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GOP Leaders Contradict Trump on Impact of Nunes Memo in Mueller Probe; New Scrutiny for Hope Hicks in Mueller Probe; NTSB Says Tracks Were Switched to Steer One Train into the Other; Fitness App Forces Pentagon to Review Policies; Interest Rate Worries Jolt Stock Market; A History of Trumps in Commercials. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired February 04, 2018 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00] COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: -- relentless competitor. No one is better prepared just like his head coach Bill Belichick. He has one sign hanging in his facilities. It's from Sun Tzu, "The Art of War," every battle is won before its fought. Eagles have a tough task today at Super Bowl LII.
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, on this Sunday. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Great to have you with us.
We're following a couple of big stories this hour. In South Carolina, the governor says it appears an Amtrak train was on the wrong track when it collided with a freight train early this morning killing two people and injuring more than 100 others. Investigators are now looking closely at the signal systems along the railway. We'll get a live report coming up.
But first, memo mutiny. Tonight a growing number of Republicans are pushing back against the president and his assertion that a controversial memo has, quote, "totally vindicated" him in the Russia probe.
For that part of the story we go live to CNN's Boris Sanchez in West Palm Beach near the president's Mar-a-Lago estate.
Boris, what are those Republicans saying?
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Ana. Yes, some of them outright contradicting President Trump's stance that the Nunes memo vindicates him. He's been on Twitter this weekend essentially saying that this proves that the Russia investigation is a witch hunt. At one point he tweeted portions of a "Wall Street Journal" editorial that supposes that there are political actors within the Department of Justice and FBI that are anti-Trump.
We also saw Donald Trump Jr. last night on FOX News saying that the release of this memo is sweet revenge for him and his family. Republicans are not going nearly as far. Many of them stopping short of saying that the memo has anything to do with the Russia investigation.
I want you to listen to three Republican lawmakers now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The memo has no impact on the Russia probe.
REP. TREY GOWDY (R), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Not to me, it doesn't, and I was pretty integrally involved in the drafting of it. There is a Russia investigation without a dossier.
REP. CHRIS STEWART (R), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: This memo has nothing to do with the special counsel.
REP. WILL HURD (R), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I don't believe this is an attack on Bob Mueller. I don't believe this is an attack on the men and women in the FBI.
REP. MIKE TURNER (R), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: The memo is about the special counsel's investigation. It's not about Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Those are actually four Republicans, Ana. Forgive me. But we should note some of the strongest words that we just heard come from Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina and it's significant because even according to Devin Nunes, Trey Gowdy is the only Republican on the House Intelligence Committee that has actually looked at the underlying intelligence, at the raw intelligence that led that FISA court judge to allow for the surveillance of Carter Page. So if anyone knows the validity of the Nunes memo and its implication over the Russia investigation, it's Trey Gowdy.
CABRERA: Yes, you're right. There were four there, Boris. Don't want to leave anybody out. And in the meantime let me ask you about Democrats and their pushback. We now know there is a Democratic memo that rebut GOP allegations against the FBI. What can you tell us about this?
SANCHEZ: Right. The so-called Schiff memo that Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has put together as kind of a rebuttal as you said of the Nunes memo. According to Democrats, this memo has more context and paints a much more accurate picture of the circumstances regarding the FISA courts and their potential impact on the Russia investigation. Any potential abuses by the Department of Justice or the FBI.
House Committee can vote as early as tomorrow to declassify this memo at which point the White House then has five days to potentially object to its release. It's a similar process to what we saw to the release of the Nunes memo.
We did get a chance to ask Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah if he believed that the president would be inclined to declassify the Schiff memo as he did with the Nunes memo. He said that he believes that the president would. The question of course, because the president has based so much on the Nunes memo is what political incentive he might have. Democrats are pushing hard, though. Here's a statement from Chuck
Schumer released earlier today. He writes, quote, "I believe it is a matter of fundamental fairness that the American people be allowed to see both sides of the argument and make their own judgments."
This is not the only showdown we're going to see in Congress this week, Ana. Let's not forget that funding for the government wraps up on Friday and we may potentially see a second shutdown.
