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Senate Report on Interrogation Techniques Bring Controversy and Fear for Retaliation; Nor'easter Influencing American Weather; Onslaught on Uber in California

Aired December 10, 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: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. U.S. troops on alert, jihadist rallying in online. This morning, Muslim extremists are issuing a worldwide call to retaliate for the so-called torture report. It's graphic revelations of how the CIA brutally interrogated some 9/11 terror suspects, could put Americans in the crosshairs, both at home and abroad. Just minutes from now, the House Speaker John Boehner is due to hold a news conference. When Mr. Boehner begins speaking, we'll take it live for you.

The CIA's tactics described in chilling detail included - including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and ice water baths and worse. The Senate committee concluded that the harsh tactics simply did not work in getting valuable intelligence. And the Justice Department says it will not reopen its inquiry into whether crimes were committed, raising new questions of accountability and blame.

We're covering all angles of this from Capitol Hill to the Pentagon and beyond as this developing story unfolds. Let's begin our coverage today with Jim Acosta. He's at the White House. Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And the White House has scheduled an early briefing this morning with reporters. That's scheduled to happen in about 45 minutes from now and I think this question about the torture report will be the question of the briefing for White House press Secretary Josh Earnest. Yesterday, the president defended the release of that torture report saying that mistakes were made, but former top White House CIA officials are coming forward and speaking out and they are defending their actions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: It was stinging criticism for the CIA from a sitting president. In an interview with Telemundo, President Obama said the agency was wrong to use harsh interrogation techniques on terror detainees after the 9/11 attacks that amounted to torture.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think in the midst of a national trauma and uncertainty as to whether these attacks were going to repeat themselves, what's clear is that the CIA set up something very fast without a lot of forethought to what the ramifications might be.

ACOSTA: The president was responding to Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein's damning report on CIA interrogations that said detainees were waterboarded, kept in dungeon conditions, while others were naked, hooded and dragged while being slapped and punched. The report said the agency misled the Bush administration about the program and that no CIA officer up to and including CIA directors briefed the president on the tactics before April, 2006.

In response to the report, CIA Director John Brennan said the brutal tactics did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives. Feinstein told CNN that's wrong.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D) INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRWOMAN: An examination of the records going back to the beginning of the program indicates that this is simply not true.

ACOSTA: But three former CIA directors say their program helped lead to the killing of Osama bin Laden. In an op-ed in the "Wall Street Journal," George Tenet, Michael Hayden and Porter Goss insisted they suspected bin Laden was plotting to blow up New York City with a nuclear weapon, adding it felt like the classic ticking time bomb scenario every single day. Many top Republicans accuse Feinstein of unleashing a political attack.

SEN. JOHN THUNE, (R) SOUTH DAKOTA: It's very clear this appears to be simply an attempt to rewrite history by the Democrats to bash the Bush administration.

ACOSTA: But one GOP senator, John McCain, a former prisoner of war, defended the report saying torture does not work.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R) ARIZONA: I know from personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And as for the president's claim that those harsh interrogation tactics amount to torture, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked this question yesterday, he said the president still stands by that claim. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Acosta reporting live from the White House this morning.

As I said, U.S. troops around the world are bracing for the threat of terrorist retaliation to that so-called terror report. The Senate investigation steered by Democrat Dianne Feinstein detailed the CIA's brutal tactics to interrogate some 9/11 terror suspects. Here is Senator Feinstein reeling off a long laundry list of documented abuses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEINSTEIN: An otherwise healthy detainee who was being held mostly nude and chained to a concrete floor died at the facility from what is believed to have been hypothermia. Detainees were subjected to the most aggressive techniques immediately. Stripped naked, diapered, physically struck and put in various painful stress positions for long periods of time. They were deprived of sleep for days. In one case up to 180 hours. That's seven and a half days. Over a week with no sleep. Usually standing or in stress positions. At times with their hands tied together over their heads, chained to the ceiling.

