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First Trading Day of 2014; Massive Nor-Easter; Snowden's Clemency; Barbara Bush in Hospital; Recreational Pot Flies off Colorado Shelves
Aired January 02, 2014 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Carol Costello this morning.
Right now, Wall Street rings in a new year and basks in the warm glow of the stock market's best year since 1997. CNN's Zain Asher is at the New York Stock Exchange for the first trading day of 2014.
Happy New Year, Zain.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy New Year, Fred.
WHITFIELD: What's in store for today?
ASHER: Hi. Well, Fred, you know, in the initial term (ph), at least, most analysts do expect the momentum to continue, but just probably not with the same gusto as in 2013. You're actually seeing the market down slightly right now, so it looks as though traders are proceeding the new year with some degree of caution.
But 2013 is a hard year to replicate. I mean the S&P 500 rose 30 percent. We saw 52 record highs on the Dow. And I've been speaking to traders and I asked them, what is the biggest thing on your horizon for 2014? A lot of them are saying, you know, a market correction is actually long overdue, so they are proceeding with some caution.
Actually, CNN Money did survey about two dozen analysts about what they expect for 2014. Half of them expect a 5 percent to 10 percent gain, a fraction of what we saw in 2013, 36 percent expect a gain of less than 5 percent. But most analysts do expect the markets to rise. You know, it wasn't a good year for traditional safe haven investments last year like gold, for example, but we do expect stocks once again to be the cool kid in the market.
Fred.
WHITFIELD: OK. Good advice. Good way to get the new year started. Thanks so much, Zain.
ASHER: Of course.
WHITFIELD: All right, meantime, a massive nor'easter is headed for the northeast, where extreme winter weather is already forcing flight cancellations and prompting a blizzard warning for Long Island and Cape Cod. The big apple is expected to get five to 10 inches of snow. CNN's Alexandra Field is there right now, where it appears to be bone dry for now but not for long. You're going to have a lot of nice fluffy stuff behind you.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, holding steady at the moment. We've got a little bit of a dusting overnight. But the big stuff, that's all ahead and preparations are now kicking into high gear. Right behind me, that warehouse is full of salt and New York City is planning on using a lot of it in the come days. We've seeing the trucks pull in all morning. And 365 salt spreaders are heading out of here today. Along with that, they've got 1,600 city garbage trucks that have been equipped with plows. So they're already planning for a very big cleanup job here.
In New York City, the plows head out every time there is more than two inches of snow and we are expecting a lot more than that. Six to eight inches in New York City. Even more snow on Long Island, where there will be blizzard-like conditions. The city's trying to get ahead of this.
This is the most snow, of course, that we have had all season. That's what's expected. So the Department of Sanitation New York says that they will be staffed around the clock with 2,300 workers on duty at all times getting ready for this snow, which is expected to start later this afternoon, continuing into tomorrow.
So if you thought that we were just going to sort of ease into the new year here, if you were hoping for that, well you've got another thing coming. It isn't just the snow that we're talking about here in New York City. High winds are also going to be a big issue here and out on Long Island. And it is these sub-zero windchills that are heading our way. And you can already sort of start to feel that chill in your bones, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. Wow, I believe it. Well, all in time for the first weekend of the new year. Alexandra Field, thanks so much.
All right, today, two major newspapers are calling on President Obama and the U.S. government to give NSA leaker Edward Snowden mercy so that he can return to the U.S. "The New York Times" and Britain's "The Guardian" are praising Snowden's leaks, calling him a whistle-blower. "The Times" editorial board writes this, quote, "considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight," end quote. And "The Guardian" editorial board writes this about the leak saying, quote, "that was an act of some moral courage. We hope that calm heads within the present administration are working on a strategy to allow Mr. Snowden to return to the U.S. with dignity."
Joining me to talk about it, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Ana Navarro in Miami.
Good to see you.
And Maria Cardona, a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, also joining us. Good to see you as well.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ana, you first. You know, are you on board with making the case for Snowden to be granted asylum in the U.S.?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely not. And, you know, I think the Obama administration is not either. We have heard Susan Rice, who's the top NSA official, assuming that she's got her talking points right this time, say that there's absolutely no way that that's going to happen and shut it down.
Look, I think it would set a very dangerous precedent. It's almost like paying blackmail to somebody who has compromised the U.S.'s national security secrets, who has cause international incidents for the United States and, frankly, who's palling around with some of the folks who are the most anti-American in this world like Putin and the Chinese government and also, you know, people who go and crack down on dissidents and crack down on privacy. You think there's privacy in Russia or China, Mr. Snowden?
He could have stayed here, made his case as a whistle-blower. He could have stayed here where he would have gotten a fair shake from the media and where we have a judicial system that may not be perfect but it's far better than anything that they have in Siberia. So I -- as far as I'm concerned, Fred, I hope he's really enjoying -- thoroughly enjoying the Russian winter.
