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UPS Trying to Get Back on Track; Obama Thanks Troops for Sacrifice; Congress Sinks Lower in New Poll; Man Saved from Burning Car; American Hostage Video; Civil War Feared; Prospects for Midterms

Aired December 26, 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, more damage control for Target in the wake of a hacking controversy. New reports of pin numbers - number problems that trigger denials from the retailer.

And right now the UPS trucks are rolling as they try to make up for missing so many Christmas deliveries. Other companies as well pitching in to lessen the blow to customers.

And right now marijuana retailers in Colorado are getting their licenses in the mail and those businesses could start selling pot as early as next week.

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

And we start with the next chapter in the Target hacking drama. Now, there is a report that PIN numbers are at risk, possibly letting thieves directly into your bank can account.

Zain Asher joining me now on this story. So, Zain, this is scary, if you think you might be vulnerable here. We already knew that 40 million customers could be vulnerable but this takes it to a whole new level of true, right?

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely. You know, Brianna, this is according to a Reuters report. It really does. If it's true -- if it's true, it does open a whole new can of worms. So, if a thief gets access to your ATM PIN number, it means they can go directly into your account and steal money. It goes beyond just using your credit card or debit card details just to go shopping.

And a PIN -- a credit card -- a debit card PIN, I should say, is a lot more valuable to a hacker for several reasons. First of all, there's a less of a chance that the transaction is going to be denied. If you go to bank or an ATM, you type in a PIN, the banking institution automatically assumes that you must be who you say you are and that's obviously very valuable to hackers.

But also, just beyond, you know, withdrawing money from an ATM, it means they can actually see how much money you have in your account, they can check your balance, which allows them to determine how much money they can steal from you and potentially get away with. But I do want to say, we did get a statement in from target. Target is denying right now that PINs may have been compromised. They are denying the Reuter's report. Here's what they're having to say. They're saying, to date -- and I'm reading to you their statement. To date, there was no evidence that encrypted PIN data has been compromised. That statement, in and of itself, Brianna, is cleverly worded. They're saying there is no evidence. They're not necessarily guaranteeing it didn't happen. They're sort of hedging themselves right now, so potentially leaving door open to -- possibly that it may have happened. We're not sure just yet.

KEILAR: And so, these are debit cards which obviously are of most concern. If you've known anyone where someone's gotten into their checking account, it is quite an ordeal to try to restore those funds. Credit cards, not as much but you have quite a process to go through there. Are we -- are we talking about credit cards or is this just debit cards?

ASHER: You know, with PINs, you mainly have to worry about debit cards and that's problematic because debit card fraud is a lot more difficult to resolve than credit card fraud. Firstly, they are taking money directly out of your account, and that means that you have to wait for the financial institution to give it back to you. Also, you have to report the fraud within a certain amount of days, usually about 60 days. And it takes up to two weeks for you to get your money back.

With credit cards, you can simply dispute the charges. Say, you know, this is not -- I didn't -- I didn't make this charge, and then you won't be billed for it. But with debit cards, it's a lot more complicated -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And, Zain, that is why it's really so scary. We'll continue to monitor this to see --

ASHER: Yes, absolutely.

KEILAR: -- if that PIN information really was compromised. Zain Asher for us in New York.

Well, you know, today is make good day for UPS. The shipping giant offered a Christmas apology when it realized packages were not going to get there on time. UPS blaming bad weather and also too many packages.

Our Nick Valencia is following the story from Atlanta. So, Nick, when are we going to get packages delivered? There's probably -- I would even imagine houses where packages are supposed to go and the relatives may have taken off and they'll arrive and no one will even be there necessarily to get them.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lots of enraged people there. I got off the phone with UPS, Brianna, and they don't have any official numbers of how many were affected. But it's estimated that thousands of you are still waiting for Christmas gifts that never quite made it under those Christmas trees. Both UPS and FedEx responding to scores of angry customers today apologizing for their blunder, but they say it's not entirely their fault. Well, we had a piece there, but getting back to my statement with UPS. UPS was saying that, you know, they have put a lot of resources in to trying to work with the holiday demand, but it simply wasn't over -- wasn't enough, Brianna. Their staff didn't meet up with this demand. They called it a perfect storm. They said that past ice storms in Dallas as well as an increase in online sales, that was really the big one, lots of people doing shopping online.

And you have to remember as well, there was a shortened holiday season, there was fewer days in between Thanksgiving and Christmas this time around. I did also get a statement from UPS, their spokesman. I spent a few minutes on the phone with Natalie Godwin. She told us, I do understand why people are upset. UPS apologized to customers whose packages were delayed. We had additional operations in Louisville last night on Christmas so the packages would be delivered today. I can't say that all of the packages will be delivered today.