CIA detainees at one facility described as a dungeon were kept in complete darkness, constantly shackled in isolated cells with loud noise or music and only a bucket to use for human waste. Interrogators and guards used what they called rough takedowns, in which a detainee was grabbed from his cell, clothes cut off, hooded and dragged up and down a dirt hallway while being slapped and punched. The CIA led several detainees to believe they would never be allowed to leave CIA custody alive, suggesting to Abu Zubaydah that he would only leave in a coffin-shaped box.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Now that the information has been made public, as I've told you, U.S. troops are on alert around the world. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon to tell us more. Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. This has actually been going on since late last week when the Pentagon found out the report was about to be made public. I don't think it's a surprise to anybody that it was a lot of concern that there might be some sort of violent retaliation attack against U.S. interests. U.S. embassies, U.S. military bases, U.S. citizens around the world. So, contingency forces, mainly U.S. Marines for Africa and the Middle East, put on shorter alert so they would be ready to go faster if trouble did break out.

It's interesting, 24 hours after the report has come out everything is quiet. We've talked to a number of military sources, they say they see no evidence of anything brewing. Everyone will stay on alert, everyone will remain very watchful. They are still concerned, but right now there doesn't appear to be an awful lot of reaction either on line, in social media or out on the street. Carol?

COSTELLO: And that's a good thing. Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon.

While many Americans have been shocked by the actions included in that Senate torture report, some former intelligence officials are standing behind it. Earlier today, General Michael Hayden, the former director of the CIA, stood up for the program saying the spy agency was working for the American people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN, FMR. CIA DIRECTOR: The way the nation speaks to us is the president authorizes something, we inform the Congress, the Attorney General says it's legal, and the director of CIA says "I think this is going to be effective, it's worth the candle." At that point you think you have got a social contract with the American people. Not with a particular administration.

So what's happening now these folks having the rug pulled out from under them, people who thought they were doing what we wanted them to do, that's unprecedented?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: General Hayden is not a happy man this morning. So, what else did he say? I'm joined by CNN investigative correspondent Chris Frates to tell us. Good morning.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. I talked to James Mitchell yesterday. He's the reported architect of that interrogation program. Now, he couldn't confirm or deny that he's the psychologist mentioned in the report because he has a non-disclosure agreement with the government. But he had pretty strong feelings, calling the report "a partisan pile of bull." Of course he used a more colorful word that's not really suitable on TV. He also said that when the interrogation program was operating CIA officials were in a running gun battle with al Qaeda. It was a group they knew very little about and they did the best they could given the information they had, Carol.

COSTELLO: They did the best they could given the information they had, but did he say that the tactics they used were right and that he'd do it again?

FRATES: Well, he seemed to defend those interrogation techniques like waterboarding and sleep deprivation. He said "Nothing was done to those detainees that aren't done to our servicemen and women - and women by our own training programs." He also says that he thinks we need to have a national discussion about torture and whether we should allow terrorists to lawyer up.

COSTELLO: You know, some of the details in that report are so disturbing. Like the forced rectal feeding. He's for that?

FRATES: Well, I mean that's right. And when I pushed him a little bit, he reminded me that he did sign a non-disclosure agreement with the government and I asked him about a firm that's mentioned in that report that paid him $80 million and I said it was, that in fact, your firm? He said he couldn't talk about that. But he did say that if the government really wanted to know the truth it would release him from the agreement. He says in that case he'd be happy to talk more, Carol.

COSTELLO: I would love that and I'm sure many other Americans would as well. Chris Frates, thanks so much.

As I mentioned, we're waiting for Speaker John Boehner to talk at any moment and when he does, when he gets behind that podium we'll bring it to you live.

Also, still to come in the "NEWSROOOM" that ride to the airport might be cheaper but are you paying the price with your safety? We'll take a look at the Uber backlash just ahead.

