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Senior Administration Official: Obamacare Web Site Will Work For "Vast Majority" By November 30; Obama's Image Takes Big Hit In New Poll; Wintry Blast Threatens Holiday Travel; Murder Charges In Philly Wall Collapse; Outlaw Country Singer Dies In Bar Shooting; Cop Accused Of Sexual Assault In Traffic Stop; Fewer Flights, Higher Fares For Holidays

Aired November 25, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Got some news just into us here at CNN. News on the terrible rollout of the Obamacare and its website, specifically. An official tells CNN the quote, "vast majority" of people will see a smoother experience on healthcare.gov by the end of the month. That's what we're getting from this official.

Let's go to the White House, to our senior White House correspondent there.

So, Jim Acosta, we are talking, what, end of November here?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's the date that the president has set, that the White House has set for the last several weeks, the end of November, November 30th. Mark your calendars. Don't start a countdown clock, but they do have this date of November 30th when they say it will be workable for what they call the vast majority of users. They've quantified that in recent weeks to mean about 80 percent of users on healthcare.gov will be able to get through the process of signing up for insurance through Obamacare. And the White House really sort of I guess went out -- as far out on a limb as you could today by saying they believe that the web site is now on track to meeting that goal of November 30th, which is only five days from now, Brooke.

One of the things that Josh Earnest, the deputy press secretary said in a gaggle of reporters on Air Force One, the president is out in California. He is going to be in San Francisco talking about immigration at a live event in a few moments.

But one thing that he did say is that the tech team that's been working on the site has boosted its capacity so about 50,000 concurrent users can be on the site at one time and they've reduced the error rate. This is interesting, Brooke. One thing that they also did to sort of control the flow of people going into the site during points of heavy demand they have added a queuing system.

Which basically means you go on the site, it's seems a little sluggish. It is now going to give you the option of leaving your e- mail, so the system can ping you back later when there aren't as many people on the site. So they are hoping that the combination of all of these things will result in a more positive experience.

Of course, if on November 30th, people start going to that site and there are problems, you'll have a very different situation in Washington where people are going to start throwing up their arms and wondering what is wrong with this web site and what is wrong with this administration if they can't get it working. But at this point, they are sounding increasingly confident.

BALDWIN: OK, here's hoping that there will not be more explaining to do come November 30th. Jim Acosta, thank you very much, at the White House. Jim just mentioned, a great point, I just want to remind all of you the president will be speaking a couple minutes from now in San Francisco, specifically tackling immigration. So as soon as we see the president, we will bring you -- here you go, live pictures. We'll bring you some of that speech live here on CNN.

But speaking of the president, let's stay on this, on Washington, because Americans' views toward President Obama the person have stayed pretty much the same for years, even as he is battling it out over his policies, how they have come, gone, but that's actually not the case anymore.

I want to show this to you. This is the result, actually multiple results of this new CNN/ORC poll, after the White House really offering this sobering reminder of how quickly opinions can shift. So you see all these different questions we're asking. Asking Americans if President Obama is likable, that's the biggest number at 71 percent. That's pretty good.

But is he honest? Just 46 percent said yes. That's down 12 points since May. Is he a strong leader? Again, 46 percent agreed. Does he agree with you on the issues you care about? Just 44 percent said yes. This is the biggy. Can he manage the government effectively? Folks, we're talking about the president of the United States. You see just 40 percent said yes. So what happened?

Let's ask Van Jones, one of the hosts of CNN's "CROSSFIRE," and Emily Miller, the senior opinion editor at the "Washington Times" so one on the left, one on the right here. Van Jones, I want to begin with you and your former boss. If more than half of Americans say the president is not honest, is not a strong leader, cannot manage the government, with three years to go, Van Jones, what has he got left?

VAN JONES, HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": Well, for one thing, he has time. I mean, he does have three more years. These numbers are bad. You can't sugar coat that. He is still likable. People still think he has a good vision, but these are bad numbers. One, he has more time. In this ADD, amnesia culture, things change every day.

If he steps up to the plate and does something extraordinary, he'll be right back on top. He also has going for him his opponents because the Republicans are also not popular. This is not a good moment for the president right now.

BALDWIN: You're right. The Republicans are not popular. Look at those congressional approval ratings -- JONES: Single digits.

