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U.S. Ambassador Attacked in South Korea; Thousands of Flights Delayed or Canceled; Winter Storm Battering Large Swath of U.S.; Court Divided Over Obamacare Subsidies; Holder: Facts Don't Support Charging Wilson

Aired March 05, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Ambassador Mark Lippert needed 80 stitches to close a four-inch gash to his cheek. The knife-wielding suspect known well to South Korean officials who are now expressing shock and deep regrets this morning.

I want to go straight to CNN's Andrew Steven in Hong Kong with the very latest for us -- Andrew.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, Mark Lippert is expected to spend the next couple of days in hospital just as a precautionary measure. It's been a day that he could never in his wildest dreams expected. It started off routinely. He was invited to South Korean Council of Reconciliation and Cooperation, which is all aimed at a peaceful reunification of Koreas. It was a fairly standard speech he was expected to give.

And then all of a sudden, he was the victim of a vicious and apparently politically motivated attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK LIPPERT, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA: Help me.

STEVENS (voice-over): A horrifying scene, blood dripping down the face of U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert. The diplomat undergoing nearly three hours of surgery overnight, receiving more than 80 stitches on his face alone.

LIPPERT: I'm bleeding here. I'm bleeding here.

STEVENS: Lippert slashed by a ten-inch knife in the face and arms moments before delivering a speech in Seoul Wednesday. The weapon slicing open his left forearm, damaging the nerve system for his fingers. The gash on his right cheek four inches long and an inch deep. South Korean surgeons say if the facial injury was any deeper, it could have been life-threatening.

MARIE HARF, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, STATE DEPARTMENT: He's one of our top Asia policy experts in the U.S. government.

STEVENS: In this new surveillance video, you can see the suspect, 55- year-old Kim Ki-jong, leaving his home and arriving at the venue. According to witnesses, once inside, Kim pushed the diplomat from behind onto a table before assaulting him, bystanders tackling him to the ground as police rushed him out of the conference room.

Witnesses say they heard Kim yelling anti-U.S. sentiments, shouting, "The South Korea-U.S. military drills must stop," a reference to the annual war games which North Korea sees as a provocation.

Authorities say the assailant has a history of similar attacks. In 2010 Kim received a suspended two-year prison sentence for throwing a piece of concrete at a Japanese ambassador to South Korea.

President Obama calling Ambassador Lippert, wishing him a speedy recovery, the two close since Obama started in the Senate in 2005. Lippert tweeting from the hospital, "Doing well and in great spirits. Will be back ASAP to advance U.S.-South Korean alliance."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS: Michaela, it certainly does raise the question about security measures in place. The Seoul police do say, though, that the U.S. embassy did not ask for any specific security for that speech, which was seen as pretty routine.

And you would have to say, just watching the reaction of Mark Lippert to that attack, he was unbelievably cool and calm, given what had just happened to him.

PEREIRA: Andrew, yes, it's amazing to think that he recovered in that way; kept himself collected.

Want to turn to former New Mexico governor and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Bill Richardson. He's made multiple diplomatic and personal missions to the Koreas, an expert on the area. And we certainly are glad to talk to you about this, Mr. Ambassador.

First of all, are you so surprised that someone could get so close to Ambassador Lippert, to have this kind of violence happen to him?

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Well, I am surprised. First of all, South Korea is a friendly country to the U.S. Secondly, this man has had a history of violence. Third, I don't know the details, but if the U.S. embassy did not ask for security at this event, this is a little bit concerning, because our ambassadors, our personnel around the world, are now being attacked more. They've become more targets, even in friendly countries like South Korea.

So I'm surprised on many fronts, especially since South Korea is very strong on police and law enforcement, and security. I'm not blaming them. This was obviously a very senseless act. But I wish that there had been better security procedures in place, in this specific event.

PEREIRA: We have learned that there was no request from the U.S. embassy for security. There were three officers at the entrance. And that there were 15 more on standby. Obviously, they quickly hustled to get the ambassador out and into safety and to the hospital to be treated. Do you think it's going to change U.S. policy, then, for our ambassadors, given the state of the world? Should it change?

