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Search Continues for Remains of AirAsia Plane Crash; Funeral to be Held for Slain New York Police Officer; Seven-Year-Old Lone Survivor of Plane Crash; Some Republican House Members Suffering Scandals; White House Implements First Round of Economic Sanctions on North Korea; Flu Reaching Epidemic Levels in U.S.; NFL Playoffs Begin; Street Artist in Portugal Uses Explosives for Murals

Aired January 03, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Today a big step closer to finding that doomed AirAsia jet. Four large pieces believed to be the plane have been discovered. Now a daunting mission, going down 100 feet into the angry Java Sea to retrieve them.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Sole survivor, a remarkable story out of Kentucky this morning after a seven-year-old girl walks away from a plane crash and straight to someone's house for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY WILKINS, TOOK IN SEVEN-YEAR-OLD PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: And her arms and legs were scratched up real bad. And she told me that her mom and dad was dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Oh, and it is striking, faster and stronger than it has in years. The flu epidemic sweeping the nation, already claiming the lives of some of its youngest victims.

Well, it is good to see you on this Saturday morning, 10:00 right now. Hope you are happy and healthy this morning.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell with Christi Paul this morning. Breaking news this morning. Searchers may be zeroing in on missing AirAsia flight 8501.

PAUL: Yes, major developments to tell you about. Just a short time ago we learned that teams have recovered four large objects in the priority search area in the Java Sea. Take a look here. We're going to break this down.

BLACKWELL: The objects are very close together. We're zooming in here. The largest one is nearly 60 feet long. Two of the objects are metal.

PAUL: All this seems to make it more and more likely that they are from that doomed plane. Indonesia's government meanwhile wants to know why AirAsia flight 8501 was even flying last Sunday. BLACKWELL: Now, the country's transport ministry says the airline did

not request and did not have permission to fly from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on Sundays. But that's precisely the route the plane was taking when it went down with 162 people onboard six days ago.

Listen, we're following the latest on AirAsia flight 8501 with our team of experts. We want to start with CNN's David Molko. He's live from Surabaya, Indonesia, this morning. David, do these four pieces of debris, I'd imagine that it means the crews are getting closer to locating the large stretch of wreckage and where the rest of these victims likely are.

DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is certainly the hope here, Victor. The pieces of debris you mentioned, we think they are metallic objects. The search and rescue had said they had detected them using some sort of the metal detection technology on a ship. The largest one 60 feet in length. To give you some perspective, the length of an air bus 320 approximately 120 feet, twice as long. The wingspan also 120 feet. So as they are pulling out larger pieces we saw the window panel. Now we're seeing these larger metal objects. Search teams are definitely hoping that they are pointing them in the right direction.

Victor, the weather proving to be a challenge out of the search zone. While they are pulling debris out they haven't found any more human remains in the last 24 hours. Waves up to 16 feet in some areas making it much more difficult for search teams. The good news is, though, according to search and rescue official the weather is expected to break on Sunday and the waves far less, and that means they may have a better chance at recovering more of those bodies, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And maybe get some of the divers down there to put some eyes on the wreckage here. When you get the news of these large pieces found, how are the families handling all of this?

MOLKO: I think a priority for the families, and if you talk to them, and we have been over the last week here, we're just coming up on one week that the flight would have departed just a few hours from now on Sunday morning, their priority is they want to know where their loved ones are. There are some that still believe, hope against hope for a miracle that their loved ones could still be alive.

They are feeling frustrated Victor, not by the sense that things aren't happening fast enough but by the sense that search teams just can't give them the answers they need at this point. And that answer is bringing their loved ones home alive or in some cases bringing their remains back.

BLACKWELL: Yes I know these families understand that the crews from around the world are working as hard as they can and as quickly as they can. But this is painstaking work and the weather is not helping. David Molko there for us in Surabaya, thank you.

PAUL: All right, let's get a little deeper with this. Joining us now CNN safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector David Soucie in New York. He is the author of "Why Planes Crash" and also the author of "Malaysia Airlines Flight 370." Also joining us, former NTSB investigation Alan Diehl in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gentlemen, thank you so much. He of course the author of "Air Safety Investigator." So Alan, I do want to start with you. And when you hear about these four new pieces of debris that were found today, what was your first reaction to that.

