Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Cold Hits Again; U.S. and Belgian Secret Mission; ISIS Lures Teens; Academy Awards; Al Shabaab Attacks
Aired February 23, 2015 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: It's just deja vu all over again, isn't it, because a winter storm spreading ice and snow from the Rockies into parts of the south this morning triggering hundreds of flight cancellations at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Let's get right to the heat miser himself, meteorologist Chad Myers, keeping track of this.
What are you seeing, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, either layers are overrated or I just don't have enough. Oh, man, I'm just -- I'm just tired of this winter. Thirty to 40 degrees below normal from Buffalo all the way down to Texas today. And guess where that air is going? Right to New York for tomorrow. Windchill factors 25 degrees below zero, 35 -- 39 at International Falls. And it just moves to the east.
Right now it's nice. It's warm in New York. It feels like 22. Wow, have a party, because by tomorrow it feels like minus 5. All of a sudden, all of this air gets right back where it was. We had a one-day reprieve. Now it's icing in Dallas. Lots -- 500 flights are already canceled out of DFW and some of that ice may get all the way through Memphis and Huntsville and maybe even to the northern suburbs of Atlanta for tomorrow.
There's the snow. It's across parts of Texas and Oklahoma right now and it is going to be moving across parts of the southeast into tomorrow afternoon. I will be telling you about how long this winter is going to last. You know, Punxsutawney Phil and I are on a first name basis, but I might change his first or last name depending. I'm tired.
CAMEROTA: You're not alone, Chad. When the 20s are tropical, we have a problems.
MYERS: Exactly right.
CAMEROTA: Yes. Thanks so much.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Going after the whistle pig. That's what they call those woodchucks. And I think given what is happening with the weather --
CAMEROTA: He's not a woodchuck. What's --
CUOMO: Punxsutawney Phil is a woodchuck, right?
CAMEROTA: No, he's not a woodchuck.
CUOMO: I think he is a woodchuck. Look at you guys, quiet.
CAMEROTA: He's a groundhog.
CUOMO: The crew is always talking.
CAMEROTA: He's a groundhog.
CUOMO: A groundhog is a woodchuck. It's the same thing. I'll show you -- in the break we'll Google it.
CAMEROTA: Rodent-like. Yes.
CUOMO: Back to the headlines. Egypt's president is calling for a unified Arab force in the battle against ISIS. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have already responded to the plea offering troops. Now, El-Sisi's comments come after a series of Egyptian air strikes targeted ISIS in Libya in retaliating for the death of those 21 Egyptian Christians. You remember how they were horribly beheaded.
CAMEROTA: The terror group al Shabaab posting a video, calling for mall attacks in America, as well as Canada and the U.K. Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson now warning shoppers to be on guard. U.S. administration officials making it clear, there are no specific threats, but they're not taking chances considering the recent lone wolf attacks in Paris and Copenhagen.
CUOMO: Fox News host Bill O'Reilly not backing down, even though former colleagues do continue to come forward saying he is twisting the truth on his Falkland's War reporting. Among them, fellow former CBS correspondent Eric Enberg (ph). Buenos Aires, he was there with O'Reilly in 1982. Enberg says it was not a war zone as O'Reilly describes it and that he didn't recall a dangerous incident involving an injured cameraman. O'Reilly is accusing left-leaning journalists of a smear campaign to ruin his reputation.
CAMEROTA: I mean, it's interesting. We're going to be talking more about this because there's new evidence coming out on both sides. It does sounds as though Bill O'Reilly was in a riot -- a dangerous riot where there were police, military police, firing on people.
CUOMO: Right. I don't know that any evidence has come out that he was in a combat situation.
CAMEROTA: A war zone.
CUOMO: Right.
CAMEROTA: That's the technical term that is not perhaps accurate.
CUOMO: Right. The question is, you know, where we're getting to is the so what factor of this. I mean, you know, O'Reilly's a man who survived scandal before. And it seems like he is very confident, and his organization is, that he will move through this as well.
CAMEROTA: Well, sure. I mean I think the viewers want to know if they can trust their broadcasters. So I think that there's some value in that --
CUOMO: Oh, no, yes, but I'm saying like to the either -- either you by him or you don't buy him.
