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Storm Probably The Strongest On Record; Obama Apologizes For Dropped Insurance; CBS Apologized For Benghazi Report; Jobs Numbers Out Today; Tens of Millions of People in the Storm's Path Across the Philippines

Aired November 08, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar in for Wolf Blitzer. And today, it is likely the most powerful storm to hit anywhere in the world in recorded history. And right now, super typhoon Haiyan is bearing down on the Philippines. It is so large, this is what it looks like from space. At one point, the cloud cover blanketed two-thirds of the country there. Its sustained winds are estimated to be 195 miles an hour. That is equivalent to an extremely strong category five hurricane. Wind gusts are reaching an estimated 235 miles an hour and that's sending debris flying through the air. Buildings and homes, as you can imagine, are destroyed. There is widespread flooding. And so far, three people are reported dead. That number could rise dramatically after emergency crews are able to reach those hard hit areas.

Now, people in the Philippines were used to these big typhoons. Even they say that the power of this storm is something they've never seen before.

Joining me by phone now, the head of the Red Cross in the Philippines, Richard Gordon. Richard, just describe for us what this storm feels like as someone going through it.

RICHARD GORDON, CHAIRMAN, PHILIPPINES RED CROSS (via telephone): Well, you know, there were storm surges at the height of it when it hit landfall. It was running a turn at 15 kilometers per hour. And so, a lot of tidal waves came in that swamped the people of Tacloban and the coastal areas of the island of Leyte which is where MacArthur's forces landed in World War II to reclaim the Philippines. And, of course, this had a wide swathe. It practically dissected the Philippines, passing through the middle of the Philippines in the Bisi (ph) Islands.

KEILAR: Yes.

GORDON: And, in fact, maybe about 25 -- 29 provinces. In the meantime, what is happening right now is that we're trying to take care of about 600,000 people in the evacuation centers who are priorly -- preemptively evacuated and, of course, there would be requirements for food and when they get back to their homes, assuming the homes are still standing, there would be demands for all kinds of things from land food items such as blankets, sleeping mats and the like. And, of course, there will always be dislocation of their economic livelihood, their agricultural crops damaged -- KEILAR: Sure.

GORDON: -- and, of course, a lot of, you know, just rallying back to where they were before is going to be a big challenge. I remember --

KEILAR: I mean, it obviously -- it obviously is, Richard, as we're watching some of the pictures here, the ones that I think are most striking to us. Obviously, you said some people had a chance to evacuate but some were clearly caught off guard, find themselves -- have found themselves in very dangerous circumstances. We've seen photos -- we're seeing pictures here of people in the water. Were people en masse able to get to those evacuation centers and prepare for this?

GORDON: Well, evidently, they should have gone to the evacuation centers. I guess nobody anticipated the strength of the storm or sea surge. And what happened was it went all the way inland. It's almost like what happened in Myanmar. A (INAUDIBLE) form where you had a storm surge going into the inland areas and then swamping many people who did not leave thinking they were far away of the ocean and that their homes were sturdy enough to (INAUDIBLE) the strength of the typhoon and the waves. And that's what happened. Our people in the Red Cross are probably seen on our T.V. set, I don't have a T.V. set here, rescuing many of the people out there or retrieving bodies of those who died in that episode.

KEILAR: Richard Gordon with the Red Cross in the Philippines. We'll be following up with you. We know that there is going to be a tremendous need, as you said, for a lot of nonfood items and obviously people looking at the damage here in the U.S. and around the world are going to want to know how they can help. So, Richard, thank you so much for joining us.

Meantime, there are 10s of millions of people affected by this monster storm. Chad Myers is tracking this typhoon right now. Chad, it's sort of unbelievable that this storm could set a new world record for its intensity. Are we expecting this to weaken at all?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is weakening now. It's interacting with a few of the islands down from the 195 when it made landfall, now down to 155. I don't think you can tell the difference. There will be a widespread swathe that -- when we get aerials, where there won't even be a tree left in the ground. If the free is still standing, the bark will be gone, all the leaves will be gone. Every single building in a swathe, probably 10 to 15 miles wide just to the north of the eye, right through there, that's where most of the damage is going to occur.