CABRERA: All right. Boris Sanchez, we'll be watching and waiting. Thank you very much.
I want to bring in our panel, CNN presidential historian and former director of the Nixon Presidential Library, Tim Naftali, CNN political analyst and deputy culture editor for the "New York Times," Patrick Healy, and former KGB agent and author of the book "Deep Undercover," Jack Barsky.
So, gentlemen, great to have all of you with us.
Tim, let me start with you. The president says this memo is vindication for him in the Russia probe. Now we hear Republican lawmakers pushing back against that. What does that mean for the president?
[18:05:01] TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, this memo is disinformation. The memo itself makes clear that the FBI had to undertake a counterintelligence investigation of the associates of the Trump campaign because of George Papadopoulos, not because of Carter Page. So regardless of the Steele memo, which by the way is what Trey Gowdy says, regardless of that memo --
CABRERA: The Steele dossier. Just to not confuse people with all the memos out there.
(LAUGHTER)
NAFTALI: With the Steele information, regardless of the Steele information, you would have to have had an FBI investigation. So whatever you think of the legitimacy of the FISA warrant regarding Mr. Page, regardless of that, you can have this debate, you still would have to have an FBI investigation and you still would have to have a Mueller investigation.
So the president couldn't possibly be vindicated by this memo because it's a red herring. It does not have to do with the basic reason why we're investigating Russia interference in the 2016 election.
CABRERA: I see you nodding your head. Before you respond, Patrick, I want you to also listen to what Donald Trump Jr. is saying about this memo. He too seems to be taking a bit of a victory lap. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP JUNIOR, PRESIDENT'S SON: There is a little bit of sweet revenge in it for me and certainly probably the family in the sense that, if they wouldn't have done this, this stuff would be going on. This would be going on at the highest levels of government. They'd be continuing to do it to my father, trying to undermine his actions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: He called it sweet revenge.
PATRICK HEALY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It goes to how personal this has become for the Trump family. They have seen the Mueller investigation as frankly sort of a personal concerted effort to take down not only President Trump but also Donald Trump Jr. who is the one who arranged the meeting in Trump Tower with the Russians who came in who -- you know, with other members of the Trump family.
This is very personal and you heard that. It was a revealing comment by Donald Trump Jr. The problem here President Trump talks about vindication, Donald Trump Jr. talks about sweet revenge.
They're kind of talking to each other in terms of the family and the hard right, but what you're seeing is the Republican establishment in a way is sending a real signal to the White House which is saying that, you know, you can talk about sweet revenge and vindication all you like but we're saying this is not -- you know, this is not connected to the Mueller probe and if you were to take action like firing Rod Rosenstein or making any kind of overreach to really derail or problematize the Mueller investigation we're not going to buy that.
I mean, in a way, they're kind of protecting the White House and sending a signal and saying, you know, you can spin all you want but don't take any actions that really, you know, put yourself in jeopardy.
CABRERA: And I suppose they're not saying we don't support the president and if there is nothing to hide then let the investigation play out is what I get from some of that.
Jack, being a former KGB spy, I want to get your take on what Senator John McCain said about this whole memo battle. Quote, "The latest attack on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests, no party's, no president's, only Putin's. Our nations' elected officials including the president must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan side shows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law we are doing Putin's job for him."
So, Jack, do you agree? Are they doing Putin's job for him?
JACK BARSKY, FORMER UNDERCOVER KGB AGENT: God bless him. Before you asked the question and quoted McCain, I was thinking to say exactly what he just said.
CABRERA: Seriously?
BARSKY: Not even -- whatever question you might have asked because what I'm seeing here is the investigations continuing and going forward and its political here, political there, and we are constantly battling with one another, and Vladimir just loves it because this is what it's called in our field, the field I was active in for many years, are active measures, causing trouble. And, you know, as long as we're investigating -- and this whole memo, your memo is better than my memo.
CABRERA: Yes.
BARSKY: And I know what -- it's just -- it is insane. And --
CABRERA: It kind of muddies what the truth is. It gives people reason to grab on to one or the other rather than just knowing what the facts of the matter are, Jack.
