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Big Sales, Extended Hours Await Shoppers; Pope's First Christmas as Catholic Leader; NASA Conducts Christmas Eve Spacewalk

Aired December 24, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon. I'm Kyra Phillips, in for Brooke Baldwin.

Last minute shopping, wrapping, getting ready for a holiday feast. Now it turns out quite a few Americans interrupted the holiday hustle and bustle to sign up for Obamacare. We've just gotten new numbers.

Mark Preston, CNN political director.

So what's the word?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, you know, Kyra, after some terrible news yesterday when the administration saw the new CNN/ORC poll that showed Americans are not very happy with the health care law, they have released new numbers that showed, just within the past 24 hours, nearly two million people visited that healthcare.gov website. They also received 250,000 telephone calls. Kyra, this doesn't necessarily mean these folks signed up for health insurance, but it shows there's a realization among Americans that the time is ticking right now. The deadline, Kyra, to sign up for health care to ensure you get it by January 1st is tonight at midnight.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's be transparent. I mean, they're still playing catch-up in a big way to get to this goal. Very lofty goal. It's not an arbitrary goal, but one that could decide whether Obamacare gets off the ground.

So, what do they do next?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, certainly, you're going to continue to see the president -- and he has enlisted the first lady, Mrs. Obama out there trying to advocate for people to get health insurance. We saw just last week alone, they had mothers come to the White House. They also released a video out to parents to try to encourage their children, folks who were in their early 20s to get health insurance.

But you're absolutely right. At this point in time, Kyra, they thought they would have over 3 million people signed up for health care.

PHILLIPS: Not even close.

PRESTON: The president told us on Friday before he left for Hawaii that only 1 million people have actually signed up right now. So, they are far off the mark at this point. But clearly they need more people involved.

PHILLIPS: Yes, otherwise this could not be a good thing. I think that's probably the delicate way to put it.

Mark Preston, appreciate it. Thanks.

Well, there's only 10 hours left until the Christmas shopping season is, I guess, retailers, bankers, last-minute shoppers got to boost their bottom line. So, a lot of stores have opened their doors around the clock in the last couple of days, slashed prices, hoping that all these power shoppers will rush in and be ready to spend because frankly, the state of the holiday retail season could use a huge boost.

Americans' outlook on Christmas has taken a massive hit -- thanks to the sluggish economy. A new CNN/ORC poll shows that fewer people are giving gifts as well, and charitable contributions steadily dropping. In fact, the poll shows several years of tough economic times may have caused a shift in how people even view the holiday.

In 2005, nearly half of all Americans said that Christmas was a great time or best time of the year. Three years later, just months after the financial crisis began, that figure dropped to 43 percent.

And now it's even lower. But is all of this enough to actually resist the last-minute deals? I don't know. Why don't we check in with CNN's Stephanie Elam? She's a business expert. She's also a great shopper.

She's actually at Best Buy in Burbank, California, where they're still, I guess you can say some traffic, right, Steph?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, Ms. Kyra. There's plenty of traffic out here. People are coming in here shopping. The store opened at 7:00 a.m. And the other thing that people are doing because, you know, the brick and mortar stores, their sales are definitely down over this holiday period. But what some people have been doing is buying online, and some people are buying online but then coming to pick it up in the store because they are so late.

So, we've seen a steady stream of people coming in here to do some of that online shopping, picking up. It's kind of a combo. It's a two- fer, sort of, and I want to introduce you to Gussy (ph).

This is Gussy here.

Hi, Gussy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.

ELAM: All right. Gussy, what are you doing in here today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I literally just got out of the dentist's share. I'm trying to catch up on my Christmas shopping.

ELAM: So, how many gifts do you have to get? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Technically three.

ELAM: So have you gotten any gifts?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I have. I have the children's gifts. I have to get that gift for the special someone. Then a couple of, you know, kind of industry, I appreciate you gifts.

ELAM: So, are you doing that all in here at Best Buy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, I was at Starbucks and met the Google lady. She's like, you have to come see the blah-blah. I was like, OK.

ELAM: All right. You say you're about to hammer it home, get it done today. This is your day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe, like, two hours and I'm done.

ELAM: Two hours and you're done and you're going to wrap them all and get them ready.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I have gift bags. That's the secret to quick - holiday gift giving. Get the gift bags from the 99 cent store.

ELAM: I believe that. You know what else? If you're really crazy, you recycle them next year.

Thank you, Gussy, and good luck.