CAMEROTA: Yes. Well, we will see. We'll be debating that. Stick around for that.
Meanwhile, U.S. and Belgian special forces are on a mission to train Africa's elite military forces to fight extremist groups, including Boko Haram. CNN's senior international correspondent Arwa Damon was granted access to U.S. special forces on the ground in Chad and she joins us live.
Arwa, tell us what you've learned.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
And just take a look at this very remote desert landscape. This is where some of the world's most elite fighting forces have gathered. You have American special forces, special forces from various other European nations training African special forces. It's called "Exercise Flintlock." It's been happening for nearly a decade. But this year it perhaps carries even more significant than it has in the past given the global terror threat that exists throughout the entire world.
What this operation focuses on is on a tactical level, teaching their various African counterparts how to defend themselves if their vehicle comes under an ambush. Very specific tactical techniques specific to the special forces. But it's very strategic at this state. At a regional level we're talking about the nations that are in the Lake Chad basin fighting against Boko Haram. But you also have al Qaeda and the Islamic Magrab (ph) to the northwest. You have ISIS making increasing inroads from the east, trying to gain a solid foothold in Africa.
And as the U.S. special forces operate, as we've been speaking to keep repeating, it is critical that they train up these African nations, they build that relationship because of the threat that exists in Africa if it's not contained could very well then end up being a threat that is posed to Europe and to America. And that's why this is so important, Chris.
CUOMO: Arwa, thank you so much for being there and bringing us the reporting. And every time it seems that the way to fight back expands, so does the threat. Right now a search is underway for three teenage girls intent on joining ISIS. And they're not the only ones. We understand the pull of these radicalization efforts on young men, but why would young women want to get involved with something like ISIS?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RENU BEGUM, OLDER SISTER OF MISSING SCHOOL GIRL: We just want her to come home if -- if she watch this (INAUDIBLE), please, come home. Mom needs you more than anything in the world. You're her baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: That was a tearful plea from the sister of one of the three British girls believed to be headed to sir to join ISIS. Authorities fear they've already crossed the Turkish border into Syria.
Let's bring in Yasmin Qureshi. She's a member of the British parliament.
Ms. Qureshi, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY this morning.
YASMIN QURESHI, MEMBER OF BRITISH PARLIAMENT: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: It's helpful to have you here so that we can talk about why this is happening and what authorities can do. These two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old trying to get to Syria to join ISIS. Why on earth would they want to go to a violent, dangerous place with a group that beheads people? What is the possible appeal to teenage girls of that scenario?
QURESHI: Well, firstly, can I say, I mean I share with the appalling situation and, you know, my heart goes out for the family of the young girls. You're absolutely right, it does -- it belies belief that any young person would want to go and join these types of groups. I think, however, if you step back, obviously, from the violence of ISIS, I think it's something about -- something about young people. Often they are vulnerable. Often they are not sure what they're doing. And sometimes they seem to kind of get attracted by the thought of an adventure of some excitement of sort of, you know, traveling and doing something which is considered to be probably, you know, very, in their mind, exciting.
But also I think there is this element of some of these young people mistakenly thinking they're actually going out there to do good. And the -- and good in the sense that we hear about what's happening in Syria. The war, the starvation, the refugee crisis. And for some reason, in their venerable minds, because of what they read online, because of the stuff they read on social media, and I think it's got a lot to do with social media and Internet --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
QURESHI: They believe erroneously that they're going out to help. Help people. And they think that ISIS -- they don't think ISIS is doing anything wrong because they think ISIS is doing and helping people in their sort of, you know, warped thinking.
CAMEROTA: You know --
QURESHI: I mean that's the rationale behind it. CAMEROTA: That's interesting and mind-boggling. Here's another curious
element of this. All of these three girls went to the same school. It's called Bestnell (ph) Green (ph) Academy in London. And police had just gone to that school in December to interview these very same three girls about another 15-year-old classmate who was believed to have gone to Syria. They interviewed the girls and they found nothing suspicious. Are authorities not asking teenage girls perhaps the right questions?
