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Sony Cancels New York Premiere of "The Interview"; First Funerals Take Place after Pakistan School Massacre

Aired December 17, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): The Sony hackers warned all Americans to, quote, "Remember the 11th of September 2001."

SETH ROGAN, ACTOR: You want us to kill the leader of North Korea?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Movie theaters are considering pulling the film.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a good time to stand your ground

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's stolen information. I think it's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up that anyone's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) talking about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 132 children slaughtered at their school by terrorists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is every reason to believe that the United States is vulnerable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We should stand up together and fight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The possibility of a second Bush-Clinton showdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marco Rubio, he's on track to run for president 2016, even if Jeb Bush jumps into the race.

JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: I'm thinking about running for president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome to NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, December 17th, just before 6:00 in the East. Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota here. And we have a major development in the Sony situation.

Cyber terrorists claiming responsibility for hacking Sony Pictures computers are now evoking 9/11. Warning of attacks to movie goers who go to see a comedy called "The Interview." Real problem is that the threats are working. At least one major theater chain is pulling the plug on the movie, won't show it, because it depicts the assassination of North Korea's leader which supposedly inspired these hackers.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the New York premiere of the movie has also been cancelled. The FBI and Homeland Security now analyzing this threat. This morning, North Korea's involvement is looking ever more certain. Now, CNN has every angle covered, starting with Pamela Brown live from Washington for us.

Good morning, Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.

I spoke to a source with firsthand knowledge of what's going on. We've learned that conversations changed yesterday after there was a threat, reportedly from the Sony hackers. Sony is saying it is not pulling its movies. It is leaving up to theaters, and a number of theaters have already decided to pull the film. And we expect the dominos to continue to fall today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SETH ROGEN, ACTOR: Kim Jong-Un wants to do an interview with Dave Skylark?

JAMES FRANCO, ACTOR: He's a fan!

BROWN (voice-over): Amid mounting threats from the hackers to call off its Christmas release, Sony says it currently has no plans to pull its upcoming movie, "The Interview."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take him out.

ROGEN: You want us to kill the leader of North Korea?

BROWN: But now developing, a person close to the situation says Sony would not object if theaters decide to pull it from their box offices.

FRANCO: You want to go kill Kim Jong-Un?

ROGEN: Totally.

BROWN: Carmike Cinemas reportedly the first movie chain to pull the plug from their more than 270 theaters across more than 40 states. Landmark Theaters also bailing, canceling Thursday's premiere in New York.

Even the film's stars, Seth Rogen and James Franco, dropping out of all media appearances this week.

This fear in the movie industry prompted by a new threatening message, purportedly from the Sony hackers. The FBI investigating their promise of a bitter fate to anyone who sees the controversial North Korean comedy. The message says, "Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001."

CRAIG A. NEWMAN, MANAGING PARTNER, RICHARDS KIBBE & ORBE: Now they've got all these threats against people. If you go see the movie, be careful. They're threatening the families of Sony employees. This has taken hacking to a level that we've never seen before.

BROWN: This week, a leaked scene from the film was posted, showing the gruesome assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, something the country condemns as an act of war.

U.S. law enforcement sources tell CNN the strong suspicion is that the reclusive country is the instigator of the hack and possibly outsourced it to a group elsewhere as retaliation for the controversial film.

The FBI is scrubbing Sony's computer system, trying to gather enough evidence to be able to definitively point the finger at the hacking culprit.

NEWMAN: It is a complex, nuanced investigation. The more sophisticated hackers have gone through multiple, multiple infrastructures to get to where they've gotten to. So it's not something that Sony is going to solve in a day or a week or a month.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Now Hollywood studios are breaking their silence on the cyberattack. The Motion Picture Association of America releasing a statement saying that it supports Sony during this difficult time.

But it is clear, Alisyn and Chris, that the hackers are now trying to ratchet up fear leading up to the expected release of the movie next week. And now, as we see, a number of theaters pulling out.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely, what a complicated situation. Pamela Brown, thanks so much.

The terror threats over this controversial movie have Sony pictures in a bind. The movie's studio patient company is based in Tokyo. That is not showing the film in Japanese theaters. And the pending worldwide release of the film is straining an already-fractured relationship between Japan and North Korea.

CNN's Will Ripley joins us live from Tokyo this morning.

