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George Clooney Furious over Sony Cyber Attacks; U.S. Government Says North Korea Responsible for Hacking; U.S. Spy Freed from Cuba; Interview with Rep. Charlie Rangel

Aired December 19, 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: Next hour of CNN "NEWSROOM" starts now.

Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Hollywood power player George Clooney is furious over the Sony cyber- attacks. Speaking with the Website Deadline.com Clooney lashed out at everyone from studio executives to theater owners who refused to stand up to the hackers. Pointing the finger at North Korea, Clooney said "We cannot be told we can't see something by Kim Jong-un of all effing people." So let's talk about this. On the phone with me now, Jeremy Gerard, he is the executive editor of Deadline.com. Welcome, sir.

JEREMY GERARD, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, DEADLINE.COM: Glad to be here.

COSTELLO: Hi, Jeremy. So, how did this statement come about from George Clooney?

GERARD: Well, George Clooney sought out our editor -- co-editor-in- chief, Mike Fleming, who is one of the great movie industry reporters and commentators. He made it clear he wanted to get this off his chest about how he felt things had played out since the hack began and particularly because Clooney is on the record having a deep interest in journalism and how it's practiced around the world having been both connected to journalists and made films, of course, as you know, about journalists. He wanted to discuss how the press had responded to the hack and put into context the situation that he felt Sony had been put in.

COSTELLO: He - he like created this petition and he wanted like other Hollywood A-listers and studio heads to sign this petition simply condemning what North Korea supposedly has done. Nobody signed that petition. Does that surprise you?

GERARD: Does it surprise me that nobody signed it? I think it certainly surprised George Clooney. I think that people in the industry were caught in a very difficult position here. Not wanting to add to the gossip content of what was going on. The entire industry was kind of paralyzed by the hack and was trying to figure out how to respond to something that really had never happened on the scale before. So did it surprise me that nobody signs that petition? Yes. It surprised me that he got no support. It clearly shocked George Clooney as well.

COSTELLO: Do you think it's more fear of more damaging e-mails possibly being released or is it more fear that somebody really could get hurt by attending the movie "The Interview"?

GERARD: Well, the answer to both questions is yes. I think on the one hand it would be disingenuous to suggest that all of Hollywood wasn't concerned about this invasion of privacy, this invasion of personal e-mail between people who would have a lot of give and take in the daily course of business and who did not expect even though we all know the old adage that you should never put anything into e-mail that you wouldn't want to see on a billboard in Time Square, everybody knows we sort of sit back in a comfort zone of anonymity, we think oh, it's not going to happen to me. So yes, that was clearly a factor. But also, to I think the credit of the industry, there was a genuine fear in a country where there have been mass killings at movie theaters, there's a genuine fear that any possibility that people would be harmed, whether it was ticket buyers or staff people at movie theaters, there was a real fear of what might happen if some extremists from any whacko group took this invasion of privacy seriously and wanted to do some serious damage.

COSTELLO: All right, Jeremy Gerard, thanks for your insight. We sure appreciate it.

GERARD: My pleasure.

COSTELLO: You're welcome. They had the keys to the entire building, that's how one U.S. official describes the access hackers had to the Sony computer system. Thieves apparently commandeered the credentials of top level IT employees and as early as today, the U.S. government could publicly name North Korea for the attack, which they have traced using digital footprints.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The U.S. government is taking this attack very seriously. It's an attack on a company. It's an attack on its employees and, frankly, it's an attack on the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. The freedom of an entertainer or an artist to make something. Though it may be controversial. And the freedom of people to go see it.

We're reviewing a range of options for how we will respond to this attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We're all wondering what those range of options are. CNN justice correspondent Evan Perez joins me now with more. Good morning.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Our audience should not stay away from their televisions for too long. We expect that we'll hear very soon from the Obama administration exactly who they attribute this hack, this attack on Sony pictures to. They've traced it back to North Korea and as you pointed out they found that the evidence that the U.S. investigators found was that it -- these hackers tried to make it look like it was an inside job. They stole the credentials of a system administrator, which allowed them to roam the system for months before they did anything, before anyone could notice that anything was being stolen. They routed the attacks through computers in Europe, in Latin America, in Asia, again, to try to make sure people didn't know where it was coming from. However, the NSA and the FBI were able to trace it back to North Korea, Carol, and it really matched up with hacks that had been seen before that have come from North Korea.

