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Healthcare Deadline Today; New Safeguards After Target Hacking; Freezing Cold, Rain and Snow Coming; Louisiana's Lieutenant Governor Says "Duck Dynasty" Key to Tourism; Beyonce Plays Santa; U.S. Weighs Action in South Sudan; NASA Spacewalk

Aired December 23, 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: Right now, it's deadline day for people looking to sign up on the health care exchanges. Get it done today or start the new year without coverage.

And right now, retailer Target is facing lawsuits and a possible federal government investigation over the $40 million credit and debit card numbers stolen in a massive security breach.

And right now, taking sides in the "Duck Dynasty" controversy. One retailer that said it was trying to do the right things gets hammered. Now it's changing course.

Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington. Wolf Blitzer is off.

Now we start with today's deadline for health care coverage. You have to enroll today in order to get coverage beginning January 1st.

Our Joe Johns joining me now.

So how many people are we talking about here?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little bit of news off the top. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services just put out a statement saying that anticipating high demand, which they're getting right now through the HealthCare.gov Web site. They have programmed their systems to make sure people who enroll through tomorrow will get coverage starting on January 1st. So, a little bit of a tweak there to the system giving people just a little bit more time.

Now, as to the numbers, of course, that's always been, as you know, a moving Target. The magic number has been 7 million enrollments through next year but that number can slip as long as the program gets enough healthy consumers signed up to offset the unhealthy ones. But if site visits to HealthCare.gov are any indication, a surge of interest is occurring and administration officials said there were at least 750,000 site visits just over the weekend -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And let's touch back on that December -- today is December 23. This has been a huge deadline for the administration. So, it's now as if we're learning that the deadline is actually December 24th.

JOHNS: Right, right, exactly. The deadline apparently is December 24th. But just because they're getting such a surge of interest into the program as they always expected that when you finally start getting close to that point where you have to be signed up to be covered on January 1st.

KEILAR: And it shows you how things have kept sliding because of so many issues of the Web site. Initially, it was mid-December, then it was the 23rd, now it's tomorrow.

JOHNS: Right.

KEILAR: So, let's talk about some of the exceptions.

JOHNS: Yes.

KEILAR: Because there was recently a hardship waiver that was announced for some folks.

JOHNS: Right. And there have been a number of exceptions but that the new one. The exceptions include people who won't get hit for -- with a penalty for signing up. They include the homeless, people who have been evicted, people filing for bankruptcy and, Brianna, as you said, the most notable exception is for people who have recently been notified their insurance plan has been canceled and say they also consider the alternatives unfordable. The administration says it believes there will be fewer than 500,000 people who fall into that category but the industry thinks that number can go much higher.

KEILAR: And we're also seeing new numbers about where the support is --

JOHNS: Right.

KEILAR: -- for this program.

JOHNS: Yes, the polling is very interesting. Support for the Affordable Care Act has dropped to an all-time low. Only 35 percent of those polled say they favor the law according to the latest CNN ORC poll. And most of the increased opposition apparently comes from women, 43 percent say they oppose the health care law because it's too liberal but 15 percent say they oppose it is because it's not liberal enough, 42 percent say they will personally be worse off under Obamacare with 16 percent saying the law will help them and four in 10 saying it will essentially have no effect.

KEILAR: And they've lost people sort of on both sides of the debate.

JOHNS: Yes.

KEILAR: That's very fascinating. Joe Johns, thank you so much.

And we'll have much more on the polls and how these numbers have changed in the past year later in the hour. And, again, just to highlight that headline that the deadline of December 23rd for signing up for Obamacare has now been pushed, it appears, to tomorrow giving folks another day to do that in a deadline that keeps sliding. We'll be following that story and bring you more on exactly why that happened.

Now, one of the country's biggest banks is putting new safeguards in place after that massive security breach at retail giant, Target. It affects shoppers whose JPMorgan Chase debit card numbers were compromised. Target says the roughly 40 million customers who may have been exposed can now get free credit monitoring, perhaps that eases the minds of some.

Our George Howell is outside a Target store in Warrenville, Illinois with the latest on that. Hi, George.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, hello. So, you talk about bad timing on this. You know, some shoppers are shopping elsewhere. We know that sales are reportedly down at Target stores, all of this right before the Christmas rush.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Some last minute Christmas shoppers may be frozen in their tracks because of the massive security breach at Target. JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, has temporarily placed limits on those customers potentially impacted by the hacking. Chase clients who shopped at U.S. Target stores between November 27th and December 15th can now only withdraw $100 a day from ATMS, their daily total spending now capped at $300. With 40 million credit and debit card accounts now considered compromised, irate customers took Target to task online. One tweet reads, quote, "My bank account got hacked and now I can't finish Christmas shopping at Target. Anything to help? Another chimed in, the moral of this story, Target hacking and Chase bankcard limits have a backup plan, cash, paper checks, gift cards, one other bankcard. And other hacked customers are asking why it wasn't noticed sooner.