The central figure in this memo is former Trump adviser Carter Page and "TIME" magazine obtained a 2013 letter in which Carter Page brags about being an adviser to the Kremlin.
Let me read part of this to you. He says, the latest -- rather, let me find it. "Over the past year and a half I've had the privilege to serve as an informal adviser to the staff of the Kremlin in preparation for their presidency of the G20 Summit next month where energy issues will be a prominent point on the agenda."
[18:10:04] Again this is from 2013. But just how significant is that?
BARSKY: All right. I don't know Carter Page but I've watched his interviews and I've been watching people for all of my adult life and I tell you, one thing this fellow is extremely impressed with himself. You take that characteristics and you take the ability to get close to where the money is, that's the oligarchs in Russia, my goodness, it's a very explosive combination and it's very easy to imagine that he was trying to cozy up to the Russians as much as he can to get a piece of the action.
CABRERA: Would you be suspicious of him?
BARSKY: Would I -- well, counterintelligence has been suspicious of him and I wouldn't second guess these professionals. Not as an undercover type agent but as a sort of an agent who is acting on behalf of a foreign country and hasn't registered himself as such.
CABRERA: Well, this spying on Carter Page in 2016 is now a central argument in President Trump's defense that the FBI is biased against him but it wasn't long ago that team Trump was downplaying any connection to Page. Here's a reminder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, THEN WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Carter Page is an individual who the president-elect does not know.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT: He's not part of our national security or foreign policy briefings that we do now at all.
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: To the best of my recollection I don't know Carter Page. To the best of my knowledge, Carter Page never had a Donaldtrump.com e-mail address, had no formal role in the campaign that I'm aware of.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think I've ever spoken to him. I don't think I've ever met him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: So, Tim, can they have it both ways?
NAFTALI: No. They can't have it both ways. Because the whole point of this memo is to undermine the public credibility of the investigation of Russia involvement in our campaign. That's the point of this memo. Why do you think so much -- there was so much noise about it before it came out? Why do you think the president got involved? It's because the sense was this could turn the conversation, that Americans who are sitting on the fence now might say oh, my goodness, maybe this -- maybe the FBI is actually -- was actually led by Democrats, maybe there was a Democratic conspiracy.
This is to undermine the -- our country's ability to undertake an independent investigation of the powerful. That's what this is all about. So the Carter Page story, let's debate whether the FISA warrant was warranted or not but it has nothing to do whether the investigation of the Russian interference and the possible collusion with Trump associates is valid and important. Those are two different issues.
CABRERA: Right.
NAFTALI: I believe the White House and some House Republicans want us to confuse these two issues.
HEALY: Right. The Mueller -- and the Mueller investigation would have happened regardless of a FISA court ruling on Carter Page. They're two different things. I mean, whether the court ruling would have happened if they brought in the Steele dossier, you know, what -- we don't know actually. A lot of that information is still classified but the Mueller investigation itself it would be happening based on so many, you know, issues that have come alive.
CABRERA: Which even Trey Gowdy pointed out. Real quick, Patrick.
HEALY: Yes.
CABRERA: I want to get your take on the president's Super Bowl message today. He says, quote, "Though many of our nation's service members are unable to be home with family and friends to enjoy this evening's American tradition, they're always in our thoughts and prayers. Their sacrifice is stitched into each star and every stripe of our star-spangled banner. We hold them in our hearts and thank them for our freedom as we proudly stand for the national anthem."
Note the stand for the national anthem line there.
HEALY: Right. He has decided as part of his cultural war in America that going after the NFL and players in the NFL and particularly African-American players in the NFL plays well with one narrow slice of the Republican base. And --
CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR:
CABRERA: You also note that it's divisive. Right?
HEALY: He knows that it's divisive. He knows exactly what he is doing. He knows full well what he is doing when he chooses these words, when he chooses words like that. He knows what signal that he's sending which is basically the guys who are standing, like Tom Brady, you know, my friend, you know, that's who we respect. Those other people who aren't doing that we're demonizing them.