RICHARDSON: It should change. I believe that the U.S. embassy, whenever there's an ambassador making a public event, whether it's a friendly or unfriendly country, should ask for police assistance from the host country, which has the primary responsibility. And then the U.S. ambassador has what is called diplomatic security, two or three, maybe four individuals in an armored car that are very well-schooled, that are protective of the ambassador's functions.

But this is not just something that affects U.S. ambassadors. We should think about all our personnel overseas -- military, civilian -- because look, the world is so volatile, especially in the Middle East. In unfriendly countries, I would hope we routinely have these security procedures in place. But now in friendly countries; this is one of the friendliest allies that the U.S. has, South Korea.

PEREIRA: And that is concerning. But we also know that there's these U.S. military drills with South Korea, began earlier this week. I'm curious, since you know this region well -- we also know this attacker was against those talks and those drills. You get a sense that there's more opposition to those exercises within South Korea?

RICHARDSON: There is opposition. I think a majority of South Koreans support the U.S. military exercises that are taking place. But this is a very tense period. April is when the U.S. and South Korea had these military exercises. The North Koreans have already shot a missile in protest. It increases tensions during this period.

And what this individual was doing was protesting. He's a South Korean leftist, a member of a group called the Korean Reconciliation Council, 180 individuals, and they're protesting this at a time when tensions are increasing, because we don't know North Korea's true motivations under this new leader. They appear to be more aggressive. They probably will test-fire more missiles after the U.S.-South Korea military exercises this coming month.

So it's a very tense period right now. A tinder box in the Korean Peninsula.

PEREIRA: To be sure. We want to turn our attention back to Ambassador Lippert as we end here. He was well-liked, said to be well-liked. He walked freely in the neighborhood, walking his dog, who was said to have his own Twitter account, for goodness sakes. Former Navy SEAL, thus maybe why he was able to sort of keep so calm in the face of such violence.

I want you to take a listen to what his father had to say. Because it's important to remember these people have family members and loved ones that care about them deeply. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM LIPPERT, FATHER OF MARK LIPPERT: When I saw him, I mean, you're distressed because it's yours. I mean, he's, you know -- he's part of us. I think the whole experience to him was traumatic, to say the least. And I think that was part of his expression.

I think he would look at it as a sign of weakness if he left. And I don't think he wants to do that. No. 2, think he totally enjoys the people of South Korea.

I'm proud of him. I mean, he's serving our country. You know, I think this is a risk. But how do I feel about him? I feel proud of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: As he should. And the fact is that, as an ambassador, you serve the country. You are there in a host nation. But you don't anticipate this kind of violence coming to meet you.

RICHARDSON: Very true. I think the concern here is this is an outstanding ambassador. He's totally dedicated. But we should make every effort that all our personnel are properly protected.

You can't throw blame here, because this was so unexpected. This was a member of this group. But at the same time, our security procedures, the host country's security procedures, especially in this very turbulent times.

And I think if there's a message to the Congress, it's fund diplomatic security to protect our embassy personnel. Let's not have another Benghazi. Let's not have another attack on an American ambassador in a friendly country. Just increase those security procedures. Our people that represent us deserve that protection.

PEREIRA: Ambassador Richardson, always a pleasure to speak with you, sir. Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: Thank you so much, Michaela.

This unrelenting winter churning up another monster storm, this one slamming the nation from Texas all the way up to Massachusetts. Ninety million people could be hit with snow and ice, a whole lot of school districts closed today. Thousands of flights are grounded or delayed. We have team coverage. Starting with CNN's Miguel Marquez, live at New York's LaGuardia Airport. And Miguel, I like to call it the pit of despair.

Good morning, Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I like to call this winter's last hurrah. The situation here is relatively normal, despite all the cancellations here. That's the incoming traffic here. You can see the snow, which has been rain and sleet for most of the evening, has now turned to fairly heavy snow. The tower here, and as you look off into the distance beyond LaGuardia, it has really gotten heavy.

