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Protesters Fight for Wage Increase; GDP Jumps in Third Quarter; Temperature Plunges with Arctic Storm; FSU Quarterback Sex Assault Investigation Completed; Wiretap: Toronto Mayor May Have Tried to Buy Video; Time Running Out for Stranded Whales

Aired December 05, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Protest their paycheck. Should the minimum wage be raised to 15 bucks?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Just -- this just in, some good news about the economy. We have two brand new snapshots of the U.S. economy, both striking ones. The GDP, the Gross Domestic Product, shot up 3.6 percent in the third quarter, and a second report is showing the best private sector jobs growth all year.

Zain Asher is going to join us from New York in just a minute. She's going over these numbers but that's good news for the economy. It probably means that the Friday jobs market numbers will be very good. Of course those numbers come out tomorrow.

The fight to close that wage gap heats up, though, today. In just about two hours thousands of fast food workers are expected to protest in 100 cities across the country, from New York City to New Orleans, to Oakland, trying to pressure employers into paying a livable wage of $15 an hour. Now they've got a powerful ally on their side, President Obama.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We know that we're going to have a greater and greater portion of our people in the service sector, and we know that there are airport workers and fast food workers and nurse assistants and retail sales people who work their tails off, and are still living at or barely above poverty.

(APPLAUSE)

And that's why it's well past the time to raise a minimum wage.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: But the message being pushed by the president and protesters doesn't sit well with some corporate executives. This is a -- this is a dire prediction for 15 bucks an hour from an executive at White Castle.

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JAMIE RICHARDSON, VICE PRESIDENT, WHITE CASTLE: There are groups out there that are asking and pleading to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour and to more than double the federally mandated started wage wouldn't be bad for White castle, it would be absolutely catastrophic. 406 restaurants and what we know is that would result in closing more than 200 of those restaurants and the ones remaining would be glowing embers, they'd be dying stars.

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COSTELLO: Alison Kosik is at Wendy's in Brooklyn with more on this story for you.

Good morning, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And you know, those critics like one you just heard from, they're very outspoken about how counterproductive they think that raising the federal minimum wage could be, raising it from $7.25 to $15 an hour. They make no bones about it, saying, you know what, raising it that high could be bad for business.

They say those businesses that would have to do that would have to wind up passing those costs on to consumers because they would have to raise the cost of their products. They also say it's a job killer, that it would lead to more automation meaning employees being replaced by, let's say, tablets so you go into a restaurant, you order on a tablet instead of talking to somebody, and then the food comes out.

That's already happening. I don't know if you've noticed, Carol, but I know when I go to certain eating establishments I'm ordering on a tablet and not even -- not even having any interaction with an employee -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Alison Kosik, we'll check back with you.

Now let's head back to New York to our studios there and Zain Asher for more of the good news regarding our economy, and that's the GDP is up.

This is sort of surprising, Zain.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, absolutely, GDP coming in for the third quarter at 3.6 percent, certainly a lot stronger than expected. The best quarter perhaps of GDP since first quarter of 2012. And when you compare it to other economic data we've gotten so far this year, last quarter it came in at 2.5 percent, the first three months of this year coming in at 1.1 percent, so certainly an improvement. I do want to mention part of the reason for this is a buildup in inventories. We've had the best buildup in inventories since 1998, however consumer spending did slow -- if you want to compare this to other economic reports, it's certainly in line with an improvement we've seen in the housing market and car sales as well.

The big question is, what will this mean for Fed tapering. We have of course the jobs report coming in tomorrow so all eyes on that, and people are going to be asking themselves, well, what does this GDP number mean especially when it compound it with the jobs report tomorrow, what will it mean for the Fed pulling back on stimulus -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Zain Asher, thanks for the update. We appreciate it.

All right. Now we have to talk about the weather because for millions of Americans the worst of that massive arctic storm is yet to come. It's already pounded the Rocky Mountains and the northern plains. Places like Two Harbors, Minnesota, got three feet of snow.

Today we're seeing winter storm warnings from New Mexico all the way to Ohio. And take a look at this, snow and dangerous ice could hit from Texas to Ohio, causing slick roads and widespread power outages.

Another problem dangerously, low temperatures, cities like Minneapolis with a high of 9 degrees but it feels like 20 below with the windchill.