QURESHI: Well, I think it's quite hard at times to actually find out what is the right question. I mean if you are speaking to a young girl and you're asking them questions, they turn around and say, well, you know, no, we don't see any problem. They might even be asked questions about ISIS. I know they would be -- they would have been asked quite a lot of probing questions. But if somebody is intent on deceiving someone, then they're going to be able to just turn around and say -- if, for example, they're asked a question, well, what do you think of ISIS, they could have said, well, we think they're a bad group. Or, you know, if they said, what do you think of the conflict in Syria? They may have all been able to give quite sophisticated, evasive answers --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
QURESHI: And, therefore, been able to kind of, you know, not be detected as somebody or some people who may be potentially being able to (INAUDIBLE). I mean these are quite bright young girls according to everything we've read. I mean they're A star students.
CAMEROTA: Yes, supposedly A students. But I wanted to ask you this, is it time for airlines to start calling the parents of unaccompanied teenagers when they see three girls trying to get to Turkey? Couldn't there have been some sort of intervention at the airport?
QURESHI: Well, I think perhaps -- I think it may have (INAUDIBLE) in future. But when the airlines see young people traveling on their own, they may well want to ask them further questions about, you know, why are you traveling? Especially if you're the age of 15 or something, traveling on your own, to still quite a faraway place. However, of course you have to be then some careful because there are quite a lot of young people who do travel by themselves abroad and, you know, you could have a situation where people could be just randomly stopping and being stopped and searched, as we know has happened sometime in the past when people have traveled to, for example, not so much now I think but perhaps in the years ago to the United States where there was a lot of checkings at the airport and a lot of people missed their flight and it turned out that it was all innocuous. So I think we have to be careful between kind of right just disrupting the whole thing --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
QURESHI: And yet, at the same time, perhaps looking at destinations where perhaps people are going, you know?
CAMEROTA: Yes, it sure seems -- and it sure seems as though it might -- the scales may have tipped to now asking a few more questions or making a few more phone calls, particularly for girls who are trying to travel to Turkey. But, Yasmin Qureshi, we sure appreciate you being on NEW DAY this morning with your insights. Thank you.
QURESHI: Thank you.
CUOMO: Let's go over to Chris.
CUOMO: All right. We're going to give you some of Oscar's big night. The triumph, the beauty, the agony of defeat. Now only the first two apply to Mich, and she has all of the Oscar news and inside drama from the hotel lobby which incidentally some say we just found her staggering into moments ago. You didn't hear it from me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet, call them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am a lucky, lucky man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): Climb every mountain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: What a show. Just some of the highlights for you from last night's 87th Academy Awards. "Birdman," of course, the big winner, grabbing the award for best picture. Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore both took best actor and actress.
Let's get all the low down on Hollywood's biggest night. Joining me here, not at all beery eyed at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, where people are still coming in from some of the parties, including CNN contributor and "Entertainment Tonight" host Nischelle Turner, deadline.com awards editor Pete Hammond. Both of them are on fumes this morning.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.
PETE HAMMOND, AWARDS EDITOR, DEADLINE.COM: Yes.
PEREIRA: You both were out hitting some of the shows literally.
TURNER: We both (INAUDIBLE) Batman from (INAUDIBLE).
HAMMOND: Yes. I just finished the party circuit here and --
PEREIRA: Good for you.
TURNER: Yes. I just came in from "Vanity Fair." Literally, changed my clothes and came on the air.
PEREIRA: These people are legit. I want you to know that.
So, overall, Pete, what did you think of the show last night? HAMMOND: Well, you know, I thought it was a mixed bag. I thought the
musical numbers were amazing.
TURNER: Yes.
HAMMOND: "Glory" was just a stunning number. The standing ovation, one of the biggest I've ever seen at an Oscar show. I loved (INAUDIBLE). It was awesome. I loved that. And I loved Lady Gaga.
TURNER: Fantastic.
HAMMOND: Who knew she could sing?
PEREIRA: Who knew, Nischelle, she could sing like that?
TURNER: Listen, she had me saying, Stephanie (ph)? I tell you, I talked to the producers of the Oscars, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and they said to me that she practiced for six months for that. She hired a voice coach and worked with him every single day to do what she did that night. And she was wonderful.
HAMMOND: Wow.
PEREIRA: And what a beautiful moment to have Julie Andrews --
HAMMOND: Oh, that was extraordinary.
