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Three Women Released in Paris Attacks Probe; President Wants Tax Hikes On Wealthy; Fugitive Teens Captured in Florida

Aired January 18, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They have held those people for 48 hours now. This morning under French law, they've got to release them after 48 hours or charge them, or in the case of terrorism cases they can hold them another 48 hours. So, they're holding nine of them for another 48 hours. They'll be undergoing questioning without lawyers and the police will be trying to find out exactly how they were contacted to Coulibaly, and what they may have done to support his terrorist actions -- Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I know since I've been here, Jim, there have been a number of security measures. I've noticed, even in my hotel, they did a security check with a metal detector. What are you seeing in terms of other security measures in place, as the hunt for other suspects continue here in France and elsewhere?

BITTERMANN: The most effective things are the things we're not seeing. The 10,000 police on the street, they're there. Of course, they can prevent attacks. They may be reassuring for the French public.

But the question really is how are they going to prevent the attacks? That's more of the jobs of the people we're not seeing, working on Internet sites, tapping cellphones and that sort of thing. The interior minister said earlier this week that he was going to, in fact, increase Internet security and monitor sites that with used for recruiting jihadists, as well as increasing the number of phone taps that they're doing.

I think that's really where the real effectiveness of any of this crackdown is going to take place. It's led to a controversy here in the sense that you can talk about freedom of the press and freedom of compression in the case of "Charlie Hebdo", and whether or not they can produce these cartoons of Muhammad. But then you have to take a look at the same philosophical question and say what about the freedom of expression on the Internet. Can you crack down on the internet sites? It's going to lead to a big debate here, I think, Pamela.

BROWN: Absolutely. Jim Bittermann, thank you so much.

And as you were talking about, we want to continue on that subject of free expression. Seven million, that's how many copies of the latest "Charlie Hebdo" cover are now being printed. The controversial cover show as picture of a tearful Prophet Muhammad holding a sign that says "Je suis Charlie" above the image, the headline reads "All is forgiven".

So, let's talk a little bit more about this. CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter, joins us now.

Brian, first, it was 1 million, then 3 million, now it's up to 7 million copies. Is it possible more copies could be sold?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I have a feeling eventually there will be, Pamela. We've asked the distributors for an updates, and, you know, they're basically, they're basically just trying to print as many as they can. They say it's too early to know how much money is being made off of this. But clearly this magazine, through the most traumatic of circumstances has suddenly become sensationally popular, not just in France, but in Germany as well, and here in the U.S. A few copies have arrived in the United States. This is a bookstore we're looking at in New York, where one copy was on display over the weekend.

There's a waiting list for customers who want to be able to buy copies. Some of the proceeds will go to the families of the victims, we're told.

But, you know, I asked the head of the American magazine destruction and said, is there anything that compares to this in the U.S.? He said, no. This would be like if "People "magazine which usually sells a million copies a week, suddenly sold 30 million copies. Just nothing to compare.

BROWN: So, given this high demand, I'm curious, has the price gone up?

STELTER: It has not. And in fact one of the other bookstores that is trying to get copies here in New York said they will sell them at cost. They will not take any profits. As I said, some donations will go to families as well. There are copies of eBay that are going way above costs, of course, hundreds of dollars are being demanded for some of those copies. And, of course, some people are buying these copies up because they believe they'll be collectors items.

But not universally are we seeing support for these cover. There were protests for two days in a row in the number of Middle Eastern and African countries.

And now, we hear reports of several people dying in Niger amid these protests. The president of the country said five people died over the weekend and a number of different churches were burned by protesters who really object to the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. The French embassy there has warned its citizens to stay inside.

And in Pakistan, we saw French flags are being burned by protesters there. So, we can see the opposition to the cover, the opposition to any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad very evident in a number of Middle Eastern and African countries. BROWN: What's really interesting, though, and I'm sure you saw

this, Brian, here in Paris as you walk around the cover is on display at a lot of different places throughout the city, despite what he saw here with the terrorists attacks. So, you know, really interesting to see the different reaction around the world.

Thank you so much, Brian Stelter, for sharing your perspective. Make sure to stay with CNN throughout the morning because you can catch Brian Stelter's show again on CNN, "RELIABLE SOURCES". That's today at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Christi and Victor, back to you in Atlanta.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Pamela, thank you so much.

President Obama, he's ready to change possibly how much you pay in taxes.

PAUL: Yes, he's planning to offer up new tax credits to the middle class. But you know somebody has got to pay for that.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: We're digging into the details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Thirty-eight minutes past the hour right now.