I can tell you, there are over 2,500 cancellations here. The worst hit is Dallas, 634 there. In Philadelphia, there are 405. Reagan National, 337. And Liberty International Airport in Newark, is 324.

Here at LaGuardia, this is the American terminal here. You can see just a smattering of cancellations; 277 cancellations here at LaGuardia so far. But you can see the terminal, as well, relatively normal. People are getting on their planes, waiting perhaps a little bit longer, but getting out of here so far -- Chris.

CUOMO: Miguel Marquez, in the odd position of being in an airport, but going nowhere. Thank you for the report, and we'll be back with you soon.

So who is going to get hit the hardest? And when will things clear out? Meteorologist Chad Myers joining us with the information.

Miguel calls it winter's last hurrah. False optimism? Or does he have it right?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I hope he just didn't jinx us, honestly.

Here's the problem with the storm today, Chris. New York, D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, all the big cities, it's raining or changing from rain over to snow. And tonight it will be ten degrees. So the roads are not going to thaw. If you don't get them salted, they are going to look like the walkways in Central Park.

If you still get the snow onto a wet road, and the road turns to 10 degrees, it's an ice skating rink. And that's going to happen to all of the big cities and all of the big roads that don't get salted really, really quickly. Because by this afternoon we are going to be down to 18, 20 degrees. Everything is going to freeze up.

Now, of course, the bridges are going do freeze first, so watch that. But look at the numbers from Kentucky through Ohio and Tennessee. Those are the snow totals back out to us. We're not going to see that kind of snow in the big cities, because we are kind of seeing the storm's last hurrah. But four inches, easy, in New York City; probably five to six in D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore; and some spots could pick up eight to ten in the highest elevations up here to the west of D.C.

It is still snowing in Memphis; it's been snowing all night. It is snowing in Nashville. And, you know, this -- the cancellations we're talking about, 2,500, it sounds like a Christmas Eve snowstorm. Not something that happens in March. But the snow is in every big airport except, really, for Atlanta. We're going to see a lost cancellations, they're growing by the minute, Michaela.

PEREIRA: The trickle-down. If you're traveling, you heard it from Chad. Call the airport, call the airline, find out what the plan is for today.

All right, 11 minutes past the hour. The latest and biggest challenge to Obamacare is now in the hands of the nine Supreme Court justices, the court hearing arguments Wednesday of the legality of federal subsidies that are helping millions of Americans afford health insurance.

CNN's Jim Acosta is live for us at the White House this morning.

Snow's headed your way, I see, too.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's heading this way. We'll see if it gets here. But good morning, Michaela. That's right.

Legal experts are saying that this challenge to Obamacare at the Supreme Court could really send President Obama's signature legislative achievement, Obamacare, into a tailspin.

Supreme Court watchers who were watching this case yesterday were noting how the liberal justices seemed to be siding with the Obama administration. The conservative justices were really lining up with the challengers to the law.

So all eyes were on that swing vote on the high court, Anthony Kennedy. And he seemed to be skeptical of the challenger's arguments about the case. Now at issue is whether or not people who live in the 34 states that are basically run by the federal government, their healthcare exchanges are run by the federal government, whether they can receive subsidies from the federal government. That's essentially assistance to buy healthcare.

But the White House is -- sort of amazingly is saying all throughout this process, they don't have a back-up plan if Obamacare loses. Here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We would see millions of people lose their health insurance. We would see prices would likely go through the roof. And there's not a whole lot, frankly, that the government could do about it, other than Congress passing legislation to fix it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now healthcare experts estimate that more than seven million Americans could lose their health insurance if Obamacare goes down at the Supreme Court later on this summer.

Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner, he says Republicans in Congress are crafting a plan, or trying to craft a plan that would, essentially, serve up as a back-up plan to Americans who lose that coverage.