BALDWIN: Not nice at all. For equality here, Emily, to you, in terms of likability, people still like the president as a person, and all of this is erupting after the messy Obamacare rollout, where we heard Jim Acosta at the White House saying hopefully the system will be workable for 80 percent of the people in five days. That's pretty good, moving in the right direction. Let's say this whole thing rebounds. Why can't the president rebound as well when the numbers go up, once the thing settles?

EMILY MILLER, SENIOR OPINION EDITOR, "THE WASHINGTON TIMES": Well, Brooke, it's not about the web site. Why his poll numbers have paralleled the Obamacare rollout is because it's the number of people getting kicked off their insurance plans and were told by the president, you can keep your plan if you like it.

And so what is most damaging are those numbers like you cited about his being trustworthy. The majority of the country thinks the president lied to them when he said if you want to keep your plan, you can keep it. Well, we now know back in 2010, he knew that was not going to be true.

Then you have really lost everything. That's a critical change here, as the president, people don't trust the president and like him or not, if you can't trust him, how do -- the big problem, and disagreeing with my friend, Van here, on time, he doesn't have time, because he has 2014 coming up.

Now the Republicans want to take back the Senate, so the president is out campaigning right now, as you just said, on the west coast, trying to raise money. He's having trouble raising money because even his base is saying, Obamacare is a complete disaster. It's not what we promised the American people.

BALDWIN: He is having an issue. They have been having to discount the seats to fill these rooms in California, et cetera, for him, Van. On the point of trustworthiness, this is pretty important, as a leader, how does he gain that back?

JONES: Well, I mean, first of all, I think he did the right thing by coming forward and saying that he blew it, that he messed up, and he did try -- he has been trying to fix it. You have the perception of a broken web site, the perception of a broken promise. Those are two things that are right there in people's faces and it's hurting his numbers.

At the same time, you have a president, what nobody is paying attention to, having real success. At some point, those successes begin to pile up. He's going to be in San Francisco right now. People like peace and not war in California. Listen, he's got a weapons deal with Russia, Russia to back off their nuclear program, Syria, chemical program.

He is trying to do the same thing in Iran with no dumb wars on a credit card like the last president. So he's doing certain things, the economy has not come back the way we want it to, but from the stock market point of view, gas prices point of view, things are moving in the right direction. So there are actually accomplishments beginning to accumulate in the background. At some point, those things begin to matter, but right now, he's in a real hole.

BALDWIN: Emily, you get the final word. Van making multiple points, multiple successes, your turn.

MILLER: When only one out of three Americans thinks you're doing a good job, that's a really deep hole. And I don't think Iran is going to turn out to be an accomplishment when you have bipartisan disapproval of the Iran deal and calling back sanctions. I think that is going to end up hurting him even worse. When you're losing on the domestic front and the foreign policy front, I don't know any more fronts. I think that's all the fronts there are.

BALDWIN: OK, Emily Miller and Van Jones, thank you both. Great to have both perspective as always. Remember, remember, watch Van Jones and the rest of the gang tonight and every night on CNN's "CROSSFIRE" Monday through Friday, 6:30 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. Thanks you two very, very much.

We just mentioned just ahead, live pictures here. San Francisco, as we await and this crowd awaits the president of the United States expected any minute here to talk and really push his thoughts on immigration reform. We will have that for you live.

Also, you will hear why Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is saying immigration is a major civil rights issue. You will hear from him and soaring fares and slicing service. Our Christine Romans shows us who's the biggest loser in a possible mega merger between top airlines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is the beginning of what will be a very busy week. More than 40 million people are expected to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, and if ice and sleet and snow don't ruin your plans, you're going to get there A-OK, but dangerous conditions have already claimed 10 lives and it is Monday.

Again, Chad Myers is tracking the storm for us. Chad, tell me, where is the worst of it supposed to hit?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is a lot like the storm of the century in '93. It's just not as cold. So there's going to be a lot more rain than snow or ice, but there's going to be plenty. Here's the low in the Gulf of Mexico, somewhere probably south of Houston. It's going to roll through Atlanta and then on up toward the northeast.

If you're on, let's say, this side, that's where the snow is going to be. If you're on this side, that's where the rain is going to be. If you're along the low, that's where a lot of the ice is going to be. Ice is caused when the air above is 35, 36 degrees, but the air where you live is 30, like Pittsburgh, like state college, maybe wheeling, Lexington, Kentucky.

