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U.S. Olympians Targeted by Russian Hackers; Business Owners Speaks Out Against Donald Trump; Dow Flat After Three Days of Big Swings; Wells Fargo CEO Apologizes to Customers. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired September 14, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:33:13] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
Some of America's top athletes the target of cyber criminals. The World Anti-Doping Agency says confidential medical files from several U.S. Olympic stars, including Simone Biles, were stolen and leaked by Russian hackers. Those hackers now threatening to make even more personal information public.
Deborah Feyerick is following this for us this morning. Good morning.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there, Carol. Well, Russian hackers did break into the World Anti-Doping Agency, stealing private medical records and confidential drug testing reports. They then posted them online. And these are files of America's top Olympic athletes, including five-time gold medal winner gymnast, Simone Biles, tennis player Venus Williams and star basketball player Elena Delle Donne.
As she recently had surgery, she tweeted, quote, "I'd like to thank the hackers for making the world aware that I legally take a prescription for a condition I've been diagnosed with which the World Anti-Doping Agency granted me an exemption far."
Star gymnast Simone Biles also responding on Twitter. She said, "Having ADHD and taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing that I'm afraid to let people know." And U.S. officials said the athletes followed procedures, they requested permission and they were given exemptions by a team of independent doctors. And officials say there were no violations.
Now Russia, who is allegedly responsible for his hack, a spokesperson for the government denied that the government or secret service had anything to do with it. But experts say this is part of a widespread pattern of propaganda, misinformation, and manipulation, if not outright intimidation. Possible Russian motives include retaliation after more than 100 athletes from Russia's track and field team were banned from the Olympics after officials discovered a state-run doping scheme.
The intent of the hack trying to embarrass the anti-doping agency and also tainting U.S. athletes and their successes at the Olympics. [09:35:04] And this is all coming on the heels of an FBI investigation
of what appears to be Russia's widespread hacking specifically its attempt to influence U.S. elections, after two Russian agencies, intelligence agencies were identified as having hacked into the DNC. Those files were stolen as we know they're being released slowly. The Russian group identifies itself as Fancy Bear, which is the U.S. code name given to Russia's military intelligence even though Russia still denies it was involved.
And how did it happen, well, they hacked into the account of the Russian athlete who helped expose the extent of Russia's doping scandal -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Deborah Feyerick reporting live for us. Thanks so much.
Coming up in the NEWSROOM, he likes to tout the real estate empire he's built but what of the people who helped Donald Trump build that empire have to say? We talk to them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETH ROSSER, TRIAD BUILDING SPECIALTIES: He put so many good contractors out of business.
NAT HYMAN, LANDAU JEWELRIES: I don't care if he's Donald Trump or Donald Duck. Right is right, wrong is wrong, and I have to stand up for myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[09:40:34] COSTELLO: Donald Trump says he'll make America great again by creating jobs. He often gives himself credit for investing in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered. And I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that, very, very proud of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: But some small business owners aren't so proud of the deals they made with Mr. Trump calling him vindictive and claiming he banned them from working in Atlantic City.
CNN correspondent Jessica Schneider spoke with the owners of three small businesses who worked for Trump and she joins us now to tell us what they said.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Carol, these people all had very high hopes when they landed their business contracts with Donald Trump. But in the end, they say they were shorted huge sums of money. They contend that Trump's tactics go beyond cutthroat and are more like high-powered bullying.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSSER: He put so many good contractors out of business.
HYMAN: I don't care if he's Donald Trump or Donald Duck. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. And I have to stand up for myself.
PAUL FRIEL, EDWARD J. FRIEL COMPANY: Donald Trump had basically decided what subcontractors would work in Atlantic City and which ones would not.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): They are the voices skeptical of Donald Trump and his promises of prosperity.
FRIEL: If you went against him, he simply put a list out and said these are bad guys and everybody else is a good guy.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): And you guys were on that list?
FRIEL: We were on the list.
SCHNEIDER: And did you ever get work in Atlantic City again?
FRIEL: Never.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): But Donald Trump has framed much of his campaign on his stellar record as a businessman.
