -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, lots to worry about. Thanks so much, Alexandra. Let's talk to Jennifer Gray here in studio. So how potentially severe could this flooding be?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's really, time will tell. There's no idea to really know the exact impacts. It's all going to play out, though, and the threat is there. There is a flood watch in effect.

We're going to have the melting. We're going to have the added rain. A lot of water is going to try to drain at one time. The rain already there, and it is going to continue off and on, light rain as we go throughout the late evening hours into the overnight.

And then a little bit of a break on Sunday. We'll get more rain through there on Monday. So that's going to add even more rainwater. And temperatures are warming at the same time. So you're going to have the snow melt at the same time you're having some added rain.

So that is the fear. We're not going to see a whole lot of rain, most likely, less than an inch. Maybe an inch in some isolated places, so this is going to fill up the creeks, the rivers very, very quickly. Areas that have poor drainage, there is that threat for flood.

That flood watch is in effect from Sunday evening all the way through Wednesday due to that warm air, the rain, and the snowmelt. And look at these temperatures, they are quickly warm, 41 today, 47 tomorrow, Fred, 60 degrees by Monday.

But then look at Tuesday, you're back at 37 degrees and possibly seeing more snow on Tuesday. So, we have a lot that's going to play out over the next three days.

WHITFIELD: What a real mess, because on Tuesday, freezing of a lot of that rain, a lot of that snowmelt. Wow, that's going to be a very messy, dangerously, potentially very dangerous situation as well.

GRAY: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Jennifer. Appreciate that.

All right, Bill Cosby in the middle of an avalanche himself of great allegations. But he is still getting love from fans. We'll show you what happened at his latest performance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Bill Cosby facing allegations of drugging and sexually assaulting numerous women. But last night at a packed house in Melbourne, Florida, Cosby fans shouted messages of love and support and even giving him two standing ovations.

Some protesters rallied outside, but the show went off without a hitch. Cosby did not mention the allegations. But listen to what some people at the show had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A standing ovation when he came out. There was no heckling, there was no talking. There was no nothing. He did his routine. Everybody was gracious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very supportive, clapping and cheering on and stuff. He was relaxed. He was good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Three shows elsewhere have been canceled, but Cosby's web site has live performances scheduled for almost every single week through next May.

All right, shifting gears right now, students at the University of California Berkeley are protesting a tuition hike by conducting a sleep-in. The university is just one of dozens of schools raising prices, but one school is catering to students who can't afford top- notch facilities.

Christine Romans has the story of Blackburn College, where students are building their own dorms.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some universities are starting to look like resorts with pricey amenities like spas, rock walls, and swimming pools. And they're passing along the bill to students.

Tuition expenses have risen more than 1,200 percent since 1978. But Blackburn College in Illinois is keeping tuition costs low thanks to a little thrift.

(on camera): Blackburn College is expanding. This is a $2.5 million renovation project, but a novel way to pay for it, student work crews. We can see where students for years have been literally laying the bricks.

STEVEN ROTMAN, PRESIDENT, AMERITECH: We do maintain a pretty lean organizational staffing structure, and that is done with using students to supplement those labor needs. ROMANS (voice-over): And it's not just construction jobs, 90 percent of the student body works ten hours per week on campus in everything from gardening to security to administrative positions. In exchange they get tuition credit.

(on camera): What do you say to parents who say I don't want my kid to go to school to work. I don't want them to be distracted. I want them to go to spend four years to learn.

ROTMAN: We do have that. We have parents that question that piece of it. What we explain to them this is an enhancement, an enhancement to their overall portfolio that will make them more marketable upon graduation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you grab me 431?

ROMANS (voice-over): Sophomore Joan Esperaza manages Blackburn's motor vehicle fleet.

(on camera): They call your generation, generation debt, does that are worry you at all?

JOHN ESPARZA, STUDENT WORKER: With the decisions that I've made, not really. Going to Blackburn, I know I'm saving money. With baseball and school and a job I wouldn't have time to get distracted by video games or going out to parties.

I actually went to Michigan State University. They had big pools, nice buildings, newer dorms, but it was kind of a distraction. I'm here for an education.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. For more on that crucial question, is college worth the cost? Tune into "Ivory Tower" tomorrow night right here on CNN at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

All right, it's been two years in the making, a Republican-led review of the Benghazi attack actually clears the Obama administration, saying it did not wrong. I'll ask a critic who blasted the administration how he feels now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We've just learned, brand-new information about the grand jury deliberating in the case of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson.

Sources tell CNN the jury did not reach a decision last night. It's unclear, however, when the panel will reconvene. Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, back in August. The officer's supporters say Wilson fired in self-defense, but Brown's backers claim the officer was the aggressor.