ALAN DIEHL, FORMER NTSB ACCIDENT INVESTIGATOR: Well, I was very thankful. It looks like this is very much a work in progress, this investigation. But it looks like some of the parts of the puzzle are beginning to fall in place. But this morning, the bodies and the wreckage will probably only tell us what happened. Why it happened -- I'm an aviation psychologist. We've got to get inside the cockpit with the recorders and find out, you know, why decisions were made, and whether the equipment was -- the cockpit equipment was functioning.

PAUL: David, I know that you have said in the last couple of days, you believe there may have been an emergency landing here, that perhaps there was an attempt to land at sea, so to speak. Based on the information that's come in say in the last 24 hours do you still believe that could have been possible.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Certainly it's possible. The aircraft appears to me that it went into a stall. We have information that shows it at a rapid rate of decent. I've investigated three definitely accidents that were very similar to this in a high wind shear environment in Colorado, and nearly always the pilot makes an attempt of course to gain control of the airplane. Sometimes that happens just too late. And I think that is what we have here is that the attempt was made, the aircraft was approaching or at least had exited the stall and out of control situation because of how the debris is spread. So I believe that there was an attempt certainly to at least level the aircraft and make the impact as light as possible.

PAUL: Alan, I think one of the things perplexing to people this morning is Indonesia says AirAsia didn't even have permission to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sunday. Does it surprise you the airline was even in the air at that point? A lot of people are wondering how that can even happen.

DIEHL: Well, we all know what's happening in that part of the world in Indonesia. They have expanded very rapidly, a lot of new airlines. And we saw this in the United States in 1978 when Congress deregulated the U.S. airlines. All of a sudden a lot of new carriers, a lot of new operators, new pilots, and Congress did not increase the number of people, like David Soucie, the FAA inspectors who are so important to making sure the new companies are playing by the rule. And I can remember an accident I worked on where we discovered the airline was violating all kinds of the federal air regulations. I hope that's not the case in AirAsia, but it will be up to their investigators there to find out.

PAUL: So David, we know that weather has really threatened aerial capabilities the last couple of days. Tom Fuentes actually likened this search to searching for bread crumbs in a Jacuzzi, referring to the currents in the Java Sea and the monsoon season. Do you think more of this plane and more of its pieces can be find without aerial capability?

SOUCIE: I think --

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: That's to you, David.

SOUCIE: OK, thank you. Yes I do think they can, but it is going to be a long and arduous process. I want to caution though too, we said that there are these pieces they found right now and they may be metal objects. David Gallo at the Woods Hole Institute is very, very familiar with these waters and expressed concern that there is a lot of debris on the bottom of this ocean. So I don't want to get anybody's hopes up right now about the fact that they have found the aircraft because that is simply not true. They have just found some metal objects of which there are still remnants of the wars that were fought down there, ships, planes. There is a lot of debris on the bottom of this ocean that just may not be this aircraft.

PAUL: Alan, do you agree with that? Are we possibly looking at debris from something random?

DIEHL: Well, some of the things appear to be from the -- obviously the passengers are. I should also say that I -- one of the other first investigations I did for NTSB was a 727 that crashed into the Pensacola Bay. And that aircraft hit at 11,000 feet a minute, a very high sink rate. But it was largely intact. It looks if these pieces actually came from the aircraft and there are indications at least with the floating debris, I think David would probably agree the life rafts and so on are probably from the aircraft. But that Boeing did not break up. So this tells me that we may be dealing with several debris fields on the floor of the ocean because of the fragmentation.

PAUL: OK, I've got some people on Twitter and Facebook who've been asking this question. And Alan, I want to direct it to you. They are wondering since this plane was not authorized to fly at the time, is there possible lawsuit for liability? And who is going to be liable? Because if a plane is not -- does not have permission to fly, it seems like there are a lot of people who allowed that to go forward.

DIEHL: Well that is kind of a lawyer question. I'm not familiar with Indonesian law. But certainly it suggests there may have been missteps perhaps on the part of middle management. You know, I don't want to say the CEO is the culprit here. But the short answer is yes, it does seem like there will be some liability under international law because of this.

