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New Day

Video of Woman Enduring Over 100 Cat Calls in 10 Hours; Israel and White House Talks; Rocket Explodes in Virginia

Aired October 30, 2014 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go with the five things you need to know for your new day.

Number one, Maine officials are seeking a court order to force Nurse Kaci Hickox to abide by a home quarantine. Hickox vows to fight it, saying that she has tested negative twice for Ebola since returning home from West Africa.

Investigators are assessing the damage and looking for answers after that unmanned NASA rocket exploded Tuesday night in Virginia. Officials are urging the public to stay away from any rocket debris.

More than half of the northern Syrian town of Kobani is now controlled by ISIS. Hundreds of Kurdish fighters and Syrian rebels are fighting back, hoping to keep that entire town from falling.

Lava in Hawaii now within about 100 feet from homes in the town of Pahoa on the big island. About 20 families living in the flow's path have been told to evacuate. The National Guard will patrol the area today.

And the San Francisco Giants are World Series champs, beating KC 3-2 in a decisive seventh game. It's their third championship in the past five seasons. Go, Giants.

We're always updating those five things to know, so be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the very latest.

Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Michaela.

An Israeli delegation is set to travel to the White House today for some much needed diplomacy. There are deepening tensions between the United States and Jerusalem and the Obama administration is trying to save face after an anonymous comment from a top U.S. official blasting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Let's get right to CNN's global affairs correspondent Elise Labott with the latest developments.

Hi, Elise.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn. Well, listen, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu have never really liked each other. They just aren't trying to hide it anymore. But beneath the name calling, lies some serious tensions on major issues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT (voice-over): The long simmering feud between the U.S. and Israel is getting ugly. One Obama administration official quoted in a recent magazine article making the derogatory comment about Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. "The thing with Bibi is he's chicken (EXPLETIVE DELETED)," the unnamed official said, adding, quote, "he's got no guts," refusing to make a deal with the Palestinians or Arab states.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good afternoon, everybody.

LABOTT: Not surprisingly, the White House was on the defensive.

EARNEST: Comments like that do not reflect the administration's view and we do believe that they are counterproductive.

SUSAN RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: The relationship is not in crisis. The relationship is actually fundamentally stronger in many respects than it's ever been.

LABOTT: Netanyahu shot back that he was under attack for simply defending Israel, but he praised his country's deep connection with the U.S. That deep connection, however, is being severely tested.

MARIE HARF, STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESMAN: No two allies agree on every single issue. And when we disagree, we raise it as friends do, but we believe the best place to do that is privately.

LABOTT: Tensions boiled over earlier this year with the collapse of the Arab-Israeli peace talks and Israel's invasion of Gaza. Israeli officials openly attacked Secretary of State John Kerry's failed diplomatic efforts and the U.S. remains angry over continued Israeli settlement construction. House Speaker John Boehner called the comments "disrespectful" and demanded the administration official who made them be fired, saying, quote, "the president sets the tone for his administration."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT (on camera) : Now, another big sore spot on the relationship is the nuclear negotiations with Iran. You have that November 24th deadline for a deal approaching. Israelis have watched with great concern about a deal they think won't put enough curbs on Iran's nuclear program, so another potential friction point looming, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Elise Labott, thanks so much for all that background.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so we all saw the pictures. It went from the launch pad to debris in just 20 seconds, right? The question is, why did this rocket blow up and what does it say about safety in the future of privatized space travel?

CAMEROTA: And, later, meet the star of that viral cat call video that has so many people talking and debating this. Her experiment on the streets of New York have shocked some people, but for many women, this came as no surprise at all. We'll debate it here.

CUOMO: No razing on NEW DAY.

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CAMEROTA: Investigators are sifting through debris in Virginia, trying to determine what caused a rocket to explode just after liftoff. The private company that made the rocket, Orbital Sciences, admitting there was a, quote, "catastrophic failure," and it leaves questions about the safety and oversight of privatized space travel.

Let's bring in - let's go to Tucson and bring in Captain Mark Kelly. He's a retired astronaut who has been to the International Space Station on four separate occasions. Captain Kelly is also a member of SpaceX's independent safety advisory board. That's another private company that sends rockets to the Space Station.