And a long-awaited report on the Benghazi terror attack finds no wrongdoing from the Obama administration. The investigation, which was spearheaded by Republicans, debunks theories that there was a cover-up.

Senior media correspondent and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter has details.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. This looked like a Friday night news dump. That's the news industry term for an announcement that comes out that seems to get buried by the people releasing it. In this case, this report was put out by the House Intelligence Committee.

Controlled by Republicans, but also made up of Democrats. This was a bipartisan report to look into what happened on the night of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11th, 2012.

The report was released with little fanfare on Friday night, but it seemed to dismiss many of the conspiratorial myths that have been built up and surrounded the events in Benghazi.

For example, the report found that there was no intelligence failure prior to the attack. It also found that there was no quote/unquote "stand down order" given to military assets that could have tried to help and save the four Americans, who died there that night.

The report goes into great detail, but I've got to be honest. I don't think it's going to change many people's minds. The report got very little attention from media outlets when it was released. I noticed only two mentions of it on Fox News, for example.

Fox is one of the main media outlets that has announced the narrative about Benghazi that's conspiratorial, that suggests that criminal acts were taken by people involved, maybe by people in the Obama administration, maybe people in then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's State Department.

This report is not the only one about Benghazi and it will not be the last. The house select committee on Benghazi continues its investigation, and it says it is undeterred by these new revelations. Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Brian. With me right now are CNN political commentators, Maria Cardona and Ben Ferguson. So Ben, you're one of the critics, who actually hammered the Obama administration for the way they handled this attack.

In February on CNN, you actually called U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, quote/unquote, "a liar, and insinuated she was part of a cover-up." Now you've got this Republican-led investigation, it's a bipartisan conclusion that debunks that and says that there was no cover-up so do you want to take all that back now?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, it doesn't cover up the fact that the first three of the four points that they put out in this report say very clearly that the administration did, in fact, lie and mislead on the fact that there was a spontaneous protest. This report makes it very clear in the first three points that they make that there was no protest before that attack. This was a terrorist attack and, yes, the administration misled it. So, you have to read the entire report to see very clearly that they did mislead the American people on the protests.

They did mislead on the narrative afterwards, that this was spontaneous in a protest. That never happened and they knew it and they still pushed that narrative.

WHITFIELD: The biggest contention was -- that was the biggest contention, that there was a cover-up and this report flat-out says, no cover-up.

FERGUSON: Well, the report flat-out says that they did not give the accurate information. This report flat-out says there was no protest. It was a terrorist attack. So look at the report for what it actually says. And it makes it clear Susan Rice did, in fact, lie, and did not tell the truth.

WHITFIELD: So you don't think there's anything in this report that corrects your standing or corrects the standing of many critics, that the Obama administration was hiding something, intentionally misled --

FERGUSON: What clarifies this --

WHITFIELD: It has no value, is that what you're saying?

FERGUSON: What it clarifies is that the CIA was not pressured to cover it up. It also makes it very clear, there were no spontaneous protests, which was the narrative of the Obama administration put out when this attack happened.

And this report stands by, in a bipartisan way, and says that, in fact, it was a terrorist attack on the anniversary of 9/11. There was no protest. These were accurate, trained individuals who attacked the compound on the anniversary of 9/11. The report blatantly says that. So, again, Susan Rice, yes, she went out on TV and lied to the American people.

WHITFIELD: So Maria, why would that make a difference in the outcome of this report in your view?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Because, it outright proves that the Republicans were absolutely wrong. And when they continue to try to push these myths and conspiracy theories, they're frankly proving to the American people that they don't want to govern, that they don't want to find solutions.

That the only thing they want to do, their first priority continues to be to try to bring down the Obama administration. My friend, Ben, really needs to go back to the report and read it. It actually --

FERGUSON: I did, all 37 pages.

CARDONA: Let me finish, Ben, I didn't interrupt you. It actually said that there was a flaw in the intelligence gathering process to find out what should be said. It also says, the Obama administration had nothing to do with putting together those talking points.

So, when Susan Rice went out, the weekend after, those were intelligence talking points and information that were put together by the intelligence committee and the intelligence community.

FERGUSON: Maria --

CARDONA: So the Obama administration had nothing to do with misleading the American people and the more that Republicans try to underscore that myth and that conspiracy theory --

FERGUSON: It's not a myth, Maria, when the report says --

CARDONA: The more they're proving that they don't want to find solutions to this.

FERGUSON: OK, again, the report says, blatantly, that the adviser on national security, the president, sent an e-mail, which is in the report, that says, talking points for Susan Rice. And it specifically says, to replace the word "Terrorist Attack" with a "spontaneous protest," that's in the report.

CARDONA: Is that not the intelligence community? Is that not the intelligence community, Ben?

FERGUSON: That's the adviser to the White House.