Kyra, I'm serious. I will hold on to a gift bag and use it again.

PHILLIPS: Oh, I know. I've received gifts from you. Now I'm wondering, was that the dollar store bag I gave Stephanie two years ago and now she re-gifted it to me?

ELAM: I get good bags. I just use them again.

PHILLIPS: I love Uncle Gussy, by the way. He's fantastic. I have an Uncle Gussy.

All right. So, on a more serious note, holiday sales generally looking, you know, pretty good compared to last year, better, worse? I mean, how do we put it all in perspective as we look forward to 2014? And, you know, we want to have more money to spend and be in a better position economy-wise.

ELAM: Right. Well, that's the thing. People have not been spending as much so far. Obviously, we're going to wait to see what this week tells us, because obviously this is a crucial week, and combining it in with those retail sales.

The other thing you have to keep in mind is the day after Christmas. Retailers bank on that as well because a lot of shoppers want to get out into the stores and see what has been slashed down to 50 percent, 60 percent off and snag those gifts for their favorite person to shop for usually, themselves.

PHILLIPS: Stephanie, great to see you.

Well, the number of lawsuits against Target stores, it just keeps piling up because shoppers in at least six states now have filed federal class actions. It's all because of that massive credit and debit card security breach that happened. The suits allege that target was negligent and didn't protect customers' card information. Forty million credit and debit account numbers were stolen.

Now, corporate execs, they huddled yesterday in a bit of a crisis mode. The Minneapolis-based company released these photos showing target CEO meeting with its entire team.

Now, Target says it's working with the Department of Justice and the U.S. Secret Service on the investigation. We'll keep you posted.

Well, right now people are gathering at the Vatican for midnight mass. It's Pope Francis' first Christmas service. His message this year, as we look at these beautiful live pictures: avoid gossip and focus on serving those less fortunate. That message is working well for him too. A new CNN/ORC poll shows that 88 percent of American Catholics approve of how he's handling the job.

Supporters are especially pleased with his very down-to-earth style.

(BEEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's pretty remarkable. CNN's Erin McLaughlin live in Rome.

So, Erin, what are we expecting from Pope Francis?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, we're expecting a celebration, as well as powerful messages for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. Final preparations are underway at the Vatican for tonight's Christmas Eve mass. Just a short while ago, they unveiled the nativity scene there in St. Peter's Square to much singing and celebration.

The pope's celebrations actually began on Saturday, though, with his Christmas message to the curia, which is the governing body of the Roman Catholic Church that he's already shaken up. He wants them to focus on serving others and cutting back on gossip. And then he practiced what he preached, spending three hours at a local church, visiting, cheering up sick children, meeting with their doctors. Last night, we saw history made. The two popes met to exchange Christmas greetings for the very first time. Francis met with Benedict for a total of 45 minutes a sign this is not your usual papacy.

As for his Christmas gifts, well, those are already taken care of -- 2,000 immigrants at a local shelter received special packs complete with Christmas cards from the pope. They included everything they might need to be in contact with loved ones over the holidays, including international prepaid phone cards so that they could phone home for the holidays.

The pope's Christmas message is already very clear, that this holiday is about helping others -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And he has made that clear -- serving the poor.

And let me ask you, as we look at those pictures where he brings these homeless individuals to his apartment on his birthday. I mean, Erin, how unique of a gesture is that?

MCLAUGHLIN: It's absolutely unique. What I've been seeing from talking to many pilgrims who come to the Vatican for the festive season, they tell me that this has given them hope. That they're hopeful that the church is now moving in the right direction and they're inspired by what they see as well, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Erin McLaughlin live for us from Rome. Thanks so much.

Be sure to tune in for our live coverage of the pope's first ever midnight Christmas mass. That special is tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Well, coming up, the women's punk rock band Pussy Riot set free and charges are dropped against Greenpeace activists. What the heck is going on in Russia? Is this a P.R. push, or is Vladimir Putin really making a change?

Also, Bill de Blasio, the next mayor of New York, releasing a moving video today of his daughter confessing her addiction to alcohol and drugs. So, why now?

And up next, working on Christmas Eve, live pics as two astronauts are going on a space walk to repair that cooling system. We'll check in live, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. MICHAEL CALLENDER: Hi, we're the Callender family stationed at Lodges Field in Portugal. We'd like to send our happy holiday greetings out to our friends and family in the Indianapolis area. Happy holidays, everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right, if I had to work on Christmas Eve -- I mean, I really love working at CNN, but this would be a cool place to be, the International Space Station.

