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New Day
Famed Director Mike Nichols Dies At 83; Obama to Announce Immigration Overhaul; Interview with White House's David Simas; Uber's PR Nightmare; Senate Report: Powerful Banks Behaving Badly
Aired November 20, 2014 - 07:30 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: Breaking news this morning, the sudden passing of Mike Nichols legendary TV and film director. Mike Nichols career spanned many decades and many trades from the big screen to the Broadway stage over six decades.
Credit him for classics like "The Graduate," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" "Working Girl" and one of my favorites, "The Birdcage" and that tremendous series, the mini-series, "Angels in America."
We brought back our senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, just now to talk to us about this into our newsroom. It's interesting, Brian, when we talk about a man like Mike Nichols and a visionary, and all of the things, you can't just use one word to describe him he was so much more than just one thing.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And to your point a few minutes ago, one of those rare winners of the Egot, Tonys and Grammys and Oscars and all of the above. This was announced a few minutes ago by the president of ABC News, James Goldstein in part because Mike was married for so many years to Diane Sawyer and James wrote this in a memo to the staff.
In a triumphant career that spanned over six decades, Mike created some of the most iconic works of American film, television and theater. So as you're saying hitting all of those groups.
This is to me even more sad because when Diane Sawyer step down from ABC's World News a couple of months ago, one of the reasons why she said she was excited to have her evenings back to spend more time with her husband.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That's such sad timing because she just left ABC so soon. Let's talk about some of those iconic films that we all know. Many people may not know that he was behind. It starts with "The Graduate." There's so many.
"Angels in America," "The Birdcage" "Charlie Wilson's war" and beyond, but here's "The Graduate," I mean, this one is such a part of Americana film fabric.
STELTER: And a key win for him for an Oscar for best director. This was put him on the map even more than he had been before.
PEREIRA: Brilliant comedy duo.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: He was a brilliant, brilliant man and you saw it in everybody around him. He had brilliance around him. Diane Sawyer is as smart an individual as you'll ever be around. His daughter in law, Rachel Nichols, part of the CNN family.
This is a loss for her as well and we are thinking of her this morning. She's married to Mike's son obviously. And he valued genius and it came out of him in everything he did.
STELTER: That was a point. I was reading in "The New York Times," a piece about him from ten years ago, he wasn't just smart. He brought intelligence to those around him. That's quintessential directing, making your actors, making the folks around you better.
That's what he was doing in so many of these films. I think of "Primary Colors," one of my favorites, "Closer" from ten years ago "angels in America" on HBO. And he was working until recently on a new project.
PEREIRA: This HBO project, "master class" Terrence McNally's Tony award-winning play.
STELTER: It was not too far along in production. Obviously HBO will have to figure out what to do. That's something he was working on this fall.
PEREIRA: You know, I was thinking such an interesting time when we were looking at the primetime address from the president tonight on the topic of immigration and we're looking at the story of an immigrant. He was German-born, came here at seven and had to learn English as a second language and yet has become one of the most iconic film directors in American history.
STELTER: And was so consistent, for lack of a better word, working straight through his 80s. Apparently, it was cardiac arrest last night at the age of 83. He had had health problems over the years, but he kept working well into his 70s and 80s and even with this new project. That's something that we don't often see. There's only a small group of American directors we can point to that we can say that about.
PEREIRA: I'm looking forward to going home and maybe looking at some of those Nichols and may stand-up, comedy specials they did, three or four albums. They were very funny together. Here's some of the video right here. He's known for his humor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm interested in the $65 funeral.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was that for yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For another? May I ask -- where did you catch that ad?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "TV Guide."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: He had great, you know, straight and dry delivery. He was so funny that would keep you quiet funny. You didn't want to take up any opportunity to mess up what he would say which would be smarter and funnier than anything anybody else could say.
PEREIRA: "The Birdcage" because I think was one of the funniest movie of all time. You allow for all of those moments to happen so brilliantly on the screen.
CUOMO: Also "Angels in America" to take on controversial issues. There was no area he couldn't go into using his intelligence and a sense of humanity and make it better.
STELTER: I was already on Twitter sharing clips from "The Graduate" just now because there are so much of that online that people are going to want to go back and either watch or now re-watch for many times.
PEREIRA: Brian Stelter, thanks so much for helping us remember this great man. We'll have more of that coming up.