What do we know, Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that the heads of Sony are now facing serious questions from the Japanese government right here in Tokyo. They want to know why Sony, a Japanese company, would allow their American subsidiary to release a film that could potentially have very serious geopolitical ramifications in this region.

For years, the threat from North Korea was isolated to concerns about its nuclear program and the fact that the country would launch projectiles into the Sea of Japan. But now, if indeed North Korea is behind this hacking cyberattack, in essence, this levels the playing field that allows this small reclusive country that many people didn't take seriously to now create fear, the kind of fear that's causing movie cancellations in the United States and has essentially paralyzed Sony Pictures Entertainment, humiliated executives and stars, and raises a lot of serious questions.

CAMEROTA: Will, thanks so much for that update. Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Let's bring in Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent and the host, of course, of "RELIABLE SOURCES" and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Gentlemen, thank you.

Let's start off with this, Brian: right move? Or is there -- you know, is there more information on this threat that makes this OK for Sony to kind of concede here?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I think this has a very chilling effect, Chris. We are effectively, as a country, letting foreign hackers, anonymous hackers, maybe a bunch of punks in front of computer screens in the middle of nowhere, determine what movies can be shown in American theaters. This is very troubling, and I think it has freedom of expression issues down the line, beyond this one silly movie.

CUOMO: But sometimes we have, Daveed, what they call actionable intelligence, right, where there is a real threat. And of course, this other phase, which was Sony was pushing the "don't enable hackers by reporting on hacked emails" angle. But now, what is more enabling than conceding to their threats?

DAVID GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Absolutely. And I highly doubt that there's actually actionable intelligence indicating that there would be a huge threat against movie theaters.

If you look at very competent terrorist groups, they've been making threats against the United States for a long time, and we haven't let that deter activities at home.

I think there's another angle: there's something else that may be going on, which is we're looking just at the threats that have been made publicly. There could be some private threats, some blackmail or something else that they're threatening to do behind the scenes that's causing this back-tracking by Sony and some others. But it's a very disturbing situation. This is essentially a hecklers veto, and Brian is exactly right about that.

CUOMO: A heckler's veto. That is a very strong phrase for this. I want to get back to that in a second. But let's shift focus to Rogen and Franco, OK?

Now they're not going to do any media, they just said. But they've been out there, right? And they've been saying, "Don't go after people's private emails. This is wrong to report on this." But now aren't they arguably subverting the First Amendment right, the freedom of expression, which has been in movies that were seen as controversial since movies began.

STELTER: Well, if we could see the emails right now between Seth Rogen and James Franco and the studio, I bet we would be them say, "Do not let these hackers win. Do not let this movie be pulled from theaters."

CUOMO: But they're saying they won't do media?

STELTER: Well, right. Well, I think that was maybe yesterday, because they knew every question they would get from the interviewers was about -- was about this kind of threat.

But Sony, you know, at least has some options here. Theater owners might decide to pull this movie from their Christmas day slate, but Sony could also release it online. They could also make it available video on demand. You could maybe pay $10 and watch it at home.

CUOMO: It's all versions of the same move.

And I do think, you know, when you take on a project like this, as a Rogen or a Franco, look, I get that it's a silly movie, probably won't even be well reviewed. But the point is, if you want to take it on and own it, and if you want to come out and start talking about the media's responsibility, think about your own as an artist of the First Amendment.

STELTER: Well, personally, I think they are. I think they probably got handcuffed by Sony yesterday. I think they probably want to do press and don't feel like they can.

CUOMO: These decisions all matter.

STELTER: They do.

CUOMO: Now you said something, Daveed, that we have to follow up on. OK? A heckler's veto. All right?

We have to think very seriously about how as a state, as a sovereign, you deal with hacking. Because let me tell you, if somebody connected to North Korea had broken into Sony's headquarters and stolen their file cabinet, you would be hearing from the U.S. government all over the place about this. But we're really not hearing much. Where's the U.S. government on this?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Well, now that you have this latest threat being made, the U.S. government has a lot more opportunity to actually intervene and take a part in this.

But I think that, actually, we should have a conversation about how much the U.S. government should be involved. I think it should be. Because essentially what you have, it seems, is a foreign power engaging in a cyberattack against a private actor, a private company, in order to squash freedom of expression. And I should note that this is not the first time that's happened in recent -- in recent months.