The president wants to make some major changes for middle class taxpayers and he wants to wealthy to pay for them.

BLACKWELL: So, we've learned that the president will make his proposal at Tuesday night's State of the Union Address. And it includes plans to raise the capital gains tax, close what's been known us, or at least will be called the "trust fund loophole", which will hike taxes on inherited money.

PAUL: That money would help pay for middle class tax breaks essentially, including credits for families where both parents work and overhauling the education tax system.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's talk about it with Maria Cardona. She's a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist. Also, Lisa Boothe is with us, the senior director at the Blackrock Group and Republican strategist.

Good to have both of you this early morning.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor.

LISA BOOTHE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good morning. BLACKWELL: I want to start with you, Maria. Washington just

doesn't pass budgets anymore. So, is this a document that is about legacy, about setting the stage for 2016? What are we looking at?

CARDONA: I think it's partly that, Victor. But I also think it's this president's mission to continue to fight for middle class families and working class voters who are the ones who have been left behind by the resurgence we're seen in the economy. And his hope is that Republicans will finally be able to understand that they have a responsibility to govern, and part of that responsibility is to ensure that middle class families are able to take a part in that resurgence.

When you have an economy right now, Victor, where the top 0.01 percent of earners are paying very little taxes, much less than you and I and Lisa are other working Americans, it is not an economy that is working for everybody. And so if the GOP like some presidential candidates have started to talk about, really want to attack the income gap, then this is something that they should be a working with the president to achieve.

BLACKWELL: So, Lisa, do you think this is forces Republicans into another narrative of Democrats stand up for the working poor and middle class and Republicans are for the rich guy? Or do you think that the Republicans in Congress will be able to shift this narrative?

BOOTHE: Well, I think it's a false narrative from the president. He's robbing from Peter to pay Paul. And what it's going the take money away from private businesses that could otherwise expand and grow, which ultimately hurts the economy.

Look, taxes have already increased by trillions of dollars under this president. If you look at Obamacare, it's the largest tax increase in history in terms of raw dollars. And what President Obama essentially wants to do is tax Americans more so he can spend more of their money.

He's also requesting a 7 percent increase in spending under his budget. And, you know, if you look, the national debt has increased by $7 trillion under President Obama and we've seen the three largest deficits since World War II under President Obama.

And what he's doing is making faulty investments for the Americans. If you look at the stimulus, it costs about $280,000 per job. That's not a good investment.

If you look at something like Obamacare, we're spending over $2 trillion to help about 5 percent of voters.

If you look at something like free community college, which he's also going to call for, it's going to cost taxpayers $60 billion when a lot of lower income individuals already have access to Pell Grants. So, it may make for good sound bytes and talking points, but when you look at a lot of these policies and reality, it wasn't help the economy and it's not good for the Americans.

BLACKWELL: But we -- we at least have to say that the president -- the country has made considerable head way in the deficit in the last couple of years.

(CROSSTALK)

BOOTHE: -- because of attrition.

CARDONA: Absolutely. I think this is where the Republican talking points really run into a wall, Victor, because this economy is resurging. The deficit has been cut by more than since President Obama has come into office.

BOOTHE: Because of sequestration.

CARDONA: We've had major job creation, more than since 1997, 56 straight months of private sector job creation. More Americans have been insured under Obamacare than we've ever had.

And frankly this economy is resurging. The stock market is at record high levels.

But here's the problem, Victor. The CEOs in today's economy are making 936 times more than workers are making. That's how much their salaries are increased in the last 30 years while the increase for workers has been less than 10 percent.

And so, that is where the president is really trying to focus his solutions. And again, this narrative about Republicans really only wanting to fight for the top income earns is going to continue to solidify if they don't work with this president to try to solve some of these problems, which the president will lay out on Tuesday night.

BLACKWELL: Lisa, of course, we're awaiting the budget proposal from Republicans to see what compare and contrast to the president's plan. But some of the things that are proposed, this new tax break for two family -- two earners in a family, the child tax credit increase. From what we know of the president's plan, is there anything that you see the Republicans will, OK, we'll go with that one, we'll accept any of the plan the president is putting forward?

BOOTHE: Well, I think there's a mutual shared interest to reform the tax code. You know, look, at face value, 88 percent of Americans want to see the tax code reformed. And so, I think there's a mutual shared interest. Now, how we go about that is going to be a point of contention between Republicans and the president.