ERICA EAKEN: They purchased six gift cards at $200. And as the person at the bank told me, they went for a seventh and it was denied because they didn't have enough. I just think that would have been suspicious.

HOWELL: U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chuck Schumer are now demanding immediate federal investigations to prevent a breach like this from happening again.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: We could get to the bottom of how Target's in-store payment security was compromised in order to make sure that will Target in the future and all other stores adequately protect consumers from this kind of devastating theft.

HOWELL: Some customers in California have already filed what could become a class action lawsuit against Target, saying the chain, quote, "failed to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices." Target said on Sunday it notified millions of affected customers via e-mail and is working with the secret service and financial institutions to resolve the problem. They also offered customers 10 percent storewide discounts this weekend as well as free credit monitoring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): So, no doubt, this has a lot of shoppers frustrated about what happened with Target. The question people are asking though, will we see more of this? According to the national retail federation the answer to that is yes. And simply because of those magnetic strips on the back of cards, the same technology they say that you see in cassette tapes. It's easily compromised, Brianna, and can be copied.

KEILAR: Oh, my goodness. Incredibly alarming. George Howell, thank you so much. And, you know, as if the holidays weren't --

HOWELL: Thanks.

KEILAR: -- stressful enough, right?

Well, this week, the weather may be adding one more headache. This was the scene in Michigan this morning. A plane slid off a runway in Detroit. Luckily no one was hurt there but over the weekend, it was a different story. At least 10 people were killed during the extreme weather in traffic accidents, flooding, as well as in a tornado. In Canada, the storm brought ice that toppled trees and led to transformer fires. 250,000 people in Toronto alone are currently without power. And much of the country is in for temperatures well below normal. Dangerous windchills they'll be facing, as well and that's not all.

Chad Myers here to break it all down for us. Chad, I mean, this isn't a -- this isn't a sort of merry Christmas when we're talking about weather.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, when you don't have power and you have a windchill factor of 25 degrees below zero outside, that's not Christmas at all. So, maybe help out your neighbor if you know of something like this going on.

Eleven below, this is the air temperature in Fargo, six below in Sioux Falls, zero in Minneapolis. But when you blow the wind and it touches your face, it feels like 16 degrees below zero. Just going from your car to the mall can be kind of a real jolt. We are still seeing a little bit of rain across the east coast. Airports a little bit slow, JFK, Newark, LaGuardia and even Philadelphia. Not as icy though as it appears parts of Maine still getting an ice storm there. It won't finally stop until later on tonight. When the rain does clear out tonight, it's all over. But the problem is, Brianna, we had 70 degrees in Central Park just a couple days ago. It's going to be 30 by tomorrow morning. So, yes, cold air is sinking in. It's the cold that's here will certainly be pushing off to the east that's because I'm going to New York to report from there and so the bad weather follows me.

KEILAR: Of course.

MYERS: Poor weather flying today but it does get much better by tomorrow afternoon, sunshine for much better flights tomorrow.

KEILAR: All right, Chad. Well, that's good news at least. Thank you for that. We'll check back in with you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

KEILAR: Now, explanations but no apologies. One of the "Duck Dynasty" stars has more to say about his controversial comments. We have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Let's take a look at what the markets are doing right now. Checking the big board, the Dow is up almost 82 points. And we had some big reaction to the news from the fed last week on lowering the monthly economic stimulus. Trading expected to be light this week because of the Christmas holiday as well.

Now, to the growing controversy over the show "Duck Dynasty" and comments by one of the stars about homosexuality and race. Phil Robertson, of course, was suspended. You probably know that. That started the whole debate over free speech here and what to do with this wildly popular show. Now, after pressure from fans, one retailer is actually reversing its decision to pull some "Duck Dynasty" merchandise.

Nick Valencia has been following the story. So, Nick, what's happening here?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's exactly as you say it is, an about face. They are reversing their decision. Initially, they decided to pull items off of the store shelves only to cave to loyal fan support. Lots of vocal support for Phil Robertson, this reality T.V. star, Brianna. And this is a statement that Cracker Barrel had to release. They said, when we made the decision to evaluate certain "Duck Dynasty" items, we offended many of our loyal customers. Our intent was to avoid offending but that's just what we've done. They went on to say, you told us we made a mistake and you weren't shy about it. You flat out told us we were wrong. We listened. Today, we are putting all of "Duck Dynasty" products back in the stores. And you know this, lots of people watch this show. Twelve million people on average watch "Duck Dynasty." It's about a $400 million merchandising base.

KEILAR: Wow. I mean, that's so --

VALENCIA: Yes.

