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Benghazi Report; Enrollment Numbers; Top News Stories of 2013; Redskins Fire Mike Shanahan

Aired December 30, 2013 - 09:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Kyra Phillips, in for Carol Costello today.

Two top House intelligence officials are taking issue with a new report that says that al Qaeda was not behind the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Four Americans, as you remember, including the U.S. ambassador, were killed. And now a "New York Times" report says the attack was likely carried out by independent Libyan militias and that those fighters were infuriated by a movie called "Innocence of Muslims." But the "Times" report also questions the early claims from the White House. CNN's Jill Dougherty at the State Department with more.

Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kyra, the Benghazi issue has gone beyond just being a news story. It's really a major political issue. And this "New York Times" report is simply heating it up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): "The New York Times" investigation calls into question claims made by both Republicans and the White House about what happened in Libya on September 11th a year ago. The newspaper finds fault with the Republican case saying, there's "no evidence that al Qaeda had any role," that local militias and looters were to blame, that an anti-Muslim video did play a role motivating the attackers, at least in part, and that the attack was "not meticulously planned but neither was it spontaneous" nor "without warning signs." A top Republican insists, the intelligence shows al Qaeda was involved.

REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), HOUSE INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: There was aspiration to conduct an attack by al Qaeda and their affiliates in Libya. We know that. The individuals on the ground talked about a planned tactical movement on the compound.

DOUGHERTY: The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee agrees but says it's a complex picture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The intelligence indicates that al Qaeda was involved, but there were also plenty of people and militias that were unaffiliated with al Qaeda that were involved.

DOUGHERTY: "The Times" also says, however, it was not a copycat of street protests in Egypt against the American made anti-Muslim video, as then U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice suggested on Sunday talk shows.

SUSAN RICE, FORMER U.N. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Our current assessment is that what happened in Benghazi was, in fact, initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo.

DOUGHERTY: The Obama White House isn't commenting or disputing "The Times" report, which notably does not mention then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: What difference at this point does it make?

DOUGHERTY: But former White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor blasted Republican demands for Benghazi hearings and for their claims that the Obama administration was lying, tweeting, "they were wrong" and "we could have avoided months of discussing demagoguery."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY: Now, this report uses the word "murky" and saying that it really goes beyond just the black and white pictures that either the Republicans or the White House depict. And, of course, that murkiness is going to guarantee that this will be fueled for a long time to come.

Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jill Dougherty, thanks so much.

Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM, another deadly terrorist bombing in southern Russia kills at least 14 people this morning. It comes just a day after another deadly blast killed 17 people in the same city. No one has claimed responsibility for those attacks. In six weeks, Sochi Winter Olympics are set to begin about 400 miles from these bombings.

And bitter cold and wind across the Midwest this morning with temps dipping to 20, 30 degrees below zero in some areas. Well, this arctic cold will turn east just in time for the new year, by the way.

Opening bell on Wall Street. Traders have just two days until the close of the year. Things are expected to be quiet today with trading relatively flat. So far this year, though, all three indexes have risen more than 25 percent.

So on Wednesday, Obamacare coverage kicks in for Americans across the country and more than 1 million people have signed up on healthcare.gov despite the site's disastrous rollout. The White House says that the boost in enrollees is a welcome surge, but is it really enough and will people continue to sign up? I want to bring in CNN political analyst and executive editor of "The Daily Beast," John Avlon, also Patricia Murphy of Citizen Jane Politics and contributor for "The Daily Beast."

All right, John, I'll start with you. You know, the reality is most of the new enrollees are older and they're sicker than administration officials were hoping for. So in order to make Obamacare economically viable, young people have to sign up or, you know, this could implode. So what does the White House need to do to win these younger, healthier people over and to get signed up?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, well, no more pajama boy ads for one. That was truly lame.

PHILLIPS: That was a bit disastrous.

AVLON: But, you know, they -- they hit a milestone with 1 million, but they can't be content. There's a long way to go for 7 million and simply the threat of the penalty isn't going to be sufficient. They need to go on offense without pandering and they need to make a case that this makes economic sense. The absence of a clear, catastrophic option that's inexpensive is one of the real hurdles that this legislation faces. So they're going to have to find a way to appeal to people with their self-interest, as well as their pocketbook. But young people are key to making this marketplace work. And there's a lot of room to be - a lot of room for improvement here for the Obama administration.

PHILLIPS: In addition to that, Patricia, you write about the digital divide between Obamacare and the Hispanic population. Let me just take a moment so folks can hear your words. "Even when the federal enrollment tools do become available in Spanish, some state-run exchanges, like the one operated by New York state, will continue to be English only. More worrisome to advocates, some of the states with the highest Hispanic populations and the highest rate of uninsured of the country have opted out of the Medicaid expansion offered through the Affordable Care Act that could have to affected hundreds of thousands of young, low income Hispanics." Wow.