We've been following live right now, as we're looking at these pictures, the spacewalk that's been taking place.

Two American astronauts have just entered the air lock for decontamination after about a seven-hour space walk.

Well, you know, it was 14 years ago that was the first and the last time that there was a space walk on Christmas Eve. And here we go again. This time two astronauts in the International Space station have been hard at work trying to repair that faulty cooling system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, guys. Working together. We're working on the T-tech removal from the M-1, M-2 line. That should be the single T- tech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the work began early this morning just before 7:00 a.m. Eastern. Flight engineers had already made a lot of headway when there was this brief glitch in the plan, apparently. Some ammonia flakes landed on their suits when they had to untangle a fluid line. So, now, they'll have to air them out before actually going back into the station.

It's a pretty dangerous mission, and no doubt there's a lot more work to be done. Those space walkers aren't scheduled to finish until next Tuesday, by the way.

Joining me from Houston, former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao.

So, Leroy, let me ask you -- were they ever in danger? I saw reports where NASA said, no, they weren't. However, we're talking about a space suit that was filling up with water, right? Now there's safeguards of a snorkel inside those space suits.

LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Right. Well, the space walkers were never in any danger in today's space walk. Of course, the previous space walk where the helmet was filling up with water, that was a dangerous situation. NASA came up with some work around, contingency plans in case that would happen again today. They had a bit of a stuck connector, trying to get that off of this temporary mounting place. As you could see, they were able to work with the problem with mission control center and got everything done.

PHILLIPS: All right. Here's where I'm going to say, OK. Give me a little layman's terms. I mean, I love space. OK? I know a good amount.

But kind of explain the technical part that you were just saying in addition to these ammonia flakes and why they have to go through the decontamination. You know, explain --

CHIAO: Sure. PHILLIPS: OK, good.

CHIAO: OK. The outside cooling loop uses ammonia as the working fluid and at very high pressure. So when they replace the broken pump module with the new one, they had to reconnect those lines, those fluid lines to reconnect the ammonia to the box, to the pump module. So they were having trouble getting those connections made, and that's when one of the connectors started leaking ammonia out. Those were the white flakes you saw.

Of course, the liquid ammonia under high pressure comes out into the vacuum of space and turns into a solid. It freezes. So that's why you heard them calling it snow. It's snowing. It looked like snowflakes kind of coming out of that connector. Now, it gets on their suits. You know, it needs to be baked out to make sure you don't bring that ammonia back into the cabin inside of the international space station and release ammonia inside. That's why they're taking the extra precaution in addition to baking out in the sun to kind of sublimate that ammonia away, turn it back into a gas so it goes off into space.

And just as an extra precaution, inside the air lock they're taking a few extra minutes to stay at vacuum to make sure the last bit of ammonia that might have gotten on their suits gets out into space and not into the space station.

PHILLIPS: All right.

So overall impact, keeping equipment cool, keeping the ISS intact, and also its impact of this mission and continuing our space program for where it is at this point. Just to kind of bring things back at the end of the year as we entered 2014 and saw so many cuts made and changes to these space walks and to the NASA program, why is this important? Not just internationally and for relations but, you know, remind folks why we care about this so much.

CHIAO: Sure. Well, the space station is planned to be operated through at least 2020. Studies have shown it can be operated through 2028. And why would we do that? Because as we start planning missions beyond earth's orbit to go out farther, maybe to an asteroid, maybe back to the moon and eventually on to Mars, we've got to solve the biomedical effects. The biggest technology is problem is how you keep astronauts healthy in space for that long of a period of time.

We have to develop countermeasures or ways to deal with that using the space station to develop those methods and to test them before we can implement them on a mission to go to Mars. We have to figure out how to keep people healthy. The space station is a critical part of that. Without it, there's no way to develop and test these countermeasures.

PHILLIPS: So many places we still want to go. That is for sure.

Leroy Chiao, thank you so much.

CHIAO: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

In the distant season past, the year 1968, America looked itself in the mirror and didn't really like what it saw at home -- assassinations, a youth revolt, racial upheaval and of course the war in Vietnam. Then of all possible moments on Christmas Eve, America saw this.

Our astonishing home in its other worldly grace. This is earthrise seen from the crew of the moon of Apollo 8. Just listen, if you would, for a second to the astronauts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASTRONAUT: In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters and god said, let there be light. And there was light.

And god said, let the waters be gathered together in one place and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters called seas. And God saw that it was good.

