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New Day

Bullet Holes and Blood Stains at Pakistani School; Interview with U.S. Congressman-elect Carlos Curbelo of Florida; Putin Addresses Russia's Crumbling Economy

Aired December 18, 2014 - 06:30   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: We turn now to the hunt for the Taliban commanders behind that massacre of 148 people at the school in Pakistan. Pakistani military and intelligence officials have travelled to Afghanistan. They are looking for Afghan-based elements of the Pakistani Taliban they believe carried out the attack.

This is happening as journalists were given a look inside that bloody, bullet-ridden school for the first time, including our Nic Robertson. And he joins us live from outside that school in Peshawar.

We need to warn our viewers obviously, Nic, that some of the images we're about to show viewers are really upsetting, really, really shocking scenes inside that school.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, it is, it's haunting. You know, I've seen things in there today that I think are going to stay with me for some time.

One of the rooms we went into, we were taken to by the army officers who showed us around was a computer lab, a small room and there are computers down either side of the walls on the side. And there are chairs by those computers. And underneath the computers on the floor, there are just big pools of blood.

It's so clear what happened, the Taliban just went in there and where the children were sitting at their computers, typing away, having a computing class, they were just gunned down mercilessly.

The auditorium is, is almost as bad, or worse, it's hard to figure it out. But the carnage is awful. The army officer showed us the kids in the auditorium were having a big class there. There was a lot of them. They were on chairs, stacked up in the auditorium. The gun man came in there guns blazing and the kids tried to hide out. Some tried to get out through the doors and the army officer showed us, by the doors on both sides where the children are crowded around trying to get out.

The Taliban just simply walked up to them and gunned them down, 100 children died in that one hall alone he told us. The carpet there is literally an absolutely soaked with blood.

We went to the administrative area where the Taliban sort of made their last stand. They killed the principal at the school, the deputy principal only escaped by hiding in a toilet. Even though they threw hand grenades at her. It's a devastating scene.

You know what we've learned something in the last few minutes, there's a small Christian community in the city Peshawar, of 3 million people. The Christian community here has said that they are canceling their Christmas celebrations in sympathy and support of all the families who lost children here, Michaela.

PEREIRA: Hard to believe that this kind of humanity or lack of humanity can exist in our world, we also understand there was some teachers that were trying to shield the students only to be assassinated in their efforts.

Nic Robertson, hard to say thank you for that, but we appreciate you showing us what you saw there.

In other news now: top Republicans back at home are vowing to thwart President Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba, ease trade and travel restrictions imposed on the communist country.

The policy shift is triggering celebrations in Cuba. Here at home, reaction has been mixed. The president plans to open an embassy in Havana. He's not ruling out a possible visit before he leaves office.

Hundreds of protesters back on the streets in New York City in response to the grand jury decisions in the Michael Brown death and the Eric Garner case. Dozens of protesters are also staging a week- long die-in at the Staten Island mall. All of this as New York officials say they're trying to negotiate a settlement with Eric Garner's family. They filed a $75 million civil rights claim over his death.

This morning, Boston marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will make his first appearance in a year. It is the final pre-trial hearing before jury selection begins in his murder trial January 5th. Tsarnaev's lawyers have filed a motion to delay the start date. The judge could rule on the request today. Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to a 30-count indictment.

A little sports here, the San Francisco 49ers have had enough of Ray McDonald. The team released the defensive lineman after police said they were investigating McDonald on suspicion of sexual assault. The team says McDonald's release is about a pattern of poor behavior. There's also investigated months ago for alleged domestic violence, even though charges were never filed.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We've seen too much of that lately.

Michaela, thank you.

Let's get right to meteorologist Jennifer Gray. She's keeping track of the latest forecast for all of us.

Hi, Jennifer. JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, guys. Yes, we are watching a

lot of snow in northern New England. We have seen about a foot of snow up there over the past couple of days. This is going to push out. But you can see having a little bit of an impact on the Boston area this morning. So, morning commute could be a little rough there.

We're also looking at rain in the south. A bit of a mixture around the Nashville area. And also seeing snow across Kansas City and pushing into Omaha. The cold spots this morning, well to the north -- 29 degrees in Chicago, this morning, 24 in Minneapolis, 26 in Marquette. We're seeing temperatures in the 40s across much of the Northeast.