But John, this Congress has trouble getting anything passed these days. And as we know, Obamacare is sort of radioactive material up on Capitol Hill. It's anybody's guess as to whether or not they could actually pass a back-up plan, if one is needed.

BERMAN: Yes. That notion that Congress might pass something actually got a laugh inside the Supreme Court yesterday.

Jim Acosta, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

ACOSTA: You bet.

BERMAN: A 17-year-old Virginia student accused of being a recruiter for ISIS. The unidentified teen was taken into custody last week. The "Washington Post" reports that investigators tracked him for more than a month before arresting him. Right now, he is charged as a juvenile, but prosecutors want to try him as an adult. Federal investigators say he helped a man travel to Syria to join ISIS.

PEREIRA: The Keystone XL Pipeline dead on arrival again, the Republican-controlled Senate failing to override the president's veto by five votes. Republicans vow to keep up the fight to get that pipeline built, accusing the president of killing jobs and hurting the nation's energy security.

CUOMO: GOP presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson apologizing for saying being gay is a choice and prison sex proves it in an interview with me on NEW DAY. Here is the full screen: "I realize that my choice of language does not reflect fully my heart on gay issues. I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended."

Now unsurprisingly, the comments sparked a firestorm and criticism. The whole interview is online. That relevant part was not edited at all.

BERMAN: Can I give a recap here? So over the course of a few-hour period there he is apologizing for the statements that he made, saying that they were wrong, apologizing if they offended anyone.

But then he did an interview with Hannity last night, where he said it was a gotcha interview. He was cornered and basically saying, you know, "It's not my fault." So he was apologizing and dodging at the same time, right?

PEREIRA: Speaking out of both sides of his mouth is what you're saying?

BERMAN: Perhaps.

CUOMO: Maybe he can be a politician after all.

PEREIRA: Perhaps not.

CUOMO: But also, you know, the irony is, I had people in the LGBT community coming after me saying, "Cuomo, you hammer people in situations like that. Why didn't you hammer him?" In truth, I was caught a little flat-footed by it. It was such an absurd notion, I didn't want to give it any more attention than what it deserved. This was all him and what he said.

PEREIRA: It apparently was. Great conversation, though.

CUOMO: Sure.

So another political little imbroglio we have going on: Hillary Clinton saying she wants her e-mails released. Well, they're her private e-mails, so why doesn't she just release them? John King will have the latest on "Inside Politics."

PEREIRA: A lot of reaction to the DOJ's scathing report about a pattern of racism by the Ferguson Police Department. Perhaps none more poignant, though, than that of Michael Brown's parents. We're going to speak with the family's attorney, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: The Justice Department releasing a searing report about the Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department, outlining systematic discrimination and racial bias against African-Americans.

In another report the DOJ said they will not seek federal criminal charges against former Officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown. Brown's parents will speak out today.

Joining us now is Daryl Parks, the attorney for Michael Brown's family.

Counsel, always good to have you on the show. Let's start with the finding on Darren Wilson. Not only did they say they're not going to charge him, but Attorney General Eric Holder saying it was self- defense what happened with Michael Brown. Very different than a lot of the speculation going into it. Your take?

DARYL PARKS, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL BROWN'S FAMILY: Well, without question, I think you also have to listen to the other words that the attorney general said yesterday in his 3 p.m. press conference, when he said that they couldn't meet the federal environment.

I think without question the conduct and some of the things that happened between Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson on that street that day in Ferguson was -- was of issue, and however...

CUOMO: Of issue to whom, though? The attorney general did say it was self-defense. So what's the issue?

PARKS: I'll give you an example, Chris.

For example, one of the issues that the family took issue with the DOJ was the fact of whether or not Michael was shot from the back or not, which was an issue.

Now, they obviously determined that most of the shots came from the front. However, they had to agree with us that the fact that three of the medical examiners who participated in this investigation realized that one of the bullets to the back of the arm could have come from the back.

Now I think what prosecutors -- when prosecutors make decisions, they make decisions based upon the fact whether or not they think that they could be successful in prosecuting the person based on the evidence that's there and then given the fact that this was a federal situation on Amendment Four of the Constitution, well, they thought that they couldn't meet that very high standard.