Mark, great to see you this morning.

MARK KELLY, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT: Great - great to be on your show. Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Good morning. So, I know that by now you've had a chance to watch this catastrophic failure of this rocket exploding several times. What do you think went wrong here?

KELLY: Well, I mean, we're not going to know for months, but when you watch the video, you could see that there was likely -- well, there was a loss of thrust. I mean the vehicle stopped climbing. Whether that's from a failure of the engine or a failure somewhere in the, you know, the fuel of it or somewhere else in the propulsion system, they're not going to know until they start the investigation.

Twenty seconds into the flight, they commanded the destruct system to, you know, make sure it didn't wind up in a populated area when they knew it wasn't going to make it to orbit. I mean that's the appropriate action to take and now it's all about putting the pieces back together and figuring out what happened.

CAMEROTA: I see. OK. So because they knew that it was not following it proper trajectory, they hit the self-destruct button.

KELLY: That's correct. There's a range safety system and a range safety officer. We even have it on the space shuttle, even when we have people on board. I mean the first priority is to protect the public. And, you know, a rocket can get off course pretty quickly and you go in the wrong direction, you don't want that to happen. And as you see what happened here, I mean, most of the debris wound up right on top of the launch pad.

CAMEROTA: We should remind people that your brother, Scott, is also an astronaut and, as we understand it, that rocket was carrying equipment for Scott's next mission to the International Space Station. What was lost?

KELLY: Well, from what he knows so far, about four months' worth of his clothing, a bunch of his food. You know, those things aren't very important. I think the more important pieces were, you know, some of the equipment that was going to support the science that he was going to do during this one-year mission aboard the Space Station. So, you know, they'll look at the logistic chain going up with other launches. There was just a progress launch now two days ago. There's going to be a SpaceX launch in December. Orbital, obviously, has another one on the schedule. Before they launch, they're going to have to figure out, you know, what happened here. And, you know, so they'll make some adjustments. I mean it's not going to be, you know, one mishap like this that seriously affects operations on the Space Station, but it is a lot of valuable lost equipment and supplies.

CAMEROTA: But what does that mean for Scott's next mission? Does he have to delay it?

KELLY: No, no, he will not delay. You know, I can't speak for NASA, but it's not likely at all. I mean they will -- they will most definitely launch on time. I don't know, maybe he's going to have to borrow somebody's clothes for a little while or, you know, get some out of the dirty laundry bag on the Space Station.

CAMEROTA: I'd hate for him to go without food up there. That would be horrible. But let's talk about this because, as we mentioned -

KELLY: Well, there's plenty. I mean --

CAMEROTA: Yes, go ahead. So, we want to know about this. There's plenty of food.

KELLY: Yes, I mean, we don't have to worry about -- yes, there's, you know, they've got - they've got contingency supplies on board in case things like this happen. But, you know, you only have so many launches, so they're going to have to reprioritize things to make sure they have the right stuff on board.

CAMEROTA: OK, so, as we mentioned, you are a member of SpaceX's safety advisory board. That's a private company. Do you think that what happened on Tuesday should give us all pause about using private companies to go into space to the International Space Station and for any exploration?

KELLY: Well, let me first say, when you have a major mishap like this, a launch - the loss -- complete loss of a launch vehicle and its payload, I mean you've got to do a thorough investigation, see what went wrong. You know, to be honest, when we started this commercial cargo and commercial crew plan after the requirement or the space shuttle, initially I wasn't a really big fan. But, you know, when you see what SpaceX has been able to do with launching multiple times, launching cargo to the International Space Station and now, a couple of years from now, the plan is to launch crew members, I mean there's been a lot of success there and they've done it very well. And Orbital has done it well for the first two flights up to the Space

Station. And we do have mishaps. I mean we've had -- we had two accidents with the space shuttle. When we have people on board, I mean this is the United States government who is completely managing and operating the space shuttle program and we still had two accidents.