And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night. Good luck. A merry Christmas and god bless all of you, all of you on the good earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Can't get much more spiritual than that. Christmas Eve, 1968, 45 years ago today. Peace to you and yours this Christmas.

Well, up next, just as New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is about to take office, a stunning revelation from his daughter.

Plus, a man whose pregnant wife lies unconscious on a ventilator is desperate to take her off life support. But the state of Texas says, nope, we won't let her go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well a 19-year-old girl is getting a lot of attention today after opening up about her drug abuse and depression. But this just isn't any teenager. It's the daughter of the mayor-elect of New York City. That's her right there in the fuchsia dress on election night.

Bill de Blasio's office today released a five-minute video where his daughter talks about her substance abuse and her recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIARA DE BLASIO, NEW YORK MAYOR-ELECT'S DAUGHTER: I've had depression, like clinical depression for my entire adolescence. So that's been something that I've always dealt with or not known how to deal with. It made it easier, like, the more I drank and did drugs to share some common ground with people that I wouldn't have. It didn't start out as, like, a huge thing for me, but then it became a really huge thing for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Margaret Conley following this for us out of New York. Did the mayor-elect say why they did this and why now?

MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, New York's first-daughter- to-be Chiara de Blasio chose Christmas Eve to release a very personal message. The 19-year-old talks openly and honestly about the clinical depression she says she faced growing up in New York and before how it made it easier for her the more she drank and did drugs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DE BLASIO: I think it's just important for people to realize anybody who's watching this that if you're suffering and if you're depressed or dealing with mental illness and you think that it might have something to do with your drug abuse or drinking or if you're just suffering from both of those at the same time. And you think that they're completely unrelated to one another, that getting sober is always a positive thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONLEY: Now, Kyra, she goes on to say it's not easy to get sober. She had the help of her therapist and an out-patient treatment center here in the city. She says getting sober, Kyra, was the hardest thing she's ever done.

PHILLIPS: Sure. I mean, you're talking 19 years old and all -- I mean, her entire life, right, in the public eye. The mayor-elect and his wife, they've been very supportive of this public message and their daughter, yes?

CONLEY: Right. Kyra, she mentioned them in this video. She says her parents have both been very emotionally committed to finding ways to get her better. And remember, her father Bill de Blasio, he's a week away from being inaugurated as mayor. His family was a big part of his campaign. And it appears they're going to be a big part of the conversation.

De Blasio and his wife, they put out a statement about their daughter. They said, "Her courage to speak out demonstrates a wisdom and maturity far beyond her 19 years, and we're grateful every day for her commitment to lifting up those who need to know that they are not alone."

According to the National Survey for Drug Use and Health, over 3 million Americans need treatment for substance abuse problems. There are Web sites like ok2talk.org that are there to ask for help.

This is a reminder from the de Blasios that though this season is a time for joy, it's also the most difficult time for those battling depression and substance abuse.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it's perfect coming out this time of year where people are struggling, Margaret. She's so eloquent and straightforward and genuine in the video.

Margaret, thanks so much.

Well, coming up, a pregnant woman being kept alive with a ventilator, even though her husband says that she never wanted to be on life support. We're going to tell you why the hospital is refusing to go along with his request.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's a pretty heartbreaking story out of Texas. It's raising all kinds of legal and ethical questions.

A young husband and father wants his wife taken off life support. He says it was her wish. But under Texas law, he can't because she's 18 weeks pregnant.

CNN's Pamela Brown has more on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a crushing decision Texas paramedics hoped they would never have to make for one another.

ERICK MUNOZ, HUSBAND OF WOMAN ON LIFE SUPORT: We talked about it. We were both paramedics. We've seen things out in the field. You know, we both knew that we didn't want to be on life support.

BROWN: But last month, Munoz found his wife collapsed and unconscious on the floor inside their home. She was rushed to a hospital, but it was too late. Doctors suspect she suffered from a pulmonary embolism.

MUNOZ: We reached the point where, you know, you wish that your wife's body would stop.

BROWN: But the hospital won't let him honor his wife's wishes and remove her ventilator. The reason: Marlise is 18 weeks pregnant and Texas law specifically protects the life of a fetus in its health and safety code.

DANNY CEVALOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Texas has taken the approach of an expansive view of police power, specifically that the state has a compelling interest in preserving the life of its unborn citizens. And that interest is superior to even the interest of the remaining family that might be charged with raising an ill child.