But here's my biggest concern with the president in what Maria is saying. Republicans want to help the middle class voters as well. But the way that Democrats are going about it is a faulty premise. If you look at something like the minimum wage debate, the Congressional Budget Office has said that the minimum wage increase would cost 500,000 to 1 million jobs.

And if you also look, according to Pew Research, the majority of the individuals who are going to see a minimum wage increase are the ages of 16 to 23 and they're living in house holds that make above the national average. And two-third will see an increase of pay within a year. My problem with Democrats is their arguments make for good

political talking points, but they don't help the economy. Let's look at helping --

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: They make for very good policy. And what's so ironic --

BOOTHE: No, they don't. Let's help every American.

CARDONA: Then why it is in the last election you saw five Republican --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Let's hear from Maria and, Maria wraps it up.

CARDONA: Five Republican states in the last election in 2014 raised the minimum wage by voters going to the polls saying this is what they wanted. And here's again the problem with Republicans, most of what the president is going to be putting out there on Tuesday, Victor, is vastly supported by the American people because they know that --

BOOTHE: They're all going to pay for it.

CARDONA: -- the president is on their side.

BLACKWELL: However, the most districts in the country voted Republicans in both the Senate and the House. So this is --

(CROSSTALK)

BOOTHE: -- tax increase in Illinois history. He lost.

CARDONA: I'll tell you this. If Republicans -- if Republicans --

(CROSSTALK)

BOOTHE: Tax increases on the, quote-unquote, "higher income earners", he lost.

CARDONA: If Republicans continue to fight for --

BLACKWELL: Last word.

CARDONA: -- 0.1 percent, then, Victor, I'll be taking you to the inauguration of a Democrat president in 2017.

BLACKWELL: All right. I'll accept the invitation.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: All right. Maria Cardona, Lisa Boothe, always a great conversation. I thank you both for getting up this early for us.

CARDONA: Thank you, Victor.

BOOTHE: Bye.

BLACKWELL: Bye.

PAUL: Thank you, ladies.

So, overnight police captured two teens who have been called -- they've been called a modern day Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the day.

BLACKWELL: Just ahead, how police managed to bring the manhunt to an end.

PAUL: And listen to this, the mother of one of those teens is joining us live in just a few minutes. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Welcome back.

Overnight, police in Florida captured two Kentucky teenagers. They're 18-year-old Dalton Hayes and his 13-year-old girlfriend Cheyenne Phillips. They went on a multistate crime spree. Police searched for the couple as they made their way through several southern states, that's until they were finally arrested.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Overnight, the teenage couple from Kentucky on the run for 14 days was taken into police custody in Panama City Beach, Florida. The arrests followed a series of car and gun thief across several states and pleas from the teens' parents to come home.

TAMMY MARTIN, FUGUTIVE TEEN'S MOTHER: We know that y'all have done wrong. But you need to step up and, you know, take the consequences of what you've done and come home.

BLACKWELL: Tammy Martin pleaded with her son, 18-year-old Dalton Hayes, and his 13-year-old girlfriend, Cheyenne Phillips.

MARTIN: He's never went this far without contacting me. And it's really very stressful. I'm just worried that they're not safe anymore.

BLACKWELL: Officials say the two have been on a multi-state crime spree stretching from Florida to Kentucky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want them to come in and talk with us, and we can manage it from there. But the longer they stay away, the worse it gets.

BLACKWELL: Police say it started in Clarkson, Kentucky, when Cheyenne Phillip's father reported her missing. Then, the teenagers allegedly burglarized a home, stole a truck and crashed it into a fence. Later, police say the couple stole another truck which had a firearm inside.

They drove to South Carolina and were spotted on security camera at a Walmart. Then, the pair traveled to Georgia where they are accused of stealing a silver 2001 Toyota Tundra similar to this one. Authorities say the truck had two hand guns inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the citizen that owns the vehicle does have registered firearms that he kept in the vehicle and they were stolen as well.

BLACKWELL: Authorities worry the pair could become more brazen and desperate as the search drags on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The longer they're gone, the source the situation can become.

MARTIN: Please come home. We can work through whatever that it is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Well, Sherry Peters, the mother of 13-year-old Cheyenne Phillips, is with us now by phone.

Sherry, we thank you so much for being with us.

SHERRY PETERS, MOTHER OF CHEYENNE PHILLIPS (via telephone): You're welcome.

PAUL: Have you talked to your daughter yet since she's been found?

PETERS: No, ma'am.

PAUL: You haven't. What's the first thing that you want to say to her?

PETERS: What do I want to say to her?

PAUL: Uh-huh.

