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Urgent, Dangerous Space Walk Underway; Target Shopping Sales Down; Obamacare Deadline Extended; NSA Leaker Snowden: Mission Accomplished; Pope's First Christmas on the Job
Aired December 24, 2013 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with me.
Right now more than 200 miles above the earth, two American astronauts are floating in space. They're performing emergency repairs on the International Space Station. In just a second Christmas eve space walk in NASA's history. That mission, both challenging and dangerous, got under way less than two hours ago.
CNN's Alina Machado has been following it all.
So tell us. What are they doing up there now?
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, what a way to spend Christmas eve, right? Doing a space walk. It is fascinating to see these two astronauts at work. And if everything goes as planned today they'll be able to wrap everything up and celebrate Christmas back inside the International Space Station.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Copy that.
MACHADO (voice-over): A few minutes ahead of schedule, NASA started another space walk to support the orbiting International Space Station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rick Mastracchio, retrieving failure of an internal flow control valve.
MACHADO: Two American astronauts are venturing out. Their mission? To replace a pump needed to cool the vessel.
RICK MASTRACCHIO, ASTRONAUT: I don't know if you guys believe in miracles, but I got the hitch pin on the first try.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's awesome, Rick.
MACHADO: Over the weekend, astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins removed the faulty cooling pump which is the size of a refrigerator. They now must install the new one. Their task is a delicate one. The equipment contains a noxious cooling fluid -- ammonia. CHRIS HADFIELD, ASTRONAUT: Some of the danger is hooking up the big heavy ammonia lines. They are really thick and massive. And hooking those up, of course, if you were to leak ammonia, it's not a very pleasant chemical. You couldn't bring it inside. So there's definite risk out there.
MACHADO: Mastracchio will be wearing a newly tailored space suit on today's mission, a replacement after a cooling issue with his previous suit during the last walk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hit the nailing issue of the (INAUDIBLE) it's very, very cold. I've got very, very good air flow in my boots but my toes are quite cold.
MACHADO: NASA says there was never any danger to the astronauts after five hours of meticulous work from Mastracchio and Hopkins on Saturday day one of the space walk is being called a success.
MASTRACCHIO: I think I'm ready to leave this work site.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Copy that, Rick.
MACHADO: NASA hopes by Christmas all the work will be done, leaving the astronauts to celebrate safely back on the space station.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACHADO: And this is a live look at mission control from NASA. Obviously today is a big day here.
And you mentioned, Carol, this is only the second time ever we've had a space walk on Christmas eve. The first one happened 14 years ago when two Discovery astronauts spent eight hours working on the Hubble Space Telescope.
Can you imagine?
COSTELLO: No. I would never have the patience.
MACHADO: It's meticulous and precise and those conditions, they've got to be real tough.
COSTELLO: And you could die, right?
MACHADO: Very dangerous. Very, very dangerous.
COSTELLO: But at least day one went well and hopefully day two will go just as well.
MACHADO: We're rooting for them.
COSTELLO: We are.
Alina Machado, thanks so much.
Get ready to shop. At least that's what retailers hope you're doing on this day before Christmas. According to Shoppertrack, foot traffic is down a whopping 21 percent. Stores are slashing prices as a -- as a result to get you back inside the stores and that includes Target. The discount prices may not help Target this time.
Customers who were victims of -- victims of Target's credit card hacker are not happy. The retail giant released these pictures of their executive committee meeting. It is working around the clock until, quote, "every guest need is met."
Alison Kosik is in New York to talk more about Target and its woes.
Good morning.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. So, yes, you talked about even overall sales this holiday shopping season. You know, they haven't been red hot for retailers. That includes Target. And that's as we head into this last shopping day before Christmas. So if you take that, and you roll it into the lawsuits and the reports that filled an account information from Target is hitting the underground market. Talking about your stolen financial data.
You know, Target really has its hands full. So here's the latest on what's happening with this. Customers who shopped at Target in California, Oregon, and Rhode Island, they have filed what they hope will be a class action lawsuit alleging that target was negligent and did not protect their card information. More suits are expected to follow.
Now Target's top lawyer Monday, as you pointed out there, held a 30- minute call with several attorneys general to discuss details of the 40 million credit and debit cards that were breached. Target also confirmed that it's partnering with the Secret Service to investigate the Malware that apparently hit its point of sale terminals.
And then we haven't even touched on the perception that Target has now. You know, the way consumers see the retailer. You know, the retailer has taken a big hit. That's according to Brand Index. This is a company which actually measures perception through customer surveys. And what this company is saying that Target's perception scores have actually dropped to their lowest level since 2007, Carol. So you're seeing a lot of customers really spooked about going into a Target and spending their money. At least using plastic to do so -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Not a merry Christmas for Target. I don't think their sales are going to be up this year. Right?