PATRICIA MURPHY, CONTRIBUTOR, "THE DAILY BEAST": Yes. When we talk about young voters, it's not sort of the millennial stereotype that we hear. And President Obama spoke to young voters and said, sponsor a happy hour. Tell your friends on FaceBook and Twitter. You know, really --

PHILLIPS: Let's get drunk and deal with this website that already has issues.

MURPHY: Yes, I know, right?

PHILLIPS: It will become even more confusing. Makes perfect sense.

MURPHY: Exactly. And the reality is that the key to enrolling enough young voters is enrolling enough Latino voters and enough Latino people. The young population for Hispanics is enormous. Nearly 50 percent of Hispanics are under the age of 27. So when you're looking for your young, healthy group that is less likely to have insurance right now, those are Latino voters. And the Obama administration has almost had a total failure for that. Their own Latino and Hispanic website was delayed getting up and running. They've had very poor outreach to the Latino community. I know that they're trying to ramp that back up now, but that is a major segment of the population that is totally being ignored right now.

Also important to know that all millennials have a high unemployment rate than most Americans. So, the millennial unemployment rate is 11 percent, much higher than the national unemployment rate. They simply don't think that they can afford health insurance of any price and the $95 penalty looks a lot better to millennials than actually signing up for health care that they don't think they can afford.

PHILLIPS: And, John, how about midterm elections? You know, it's no secret that Democrats are scrambling to hold onto their majority come 2014. But when you look at the polls, the majority of Americans say that Obamacare is, you know, the biggest problem. If you look at the latest CNN/ORC poll, 62 percent opposed the new health care law, only 35 percent are in favor. So, how are Dems going to be able to make Obamacare a selling point?

AVLON: Well, first of all, I mean the polls are definitely moving the wrong direction and the trend is not the administration's friend. The flawed face plant of a rollout really did leave a mark on this plan. The only - the Democrat's decent hope is, however, that once this plan starts to take effect, if the enrollments are high enough, that people will realize that Obamacare does not mean the end of the republic and freedom as we know it. Republicans set a really high bar with their apocalyptic rhetoric and if folks start to realize that maybe they overstated the case about how this was a fundamental threat to freedom, then they may start to focus on the benefits of the law. So this is still a jump ball moment. It will be through the end of March. But it's far from clear at this point that Obamacare will be a deep net negative for Democrats come November midterms elections.

PHILLIPS: You mention the Republicans. Darrell Issa's response to the boost in Obamacare numbers, real quickly, let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: You know, there's 318 million Americans. One million getting on subsidized health care in many cases, probably another million getting on Medicaid as a result of Obamacare and 6 million people who had plans they liked that have been thrown off of it, I don't think there's anything to celebrate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Final thought, and the White House is even expecting some problems come Wednesday.

MURPHY: Yes. Well, I think that people in the White House right now are just waiting to see what's under the next rock. Can people -- when they go to the doctors and they think they have insurance, do they have insurance? Can they go to the doctor that they thought they wanted to? The White House knows that success breeds success. They need to start pushing out these success stories, but there are not as many as they want to have. And I totally agree with John, it's absolutely a jump ball moment. It could go either way at this point for them.

PHILLIPS: Patricia, John, thanks so much, guys.

AVLON: Take care, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Still to come, you lived the stories and you made the call. We're going to run down your list of the top stories of 2013 according to our viewers, all of you that weighed in at cnn.com. The results just after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, we are now in the last couple days of 2013. It has gone fast, right? And there's been a lot of stories that have left us - well, left us fascinated, frustrated, sometimes even flabbergasted. CNN's Alina Machado has whittled down the list for us, though, to the top 10 that impacted us this past year. She joins us with the rundown.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for three weeks we've asked you, viewers, to vote on the top stories of 2013. And the results are in. For number 10 you chose the U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision to strike down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act. The 5-4 vote paved the way for same-sex couples who are legally married to receive the same federal benefits given to heterosexual couples. Edith Windsor, she's the woman behind the lawsuit. She called the ruling a victory. This is her in the red scarf outside the Supreme Court celebrating that decision.

Who can forget Amanda Berry's chilling call for help? I know it's something I'll never forget. The Cleveland house of horrors comes in at viewers number nine. Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were rescued after being held in captivity for years. Aerial Castro, the man behind the kidnappings and torture, was sentenced to life and later killed himself inside a prison cell. His victims continue to heal. Their strength and courage keep on inspiring us today.

PHILLIPS: And we're going to be hearing more from one of the survivors. I mean just aside from the fact that all three spoke, we heard from them, they all told their, you know, chilling stories, the book is probably going to be fascinating.

