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St. Louis Rams Enter the Ferguson Debate; Janay Rice Speaking Out; Interview with Artist Damon Davis; FBI Issues Warning to U.S. Troops
Aired December 01, 2014 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, hands up. A show of solidarity. The St. Louis Rams entering the Ferguson debate.
The Police Officers Association not pleased, and today the president holds high level talks.
Front and center.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANAY RICE, WIFE OF RAY RICE: I was furious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The wife of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice speaking out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANAY RICE: At the end of the day, he's a football player, and that's what they should really be focused on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And hacked. Sony Pictures calling in the FBI this morning. Unreleased movies on pirate web sites.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want us to kill the leader of North Korea?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Some are asking, is North Korea behind it?
And lines from hell stretching more than a mile long. Thousands waiting to get home after Thanksgiving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't anybody step up until I walk out of here. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Also, sliding sales. Black Friday going from this to this? Is our annual shopping frenzy a thing of the past? Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. This morning, the FBI is issuing a warning to U.S. troops, saying that ISIS is calling for attacks against our men and women in uniform, and that those plots could originate on American soil. The agency saying in part quote, overseas-based individuals are looking for like-minded individuals in the United States to carry out these attacks. But the FBI alert does not stop there. Agents say ISIS is also scrutinizing social media, adding quote, we also request members of the military review their online social media presence for any information that might attract the attention of violent extremists.
So let's talk about that. Tom Fuentes is a CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director. Hi, Tom.
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm glad you're here. This is the second such warning in recent months. The last one came in October. Why the additional alert, do you think?
FUENTES: I think it's because the threats continue unabated. You know, when these threats go out, a lot of times people say, yeah, big deal, we've heard this before. But then we had the attacks in Canada of soldiers in uniform, and the threat that it would happen in the U.S. also, and we've had a couple of attacks on police officers in uniform. So between police officers and soldiers, you know, anyone in uniform representing the U.S. government is fair game to be targeted.
COSTELLO: Are there any concerns that ISIS or some terrorist here could infiltrate the U.S. military?
FUENTES: I think there is some concern that that could happen, and maybe a bigger concern that members of the military could be radicalized. Look at Colonel Hasan at Ford Hood, who ends up killing dozens of his fellow soldiers. So that's the fear, is that someone who is already in the military, already maybe even a high-ranking officer, already in a position of trust, if they radicalize one of these people, that's extremely dangerous. You could be -- you're talking about people that fly the president and first family around, Marine Corps Helicopter One, Air Force One. What if one of those guys gets radicalized and decides to take out the president of the United States? So these are real concerns.
COSTELLO: Scary. Talk a little bit about the social media angle. What type of information is the FBI concerned about?
FUENTES: Well, they're hoping that if there's threats or if somebody is using social media to try to get other people to help them, that that would get reported to the FBI, and that has. That's how the FBI has been able to thwart so many people that have said they're going go overseas and join ISIS physically or have been radicalized here to do an attack. Many of those attack plans or aspirational plans have been thwarted because someone called the FBI and said check out this person's social media contacts.
COSTELLO: Tom Fuentes, thanks for your insight, as always. I appreciate it.
FUENTES: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: And stay with CNN tonight for an exclusive. Meet the al Qaeda terrorist who switched sides and became a spy and helped the West in the war against terror. Watch the CNN special report, "Double Agent, Inside al Qaeda for the CIA," tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
The Thanksgiving holiday ending in a travel nightmare for hundreds of people across the country. Actually, thousands of them. Some 130 flights delayed just this morning. That's on top of the more than 4,000 that were behind schedule yesterday. It led to scenes like this one at Chicago's Midway Airport. This is more than a nightmare. A reporter said the security screening line actually stretched for 1.2 miles. Ouch.
But weary passengers can't blame Mother Nature for that one, even as forecasters call for temperatures up to 40 degrees below average in some parts of the country. Meteorologist Indra Petersons is here now to tell us that part of the story. Those long TSA lines at Midway was because there was a shortage of TSA agents to check people going through security.
INDRA PETERSONS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In Chicago itself, we saw many places that had the same problem no matter really where you were. It's Thanksgiving. So yes, it was rough, and Denver had delays thanks to some low cloud ceilings out there, and today some people are still stuck out there, trying to get -- maybe their plans were to just go home today in the first place. Here are going to be the trouble spots. New York City, low clouds again, Chicago seeing some gusty winds throughout the area. Major hubs, guys, we're talking about St. Louis, and freezing rain throughout the morning. So think about St. Louis there, and even San Francisco now seeing about an hour delay because a major storm is headed to California. So we're going to talk about all this.