PAUL: Yes, David, do you want to answer that real quickly too?

SOUCIE: Yes, there are implications there, but the insurance is the biggest implication in that if they are not properly certified to fly the insurance could actually deny the claim.

PAUL: Adam Diehl, David Soucie, always appreciate your insights. Thank you so much, gentlemen.

DIEHL: Thanks, Christi.

BLACKWELL: All right, sadly, another plane crash to tell you about this morning. This one happened last night in Kentucky. Four people were killed. But one of the passengers survived, and she's just seven years old. Listen, you have to hear this story about what she was able to do in the middle of the night after the plane she was in came crashing to the ground. Her incredible story is next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said it was an accident?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was shot twice accidental?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who shot her?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: And the dramatic 911 call, you heard it there. A Georgia police chief, that's what he made after he claims he accidentally shot his wife. How did that happen? We're going play it for you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right, some good news this morning. The seven-year- old girl who survived a plane crash has now been released from the hospital. She was in a twin engine plane that crashed in Kentucky killing four members of her family.

PAUL: I want to bring in CNN national reporter Nick Valencia because he actually spoke to the man who opened his door and found this seven- year-old at his doorstep, bloodied, in the middle of the night. This is just remarkable.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is remarkable. He is calling it a miracle. He says that she is so lucky to be alive. This twin engine plane was on its way from Florida to Illinois where this family was from when the pilot makes a distress call to the air traffic controller saying he's having problems with his engine. That's about 6:00 p.m. local time in western Kentucky. The plane crashed there in the wooded area.

Now, 71-year-old Larry Wilkins was at home. He says he didn't hear the crash. His dog started barking and they heard a faint knock at the door. I talked to him earlier this morning. He says he walked to the door and this is what he found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILKINS: I went to the door and there was a little girl about seven- years-old crying. Not bad. Lips was quivering pretty good and she was pretty bloody. Had a bloody nose and her arms and legs were scratched up real bad. And she told me that her mom and dad was dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Just incredible for that little seven-year-old girl to have the wherewithal to make it to that home. Larry Wilkins told me she must have spotted the light on at his house, and he talked to me about what he did when she showed up at his house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILKINS: I got a warm cloth and wiped her face and legs off and her arm. And she was complaining with her left arm. I couldn't understand hardly anything that she said. She was, like I say, seven- years-old, and she had just walked three quarters of a mile through very, very rough territory. We had ice storm here in 2008, and this woods had not been cleaned up. So there were a lot of trees still on the ground, a lot of creeks and ditches and whatever, a lot of wild blackberry plants with briars. And she was barefooted. She had one sock on her foot and that was all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: That little girl who we're choosing not to identify was wearing clothes for Florida weather, not that cold weather in Kentucky. Another element of this heartbreaking story, guys, is that she actually asked Larry Wilkins to come to the hospital with her, but because he is not a family member, HIPPA laws, he wasn't allowed to show up at the hospital. But he just cannot say enough about this little girl's bravery.

PAUL: Yes. What -- brave.

VALENCIA: Yes.

PAUL: Brave. And I know that I read she was disoriented a bit. But do we know -- her parents are dead. Now do we know who is with her?

VALENCIA: Well, we were told by Larry Wilkins that she told him she has an older sister. So we hope that she is now back with her family members. Her family members are asking not to release her name at this point. So we know, as Victor said, the story that she's been released from the hospital.

BLACKWELL: Any details on what caused the plane crash?

VALENCIA: Well, we know they called about the engine. We don't know specifically if that was the issue. FAA and NTSB will be on the scene within the next hour to determine that.

BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia, an amazing story for us. Our thoughts are with this young girl. VALENCIA: Absolutely. Thank you so much.