MACHADO: I can't imagine how difficult it was for these women to not only go through something like that, but now one of them, Michelle Knight, is going to be releasing a book. She's the first woman who was kidnapped and the longest to be held at 11 years in captivity. Prosecutors say Knight and her fellow captives each kept a diary during that ordeal.

PHILLIPS: Oh, can you imagine. And the fact that they were able to do that and he didn't find them or punish them or even to take the risk to write about it and it's just mind boggling to me. Anyway, it's a great story of strength, that's for sure.

MACHADO: It is.

PHILLIPS: I know a lot of women will want to read it and be inspired.

MACHADO: I know I'll be - I'll be - I'll definitely be picking that one up.

PHILLIPS: I'll be there. Yes.

All right, what about number eight?

MACHADO: Number eight is chosen by you and the video really in this one says it all these disturbing images of children in the aftermath of what appears to be a chemical weapons attack in Syria. This year the United Nations confirmed the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war. The conflict began in March of 2011 and has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people.

Typhoon Haiyan's sweep through the Philippines sits at number seven, the monster storm is one of the most powerful storms to ever hit land anywhere in the world. More than 6,000 dead, nearly 1,800 remain missing and more than 27,000 injured, millions more left without a home.

Now we head back to the U.S. for your number six, Obamacare, the rollout of President Obama's major initiative was plagued with criticism following major problems with the program's Web site.

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes and this is going to be a huge impact on 2014. We've got a nervous White House right now.

MACHADO: We've got a nervous White House, we've got a nervous Congress; 2014 as you know is a midterm election year so there are some swing states here especially some Democrats who are probably a little nervous this time around.

PHILLIPS: Can you believe we're already talking about elections? Oh my gosh. Didn't we just go through an election? That happened very fast.

MACHADO: Time flies.

PHILLIPS: All right so that was six through ten and you're going to have what made the cut for the top five right after the break, right?

MACHADO: Ok.

PHILLIPS: That's right.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And welcome back. 2013 almost in the history books, but it's been quite a year of big stories that impacted all of our lives and, of course, help us shape 2014, right?

Alina Machado is still here to run down the top -- can I say that? It's like a tongue twister the five stories of the past year. We got six through ten and now we've got one through five.

MACHADO: That's right. Let's get right to the list as CNN.com voters ranked them. The federal government shutdown sits at your number five. About 800,000 federal employees furloughed, more than a million others were forced to work without knowing when they'd get paid. Federal museums and parks closed. The shutdown lasted for 16 days in October. It is the third longest shutdown in U.S. history and Standards and Poor's says it took $24 billion out of the economy in the U.S.

The high school dropout who worked his way into the most secretive computers in the U.S. intelligence as a defense contractor comes in at voters' number four. Edward Snowden will go down in history as the man who spilled the details of the National Security Agency's classified surveillance program. He leaked documents that showed the NSA was both collecting phone records and e-mail in Internet traffic of virtually all Americans. Some believe Snowden is a hero. Others are calling him a traitor.

He was born in South Africa but he belonged to the world. Nelson Mandela's death is the third top story of 2013 according to those who voted on CNN.com. The world came together to mourn the 95-year-old's passing and remember his life, a symbol of the struggle against racial oppression and an inspiration to many.

The Boston marathon bombing comes in at your number two. April 15th is a day we will never forget. Three people killed. More than 260 wounded after two bombs exploded near the finish line. The hunt for the suspected bombers gripped the nation for several days. 26-year- old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shoot-out with police. His 19- year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured and is awaiting trial on federal charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

And the emergence of a somewhat unconventional leader of the Catholic Church is your top story of 2013. Pope Francis became the 266th pontiff, the first Latin American to take the title. His remarks on homosexuals and his repeated acts of compassion including his embrace of the severely disfigured man have made headlines around the world. The 77-year-old pontiff was named "Time" magazine's Person of the Year.

PHILLIPS: And I still have that vision of him with the homeless man that he brought to his apartment on his birthday of all times. And it was funny, we were talking about this with the international correspondent, he said yes, the homeless person was even allowed to bring his dog with him. He embraced everybody. He is definitely an unconventional man, isn't he?

MACHADO: He is unconventional. I think his popularity is largely due to the fact that people can relate with him, right? He's very approachable and he's -- he's kind of the people's pope, which is the way it should be, right?

PHILLIPS: Yes. Absolutely. Thanks Alina. I appreciate it so much.

MACHADO: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Well you can check out the entire list of the year's top stories right now on CNN.com.

Still to come, the NFL regular season is over. Now comes the ax for several head coaches -- Black Monday is what it's called. Let's talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Welcome back.

