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Target Sued Over Hacking; 'Duck Dynasty' Controversy; Dennis Rodman Returns From North Korea

Aired December 23, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we roll on. Hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We begin with this story. This Stanford doctor could have the last word over whether Jahi McMatt lives or dies because this court appointed Dr. Paul Fisher to look at the 13-year-old from Oakland and decide if she was truly brain dead. Her family and her supporters marched today in Oakland, demanding a hospital keep her on this ventilator.

Jahi was declared brain dead back on December 12th. Three days after a tonsillectomy. The hospital says there is no chance of recovery, but her family insists anything is possible.

Stephanie Elam is covering this one for us today. And she joins me now.

And, so, Stephanie, I mean, as far as the timeline goes, if this doctor confirms that Jahi is brain-dead, which two other doctors have already done, when will the hospital ultimately make this decision and remove her from the ventilator?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke.

This decision really at this point rests with this judge that did grant this family the court order to have this independent review. We now know that it will be this pediatric neurologist from Stanford University. Once the review comes in from the doctor, then the judge will decide. The two other doctors that reviewed Jahi previously, those were both doctors from the children's hospital.

The family really wanted this independent review, but they have indicated that if this does not go the way they would like, that they will look to try to find another place to keep Jahi on the ventilator someplace else. Do we know what going to happen there? No, we don't. But right now, we're still hearing the ending of this hearing that was wrapping up today about this doctor being appointed. That is the unknown question as we head towards Christmas, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And speaking of Christmas, I mean, I had heard, I had read that this family specifically wanted to keep their daughter on this ventilator at least through Christmas Day. Do we know if that, at least, will be honored?

ELAM: We don't. I do think it would probably be a difficult one to argue, to take her off on, say, Christmas Day, if in fact the judge comes back with the findings from this other doctor tomorrow. That's Christmas Eve.

They -- the family wanted room for a Christmas miracle here. This is something that they were asking for. They believe that Jahi is still maybe trapped in her body, that she is still alive despite what the doctors were saying. They want to give chance for her to come back. They're saying that the body is warm to touch. They're saying that she responds to touch from her mother, from other people around there, while at the same time, the hospital is saying that they do not want to give into the idea of false hope here.

So when you look at this entire context of what's happening now in this case, Brooke, it really does come down to the family's faith vs. what the hospital calls false hope.

BALDWIN: We know that the family has asked this Alameda County prosecutor to investigate. What about potential -- just looking down the road, Stephanie, potential criminal charges, a civil case? Has the family said anything?

ELAM: We have to keep in mind that we have not heard from the hospital exactly what went on here. We only know some details through the family. The hospital says they are not able to speak further about this because the family has not permitted them to do just that.

So, with all of this in mind, we can only go off what we heard from the family. The hospital says, yes, that the case is being investigated by the state. They're looking into it to find out how such a catastrophic event could take place.

Looking into the future, do I think that will all end tomorrow? Based on what we have seen so far, the family does have a lawyer that has been representing them and pushing forward their efforts in this case. I would not be surprised if we do not see this case going on further.

BALDWIN: OK, Stephanie Elam, thank you very much.

And let me flag you to this. Jahi's mother will be live today on "THE LEAD." That is coming up next 4:00 Eastern. So, definitely stay tuned for that.

We have gotten word today from the White House that the president has signed up for Obamacare, but we have also gotten this slight clarification here. We were asking about this, the fact that he did not enroll through a Web site. The White House is saying, him being the president, that they had to take some extra precautions, so the sign-up was done in person.

The first lady, you see her with her husband, the president, at a Hawaii basketball game last night, first lady and kids staying on the president's government plan. He is doing Obamacare out of solidarity, says the White House.

And Mark Preston joins me now from Washington.

He's our CNN political director. And so, Mark, first, just backing up and talking about the way in which the president or really others helped the president sign up for Obamacare, let's talk about the optics.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Sure. It's all about symbolism. It's all about symbolism, right, Brooke?

Look, he signed up for a plan through the D.C. exchange. We have heard from the White House that in fact he's going to pay the premium and he's not going to use the coverage, because, as the president of the United States, he gets his health care through the military. Whenever he travels, he is followed by a doctor and an ambulance everywhere he goes.

But the symbolism of it is at a time when the White House is trying to get Americans to sign up, is big because imagine if he had not signed up and the criticism that he would have gotten had he not done so.