Out west farmers are rushing to protect the citrus crop from a hard freeze. Temperatures dropped to 30 degrees or lower over night. And now Dallas is getting ready for a drastic temperature drop.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, we're Texans. It's 80 degrees today and then the next day it's going to be 30? So you never -- people panic.

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COSTELLO: But it's not all bad news. In Colorado, skiers and snowboarders rejoiced as more than two inches of snow fell on some of the mountains in just one hour. Some places got as much as 19 inches of fresh powder.

Joining us now is CNN's Ana Cabrera in Denver, Colorado. And I don't think they're really happy about the amount of snowfall this morning.

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ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it is just frigid cold, and that's an understatement here this morning, Carol. You can see the steam rising from the building behind me. Denver tied the record low this morning for this date, at negative 15 degrees, set a new record for yesterday's date at negative 13 last night, so we're still getting colder as you can tell and this air isn't going away any time soon. In fact, that arctic chill is just continuing to spread.

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CABRERA (voice-over): A dangerous and drastic temperature plunge has millions shivering this morning across the country.

MANI MONIEL, BOULDER RESIDENT: The thermometer in my truck said seven degrees as I was driving over here, so it's cold.

CABRERA: Overnight the mercury dipping even lower, some places experiencing bone-chilling feels like temps of 30 to 40 degrees below zero. The arctic blast stretching from the southern Rockies to Duluth, Minnesota.

This massive winter storm is unleashing strong winds along with heavy snow, a treacherous combination, creating poor visibility and super slick conditions.

CARRIE JOHNSON, WAUSAU, WISCONSIN POLICE DEPARTMENT: People started going into the ditch, losing control of their vehicles.

CABRERA: In Denver a van rolls off a deceptively slippery road and in South Dakota a tanker truck slides off a snowy highway. The relentless pounding snow and ice really piling up across the nation's midsection.

It's a lot of hard work for residents trying to clear those driveways and sidewalks and the heavy equipment struggling to keep up across the country's interstates and highways with some spots seeing more than a foot of snow in a matter of hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody that can't find a place to be indoors, that's obviously a real problem.

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CABRERA: Sadly we have learned of at least one weather related death because of this arctic front. In Minnesota a 16-year-old girl died on her way to school. She lost control behind the wheel when she hit a slushy patch, we're told. And we are hearing of more spin-outs, more slide-off here in Colorado this morning, as the Denver commute is going. Very slow going on the highways. It's just so slick. The snow and ice not going away any time soon. In fact it could be well into next week before the temperatures get above freezing -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ana Cabrera, many thanks to you.

Let's talk a little sports now. College football's top ranked Florida State Seminoles head to Charlotte tonight to prepare for the ACC title game. But will their quarterback, Heisman Trophy candidate Jameis Winston be on the plane? At 2:00 p.m. Eastern Florida state attorney Willie Meggs is due to announce his decision on whether to bring charges against Winston in a sexual assault investigation. Winston's attorney is taking a wait-and-see attitude.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TIM JANSEN, JAMEIS WINSTON'S ATTORNEY: In 20 years of practice I never try to guess what Mr. Meggs is going to do. I've seen him go both ways. I think he did a complete investigation. I know I pressured him to hurry the investigation. I know the media has the questions and I know he has a desire to get this off his plate but you have to realize it's been about three weeks, I think, since he's had it, there's some complicated us, some tests that were being done.

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COSTELLO: CNN's Martin Savidge joins me now to tell us more about this story.

It seems odd to me that they would everything in a press conference this afternoon.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it struck me the same way. And I was trying to figure out what does that mean.

COSTELLO: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Does it mean that in this particular way the state attorney is going to very publicly clear this star football player for the state team or does it mean that there's going to be an indictment and that's the real question here.

2:00 this afternoon you can bet that FSU fans are going to be on the edge of their seat, actually many people are going to be on the edge of their seat because that is when we find out if in fact there's going to be any charges against Jameis Winston. If he gets a felony charge against him, as you've already pointed out, he will not be going to the big game this weekend.

There's also the Heisman Trophy which is up, and he is considered to be frontrunner to receive that. Voting is going on right now.