What we're going to be watching as we go through the weekend, a lot of rain to the south. The Gulf Coast getting several inches of rain.

The good news is this system is going to take a southerly route. It is not going to climb up the Northeast coast and cause a lot of snow. For a big travel weekend, we're mainly just going to see rain out of this. We could see three to five inches in southern Louisiana. One to two across portions of northern Mississippi, Alabama, into Georgia.

The other big story we're watching: over on the West Coast, another system is going to push into the West. And that is going to bring more rain, anywhere from Seattle, all the down the California coast -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jennifer, thank you very much.

Down here, there is a 50-year chill thawing. The question is, will it make problems heat up? President Obama announcing plans to normalize ties with Cuba. The Cuban people are celebrating there. But here, Cuban exiles, immigrants are of two minds. We're going to take a closer look for you, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. Welcome back to NEW DAY.

I am in Little Havana in Miami, Florida. And not only are we in Little Havana, but we're in the place where Cubans and people of Cuban descent come to discuss what's happening in their country.

Mike, show them the rock.

This is the famous here. It's called La Pena del Versailles. And it's a metaphor. The sign on it says this is to remember the people who had their freedom stripped, who had to leave their country and they come here and they often commiserate about the regime and what happened. And that's what was going on here yesterday and last night.

Thanks, Mike. Appreciate you showing it to us.

So, what all around that, you had people here last night. They're still screaming from cars about the situation in Cuba. And there is mistrust that goes back generations about what's going on. So, when the president said yesterday, it's time to try something new, there was an immediate push-back from the community here, because they were saying, well, what's new on that side? What's new with this oppressive regime?

But then you have a split within generations as well, where the younger people are saying maybe we should try something new. Everybody wants something better for Cuba. The question is, how do you achieve it?

That is a big question on the mind of our next guest, Republican Congressman-elect Carlos Curbelo. Now, he's going to represent Florida's southernmost district when he'd sworn in at the start of the 114 Congress. And we have him now joining us from Tampa.

Congressman-elect, thank you very much for joining us. Congratulations on the election. Good luck to you when you serve. Please tell me why you feel that the president is making a mistake.

CARLOS CURBELO (R), FLORIDA CONG.-ELECT: Chris, good morning.

Look, my generation wants the same thing that all generations of Cuban-Americans want. Number one, we want a strong United States that leads. We did not see that yesterday. The United States in exchange for Alan Gross, who we're very happy is back home, gave away three criminal spies, one who was convicted of murdering American citizens, and gave Cuba everything with regards to diplomatic relations.

That's bad for U.S. national security, and we also want freedom for the Cuban people. You know, for over 50 years, the occupant in the White House, no matter the party, has had a policy of solidarity, with the Cuban people, with the political prisoners, with the widows of those who have been executed by the Cuban government over the last 56 years. That has now changed. And you can understand why so many people in Miami feel abandoned, disappointed and hurt.

CUOMO: But it's not, it's a complex situation, though, right, Congressman? I mean, let's put up the poll for a second. This is "The New York Times" poll, October 1st to 5th, 2014. Do you approve or disapprove of reestablishing diplomatic trade relations with Cuba? Fifty-six/twenty-nine. That's overall.

Now, of course, that's a little deceptive, if you were to poll people of Cuban descent, you'd get be a different number, it certainly would be closer. But isn't there something to be said about what apparently hasn't worked and the need for trying something different. Why is that not something you're not receptive to?

CURBELO: Look, this idea that if we give the Castro regime everything it wants, because we know the Castro regime has been lobbying for these changes for a long time, that all of a sudden, something is going to change in Cuba? That's just completely false.

Every other country in the world has commercial and diplomatic relations with Cuba, yet nothing has changed on the island. This is very simple -- does the United States want to be on the side

of the victims, the people who have had to come to these welcoming shores, over 56 years because they've had their property confiscated, because they've had their relatives imprisoned? Or do we want to be on the side of the same men that have perpetrated all of these crimes throughout the years?

As an American, because I'm an American citizen, born in this country, I want to be on the right side of history. And what the president did yesterday is, for the first time in 56 years, put an American president at the table with the Castro brothers and no longer in solidarity with the victims of all of these crimes.