KOSIK: No --
COSTELLO: No.
KOSIK: Not expected. No, no.
COSTELLO: All right. Alison, thank you so much.
Despite sluggish retail sales, Santa has plenty of work to do. He is already in the air. And I'm happy to tell you Santa was able to cut through all that red tape. The USDA granted his reindeer access to American air space. So, yay. So here is Santa. He's over Japan. He's already delivered more than one billion gifts.
But what about you?
Indra Petersons is in New York. So, Indra, if you don't have flying reindeer, will it be tough out there?
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know what, this is the one time I actually have some good news. The hardest weather we've had to deal with, right? Yes. It was over the weekend. You can actually see the remnants of the storm that caused all that trouble for everyone that tried to leave early is now making its way offshore. So yay for the procrastinators or those of you who couldn't get off work until late today.
Definitely better conditions out there. Little bit of a wave over the lakes and then an Alberta Clipper, fast-moving system today is going to be moving through. But this is the good stuff, this is what's going to bring the people the white Christmas.
They'll talk with that first little wave, you couldn't see as well. Maybe some snow. Maybe off with the lakes here. And a good amount just south of Buffalo. You could see as much as six inches. But overall not the big system. But it's enough.
In New York City, we're just crossing our fingers we may get a little bit of dusting of snow today and overnight. We're watching for that. As far as the bigger one, what most people are going to be looking at, here's the clipper. We're watching it right now. Kind of making its way. Notice midnight mass, East Coast time, if you're making your way in towards midnight mass in Chicago, maybe Minneapolis, you're going to be seeing some snow at the best time tonight.
Then there's tomorrow morning, also another great time. Actually the snow coming down, trying to open presents. Look at this. Still looking at Indiana and still, in through Michigan, seeing some of that snow. But the system not a biggie. Quickly dissipating. Moving out of here. And now let's talk about how much you could see. Good two to four inches for the second system. So that's who is getting the white Christmas for the good side of this. Not really a big troublemaker for many people.
So, finally, yay, I'm smiling. Merry Christmas, everybody else.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Absolutely. Right back at you. Thank you so much, Indra.
PETERSONS: Sure.
COSTELLO: This morning we're learning more about one critical item on President Obama's to do list this holiday season. That would be to sign up for Obamacare. The president joined the more than one million Americans now enrolled and it comes as a key deadline for obtaining coverage is extended quietly.
So let's bring in Athena Jones, she's traveling with the president during his Christmas vacation.
Good morning. Tell us more.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, health officials say that Monday was a record day for healthcare.gov. More than one million visitors to the site, this as people all across the country were scrambling to sign up for coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONES (voice-over): Millions of Americans got another day to get insurance coverage that starts January 1st. The cutoff was Monday. But officials now say you have until midnight today, Christmas eve, to pick a plan. It's a welcomed delay for Carla Johnson, who's helping people sign up through healthcare.gov.
CARLA JOHNSON: So that's great for the consumers. Consumers have somewhat of an early Christmas gift for them. You know, so I'm excited that, you know, the powers that be made this possible for more enrollment.
JONES: Some states and insurance companies have also extended the deadline for coverage starting in January to give people more time to pick a plan. The federal exchange healthcare.gov saw more than 1.2 million visitors over the weekend. A last-minute surge in interest.
In California alone, 77,000 people signed up over the weekend. In Washington, David Rosenburg starts a new job late next month but needs insurance until then.
DAVID ROSENBURG, STARTING NEW JOB: Current coverage ends on January 1st. And I'm covered through the end of this year. That's when it ends. And my next coverage doesn't start until January 20th.
JONES: Joining the crowd, President Obama, whose staff signed him up for a plan on Washington, D.C.'s exchange. But his $400 a month plan is purely symbolic. The military provides his care.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president felt strongly that he wanted to demonstrate his support for the marketplaces and for the millions of Americans who shopped on those marketplaces.
JONES: The president sounded a positive note Friday about the overall pace of enrollment so far.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Since October 1st more than one million Americans have selected new health insurance plans through the federal and the state marketplaces.
JONES: Still enrollment is far short of the 3.3 million the government expected by this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE) JONES: And with visits to healthcare.gov hitting more than 2.2 million over the past three days, you can bet officials are going to be closely watching the numbers again today -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.
I just got an update about Santa. He is -- that's not Santa. That's Edward Snowden. A Santa of a different kind, if you will. The real Santa is over South Korea.
Anyway, still to come in the NEWSROOM, that American exile on the run. He is talking again to a reporter. And that reporter has unearthed some interesting things. In fact, Edward Snowden is saying he has already won. We'll tell you more after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 13 minutes past the hour. New pictures this morning of the space walk that's going on right now at the International Space Station. These pictures are being taken from one of the astronauts helmets, that would be Mike Hopkins -- Michael Hopkins. He's from Missouri, just in case you were wondering.