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COSTELLO: Two California cities are putting the brakes on Uber. District attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco are suing the ride-sharing service slamming Uber's background checks as worthless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE GASCON, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: And he's claimed that he uses an industry-leading background check process. However, Uber relies on information submitted over the Internet by its drivers instead of fingerprinting them to ensure that they are who they say they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Those aren't the only cities saying the service puts its riders at risk. Portland, Oregon, is suing to block Uber arguing the service does not follow city safety laws. The service was shut down in Nevada after the state said it was acting like an unregulated taxi service and in New Delhi, in India service was halted this week after an Uber driver allegedly raped a female passenger. So, let's talk about this with CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans and CNN legal analyst Paul Callan. Welcome to both of you.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, Christine, Uber is super successful.

ROMANS: Yeah.

COSTELLO: Everyone I know takes Uber.

ROMANS: Yeah. Yeah.

COSTELLO: So, how safe is it?

ROMANS: Well, look, Uber has made its name by disrupting the traditional model, right? And now you have got these cities and states saying wait a second, you can't be an unregulated taxi service. No, we want to have bigger and better background checks. We want all Uber drivers to go through, you know, a fingerprint-base, FBI database kind of background check, which is not the case right now for Uber. And so, in a way the thing that makes Uber so successful that it's different, is the thing that's getting it in trouble now. With very sharp elbows he's got in and built his business and grown quickly, and now you've got all of these, you know, regulatory bodies saying wait a second here, you can't operate differently and make money when other people have to go through different background checks.

COSTELLO: So regular taxi services, they fingerprint their drivers?

ROMANS: In New York they do. And when I talk about - when Uber talks about how there are different patchworks across the country, that's true. I mean different cities have different licensing for their taxis. But for an Uber driver you have to have your own car insurance, a valid license and pass a criminal background check, but it does not include that fingerprinting and then the private databases including the FBI, criminal databases that might reveal more. COSTELLO: Wouldn't Uber be smarter just to say "You know, you're

right. We're going to like - we're going to make our drivers undergo stricter tests to become Uber drivers." Wouldn't that prevent a lot of problems as in lawsuits in the future?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think it would prevent a lot of problems, but here's Uber's major problem. They've elbowed their way into the marketplace by doing something different. They're not - I mean New York is a good example. To get - to drive one of those yellow taxis you need fingerprint checks, you need background checks and you also need a medallion that costs over $100,000.

COSTELLO: Yeah.

CALLAN: Uber comes in and they've got this flexible model, they move to meet the demands of customers and their fear is if they collapse and fold on how the checks are done, the background checks are done, well, will car inspections be next? Will medallions be next? And eventually they won't be competitive.

ROMANS: In New York, for example, taxi drivers have to have training about how to deal nicely with wheelchair bound passengers. What is the kind of sensitive way to deal with it? There's a lot of training that's layered on in there - in some of these cities that is not required of Uber. One of the reasons why it makes them different, makes them able to grow so quickly. But on the other hand, it's why you see city officials are saying "Wait a second, there can't be two different rules."

COSTELLO: So there are strong advocates for taxi companies that exist already, right? So, where is the criticism really coming from, you think? Is it coming from political pressure on politicians to get Uber out of cities so that traditional taxicab services can run unimpeded?

CALLAN: Oh, it's certainly coming from the organized taxi organizations. I mean, they have millions and millions of dollars invested in infrastructure and along come this really Internet creation that has suddenly challenged the entire model. It's like, you know, it's like somebody inventing new kind of electricity and the utilities. You know, they have been out there for a long time. They have got powerful lobbies.

ROMANS: But I think they have made some peer blunders along the way. For example, talking about, you know, investigating reporters who are critical of Uber. I mean that's just ...

COSTELLO: Tracking their passengers' whereabouts.

ROMANS: Yeah. And then they've had some really kind of very poor taste blog posts about prostitutes. I mean so, they've been - it's kind of interesting this sort of male Silicon Valley, you know eat what you kill mentality that now is coming back to haunt them a little bit as they have to deal with all of these cities.