And, by the way, Chris, something that gets lost in all of this conversation --

CUOMO: Yes.

CURBELO: -- the Cuban government is an enemy of the United States. This is a government who only last year was caught trafficking arms illegally to North Korea. This is a government that's been complicitous in the murdering of young men and women on the streets of Caracas in Venezuela.

This is not a good neighbor. This is not a country that we should be welcoming and accepting of. However, we shouldn't be surprised because President --

CUOMO: Congressman --

CURBELO: Yes?

CUOMO: Congressman, I understand the perspective you're offering. And, look, we had people coming up to us last night and they said, Cuomo, I know your name, your people came here for opportunity. My people came here because they had to. They were chased out of their country, they lost everything and now, you're rewarding the same men who did that to them.

And that has always been true. I don't think the president or anybody else is trying to take away from that.

But what do you say to the Cuban people who are so desperate, who are without so many, you know, really just freedoms that we take for granted here. And that they see this as hope. They see this as a chance of better things for them. What do you say to them?

CURBELO: Chris, I don't know which Cubans on the island you've talked to. But the opposition leaders, the heroes that are fighting on the streets of Havana and other cities in Cuba, for freedom so that they can enjoy the same freedoms in Cuba that we do in the United States, they feel abandoned. They feel very disappointed. They feel like they no longer have that ally, that over the last 56 years, even when every other country in the world has abandoned them, the United States has been there. The American president has been there. And yesterday, a lot of those people feel like the American president

sold out, the same way by the way that the American president is selling out on Iran and sitting at the table with the mullahs, the same way the American president drew red lines in Syria, and ignored them and hundreds of thousands of people have now died.

This is a U.S. foreign policy under this president that is diminishing American national security and is abandoning so many victims of tyranny and oppression throughout the world like the Cuban people.

CUOMO: Congressman-elect Carlos Curbelo, thank you very much for offering your perspective. There's certainly very strong opinions down here. Unfortunately, it's that -- one of those cliches in politics, you're going to wait and see whether or not the opportunity that's being offered to the regime is taken the right way. But thank you very much for perspective.

CURBELO: Thanks for having me. Have a great day.

CUOMO: Good luck going forward, sir.

CURBELO: Enjoy Miami.

CUOMO: All right. Mick, back to you in New York.

PEREIRA: Don't enjoy Miami too much without us, OK, Chris?

CUOMO: OK, I'm --

PEREIRA: All right. We're going to turn now to Russia. Big question looming: what is next for Vladimir Putin? As Russia's economy is on the brink of collapse, Putin is right now at this hour in the middle of a press conference, entering its third hour. Remember, he started at 4:00 a.m. Eastern. We're going to tell you what he's saying.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Good to have you back with us here on NEW DAY.

Right now, President Vladimir Putin is holding his annual year end news conference, covering a wide range of issues facing his country. He's addressing the country's urgent economic crisis, promising the financial markets will rebound. Putin also tackling the situation in Eastern Ukraine, suggesting the U.S. is sparking a new cold war.

Let's get right to Matthew Chance. He's live on the ground in Moscow with more of what Putin had to say -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Michaela, the Putin -- President Putin focusing this annual press conference on the economic crisis that is affecting Russia so badly, because the currency having lost more than 60 percent against the U.S. dollar saying to Russians that, look, we will be able to overcome this crisis, we're going to diversify our economy away from just being dependent on oil resources and natural gas, also saying they'll spend some of the billions of dollar, hundreds of billions of dollars they've got in foreign currency reserves, supporting the Russian economy if necessary.

He was asked to really interesting question, one of the journalists in the audience said, look, is this economic crisis the price that we have to pay for annexing Crimea? That area of Ukrainian territory which was absorbed into Russia in March, and he categorically rejected that, saying, no, it's nothing to do with that. We have to annex Crimea, it's to do with our national sovereignty. He gave an interesting quote, he said, look, our national bear, we don't want it to become just a stuffed animal.

He was also asked about the allegation that Russia is behind a new cold war between East and West, between Russia and the United States and others. And he denied that, too, saying that, look, we only have for instance two military bases overseas, one in Tajikistan and one in Kyrgyzstan. U.S. has military bases all over the world. We spend $50 billion a year in our defense budget. The United States spends more than 10 times that amount.