PAUL: All right, coming up Police Commissioner Bill Bratton issues a stern warning to police as officers prepare to say goodbye to one of their own. Why he's advising his force not to turn their backs on the city's mayor out of angry frustration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: According to a 911 tape the police chief of a community near Atlanta says he accidentally shot his wife while he was sleeping with a gun in the bed. William McCollom's wife is in critical condition in the hospital. Listen to the 911 call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm the chief of police. The bed -- the gun is on the dresser.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. You are the chief of police in Peach Tree City.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, unfortunately yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said it was an accident?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was shot twice accidental?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who shot her?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you shoot her?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gun was in the bed. I went to move it, put it to the side, and it went off. Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your name, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did this happen? Will McCollom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you asleep also, sir, when it happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, McCollom has not been charged with a crime. It is important to say that. But he is on administrative lean while the shooting is being investigated.

PAUL: A heroes' funeral is about grieving, not airing grievances. That's the message to the NYPD from Police Comissioner Bill Bratton as officer prepare to say goodbye to Wenjian Liu, one of two officer ambushed and gunned down in the streets of New York. His partner Rafael Ramos was laid to rest last week. It was during that service that some police officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio, a silent symbol of anger and frustration towards the mayor's handling of recent community tensions with police.

Let's bring in CNN's Sara Ganim right now. She's in New York. And a lot of us wondering, Sara, is the expectation that we're going to see the same kind of turnout at tomorrow's funeral that we saw for Officer Ramos?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do expect the same kind of turnout from thousands of police officers over the weekend. Today begin services for Officer Wenjian Liu with a wake this afternoon starting at 1:00 in Brooklyn. That's actually closed to the public. But later on this afternoon at about 4:00 in Chinatown there is going to be a public memorial vigil type of service, like I mentioned, in Chinatown where members of the community, members of the public can come and pay their respects.

Now, tomorrow is the funeral. And at the funeral we do expect again tens of thousands of police officers from across the country to come and pay their respects. We saw that, something similar last weekend with his partner Rafael Ramos's funeral. JetBlue has already said that they are flying in for free more than 1,100 officers from different jurisdictions across the country to be there to attend the funeral.

We also expect to see the FBI director who is coming to town for the funeral to attend, the police commissioner, William Bratton, and also the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio. Now, Bill de Blasio and the NYPD, there have been tensions that have been growing over some of the comments he's made about officers in New York. There has been ongoing tensions rising since his comments after the decision not to indict the police officer involved in the apparent chokehold death of Eric Garner.

Now, last weekend at Ramos's funeral several officers actually turned their backs on de Blasio as he was speaking at the funeral. People took pictures of that. Those pictures were very powerful, and they were circulated among media and it became something that dominated the conversation about that funeral. And because of that the police commissioner, William Bratton, has issued a memo asking that officers attending the funeral of Liu tomorrow not do that again, not turn their backs on the mayor as he's at the funeral.

One of the things that was said in the memo, he said "this is not about the officers. He said it was not disrespect directed at Detective Ramos but all officers were painted by it. It stole the valor, honor, and attention that rightfully belonged to the memory of Detective Rafael Ramos's life and sacrifice." And he went to say "That was not the intent, I know, but it was the result." He also said he wouldn't be disciplining anyone who did this. It wasn't a mandate. He asked that they do it out of respect. Christi?

PAUL: All right, let's see what happens. Sara Ganim, we appreciate it, thank you.

BLACKWELL: If you're heading to the airport you may have to get comfy cozy. And if you're taking a long drive, pack some snacks. Travel delays and headaches because two dozen states facing winter weather warning and advisories today. We'll have details on all this. Plus the latest on this nasty and deadly flu season that's already been declared an epidemic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Good to have your company. It's 29 past the hour and checking the morning's top stories for you now.

BLACKWELL: The efforts to recover more victims and debris from flight 8501 have now been called off until Sunday. This is coming after high waves and strong currents hinder the search. But piece by painstaking piece searchers have managed to turn up more debris that could be from the AirAsia jet. Today they located four large objects in the priority search area in the Java Sea. They're very close together. The largest is almost 60 feet long. Indonesia, meanwhile, says AirAsia did not have permission to fly the route the plane took last Sunday. It's not investigating.

In weather, winter storms may delay or change travel plans this weekend. Just check out the snow falling in Lubbock, Texas, earlier this morning. As much as six inches could fall in this part of western Texas. But the lone star state is not alone because 24 states are facing winter weather warnings and advisories today.