KEILAR: So, "Duck Dynasty" back at Cracker Barrel. What a -- what a sort of I guess back and forth there. But separately, Nick, since the news of the G.Q. interview broke, we've actually heard nothing from Phil Robertson until now. What is he saying?

VALENCIA: Well, he's broken his silence. This past weekend, he led a bible study in his hometown of West Monroe, Louisiana. And the British tabloid, "The Daily Mail," was there to listen in on it. And, you know, Phil Robertson, was defiant. He's not backing down from his comments. He said he's a lover, not a hater of humanity. And this is what he had to say. He said. I'm just reading what was written over 2,000 years ago, he's talking about the "Bible." Those of us who live -- those who live, I should say, will not inherent the kingdom. All I did was quote -- all I did was quote from scriptures but they just didn't know it. Whether I said it or they read it, what's the difference? The sins are the same. Humans haven't changed. And "The Daily Mail" is actually reporting not only people are supporting him but they're actually thanking him for saying these comments, very controversial comments about race and homosexuality, as you know.

KEILAR: And, Nick, also several politicians have expressed their support for the family. The Louisiana lieutenant governor is also speaking out?

VALENCIA: Yes, despite this nationwide controversy, right, there's a lot of vocal support, specifically in Louisiana where the show is filmed. The lieutenant governor is the latest to interject himself into the middle of this controversy saying that criticizing A & E, in fact, because he's saying they're jeopardizing the state's tourism. That "Duck Dynasty" draws a lot of people into the state and a lot of people watch the show and want to see where the show is filmed. So, by suspending the patriarch of the show, it's really cutting into money and that's what this is really all about. This really comes down to money, Brianna. As I mentioned, $400 million estimated merchandising base and lots of viewers on the show. Lots of people, you know, I'm sure that watch CNN might watch this show as well. So, despite his controversial comments, is he getting some support in Louisiana and beyond -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Nick Valencia for us on that. Thank you.

VALENCIA: You bet.

KEILAR: Well, holiday shoppers at a Massachusetts Wal-Mart got an amazing deal Friday but not from the store. Singer, Beyonce Knowles, handed out thousands of dollars' worth of gift cards. But was the giveaway a veiled jab at retailers refusing to stock her new album?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Now we are learning more today about the U.S. military's potential plans for possible military involvement in the conflict in South Sudan. The violence there is prompting the U.S. and other countries to evacuate their citizens. Over the weekend, four U.S. troops were wounded when their aircraft came under intense fire from the ground. It's not clear who the attackers were. The oil-rich country has numerous armed groups fighting for power. Barbara Starr has been following this story. She is at the Pentagon for us.

So, Barbara, what is the military planning to do in light of this incident?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, there have been some developments today, mainly that the U.S. is going to send about 150 Marines from their base in the Mediterranean to a nearby country in Africa, the nation of Djibouti, and they will be there ready to move in to the South Sudan if the violence gross worse and there is a decision to either fully evacuate the American embassy or send security forces to reinforce it and protect it.

The violence literally spinning out of control, as you see thousands of South Sudanese trying to seek refuge in U.N. camps. The fighting growing more fierce. There are about 100 American personnel at the U.S. embassy. So after what happened over the weekend with the four troops getting hurt, they want to take no chances. So there will be this heavily armed Marine Corps force in next door Djibouti ready to move if ordered.

This is just one of the latest indications of how serious the U.S. believes the violence is and how out of control they are worried it may grow.

Brianna.

KEILAR: And, Barbara, it's not clear who these attackers were on this incident over the weekend. Do we have any more information about it?

STARR: We do. What we do know now is the four troops that were hurt were all U.S. Navy SEALs. They had gone on this mission to try and evacuate Americans and they were going to provide security as the Americans moved to the aircraft to be flown out of this very particular troubled region that they were going into. They all were shot from the ground while they were sitting in their aircraft flying in, shot in the legs and the thighs. So what we understand from that is these bullets came up through the bottom of the aircraft.

I mean this is extraordinary. All three aircraft full of bullet holes, four troops wounded. What we now know is one of the Navy SEALs seriously wounded, bleeding out, if you will. And they were all able to fly 500 miles with the wounded full of bullet holes back to the nearest safe landing zone in Uganda. This was a very tense situation, we understand, as these aircraft landed and they tried to get help to the wounded SEALs as fast as they could.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, you can only imagine. Barbara Starr continuing to follow this story. Thank you.

Well, there were no hugs or handshakes for Dennis Rodman this time from the North Korean leader. The former basketball star wrapped up his third trip to the reclusive country without meeting with Kim Jong- un. Rodman arrived at Beijing International Airport on his way home. He's been training the North Korean national basketball team and is trying to schedule the team in an exhibition game with former NBA players on Kim Jong-un's birthday next month. Rodman says he'll see the North Korean leader that he calls his friend for life, his words, when he returns.