WHITFIELD: So, Maria, his proponents say he's a patriot, that he revealed that American's privacy is being breached by the government. He argues that spying on cell phones, e-mails is not justified for the sake of national security. So what's at stake if the U.S. listening to those grounds were to grant him asylum?
CARDONA: Well, I think, Fred, where most solutions lie, the solution to this lies somewhere in the middle. This is a debate that was clearly needed and that, I think, is the service that Snowden gave us, which is to have this public debate.
WHITFIELD: What do you mean? Why?
CARDONA: To have this -- to have this public debate about privacy versus security. But I agree with Ana that he needs to pay for what he did because he did break the law. And in that sense, technically he's not a whistle-blower. And if he - if he really would have had courage, Fred, he would have stayed here and faced what is coming to him in terms of breaking the law, and had the courage to actually put his allegations on the table and put the information out there and not gone over to Russia and, you know, which is, frankly, a place that is completely the opposite of what he pretends to represent.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
CARDONA: The service that he did us is a good one. We are having this debate now. But, frankly, I think most people right now do err on the side of wanting to have their security versus their privacy. There needs to be a balance, there's no question.
WHITFIELD: Well, the two of you sound like you're very much in agreement. But I wonder, Ana, you know, if it is a good debate, at what cost does this debate come? Ana?
NAVARRO: Well, it's, you know, it has come at the cost of revealing security secrets of the United States to some people who are not our allies, like folks in, you know, the government of China and folks in, you know, the government of Putin.
WHITFIELD: And do we know -- is there a way in which to know, you know, whether it has jeopardized, you know, the safety of individuals or a group or even this country by doing this, by revealing these classified data?
NAVARRO: Frankly, Fred, I think - I think that's above all of our pay grades. We don't even know if what they're telling us is true. We don't even know how many millions of reams of paper he stole. We know that he took a lot of it. We don't know what's in them. We don't know how many are in there. So there's a lot of stuff that we don't know.
But, you know, are we going to allow a contractor, a, you know, person like Snowden, to put us over a barrel and blackmail us and then we're going to give them amnesty, we're going to pardon them? I think that's a terrible stretch, a terrible precedent for the United States to set and I'm happy to see the Obama administration has said they're not going that direction.
WHITFIELD: And apparently -
CARDONA: And I do think -
WHITFIELD: OK. Go ahead, Maria. (INAUDIBLE).
CARDONA: I do think, Fred, again, that I think we should think about finding a way to bring him here, because I think by having him here and by actually finding out what else he knows -
WHITFIELD: To prosecute?
CARDONA: Well, let's figure that out. That's, I think, something that we need to put on the table. I think there needs to be acknowledgment of wrongdoing. There needs to be some sort of punishment. What that looks like, I think, again, is above our pay grade, like Ana said. But I think that having him out there continuing to leak this information is not a good thing for the United States.
So I think we do need to think about this. The Obama administration should put that on the table. Maybe it's not clemency, maybe it's not amnesty in the full sense of those words, but there does need to be something to be thought of, of how can we bring him back into our atmosphere, if you will, to make sure that we know what he knows and that he's not giving it out to our -- to folks who actually do want to do us harm.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ana, Maria, thanks so much. And according to our Evan Perez reporting earlier, mentioning that the president will be considering or may even articulate in some way what is being considered sometime next month according to the calendar that Evan is privy to.
All right, thanks so much, ladies. Appreciate it. Happy New Year.
NAVARRO: Thank you, Fred.
CARDONA: Thank you, Fred. You too.
WHITFIELD: All right. And still to come, Barbara Bush in the hospital still but receiving well wishes from presidents, past and present. The latest, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, Barbara Bush never seemed to really pine for the spotlight, but it often found her thanks to her candor and her feistiness, rarely found in the spouse of any other career politician. Well, today, well wishes are pouring in to the Houston hospital where the former first lady is now entering her third full day. CNN's Alina Machado is here to give us the latest on her condition.
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, we still don't know what prompted this hospitalization or what is the diagnosis. What we know is that she's been in the hospital since Monday and at last check a family spokesperson says her condition remains unchanged.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MACHADO (voice-over): Barbara Bush, the matriarch of the Bush family, is back in the hospital, recovering from a respiratory related issue. A family spokesperson is saying, quote, "she is in great spirits and is receiving fantastic care at Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas." It's the same hospital where her husband and former President George H.W. Bush spent almost two months battling a bronchitis related illness in 2012.
PETER ROUSSEL, BUSH FAMILY FRIEND: I have known Barbara Bush since 1969. That is 44 years. Having known her as I have, I have total confidence in her, period, exclamation mark.