Now, I -- we put a number to this for power. If you take 195 compared to where Katrina was at 125, this storm, get your mind around this, 3.7 times more powerful than Katrina. So, this is that surge that Katrina had. This is the surge that Tack Chlo Ban (ph) also had. We don't even know -- we don't have any information from Tack Chlo Ban, except Tack Chlo Ban is -- it was -- it's kind of a town that a lot of people go to visit. It's a beautiful little place. But the surge, if it 50 or 60 feet, it may have been all the way up and really getting to every single building. We do know that the airport, in their last text that they sent out, is that our airport is destroyed. We need help. That's the last thing they sent out.

KEILAR: And then, that makes you wonder how will they be able to get goods and assistance in when they do need that as well, Chad. Can you tell us where the storm will be heading next here?

MYERS: Sure. And another problem is many of the roads don't go between these islands. You need to take a boat between islands. So, it's 7,000 islands that make up the Philippines. Where does it go next? Sure, we can tell you exactly where it's going to go next. We can also show you what the wind speeds will be. By later on today, we expect the storm to be down to about 150 but that's still equal to a category four hurricane.

Now, I know we talked cyclone and typhoon and all that kind of stuff. Here's the deal. Cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes are all the same thing. They're the same storm. They're just in different oceans. So, they get a different surname. By tomorrow, Saturday, 140 and then making it landfall, that would be Da Nang right there, 120 miles per hour, then 100 as it interacts with Vietnam and then kind of turns over to the right here and possibly even into Southern China. That's when it turns into a rainmaker.

Right now, it's still a devastating bowling ball knocking everything down in its path with its wind speeds.

KEILAR: Yes, it's just the force of it all. Chad, we know that you'll be following this. Thank you so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

KEILAR: Now, let's head to Washington where apologies and Obamacare seem to be going hand in hand. Now, the president has issued his I'm sorry to people who are losing their health care coverage. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I am sorry that they, you know, are finding themselves in the situation based on assurances they got from me. We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and that we're going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, joining me is CNN Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. You know, Jim, you hear I'm sorry from time to time. But when the president says it, it's a really big deal.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's a huge deal, Brianna. I mean, think about how many times we've heard presidents say I'm sorry in the last generation or so. It just doesn't happen that often. So, it is notable that the president said that. However, we should point out, and I know you know that you know this Brianna, that the president did not admit he was misleading people when he said, if you like your plan, can keep it. He didn't really apologize for saying anything that turned out to be untrue. What he is saying sorry for is that there are people out there, millions of people, who are now losing their insurance after the president told them that if they like their plan, they could keep it.

One other thing we should point out is that administration officials, and I know you've been talking to them as well, Brianna, are saying that this White House and that folks over at HHS are working on some administrative options for those people who find themselves in that position receiving these cancellation letters after they were told if they liked their plan, they can keep it

I also talked with a senior administration official who said that they are also not closing the door on legislative remedies. If there are options up there on Capitol Hill that could perhaps cure some of this, they're willing to look at that as well.

One other thing we want to point out, Brianna, and this has just happened within the last 10, 15 minutes, senators Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley have just released letters provided to them by various insurance companies that provide coverage here in the Washington, D.C. area. Hatch and Grassley asked these insurers for their enrollment data for just the D.C. exchange. I just want to caution, not every exchange around the country, just the D.C. exchange. I have one of the letters right here. This is from Blue Cross Blue Shield. And it says, as of October 24th, Blue Cross Blue Shield Care First here in Washington has only received two enrollees for almost the entire month of October. And other insurers said, only three enrollees. And the two other insurers that provided these letters to Grassley and Hatch said they had not -- they were not able to provide any enrollment data.

Of course, all of this comes as the White House is facing the subpoena from the House Republicans who are saying, we want this enrollment data by the end of today. But, at this point, as you know, Brianna, the White House is sounding pretty cool to that idea.

KEILAR: So, Jim, this was one of the interesting things that we heard from President Obama last night. Clearly, the White House is trying to find this fix for the people who like their plan, were not able to keep it. Then they go onto the exchanges. They try to find a plan and it turns out that to get something comparable or that works for them, they have to pay a whole lot more money. The White House, President Obama, wants -- they want to fix this. So yesterday, we heard HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, she was -- or pardon me. I should say just a short time ago today, she was in Atlanta.

ACOSTA: Right.