So how is all of that being impacted. And then of course there is a young woman who has made these allegations that says that her case really has not been taken seriously. It has been reported that DNA evidence does link Winston to this woman. Her allegation is that almost exactly a year ago she was raped by him.

Authorities say they investigated but that not long after the investigation began she, quote-unquote, "broke off contact" with them. I'm not sure exactly what that means. And the attorney for Winston later said he thought the case was going nowhere, in other words that there weren't going to be any charges. Today, though, we're going to find out if that's really the case.

COSTELLO: Well, let's say there are charges against him, is it really fair that he doesn't go to the game? I mean, you're --

SAVIDGE: Well, those are the rules.

COSTELLO: Those are rules.

SAVIDGE: I mean those the standard also -- yes.

COSTELLO: OK.

SAVIDGE: So he would not be able to go, you know, presumably he is going t be brought in whether he would actually be in jail or whether he's given some kind of bail, you know, that would all be determined. But we're really jumping ahead here. It's waiting to find out if, in fact, these charges are going to be made. Winston says that the sex that occurred was consensual. The family of the young woman says no, it was rape.

COSTELLO: We'll see at 2:00 this afternoon that Eastern Time.

All right, Martin Savidge, many thanks.

He's refusing to resign after admitting that he smoked crack. Now the Toronto mayor is dealing with an explosive set of new allegations.

CNN legal correspondent Jean Casarez has that story. Good morning, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Wiretapped conversations have just been unsealed by a judge, the transcripts, did the mayor of Toronto actually offer $5,000 and a car so that infamous video would not be released? That video of him allegedly smoking crack cocaine. I'll have more right after this.

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COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 15 minutes past the hour.

Miami Heat guard Roger Mason Jr. got robbed while he was out for a late night dinner. CNN affiliate WSVN reports four hooded men hit a Miami restaurant on Sunday. They emptied the register and swiped his two-toned diamond Rolex. Police arrested two of the suspects and are looking for the other two. They managed to recover Mason's watch and his sister's purse.

In money news this morning, two positive signs for the economy just in, the GDP jumped 3.6 percent in the third quarter, the GDP reflects the size of the economy and it's a good indicator of its health. In a separate report, the payroll processor, ADP says the private sector job growth last month was the strongest of the year.

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COSTELLO: Yes, own a piece of the Boss. Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" manuscript goes on the auction block next hour. The 1974 manuscript consists of 30 lines and notations in the margin. Sotheby's New York expects that manuscript to bring in as much $100,000.

Five thousand dollars and a car, that's the offer Toronto Mayor Rob Ford reportedly made in exchange for the tape that authorities say shows him smoking crack cocaine. But the mayor denied those allegations this morning on the radio. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: Number one, that's an outright lie and number two, you can talk to my lawyers about it. But I'm here to talk football, guys. So, if you want to talk about football, talk about. If you want to talk about other things, and, unfortunately, I have to let you go.

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COSTELLO: Obviously, he was on a sports radio station. There are also allegations that the mayor left his cell phone at that crack house and then had a driver try to get it back by offering the dealers inside that house marijuana.

One more thing: allegations of heroin use, too, and drinking and driving and threats on Instagram.

The list is long but you get the point. We're learning all of this from newly released documents that include wiretaps or phone calls between two suspected drug dealers.

CNN's legal correspondent Jean Casarez joins me now more from New York. This is just incredible.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, from everything we're reading in the documents, this is very ironic, because the Toronto police, Carol, they wanted to probe into a drug gang, they're called the Dixon City Bloods, in Toronto.

So, they went to a judge to execute wiretaps on 59 phones. They got those wiretaps. So they started listening to all of these conversations, what name do they begin to hear in March 2013? The Toronto mayor, Rob Ford.

And so what they did, they finally heard a conversation on march 27th, which was early on in the probe, where somebody by the name of Sayadin Abdi (ph) said "I've got this video and he's telling me he'll pay me $5,000 and give me a car if it's not released", and they were really sarcastic about it, some alleged drug dealer by the named of Mohammed owned the video I'm going to go to him and I'm going to say, look, $100,000 to $150,000. That's what we need."