First notice right around St. Louis, a wintry mix, including some freezing rain, now making its way out of the area. This did cause some cancellations this morning. Things will be improving, at least in that region, but not farther to the east, because the system is spreading to the east. You can actually see, by the time we get in through tomorrow, especially tomorrow morning, places like D.C. will have the potential for some icing throughout the morning hours commute time, and then it looks like the system will spread into the northeast and kick out of here by Wednesday, so really tomorrow morning if you're not out yet it could be even a trickier day for many people. Philadelphia, D.C., Pittsburgh, New York City, all looking for some of this wintry mix out there, including those icy kind of conditions out there. Everyone else kind of farther down to the south looking for some showers.
Let's get to the big story actually out west. Look at this huge low kind of spinning around. All this tropical moisture. Remember, it's one of the worst drought conditions they have had in history, and now we're going to be talking about some heavy rainfall falling into the region. Carol, this is something we're monitoring very closely. Sounds like good news. Of course the rainfall itself is, but flooding potential high, that's how dry the ground is.
COSTELLO: Got you. Indra Petersons, thanks so much.
President Obama, in an effort to ease tension over Ferguson, will sit down with civil rights leaders today. The topic: how can the black community and law enforcement build trust? This afternoon the president starts by sitting down with his cabinet about programs and funding that provide equipment like military vehicles to law enforcement. The president will then meet with young civil rights leaders about how they can work together with police. Then Mr. Obama continues that conversation with elected officials and faith leaders.
Also later tonight, the attorney general, Eric Holder, will visit and speak at the same church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached for a discussion on race relations. That, of course, will take place in Atlanta.
But the big question, how do you rebuild trust? It seems to be a question with no answer at the moment. Tensions again inflame when five St. Louis Rams players ran onto the field with their hands up. St. Louis Police Association now wants the NFL to discipline those players. The action seemingly at odds with what the team had been preaching leading up to this game, unity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in this together, St. Louis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team that can accomplish anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we work together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All eyes are on us now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole world is watching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our children are watching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's make them proud.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Proud to be a St. Louisian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Proud of how we move forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One team.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And stronger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When St. Louis stands together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Ed Lavandera is in Ferguson this morning with more. Good morning, Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That story is really kind of resonating here in the last 24 hours as the Rams went on to a huge win yesterday, 52-0. They won yesterday, and then a few hours after the game, we see the statement from the St. Louis Police Officers Association, very critical of what those players did on the field in really strong language, Carol, in that statement, saying that essentially these players were siding with the quote, "thugs," that had looted and caused so much destruction here in the city of Ferguson, and then asking the NFL to discipline those players.
You know, kind of an intense story that was kind of going along the same day the mayor of Ferguson was calling on new plans to recruit more African-American police officers to the police force and a task force that would improve and create dialogue between the police department and the African-American community here in Ferguson. So you kind of had those two stories playing out on the same day, which I thought was kind of interesting.
COSTELLO: Ed Lavandera reporting live from Ferguson. I'm going to bring in my next guest now, who's trying to do his part to bring people together in a project called All Hands on Deck. It shows pairs of hands from many different kinds of people in that pose that's become all too familiar during protests following Michael Brown's death and the grand jury announcement earlier, actually last week. Multimedia artist and Ferguson community activist Damon Davis joins me now. Welcome, Damon.
DAMON DAVIS, ARTIST: How are you doing?
COSTELLO: I'm good. What did you make of those five St. Louis Rams players putting their hands up as they ran out into the field? DAVIS: I thought it was awesome, personally. I think it shows
solidarity with the people the same way my project shows solidarity with the people. And I just -- I was surprised and I was appreciative.
COSTELLO: You say it shows solidarity with the people. Others might think it's taking a side. What do you think?
DAVIS: I would -- I don't -- I think they made a decision to stand with their city either way. I mean, taking a side? I guess -- I guess I think they took the right one if they did take a side.
COSTELLO: You put up pictures that depict black hands and white hands on the boards covering the windows of businesses in Ferguson, who were damaged by looters. Why do you do that?
DAVIS: My project was about giving some hope and some inspiration to that community and showing them and the people that are constantly out actively protesting and actively trying to get their voices heard that multiple races, genders, lots of different people stand with them and believe in them and think that what they're doing is right, and I'm one of them. So I use my art as my voice and my weapon, and it was just to show them that we're together and we're going to need everybody together to get some real systemic change.