PAUL: A small plane went down in Kentucky killing four people. However, a seven-year-old girl on that flight miraculously survived, and she walked nearly a mile to a home to get help. Officials say she has been taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, and we have learned she has been released.

BLACKWELL: Officials at a London hospital say that a nurse being treat there for Ebola is in critical condition. The 39-year-old contracted the disease while volunteering in Sierra Leone. She is the first person to be diagnosed with the virus on U.K. soil.

PAUL: Activists and friends of Leila Elkhorn gathered last night as a vigil for the late teenager. This was in Columbus here. Born Josh Elkhorn, the transgender 17-year-old left a haunting message online for taking her own life. She wrote, quote, "The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the way I was."

BLACKWELL: The country music world has lost a beloved star. He was the rhinestone cowboy before Glen Campbell. Country star little Jimmy Dickens died yesterday at the age of 94 in Nashville. He's best known for his hits, including "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose."

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: Look it up. It's a real song. "I'm little, but I'm I'm loud." That's another hit. PAUL: I like that, too.

BLACKWELL: He made regular appearances into his 90s. He died of cardiac arrest.

PAUL: Republicans obviously won big during last fall's midterm elections, but the task of actually governing has gotten off to a rough start, let's say.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Erin McPike is live at the White House with the latest on a pair of headaches plaguing the party just days before it retakes full control of Congress. Erin?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Christi, these two controversies are starting the Republicans off on weaker footing than they had hoped going into this new year. But they are still on target for a major clash with President Obama when both President Obama and Congress comes back in the next couple of days, this major clash over the Keystone XL pipeline.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCPIKE: Republicans in Congress celebrated two months ago with sweeping Victories in the midterm elections. But they'll be kicking off the new year weaker than they planned after a pair of embarrassments from the two GOP House members.

The number three House Republican Steve Scalise is managing fallout after news this week he accepted an invitation a decade ago to speak to a white supremacist group. And Congressman Michael Grimm announcing he will resign after pleading guilty to tax evasion.

DOUG HAYE, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: I think they're still in a position of strength.

MCPIKE: But the new headaches come as Republicans plot their first moves now that they'll control both house of Congress next week.

MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY) SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Just to give you some examples that won't surprise you, things like approving the Keystone pipeline which would put a lot of people to work almost immediately, trying to do everything we can to push back against this overactive bureaucracy of the current administration that's created much job loss.

MCPIKE: But that could set up a confrontation with the president who has vowed in the past to veto such bills.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think there's been this tendency to really hype this thing as some magic formula, and to what ails the U.S. economy. And it's hard to see on paper where exactly where they are getting that information from.

MCPIKE: And soon after, immigration. Funding for the president's programs for the Department of Homeland Security runs out in February. HAYE: That's certainly where we could see a big confrontation. When

the president acted unilaterally on immigration without consulting Congress, it sent a real message that this president is going to act alone, that he wasn't going to work with Congress. And the problem with that is we have a Republican House and Republican Senate now that can send things to the president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCPIKE: Now, you may be asking, where possibly can there be room for common ground? Two issues both the president and Republicans in Congress have signaled that they are open to working to together on trade and also tax reform, which is a big ticket item Republicans are really going to be pushing in the new year, Christi.

PAUL: All righty, Erin McPike, we appreciate it, thank you.

BLACKWELL: As Erin explained, the House's third ranking Republican, Louisiana's Steve Scalise, was blasted this week as it was revealed that he spoke in front of the white supremacist group back in 2002. It was a group run by David Duke, a former great wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Scalise has said he did not know the nature of the group but he apologized. Still, Democrats are not letting up.

Let's talk about it. Joining me now is CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, good to have you this morning.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, happy New Year.

BLACKWELL: To you, too. Scalise was a rising star in the party, may still be a rising start. Do you think it's over for him?

BROWNSTEIN: I mean, I think on current facts it appears that he will survive this revelation absent further information that contravenes his assertion that he did not understand the nature of the group. I think there's enough ambiguity or at least plausible deniability that he did not really know the nature of this group, that you have not seen yet a critical mass really even of Democrats from the state, much less Republican colleagues, who are demanding that he go.