CUOMO: You could argue it doesn't get enough attention, that if you do something to bricks and mortar, you do something to the real world, everybody takes it maybe too seriously. But if you do it online, they don't.

But here's the big question, Brian. I'll give it to you, is -- OK. Let's say the U.S. does come out. Let's say they do connect it to North Korea. Now what are you going to do?

STELTER: And I don't think they want to answer those questions. I think that's why yesterday, the State Department spokeswoman said this is just a comedic movie. It's not a documentary, so the government is not taking a position on it.

CUOMO: Yes. And remember, there was a German movie about President George W. Bush getting assassinated.

STELTER: Right, that's right.

CUOMO: Nothing like this happened. Was it because we didn't have the capabilities of hacking? Or do you think that there's been a shift, or this is North Korea?

STELTER: There was widespread condemnation of that film. It wasn't nearly as high-profile, and we are in a different environment now. Every year it feels like the world gets smaller and gets more connected. That makes me concerned, not just about movies with North Korea plot lines. But what about plot lines involving China or any other country that might object to some American comedy in the future?

CUOMO: One other point, Daveed. After Aurora, Colorado, OK, "The Dark Knight," you know, was pulled from a lot of places. Right? They shifted the release date on it. They changed their plan.

But that was about tone and about respect for the violence that had just occurred. This is a very different situation. This is a capitulation, isn't it?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: This is. It's absolutely capitulation. And with the example you were giving of the German firm showing the assassination of George W. Bush, one of the reasons why they didn't have to fear a U.S. cyberattack is because we don't do that in response to films that are mocking our politicians. Having a world in which only the politicians of democratic states can be mocked, whereas those of states that engage in this kind of unethical behavior are beyond reproach because people are afraid of them, is a very dangerous world to be in.

STELTER: So today theater owners can decide. They can decide whether to be crippled by this, whether to be terrorized by this or whether to have a backbone.

CUOMO: Is it right to put it on them? Is it right to put it on them?

STELTER: I think it is on them today. CUOMO: Look, I get the responsibility, but you don't think it should start at the top?

STELTER: I think Sony, you know, has indicated, yes, if you all want to pull the theater -- the movie from theaters, we understand. Ultimately, it's up to the theater owners to do that. And then the question becomes, will Sony put it online and let you pay a few bucks to watch it?

What I wonder about that is let's say it's on your Comcast video on demand system next week. Will the Comcasts of the world then be concerned about being hacked, as well?

CUOMO: Well, look, that's what happens. Once you give a threat power, right, now it becomes somehow more realistic.

We'll also going to have to see how this plays out politically. I wonder if the White House is holding off on this situation because of what came out in those emails? I wonder if they're not taking as much ownership of the situation, but that's just my speculation.

Daveed, thank you very much.

Brian, appreciate it this morning. Always.

All right. We want to hear from you on this. What do you think: would you go see the movie, despite the threats? Do you think it should be released? Do you think it's too dangerous? Go to Facebook.com/NewDay or you can tweet us, as well. All right?

A lot of news this morning. Right to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris. Thanks so much. Ten minutes past the hour. We want to update you on a situation we've been watching in Afghanistan.

A bloody siege inside an Afghanistan bank has come to a tragic end. Four armed insurgents, including a suicide bomber, stormed the Kabul bank in Helmand province. They exchanged gunfire for about 90 minutes with government security forces. We're told at least eight people were killed, and more than a dozen others wounded when those forces rushed inside, killing all of the attackers. We're told among the dead, five civilians, a police officer and two soldiers.

Also breaking overnight, Australia's prime minister has pledged an urgent joint review into the siege in Sydney that left two hostages and the gunman dead. Prime Minister Tony Abbott says there will be a hard look at gun laws there and a firm review into who should be on the country's active terror watch list.

In the meantime, a beautiful and makeshift memorial for the victims is growing at the scene of the attack. Tearful Australians have been lining up, laying thousands upon thousands of bouquets of flowers at the site.

While you were sleeping, President Obama signed a $1.1 trillion spending Bill, which will fund most government agencies through September of next year. One big exception is the Department of Homeland Security, which gets a funding extension only through the end of February. The Bill, passed by Congress last week, lifted the threat of a government shutdown.