CARDONA: That was not Susan Rice, not the Obama administration, that's part of the intelligence community.

WHITFIELD: You know what's fascinating here is, this report would seem to have some teeth. Some merit, but, Ben, you know, I'm still hearing an argument over whether anyone should embrace this report. You two are still arguing over the details of the account. As if this report didn't even happen. So, are you saying, Ben, that this report is insignificant, it doesn't hold any water --

FERGUSON: No, it's very significant. I want to make that clear. It's incredibly significant and here's why. It clarifies that, in fact, there was not a stand down order to the CIA outpost, and that they were allowed to go in and actually try to help save Americans who were being killed.

It also is very important, for the same reason, that the spontaneous protests never happened. The report says, it should have never been brought up in the media. It should have never been pushed to the narrative by this White House.

And it also says that it was obvious, from e-mails that were obtained that the White House did not want this to be a terrorist attack. They wanted it to be a protest. They wanted it to be because of a YouTube video, and they made it clear in the report that that narrative was a false narrative put out by this White House.

CARDONA: The report clearly debunks all of these Republican myths.

FERGUSON: No, it doesn't.

CARDONA: And I understand it's difficult for Ben to admit that he's wrong and the whole Republican Party were wrong.

FERGUSON: Read the report! It doesn't admit anything.

CARDONA: And that's why they put it out on Friday, and that's why Fox News hasn't mentioned it, except maybe twice, and why conservative media isn't talking about it. Because it doesn't underscore the myths they want to put out there.

WHITFIELD: Maria Cardona, Ben Ferguson, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right, next, waiting for that decision from the Ferguson grand jury. Our legal guys are here to discuss what might be expected, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Still awaiting word from the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, sources tell CNN that the grand jury did not make a decision last night. It's still unclear when it will reconvene.

Well, here are some of the outcomes being considered. Indictment of police Officer Darren Wilson for first-degree murder or second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, or they could decide that, no indictment is necessary.

Let's bring in our legal guys, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor in Cleveland. Good to see and Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor joining us from Las Vegas. Good to see you as well.

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, so Richard, to you first. What is generally the timeline for a grand jury? Is this an unusual that a decision would not be made last night and this could potentially continue?

HERMAN: Fred, there is no timeline. They can take as long as they want on this. And they're deliberating and there's a lot of external pressure on these jurors. You know, they're instructed not to read anything about this case, not to discuss this case with other people.

But you know, Fred, I've gone to trials and I've seen jurors walk in with newspapers and it's like me telling you, you could think of any color you want. Don't think of the color red, but you're thinking of red. These jurors are watching TV. They're seeing the news. They see how important and critical this decision is.

They need 9 out of 12. And we're all speculating now because nobody knows, Fred. But I think it's very close to getting nine. And I think maybe one or two jurors they're waiting for. That's why I think they closed the schools next week in Ferguson.

I think they're gearing up for it. I do not think it's going to be a first-degree true bill. I think, probably, it could very well be an involuntary manslaughter true bill. I think that's how it's going to come down.

But if it doesn't come down with any true bill, Fred, it's because of the variant versions and conflicting stories of the facts and what went down that day. I think that's what's going to do it.

WHITFIELD: OK, Avery, we're talking about 12, in all, that Richard was outlining, seven men, five women, three black, nine white. Nine have to make a decision, meaning, nine of those people have to agree on any number of these scenarios, correct, even if it means no indictment.

HERMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Right, Avery?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: That's exactly right. And you know what's really interesting, we know what's been leaked and we know what we've heard from speculators. The fact is, there's an enormous amount of evidence that we will, or we don't know about right now.

Now, ultimately, Robert McCullough, the prosecutor, has indicated he's going to put it all online, after the decision by the grand jury. And we're going to know a lot more. But I think --

WHITFIELD: What do you mean by that? What do you mean?

HERMAN: The transcripts.

FRIEDMAN: There's a great deal of evidence that we're not seeing, is what I'm saying. And McCullough has indicated that it's all going to be out there, it's going to be made public.

And so I think the idea of deciding whether or not there's going to be an indictment, whether or not, you know, what gradation, I think is truly all speculation right now. I'm in agreement with one point, and that is, clearly, there's going to be an issue of self-defense, use of force, clearly, the grand jury is thinking about that.

But at the end of the day, right now, because we don't have access to everything, it is pure speculation on what the grand jury is going to do.

WHITFIELD: OK. We'll have to leave it there. Avery, Richard, I know you're disappointed. I see that head shaking. Sorry. But there will be many other opportunities that we are going to be able to --

FRIEDMAN: That's right. After Thanksgiving, by the way.

HERMAN: Fred, two quick things -- Fred, Lehi Lafayette, sold out, Earth, Wind and Fire. My son, Bryce, is playing for the state national championship. FRIEDMAN: All right! Congratulations!

