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Why Did JetBlue Stop Flights For 17 Hours?; Five Hundred Plus Passengers Stranded On Train; Brain Dead Girl In "Very Bad" Shape; Fifty Five Percent Of Americans Think Pot Should Be Legal; Close Vote Expected On Jobless Benefits; Ex-Viking Kluwe Slams "Bigot" And "Cowards"

Aired January 07, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, thousands of passenger stranded, right now, JetBlue airlines gets ready to fire up its engines as the travel nightmare shows no signs of easing. Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS RODMAN: Do you understand what could invade dead? Do you understand what you --

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: What did he do? You tell me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Dennis Rodman, unplugged and one on one. A CNN exclusive in a startling claim against imprisoned American, Kenneth Bay. And a major vote on unemployment happens this hour in the Senate and it could bring financial relief to many Americans who desperately need it. NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello. Record shattering cold grips much of the nation. We may see some of the snarled air travel begin to unknot this hour. JetBlue says, starting now, it is ramping up its operations after its drastic move to shut down for 17 hours in some of the nation's busiest airports.

The company says it cancelled about 4,200 flights stranding tens of thousands of travellers, some of the passengers scoffing at JetBlue's goal of being back to 100 percent by midday as promised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if anyone actually knows where any of the lines go or what they are for. Everyone just gets there and no one is out here answering questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was sitting on my plane and then there was an announcement that it was cancelled. So then I had to get off and then I went back with them and I've been stuck here for two days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm actually kind of worried, because the way this line is, I want to know what security is going to be like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Man, that must be hell. CNN aviation correspondent, Rene Marsh is at Reagan National Airport and our chief business correspondent, Christine Romans is in New York. OK, so Renee, let's start with you. We've reached out -- I'm sure you've reached out to JetBlue executives to ask them why they decided to shut down operations for 17 hours. Have you had any luck?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: We did speak with JetBlue and you know, they are sticking to their words and their messaging here. They are pretty much saying they had to do this because they want to get passengers to their destinations as fast as possible. Let's talk more about JetBlue. You mentioned 17 hours. No plains were taking off from those New York, New Jersey, and Boston airports. No planes for 17 hours.

It is a drastic step that JetBlue took. No other airline took that step. Here is an update as to what operations will look like as we move through the morning. They say they will be up to 25 percent as far as departures go at this hour. Then, when we move to the noon hour, they will be up to 50 percent and again by 3:00, they say they will be 100 percent. We're talking about 3:00 Eastern Time -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, well, maybe they will be back up to 100 percent from a business standpoint and a PR standpoint?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the PR standpoint, it is not great because, look, you have everybody in all the airlines delayed or not even sitting on the tarmac. They wish they were. JetBlue is getting all the grief today, in part, because JetBlue also said, among the reasons why they did this reset was because of these new flight rules for flight crews. That's something that aviation experts said, wait a minute. You have had several years to work on that. That should not be something that has really tangled you up here.

One thing from a business standpoint, Carol, this is a reset. This is, if you cancel all these flights. You don't have people in those planes. You don't have people going to those airports. It allows you to get your crews caught up. It allows you to get your planes worked on and start all over again today so that's the business reason why they did it, but certainly they are getting a lot of grief.

COSTELLO: You are not kidding. So, Rene, what best advice do you have for passengers?

MARSH: Well, you know, the best advice I could give you is essentially be patient and you want to be proactive. You want to pretty much wait on those lines. Get on the phone with the airline because these opportunities do kind of pop up once in a while. You just really want to be proactive. You don't want to take one person's word at 10:00 and not check back in before noon. Just keep on checking. Carol, one last thing, if I can slip it in there, JetBlue kind of blaming us, the media regarding their stance on those new FAA rest rules. They told us on Sunday over the phone that they believed that those rules were just compounding the delays.

Fast forward to today after they got a lot of pushback from people like the pilot's union saying, look, you have enough time to prepare. You just weren't prepared for this. Now JetBlue is saying, look, the media was hyping our position on these new FAA rules. What we really meant was it had a little bit of impact, but it was more so the weather. We are noticing a slight change in the language at this point this morning.

COSTELLO: All right, Rene Marsh, Christine Romans, many thanks to both of you.

The travel headaches are not just in the air, of course. Amtrak fell victim to the bad weather as well. That desolate moon scape you're looking of drifting snow brought three Amtrak trains to an absolute stop yesterday afternoon. About 500 Amtrak passengers spent the night hunkered down. This morning, Amtrak offloaded the first of the passengers onto buses and drove them to Chicago. I talked with one of those passengers last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIERRA SCHNACK, STRANDED PASSENGER: We were told it was going to have a lot of delays and it would be a slower train. Then, we left and every train stopped that we went to. We would have little stops in between where we would have to clear something or wait for another train. There was one stop that lasted nine hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That was a doozy. She is in her dorm room right now, Sierra is. She is all warm and I don't know. She is probably jogging in place. I can't imagine sitting that long on a train, George Howell.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is a bad situation, Carol, you know, especially when you consider the temperatures that we are dealing with. Right now, here in the city of Chicago, negative 9 degrees there. Feels like negative 30 degrees so to be in a train waiting for someone to come and get you to a warm place, not a good situation. But again, as you mentioned, there were three trains we are talking about just 80 miles west of Chicago.