But right now the astronauts are working to put in a new pump on the cooling system on the International Space Station. On Saturday they spent, what, six or seven hours removing a faulty ammonia pump on one of the cooling units. Today they're going to install a new pump that also will take hours and hours, painstaking work. It looks beautiful in space, doesn't it? And you hope everything goes OK so they don't have to do another space walk on Christmas day.
About 150 U.S. Marines are assembled just outside south Sudan's border, ready to evacuate the last Americans from that troubled African country. Some 100 citizens are believed to be there as the country inches towards civil war. Over the weekend four Navy SEALs were wounded when their rescue mission came under intense gunfire.
Russia is making some big PR moves ahead of the winter Olympics including releasing prisoners and several high-profile cases. And the famous arctic 30 environmental activists jailed for protesting on an oil platform have a breakthrough today. Russia has dropped one of its cases and possibly more. Most of the activists were released last month but still face charges.
A bankrupt pharmacy has agreed to $100 million settlement for victims of a nationwide meningitis outbreak. At least 64 deaths and 700 illnesses were linked to steroid injections distributed by New England Compounding Center. The owners deny any liability or wrongdoing but say they want to play a major role in establishing a fund for those who have suffered or died.
He's a man without a country but Edward Snowden seems to have no regrets about his bombshell revelations on the National Security Agency, the NSA, and the secret surveillance of Americans and allies alike. The former NSA contractor fled the United States and espionage charges back in May and now lives under asylum in Russia. Yet, today, he is claiming victory.
In an expensive interview with "The Washington Post," Snowden says, quote, "For me in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission is already accomplished. I already won.
Barton Gellman is the reporter who conducted more than 14 hours of interviews with Snowden. He joins us now from Washington.
Good morning.
BARTON GELLMAN, THE WASHINGTON POST: Good morning.
COSTELLO: So, this must have been a fascinating conversation. I read your article. Snowden describes himself as an indoor cat, rarely venturing outside. What is his life like in Moscow, before we get to the other stuff?
GELLMAN: Well, he doesn't talk a whole lot about his life or any personal questions. I have the strong sense that he is not in this sort of confinement that some people imagined. Even in Hawaii, he spent a lot of time indoors. He is a guy that spends a lot of time on the screen. He doesn't have a lot of needs. He sort of eats ramen and chips and is deeply interested in promoting his cause now, which means communicating on the web.
COSTELLO: Interesting. You know, the former NSA and CIA director, Michael Hayden, said Snowden will waste away in Moscow and turn into an alcoholic like every other defector.
You asked Snowden about that. What did he say?
GELLMAN: Well, as a matter of fact, he doesn't drink, never has at all.
And defector, there's no evidence for it. There is -- there is literally zero evidence that he has shifted his loyalty to another country or is cooperating with the government of Russia. He said that if he has defected at all, it was from his government to its people. He wanted to bring information to public attention that would allow Americans to decide whether they're comfortable with what their government is doing.
COSTELLO: So, OK. We'll go back to the matter at hand now since we turned the corner. And I appreciate that.
So, he said mission accomplished. What does he mean by that? He says he has already won.
GELLMAN: You know, it wasn't actually gloating. I was asking him, you had a purpose. You brought forth documents into the public record. You knew what you wanted to accomplish with that. Have you done it?
What he means by mission accomplished is he wanted the public to know what was being done in its name and what was being done to it in terms of surveillance. And he wanted it to be possible that decisions be made outside the secret bubble that they had been made since 9/11.
He has had a great deal of public attention because many of his concerns have been validated by, for example, a federal judge, by the president's own study commission. He believes he has launched the public debate that he wanted.
COSTELLO: Interesting. Interestingly enough, too, he told you he never wanted to hurt the NSA, but actually is trying to help it and in your actually, you quote him as saying, "I am still working for the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don't realize it."
Not many Americans --
GELLMAN: I imagine -- yes, I was going to say that I imagine that they don't appreciate that quote. But he is -- what he is affirming is that he is loyal to his own government and even to its own ability to defend the country, provided it stays within limits set by the public.
COSTELLO: Interesting. So, does he believe he will ever leave Russia, or is he comfortable with the fact that he may stay in that country forever?
GELLMAN: He's not answering a lot of speculative questions. But it's important to understand that he did not choose Russia. He was literally changing airplanes there. He's in Russia because the United States revoked his passport in the transit lounge. And he was therefore unable to fly out.
COSTELLO: Well, there was word, what, a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to go to Brazil. Did you ask him about actively trying to leave Russia?
GELLMAN: He has -- he has sought asylum and continues to seek asylum from a substantial number of countries. He had said from the beginning, even six months ago when he was in clandestine contact with me and two other journalists that if he has his choice, he'd be in Iceland. But when you're under pursuit by the United States on felony charges, it's hard to figure out how to get there from here.
