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White House touts Obamacare Site "Fix"; Retailers Lure Shoppers on Cyber Monday; Drag Racing May Have Led to Walker's Fatal Crash

Aired December 02, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

In Washington, and specifically at the White House, there might be more than a few sighs of relief this morning as the Obama administration says its troubled HealthCare.gov website is now up and running for the majority of users. Included in the so-called fix, a 24-hour rapid response team plus e-mail alerts for users suggesting other times to log in if the site gets congested.

Let's talk about this Will Cain is a CNN political commentator and a columnist for the Blaze. John Avlon is a CNN political analyst and executive editor for the Daily Beast. Welcome to both of you.

WILL CAIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALSYT: Hi Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. OK, so Will, let's start with you. Republicans and even some Democrats are not so impressed with the fix, neither are many insurance companies. Is there anything the administration can do to convince people HealthCare.gov works?

CAIN: Yes. They get it working. I mean not just the front-end problems that people experience on daily basis but the back-end problems. Remember HealthCare.gov isn't just supposed to be nice little friendly user experience, it supposed to deliver health insurance on the back end. That means submit applications to insurance companies, submit payments ultimately to insurance companies.

But in the end, look Carol the website, HealthCare.gov is a minimum threshold that Obamacare must meet. It is a hurdle that must get cleared in order to satisfy what the government expects will be some demand for the product, for the products offered on the exchange. And that is a far more serious problem. Is there a demand? Will young healthy people opt into the system? Because what you're talking about now are structural problems, not technical problems. Problems that begin a term that everyone has heard at this point the potential death spiral of this whole legislation.

COSTELLO: OK, so wow. OK, so John Avlon you heard what Will said. But there's also this problem and that is perception. Because the rollout was such a disaster and even if the Obama administration is coming out and saying, "Wow, it's great, now young people sign up now." Will the young people believe it?

AVLON: Well I mean that is an important question for the reasons Will laid out if you don't have enough young people sign up, even with the threat of penalties the market won't work as it should. But a couple of things first of all, reality check on this rollout, the White House is giving itself passing grades. You know that's worth being suspect.

Number two, is the idea that it works for the vast majority of the American people. There is a little bit of wiggle room in there. Around 10 percent of Americans who try aren't going to get -- get actually the processing they need. That's actually a way of masking a problem for around 10 percent of the people who try to use it.

Look there are a lot of folks on both side of the aisle here who are locked into their position. Will Cain and his fellow conservatives, surely the death spiral they are not doing it from the far intellectually whey would like this to go down because they're philosophically invested in its failure. And likewise a lot of Democrats want to pretend it's nothing but sunshine and light.

The next month in particular Carol is going to be key. Because we had around 20 days for folks who don't have health insurance right now to get for the start of 2014, that includes the people who lost it when the president -- they realize the President's promise wasn't valid. So this is really a proving ground it's got to start operating the way it's advertised, or that perception problem is going to metastasize.

COSTELLO: OK, so Will, if the website by some miracle works great, starts to work great. In a couple of months people are signing up and it seems successful, what will Republicans do? I mean the tens of thousands of people have signed up for health insurance and -- and the website is working OK, so what will Republicans do that want Obamacare the entire law to go away?

CAIN: Well look, first of all, OK -- if that happens, all of those, I would say at this point improbable scenarios play out, yes it would take something away from Republicans politically. Because look so far Obamacare, not just indicts Democrats on overpromising, on the confluence of incredible promises they've made, if you like your insurance, you can keep it, this will be deficit and neutral, people's premiums will go down, all of those promises, it also indicts liberalism, progressivism on the ability to restructure the economy. But look Carol again, that's what I'm telling you those are the improbable wishful thinking for all of that to play out.

What I think 2014 might end up looking like, and John can say I'm -- I'm wishing for but it doesn't matter cheerleaders don't matter in this football game, the game can be played on the field and the field has been set, what '14 could look like, what 2014 could look like is a combination of if you like your plan, you can keep it as the employer mandate kicks in, people get kicked off of them.

And TARP, 2008 bailouts for the insurance companies, 2008 style part bailout for the insurance company who can't afford to insure only sick older people.

COSTELLO: OK, that's jumping ten steps forward, John.

(CROSSTALK)

CAIN: But more probable at this point than the alternative.

AVLON: Yes I mean look Will is -- yes will is very excited about the possibility of another TARP style bailout backlash.

CAIN: Right.

AVLON: But I think he's getting a couple of moves ahead of himself on this one. Look the reason Republicans are so invested in this, is that they have advertised Obamacare as the end of freedom as we know it. And if it falls short of total tyranny there's going to be a credibility gap for conservatives. And that in there, there is maybe a silver lining and a hope for Democrats amid the disastrous rollout today.

COSTELLO: All right Will Cain, John Avlon -- thanks for the discussion this morning I appreciate it.

CAIN: You bet.

AVLON: Thanks Carol.