CABRERA: We don't know who he's voting for or rooting for I should say today.
Gentlemen, thank you all for the conversation. You guys are back with me. Jack Barsky, thank you so much for spending time with us.
Coming up, full steam ahead for the special counsel and one key witness is a former Trump insider. What Hope Hicks is saying about a report that she tried to conceal e-mails about an infamous meeting at Trump Tower.
Plus, two trains collide in the early morning hours killing two and injuring dozens. What went wrong in South Carolina.
And those popular fitness trackers reveal a lot about us. How many steps we take? How many calories we burn? But when they're worn by U.S. troops, could they reveal their locations to America's enemies?
[18:15:06]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: She has been called an enigma, untouchable, even a Trump whisperer. At just 29 years old, White House communications director Hope Hicks is one of the president's longest serving aides often seen but out of the spotlight until now.
The "New York Times" reports a former legal spokesperson for the Trump team Mark Corallo plans to tell the special counsel he had concerns about Hope Hicks trying to obstruct justice because of a comment she made on a conference call with the president after Donald Trump Jr.'s now infamous meeting with Russians at the Trump Tower.
The "Times" reports Mr. Corallo plans to tell investigators that Miss Hicks said during the call that e-mails written by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting in which the younger Mr. Trump said he was eager to receive political dirt about Mrs. Clinton from the Russians will never get out. A lawyer for Hicks denies this report.
[18:20:06] CNN's Randi Kaye takes a look at what else we know about the president's young aide.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HOPE HICKS, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I'm 28 years old and I am the press secretary for the Donald J. Trump for President campaign --
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president likes to call her Hopey. But to the rest of us she is Hope Hicks, now White House communications director.
It was a swift rise for Hicks, who went from modeling and acting early on to handling PR for Ivanka Trump's fashion line after college. By 2014, Hicks was managing communications for the Trump Organization. And soon her job would change again.
TRUMP: She used to be in my real estate company. I said what do you know about politics? She said, "Absolutely nothing." I said, congratulations, you're into the world of -- right?
KAYE: Hicks told "New York" magazine, "Mr. Trump looked at me and said, 'I'm thinking about running for president, and you're going to be my press secretary.'" During the campaign Hicks reportedly had a note from candidate Trump above her desk that read simply, "Hopey, you are the greatest."
TRUMP: Hope, get up here. She's always on the phone, talking to the reporters, trying to get the reporters to straighten out that dishonest story.
KAYE: Though Hicks was almost always by Donald Trump's side, her voice was rarely heard in public. At this campaign event in Alabama, she seemed hesitant even to just say a few words.
HICKS: Hi. Merry Christmas, everyone. And thank you, Donald Trump.
KAYE: So it's no surprise that our request for an interview with Hicks was ignored.
HICKS: I'm very proud that Mr. Trump put so much faith in me.
KAYE: With her position in the White House, Hicks now has access to the world stage, taking part in this intimate gathering with the Pope and also the Japanese prime minister's state banquet, where Hicks stole the spotlight in her black tuxedo. Her access to the president means she may have been able to fill in some blanks in the Russia investigation. She was interviewed by special prosecutor Robert Mueller's team in December.
MICHAEL ZELDIN, ROBERT MUELLER'S FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT AT DOJ: So much stuff goes through her as the conduit between outsiders and the president that she really sits in a particularly important seat for Mueller.
KAYE (on camera): An important seat because Hope Hicks has managed to stay inside of Donald Trump's ever-changing inner circle, a key player in the administration, and now a key player in the investigation into her president.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: My panel is back with us now.
So, Tim, I'll pick up where she left off. How key is Hope Hicks in the Mueller investigation?
NAFTALI: Well, if it is true that Donald Trump never e-mails and if Donald Trump doesn't write very much, it'll be very difficult to piece together his role when we get further along in the investigation. If Hope Hicks was the instrument that Donald Trump used to direct people to do things or to shift, to organize, or schedule meetings, then she's key so long as she is more loyal to the process of justice than to the president.