BLACKWELL: Do you think this sets up a dangerous precedent if Democrats push not to have him removed from leadership not because of something he said but because he spoke to someone that I guess most people would disagree with their views. That could be turned against some Democrats at some point.

BROWNSTEIN: Well look, politicians, I mean it is fair for politicians to say they do not always know the full nature of every group that they address, particularly when they are lower on kind of the ladder and they don't have the staff to vet these organizations as they might have as they ascend to higher positions.

But, you know, I think that -- as I say, on the current facts, I think there is not any kind of systematic push. You've seen some of the Democrats from Louisiana including Bennett Johnston who was the Senate candidate against David Duke in 1990 have come out and largely given Representative Scalise the benefit of the doubt. So absent some further information that shows that he had either greater ties to this group or a more clear understanding of what they were about it does not appear that this will be enough to derail him.

BLACKWELL: So beyond Scalise, the last hour on Smerconish, I'm not sure if you saw this, David Duke was on, and he said he's rubbed elbows with politicians on both sides of the aisle and he'd name names if any of them became hypocrites over this Scalise revelation. Listen and then we'll talk about it.

BROWNSTEIN: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: You said this week that if he's crucified, I think that was your word choice, then you are going to name names. What are we talking about?

DAVID DUKE: I would name names of any Democrat -- and I know some of the Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives who tried and in fact urged me to support them.

SMERCONISH: In other words you are saying there are members of Congress today who have relationships with you --

DUKE: Have had relationships.

SMERCONISH: But they choose to keep those private and you honor that.

DUKE: And that's fine, and I respect someone's privacy. But I would call them out if they would be hypocritical.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So Ron, does David Duke have that credibility to really put some pressure onto people if even if he does begin to name some names?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, I was down in Louisiana for that 1990 Senate race where David Duke was the finalist against Bennett Johnston. I was back the next year for the governor's race when he was the finalist against Edwin Edwards. David Duke, I think, you know, has a tendency to exaggerate his own reach and audience. I mean, he has a limited constituency. It is a lot less I think than it was 20 years I think. Do you remember 1992 after those two races when he ran for Republican presidential nomination? No you don't. No one does, because there was a great deal of attention to it and then it completely fizzled. So the idea of David Duke as a power broker I think in Louisiana politics is something that probably exists mostly in his own mind.

BLACKWELL: All right, so let's look ahead to 2015. Republicans own the hill, of course President Obama finishing out the fourth quarter of his presidency. Is there anything you see that really can get done? There was so much talks about immigration. We can work together on immigration. We see how that ended up. What is --

BROWNSTEIN: I think confrontation is going to be the default position on most issues. And as we have seen, the president has moved aggressively, pushed the envelope in the use of executive power in issues like immigration and the way the EPA has structured it's regulation on carbon emissions and the way he has implemented a number of other policies that I think Republicans are going to push back again. I think there's going to be a lot of confrontation in all likelihood over the budget as well.

But there may be some opportunities. Taxes and trade, as Erin McPike noted, are areas where there is at least the possibility that they could find some common interest. And it's also not inconceivable that after a big budget confrontation, which is likely, there may be one more effort towards a big budget bargain. I would be dubious that this Congress and this president can find common ground on how they envision the role of the government, enough common ground to achieve that, but it would not totally surprise me that after a collision that there is at least one more attempt of what they tried in 2011, which is a grand barring.

BLACKWELL: Hopefully there's not too much bad blood that they can't get something, something done in the last two years. Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst, thank you so much, Ron.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Victor.

PAUL: Well, the U.S. is slamming North Korea with sanctions over the Sony hack case. We're going to tell you who got sanctioned and how it affects North Korea. And will they react?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm agent Lacey with Central Intelligence. You two are going to be in the room alone with Kim, and the CIA would love it if you can take him out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: That's a clip from "The Interview," the controversial satire about a plot to kill North Korea's leader which has gotten an awful lot of play, let's say.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and some pushback. President Obama is now slamming North Korea with these new economic sanctions which after the U.S. determined that country was behind last month's computer hack at Sony pictures which produced that film.