We do understand two of those trains, the people on board, and I believe some 500 people overall, two of those trains have been evacuated. Amtrak is in the process of getting people off that third train and on to a bus. We understand that bus could be arriving in the city of Chicago here within the hour and hopefully, Carol, just like the person you spoke to earlier, hopefully, they can also get to back home, back to a warm place.

COSTELLO: I hope so. George Howell, many thanks to you. All right, let's talk about one crazy interview now. Dennis Rodman now accusing an American man being held by the North Korean government of wrongdoing. In a combative interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, he blew up when he was asked about why the North Korean government would not release Kenneth Bay.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": Dennis, let me end on this. You do have a relationship with this man. You have said it many times. We have seen it demonstrated for whatever reason. Are you going to take an opportunity, if you get it, to speak up for the family of Kenneth Bay and to say, let us know why this man is being held, that this is wrong, that he is sick. If you can help, Dennis, will you take the opportunity?

DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NBA PLAYER: The one thing about politics, Kenneth Bay did the wrong thing. Did I understand what Kenneth Bay did?

CUOMO: You tell me what he did.

RODMAN: No, no, no, you tell me. Why did he held --

CUOMO: They haven't released any charges.

RODMAN: Let me do this. I would love to speak on this.

CUOMO: Go ahead.

RODMAN: You got ten guys here, ten guys here that have left their families, left their families to help this country as a sports venture. All these guys, ten guys, all these guys here, do anyone understand that?

CUOMO: We do and we appreciate that. We wish them well with cultural exchange.

RODMAN: No, no, no. I don't give a -- I don't give a rat's ass what the hell you think. I'm saying to you, look at them. Look at them.

CUOMO: Dennis, don't put it on them. Don't use them as an excuse for the behavior that you are putting on yourself.

RODMAN: They came here, they came here.

CUOMO: You were saying that Kenneth bay did something wrong. Don't use these guys as a shield for you, Dennis. Listen, listen.

RODMAN: There will be no shield. I got this. Willie, Willie, I want to tell you one thing, people around the world. I'm going to do one thing. The guy behind the mike right now, we are the guys here doing one thing. We have to go back to America and take the abuse. Do you have to take the abuse that we're going to take? Do you, sir, let me know, you don't take that abuse. We don't care. Guess what, one day, one day, this will open, because these ten guys here, all of us Christian, Ben, Dennis, Charles, all these guys, everybody here, we would just open the door just a little bit for people to come here, maybe one day --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I know. It is hard to believe, isn't it? You wonder if he was on something. Who knows? Shortly after that interview, the NBA sent us a statement totally removing themselves from the efforts of Dennis Rodman. He is in North Korea with the former pro basketball players to play a basketball game on the North Korean leader's birthday.

So David Stern, the NBA commissioner, sent us this statement. I'm going to read it to you, quote, "Although sports in many instances can be helpful in bridging cultural divides, this is not one of them," end quote. I'm sure Kenneth Bay's family will have something to say about this too later tonight on CNN. More still to come on this story.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the first big political battle of the New Year begins this hour as the Senate holds a key vote on extending unemployment benefits. Chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, is in Washington for us. Hello.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we have no idea how this vote is going to end up. It is a nail biter. We'll have more on why that is so after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 14 minutes past the hour. She is in very bad shape. That's how the lawyer for the family of Jahi McMath is describing the condition of the 13-year-old brain-dead girl. McMath was transferred from an Oakland hospital to a special care facility on Sunday night. Yesterday, McMath's uncle talked with CNN's Piers Morgan about the ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMARI SEALEY, JAHI MCMATH'S UNCLE: As a family, we are definitely relieved that she is no longer at Children's hospital. But we are all emotionally drained and everybody is on the verge of having somewhat of a nervous breakdown because this has been an incredible roller- coaster ride of emotions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: McMath's family says they plan to sue the hospital for not feeding her after she was declared brain dead.

Should the use of marijuana be legal all over the place? On the heels of legalized pot sales in Colorado, the majority of Americans, 55 percent now say, yes. That's according to a new CNN/ORC poll. That's 12 percent jump from 2012 and more than three times higher than what it was back in 1987. Four NFL players suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease or ALS could receive as much as $5 million under a proposed deal with the NFL. The $765 million settlement would compensate players and their families for concussion-related injuries. Up to $4 million could go to families of brain damaged players who commit suicide and as much as $3 million if they suffer from dementia.

Just about 15 minutes, a key showdown in the Senate. You're looking live on the floor, real life implications more than a million Americans. Lawmakers will hold a key test vote on extending those unemployment benefits that expired last month. Sixty votes are needed to avoid a Republican filibuster on the measure. Right now, Democrats are just shy of that number with four Republicans joining 55 Democrats in voting yes.

Chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, live on Capitol Hill. So what is this -- I guess it is a procedural vote, which is very complicated. What's the likelihood of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid getting one more Republican on the Democrat's side in essence?