TRUMP: I'm running to give back to this country, which has been so very good to me. Jobs, jobs, jobs.
SCHNEIDER: The three small business owners we just heard from say their contracts with Trump initially looked promising but in the end the deals turned disastrous.
STEVEN JENKINS, TRIAD BUILDING SPECIALTIES: It was one of those things. It's like, it's Donald Trump. You know, what could go on?
SCHNEIDER: Steven Jenkins and his sister Beth Rosser are second generation owners of a Triad Building Specialties, a business built by their father Forest. When Trump's Taj Mahal began construction Triad won the bid to install every toilet partition inside the casino's bathrooms. It was the largest contract their family business had ever landed.
JENKINS: We bill $100,000, $150,000 a month. That's a really good month for us. And this was almost $300,000 in one contract. Everyone was, you know, it was a big job. It was great.
SCHNEIDER: But as Triad's workers wrapped up the project, talk started swirling that contractors weren't getting paid. When the Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy in 1991, Triad was left with this $231,000 claim in court. They say they ended up with a payout of just $70,000. JENKINS: It's hard for me to talk about it. But he put all four of
us to work.
SCHNEIDER: Jenkins gets emotional when he remembers how their father struggled to keep the business standing.
JENKINS: He was distraught. It was -- you know, he's watching something that he built his whole life start to slip through his fingers.
SCHNEIDER: A generous loan they say saved the Pennsylvania company.
JENKINS: He didn't go to a bank for the loan. He borrowed it off of a friend.
HYMAN: I respect a lot about him. I think he has the capacity to take the very complicated and simplify it which I think is one of the hallmarks of a good CEO. So I think he has that ability. On the other hand, I also think that he is vindictive, nasty, and think that his words or actions have no repercussions.
SCHNEIDER: Nat Hyman spent years in litigation with Trump. He respects Trump's shrewd business tactics but harbors resentment of what it cost his start-up costume jewelry business. Letters show Trump tried to cut short Hyman's kiosk lease inside Trump Tower in Manhattan blaming "the poor quality of the merchandise." Hyman sued Trump amid various lease disputes and says the real estate mogul's team buried him in legal paperwork and fees for years.
HYMAN: He was hoping that simply by sending me a letter and the force of being Donald Trump that a 20-something-year-old would roll over and say go ahead, you know, I'm not going to fight you, you're Donald Trump. He was wrong. I think I spent over $1 million in litigation with him. The bottom line was I would have been much happier, Jess, if he would have left me alone and simply left me to do my business.
[09:45:02] To him it was -- it was sport. And to me it was my life.
TRUMP: We will make it very, very good for our companies, for our small businesses, and for people that want to survive and do well in our country.
SCHNEIDER: Paul Friel scoffs at Trump's words. The Philadelphia cabinetry company founded by his grandfather was forced to file for bankruptcy, he contends, because of Trump's retaliatory tactics.
FRIEL: We had already worked for three GCs and every single one of them lived up to the word until Donald Trump came to Atlantic City. He was the first one that told a bunch of small contractors, I don't think I'm going to pay you any more money. And if you don't like it, you can sue me.
SCHNEIDER: Friel says his father did try to recoup the $84,000 Trump owed the company for building bases to these Trump line of slot machines and the hotel's registration desks and bars. The elder Friel eventually gave up but Trump seemed to hold a grudge. Friel says he believes his father's company was blocked from working on any future Atlantic City casino projects.
FRIEL: I think it surprised him the most that Donald Trump had blackballed it. Even though we had an excellent name in Atlantic City, we had already worked in four of the first four casinos, that he had the ability to tell people you don't want to work -- you don't want this company to work for you.
SCHNEIDER: Now Friel says he's speaking out to honor his dead father.
FRIEL: He would say, Paul, do this, for us. Because I was -- I was the one son involved in the business.
SCHNEIDER: Donald Trump did not respond to our requests for comment about these small business owners but he promised big, if not vague things, in Cleveland.
TRUMP: I have made billions of dollars in business making deals, now I'm going to make our country rich again.