PAUL: CNN's senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has the details for us. Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christi and Victor, taking care of a serious piece of business at the end of his vacation here in Hawaii, President Obama is turning up the heat on North Korea in response to the cyber-attack on Sony. The Obama administration maintains North Korea was behind that attack, and officials say the sanctions announced are just the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: The new sanctions ordered by President Obama are being dubbed by the White House as broad and powerful, and only the initial U.S. response to North Korea's alleged cyber-attack on Sony Pictures. Senior administration officials say they are aimed at any and all officials of the North Korean government, its political hierarchy, as well as the heart of Pyongyang's shadowy cyber-operation and the money that finances it. Specifically blocked from any dealings with U.S. financial firms, the RGB, North Korea's intelligence operation, it's primary arms dealer, plus a chief defense research and development fim.

In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner the president said his executive order adds to sanctioned already in place and is not targeted at the people of North Korea but rather is aimed at government of North Korea and its activities that threaten the United States and others. The president vowed to hold Pyongyang responsible just before leaving for his annual vacation in Hawaii.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They caused a lot of damage. And we will respond. We will respond proportionally, and we'll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose.

ACOSTA: In an interview with CNN President Obama called North Korea's actions a kind of cyber vandalism the U.S. will be dealing with for years to come.

OBAMA: We're going to be in an environment in this new world where so much is digitalized that both state and non-state actors are going to have the capacity to disrupt our lives in all sorts of ways. We have to do a much better job of guarding against that. We have to treat it like we would treat the incidents of crime in our countries.

ACOSTA: The White House appeared to suggest that the U.S. was not behind that vast Internet outage in North Korea in the days after the president's comments. Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a state "The sanctions are the first aspect of our response." A senior administration official went further, saying the U.S. is not ruling out the possibility that North Korea may have done it to themselves.

Just how much these new sanctions will pinch North Korea's already isolated economy is unclear. Senior administration officials say the U.S. is not certain whether the 10 people targeted in the sanctions even have assets in the U.S. But the White House making it very clear they are just getting warmed up.

Jim Acosta, CNN, traveling with the president in Honolulu.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Jim, thank you very much. PAUL: So flu season is here and it is here with a vengeance. The

Centers for Disease Control has already declared this year's flu season an epidemic. Take a look here, flu activity elevated across the nation and at a high level in 22 states.

BLACKWELL: So if you have not gotten a flu shot you might want to reconsider because strains are spreading fast, and in some cases they're turning deadly for young children in just a matter of hours. CNN's George Howell has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the most recent flu-related deaths is a three-year-old girl from Iowa. Her parents say she went from perfect health with no preexisting conditions to becoming severely dehydrated and in pain, then rushed to a hospital in Des Moines where she later died just a few days after showing the initial signs of the flu. Another tragic case in Minnesota, seven-year-old Ruby Hanson died Christmas Eve. Her mother believed she might have survived had she not had a preexisting medical condition.

DEBRA HANSON, RUBY HANSON'S MOTHER: The flu would have not did her in had she not had Dravet Syndrome. There's no way. She has a seizure, yes, the seizure was caused by the flu.

HOWELL: These latest deaths now part of grim statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showing the flu has reached an epidemic level in the United States. One of the strains making people sick this season has mutated, causing this year's vaccination to be less than optimal for protection.

MICHAEL JHUNG, CDC: The most common virus that we're seeing causing disease right now is this H3N2 virus. When we've seen H3N2 predominate in previous seasons we've seen relatively severe seasons, so it's possible we could have a severe season again this year.

HOWELL: It's being felt widespread in at least 36 states with current influenza levels approaching peak levels we saw two years ago. Doctors are seeing more patients.

DR. RAHUL KHANE, NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, CHICAGO: I was on a shift the other day. I saw about 35 patients. I saw 10 positive flu swabs. And there was a couple I didn't even swab. I just treated them because it's so prevalent. So we're definitely seeing a lot.

HOWELL: The CDC is set to release its latest figures on how widespread the flu bug has become this coming Monday. In the meantime officials still recommend getting a flu shot. Even though it may completely prevent against it, it may lessen the severity if you get sick.

George Howell, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: All righty, now, in some other news, a big day in football. NFL playoffs begin. Rashan Ali, you've been checking it down in the Bleacher Report. Good morning.