WHITFIELD: All right, fantastic. Congrats. That's awesome!

FRIEDMAN: Happy Thanksgiving.

WHITFIELD: Happy Thanksgiving to you too! Both of you. Appreciate it.

HERMAN: Happy Thanksgiving, Fred and Avery.

WHITFIELD: All right, take care, Richard and Avery.

All right, meantime, other stories we're following. Authorities say America is vulnerable to cyber attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADMIRAL MICHAEL ROGERS, NSA DIRECTOR: This is something real and that has the potential to lead to truly significant, almost catastrophic failures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: What the U.S. is doing to prevent them, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Could a cyber attack on the U.S. shutdown our entire power grid? Authorities say it's more likely to happen than you'd actually think. CNN's chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, explains.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Fred, the NSA chief, Admiral Michael Rogers, identified China, but we can also report that Russia is viewed as presenting a direct cyber threat, as well as non-state groups acting on behalf of Russia and China and other countries.

Other nations the U.S. is concerned about, Iran, North Korea, and Syria, each with an interesting development in offensive cyber capabilities. Together, it's this collection of threats that led the former CIA Director, Leon Panetta to warn, that the next Pearl Harbor could be a cyber-attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO (voice-over): The nation's power grid, water utilities, air traffic control systems and financial services companies, all vulnerable to cyber-attacks from China, Russia, and hackers acting on behalf of Russia and other countries.

A dramatic attack capable of shutting down one or all of those systems says NSA Chief Admiral Michael Rogers, not a question of if, but when.

ROGERS: The cyber challenges we're talking about are not theoretical. This is something real. And that has the potential to lead to some truly significant, almost catastrophic failures if we don't take action.

SCIUTTO: The preparation says Admiral Rogers have already begun. Four nations as well as non-state actors working on their behalf, carrying out recon missions on systems to seek out and test vulnerabilities, a successful attack could come at any time, taking down the nation's power grid, for instance, piece by piece.

ROGERS: The lights go out, do we stop pumping water? Does that mean they already have the capability to flip the switch, if they wanted to?

There shouldn't be any doubt in our minds that there are nation states and groups out there that have the capability to do that.

SCIUTTO: Cyber-attacks have already struck some of the U.S. government's most sensitive systems. In late October, attacks targeted the White House's unclassified e-mail system, with Russia or Russian entities cited as the most likely suspects.

And earlier this week, another attack disabled the State Department's e-mail. The only defense, Admiral Rogers argued, is preparing to strike back. Defense, he says, is a losing strategy.

ROGERS: We needed to find what would be offensive, what's an act of war, those are all issues we're trying to come to grips with right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: China denied that it would carry out cyber-attacks against the U.S., saying that its own law prohibits such attacks. But the fact is, China has a vast and highly developed cyber strategy, intended for both military and economic gain.

And in his annual threat report, the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, warned that quote, "Russia and China hold views substantially divergent from the U.S. on the meaning and intent of international cyber-security" -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Jim Sciutto.

All right, after a lot of silence, Bill Cosby is finally reacting to the rape allegations against him. Details of what he said in Florida, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This year's CNN's Hero tribute was a star-studded event. It actually airs December 7th. Michaela Pereira got a sneak peek.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": It is a chilly day here in New York, but one of the hottest events is about to start right here behind me through those doors. You can come with me and I'll give you a backstage pass to "CNN Heroes: All-Star Tribute."

(voice-over): This year's venue, the iconic American Museum of Natural History, a grand place to honor ten everyday people doing extraordinary things.

(on camera): We're in what's called the whale room. You're wondering why, right? A little hint for you.

(voice-over): The days leading up to the main event are action packed. Cameras, lighting, HD video screens, and decor are put in place and no show is complete without the rolling out of the red carpet. Before you know it, a transformation.

(on camera): So inside this trailer, my fantastic colleagues are putting the final touches on the show. Dare I go in? Come on, look alive, people! We're almost at showtime!

(voice-over): On this night of the museum, host, Anderson Cooper and the CNN team honor a very special kind of person.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360": A lot of these people, they don't have a lot of money, they don't have access to power, they don't have, you know, they're just people who saw a need in their community and set about trying to fix something.

PEREIRA: And here, the celebs have turned out to pay them tribute. Recording artist Sheryl Crow, who performed at CNN Hero's inaugural event is back for another special performance.

SHERYL CROW, SINGER, COMPOSER, ACTRESS: I'm grateful to CNN that they have started this program because there's so many angels out there on this planet that are doing God's work.

PEREIRA: For the night's honorees who never seek the spotlight, seeing it all for the first time is a moment to remember.

(END VIDEOTAPE)