CUOMO: Right. They would have to prove that not only did Wilson kill Michael Brown, and wrongfully so, but he did it because it was on the basis, in this case, of his race. I'm just saying the words "self- defense" are going to go a long way to supporters of Darren Wilson.

That part is to be continued, because I know that you have civil actions in the works with the families. And we'll wait to hear from them.

The other part of the report, though, a much more clear and obvious problem with the Ferguson Police Department. When you hear about the jokes about President Obama, not one cop but, like, a pervasive culture and that they were targeting blacks, trying to raise money on their backs. When you hear these kinds of things, it's like from a bygone era.

PARKS: Very much so, Chris. But also, too, I think it also justifies the mindset of Michael Brown's family at the beginning of this case back in August, when they demonstrated to us as their lawyers that they had great distrust in this -- in the investigation that could take place. So knowing now what we know about that department, it was clearly justified as to why they would be very distrustful of this police department that's there in their community, because they had had...

CUOMO: You said to me -- you said to me early on, when I said, "Hands up, don't shoot. I mean, we don't really see the facts for that yet in Michael Brown."

You said, "One, wait for the investigation. Two, it is a theme in this community. They've seen this too many times." You see this as justification for what you supposed in the beginning?

PARKS: For sure. I mean, for example, think about even the initial interaction between Michael Brown and Darren Wilson, when he tells Michael Brown to get the "F" on the sidewalk. That's the mindset and the environment that existed in this city.

And so now we have the support from the Justice Department reports, what they have now went through and did the investigation and saw a lot of things that many of us in the general public would never have seen, had they not done their investigation.

CUOMO: And I'll tell you, a lot of people, cynics out there saying, "Well, you know, this is how cops are all over," no, not true. Not these kinds of numbers, you know, 8 percent of the officers you know having such low numbers, of minorities on the force. Having African- Americans accounting for 90 percent of officers' use of force, only 65, 67 percent of the population. Trying to raise all this revenue.

The question is can you fix it? Do you think this could be fixed by changes at the top? Or do you believe what people are suggesting, which is to get rid of the police force there altogether?

PARKS: Well, I think that what the attorney general also said, that it's going to take a very deepening cleaning of this department to change it. I mean, the problems here are systemic and go to the core of this agency. So it's going to take a major overhaul in this department.

And everyone has their own opinion as to whether -- what type of change will be made in the leadership. Isn't my decision, but without question, this report calls out and screams for change.

CUOMO: I know that you've been reaching out a lot during this period of learning about this area of the law and being involved with the family, the Brown family. Has anybody come to you and said, "I've seen another situation like this?" Or do you think we're dealing with a really rare problem that has to be rooted out and made the example?

PARKS: No, two things, Chris.

No. 1, I see we're here in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. A clear change there of the departments, that have similar problems.

However, I think if you did a little bit of searching around the country, there's some places even in my own home state where you see court systems who are really putting heavy fines on the backs of poor people and putting them in a bad situation.

I think at some point when you start to study how we in this country how we fine people, how we punish people, how we put them on probation, how we administrator fees, it's a serious situation. And so it would be very interesting if, at some point, that we do some sort of study to how we fine, how we administrator punishment in this country, especially the financial component. There's some places that are way overboard.

CUOMO: And how we monitor police also and have community involvement, so that this doesn't get to this point.

One last stat: African-American drivers twice as likely as white drivers to be searched during traffic stops; only 26 percent less likely to be found in possession of contraband.

Darrell Parks, thank you very much for your perspective. We look forward to hearing from the family.

So what do you think about this? That's why we're covering the story, in light of the new numbers, the new reports. Tweet us, @NewDay, or go to Facebook.com/NewDay -- Mick.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris.

Drama in court on day one of the Boston Marathon bombing trial, jurors seeing graphic images of the scene. A surprising move by the defense. We'll talk about it all with our legal experts when they weigh in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)