KEILAR: Did she give us any hints as to what they might be looking at or are they just saying, hey, we're going to do this but we don't know how yet? ACOSTA: Yes. At this point, they're not tipping their hand as to what they're going to be doing. Kathleen Sebelius only said to reporters down there in Atlanta that they didn't have a plan on the table, at this point. Of course, they could have a plan in their drawer in their desk somewhere or floating around inside other offices inside HHS. But, at this point, they're not willing to talk about that.

There have been various reports out there that perhaps they're looking at expanding subsidies for people to obtain insurance on these exchanges. Why would that happen? Because, well, if people are seeing that their policies are being canceled and the only option to them that's available costs more money, then perhaps those expanded subsidies might be helpful.

I have tried to ask a variety of officials over here at the White House as to whether or not that is the case. Nobody is willing to confirm that. And, of course, that may require some kind of legislation to expand those subsidies. And can you imagine, Brianna, that the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill trying to get that through the House of Representatives right now which under Republican control, not the very likely at this point. So, I think the fact that they're looking at options, at this point, is about as far as they're willing to go in terms of what they can say right now -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. It -- that does not seem likely, I will agree with you on that.

ACOSTA: Yes.

KEILAR: Jim Acosta, our Senior White House Correspondent. Thank you so much.

Now, Secretary Sebelius did offer some specifics on another health care issue this morning. Appearing with former first lady Rosalynn Carter, Sebelius announced rules for doctors and insurance companies that will change the way that mental illness is he treated. It will be considered the same as a physical illness and coverage cannot be limited as it has been in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Just think for a moment how different things would be if everyone felt like they could access treatment without the fear of being judged. Imagine what it would mean if people felt as comfortable saying they were going for counseling as they do saying they're going for a flu shot or physical therapy. All of us here today have a role to play to make this happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act was actually passed in 2008. It didn't have a whole lot of teeth. Today's announcement strengthens the law and serves notice it will be enforced. CBS is apologizing to viewers. After learning that a source behind the "60 Minutes" report on the Benghazi attack was not that credible. How they were saying they were misled, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A CBS correspondent is apologizing to viewers for a report that cast doubt on whether the Obama administration did enough in response to the attack on U.S. conflict in Benghazi. Lara Logan says they now know that their primary source for the report who claimed to be a witness told them a different story than he did the FBI. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARA LOGAN, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The most important thing to every person at "60 minutes" is the truth. And today, the truth is that we made a mistake. And that's very disappointing for any journalist and that's very disappointing for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Jim Sciutto joining me now on the story.

So Jim, when you watch this account, I mean, it's dramatic. And this account is very believable. Tell us about this guy.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Of course. What Dylan Davies -- he goes by student Morgan Jones for the purposes of the CBS report and the book. He was a security guard in the U.S. embassy -- U.S. mission there, rather. He trained the local security guards.

And in addition to saying that he gave many warnings in the lead-up to the attack about insufficient security at the compound, he also told this dramatic story of the night of the attack climbing the wall into the compound, knocking out one of the militants with the butt of a rifle.

KEILAR: Amazing.

SCIUTTO: A very Hollywood story. Now, the trouble came when at first, that story contradicted an incident report that was prepared by his security agency, and falls under more questions but it also contradicted the story he apparently told the FBI. And so, when that happened, that was the shoe to drop and that's when CBS backed off the story this morning.

KEILAR: So, what is he now? Dylan Davies, Morgan, what have you, what is he saying about the information he gave CBS?

SCIUTTO: He is not commenting today. Although, the publisher says that they are trying to him. I was able to get in touch with him on Wednesday. At the time he said his story as given to "60 minutes" and has told in his book was consistent with the story that he told the FBI. He stood by his story. I also talked to his co-author, a journalist named Damian Louis. He said in his encounters with Davies, he kept his story the same. He kept it consistent.

Now, I reached the co-author today. He doesn't want to comment until Dylan Davies comments in light of this FBI report. But the publisher, however, gave us a statement and said, although we have not seen the FBI report, in light of revelations, we'll review the book and take appropriate action regarding its publication.

KEILAR: And obviously, Jim, here is the bigger question. When that aired, you had critics of the administration respond to Benghazi saying this is a game-changer. So now how does this new information change the debate?