And so, he was categorically denying that Russia was being the aggressor, categorically denying all of the allegations against him.

So, if you're looking at this saying Vladimir Putin would be cowed, do a U-turn on his policies because of this economic crisis, Michaela, you'd be very disappointed.

CAMEROTA: Matthew, thanks so much for that background.

Let's bring in now, Alexander Nekrassov. He's a former adviser to the Russian President Boris Yeltsin and to the Russian government. He's now a journalist and author.

Mr. Nekrassov, thanks so much.

As you know, Vladimir Putin is in the middle of almost three-hour press conference. He's speaking live as we speak. Here's a picture of it.

What can President Putin say to the Russian people today to convince them that he knows how to fix this economic crisis?

ALEXANDER NEKRASSOV, FORMER ADVISER TO RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT: Well, I think it was important for President Putin to actually appear in front of the national audience and international audience and to assure that the Russian government knows what it's doing, that the Russian government is aware of the situation, that it accepts that this is a difficult situation. And he gave the reasons why it is happening.

Now, I think this was very timely appearance, although it was obviously planned before --

CAMEROTA: But what, but, Mr. Nekrassov, what are the answers? I mean, what can Vladimir Putin do to increase oil prices and to help the soaring cost of food go down? What can he do for the Russian people?

NEKRASSOV: Well, first of all, you can't really give all the answers, because the crisis has started not that long ago. And the dramatic interference of the central bank has happened only several days ago. So you have to wait for results.

For example, after the basic interest rate has been raised dramatically, the ruble has gained more ground. And things have started to improve. So, to say now that he has to give the remedies now to reveal everything now, it is impossible.

What I find amazing myself, watching the coverage by Western media of the crisis in Russia is the gloating, is the strange feeling that the journalists are actually enjoying talking about the hardships and the ruble in free-flow. And this strikes me as odd because for Russia to go down, you know, we live in a global economy, and if Russia goes down, be rest assured Europe and America will go down with it.

So, that is what I absolutely don't understand and don't even accept as proper.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Nekrassov, you yourself said and let me quote to you from a column you wrote for CNN.com, if the oil prices fall below $60 a barrel as some experts are predicting, that would be tough to stomach for Russia. Even with its substantial hard currency reserves totaling about $450 billion.

Well, this week, the price per barrel has fallen below $60. It is now $55 a barrel. It's fluctuated. But that's the lowest in five years. You yourself have predicted what dire straits Russia is in.

So, where will Putin go for help with this?

NEKRASSOV: Well, first of all, you must accept one thing -- Russia has the muscle financially to hold on for quite some time. Yes, it is a problem and I'm not going to say to you that falling oil prices are going to help Russia.

But Russia has a surplus trade balance, unlike America, for example, and Britain. Russia has all the currency and gold reserves. So, of course, it's going to be tough. But there is a way out of it.

To diversify the economy as President Putin promised at the press conference, this will take time.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

NEKRASSOV: I don't think that this is a solution, a quick fix.

But on the whole, Russia has the ability and the resources to last for at least a year or two. So, during that time, the Russian government has the opportunity to change things.

CAMEROTA: OK.

NEKRASSOV: And also, I would strongly, strongly advise countries that are pushing the oil prices down. To think very carefully that they might damage themselves in the long run as well.

CAMEROTA: Alexander Nekrassov, thank you for joining us on NEW DAY with your perspective.

NEKRASSOV: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news this morning. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN GROSS, FREED BY CUBA: It was crucial to my survival, knowing that I was not forgotten.

CUOMO: What will happen when things are relaxed on the Cuban government?

(CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cuba's best days have not yet been seen.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Fifty years have shown isolation has not worked.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: It is disgraceful for a president who claims to treasure human rights and human freedom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sony should fight fire with fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All major movie chains are giving into fears.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, certainly the studio has bowed to the enemy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I cannot think of another moment like this in modern movie history.

CHANCE: His approval ratings are still sky high, 85 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia's budget is squeezed and hurting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ruble losing almost half of its value to the U.S. dollar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning, and welcome back to NEW DAY. I'm Chris Cuomo. We are in Little Havana, Miami, Florida.