It's very difficult to get, you know, cargo and get something, a rocket, moving from zero to 17,500 miles an hour in just a matter of minutes. It's, you know, these vehicles operate under incredible temperatures and pressures and RPM.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KELLY: I mean really at the limits of what we can do. So, you know, we are going to have accidents. But, you know, I'm not concerned that, you know, we have, you know, that we've made a mistake at this point in contracting with, you know, companies like Orbital Sciences -

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KELLY: And SpaceX and letting them operate and deliver cargo to the Space Station. That's not a concern that I have.

CAMEROTA: OK. Captain Mark Kelly, great to get your perspective. Nice to see you this morning.

KELLY: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: Ali (ph), not a good day to be a man, though you could argue that any man who cat calls a woman on the streets isn't really being a good man at all at least. So we're going to interview a woman here on the show who endured more than 100 cat calls in 10 hours. She did it as an experiment and what really makes people uncomfortable.

Oh, here she is now coming down the mystery staircase. There will be no cat calls in the NEW DAY studio. I'll tell you that. We're going to talk about why she wanted to target this type of harassment. Stay with us.

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PEREIRA: Ok, now I'm having issues with the songs that we are picking for this segment. Oh my goodness, I do love that song.

Welcome back to NEW DAY.

You know, Alisyn, we know that women get catcalled pretty much every day. It could be kind of a really unpleasant fact of life. But when one group decided to capture this so-called catcall experience on camera and that video right there -- you'll see it -- it went viral, some 15 million views.

That young woman there is actress Shoshana Roberts walking around Manhattan. In front of her is a guy wearing a backpack with a hidden camera. Take a look at the results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doing good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, look at that.

(inaudible)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Sometimes, you pretend you don't speak the same language or maybe that you can't hear. Shoshana Roberts is the woman at the center of the video. I'm just talking about what I've done in the past.

Yes, she joins us this morning. Look, this is a theme that I think all women, no matter the age, can relate to. I'm really curious what led you to want to be a part of this experiment -- social experiment.

SHOSHANA ROBERTS, ACTRESS: Yes, I volunteered for this. I was an actress. It was volunteer work. I wanted to start a dialogue because this does happen to me on a daily basis. It is a typical day and it doesn't even illustrate everything that happens. It doesn't show the times in the past that I've been -- my side has been squeezed or that was just a single day.

Sorry, it brings up memories of my past where I've experienced sexual assault unfortunately in my past.

CAMEROTA: So, for you, this isn't just a nuisance, this feels threatening because of your past. When you're walking down the street, this isn't just guys being guys and saying innocuous things -- it reminds you of something.

ROBERTS: You don't know how fast it can escalate. You are thinking, what's going to be next? Are these people going to reach out and grab me? Are they going to -- a woman just rejected someone's sexual advances and she was slashed with a knife. I mean that was just reported in Manhattan and I mean, you have to read body language.

Generally, I'm a very smiley, happy person. I walk down the street --

PEREIRA: Not in the video, you're pretty neutral.

ROBERTS: In the video on purpose, I used my acting training there. I kept my composure and I had all my nonverbal cues showing shoulders in, not making eye contact with people.

PEREIRA: Marching with purpose.

ROBERTS: Exactly. Fast paced. A stern expression -- all my nonverbal cues, they ignored. Generally, there are good and bad days. Everyone has days where they feel like smiling.

PEREIRA: And let's even point out the fact that some of those things "Smile, beautiful. Have a nice day." Nothing wrong with that everybody can -- that's nice and innocuous. And it's a very nice thing to hear from a neighbor in Manhattan.

ROBERTS: It just adds up. And not all of these people -- I mean yes, I have walked down the street and smiled and interacted, hello, how are you? I do that many days, but a lot of days, there -- you have tough days. You don't feel like interacting.

PEREIRA: You want to mind the business.

ROBERTS: Exactly -- I've been harassed right after my grandfather died. I've been harassed on my way to a religious function. It doesn't matter what you wear. I was wearing completely modest clothing, not showing, up to my neck, down to my arms, down to my ankles.

PEREIRA: I feel like Chris we have to let you --

CUOMO: This is one of the days it sucks to be on the couch for the guy because this is very embarrassing and even listening to you guys talk about it.

PEREIRA: It's a reality.