RASHAN ALI, CNN SPORTS: Good morning. Yes, it's a wild card weekend in the NFL and it kicks off today. I've got details coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Well, the road to the Super Bowl starts today.

PAUL: The NFL playoffs begin with wild card weekend. Simply put it is win or go home, people. Rashan Ali has more on this morning's Bleacher Report.

ALI: Hey guys. It's all about pro football this weekend with two big games today and two more tomorrow. The Baltimore Ravens go to Pittsburgh tonight but the Steelers will be without their star running back Le'Veon Bell. He hyperextended his knee in last Monday's win over Cincinnati. It's really hard to look at. Pittsburgh brings a four game winning streak into the playoffs, but they have split the season series against their bitter division rivals. Kickoff is in primetime, 8:15 eastern.

Today's double header begins at 4:35 eastern with the Arizona Cardinals taking on the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers are only the second team to reach the post season with a losing record.

It's been a bad couple of days for the Florida State Seminoles. First they were blown out by Oregon 54-20 in the Rose Bowl on Thursday. It was Florida State's first loss in 30 games and it eliminated them from the college football playoffs. Then when they returned to Tallahassee yesterday players found that their cars had been damaged. Freshman linebacker Anthony Valdez tweeted "People actually keyed our cars and slashed our tires." He also posted "Go 29 and 0, but lost one game and people don't know how to act." So far no one has been arrested for the vandalism.

And we take you to Pennsylvania where General McLane High School takes on Mercer High School. In the first quarter Kelsey Swartz went to the line for her second foul shot and she hit the rim and then watched it completely fall off. We are very glad nobody aggressively tried to get the rebound because that could be a totally different story. The game was delayed 45 minutes before General McLane ran away with the win 59-32.

BLACKWELL: That is dangerous. The rim just falls off in the middle of the game?

ALI: Yes. Just fell off.

BLACKWELL: Good thing no one was hurt.

PAUL: Rashan Ali, thank you.

ALI: You're quite welcome.

BLACKWELL: Graffiti and street art has evolved into much more than a spray can and a wall. Next a look at how one artist is using explosives to carve out his murals.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Now to the CNN series "Ones to Watch," and the world of street art.

PAUL: In this week's edition we go to Portugal to meet an artist who is making it big with an unusual set of tools.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VHILS, STREET ARTIST: I was always interested at this idea of you being something that destroys the city, that defaces the city, that takes value out of the urban space where you live. I started to realize that I didn't want to paint over and to be one more layer on all these layers building up on the city every day. On a wall sometimes you just need a tiny spark that ignites the explosion that brings all these layers from 50 years ago back to the present.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He works with a licensed pyro-technician, attaching calculated measures of dynamite to a drawing on the wall. Today he is working with an electric drill to carve out the face of a man he encountered in Lisbon a few months ago.

VHILS: The idea is to sort of make the invisible visible in a way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His recent solo show at a contemporary art museum in Lisbon was a sellout, and his following on social media is rapidly rising.

VHILS: I think social media plays a really big role because it makes a link between you and your work and what you want to communicate about your work directly to the people who follow it. As an artist that works in the public space and is mostly seen as an outcast or someone who is defacing or taking value of the place you live makes you be an outsider, and this makes you look to different things that people usually don't. For me I think it was the catalyst to make me realize things in a different way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Fascinating, right? If you want to watch the full episode, go to CNN.com/OnestoWatch.

PAUL: All righty, we're going to hand it off here today, but we are hoping you go make some great memories.

BLACKWELL: Yes, stay right here because there is much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom. We send it over to Fredericka Whitfield.

PAUL: Hey, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happy New Year.

PAUL: Happy New Year. WHITFIELD: First time seeing each other on the air.

BLACKWELL: We both did the hand thing. I don't know what that's about.

WHITFIELD: Because that is the love we're passing to one another in this 2015. Give and take. Good to see you guys. Have a great one.

PAUL: You too.

BLACKWELL: See you.

WHITFIELD: All right, hello, everyone. It is the noon -- no, it's the 11:00 eastern hour. I'm getting ahead of myself in this 2015. Newsroom begins right now.