Now, this has obviously become a bigger than just a movie, right? This has become a national security issue and Michael McCaul, the homeland security secretary addressed this very question in talking to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R ) TEXAS: I would say that, you know, what Sony and private movie theaters are free to make any choices they think are necessary that they deem appropriate, however, I do think by pulling the movies they gave the North Koreans -- and let's be honest, where this threat came from, I think U.S. officials have reported that it came from North Korea, this bureau 121, and what they effectively did was give them a victory and gave them precisely what they wanted to achieve and that is a pulling down of this movie. And I hope at some point this movie will be shown and perhaps the intrigue built over it will make it more of a money maker, I don't know. But I think the pulling it down gave them exactly what they wanted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A lot of people feel exactly that way.

PEREZ: Yeah, Carol. And, you know, this puts the administration in a bind, you know? You have a situation where a movie studio is making a decision like this to sensor itself and I guess a couple of movie studios have taken this decision. It's not a decision that the U.S. government has made. But this is a dream normally that movie studios have, right, to have this kind of buzz for a movie. In this case we may never see it. You know, I guess Michael McCaul is speaking for a lot of us who actually do want to see the movie now.

COSTELLO: Even if we never wanted to in the first place, right? I know.

PEREZ: You know, I saw "Pineapple Express." It wasn't a very good movie.

COSTELLO: No, not.

PEREZ: These same two guys. So ...

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I know. So, Evan Perez, you're going to continue to monitor whenever that statement comes from the Obama administration.

PEREZ: Yeah, we expect it very shortly.

COSTELLO: OK, Evan, thanks so much.

Some are calling this cyber-attack on Sony an act of war. The big question this morning, how does the government respond?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It was 23 days from the initial assault on Sony to the final decision to pull the movie. 23 days the U.S. government did nothing, made no representations, pursued nothing. The fact is that they now are saying the North Koreans are responsible. When somebody comes into your country, coerces one of your companies, openly threatens to kill your citizens if they go to a theater, if that's not an act of war, what is it? I mean it strikes me this is a deliberate effort by the North Koreans and it's dangerous because if they get away with it, then who does what next? And how many people start deciding they can go after Americans, destroy their resources, cripple their lives and do whatever they want to and get away with it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, where do we go from here? CNN's chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto has a look at some possible moves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With the administration close to publicly blaming North Korea for the Sony hack, meetings now under way at the White House to launch what it calls a "proportional response."

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: As the members of the national security team meet to discuss this matter they are considering a range of options.

SCIUTTO: The administration has several potentially powerful steps at its disposal. The U.S. could impose further economic sanctions on North Korea, including applying even stricter restrictions on Pyongyang's access to dollar denominated trade. The desperately poor communist country's economic lifeline to fuel, food, and crucially weapons.

This is a tactic the administration has applied with great effect against Iran regarding its nuclear program. And more recently, against Russia following its invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Naming and shaming North Korea publicly is another step, a move the U.S. took years to make with Beijing despite its multiple and systematic cyber-attacks against U.S. businesses and government departments. If U.S. investigators identify the individuals behind the hack, the U.S. could also levy criminal charges against North Korean hackers, a step the U.S. took against an elite group of Chinese hackers earlier this year believed housed at this building outside of Shanghai and known as unit 61398.

So, who are the alleged North Korean culprits? U.S. investigators suspect a top secret group within the North Korean military called cryptically Bureau 121 made up of at least 1,800 cyber warriors scattered around the globe.

JIM LEWIS, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: One of the reasons you haven't seen an aggressive U.S. response is we don't know what they would do back and we don't want to start a second Korean war. We don't want to see cyber-attacks that we can't stop. So North Korea not at the top of the league when it comes to cyber-attack, not even as good as Iran, but very dangerous.