BALDWIN: Polling, Mark Preston. You have been looking at a lot of polls, we have been looking at a lot of polls. There was one today that said basically that if the president thinks Obamacare headaches are behind him, then he has another thought coming.

PRESTON: He does.

And I have got to tell you, he's probably happy he's in Hawaii. He's away from Obamacare in some respects. But we do have a new CNN/ORC International poll that shows support for the health care law is plummeting.

In fact, look at these numbers right here, Border Patrol. It's an all-time low right now; 62 percent of Americans right now oppose the health care law. And just to break this down a little bit, a couple key points, the first point is, is that he is losing it because of the increase, that people think it's going to cost them more money. It's going to hit them in their pocketbooks.

Look at that -- 63 percent of Americans think it's going to cost them more money. Now, a couple of key demographic groups that are really hurting the president when it comes to this are women.

BALDWIN: Women.

PRESTON: We also saw in the poll dropped six points in the last month among support among women for health care, and in fact, just last week, we saw Michelle Obama, President Obama, invite mothers to the White House to talk about health care.

We also saw Organizing for America put out a Web video in essence trying to encourage their parents to encourage their kids to get the health care coverage. So he has a lot of work to do right now, Brooke.

Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Are they willing to basically come to the realization this is all America's willing to pay and this is what they're wanting for what they pay and are they getting the best product? Don't say this is what you have got to buy whether you like it or not and you're going to pay more even if you didn't think you were. I think that's where we are.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Otherwise, do you think it falls of its own weight?

MANCHIN: Oh, it falls of its own weight. And basically the cost becomes more than we can absorb, absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: Brooke, it's not only that he's losing support from Americans for the health care law. He's losing support of Democrats on Capitol Hill.

He's heading into the final few years of his presidency right now. When you have Democrats right now openly questioning whether or not you can put the health care law into action, that's really problematic, not only for the president when it comes to health care, but also the rest of his political agenda and policy agenda moving forward.

BALDWIN: I know people are wondering how this will affect the M-word, midterms. We shall see, Mark Preston. Thank you very much. Happy holidays to you, my friend, in Washington.

And now to this. Some 100 American civilians trying to get out of South Sudan. This is a country on the brink of civil war, and right now, a group of Marines are on standby, waiting for orders to get in there to rescue these Americans, this after U.S. military aircraft came under heavy fire this weekend as they tried to get in there and rescue this group of Americans.

Four Navy SEALs were hurt in that attack. President Obama saying the U.S. really has no choice but to get more troops involved.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is at the United Nations for us today in New York.

Fred, what are you learning about the possible U.S. Marine mission?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's certainly something that's being ramped up.

Brooke, one of the things that's happened really over the past 24 hours is that these Marines have been called from a base in Spain and moved into Djibouti, which is, of course, in Africa, just to be very close to where things are unfolding at this point in time and to be able to get in there as fast as possible.

One of the reasons why they're there and the main reason is to protect U.S. individuals and U.S. assets on the ground in South Sudan, especially the U.S. Embassy in Juba. The U.S. has already moved a couple dozen soldiers into that area in the past couple days to help protect the embassy, but they do believe that more might be necessary. So, it is something where the whole situation is very volatile, and the U.S. really wants to be sure that it can protect its assets on the ground there, especially if more U.S. citizens need to leave the country as fast as possible -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: On the embassy in Juba, what kind of threat is it under right now, Fred?

PLEITGEN: It's difficult to say, but the situation certainly is very volatile.

Right now, what you have going on in that country is you have fighting that's going on in the center of the country and the north of the country, especially in the oil-rich areas. But keep in mind the conflict that is going on right now, this sort of conflict that is spiraling more to more to being an ethnic conflict started in the capital of Juba when parts of the presidential guard revolted against other parts of presidential guard and there was fighting in the streets.

It's certainly where at the moment in the capital, it might not be that bad, but it can spiral out of control at any moment. So, it's certainly a very important precautionary measure, Brooke.

BALDWIN: A U.S. envoy to South Sudan just talked to the president. Do we know what came out of the talk?

PRESTON: Yes. Donald Booth went and spoke to the South Sudanese president, Kiir, and he said the most important thing he took out of this was that the president is willing to talk to the main rebel leader, Machar, who is somewhere in the country. Nobody really knows where he is, but he certainly does have a lot of military assets, rebel groups under his control, especially in the north of the country.