PETERS: I'm happy that she's safe, I love her. I'm just ready for her to come home to see her.

PAUL: Tell us about that moment that you realized she was missing.

PETERS: Scary. You know, it's scary, awful feeling, you know?

PAUL: I read that she did text you once when she was on the run. What did that say and did you have any other contact with her during that time? PETERS: No, ma'am. She texted me that day that they took off

and said, we're just going to run, and then it was after that, Dalton had her phone and, of course, Dalton had texted me that one time wanting me to give them $100. And so, I was trying to play along with it in order to get her, you know, in my car, but the authorities had contacted me and said they were at the store at the time.

PAUL: Well, Dalton, this is what's interesting to a lot of parents. Dalton Hayes is 18, your daughter is 13. What did you know of this relationship and did you approve of it?

PETERS: No. No, I don't approve of it. And like I said, I just reunited with my daughter after 10 years. We started talking before Christmas so I really didn't know much about the relationship. It's just a bunch of lies.

PAUL: Well, they're suspected of stealing three cars, two with guns inside, now facing multiple felony charges, at least he is. I know you just reunited with her after a couple of years. But is this the daughter you know? I mean, do you know her to have been defiant in the past?

PETERS: No, no. This is not something I would think Cheyenne would do, no.

PAUL: Sheriff Norman Chapin (ph) says, I know Dalton. He has a history of making bad, bad decisions. I was a school resource officer before I was elected sheriff. Dalton is known to have disciplinary and defiance issues at the high school with authority.

I know you didn't know a whole lot but did you know this much about him at the time?

PETERS: No, ma'am. No, ma'am. I knew that they were on the run and stuff. We're just finding out this stuff. Yes.

PAUL: Well, Dalton's mother told local media she thinks Cheyenne with him because she was infatuated with the 18-year-old? Do you agree with that? I mean, why do you think she took off with him?

PETERS: Yes. Yes, I believe that is because she was, you know, infatuated over him and just in love.

PAUL: Well, Sherry Peters, we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. So glad that they've been found and we're wishing the very best to your family. Thank you.

PETERS: Thank you very much. I'm just glad they're safe and thank God.

PAUL: We are, too. We are happy for that for you, certainly. Thank you. Best of luck.

PETERS: You're welcome.

PAUL: Sure. We'll be right back. PETERS: Bye-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Coming up on the top of the hour now. Let's take a look at some of the other top stories. President Obama wants to make major changes to what some people pay in taxes.

PAUL: In Tuesday night's State of the Union Address, the President Obama is expected to lay out a plan that will raise taxes on top earners and close loopholes on inherited money. That money will then go to fund tax credits for middle class families and reforming the education tax system.

BLACKWELL: More protests against Bill Cosby, this time in Denver. About 50 protesters led by famed lawyer Gloria Allred you see there, chanted, "Rape is not a joke" and some other slogans outside the theater where he performed, that was Saturday. That was a stark contrast to what went on inside where fans greeted the comedian with cheers, standing ovation. Cosby did not mention anything about the allegations of sexual assault that have been made against him by more than two dozen women.

PAUL: And Pope Francis is in the Philippines. This morning, millions of people, look at this scene, celebrating mass with him in Manila, as he convened his message of empathy and hope to the people and taking care of the young. Today is the Pope's final full day in the Philippines including his six-day tour of Asia.

So glad that you're starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: We've got a lot more coming up with us this morning. The next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLACKWELL: And the two big developing stories this morning, President Obama's new tax plan revealed, hikes on taxes on the rich and giving more tax credits to the middle class.

PAUL: And you're looking at new images here of ISIS freeing about 250 members of the Yazidi religious community in Iraq, most of them children, the elderly as well. These folks have been held captive for more than six months.

I want to wish you a good morning on this Sunday. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Eight o'clock here on the East Coast, coming up to it.

We're starting this hour with Pamela Brown who is anchoring our special coverage from our Paris bureau.

PAUL: Pamela, so, this ISIS story, what's interesting about it is this is a very surprising move. We wouldn't anticipate this from this group, would we?

BROWN: Absolutely, we wouldn't anticipate this. But it's interesting to note who was released and who wasn't released.

So, here's what we are finding out, that ISIS, one of the most infamous terrorist groups right now has released hundreds of Yazidis who have been held captive for more than six months in Iraq. They are now free, children and elderly, we're being told according to a local official. The group is now being held by Kurdish authorities we're told. And again, children and elderly are those released. But as we know, ISIS has many more being held captive.

And we want to go to CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson for more on that.