COSTELLO: So, what's next? What might we expect next from Edward Snowden?
GELLMAN: I think he has felt strongly for a long time that he doesn't want to be the story, that his participation in the story tends to distract because he either becomes the object of attack and he wants the conversation to be about the public policy questions.
Nevertheless, I think he does very much want to see his cause advanced and I would expect that you'll be hearing from him from time to time as he sees opportunities to participate in the conversation.
COSTELLO: Barton Gellman, thanks for sharing the information.
If you want to read the article, and it's fascinating, Washingtonpost.com. Thanks so much for being with me this morning. GELLMAN: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Still come in THE NEWSROOM: seeing double? Two popes at the same time. We'll tell you what's going on?
We head live to Rome -- Erin.
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, there's excitement here in Rome. Preparations are under way in Rome for this pope's very first Christmas Eve mass. I'll have that and more after the break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. LESLIE LATIMORE-LORFILS, AFGHANISTAN: Hi. My name is Major Leslie Latimore-Lorfils, serving with the Screaming Eagles 101st Airborne Division located in Bagram, Afghanistan. I would like to wish my husband. Major Herbert Lorfils and my eight children, Avery, Latasha, Antoinette, Darius, Jessica, Krista, Elijah and Lala, a very Merry Christmas. And a wonderful happy New York, I look forward to seeing you soon. I love you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Here's something you don't see every day, two popes at the same time. Pope Francis is celebrating made a visit to his predecessor, Pope Benedict. Americans, by the way are wild about the new pope. Brand new CNN/ORC poll shows that 72 percent of Americans approve of Pope Francis and among American Catholics, the approval rate is almost 90 percent.
CNN's Erin McLaughlin live in Rome, I'm Catholic and I understand why the pope is so popular, but you tell us.
Good morning.
MCLAUGHLIN: Good morning, Carol.
Well, it is an absolutely beautiful day today in Rome. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists are here to celebrate. And they tell me this Christmas Eve is extra special. All eyes are on Pope Francis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): The Vatican is ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The tree is trimmed. The nativity scene is set to be unveiled and everyone seems excited for the pope's very first Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To feel like you're bigger part of the picture and to realize just how big the Catholic Church is at Christmastime and Pope Francis is all about.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to share this special moment with a person who is beloved person and we appreciate all he's doing.
MCLAUGHLIN: Nine months into his papacy, much has been made of the pope's reforms. More scrutiny at the Vatican bank, changes to the church's bureaucratic structure, and a commission to deal with the abuse of minors. And that's to name a few.
And while this year's Christmas liturgy remains the same, those in the know say we can expect the unexpected.
GERALD O'CONNELL, VATICAN ANALYST: He tends to be a surprise, because he does things that are normal but are very abnormal in terms of the papacy. He brought three homeless men into the place where he's living to have breakfast with him on his birthday. I suspect to see something similar over the Christmas spirit.
MCLAUGHLIN: The festivities began on Saturday with his Christmas message to the curia. Pope Francis urged the church's governing body to avoid gossip and to focus on service. Then he practiced what preached, spending three hours at a local hospital, bringing Christmas cheer to sick children.
For the first time ever on Monday, two living popes exchanged Christmas greetings. Francis met with Benedict for 45 minutes.
St. Peter's Basilica is the place to be on Christmas Eve. Pope Francis will celebrate the traditional mass. This year, there were a record number of requests to attend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really once in a lifetime, isn't it, that you're here in Rome, we happen to be here in Rome and a pope is going to say his first mass and you're going to be part of it.
MCLAUGHLIN: And then on Christmas Day, tens of thousands of pilgrims will flood St. Peter's Square to hear his message to the world.
O'CONNELL: People are listening to him because he's speaking in a language that's not Vaticanese. He's speaking the language of ordinary people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCLAUGLIN: Pope Francis has his Christmas gifts taken care of, 2,000 immigrants at a local shelter received special packs complete with a Christmas card signed by the pope. They included prepaid international calling card so they would be able to reach loved ones during this festive time. The pope's Christmas message is clear. Christmas is about helping others -- Carol.
COSTELLO: That's awesome.
Erin McLaughlin, thanks so much.
Be sure to tune in for our live coverage of the pope's first-ever midnight Christmas mass 6:00 pm Eastern right here on CNN.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the president signs up for his own health care plan on healthcare.gov. But is it too little, too late for what some are calling a P.R. nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue?
Our political panel will weigh in on Obamacare next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. THOMAS ZAWISZA, STUTTGART, GERMANY: Hi. I'm Major Thomas Zawisza here at U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. I like to say happy holidays, and merry Christmas and happy New Year to dad and Mary and all my family and friends in Toledo, Ohio. Love you guys. Miss you very much. Have a blessed New Year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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