He said that as soon as the opposition is willing, he is willing to talk to them. When that's going to happen, whether or not those talks are going to be fruitful, is really something that is not clear, but the U.S. special envoy has said the talks are very frank. He made very, very clear these two sides have to come to some sort of agreement, Brooke, because this country is a very young country, it's a very volatile country.

It's seen ethnic divisions in the past. There have been massacres in the past. And the situation there can get out of control very, very quickly and it's also in a neighborhood of countries that have been very unstable in the past, one of them being the Central African Republic, which has seen almost civil war-like action in the past couple weeks as well -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Fred Pleitgen, we know you will be watching it, Fred, for us in New York. Thank you.

Here at home, 40 million accounts hacked. Target shoppers telling some of its shoppers, I should say, at the store to watch your bank accounts and your statements very, very closely. And now some of those victims are saying Target should be held accountable. Do they have a case? We will ask that question next.

Plus, never thought I would be saying this. Al Qaeda says, I'm sorry. We will tell you why the terrorist group is apologizing for one of its recent attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Shoppers at one of the nation's largest big box retailers are suing the store. I'm talking about customers at Target whose credit and debit cards were compromised by hackers and now at least three lawsuits have been field against the store. Now add this layer.

Target shoppers who bank at Chase now have spending limits imposed on their cards and ATM withdrawals. Chase says it's to protect its customers from against further fraud.

Let's bring in CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos, who is "On the Case" with us today.

I'm wondering if this is three suits going on, 333, given all these victims here. Do you think these lawsuits will move forward?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, definitely. I think we will see more.

What you're seeing right now in class action land is a race to the courthouse. Each of these cases wants to be the first one and first in time so they can secure their place in line. But this will definitely be -- this is a perfect class action, all the individuals have very similar claims, although the dollar amounts may be different. I would look for this to get certified.

This is a good case, as class action lawyers say.

BALDWIN: What specifically are they looking for? What's their argument?

CEVALLOS: Their argument is going to be straight negligence to start with. When they gave that credit card information to Target, Target was entrusted with the care of that data, and clearly did not do what it was supposed to do.

Now, Target's CEO has issued a statement saying, hey, it's OK to shop at Target. We figured out the problem. We just won't tell you what the problem is right now. So I think a lot of attorneys and a lot of consumers are very curious as to what exactly the mistake was.

BALDWIN: You mentioned the CEO. We know that Target announced they're working with U.S. Secret Service. They're working with the DOJ on investigating this data breach. And where does Target go from here?

CEVALLOS: Well, Target has to take a look at their security measures. They're working with the Secret Service because the Secret Service, most people don't know, are in charge of the currency, the same people that investigate counterfeiting.

But Target has to go forward and reevaluate its security procedures, its protocol, and evaluate if they don't already know what happened, once they find out what did happen, then they need to fix it. But in the meantime, the rest of us are stuck with $100 spending limits if you're at a particular bank over the holidays.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: People who are waiting especially last-minute to buy those holiday gifts, they're going to the ATM are and saying ruh-roh, right?

(CROSSTALK)

CEVALLOS: That's me. Just came from there. Absolutely. Ruh-roh, ruh-roh, indeed. Absolutely. So, frankly, I'm not even done. Let's be candid.

Ultimately, ultimately, they're going to have to figure out a way to safeguard this data, but the loser in this is the consumer. The consumer is going to be hit with spending limits. They may have their credit damaged because of this oversight. And a 10 percent discount at Target is probably not going to make them feel much better. That's what Target has offered.

BALDWIN: And, Danny Cevallos, you just outed yourself to all your friends and family, basically saying you started your Christmas shopping. Nice work there, my friend. Nice work. Actually, I just started the other day myself. No, no shame in that. Danny Cevallos, thank you very much. Happy holidays to you. Good luck with the shopping and getting the money to shop.

Meantime, Dennis Rodman, he has left the building, or at least he has now left North Korea, but he is planning to go back soon. So why does the former NBA star seem to like it there so much? Our next guest will shed some light on a few of the perks, as they were, that Rodman might be enjoying in the hermit kingdom.

Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The start of winter rolled in with a powerful and deadly punch. At least 10 people were killed from flooding and tornadoes that hit parts of Kentucky and Mississippi. When you look around other parts of the country, there was massive snow and ice storms and even record-breaking warm temperatures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He couldn't control his car. And then the other one came down, too. That's why that one is facing up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came outside and everything was covered with ice, about a half-inch. Went to clean off the car, and that was a fun task. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were sitting in there for our afternoon snack, just sitting there. Wind came up and just it went everywhere. No clothes. The Christmas gifts were demolished. Everything is gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does not take very much water to cause issues when you're driving through it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, there it goes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't be standing there, guys, if I were you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to go back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It truly is a catastrophic ice storm that we have had here, probably one of the worst we have ever had.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I brought boots to walk through snow. I have a heavy parka, and I was so warm yesterday that I had to buy a T-shirt so that I could come out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The weather's great. It's fantastic, but it doesn't feel like Christmas. It's actually kind of like a global warming Christmas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That's a hat. She's feeling very springlike. Sorry, I couldn't help it. Right?

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: And in fighting for a second chance at life, she gave one to millions of other children. Remember the story of Sarah Murnaghan? We followed her story this year for you, when the little girl fought to get a new set of lungs. We have an update for you today on her condition.

Plus, a popular restaurant chain reverses its stance on the controversial comments made by the "Duck Dynasty" patriarch. And a Georgia sheriff is coming out in support of that reality TV star.

All of that next here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back, just about the bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Al Qaeda leaders, they say a lot of things. But sorry is usually not one of them, until now. Look at this. This is a military hospital in Yemen. And earlier this month, this military compound where the hospital sits was attacked, 52 people killed, as militants rammed the building with an explosives-laden vehicle. Gunmen stormed the compound, but now this video, this is the head of AQAP. This is al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula apologizing.

There is a caveat to that apology, though. The militants were directed to carry out the deadly attack on the compound, but were told to steer clear of the hospital. And, apparently, they didn't get the message.

CNN has now learned that the exhibition basketball game planned by Dennis Rodman in North Korea could be in jeopardy. I want you to just hold on to that thought for me for a second, because let's first listen at Dennis Rodman arriving back in China yesterday from his latest trip to the North Korean dictatorship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How was your trip?

DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NBA BASKETBALL PLAYER: It was actually awesome. It was actually awesome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Awesome.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How awesome was it?

RODMAN: I will be coming back in about a week.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- meet Kim Jong-un?

RODMAN: No, but I'm not worried about it. I will see him again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see your friends?

RODMAN: Huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see your friends?

RODMAN: It was great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, my goodness. Look at those reporters fighting to get that microphone and question Dennis Rodman.

If you just heard the tail end of that Q&A, you heard him say he did not meet with dictator Kim Jong-un. As you probably know by now, the 6'7'' Rodman has become strange bedfellows with 5'5'' Kim. Rodman is supposedly training this North Korean basketball team to take on a squad of unnamed Americans.

OK? With that, joining me from Washington, Josh Rogin of The Daily Beast. Josh, nice to see you. You know, everyone's out there asking what the heck is Dennis Rodman up to, hanging out with lil' Kim, the lil' dictator. Forgive me. What do you think about that?

JOSH ROGIN, "NEWSWEEK"/DAILY BEAST: Well, I wasn't there, but according to --

BALDWIN: You weren't?

ROGIN: -- according to intelligence sources and experts and by Rodman's own personal account on his previous trip to North Korea in September, he was treated to a level of hospitality that regular officials and visitors can't even imagine.

BALDWIN: Be specific.

ROGIN: Rodman talked about a seven-day trip to what he called pleasure island, a private island that only Kim Jong-un lives in, which is full of caviar, top-shelf booze, jet skis, private yachts, hangers-on, and just everything that money could buy.

One insider source reported to me that Kim Jong-un provided Rodman with "special entertainment of the female persuasion."

There's a body of evidence to show that Rodman's interest lies beyond just his basketball diplomacy and his love of Kim Jong-un.

BALDWIN: You mean he's not there just to do basketball? Let me show you my shocked face, Josh.

Let me ask you this, though, because we can report that the Irish online service that sponsored Rodman's trip actually may be pulling out of this whole basketball exhibition. A., have you heard that from folks you're talking to? And if it's true, is this the end of the game for Dennis Rodman?

ROGIN: Right.

I can't independently confirm that, but what we know is that this is what North Korea does. They run these staged media events for the purposes of propaganda in order to distract the world from the fact that they're a murderous criminal organization engaged in killing thousands of people in concentration camps and threatening the world with nuclear weapons.

BALDWIN: Yes.