One of the things that -- when you study these scandals, there's an enormous amount of pressure on these people who are in the White House or around the White House because of the president. You know, there are people who come to power in Washington and they've had a career before and they have a reputation and there are others who are there because of the man who's the president.
There are enormous pressures on those people. They don't want to disappoint the man who brought them to Washington. This happened in the Watergate period. I suspect those kinds of pressures exist for someone like Hope Hicks. Nevertheless she would be key to the Mueller investigation understanding the extent to which the president knew anything about what was going on with Russia.
CABRERA: I mean, it does sound like she has been fiercely loyal which we know the president prizes. And Patrick, I mean, some have described her as part of the family in many senses. In fact, I mean, she's been described as being a lot different than some of the president's aides.
Let me read you a quote from Politico, which says she stays off television which has given her some cover and credibility with the media. She's never lied on the record in service of the president. She declined to comment for this story and she turns down most media requests that come her way because she prefers to serve the president without a spotlight shining on her.
What's your take?
HEALY: I got to know Hope in June of 2015 when Donald Trump announced for president. Back then it was basically Hope Hicks and Corey Lewandowski. We forget this because now the president is surrounded by so many people. But it was Hope and Corey. Corey eventually, about a year later left, and it was Hope.
I, you know, interviewed her several times. She is smart. She's a good listener. She's thoughtful. She is intensely loyal to Donald Trump and she is I have no doubt a keeper of secrets. There is no question. She has been with him throughout that entire campaign. She was sort of a last woman standing by election day. [18:25:05] President Trump feels incredibly comfortable with her and
when, you know, he's in the Oval with reporters, with other senior aides, she is often there and she is a listener.
Now the quote that Corallo is basically saying he's going to tell Mueller in the investigation is a very damning quote. I don't know whether Hope actually said that or not, but clearly Mueller is looking at obstruction of justice and anything that he can piece together which sort of suggests Trump or one of Trump's aides putting up roadblocks, you know, could be damning.
I again don't know what Hope did or didn't say but she is -- she is the person in his inner circle who is often there and listening and hearing things and she knows among other things very well how President Trump can say and do things that can hurt himself, that can get himself into trouble.
CABRERA: When we heard her voice in the Randi Kaye package that was the first time I had ever heard her voice. And we do see her in pictures. But she doesn't put herself out there so it was kind of interesting to see "SNL" put her in the spotlight last night. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, Hope, this is so exciting. Two years ago you were a 26-year-old former model working for Ivanka Trump's clothing line but now you're White House communications director.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. If you say so. There are no real jobs here, you know. Every day it feels like when a group of strangers suddenly work together to push a beached whale back into the sea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Hope, this memo proves that the FBI is totally out of control. I hope they don't drag you into this mess. You seem like an honorable young woman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know. People are treating me like I'm the "Gossip Girl" of the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: "The Gossip Girl of the White House" seems to really go against actually what she is since she doesn't say much.
NAFTALI: Well, the thing is this, and Patrick mentioned it, but I want to reinforce it. If you don't have a taping system which apparently this administration doesn't have, then the only way to reconstruct what the president said or ordered is if people around him, A, kept notes and B, are willing to testify as to what they heard.
We don't know if there's a Haldeman. Haldeman was Nixon's chief of staff who kept all kinds of notes. We don't -- we doubt there's a taping system. But we have Hope Hicks, we have Kelly, we have Flynn, we have others who were in the room, and it's going to be up to them to tell Mueller what they heard and that's the issue here. What did they hear and when did they hear it?
CABRERA: Right. Final thought, Patrick?
HEALY: Right. I love "SNL" but I think they got Hope wrong there. She's not daffy and she knows exactly what she's doing. She's there very much to hit Donald Trump's message and day after day --
CABRERA: Does she push back on him at all?
HEALY: She pushes -- I've seen -- I've been in the room where she did sort of push back or call him out sometimes when he started changing the subject and going to his own polling, and he was basically going off his own message, but the reality is, you know, I think it's interesting. It speaks to some of the well of her that she's not someone who's out there, you know, in the front lawn, you know, soaking up the attention and sort of going beyond her brief. I think that has helped her maintain some credibility with -- you know, with reporters there, so --
CABRERA: Gentlemen, thank you both very much.