CUOMO: Guys being guys -- not an excuse. The idea of well, what's your disposition on a certain day, not an excuse. I guarantee you, no women when you're walking down street say have a good day, how are you doing. Be nice. You know, it's guys and it's guys for a reason. But it does lead to bad things, especially, very often the type of guy -- saying good morning, Mick.

But the guy who's saying one of these more obviously salacious things --

PEREIRA: Why aren't you talking to me? Why won't you give me a number?

CUOMO: -- that is a kind of person by very nature, who if you give the wrong kind of cue, you could get in trouble very quickly.

ROBERTS: Apparently, smiling suggests all these other things.

CAMEROTA: Right. Or any cue. I mean the guys who were following you --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: -- by the way, we should mention that this was a hidden camera. There was a guy with a hidden camera in a backpack in front of you.

ROBERTS: GoPro shots.

CAMEROTA: So nobody saw the camera.

ROBERTS: A T-shirt over it, circle cut in it and I would make sure it wasn't covering the lens. He had a sort of sack that was right there.

CUOMO: And they wouldn't have said anything -- they wouldn't say anything to you if you were with another guy, too.

PEREIRA: Right, true. That's absolutely true.

ROBERTS: But that's still a ridiculous. With another guy or with another girl --

CAMEROTA: And there are some people who followed you for like five minutes. They wouldn't take no for an answer. They couldn't get the hint.

ROBERTS: I just keep remembering that I wanted to start a dialogue. I was scared out of my mind.

PEREIRA: And it has started quite a dialogue, too. Because you've gotten, the video's gone viral and it hasn't necessarily been positive, has it?

ROBERTS: The majority has some positives, luckily. I am telling my story. I react (inaudible) in this way. Exactly -- I'm a professional in my experience. I can talk around my story. And my story is not unique. I mean there are so many people with the same story.

CUOMO: What's the negative reaction?

ROBERTS: A lot of people are saying it's a compliment, take it, but Robless Creative was the person who approached Holla Back --

CAMEROTA: Made the video --

ROBERTS: -- yes exactly. And he was saying this wonderful statement yesterday about missing the tree for the forest or missing the forest for the trees.

CUOMO: The forest for the trees.

CAMEROTA: My first thought because your messages, hey, get over it. The guys are just being nice. They're saying you look pretty. What's your response?

ROBERTS: I'm walking down the street if five guys on the same block do that, it disrupts my daily life. I'm memorizing a monologue for an audition. I'm trying to get a job. Memorizing a monologue is key to that.

PEREIRA: It's intrusive.

ROBERTS: Yes.

PEREIRA: Comments are also not just -- they're not always just nice.

ROBERTS: It's not just the words. It's the intonation of their voice. Even if -- CUOMO: One of the guys said "I just saw a thousand dollars go by."

What the heck is that supposed to mean?

ROBERTS: I was very --

PEREIRA: I even wish guys could walk in our shoes a little bit. Just experience it to understand --

ROBERTS: We wanted to get a taste -- I mean I didn't even hear all of these comments. I was reliving past experiences of sexual assault in my mind at different times during those ten hours. It was bringing up these awful memories and lots of people have those memories. There are others who don't fortunately. And it brings up a lot of emotions. I was also thinking about the video.

I had so much on my mind that day. I was keeping my acting training in mind. I was keeping the opening a dialogue in mind. And I didn't hear all of these comments at the time. I wasn't aware people were talking to me all the time. We had great audio. They looked like hand weights, the two microphones in my hands and they picked up stuff that I wasn't aware of when I was halfway down the block.

CAMEROTA: Incredible. Well, thanks for sharing your personal experience with us. It's really great.

PEREIRA: Men of all colors. In the video it was like it's only just black and Latino but there were men of all colors.

ROBERTS: Men of all colors. Just in my experience every day, not just during this video. It doesn't matter what size, shape, color you are, what age you are. This happens to everyone and from everyone who shares the same male anatomy unfortunately.

PEREIRA: Shoshana, thanks for joining us today.

ROBERTS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great dialogue to have.

All right. Meanwhile a Maine nurse speaking out about her state's efforts to quarantine her; she's vowing to defy the order.

Late breaking details for you ahead.

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