Black Monday in full swing. No, that's not a shopping day. Unfortunately, it means a lot of coaches getting the -- right, Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Yes. Today is not a day that head coaches in the NFL look forward to and the latest coach to get the ax Mike Shanahan with the Redskins. They announced it just moments ago.

Now Shanahan he coached the team for four seasons. He only made the playoffs once at the helm of the Skins. That was last year. They went 3-13 this year. And he -- now Shanahan has had an up-and-down relationship with star quarterback RG3. I mean he questioned the way he's handled his knee injury over the last two seasons and now Shanahan, he is fired.

Shanahan's the fourth coach to be let go this season joining the Minnesota Vikings Leslie Frazier, Browns' Rob Chudzinski and Texans' Gary Kubiak.

Now yesterday 10 teams were fighting for four playoff spots as the NFL regular season wrapped up. Now two of these match-ups were basically playoff games -- you had the Cowboys and Eagles, and you had the Packers and Bears in a win-and-you're-in scenario. Now after missing seven weeks with a broken collarbone, Aaron Rodgers, he was back under center for Green Bay and, Kyra, I'm sure you know, he came through in the clutch for the Packers. This was on fourth and eight. Late in the fourth quarter, he found Randall Cobb in stride for the 48-yard touchdown -- an incredible play.

PHILLIPS: The Packers are known to do that. That's my Pack.

SCHOLES: What a clutch win. 33-28 was the final. The Packers now heading back to the playoffs.

All right. Cowboys and Eagles -- Tony Romo, he's out for the year with that back injury. Kyle Orton getting the start in his place in the winner take all game against Philly. Dallas down late in this one Orton finds Dez Bryant for the 32-yard touchdown. The Cowboys missed the two-point conversion, they're still down by two. Late in the game, they get the ball with the chance to go down and win the game. But Cowboys fans have seen this before. Orton throws the interception. Owner Jerry Jones is not very happy in his luxurious suite. The Cowboys are going to miss the playoffs yet again. Eagles win the game, 24-22.

All right. Now the Pittsburgh Steelers, their chances of making the playoffs were very slim. They needed to win, and have the Dolphins, Ravens, and Chargers all lose -- very tough. But all those scenarios were actually about to play out, but then the Chiefs' kicker Ryan Succop, he missed a very makeable field goal. It was only 41 yards and he missed it.

He actually should have got a chance to re-kick it because the Chargers had too many guys on one side of the ball. That's a penalty. But it wasn't flagged. The Chargers go on to win the game in overtime, clinched the last playoff spot in the AFC, that left the Steelers fans obviously devastated because they thought they were going to make it.

All right. Here's a look at the playoff schedule for next weekend. On Saturday the Colts are going to host the Chiefs followed by the Eagles hosting the Saints and then on Sunday the Bengals will host the Chargers. Here are your Packers going to renew their rivalry with the 49ers. That game is going to be at Lambeau Field.

PHILLIPS: the best place ever for a football game. I'm fine.

SCHOLES: Also the coldest place.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it is.

SCHOLES: All right. Trending on Bleacherreport.com today is Peyton Manning's amazing season. Yesterday against the Raiders he threw for 266 yards and that broke Drew Brees' record for yards in a season. What an amazing year he's had. Now he holds the records for yards in a season, touchdowns in a season. The Broncos have scored more points than any team ever.

But of course, that doesn't always mean you're going to make it to the Super Bowl. Only one team has actually won the Super Bowl after scoring the most points in the last 10 years, and that's the Rams back in 1999. So we'll see if the Broncos and Peyton Manning can buck that trend.

PHILLIPS: You never know. He's had a pretty good year. Should we talk more about the Packers?

SCHOLES: I don't know. Should we? I'm sure you would like to.

PHILLIPS: I had my pop explaining the whole game to my two-and-a-half year old twins. Now see the guys in the yellow helmet. And it was adorable to see their little heads over the couch.

Great to see you, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right. Good to see you too.

PHILLIPS: All right. The next hour of "CNN NEWSROOM" begins right now.

And good morning everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips in for Carol Costello today.

Many of you in the Midwest and northeast may want to stay indoors to ring in 2014. I'll tell you what -- I'm shivering just looking at the video.

Drivers in North Dakota got hit with near whiteout conditions as a blizzard rolled through there this weekend. And New Year's eve, it's not going to be that much better -- temps will drop and snow could be in the picture for a lot of people.

Jennifer Gray, live in New York with more. Hey, Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey Kyra. Yes, very, very cold air filtering in across the north, around the Great Lakes as well. Highs will be below zero across the northern plains. And highs will be anywhere from one degree below zero to 30 across the Great Lakes. And that is your high temperature.

And look at this. Current temperatures: Kansas City, 13; 9 below zero in Minneapolis.