That's the bull's eye for this ice event that we have possibly going on for tomorrow and eventually even into Wednesday and by Thursday, it's gone. If you can put off travel until Thursday, you're probably doing OK because the storm will be so far past Nova Scotia, you'll be in good shape.

The rain for Atlanta, but snow north of there, along the northern edge of this, that's where the ugly weather is going to be. New York City, almost all rain for you, a couple of inches or rainfall, but the wind is going to be 40.

So the airports are going to be a problem. It's never fun driving in the rain in New York City, anyway, but the real problem in the northeast will be the wind and the airports are going to have that.

BALDWIN: We will be talking all week long about the weather just to make sure you are safe and you have the heads up no matter where it is you're going. Chad Myers, thank you very much.

Just in to us here at CNN, murder charges in the case of the building. Remember this, this building collapse in the heart of Philadelphia, killed six people. There's more to that story. We're getting these new details just in to us. We're on the case there.

Plus, live pictures, San Francisco as we are awaiting President Obama. He will be talking about his push for changes to America's immigration laws. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: New developments on that tragic story. This is from this summer, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has announced charges against that contractor involved in a deadly building collapse. The 49-year-old Griffin Campbell has been charged with six counts of third degree murder, six counts of involuntary manslaughter and other charges here.

This happened in June. A vacant downtown Philadelphia building being torn down when a four-story wall just collapsed on the Salvation Army thrift store next door. Six people died, 13 others were injured.

And an outlaw country singer shot and killed in a Nashville honky-tonk bar and police are investigating whether it was justified by self- defense. The 44-year-old Wayne Mills, leader of the Wayne Mills Band, was shot early Saturday morning inside downtown Nashville's pit and barrel bar. Investigators say Mills and bar owner, Chris Ferrell, they were just with some friends when the two men started to argue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIEUTENANT STEPHEN LEWIS, NASHVILLE POLICE: The business owner asked him to not smoke in the bar. An altercation happened between the two of those guys, which resulted in one person being struck with gunfire and being transported to the hospital for their injuries. The owner of the business is a friend of the person that was injured last night. So he's very torn up about it and very concerned about his welfare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Mills' biography calls him, quote, "an average country boy steeped in the vernacular of God, guns, and football. He had been working on his seventh "Outlaw" country album and touring small southern venues. So far, no charges filed against Ferrell.

Italian prosecutors are summarizing their case against Amanda Knox today. In the closing arguments of Knox's retrial, they told an appeals court not to make the same mistakes that the court that freed Knox in 2011 did. Knox was accused of killing her British roommate in 2007. She is not required by law to physically be in that Italian courtroom. She said she's actually afraid of returning to Italy. A verdict in the phase expected in January.

Coming, we are awaiting at any moment here the report of the shooting inside Sandy Hook Elementary School. It will be revealed, and one of the questions is, what will be learning when it comes to motive? What drove Adam Lanza to do this? And as the families in Newtown, Connecticut, grieve, should this report even be made public in the first place?

Also ahead here on CNN, a police officer accused of pulling a woman over, cuffing her, then sexually assaulting her. Now there is reason to believe this is not the first alleged incident. We're on the case coming up.

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BALDWIN: Nationwide, 43.4 million people are expected to be traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday. And besides fighting the likely bad weather that so many of you are going to experience, travellers are also fighting something else, fewer flights, higher fares.

CNN chief business correspondent, Christine Romans has the details from New York -- Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Millions of us are flying home for Thanksgiving. If you think the airport will be crowded this week, just wait. Get ready for fewer flights and higher fares. Take the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, for example.

According to analysis from "USA Today," the number of seats dropped by 80 percent between 2005 and 2013, fares jumped 26 percent there. The average ticket now $519. Here are some other examples from "USA Today." At Savannah Hilton Head Airport, fares jumped nearly 36 percent, average fare $493.

At Dallas Love Field is up nearly 36 percent and in Washington, D.C. Dulles, up 32 percent. Overall, between the first quarter of '05 and the first quarter of 2013, prices are up 6.5 percent on average after inflation at the top 100 airports, but fares varied widely from airport to airport. Some of the flight cut-backs resulted from major airline mergers that have led carriers to squeeze service at some airports while they focus on more profitable hubs. No question, the industry has transformed in the past few decades. There were 20 U.S. carriers back in 1978.