MACHADO: This is at least the fourth time the 88-year-old has been hospitalized in recent years. She had heart surgery in 2009 and was hospitalized for abdominal pain in 2008. She's also been dealing with Grave's Disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid, since 1988. Her husband suffers from a form of Parkinson's and has been seen using a wheelchair or a scooter to get around.
Despite her ongoing health issues, at edgy former first lady hasn't slowed down. Here she is in July in the White House. And just last week, she spoke at a ceremony honoring a Houston philanthropist for his volunteer week.
BARBARA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: You deserve every bit of it and much, much more, all Houston, Texas, is grateful. MACHADO: Well-wishers are flooding social media. Former President Bill Clinton among them, tweeting, quote, "I'll be rooting for Barbara Bush's full recovery while she's rooting for Baylor," a reference to Wednesday's Fiesta Bowl game.
CHASE UNTERMEYER, FMR. BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL/FAMILY FRIEND: Barbara Bush is a tough old gal who will outlive us all, but our love is with her because she's not just the former first lady of America, she's the first lady of our hearts. So we know that she'll pull through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACHADO: President Obama is also sending good thoughts. He released a statement saying in part, "Michelle and I send our best wishes to Mrs. Bush for a speedy recovery. Barbara is blessed to have both a loving, supportive family by her side and a vibrant spirit that we hope will have her feeling better soon." And, Fredricka, I think you would agree with me, that's what everybody's thinking right now.
WHITFIELD: Oh, absolutely. We all wish her the best. I think she -- she holds a special place in all of our hearts. I just love her candor and just total shoot from the hip at all times.
MACHADO: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Alina.
All right, all new in the next hour of the NEWSROOM, a former banker accused of embezzling millions of investors' dollars for nearly a year. The FBI thought he was dead, until now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cannot believe he had the nerve to hide out so close to home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Straight ahead at 10:00, hiding in plain sight, why everyone believed this man had taken his own life and how police finally caught up with him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right checking our "Top Stories" right now, in northern California, a murder mystery surrounds a beloved priest, who was found dead inside the rectory of his church. Eureka police will not say how Father Eric Freed died and say they have no solid leads yet. The community is stunned by his death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR FRANK JAGER, EUREKA, CALIFORNIA: Father Eric is a friend of mine, a tremendous person in this community, multilingual. Just a tremendous person and this is an absolutely tremendous loss not only for the St. Bernard's parish, but for the community in general.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Freed was very active in Eureka's Japanese community and had taught at Humble University the last ten years.
Actor James Avery has died. Avery played the stern but always loving Uncle Phil in the 90s sitcom the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." His manager says he died from complications stemming from open heart surgery in early November. "Fresh Prince" co-star Alfonso Riviero tweeted this. "He was a second father to me. I will miss him greatly." James Avery was 68 years old.
An Iraq war veteran made history Wednesday when activists say he became the first person in the U.S. ever to walk in to a store to buy marijuana for recreational use. Sean Azzariti had been the leading voice into push to legalize pot for personal use in Colorado. He was one of thousands of devotees who waited in line for hours on the first day that sales were legal.
Casey Wian is in Denver. Casey, how did that first full day go?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka it was really an amazing experience to be a part of and to witness. I'm surrounded by marijuana plants that are destined for Evergreen Apothecary which is where we spent New Year's Day the first day that Coloradoans could legally buy pot without a prescription for recreational use. Business was busier than even the owners ever expected.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN (voice over): This married couple rang in the New Year by waiting outside the Evergreen Apothecary at 2:00 in the morning six hours before recreational marijuana sales began in Colorado.
(on camera): Why was it important for you guys to be here so early and be first in line?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because we're pioneers.
WIAN: Some 800 people took a number at this store day one alone, some waiting in the snow to select their preferred strain of pot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is going to be a cross OG push, --
WIAN: And the first legal deal was done. It's been a long time coming, since the sale of alcohol resumed after the end of prohibition 80 years ago, marijuana has been on the target of authorities, "Reefer Madness", a propaganda film from the 1930's portrays the decent of high school pot smokers into crime and insanity but attitudes and laws have since changed. Colorado first allowed medical marijuana in 2000. It took 12 years before voters here approved Amendment 64, legalizing recreational pot use and sales over the opposition of the state's governor.
MICHELE WOLD, CUSTOMER: I mean this is the forefront. And to be part of history and to -- prohibition has ended.
WIAN: Colorado residents age 21 and over can purchase up to one ounce of marijuana. Out-of-staters can buy a quarter ounce --
MIKE OWENS, CUSTOMER: I'm excited, I've been dreaming about this since I started smoking.
WIAN: There are other rules: no taking marijuana out of state, no consumption in public. And the main concern for law enforcement, no driving stoned.