NAFTALI: Thank you.
HEALY: Thank you.
NAFTALI: Thank you.
CABRERA: Happy Sunday, as we get ready for another workweek.
NAFTALI: You too.
CABRERA: Coming up, trains collide. Two people are dead. More than 100 injured after an early morning accident in South Carolina. We're live at the scene with an update next.
[18:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: It's another deadly accident involving an Amtrak train. Two people are dead and more than 100 others are injured today. This is after a passenger train smashed into a stationary freight train in the wee hours of this morning in South Carolina.
Federal officials have been on the scene all day, and now they say they know what happened. The big question now is how it happened.
CNN Correspondent Kaylee Hartung is in Cayce, South Carolina.
Kaylee, the head of the NTSB says a switch was in the wrong position?
KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ana. The NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt brought out a whiteboard to diagram the fatal mistake, a switch on the railroad track locked with a padlock in the wrong position. Listen to his description.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROBERT SUMWALT, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: I'm talking about a rail switch that can actually switch how the track goes from here to here. For whatever reason, that switch was, as they say in the railroad industry, lined and locked.
Key to this investigation is learning why that switch was lined that way because the expectation, of course, was that the Amtrak would be cleared and would be operating straight down like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARTUNG: So the key question for investigators -- why? Why was that switch locked and lined in the wrong position, diverting the Amtrak Train 91, a train that travels that route every day, from the main track and on to that siding track to careen straight into a parked freight train.
That is the question that investigators will be looking into as they continue their work on the ground here in South Carolina, but that's a question for the CSX Corporation to ultimately help them answer.
[18:34:57] CSX is the corporation that owns the stretch of track where this crash occurred, so they are responsible for operating and maintaining that track. The signaling, the switching, and the dispatching, Ana.
CABRERA: All right, Kaylee Hartung in Cayce, South Carolina. Thank you for the update.
Coming up, they count our steps, our calories, and how many hours we sleep, but could those popular fitness trackers also reveal a location of U.S. troops? A report you won't want to miss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: A fitness tracker is now forcing the Pentagon to review its security policies after the app unintentionally revealed sensitive locations of U.S. soldiers at military bases in combat zones.
CNN's Brian Todd has details on how U.S. Central Command is now scrambling to address this problem. Brian?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They track our steps, the calories we burn, and monitor our sleep.
Fitbits and other fitness tracking devices have revolutionized how Americans measure their exercise, but now the Pentagon is concerned about how American troops' use of these devices could be sharing that information with their enemies.
[18:40:06] MICHAEL PREGENT, ADJUNCT FELLOW, THE HUDSON INSTITUTE: If you're using this in the middle of nowhere, it can give the enemy a signature that you're not supposed to be there. It can tell an enemy where you're operating. TODD (voice-over): A global heat map tracing movements from workouts
has been posted by a company called Strava, a social network that allows users to share their running routes and other movements. You're running or biking route is linked to GPS which maps the workouts.
But the heat map is also lighting up the locations of U.S. soldiers wearing devises like Fitbits and working out at military bases all over the world, including in combat zones, making those service members more easily trackable for their enemies.
PREGENT: Look at the level of activity along this strip, along this route. As an enemy, I would focus every motor attack, every rocket attack in this area right here just based on that graphic.
TODD (voice-over): In heavily populated areas like New York or Los Angeles, a lot of workout location postings don't stand out. But at military bases in remote areas of places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa, that activity stands out like a sore thumb.
And it doesn't tell an enemy just where a soldier happens to be jogging. Experts say soldiers leave their devices on when they do other things.
TOBIAS SCHNEIDER, NONRESIDENT FELLOW, GLOBAL PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE: It allows us to sort of see a pattern of life develop so we can trace, you know, how do people live, where do they eat, where do they sleep, how do they move throughout the day, and also where do they exercise.