Twelve years later, the industry consolidated to half the number of carriers. And since then, Delta merged with Northwest, United with Continental, and now American Airlines with U.S. Air. You get the picture. Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

BALDWIN: Christine, thank you. Let's talk other business news. Two words for you, Katie Couric, a ground breaking news anchor is getting a new home or a platform, as it were. She's going to Yahoo.

Alison Kosik with me now from the New York Stock Exchange and tell me first, what will Katie Couric be doing for Yahoo, and she is television and this is internet? How is this going to work?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, so what Katie Couric is doing is she's hired to be Yahoo's global anchor. This is going to begin next year. So Couric is going to do features for the Yahoo home page, but this is the kind of role that really seems to be evolving at this point.

Yahoo was kind of light on giving details, but Couric did give an interview over the weekend with the "New York Times" saying it's a work in progress. It's likely she's going to ahead and do major interviews with news makers. Also, she's expected to expand Yahoo's news operations.

This means that she will probably, probably end her relationship with ABC News where she's currently a special correspondent. Though Yahoo does have an arrangement with ABCA, so some of that could continue, but her daytime talk show, "Katie," that is going to continue. It's scheduled to go until May. After that, we're unsure what's going to happen with the talk show - Brooke.

BALDWIN: What do you think this says about the direction of Yahoo itself, this hire?

KOSIK: Yes, this has been an interesting transformation for Yahoo itself. It's part of CEO Marissa Mayers long term attempt to try to turn Yahoo around. She's been trying to make Yahoo younger, more relevant, more hip, more innovative. She took over the reigns as CEO last year. She first bought up a bunch of companies to capitalize on their technology.

She bought Tumblr, and a news aggregator. Now you're seeing Yahoo making several big editorial hires to grow its content. Couric is also a big tech editor from the "New York Times" and others as well. At this point, Wall Street does seem to like her strategy. They do like the way Yahoo is going.

You see its shares. They're up 133 percent since she became CEO, but you have to also remember the deal most likely cost Yahoo a lot of money. Couric reportedly makes upwards of -- made upwards of $16 million at CBS before she moved on to ABC. No word yet on what she's making at Yahoo, but we can only imagine.

BALDWIN: We can only imagine and speculate and add the zeros. Alison Kosik in New York for me. Alison, thank you very much.

And now this --

This very minute, the long-awaited report of the shooting inside of Sandy Hook is revealed, but is it really worth it to release all this information when it hurts these families? I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

This week is going to be a nightmare for millions of Americans trying to get home.

Plus, the pope meets Putin.

And Megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen joins me live in studio on what he would tell the grieving families of Newtown.

And here we go, hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Want to begin with the president of the United States and immigration. This is an issue that never goes away. It symbolizes the paralysis in Washington. President Obama is in San Francisco. Let's take a listen. Here he is.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I want to thank your mayor, Ed Lee, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. I want to recognize some wonderful members of Congress who are fighting every day for the people of California, Mike Honda, Eric Swalwell, Judy Chew. They are all doing great work every single day.

We have a special guest, Janet Napolitano, who is now overseeing the entire UC system and going to be doing a great job. We miss her back in Washington, but she is going to be outstanding leading the University of California. Now, before i begin, I want to say a few words about the news from the weekend. I'm here to talk about immigration reform, but I'm also here in my capacity as commander in chief.

And this weekend, together with our allies and our partners, the United States reached an agreement with Iran on a first step towards resolving our concerns over its nuclear program. Some of you may recall that when I first ran for president, I said it was time for a new era of American leadership in the world, one that turned the page on a decade of war and began a new era of our engagement with the world.

And as president and as commander in chief, I've done what I said. We ended the war in Iraq. We brought our troops home. Osama Bin Laden met justice. The war in Afghanistan will end next year. And as the strongest, most powerful nation on the face of the earth, we have engaged in clear-eyed and principled diplomacy, even with our adversaries in order to begin to destroy Syria's chemical weapons and to place the first real constraints in a decade on Iran's nuclear program. Because I firmly believe in what President Kennedy once said. He said, let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. I believe that. And this diplomacy backed by the unprecedented sanctions we brought on Iran, has brought us the progress that was achieved this weekend. For the first time in a decade, we halted the progress on Iran's nuclear program. Key parts of the program will be rolled back.