So, she says a majority of those packages will make it into the homes, those folks that feel that they had their Christmas ruined by UPS and FedEx, quite frankly, I asked her to respond to that. She says, we understand why people are angry but we did try. It's not for a lack of effort -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, it makes you remember, too, though, Nick, that Christmas isn't supposed to be just about the presents. It's supposed to be about a time of togetherness, as well as if you're religious, about something beyond that as well. But, you know, I wonder if a lot of people did have their Christmas ruined by this. How many packages do you know that we may be talking about here?

VALENCIA: Well, we're talking about on average, for UPS anyway, 16 million a day. And at their peak, it goes up by 8 percent. And, you know, you can look back at this and look on this, you know, from an outsider's perspective and say, people are being sour about this. You know, no lives were lost, no one -- this isn't a life or death type situation.

But, you know, this is also not just the superficial Christmas gifts. These were people that were -- some of which were waiting on medication, insulin, diabetes medication, asthma inhalers. So, there were some very critical packages that sort of missed the deadline on this one, Brianna, and, you know, this is a big story today on CNN.com. A big story for viewers out there. Lots of folks sounding off on social media, the hash tag UPSfail. If it's not trending on Twitter, it's getting there now. Lots of people weighing in -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, and those are the packages that really matter. Nick Valencia, thank you.

VALENCIA: You bet.

KEILAR: You know, President Obama, he opened Christmas presents. He sang a few Christmas carols and then he personally visited some U.S. troops, and thanked them for making, quote, "incredible sacrifice for their country." The president and first lady, Michelle Obama, they went to a Marine base in Kaneohe, Hawaii on Christmas Day to visit service members there as well as their families. This is something they frequently do. And on Christmas Eve, President Obama called and thanked service members from each branch of the military, including Navy SEALs wounded in last weekend's south Sudan mission.

Well, Congress doesn't get back to work until the New Year. The lawmakers will have plenty on their plate when they do. But as our Dana Bash reports, a lost Americans see the idea of Congress working as a bit of an oxymoron.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Freshman Angus King and Joe Donnelly just wrapped up their first year in the Senate. Their take on the institution is telling.

SEN. ANGUS KING JR. (R), MAINE: It's still pretty bad that we haven't been able to get more done.

SEN. JOE DONNELLY (D), INDIANA: The more cooperation we can get, the better off we'll be.

BASH: A new CNN ORC poll shows 67 percent, two-thirds of the country call this the worst Congress of their lifetime. And nearly 3/4 of those people, 74 percent, have lived a long life, they're 50 and older. 73 percent say, Congress has done nothing to address the country's problems.

(on camera): The public approval of Congress is still pretty low. Does that surprise you?

DONNELLY: No, because what they see every day on television is deadlock and fights and screaming. What you don't see every day is large groups of both Democrats and Republicans coming together saying, how can we work through this process?

BASH (voice-over): One thing that is bipartisan, the blame. The public doesn't trust either party. 52 percent say policies of Democratic Congressional leaders will move the country in the wrong direction. Republican leader fare slightly worse at 54 percent saying the GOP will move the country in the wrong direction. Moderate republican Susan Collins spent the year organizing bipartisan discussion to solve big problems. She wants Americans to have hope for 2014.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: I hope that the American people will realize that there are some of us who are trying to build bridges and bring people together and solve problems.

BASH (on camera): Congress did leave for the year on a higher note than when it started passing a bipartisan budget through the House and Senate. Several senators told me that they had people coming up to them all over their states thanking them for being reasonable. One told me at first, he thought it was a nice compliment but then he realized, that's a pretty low bar. Dana bash, CNN, Washington. KEILAR: Well, coming up at the bottom of the hour, I'll be talking with "Time" magazine political reporter, Zeke Miller, about Congress. Maybe not your favorite subject, but we will cover it. And whether the members can dig themselves out of that hole that they're in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: More snow and hundreds of thousands of people are still without power in Canada. Look at this snowy video from Toronto where crews are working around the clock trying to repair utility lines. Some people may not get power back for a whole week.

Let's bring in Jennifer Gray from the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. So, Jennifer, what areas are expecting more snow today?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, luckily, Toronto is only expected to see just a couple of flurries. Most of the snow will be lake effect snow. But the problem is they had this ice storm during the weekend, temperatures haven't really gotten above freezing. And so, the ice is still there and all those power lines, the tree limbs, they are so stressed that we're still seeing some of those break.

But good news is temperatures should get above freezing Saturday and Sunday. And then, if we get some sunshine, that will help melt some of that ice as well. So, good news for the weekend. Temperatures will finally get above freezing. Temperatures are very cold though all across the north. We even have power outages in northern Maine, also in places like New Hampshire, Vermont, and seeing some of that in temperatures in the teens and 20s there. But temperatures do start to warm just a little bit over the weekend before the next cold blast early next week.