PEREIRA: Yes.
HAMMOND: Her coming out there.
PEREIRA: I get goosebumps even talking about it.
HAMMOND: Yes, just watching that moment. That's what you want on an Oscars show. You want those kind of moments.
PEREIRA: Yes.
HAMMOND: And we don't get that many, you know?
TURNER: No.
HAMMOND: And on this show, I thought the first half of it was so flat. The comedy didn't really play --
PEREIRA: You didn't feel it was very funny?
HAMMOND: No, no.
TURNER: Me either.
PEREIRA: You didn't either.
HAMMOND: That's where you really want a Billy Crystal. You want somebody -- a comedian that --
PEREIRA: So do you think the reviewers, Nischelle, will, for NPH, will be mixed? (INAUDIBLE). What do you think?
TURNER: Well, I think -- yes, I think it will be mixed. I think, number one, I kept saying, is he mispronouncing people's names on purpose? Is this part of the show?
PEREIRA: Ah.
TURNER: And actually when we spoke with him afterwards, I'm not even sure he realized how many times he mispronounced folk's names. But I spoke with David Oyellowo (ph). That's how he pronounced it. And he said, he needs the Brad Pitt PSA when Brad Pitt kind of sung his name at the --
HAMMOND: That was great, at Palm Springs.
TURNER: At the -- yes, at the (INAUDIBLE).
HAMMOND: I loved that. I loved that. But I didn't think some of his gags (ph) played up. I did not think the Octavia Spencer bit was the --
TURNER: No.
HAMMOND: You know --
PEREIRA: How about the underwear? He bared it for us all.
TURNER: Well, now, and that worked for me.
PEREIRA: That worked?
TURNER: That worked for me.
PEREIRA: That worked --
HAMMOND: I don't know that that would work in middle America because I don't think they've seen --
PEREIRA: They wear underwear.
HAMMOND: "Birdman."
TURNER: "Birdman," right.
HAMMOND: And all of a sudden your Oscar host is walking out in his underwear.
PEREIRA: Right.
HAMMOND: So I --
TURNER: But I think some of his timing was just off.
PEREIRA: A little off.
TURNER: Some of the jokes weren't great. PEREIRA: Let's talk about the winners. "Birdman" won big.
TURNER: Yes.
PEREIRA: Ultimately taking home best picture.
HAMMOND: Predicted right here.
PEREIRA: You predicted right, Nischelle and I got it wrong.
TURNER: I know this kid was going to say it.
PEREIRA: But it was -- but it was interesting to see because early on it felt like "Grand Budapest" actually had a fair amount of momentum and "Whiplash" even.
HAMMOND: (INAUDIBLE). They were the only ones with multiple awards, you know, going through the first half of the show.
TURNER: Yes.
HAMMOND: But then in the big awards, directing, writing, "Birdman" came through as the Guild Awards had sort of indicated it might, you know?
TURNER: And we've been saying that Hollywood loves this film because it reminds it of itself.
HAMMOND: Of itself, yes.
TURNER: That they see itself in the film.
PEREIRA: But interesting to think. It's a -- it's the -- I believe it's the lowest grossing best picture winner ever.
TURNER: Yes.
PEREIRA: Meaning, not a lot of folks saw this film.
TURNER: That's true.
PEREIRA: Do you think it's -- well, we'll obviously see it back in theaters and folks will get a chance to see it now.
HAMMOND: Yes, it's still in theaters. It will get a bigger run now. I'm not so sure it's going to be one of those movies that's going to benefit tremendously because it's an acquired taste quite frankly, "Birdman." A beautifully done movie. A great movie.
PEREIRA: But it's also very poignant to note that this year not many blockbuster films were nominated at all.
TURNER: No. I mean "American Sniper" was nominated. It's made more than $300 million at the box office.
HAMMOND: One Oscar for -- TURNER: Yes. "Selma" was nominated.
PEREIRA: The "Lego" movie. Right.
TURNER: The "Lego" movie was not nominated for best animated film.
HAMMOND: Yes.
PEREIRA: No, not for animated.
TURNER: Yes. And so, you know, "Big Hero Six" was --
PEREIRA: Won.