Los Angeles prosecutors will not file child sex abuse charges against Bill Cosby, saying the allegations surpass the state statute of limitations. Alleged victim Judy Huth has filed a civil suit, claiming Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him back in 1974 when she was just 15 years old.

In the meantime, Cosby's daughter, Evin, is coming to her father's defense, releasing a statement that reads in part, quote, "He is the father you thought you knew. 'The Cosby Show' was my today's TV reality show. Thank you. That is all I'd like to say."

CAMEROTA: She actually did say more in that statement, and she said that she thinks that the accusers should go to prison. She thinks that any accuser, because she believes her father is innocent, should have to go to prison. So it's a very, actually, emotional response.

PEREIRA: Very emotional. First we hear from her mother and now his daughter.

CUOMO: Well, you're starting to hear that side of the controversy. Which is, you know, do these stories hold up? Are these women who asked for money before, that they came forward with this? And I think you're going to start to hear more of that. It is interesting, though, that part of the defense is, he is the character that you saw on television.

PEREIRA: Isn't that an interesting argument they're making?

CUOMO: It's an unusual thing.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CUOMO: That's an unusual thing.

CAMEROTA: All right, moving on, what is happening with your weather outside? Let's get to meteorologist Chad Myers. He's keeping track of the forecast for us. Hi, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Alisyn, Chris, Michaela. Pretty good weather for you. Today it's going to be 55 degrees in New York City. Can't argue with that in December. You don't get that very often.

It's raining in Boston. It's snowing in Maine, and I get that part. So you get to the north, a little bit farther into the interior, it's going to be not as warm: only 39 in Buffalo; 40 in Syracuse; 47, though, you get up toward Boston in that rain.

The next big story, I think, is the rain across the Deep South. That comes in for tomorrow into Friday. There was a potential for this storm to turn left and make a snow

event for northeast. I don't think that happens. I think it stays to the south and makes all rain. Sure, there could be a winter mix in the Poconos and such. But for the most part, this is going to be a rain-maker.

And rain in L.A. and Phoenix this morning. So if you're traveling out there, expect significant delays through LAX, maybe still into San Francisco. But raining in the valley of the sun in the middle of the night.

Guys, back to you.

CUOMO: Poetic.

CAMEROTA: Very poetic, Chad. Thank you.

He's a poet. Doesn't even know it.

CUOMO: There you go. Just killed it.

CAMEROTA: Sorry about that.

All right. Let's talk about one of our top stories, and that is that 145 people, mostly students, slaughtered by the Taliban inside their school in Pakistan. Counterterrorism officials call this attack unprecedented. So will this be the tipping point for the Pakistani government to try new tactics against the Taliban? We're taking a closer look.

CUOMO: And this next story is not hype: Russia's economy is on the brink of collapse. We're going to tell you why and about the dark clouds that are gathering over Vladimir Putin. There's new information this morning about his potential fate. Stay with us.

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CUOMO: There will be three days of mourning in Pakistan after the Taliban school massacre there. At least 145 people were killed, 132 of them children. Families are holding the first funerals, and there will be many more to come.

U.S. counterterrorism officials call Tuesday's attack unprecedented. But it could also be a sign of things to come, and that reality could have big implications for the Pakistan and U.S. Military. Could this be a new era for both? We have Michelle Stockman live in Islamabad with the latest -- Michelle.

MICHELLE STOCKMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is a country shocked. Peshawar is a city paralyzed. This is a nation that is largely politically divided, trying to unite today to show a strong response in the face of this horrible terrorist attack that took the lives of so many innocent schoolchildren.

We have more details of what happened inside the school. One math teacher said that the gunmen, dressed in uniforms, lured children who were hiding away from their hiding places, saying they were safe, and subsequently shot them.

So this is just something that's outraged the nation. The Pakistani prime minister has said in response that he will lift a moratorium on the death penalty in the country in terrorism cases in response, again, to this attack.

Now, it -- will this deter future attacks? It's unlikely, as the Taliban has shown again and again that they are willing to die in their mission to overthrow the Pakistani state.

So Chris, it's really a rough day here. Back to you.

CUOMO: All right, Michelle. Thank you very much for the reporting. We know this is a difficult situation there, and we will get the latest information as it comes in and give it to you -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Chris. Let's bring in the former ambassador to the United Nations for special political affairs, Stuart Holliday. He's also the president of the Meridian International Center.