TODD (voice-over): Using the heat map, Twitter users have flagged locations of what they believe are a CIA base in Somalia, a patriot missile site in Yemen, and U.S. special operations bases in areas of Africa known as militant hot spots.
CNN hasn't verified those claims.
The Strava heat map is not live. It shows activity accumulated between 2009 and November of 2017 when the map was updated on the Strava app. Still, security experts say the heat map shows patterns that are recent enough to give away sensitive information.
SCHNEIDER: We can see when these soldiers leave their Fitbits on and they leave their base. We can make our patrol patterns, we can make out supply lines, and those are, you know, potential targets for insurgents.
TODD (voice-over): No one is blaming manufacturers like Fitbit for the security concern.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: A Pentagon spokesman says Defense Secretary James Mattis was made aware of the discovery of the information on the Strava heat map and that the Pentagon is now reviewing its policies regarding smartphones and wearable devices. Strava, the company that makes the heat map, tells CNN that the map
excludes activities that are marked as private, that it's working with people to better understand its privacy settings, and working with the military and government to address any sensitive areas that might appear on its heat map.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
CABRERA: Thanks, Brian.
CNN national security analyst and former Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem is joining us now.
Juliette, first of all, I know you are a Boston gal, so I especially appreciate you taking a few minutes with us to discuss this story.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: I'm at a party about six minutes away so they're waiting for me, but this is perfect counterprogramming at this stage.
CABRERA: Excellent. Well, let's discuss the vulnerability our country's men and women who are serving overseas who are using these fitness-tracking devices could be in.
KAYYEM: Right.
CABRERA: How concerning is it?
KAYYEM: Well, it is -- I mean, let's just put this in perspective. So this is historical data. So the bigger concern is actually sort of pattern and practices -- where is their location? Do the service members go to a certain place at a certain time regularly? Something that you wouldn't want our enemy or even an ally to necessarily know.
So while it may not be an immediate threat for service members, it would give someone, a foreign country or a terrorist, some knowledge of sort of pattern and practice behavior. And I think that should be the biggest concern of the Pentagon's at this stage.
CABRERA: Are you surprised this hasn't come up before given we have been in the digital age for some time?
KAYYEM: Yes. It is really true. I mean, when I saw -- when this story broke a little bit ago, I was sort of surprised that this hadn't been an issue before. It's the unintended consequences of technology.
But what you also have to remember is our service members are in the 21st century as well, and the worst thing would be for the Pentagon to sort of overreact and say you can't use these devices. They are -- you know, they're beneficial to people. They help them keep in shape.
And that there's probably some balance between, you know, exposure of where our service members are and not allowing them to use things like Fitbit, including putting it on -- ensuring that service members put it on privacy mode when they're, you know, outside a base or something like that. CABRERA: Do you think security policies need to be reviewed at other
agencies in the U.S. government?
KAYYEM: Yes, I think absolutely. In particular, you would think about entities like the Coast Guard, Border Patrol, or others in which you -- in which they actually have a rhythm to their watching and they're -- and what they do.
[18:45:03] And so what you'd want to make sure is that that rhythm is not exposed to an enemy or to people trying to cross the border or to migrants on the ocean.
And so what the Pentagon needs to do is just ensure that that exposure is minimized but without sort of undermining -- you know, these are service members. They are committed to us, and we don't want to make their lives any more difficult than they already are, protecting us.
CABRERA: Can you think of other apps that could cause similar problems that, you know, individuals just to have on their radar?
KAYYEM: Yes. I mean, when you think about how your phone -- I'm pointing to my phone now -- knows where you are and knows where you may want to go anywhere from, you know, an Uber or a Lyft to my running app to other apps that do fitness, all of them are going to have geo-tracking. They're going to know where the person is with their phone.
So you can imagine there's going to be some activities in which you don't want the individuals to have their phones or to just ensure that things are put on privacy mode so that the vulnerabilities are at least minimized at this stage.
But the number of apps that I -- you know, I have on my phone that tell me -- that tell the world where I am is probably too many for my own good too.
CABRERA: All right, Juliette Kayyem. Good to see you again.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
CABRERA: And go, Patriots!