SCIUTTO: Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the "NEWSROOM", an historic agreement between the United States and Cuba could mean big changes for travelers. So will President Obama be visiting the shores of Havana sometime soon? CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is covering that for you this morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the president expected to give a news conference today. This is the other foreign policy story that's been making news all across the country. What about Cuba? The president expected to take some questions on that. His press secretary has already gotten a first crack of that. I'll have that coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Later this afternoon, President Obama will hold his last news conference of the year. The big question on everyone's mind, whether Mr. Obama plans to visit Cuba in the near future after that historic deal to ease sanctions and travel restrictions. Also not being ruled out, a possible visit from President Raul Castro to the United States. Let's talk about this. Let's bring in CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns. He's at the White House this morning. Tell us more.

JOHNS: Hey, Carol. Well, the White House is considering these as hypothetical questions, but Josh Earnest knows there is a couple of ways you can answer a hypothetical, you can either say "I'm just not going to address that until it actually comes up" or you can try to go down that road. And what Josh Earnest has essentially said is that the White House is not ruling out a visit by President Obama to Cuba or also not ruling out the possibility that Raul Castro might come here to the United States. What Josh Earnest is also saying is that Cuba is in line with countries like Burma or China that have a checkered past as far as civil liberties go and he also says leaders from those countries have not been barred from meeting with the president of the United States because of the checkered past. Carol?

COSTELLO: We're also learning new information about the U.S. spy that was freed in that spy-for-spy swap. Tell us about him.

JOHNS: Well, he's a very interesting character and the United States has tried to not release his name, not release a lot of information about him. His last name is Trujillo and he's been in prison, frankly, for 20 years. Apparently was taken into custody around 1995 and put on trial for spying for the CIA. His name was really never mentioned by the United States as a spy and still has not been, but he was identified by human rights activists and others inside the government, telling CNN that this is the man who's been in jail for so long. He effectively helped break down a number of spy networks, some of the biggest spies working for Cuba in the United States and even after he was imprisoned, investigators used information he provided by as a cryptographer to figure out who these spies are and to bring them to justice.

So it's a long road back in the United States now and the thanks of the president and the United States and the nation. Although they've never, ever identified him publicly, Carol.

COSTELLO: Do we know if he's back with his family this morning?

JOHNS: What we're told is he's back in the United States and is just not quite clear whether he's back with his family. In fact, we have been told by some sources that both his mother and his father work for Cuban intelligence, so a sticky issue there. Not clear at all whether he's back with them.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Joe Johns reporting live from the White House this morning. Thank you.

That landmark deal could mean more than just changes to travel restrictions and economic sanctions. It could also mean that one of America's most-wanted fugitives could return to the United States. You're looking at Joanne Chesimard. She's wanted in the killing of a New Jersey state trooper back in 1973. The former Black Panther member was convicted of first degree murder in the United States, but she later escaped from prison and fled to Cuba where she was granted asylum by Fidel Castro.

Last year Chesimard who now goes by the name, Asata Shakur became the first woman on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list. So, let's talk a little bit more about her with Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel. He just returned from Cuba. Welcome, Congressman, I'm glad you're here.

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D) NEW YORK: I am, too.

COSTELLO: So, I'm sure the FBI wants Joanne Chesimard brought back to the United States. Do you think that extradition is possible?

RANGEL: It's remotely possible. You know, we're fighting a war of terrorism and I have no idea what priority she would have. I know she's wanted by the state of New Jersey, but it's abundantly clear that this is an international appreciation of our country. It's one of the greatest things that's happened in recent history. The people of Cuba and the people of America love each other notwithstanding our serious government conflicts.

COSTELLO: Well, there are people who will look at this and say, look, Fidel Castro and Cuba harbored a cop killer who should be in prison in the United States. Why are we gifting them with more normalized relations? RANGEL: Well, quite frankly, I haven't heard her name come up in

decades. Nor did we even know about the Cuban spy that they had arrested and been holding for 20 years.

COSTELLO: Well, so she was on the FBI's most-wanted list, though. So her name has come up.

RANGEL: Well, what we're talking about is what's in the best interest of the people of the United States from a foreign policy point of view and I think you would agree with me that on that radar screen her name doesn't even come up. And so quite frankly this is the most historic thing that's happened in this hemisphere. We can talk about really getting at ISIS and terrorists, we can talk about communicating with people who love us and we love them and before I left Havana last night, a lady grabbed me and I never felt more proud of being American and she said "Congressman, do you know that there are two reasons why Cubans love America so much?" I said "no, what are they?" She said "United States movies and all the other great reasons." Now, you know you have to feel good about that. And whether in Miami or Havana you feel like that nation is going forward.