FRIEL: He would say, Paul, do this. Let the country know what kind of man this is.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): And you're doing that?
FRIEL: And I'm doing it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: Now for Paul Friel and the brother and the sister who run Triad the distaste for Donald Trump runs deep. In fact, Beth Rosser once demanded that her son return a Trump tie he had picked up for a school dance and all three say they will vote for Hillary Clinton.
Now the jewelry store owner Nat Hyman, he, however, says he hasn't fully decided about his vote yet. He says he does respect Donald Trump's business savvy to a degree but in the end he says it would be hard to actually cast his ballot for Donald Trump.
So some conflicted thoughts there and they've been through a lot with Donald Trump all these years.
COSTELLO: Think so. Jessica Schneider, thanks so much.
Still to come at the NEWSROOM, three days of big swings. How will the markets fare today? We'll take you live to the New York Stock Exchange next.
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[09:52:04] COSTELLO: The Opening Bell of the New York Stock Exchange rang just about 15 minutes ago. The Dow right now, it's down just about 18 points but how today actually fares is anyone's guess after big swings the past three days.
Alison Kosik joins us live to talk about that. Good morning. ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. So, yes, we
are seeing a flat start but whoa, the whiplash we've had over the past three sessions. We've seen the Dow make three triple-digit moves, two down, one up.
What's happening here is investors are unsure when the Federal Reserve will make its move to raise interest rates so that is causing some bit of volatility we have seen over the past several days.
Meantime, investors not too happy with Wells Fargo after learning employees opened millions of fake accounts. We watched shares of Wells Fargo fall 3 percent yesterday. They are down more than 6 percent since the scandal broke. But then last night, the bank's CEO, John Stumpf, coming out and saying look, I'm sorry for the fake account scandal but I'm not stepping down. Here he is.
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JOHN STUMPF, WELLS FARGO CEO: I want to tell you, your audience and our customers that we are sorry. We deeply regret any situation where a customer got a product they did not request. I think the best thing I can do right now is lead this company and lead this company forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Now there is an executive leaving the bank but the way she's leaving, it's only escalating criticism of the bank. You see, the executive in charge of the unit that was involved in this scandal is retiring with a $124 million pay package. Meantime, 5300 bankers have been fired for opening the bank accounts, including fake debit cards customers never, ever opened. The bank is also ending the structure of sales goals that fueled the scandal with employees boosting their own pay by hitting those sales targets.
Wonder what the next stop is for the CEO? Capitol Hill. Next week he's going to testify in front of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Senate Banking Committee.
Carol, you can bet he's going to get a grilling.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I would assume so. Alison Kosik, reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.
Checking some other top stories for you at 54 minutes past, heart- stopping video out of Phoenix. Oh, my goodness. I'm sorry, I didn't get the chance to warn you but that is disturbing video. A car plows into three officers, hits a police cruiser, then crashes through the front of a convenience store. Two of the officers were taken to the hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. We are told the third officer was hurt during a struggle with the driver. Investigators say they believe the man crashed into those officers on purpose. But luckily all of them survived.
The gazebo where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot by Cleveland Police is being -- is being taken down this morning. An attorney for Tamir's mother says she asked for this gazebo to be dismantled. It had become a makeshift memorial for Tamir since his death in November of 2014. It will eventually become part of an exhibit at a Chicago museum.
The White House has announced plans to allow 110,000 refugees into the United States over the next 10 years.
[09:55:05] That's 10,000 more than the original goal for 2017 and a 57 percent increase from just last year. The country's refugee policy, a top campaign issue in this election, Donald Trump making waves with his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States while Hillary Clinton favors a six-fold increase at accepting Syrian refugees.
California has become the first state to ban breeding killer whales and holding them in captivity. The governor signed the bill into law. It takes effect in 2017 and allows for orcas already in captivity to remain in the state but only for educational purposes. SeaWorld, which has a park in San Diego, has already announced it will phase out its shamu shows.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
Any day now supposedly we could learn the results from Donald Trump's recent physical.