SCIUTTO: It clearly reignited the debate. You had Senator Lindsey Graham, you remember them saying hey, wait a second, why can't we get access to witnesses like this. And in fact, he even threatened till they get such access, he will hold up all of President Obama's nominations.

Now, obviously, these revelations have quieted that firestorm. But I've talked to a number of Republicans who criticized the administration's response including Senator Kelly Ayotte. They say regardless of this story, our questions remain about the handling of security at the compound and the run-up to this. They still want questions answered. But at least this immediate firestorm, you know, has no choice but to die down a bit as a result of this.

KEILAR: All right, Jim Sciutto, thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

KEILAR: Well, the government may have been partially shut down for half of October, but you can't tell from new jobs numbers out today, a surge that beat expectations. We'll have reaction from Wall Street next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Jobs numbers out today show an unexpected surge in hiring last month. The 16-day partial shutdown of the government had economists predicting weak numbers, but 204,000 jobs were added. That was well above expectations. Still the unemployment rate rose just slightly to 7.3 percent.

Alison Kosik joining us from the New York stock exchange.

Alison, how are the markets react to this?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, what's funny is initially, Brianna, Wall Street didn't like this report because strangely enough, because it saw it is an a strong number that employers added 204,000 jobs, better than the 194,000 that we've been averaging the past 12 months. So, what initially happened we saw stocks drop immediately after the report came out because the thinking is it will give reason for the fed to reduce its financial stimulus sooner rather than later. So that would be bad news at least some believe because it means less support for the economy. But then after a little more thought, Wall Street seemed to warm up to the report. We now see the Dow up 87 points because the thinking is hey, maybe the economy can stand on its own two feet and handle the fed's safety net going away because you see housing numbers getting better, manufacturing is recovering, GDP growth isn't great but it is picking up. So now, Wall street is seeing sort of the glass half full -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Wall Street kind of fickle today, Alison, I guess.

OK, let's turn a little bit to this proposal to raise the minimum wage. How big of a jump are we talking about here?

KOSIK: So, the jump that's being proposed in this bill called the fair minimum age act is for $10, for a $10 minimum wage that would be incorporated slowly over a few years. Now, the White House is telling several media outlets that the president is supporting this. And we're seeing this topic come back into the news now because Democrats just had a meeting focusing on minimum wage.

But, there's still a big "but" to this because this the bill was proposed back in March by Democrats. And the president also even came out at the state of the union pushing for a $9, minimum wage, federal minimum wage. But, so far, none of this has gone anywhere. So, instead what we're seeing happen is states are actually stepping in and doing it on their own.

Just to give you an idea, you look at New Jersey. This week, the state voted to raise minimum wage to $8.25. That is going to take effect in January.

New York's will be higher next year as well. The city go to $8 compared to $7.25 right now.

Now, most states, they do use the $7.25 federal minimum wage. But at this point, those who want that to go higher, they are not waiting on the federal government to raise it first. They are saying, you know what, we're going to step in and do it ourselves -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Maybe they're moving to Washington. I saw it has a pretty high minimum wage there.

Alison Kosik at the on Wall Street for us, thank you so much.

Well, an apology from the president, but is that enough for people who are losing their health insurance? Our Gloria Borger is up next with the strategy of saying "I'm sorry."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A glimpse of the radar really just tells you what you need to know about this typhoon we're watching. Take a look there. That is super typhoon Hayian. Its tearing through the Philippines. It could go down in the record books as the strongest formed to ever make land fall. And here is why. It sustained winds with 195 miles an hour. That is as strong as a powerful category five hurricane. Wind gusts are reaching 235 miles an hour. Two barges collided in the blinding weather. They threw several crew members overboard as you can see here, an extremely rough seas. Fortunately, they were all rescued but many buildings and homes are destroyed. A state news agency says about 20 people have drowned in the storm surge. And that's just their number so far. We're thinking the death toll could grow obviously as emergency crews reach those hard hit areas. Now, tens of millions of people are in the storm's path across the Philippines.

And joining us from Manila is our Paula Hancocks.

So Paula, when you're finding out some new information about the extent of destruction, are you able to fully grasp what it is at this point?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, not in any shape or form, Brianna. We really don't know what the damage is. Officials don't know. The government doesn't know and the military doesn't know. The basic reason for that is it's half two in the morning. It is dark. Communications are down. Electricity is down across the vast area where the super typhoon had got across the Philippines.