TURNER: Which was very, very good.
PEREIRA: Loved that movie.
HAMMOND: Yes.
TURNER: It did do well at the box office. But for the majority of the movies that were nominated, no, they were small Indy films that I actually heard a lot of actors say, we're very happy about this because this -- these are the films are passion projects that we love and we're happy to see them getting the love.
PEREIRA: One of the things that I think people will take away from last night's show was how much social issues plays into the entire show.
TURNER: Yes, very much.
HAMMOND: Yes. Oh, my gosh.
PEREIRA: And, in fact, one of your favorite speeches, which I agree with you, was really powerful, Graham Moore (ph), who won for --
HAMMOND: "The Imitation Game."
PEREIRA: "Imitation Game."
TURNER: (INAUDIBLE).
PEREIRA: He spoke very frankly about an experience he had when he was 16, almost taking his life.
HAMMOND: That was stunning. He said he tried to kill himself when he was 16.
PEREIRA: Right.
HAMMOND: I've interviewed him several times this season, starting six months ago at Talurite (ph). I never knew this about him. He kept this quite. He did not go out on the circuit with this story. It was a stunner to me watching it on the show. The audience, you could feel around you, was so moved by it. TURNER: Yes.
HAMMOND: It was a standing ovation for this speech. And it was the highlight of all the speeches.
TURNER: And stay (ph) weird (ph) is now trending and people are talking about that and I think that that was really a profound moment. And you're right, people used that Oscar stage at their platform last night.
PEREIRA: Yes. Yes.
TURNER: And it was very interesting to see Patricia Arquette. She had Meryl Streep giving her the church (ph) paper. Yes.
PEREIRA: Oh, Meryl Streep was like, what. Yes.
HAMMOND: She got everybody. That was amazing. She was great.
PEREIRA: The whole -- the whole thing was powerful. There was a lot of emotion in that room last night. We'll talk about the rain, we'll talk about the red carpet a little later. But we wanted to highlight --
TURNER: Our hair held up (INAUDIBLE).
PEREIRA: Our hair held up.
TURNER: Barely.
PEREIRA: Pete and Nischelle, thanks so much.
HAMMOND: You got it.
PEREIRA: These two are on fumes, but they knocked it out of the park, as we would expect.
HAMMOND: And here's a chocolate Oscar.
PEREIRA: Look, he brought me a chocolate Oscar. Oh, this is fantastic.
TURNER: (INAUDIBLE) those.
PEREIRA: Oh, I love me a chocolate Oscar.
So all of you at home, let us know what you think of the big winners. You can tweet us @newday. You can go to our FaceBook page, have a little conversation with us, facebook.com/newday.
Chris, Alisyn, I really just want to thank the little people for getting me here to Hollywood this year. It means a lot. I recognize the two of you for your outstanding efforts and, mom and dad, I love you.
CAMEROTA: Oh, that's beautiful, Michaela. That's so touching.
PEREIRA: Nothing? Nothing? CAMEROTA: No, it's beautiful. And you know what, that's better than a
real Oscar because you can eat it.
PEREIRA: (INAUDIBLE). Thank you.
CUOMO: Yes. That's true. I've always thought they should have been made of meat.
All right, that's one big story. We'll get back to it for you. But there's a lot of news this morning. So let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO (voice-over): The Egyptian leader calling for a unified Arab force.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what you want to hear from Arab leaders?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is, though, the first time we have heard a president call for a pan Arab army.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In eastern Ukraine, an explosion killed at least two people, including a police officer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They do place the blame once again on Russia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which psychiatrist will this jury believe?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he wants to go out and smoke pot or drink alcohol during the morning, he can do that, but he cannot use it as a defense to a crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to NEW DAY.
A new threat against the west this morning to tell you about. This one hits close to home. The terror group al Shabaab calling for attacks at shopping malls here in the U.S., as well as the U.K. and Canada. Homeland Security officials confirming the threat is real but not imminent, they say. They warn law enforcement and shoppers, though, to be vigilant.
CUOMO: And it's not just any mall. There was one in specific name. We have CNN's Nick Valencia on the scene in Bloomington, Minnesota, for that part of the story.
Nick, what do we know?