COSTELLO: Many -- you're welcome. Many of you are pounding the pavement this weekend as the holiday shopping season officially got underway. But on this Cyber Monday -- yes it is Cyber Monday, most retailers are hoping you will let your fingers do a little bit more of the work as they offer more and more deals online. Casey Wian is Las Vegas he's at the new call center for Zappos one of the nation's leading online shoe retailers. Good morning, Casey.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, carol. And we are behind the scenes at a Web site that appears to be working just fine. Zappos says it expects it could handle as many as 20,000 customer calls today, which would be a record for the company in a single day. Last year on Cyber Monday, they did $22.6 million in sales. That was a record. They say they're already on pace this morning to break that record.

Now, here are some of the folks who work at their customer service center and handle the customer calls when they call in with some kind of an issue or if they just want to place an order over the phone rather than online. They say that even the bosses here are working on Cyber Monday. Everyone is manning the phones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of our employees will be at work today at some point. If they're regularly scheduled to work today, they'll be coming in. If they weren't regularly scheduled to work, they'll still be coming in to work part of their normal hours that they're usually scheduled for. We have holiday helpers which is other departments in the company are trained to answer phone calls. They'll be helping out today. We have some seasonal employees answering the phones today. So it's all hands on deck.

WIAN: Even your CEO will be answering the phones right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'll be answering phones at some point this holiday season. It's required of everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: Now Zappos really stresses customer service in all of their operations and that means that they have no limit on the time these customer service representatives actually spend on the phone. And they tell me that a few months ago one of these people actually spent 10.5 hours on the phone with a single customer. They talked about her order for an hour and just talked about life for another 9.5 hours Carol -- if you can imagine that.

COSTELLO: I can. Casey Wian thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: Well some scary breaking news out of Toledo, Ohio, this morning. It's Scott High School, that's a high school in the central part of -- actually it's in the old west end of Toledo. We understand from the police and also affiliate reports and the "Toledo Blade" which is the newspaper in Toledo that there may be a 15-year-old with a gun inside Scott High School.

Now, we don't know for sure if that's true. But we do know authorities have contained a student who is 15 years old to one classroom. And we do know that negotiators are now on the scene trying to talk that student out of that classroom. According to the "Toledo Blade", parents are asked to stay home and not to come and get their children. They believe they have the situation contained.

I'm sorry I don't have more information for you. But we're trying to get that right now. But what we know right now, a reported student gunman inside the Scott High School in Toledo, Ohio which is located in the old west end of town. And it's actually a pretty good high school. We'll keep you posted.

The NTSB go team is now at the site of that derailment in the Bronx that killed four people and critically injured 11 others. They've downloaded data from both of the black boxes tweeting out this picture of one of them. That information will play an important role of helping to determine if speed was a factor. One passenger told CNN, he thinks it was.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DENNIS O'NEAL, SURVIVED METRO TRAIN DERAILMENT: And we were going fast. We were going -- you could tell it was like something was up. And the people on the other side of the aisle actually fell on top of us. And we were grinding along the ground for, I don't know, 50 yards or something at a very fast pace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Former Vice chairman of the NTSB Bill Francis now joins me from Washington. Good morning sir.

BILL FRANCIS, NTSB: Good morning.

COSTELLO: We've heard a lot about the speed of the train. Because apparently the speed limit for that set of tracks is 70 miles per hour on the state away and then around the curve the train is supposed to slow to 30 miles per hour. That would be something that's easily determined, right?

FRANCIS: As long as the recorders are working in the train, absolutely.

COSTELLO: You could find out from the conductor as well, right?

FRANCIS: I don't know whether the conductor would be able to tell whether they were going 30 or 45 or what. But he probably -- or she, would have some idea.

COSTELLO: What kinds of questions will investigators be asking the crew on that train?

FRANCIS: Well, I think that of the operator they're going to be asking braking, did he brake? Apparently he said that he tried to brake and the brakes didn't work. Well, again, the recorders will have some evidence of that.

I'm not sure that -- that they're going to get a lot of information from him. But certainly they're going to be looking at things like the track, whether the brakes, in fact, were workable. How fast the train was going. And -- and because there have been previous accidents there, whether the speed of 30 is a reasonable speed to have. Presumably it is, as thousands of trains have gone by there.

But, you know, the real issues are the track, the brakes, the human performance and then they'll go into other things like are there implications of having the engine on the back of the track with the operator in a front car. I mean -- so there --

COSTELLO: right. And just so -- so people understand what you're talking about. The trains if they're going south, which this train was, are being pushed from behind by a car with an engine, right?

FRANCIS: Correct.

COSTELLO: And that's somehow more problematic than the engine at the front of the train?

FRANCIS: I don't think that there's any -- I've never heard that there's any evidence to that effect. But that's certainly something that the NTSB will be taking a close look at from the human performance point of view. Maybe it is -- it is true that if the -- if the operator of the engine is in the engine he has a better feel for the train and speeds, et cetera. But that's going to be of big interest.

COSTELLO: How long do you suppose the investigation will last? How long will it take until we know something?