JACK FINLAW, CHIEF COUNSEL, COLORADO GOVERNOR'S OFFICE: If someone is drinking and driving, they are driving too fast or aggressively, if you're under the influence of marijuana, you're likely to be slow. But frankly we've had medical marijuana in Colorado for about 13 years, so we're -- we're used to dealing with people who are driving and consuming marijuana.
WIAN: For new recreational retailers, the big concern is demand exceeding supply and possibility of shortages and higher prices. Here it's already going for $50 per eighth an ounce. It's a nice problem to have.
TIM CULLEN, CO-OWNER, EVERGREEN APOTHECARY: This has far exceeded my expectations. What an exciting day. It's great to see all these smiling faces.
WIAN: Wonder why they're smiling.
Now those 800 plus people who showed up at Evergreen yesterday, only a little more than 400 of them were actually able to buy their marijuana, because Denver City law requires pot shops to shut down at 7:00 in the evening. So there's going to be 400 people, at least, coming back to the store today. So, we could see another day of long lines -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: More long lines. All right Casey Wian, thanks so much. I know the merchants are very happy.
All right. still come, an estimated 105,000 hardy hockey fans brave the elements for the winter classic. How cold was it, Andy? Oh, boy.
ANDY SCHOLES: It was really cold. It might have been -- it was the second coldest NHL outdoor game in history. They maybe even set a new world record. We'll tell you about it next in your Bleacher Report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk some sports, shall we? Michigan State capped off a season by winning the granddaddy of them all yesterday, leading Stanford in the 100th Rose Bowl.
Andy Scholes joining us now with this morning's Bleacher Report. Fun stuff.
SCHOLES: Yes, Fredricka -- you know, it really surprised a lot of people this year. And after being fifth ranked in this game, they really proved that they belonged among the elite teams in college football. You know, the 100th edition of the Rose Bowl, really lived up to the hype this year.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
SCHOLES: The game was tied all the way into the fourth quarter. It was tied until Connor Cook found Tony Lippett for a 25-yard touchdown. Here comes the video. This happened in the fourth quarter -- here it is. Cook to Lippett, 25 yards, this puts Michigan State up by 7. Then the Spartan's top rated defense, they really brought this game home.
On (inaudible) for Stanford, they come through. Tyler Ellsworth flies in there for the tackle. Michigan State wins this game 24-20. Check it out. Head coach, Mark D'Antonio sniffed (ph) out that Gatorade, got out of the way.
WHITFIELD: Lucky.
SCHOLES: He got to celebrate with dry clothes on.
All right. In the Line up Section of the BleacherReport.com today, check out these highlights from the Fiesta Bowl. Baylor quarterback Bryce petty running for the touchdown. He goes airborne, he flips in for the score. Best part about this is reaction from his mom.
WHITFIELD: Yes, that's what I'm --
SCHOLES: She looks pretty scared in the stands.
WHITFIELD: What -- my baby.
SCHOLES: But Petty was fine.
WHITFIELD: She's crying.
SCHOLES: However his Bears they went on to lose this game to (inaudible) Central Florida 53-42 is the final.
All right in the Outback Bowl between Iowa and LSU; Hawkeye's quarterback John Lowdermilk kicked off -- Tigers scored back to Anthony Jennings. He goes 71 yards the other way for the touchdown.
Take another look. Lowdermilk got a little too excited and he dropped the ball right before --
WHITFIELD: No. Come on.
SCHOLES: -- crossing the goal line. Now the blooper was -- it wasn't a complete disaster though Fredricka. Iowa they took over on the one- yard line and eventually scored a touchdown. He played later to get on the board and that got Lowdermilk him off the hook in that one.
All right. More than 105,000 tickets were sold for yesterdays NHL Winter Classic at the Big House in Anne Arbor, Michigan. This could be a new world record for attendance at a hockey game. They actually had to count how many people went to the game before they're going to call it a record.
Either way thought, very impressive, considering the conditions. The game time temperature was 13 degrees with a wind chill of negative 1. Play was stopped twice in the first period so crews could shovel snow off the ice. And fans were treated to a little extra (inaudible) and listened to the game and ended up going into a shootout. Maple leafs beat the Redwings 3-2. Exciting stuff. Very brave fans to go out there to that game.
WHITFIELD: Very brave, I mean that is die hard all the way. Forget about it. You're not going to see me out there. Thanks for bringing that to us. We got to stay and be toasty while we watch it.
Thanks Andy.
All right. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
Good morning again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Carol Costello this morning. Just two days into the New Year and already we're dealing with two big winter storms. One is bearing down on the Midwest. It's bringing frigid temperatures with it. Get this. Temps have dropped so low in some parts of Minnesota that it's literally been colder than the surface of Mars.