COSTELLO: I agree with you, there's many like good reasons for no normalizing relations and a lot of people are happy, but a lot of people are conflicted because of things like this, because of Joanne Chesimard, because of the terrible conditions that Alan Gross was kept in for those five years in a Cuban military hospital. He came back in bad shape. He was missing teeth.

RANGEL: Not, if you listen to him, he would tell you that he thought it was the policies of Cuba and the United States that caused him to have been there and no one came back with more of a support for a friendship normalization. So we're not going to talk about him. This other lady's name, I've been in Congress over 40 years, we've been involved with this over 50 years. You're the first person that has actually brought her name up to me and so there's no question that there are even a lot of older Cubans, some that are located in Florida, that have emotional ties. Senator Rubio and a couple of other politicians, but the president of the United States has to decide what is good for the people of the United States of America. And with all the serious crises that we have, I don't think those voices that are against this policy will get much coverage.

COSTELLO: Did you meet with Raul Castro while you were in Cuba?

RANGEL: No, not this time. Before. I've been to Cuba seven ...

COSTELLO: Do you think he should be allowed to come to the United States?

RANGEL: Allowed? What are we talking about? The word is normalization.

COSTELLO: Not complete normalization because we're not there yet, right?

RANGEL: Well, if the people have something to say about it we will be there. You cannot think of one downside as it relates to the people of the United States of America and trying to work this out so that we can exchange information, medical information which is the reason that I was there, be able to track down drugs, to fight jointly against terrorism, to have our farmers be able to export pork and rice and beans and chickens and so there's -- of course you can find something wrong with our relationship with the European Union, with Asia, but this is a great thing this president has overcome and it can only get better.

And in terms of trying to see how this dirty communist can be received as a neighbor and someone that now opens the door for a friendship with us and Mexico, Central America, South America, this unites a whole hemisphere because we were the only ones excluding Cuba and all of the reasons we've done it have disappeared.

COSTELLO: I have to leave it there. Congressman Charlie Rangel, thanks so much for coming in.

RANGEL: Thanks for having me, Carol.

COSTELLO: I appreciate it.

Still to come in the "NEWSROOM", LeBron James leads a game changer, athletes speaking out. CNN's Andy Scholes is following that story.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Carol, even President Obama has taken notice of LeBron's leadership role in speaking on social issues. We'll hear what he has to say about it when "NEWSROOM" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: LeBron did the right thing. That's President Obama's response of the NBA superstar speaking out in silent support of Eric Garner's family with the "I can't breathe" t-shirt. In an interview with "People" magazine that hits newsstands today, the president says "LeBron is an example of a young man who has in his own way and in a respectful way tried to say "I'm part of this society, too, and focus attention." CNN's Andy Scholes has more on this. Good morning.

SCHOLES: Yeah, Carol, it seems like we've come full circle on this. You know, back in the day, big-time athletes used to speak out about social issues all the time, but as sports became big business and guys started getting multimillion dollar endorsement deals athletes they really stopped speaking out about these types of things. And we never saw Michael Jordan say anything about social issues, same really goes for Tiger Woods, but times are changing. You know, everyone is on social media. Twitter has given every athlete a voice any time they want to say anything and guys like LeBron and Kobe have embraced that and they're not holding back when it comes to speaking their mind.

Last week on ESPN radio President Obama said athletes play an important role when it comes to social issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When you think about some of our greatest sports heroes, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Arthur Ashe, they spoke out on issues that mattered at pretty critical times. There are important issues out there and for athletes to recognize they're citizens as well as entertainers and they've got a voice that's legitimate I think is important. I think is useful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: The first time we heard LeBron speak out about social issues was during the Trayvon Martin trial. And he didn't shy away from giving his thoughts about Donald Sterling saying there was no place for him in the NBA, and, you know, he's really now become the go-to athlete when it comes to social issues.

COSTELLO: Well good for him. Andy Scholes reporting live for us, thanks so much, I appreciate it.

We will have a one-on-one TV exclusive with President Obama on Sunday. He'll join "State of the Union's" Candy Crowley to talk Cuba, North Korea, and his last two years in office. That's Sunday morning, 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.

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