FRANCIS: Well, they'll be doing -- they'll be -- as they investigate, they'll be giving the public and the press factual information. It will be probably at least a year before the final report is done with all of the analysis and conclusions and recommendations.

COSTELLO: Bill Francis, former NTSB investigator, thanks so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

FRANCIS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: I want to update you now on the situation in Toledo, Ohio with Scott High School -- that's in the central part of the city or actually I think it's in the old west end. We have new pictures to show you from Toledo News Now of the school itself. We have very sketchy information, and I apologize for that.

But what we can glean from CNN affiliates and also the newspaper in town, the "Toledo Blade" is that a 15-year-old student is suspected of having a gun. Supposedly he is contained in one classroom and negotiators are on the scene.

I just got word in my ear that a suspect is now in custody. We don't have any other word about that suspect and who he is, right? Not at this time. So that's a good thing. That means the situation is contained. We have not heard of any injuries whatsoever. And hopefully they got that kid out of the classroom with no one getting hurt, including that child.

We'll be back with more information after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: This just in. New details about the fiery crash that killed "Fast and Furious" star, Paul Walker. CNN has now confirmed investigators are looking into drag racing as a possible cause to the crash. CNN's Alan Duke live in Los Angeles -- he broke this news. What more are you learning -- Alan?

ALAN DUKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, when I was at the scene of the crash on Saturday, I noticed some unusual skid marks on this very wide five-lane boulevard -- it's called Hercules Street, ironically -- in this business park of Valencia, California. And I was wondering what did they mean?

And when I found out that this high performance car shop was just about a block away, I started thinking about how this street would be on a Saturday afternoon. And the sheriff's department Saturday night told us that speed was a factor when this Porsche crashed into the light pole and burst into flames killing Walker and the driver, Roger Rodas.

What they're now telling us is they got a phone call Sunday suggesting there was another car involved. Now, they don't know if it's true, but they're checking on it -- possibly a drag race. At the least, perhaps another car involved veering in front causing this Porsche which is notoriously difficult to handle with this huge V-10 engine, causing it to crash into the light post.

So the possibility of drag racing which would be rather tragically ironic for Paul Walker, the star of "Fast and Furious" being involved in this is a real part of the investigation that's going on now by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

COSTELLO: It would explain a lot, though, right? Because the driver of the car in which Paul Walker was a passenger was an experienced driver. I mean was a professional driver, right?

DUKE: Yes. Rodas and Walker were both racers; they were on a team together. Roger who was apparently behind the wheel in this car was the captain of the racing team. And they regularly won trophies racing this kind of car. But I might say that this car apparently never was raced. It was about a half million dollar car when it was new in early 2005. And they only have 3,200 miles on it. So they've driven it about 200 miles a year. It's basically a show car.

COSTELLO: Alan Duke, thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 58 minutes past.

The suspect at a Toledo, Ohio high school now in custody; that's according to the police department which had been on the scene following unconfirmed reports the suspect had a weapon. The school is currently on lock down at Scott High School.

Pope Francis had his first meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Vatican today. The two men talked about obstacles blocking peace between Israel and the Palestinians and the about the new international deal covering Iran's nuclear program. The Pope will visit Israel in May.

Money, literally, fell from the sky for some lucky Black Friday shoppers at the Mall of America. Yes, a man actually tossed a thousand $1 bills as he rode down an escalator. Cops did not appreciate his holiday surprise. He was arrested and given a ticket for disorderly conduct. The 29-year-old says he was just trying to do something good. We won't hear him say it, but I swear that's what he said. The money fell down to the floor, and a group was -- what else -- singing "Let It Snow" at a concert below.

Speaking of holiday shopping, turns out it would cost you more than $114,000 to buy all of the items mentioned in the classic "Twelve Days of Christmas". Yes, and that's almost -- that's up almost 8 percent from last year. According to TNC Wealth Management the 30-year average has just been under 3 percent.

And here is where you really get Scrooged, nine ladies dancing and ten lords a leaping -- well, they all spiked this year according for a $1,700 increase in the total price tag. Dancers cost a lot of money.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Michaela Pereira, sitting in for Ashleigh Banfield, starts now.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Michaela Pereira in for Ashleigh Banfield. It is Monday, December 2. Welcome to "LEGAL VIEW".

We do begin with breaking news just in to CNN. Police in Toledo, Ohio say they now have a suspect in custody who may have carried a weapon into Scott High School. The suspect is believed to be a student. There are no reports of injuries. Again, the suspect is in custody after quite a scare at that high school there in Toledo. We'll bring you more information when we get it.

The investigation into the death of actor Paul Walker taking another tragic turn this hour: Los Angeles County deputies are looking at drag racing as a possible cause for the fiery crash that killed the "Fast & Furious" star this Saturday just outside of Hollywood. Is this a case of life imitating art for the actor known for his speed and recklessness on the screen?

CNN entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner looks at the investigation and how fans, family and friends are coping with the untimely loss.