But, like I mentioned, most of the snow today will be lake effect snow. We'll see sow in Buffalo, upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire. We'll see some snow accumulations, one to three inches in Maine, but Toronto shouldn't see much accumulation as we go through the next couple of hours.

KEILAR: And, Jennifer, this is the day where, you know, you, like, put all your loot in the car and then you drive home or maybe you put it in your suitcase. There's so many people traveling today. What are they in for?

GRAY: Yes. Luckily, most of the country experiencing very nice weather. We are actually going to warm up quite a bit in the Midwest. Could see a couple of isolate shower in south Florida. But most of the country very calm. Really, the only thing we're seeing, just a couple of lake effect showers right around the Great Lakes. So, Kansas City will be up to 44 today, Denver 52 which is almost balmy compared to what your temperature has been over the past week. And you get in the mid-Atlantic, D.C. at 43 and New York City even above freezing today at 36.

KEILAR: Yes, I can dine outside in 52 degrees. I think that's a beautiful day in Denver. Jennifer Gray, thank you.

GRAY: No problem.

KEILAR: Well, you know, while many of you were tearing open your gifts on Christmas day, a dramatic rescue was taking place on the L.A. freeway. A California man got into an awful car crash, as you can see there, and it could have been fatal but some good Samaritans, including a police officer, were in the right place at the right time.

Miguel Marquez has this amazing story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hard to tell but that is a black Mercedes. It lost control on a major freeway in Los Angeles. Harder to believe, the man who was driving survived.

DON THOMPSON, LOS ANGELES POLICE: It was a matter of seconds. Another 10, 15 seconds, there just would've been too much fire.

MARQUEZ: Seconds to rescue the 72-year-old man whose car burst into flames after smashing into the center divider.

THOMPSON: I reached in there and I fumbled a bit more and thank goodness I found that button and popped the belt and grabbed him and just pulled him out.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Adding to the miracle, Don Thompson, a 26 year veteran of the LAPD bomb squad, happened to be on his way to work. His shift started early. Diving into the flames, pulling the driver to safety.

THOMPSON: I'm just kind of singed, you know, hair here and some first degree on the side.

MARQUEZ: Thompson did have help. Miracles sometimes need company. A Los Angeles firefighter happened to be driving by, making the rescue seamless.

ERIK SCOTT, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: To be able to help to immediate patient assessment and get other resources on scene a lot quicker because he happened to be the commander of the dispatch center and called them directly to do so.

MARQUEZ: A horrible accident and an impromptu act of heroism.

THOMPSON: It makes me feel good to know that I've saved a life.

MARQUEZ: Understatement from a veteran cop, all in a day's work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Miguel Marquez, thank you for that.

Now ahead on NEWSROOM, he is an American being held by al Qaeda and he's appealing to the U.S. for help in a new video. The story after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: He is an American held hostage by al Qaeda. Now we are hearing from Warren Weinstein in a video message provided to "The Washington Post." He says that he feels totally abandoned and forgotten and is calling on President Obama to negotiate for his freedom. But we must tell you, CNN cannot independently verify this video. Elise Labott joining us now with more on this.

So what's the headline today?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, it's just a horrible story, Brianna. He was - been held for two years in Lahore. Militants overrun his compound and took him, overran his security guard. And now he's been held for two years. We've heard from him over the years a little bit. But in this latest message, he's (ph) a desperate plea from President Obama saying the president, this is in his second term, he doesn't have to worry about reelection. He can take (ph) hard decisions. And really asking for the president's help. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN WEINSTEIN, AMERICAN TAKEN HOSTAGE IN PAKISTAN: You're a family man, and so you understand the deep, mental anxiety and anguish that I have been experiencing. I am therefore appealing to you, on a humanitarian basis if nothing else, in asking that you take the necessary actions to expedite my release.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: And this is a 72-year-old development executive working for USAID as a contractor on the ground. And he says in the video, he spent his whole life in public service for the U.S. government and he's asking not just the president but Secretary of State John Kerry, the American people and the media to remember him. Let's not let me be just another statistic.

KEILAR: So, what is the U.S. government doing?

LABOTT: Well, they're being very quiet about it. All that we've heard from the State Department this morning s they're working to kind of authenticate that this is a recent proof of life from him. They don't want to say more except to reiterate calls for his release because, you know, these things are done very quietly.

Also, another thing is that al Qaeda militants that are holding him, they want release of prisoners, of al Qaeda prisoners. They want a stop to drone strikes in Yemen, Somalia, of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that's just not going to happen. You know, the U.S. maintains its position. It's not going to negotiate with terrorists.