And then it goes on from there. And there are allegations he went to the crack house, that he got the drugs April 20th, important date because his name is mentioned, Rob Ford, the name is mentioned 1:00 in the morning, one of the alleged drug dealers gets a call, this is all recorded, not released, just the transcripts, but they say Rob Ford is on the way to the crack house and he needs the drugs, and then somebody else is saying that he smoked his rocks all day,

And, Carol, the mayor has come out saying this morning on Washington, D.C., sport stalk radio, these are outright lies and the spoken word, talk is cheap, right? So, investigators are going to look to see what is corroborated. April 20th, his cell phone is stolen at the crack house, so say the people on the tape, and later on that day, the mayor tells his staff "I misplaced my cell phone, I can't find it."

So, you see, there are some things that link up but at this point it's an ongoing investigation and we believe police were surprised --

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COSTELLO: OK, could we just stop for a second?

It's an ongoing investigation but the mayor admitted to smoking crack cocaine. Why isn't he charged with a crime?

CASAREZ: Well, that may be the next step. With the release of these transcripts -- and, by the way, these transcripts were sealed but Canadian lawyers for the media went to the judge and said we believe these should be public knowledge, that's why they were unsealed,

And if you look at these, there are more potential charges than just drugs, tampering with witnesses, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice. So, we'll see what the next step is.

COSTELLO: I'm sure we will.

Jean Casarez, many thanks to you.

CASAREZ: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM -- you're welcome.

More than 40 whales still stranded near Florida's Everglades National Park. What rescuers are saying about the efforts to get them back out to sea?

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COSTELLO: The actor Paul Walker may have survived the initial impact of Saturday's fatal car crash. Autopsy results suggest the "Fast & Furious" star died from a combination of traumatic injuries and from the resulting fire. Coroner's report also confirms his friend, Roger Rodas, was indeed driving the car when it crashed.

Universal Pictures says the production of the next "Fast & Furious" movie has been shut down. The "Fast & Furious" franchise released this two-minute video tribute to Walker on its YouTube channel.

This morning, 41 pilot whales are stranded into shallow water off Florida's Everglades National Park. Officials say the outlook for the whales is not good. And they aren't sure how many can be saved, it's also still not clear when the whales got there or why.

CNN's John Zarrella has more from the Everglades.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the Coast Guard has joined the effort to save the whales. A cutter is out there to provide a security perimeter around the animals as well as three smaller Coast Guard vessels but clearly time is running out.

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ZARRELLA (voice-over): From the air, the pilot whales look like black pearls in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, surrounded them in boats -- rescuers, biologists, Everglades National Park rangers and volunteers.

The whales have been stuck in shallow water for at least two days now. The outlook is not good.

LINDA FRIAR, SPOKESWOMAN, EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK: There isn't a whole lot we can do. We tried this technique called herding, trying to get the boats around them and kind of nudge them out either by sound or moving them around. It wasn't effective the first round. Last I heard they were trying a second time.

ZARRELLA: From the water, we could see the rescuers trying to herd the whales, keeping them from heading to the beach where some have already died, moving them towards deeper water. Wildlife officials say there were about 50 whales that stranded themselves. Biologists say they don't know why.

Of those, just over three dozen are still alive.

FRIAR: If you were out there, you're saying there might be hope moving away from the area. The challenge is to get them to go out into deeper water. They're all freely swimming.

ZARRELLA: The frustrating part is, park officials say, the whales keep circling back.

(on camera) If the whales won't make their way back into deeper water it's only a matter of time before they go into distress and their bodies shut down. At that point, they'll have to be euthanized.

(voice-over): Some of the remaining whales are, officials say, already exhibiting signs of distress. How much longer they can survive, no one is sure but the rescuers will remain out there until they're saved or all hope is gone.

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ZARRELLA: The dilemma is that these whales are like a family, they are a family. And when one or more than one, or in trouble, or stranded themselves and died on the beach like so many of these have, the rest of the whales are reluctant to leave -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll keep you posted. Thanks, John.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: a day after she admitted to using cocaine, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson takes the stand again this morning. CNN's Erin McLaughlin is in London.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nigella Lawson telling the court today that she'd rather be honest about drugs than bullied by lies. I'll have more about that in a moment. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Lavandera in Dallas, Texas. The ice storm is coming. The ice storm is coming. North Texas braces for the worst. We'll have those stories coming up on CNN.

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