COSTELLO: You grew up in St. Louis. Ferguson now known, fairly or not, for racial unrest and police misconduct and violence. Do you suppose that will change?
DAVIS: I hope so. I hope this -- that our city takes this as an opportunity for it not to be a symbol of misconduct, but for it to be a symbol of true change, and for it to be the epicenter of a bigger conversation about national change as far as it goes with the police brutality against people of color.
COSTELLO: All right, Damon Davis, thank you so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.
DAVIS: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the "Newsroom," an Ohio State football player reportedly complained about suffering from concussions, and now he's apparently committed suicide. So were the concussions to blame? We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Major questions this morning about football and concussions following the death of an Ohio State football player and wrestler. Police say 22-year-old Kosta Karageorge apparently took his own life. His body found in a dumpster near campus over the weekend with a gun nearby. His mother says just before he went missing last week, he sent her a text that read "I'm sorry if I'm an embarrassment, but these concussions have my head all f'ed up." Last night, hundreds of students gathered for a vigil on campus. They're remembering Karageorge for going all in, whether playing for the Buckeyes or going up against opponents on the school's wrestling team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A kid we only knew for about three months, but everyone really loved him. It's hard to make an impact in three months, but he did it, you know. Everyone loved being around him. He had the great stories, always laughing. When you get to sit down on the couch next to Kosta, there's always something you'll walk away remembering.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Karageorge's death once again raises the question whether the NCAA is doing enough to protect college players from too many hits to the head. It's an issue CNN's Sara Ganim has been exploring after the suicide of Owen Thomas, another college football player who suffered from concussions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Owen Thomas had just been elected captain of his University of Pennsylvania football team when he killed himself. He was only 21.
Sometimes with suicide, there are warning signs and there are things that lead up to it. Was that the case with Owen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. In fact, he had the spring game about ten days before he committed suicide, and we were all at the spring game.
KATHY BREARLY, MOTHER: I would never have thought that Owen of all people would commit suicide. I thought something's going to turn up. Someone's going to tell me something and I'm going to think, ah-ha, now I understand.
GANIM: That moment would soon come. Owen had played football since he was nine years old. A dozen years of hard hits and tackles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tried to put him off football as long as we possibly could, but he wanted to play so badly, and he just kind of lived for that contact. He enjoyed that.
GANIM: After his death, a team of doctors from Boston University asked his parents if they could study Owen's brain.
BREARLY: I was just 100 percent sure they wouldn't find anything. I was just amazed, amazed when they said they found it.
GANIM: Doctors found Owen suffered from CTE, or chronic traumatic enlcephalopathy.
DR. ROBERT STERN, BOSTON UNIV. SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: That's real tell- tell evidence of CTE.
GANIM: It's a disease born from head trauma, linked to depression, and diagnosed only after death. STERN: It was really shocking and very scary.
GANIM: Dr. Robert Stern was part of the team that studied Owen Thomas' brain.
STERN: No. 1, he was only 21. And No. 2, he never had a single concussion.
GANIM: Instead, Stern believes Owen Thomas had what are called subconcussions.
STERN: A subconcussion is the same thing as a concussion in terms of the brain cells being temporarily disturbed, not working right. But without the symptoms of concussion.
GANIM: No symptoms make subconcussions particularly dangerous. According to Dr. Stern, hits add up. The more practices with full contact, the bigger the risk.
STERN: These football hits are around 20 g per hit. That's probably the simplistic equivalent of a car driving 30, 35 miles per hour into a brick wall. So imagine that 1,000 to 1,500 times a year. That repetitive force to the head, with the brain moving inside.
GANIM: After high-profile CTE cases were found in pro athletes, the NFL made a rule limiting the number of contact practices. But the NCAA only has guidelines, no rules. So over a year, a college athlete can get hit more times.
Here's a breakdown. During the season, NFL rules allow just 14 contact practices in an 18-week period. NCAA guidelines recommend no more than two per week during a 12-week season. That's twice as many as the pros. During spring practice, the NFL doesn't allow contact at all, while the NCAA permits it.
RAMOGI HUMA, NATIONAL COLLEGE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION: They don't want to actually really back meaningful reform, and so that's where we have an issue.
GANIM: Ramogi Huma is the president of the National College Players Association. He says the NCAA needs to have enforceable rules, not guidelines.
HUMA: When it comes to players' brains, it's optional to protect them. And that's not okay.
GANIM: Owen Thomas' parents say they worry about who is looking out for the players. They knew nothing about subconcussions or CTE before their son died.