KEILAR: Yes, it's hard to imagine that the U.S. government would negotiate with al Qaeda. You know, when you see this story, you think - it sort of makes you think of Robert Levinson, who's being held in Iran. But there are some differences here, right? LABOTT: Well, it's different for a couple of things. They have an idea of who's holding this guy. And that's al Qaeda. And they're not going to talk to al Qaeda. When you - and he's a contractor. You never know whether his company, a private company, is doing something behind the scenes. They might be negotiating for his release. They don't want to any saying.

With Robert Levinson, it's turned out, we've seen over the last couple of weeks, the guy was working for the CIA, first of all. They don't want to, you know, say anything. They need to get him home. But also, they believe that he's being held probably by the Iranians. And that's a government that they can actually work with and negotiate. They're just not going to talk to al Qaeda and make it on par with them because they don't want al Qaeda to start taking other -- kidnap other Americans because they think the U.S. is willing to negotiate.

KEILAR: All right, Elise Labott, thanks for breaking that down.

Now we want to warn you that the next story contains graphic images that may not be appropriate for children. So you may want to take the kids out of the room now for this story. Fears that a new civil war may erupt in South Sudan propelled leaders of two neighboring countries to go to South Sudan's capital today and they are trying to kick start peace talks. Deadly violence erupted in South Sudan on Christmas Day. Stores were looted. Homes were burned. Some hospitals have no medicine, no doctors. Arwa Damon is tracking the tensions in South Sudan from nearby Uganda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fighting still continues in the oil-rich northern portion of the country, other pockets, as well. But in the flashpoint (ph) town of Bor (ph), where much of the violence was intensified at the beginning of the conflict on Wednesday, there was evidence of fresh flood. Images emerging from there showed bodies lining the streets, some of them burnt. We're not early clear why. Stores had been looted. Some stores and homes razed to the ground. We're only just beginning to get an idea of just how terrifying it must have been.

Civilians returning home, trying to salvage what they can before going back to U.N. bases, not feeling entirely safe to be able to stay out on the streets. Throughout the entire country, some 58,000 civilians continue to seek sanctuary at various U.N. bases, with the U.N. still saying that it is going to be sending in an additional force of some 6,000 peacekeepers and police officers to try to continue to protect this incredibly vulnerable civilian population.

Tensions have been pretty high in South Sudan, especially over the summer, when the president, Salva Kiir, dismissed his longtime rival and former vice president, Riek Machar. But mid-month, the ethnic tensions between Salva Kiir's Dinka (ph) community and Machar's Nuer community really erupted into this wide scale mass killing with atrocities being committed on both sides. Both Salva Kiir and Riek Machar have said that they would be willing to negotiate, but at this point there's been no concrete talk about any sort of a cease-fire or settlement to the ongoing fighting.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Kampala.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Now looking ahead to 2014 and to possible change in the balance of power in Washington, could that be on the horizon? We'll be taking a look at how voters are leaning and what can still be done to change fortunes, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Call centers are open again today to help people to enroll for insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act. The deadline was Tuesday night if you wanted coverage by January 1st, but this was posted on healthcare.gov. "Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you might have run into delays that prevented you from finishing the process on time. Don't worry, we still may be able to help you get covered as soon as January 1st."

So there are some other deadlines to remember here. If you get coverage before January 1st, you have to make your first payment by January 10th. Also, you have until March 31st to get coverage before facing a fine. And, remember, that's just for the people in the 36 states not taking part in their own exchanges. The 14 states with their own exchanges have their own deadlines. Rhode Island, for instance, it's December 31st for coverage the next day. Then again, the federal government has put exceptions in place that could mean you actually have an extra year to enroll. So you want to check on your eligibility for that.

Well, next year a lot of the political discussion is going to be centered on the midterm elections. Thirty-five Senate seats and all 435 House seats are up for grab. So joining me now to talk about this is "Time" magazine political reporter, Zeke Miller.

And, first off, you know, one of the things, Zeke, that our new polling shows us, is that overwhelmingly Americans think this is the worst Congress ever. They haven't gotten anything done that matters to the American people. Is that fair, do you think?

ZEKE MILLER, "TIME" POLITICAL REPORTER: And they've probably been saying that for the past couple of congresses. I mean it's been a rough couple of years here in Washington for lawmakers of both parties, certainly look at whether it be Republicans in Congress now to the president. Approval ratings across the board are way down. But, you know, it's definitely, I think, the last two congresses have given - have given each other a run for their money here. So, I think, you know, it's hard to place yourself back 12 or 15 months ago, but you - they might have been saying the same thing back then as well.

KEILAR: Yes, just overall, Americans are just not fans.

MILLER: They really don't like us here.

KEILAR: No, they really don't like Congress. Their approval ratings are abysmal.