KAYYEM: Yes! I guess we could say that.
CABRERA: Although they're not my team. I'm saying that for you, Juliette.
KAYYEM: As long as I'm back by halftime. That's what I care about, so.
CABRERA: Excellent. Have a great one. Thank you.
KAYYEM: Bye, see you later.
CABRERA: Well, after the worst day for the Dow in years, what could be in store for investors this week? CNN's Alison Kosik has your "Before the Bell" report.
Hi, Alison.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ana. Will worries about a rising interest rates spook investors again? Last week, those fears sent stocks sharply lower especially after the January jobs report showed wages grew at the strongest pace in eight years.
Wages were up 2.9 percent compared to a year ago. The U.S. economy also added 200,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate held at a 17 year low.
The strong report just added to Wall Street's jitters. Investors are worried the Federal Reserve may have to raise interest rates more aggressively to keep the economy from overheating.
Tomorrow, Jerome Powell will be officially sworn in as the new Fed chief, and markets are already counting on a March rate hike at his first meeting as Chairman.
This week investors will also get more company result. So far, it has been a pretty solid earnings season with 48 percent of S&P 500 companies reporting 77 percent have beaten estimates.
In New York, I'm Alison Kosik.
CABRERA: Coming up Jeanne Moos on Melania Trump and the bride of Frankenstein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aflac!
(SCREAMING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:52:38] CABRERA: This just in. New video of the President and first lady on their way it a Super Bowl watch party at their golf resort in Florida.
This is the Florida Atlantic University band and cheerleaders playing for the President and first lady as they headed for the party just a few minutes ago.
A reporter asked the President who he was rooting for in the big game. No answer. Although, we should note, the President has been friends with Patriots owner Robert Kraft for years and has also expressed his admiration for Pats' Q.B. Tom Brady.
Well, finally on the Super Bowl Sunday, memorable commercials are at the top of a lot of people's minds, including the President. Here is Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When an employee from the insurance company Aflac handed the President socks adorned with the Aflac duck, it triggered a memory.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A long time ago, I hired my wife to do a big commercial. You know that, right? An Aflac commercial. And I think it was a successful commercial, too.
MOOS (voice-over): Little did they know they were taking the voice of a future first lady and swapping it with the voice of a duck.
MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: If you're hurt and can't work, Aflac can help pay your bills with cash.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Genius! And her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aflac!
MOOS (voice-over): Imagine her squawking that at the swearing in --
TRUMP: So help me God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aflac!
MOOS (voice-over): The Trumps were newlyweds when the spot was made. And Donald Trump described to Larry King what the ad folks told the Aflac CEO.
TRUMP: Now, we're going to supply you with, like, 25 women, and you can choose the one you want. He said, no, I don't want to look at anybody. I want Trump's wife.
MOOS (voice-over): She came to with webbed feet.
(SCREAMING)
M. TRUMP: It was great success. I had a great time to shoot it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aflac!
MOOS: But a flack is something Donald Trump has also been. He's flacked products in lots of commercials.
TRUMP: So we lick race for it right here.
That's the remarkable convenience of the Visa Check Card.
A Big N' Tasty for just a dollar? You got to be losing money on this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: May I have the last slice?
TRUMP: Actually, you're only entitled to half. MOOS (voice-over): Ivana and Donald shared that pie three years after
their divorce. His current wife, or least someone pretending to be her, was hawking something else on "The Late Show."
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": How are you feeling, madam first lady?
LAURA BENANTI, ACTRESS: My life is ocean of loneliness.
(LAUGHTER)
[18:55:03] COLBERT: What -- I'm sorry, what?
BENANTI: I was just promoting my new fragrance, Ocean of Loneliness.
MOOS (voice-over): For Melania, seems like life's been a roller coaster lately --
(SCREAMING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aflac!
MOOS (voice-over): -- given what's been reported about Donald. And we don't mean the duck.
Jeanne Moos, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aflac!
MOOS (voice-over): New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: That does it for me. Thank you for being here. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.
Up next, it's the CNN documentary series, "DEATH ROW STORIES." Have a great night and a great week.
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