BREARLY: The decisions that you make when you're 19, you're not thinking about your long term future. And I think perhaps the NCAA has a big responsibility for these young people to at least have some thought about their long-term health issues.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: Sara Ganim joins me now. It's just unbelievable to me that the NCAA doesn't have stricter rules put into place about concussions.
GANIM: When you talk about college sport concussions, it's really important to remember that the NCAA is even behind the NFL on this issue. They have no requirement for baseline testing, no requirement even that an athlete with a concussion stay off the field for any amount of time. If you don't test for these symptoms, this is unfortunately going to keep happening. We're going to be sitting here doing this story over and over again, because these are 18, 19, 20- year-old kids. They want to play their sport. They don't always report their symptoms right away, and many times when they do it's too late, as in this case. We saw that with the really sad text this kid sent to his mother.
There is some change coming down the pike. I should mention that there is a settlement, a proposed settlement, that might lead to some change in this arena, but critics of the NCAA say they really got off easy on that, that it really doesn't make that many changes, does not go as far even as pro sports, which we know pro sports are under pressure for this. It's really unfortunate, Carol.
COSTELLO: Sara Ganim, thanks so much. I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Janay Rice is speaking out and trying to convince the nation and the NFL that her husband, Ray Rice, should play ball again. As you know, Rice has been reinstated into the NFL after an arbitrator's ruling. He can sign with at any team at any time. But will any team take a shot on a player one GM called toxic after that elevator video surfaced? Janay Rice talked about that with NBC's Matt Lauer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAUER: What's it going to take in your mind, Janay, for another team to take a chance on Ray Rice?
JANAY RICE: For them to look past this situation, which I know is going to be hard. But at the end of the day he's a football player, and that's what they should be really focusing on, because he's proven himself as a football player for seven years. There's never been a question of what he can do on the field.
LAUER: And you think an owner and fans of the team can get that image or those images from that elevator tape out of their minds?
JANAY RICE: With time. We know it's going to take some work. So I think once he shows them who he is and they reach out to people here and they find out the things he's done, then I think it's definitely -- can help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Let's talk about that. Will Ray Rice ever play football again? CNN sports correspondent Rachel Nichols is here, also CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, he is also host of "Reliable Sources." Thanks for joining me. So Rachel, what do you think? Should Ray Rice get his job back?
RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think it's really getting his job back. The Ravens are not going to have him rejoin their team. Will another NFL team take a chance on Ray Rice? Look, we've seen this before. We're not comparing what Ray Rice did to what Michael Vick did or to what some of the other players who've gotten second chances did, but you can compare the public reaction, and the public reaction has been outrage at first, and then the belief that, yes, in America people do tend to deserve second chances, and that some team will probably take a look at him.
There are questions, though, with Ray Rice that go beyond this incident. There are questions about football. We know in the NFL that football teams are willing to look past a lot of things if they think somebody will help their team, but they're also not interested in players if they don't think they'll help their team. Ray Rice is going to be 28 years old in January, 30 years old is kind of considered a cap for a lot of running backs, and he didn't have a very good season last year. So that will play into this as well, as well as, of course, the reaction from the public.
BRIAN STELTER, HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Will some team, some underperforming team will want to bring him back just for the attention it gains and for a statement it makes about redemption? Is that possible?
NICHOLS: I don't know if any team is going to risk what they are doing on the field to make any kind of a statement about redemption. Winning takes all, rules all (ph).
COSTELLO: But Janay Rice very much wants redemption for her husband, and that's why she's probably granting all these television interviews at the moment.
STELTER: And this rollout of -- I don't want to be too cynical here, but think about this rollout for a second. On Friday she speaks --
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: I try never to be, but she talked to ESPN weeks ago, it came out on Friday. It was in her own words. It didn't ever really go down the word of should he get his job back, should my husband get his job back. But then today on the Today Show, that conversation started to happen, and then tomorrow on the Today Show, Ray Rice will be on with Janay standing next to her in the kitchen and he'll be asked that question about how he's going to try to get his job back. So we've seen a three-step process here where first Janay speaks and makes it okay then to ask Ray Rice about getting his job back.
COSTELLO: I guess I'm torn on this issue because if you commit a crime and you pay a price, however weak it may have been, you've paid your price. Do you deserve never to work again? NICHOLS: Never to work again, right? So there's a lot of people who
have a problem with that extreme as well. And, look, Janay Rice is going on here and as you say, she is trying to soften the ground and we'll see how effective it is. She said in her interview, the clip you guys just played, I hope that an NFL team can look past this. I don't think an NFL team is going to look past this. I think the