Good morning, Mr. Holliday.

STUART HOLLIDAY, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. FOR SPECIAL POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Was this attack in Pakistan so heinous and the numbers so staggering that today it somehow changes the way Pakistan treats it, handles their tactics against the Taliban?

HOLLIDAY: Two questions: one, is this so heinous that it's a tipping point in their intention? Yes. This was the worst attack in recent memory. It's not a new attack.

But the scale and the scope and the fact that this was targeting children in the military means that there's going to be a major push, a major offensive.

The challenge is what are the options for Pakistan's army? They've been at this for a while. They're going to keep pushing in the tribal areas in Waziristan. But there's also topography. The people are spread out, and they can move around.

So they're going to be full-on, but the question is how effective are they going to be in stamping this out completely?

CAMEROTA: Well, that is the question, because you say that they're going to be full on. Does that suggest that, up until now, they have not done a full sort of scorched earth policy in terms of taking out the Taliban?

HOLLIDAY: Well it's been tricky for them. Historically, the tribal areas have been allowed a level of autonomy. There had been U.S. drone strikes, of course, in fact, killing a couple of leaders of this very group, the Taliban in Pakistan. And so they have had to walk a fine line. But I think that fine line becomes, you know, less important for them

now, because their domestic outrage over this is going to push them to take more robust and public action.

CAMEROTA: And what about the regular Pakistani people? Were there people who up until yesterday did sort of sympathize with the Taliban?

HOLLIDAY: Well, I think it's a mixed bag. There's an ethnic split there. There are people that also see this as a way to keep Afghanistan on its heels.

But as soon as this comes home -- in other words, there were sort of a tacit support for the Taliban in -- in Afghanistan. But as soon as the institutions of the Pakistani government and the army had been targeted, I do think this changes a lot of people's minds. And it's Muslim-on-Muslim violence. And it's -- you know, it's very cathartic for the Pakistani society.

CAMEROTA: It is Muslim-on-Muslim violence. Can you explain to us how it behooves the Taliban in any possible thinking to kill Muslim children?

HOLLIDAY: Well, in their narrative, the army is an instrument that has collaborated with the west. And their mission is to liberate Pakistan from western influence and to impose sharia law. So from their very zealous and radical standpoint, they're targeting the institution they think is a tool of the west.

And I know that's difficult for us to hear in the United States, who see many problems with Pakistan. The fact that we would be perceived that way. But so is the Saudi government. So are other moderate governments throughout the Middle East.

CAMEROTA: As we just heard from our reporter, the prime minister just a few hours ago announced lifting the moratorium on the death penalty in cases like this. Does that matter? When we're talking about suicide bombers, that hardly seems like a deterrent.

HOLLIDAY: I don't think it's much of a deterrent. But I think, you know, they needed to make some sort of public statement. They needed to demonstrate seriousness, you know.

And in this case, these people are not going to be deterred by anything. Except for, you know, frankly, you know, military offensive that's going to, you know, push them and limit their ability to carry out these attacks.

And you remember these are the same people that were behind the Times Square bombing, as well. So it's not just in Pakistan, but their ability to carry out attacks elsewhere.

CAMEROTA: You believe that what we saw yesterday was an act of desperation by the Taliban. What do you mean?

HOLLIDAY: Well, we -- the Pakistani army has been moving around the tribal areas and has, you know, wrapped up a number of rings. And this is a statement that basically indicates they're feeling the heat. They're feeling the pressure.

Again, it's one of those complicated things where you look at a situation like this, you say, well, that means they're sophisticated and strong. But the very fact that they had to do this, to take this risk, indicates that they're, you know, seeking to stay legitimate and to show that they still have some power. And that means they're under pressure.

CAMEROTA: Ambassador Stuart Holliday, we will see what happens going forward after this most heinous attack yesterday. Thanks so much for your insight.

HOLLIDAY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We're going to stay on top of this heartbreaking story, of course. Later this morning we will speak exclusively with the former president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf. Stay tuned for that -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn.

Russia's economy is in freefall. It's a combination of crashing currency, commodities, markets going down and sanctions from the U.S. and west, causing drastic interest rate hikes there. But so far, the slide is only getting worse. They don't seem to be able to stop it. Big implications for President Putin. Is the once-popular leader on the way out? What would that mean to the United States?

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