Now, in Russia, two members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot are free. Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were released two months before their prison sentences were due to end. If you remember, they were jailed for using a revered Russian cathedral as a protest site. The video there. Their target, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their release was part of a sweeping new amnesty law. NASA says a second emergency spacewalk is set for tomorrow night, Christmas Eve. Astronauts will try to finish work on a broken cooling pump on the International Space Station because without it some of the station's important electronics have been shut down. The second spacewalk was originally scheduled for today, but that was delayed because of a damaged space suit. Alexandra Field has more for us here.

This is fascinating, Alexandra, and certainly not how these astronauts thought they would be spending Christmas Eve.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly not. A very memorable Christmas Eve for them. Something most of us can't even imagine.

The issue we're talking about that delayed this space walk is a problem with the space suit's cooling system. You'll hear one of the astronauts in the video coming up saying that he feels cold. NASA says that he was never in any danger. There was no harm that could have been caused by this issue with the suit. Still, they want to swap suits before the astronauts head back out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want you to verify there are no rets (ph) exposed, correct?

FIELD (voice-over): NASA astronauts on a mission to make repairs at the International Space Station spent five and a half hours Saturday on a high stakes spacewalk and will do it again Christmas Eve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Napper (ph) and we're good with that.

FIELD: If you thought your holidays had high drama, it doesn't compare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if guys believe in miracles, but I got the hitch pin (ph) on the first try.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that's awesome, Rick.

CHRIS HADFIELD, RETIRED ASTRONAUT: You know it's sort of like a really complex ballet with only two performers.

FIELD: The astronauts, Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, have already successfully removed a faulty pump that's needed to cool equipment on the Space Station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice work, Rick.

FIELD: A new pump was supposed to be installed today, but will now be delayed until tomorrow after a potential problem with Mastracchio's space suit was discovered Saturday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Houston, the only issue that I personally am having here, it's very, very cold.

HADFIELD: One of the suits showed maybe a sign that it got a little water into the evaporator on the back, on the flash evaporator, which cools the suit when you're outside.

FIELD: NASA says the astronaut wasn't in danger and that the issue with the space suit isn't related to what happened in July. That's when Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano nearly drowned after water leaked into his helmet, a reminder of the dangerous nature of the work being done 220 miles above earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, ACTOR, "GRAVITY": Astronaut is off structure. (INAUDIBLE). She's off structure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, ACTRESS, "GRAVITY": What do I do? What do I do?

FIELD: The recent hit movie "Gravity" puts a highly dramatized science fiction spin on the risks of space work, risks every astronaut on every mission understands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The movie "Gravity" is a good move, but you probably don't want to watch that when you're in space.

FIELD: Maybe not. Mastracchio will have a new space suit ready to wear when he and Hopkins head back out Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're welcome. Thank you. Good job.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: And it's worth noting that these space suits are 35 years old. NASA only has 12 space suits that are used for space walks. The crew up there has a spare suit with them right now. That spare suit is being customized and refitted so that Mastracchio can head out in it tomorrow, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, that is some - that is scary stuff, Alexandra. So let's talk about the part that they're trying to fix tomorrow. Is NASA pretty confident that they can, you know, fix the problem?

FIELD: Well, you know, we have no indication that they would send these astronauts out if they were anything less than confident in the quality of suit that they are swapping to. And again, they have said that the previous suit that was worn on Saturday didn't put the astronaut in harm's way. But again, this is something you want to be really certain about. So they are going to swap to that spare suit.

We also know that since the incident back in July, NASA has also taken some steps to just insure the astronauts' safety once again. Those steps include putting pads in the back of the astronaut's helmets that way the astronauts can tip their heads back, they can see if there's any moisture coming into the helmets. The astronauts did not report feeling any moisture in their helmets on Saturday. The astronauts now also have snorkels they can use if water did get into those helmets.

Brianna. KEILAR: Snorkels. I mean who would have thought. And, so, Alexandra, it's sort of an interesting time for the International Space Station in the post shuttle era. What's really next for the ISS?

FIELD: Well, Brianna, right now we know that this space walk, an important spacewalk, which was designed to replace this faulty pump, it was supposed to include three different space walks. It looks like they'll be able to get it done in two. We know that the U.S. sent up a bunch of spare parts given the ramping down of the shuttle system. They had to send up these spare parts because you can't just send them parts up now when need. So the pump was there. The pump will be replaced and then the work can go on.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Awesome. Good to know they were prepared. Alexandra, thanks so much.

And there's a change to the health care deadline. We've been talking a little bit about it today. The government giving a little more time for people to sign up. Our Mark Preston will take a look at why, next.

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