CALLAN: And Uber has got to worry about private lawsuits as well. We're talking about government regulation and the states requiring background checks. But remember, if somebody gets hurt in an Uber taxi they can sue saying, you know, how did they pick their drivers? They were negligent in employing the driver ...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Right now.

CALLAN: Yes. And that's going to be a regulatory aspect of the agency, too. Of the business.

COSTELLO: So, bottom line since everyone I know uses Uber, I mean everyone I know uses Uber now, it's really caught on, so bottom line, how safe am I using an Uber car?

ROMANS: I mean I think you're as safe using an Uber car as you are in any other - I mean there are always people who are going to try to find a way, you know, law breakers. I mean, for example, what if you were in a taxicab and there's a medallion right there, but that's not who's driving the car, it's somebody's cousin who's driving the car. That happens, too.

You know, I think the question that so many of these cities have is they don't know how safe you are because Uber doesn't go through the same rules and regulations that others do. So it's the fact that they don't know. That's what they're saying in those California towns.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, Paul Callan, thanks so much, I appreciate it.

Still to come on the "NEWSROOM," cold wet weather slamming both coasts today. The brutal nor'easter that caused flooding and heavy snowfall in the northeast sadly continues as yet another storm bears down on the West Coast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: I want to take you briefly to Capitol Hill. We're expecting the House Speaker John Boehner to talk at any moment. This is his weekly press briefing. You can see Dana Bash, she is in the very front row, front and center in the blue dress with the blond hair. She is ready to go to report all and everything Mr. Boehner says. We do expect the House speaker to talk about this torture report. And, of course, when he takes the podium, we'll take you back live.

Let's talk about the weather now, shall we? Because we must. A nasty nor'easter sending more wind and snow to the northeast this morning. This as the West Coast also braces for nasty weather. One of the biggest storms hit the Bay Area in years, is set to slam the region with heavy rains and high winds. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking it all. Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. San Francisco already feeling the effects of that. At least the airport. The winds in San Francisco, especially the higher elevations, Marine County, you can see wind gusts of over 75 miles per hour in the next coming days because of this next storm. Now, in the east, we're seeing some delays, lingering delays, I think the winds are going to pick up, maybe delays get longer. Like some light snow showers around and a little bit of wind in Boston.

Here's the story. We are not going to get a lot of snow in New York City but you get up toward Andy (ph), you get up in toward Adirondacks, and the Catskills, the higher elevations around Syracuse, a foot of new snow on top of what already fell yesterday. Then that storm moves away. This is the big one.

California is in the middle of this major drought and all of a sudden in one fell swoop we're going to put a big dent in it. You can't get rid of it all at once because a lot of this rain is going to run off. Six to ten inches of rain in the northern part of the state. Flash flood watches possible. Flood watches everywhere across northern California in a state that has been so drought stricken it's hard to go from that bone dry to back where you should be and then you have these wind gusts of 70 miles per hour all along the headlands. And then what we do need is the snow, but not a blizzard, across parts of the Sierra, above 6,000 feet. Blizzard ...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Chad I have got to interrupt you. Sorry, let's go to Capitol Hill and House Speaker John Boehner.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: .... Insurance bill that protects jobs and taxpayers. And removes uncertainty that could tie up new projects in infrastructure. And tomorrow we'll pass a responsible bill that keeps the government running. Without the threat of a government shutdown, this sets up a direct challenge to the president's unilateral actions on immigration when we have new majorities in both chambers of Congress. It's all part of preparing for a new American Congress, which will bring new opportunities to help middle-class families and get our economy moving again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Speaker laid out the next two days of the schedule. Today. Omnibus tomorrow. I want to highlight something that's very personal to me. I represent California and the central valley. We have a drought that's the worst in 1,200 years. Yesterday on the floor we passed a bill. It's not the bill that I would have written if I got to have all my way, but it's a bill that we sat and worked with Speaker Feinstein about.

COSTELLO: All right, we're going to jump out of this. John Boehner is expected to take the podium once again to take questions from reporters. When he does we'll take you back live to Capitol Hill. Have to take a break, though. I'll be right back.

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