I want to give you a look at some of your headlines right now if you don't mind. We are following more breaking news -- the suspected gunman who opened fire at Florida State University's main library is dead.
Police say that gunman wounded three people, students, before campus officers confronted and killed him in a shoot-out. One of the wounded is said to be in critical condition. Another is stable.
We have a bit of an update on the condition of the third. It was the third person was injured with a graze wound of some sort and has been released. We do know that classes and exams today are canceled at FSU.
Eleventh-hour negotiations are beginning in Vienna over Iran's nuclear program. Expectations for a comprehensive deal are low. Western leaders put the chances at 50 percent at best with a Monday deadline looming. An extension seems more likely as long as an outline of a deal can be reach.
The grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri could rule on whether to indict Officer Darren Wilson for shooting Michael Brown, potentially by tomorrow. Law enforcement officials say they expect prosecutors to present their final evidence on Friday.
A decision should come shorty after that. Police have asked prosecutors to delay announcing the grand jury's ruling for 48 hours in order to prepare for the potential of violence. A man is being hailed a hero in Maine after a daring rescue. Check it out. This is the result, Leo Moody was driving home. He saw this SUV upside-down and submerged in water off Route 6.
Most of the passengers had escaped a vehicle, but Moody crawled into the icy water to save a baby girl trapped in her car seat. He used a knife to cut the seat belt straps.
The baby was not breathing, but another passerby performed CPR. They were able to resuscitate her. That little baby and her parents are said to be doing well. It's always great to know that people can act quickly and get there just in time.
CUOMO: Are there coincidences. A guy had a knife and the bravery to do that, and another who knows how to resuscitate.
CAMEROTA: These are my favorite parts of the newscasts, the Good Samaritan parts.
CUOMO: So fear statement about to be war in Washington and you always hear that. Not like this. President Obama is attempting to take on reform of the immigration system on his own through executive order. The president's political director joins us next with reasons why.
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CAMEROTA: Battle line is being drawn as President Obama prepares to announce executive action on immigration tonight. The White House is expected to ease deportations for millions of people.
But the plan apparently does not go far enough for some Democrats and it certainly does not sit well with Republicans who promise the president can expect plenty of grief in return.
So how does the white house have the political capital to see all this through? Let's talk to David Simas. He is the White House political director. Good morning, David.
DAVID SIMAS, WHITE HOUSE POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Alisyn, good morning.
CAMEROTA: OK, we understand the president tonight will announce plans for executive action that will protect four million to five million illegal immigrants or undocumented workers from deportation. What other details can you give us about what the president is going to say tonight?
SIMAS: So Alisyn, obviously I'm not going to get out ahead of the full scope of what the president is going to talk to, but it's really important to put this in the right context. This is a first step that the president is going to talk that kick-starts this final debate about fixing the immigration system.
It's going to have multiple components, a border security piece, a prioritization for interior enforcement. And then the piece that you alluded to in terms of the people, who are here in this country illegally, and what the requirements will be for them to get right by the law and be accountable.
And so it's not right to look at this as simply one piece of the puzzle. It's comprehensive, as much as the president can do within his existing authority. But it's a first step and then it's upon Congress to finish the job and go further.
CAMEROTA: So David, what's curious about what the president is doing with executive action is it is the opposite of what he said in 2011, when he said that he could not act without congressional authority. Let me remind you of his thoughts back then.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are enough laws on the books, by Congress, that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system. That for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates, would not conform with my appropriate role as president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: David, he didn't think it was his appropriate role as president back then. What's changed?
SIMAS: And you know what, he was right then and he's right now. It is not appropriate for the president to ignore congressional mandates. It's not appropriate for the president by fiat to say that he can do every single thing that was in the comprehensive immigration reform bill that was passed by a bipartisan majority in the Senate 512 days ago.
What you're going to hear tonight are very limited actions, fully within his existing authority, similar to those types of actions that have been taken by every single president, Democrat and Republican, since Dwight Eisenhower.
So what you heard him say then is completely consistent with what you'll hear said tonight. And once again, Alisyn, the burden is going to be on Congress now, to follow on this first step and after a year and a half of sitting on a bill that would fix immigration, to finally get to work and act.
CAMEROTA: Because Republicans do not think that he's being consistent. They say what he's doing tonight is passing, protecting these four million to five million immigrants by fiat. Here's Senator Kelly Ayotte on this very topic. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KELLY AYOTTE (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: I would hope that the president would follow his own advice from 2011, where he was asked about this very issue and he said, that's not how our democracy functions.
It's now not how our constitution was written. It was written so Congress should be weighing in on this issue and we're stronger when that happens. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: David, we understand that Congress has not moved with alacrity on this issue. But you can see why Republicans and even some of the American public think that he's been inconsistent on this.
SIMAS: So once again, Alisyn, Senator Ayotte, respectfully to her as a member of the United States Senate. They did their job and for 511 days, the House hasn't done its job. And again, let's be precise about what the president said in 2011 about ignoring congressional mandates, that's not what this is about.
This is about a president saying that there are certain things that he can do, under his authority, to take a first step to make things better, to bring some accountability to the system. Because at the end of the day, Alisyn, what you have here is something that everybody agrees upon.
Democrat, Republican, and independent, in the vast majority of the American people, that immigration is broken. It's time to act, and the president tonight is going to lay out his vision and his first steps to get this done.
CAMEROTA: David, part of the problem is that Republicans say that if they are cut out of this process now, since the mid-terms, where they control Congress, they say that there will be retaliation. Here is Senator Ted Cruz, what he's threatening.
He says if the president announces executive amnesty, the new Senate majority leader takes over in January should announce that the 114th Congress will not confirm a single nominee, executive or judicial outside of vital national security positions, so long as the illegal amnesty persists. They are threatening to block the president.
SIMAS: So Alisyn, it's, I don't think there's one workplace in America including the one that you work at, where someone can get in and say that they're angry with a co-worker, therefore, that they're not going to do their job for the rest of the year or for two years.
Look, this is a tough issue. What you're going to hear the president do tonight and say tonight is that there are certain steps that he can take, to begin this process. It's our hope that everybody across the aisle can say, OK, look, we may agree or disagree with different pieces of this.
But our responsibility is not to argue. Our responsibility is not to say we're in the going to work on anything. Our responsibility is to work. And do the job, that's our expectation -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: All right, David Simas, thanks so much for the preview. We'll be watching the president with interest tonight.
SIMAS: Thanks, Alisyn. I appreciate it.
CAMEROTA: Sure. Great to see you. Let's go over to Chris. CUOMO: Banks behaving badly. How powerful have some institutions gotten? The shocking findings of a Senate probe in money time coming up. We got to keep our eye on this.
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CUOMO: Jingle, jingle, jingle, no, not Santa but close enough. CNN Money Time chief business correspondent, Christine Romans is here with news about banks behaving badly.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This is it a new Senate report that says banks are so powerful, Chris, they can manipulate markets for things like oil, aluminum and coal.
The Senate investigation finds that because banks now own such large amounts of these essential commodities. They've been influence prices and get inside information or hearings on that right now.
Uber's suggested media smear campaign is backfiring and Uber executives suggested digging up dirt on the journalist, who criticized the company, targeting specifically targeting Sarah Lacy. The company's CEO apologized on Twitter, but Lacy says it's not enough. The company has a scare pattern of misogyny.
A flying JetBlue, the airline plans to cut leg room and start charging baggage fees. JetBlue, that's whole lure of JetBlue, right. This is part of a plan to increase profit by $400 million a year and keep investors happy.
Investors and shareholders have been screaming at JetBlue saying we need to raise more money so do that by putting more seats on a plane and charging bag fees for some classes of fare.
CUOMO: Businesses saying, you know, we always put people first and they do, they just mean by people, investors.
CAMEROTA: My poor knees.
ROMANS: They say they'll make the seats smaller, but still as comfortable.
CUOMO: Yes, nothing's as comfortable as smaller.
PEREIRA: Guess what else happens, the air rage incidents increase because people are cranky because --
CUOMO: National security issue.
CAMEROTA: We've just come around to that.
CUOMO: It will provoke a conversation.
CAMEROTA: All right, thanks, Christine. All right, if you're just waking up we have a developing story to tell you about, a gunman opening fire at Florida State University. Three students injured while studying for finals in the library. We're live in Tallahassee with the latest.
CUOMO: Not just snow but historic snow in Buffalo. It is a bruised and battered place and the worst part, it is not over yet. We'll look at what's next for the region.
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