BASH: We actually don't know the answer to that, Carol. Four is the number of Republicans that have declared publicly that they are going to vote with Democrats. There could be more Republicans out there who will at the end of the day feel that they need to support this. This, of course, is, as you've said, a procedural measure, but an important one in order to have the Senate take up this concept of extending long-term unemployment benefits for three months at a cost of about $6.5 billion.

Now this, as we've been reporting, is a Democratic priority from the White House to Capitol Hill. Democrats have decided that the whole concept of reaching out to those most in need, the poorest in this country, is going to be their mantra this year and, in fact, will be a big second-term priority for the president. That's in part why the Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid, decided this would be the first thing that he would do today.

Now, Republicans who are opposed to this aren't all opposed to this for the same reason. Some say it is because Harry Reid is doing this for political reasons. He is putting this up there without any debate, without any discussion in committee about reforming the unemployment system, which some Republicans want to do.

Some republicans say $6.5 billion is a big chunk of change without having it offset in the budget otherwise. Others say, a smaller number of Republicans say they believe it is time to stop the idea of continuing unemployment benefits, because they believe that it depresses the idea of people going out to get work.

Now of course, if you are out there and you have no money and no unemployment, benefits are going to run out. It is 20 below zero and you can't pay for your heat, you are not really worried about political games in Washington.

COSTELLO: No, you're not. Dana Bash, we'll get back to you. Thanks so much. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, former Vikings punter, Chris Kluwe, says he was fired but not for his performance on the field.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one ever told me that I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do. The only thing that changed from year eight to when I got cut is I started speaking out on same-sex rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: His words are having far-reaching repercussions. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Chris Kluwe certainly has a way of words. His article, "I was an NFL player until I was fired by two cowards and a bigot" has now gone viral and it's "Dead Spin's" most popular post ever. The article alleges Kluwe was fired because of his outspoken support for gay rights. Not exactly what the NFL has yearned for, but it's now dealing with. Kluwe talked with Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS KLUWE, FORMER PUNTER, MINESSOTA VIKINGS: I didn't start keeping notes until April like I said in the article when they drafted a punter and it was clear to me that my job was done with the Vikings because up until that point, I was under the impression that I would still play for them. I had done everything the coaches wanted me to do. My stats were the same as they had always been and I had no reason to think they were letting me go. No one ever said they were dissatisfied with my performance. Once they did draft a punter, I thought, I need to get this stuff down while it is fresh and make sure that I have --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Kluwe alleged Special Teams Coach Mike Preefer made anti- gay comments telling players at a meeting, quote, "We should round up all the gays and send them to an island and nuke it until it glows." Kluwe also alleges the Viking's former head coach, Leslie Frazier and Minnesota's general manager discouraged his activisms. The Vikings say they are now investigating.

With me now to talk about this, Rachel Nichols, anchor of CNN's "UNGUARDED" and David Cornwell, an attorney who represents many NFL players including Jonathan Martin of the Miami Dolphins. Welcome to both of you. Rachel, I want to start with you. Is Kluwe's article on "Dead Spin," are people talking about that within NFL circles?

RACHEL NICHOLS, ANCHOR, CNN'S "UNGUARDED": Absolutely. This has made a great impact and you know, as a reporter, someone who covers the NFL, you will love players like Chris Kluwe, smart, engaged, realizing that as a professional athlete, they have the chance to impact the world around them, however they see fit. Kluwe has been active, not just in marriage equality but in many other issues as well. As an NFL executive, he is not the kind of player that you necessarily want on your team, someone who makes waves, someone who has viewpoints that could be controversial. You can see where there was a divide here. I'm interested, though, in David's opinion on this. I have not seen too many NFL teams who let go of players who can help them in the game on the field. We have seen NFL players who have been arrested for drunk driving.

We've seen NFL players who have been arrested for domestic abuse, murder investigations, all kinds of problems off the field. In an NFL team feels that that player in the balance helps them on the field, they keep that guy around. Now, the balance issue, though, is important.

Maybe the Vikings did feel or certain members of the Vikings felt that the balance with Chris Kluwe, that he was causing too much of a distraction and worth getting rid of in comparison to how much money he was making and performance.

COSTELLO: David, what do you think?

DAVID CORNWELL, SPORTS ATTORNEY: Happy New Year to you and Rachel. Good morning, Rachel.

NICHOLS: Good morning, David.

CORNWELL: It is an excellent point. The National Football League is about winning football games. Players and coaches will put up with a whole lot if they believe somebody can help you win a football game. Chris, no doubt, was influential and was making a difference. But I believe that the Vikings decision to go in a different direction is because they thought someone else could be a better player for them and not because of Chris's views with respect to same-sex marriage or anything else.

COSTELLO: Would another team hire him?

CORNWELL: If he is good enough, absolutely.

COSTELLO: It doesn't matter. This controversy wouldn't matter to them.

CORNWELL: Let me tell you something. This is more of a competitive sense than a sexual preference sense. The National Football League is about men and coaches are about leading men. The objective is to win games. You will be accepted in an NFL locker room in a nanosecond if the players believe you can help them win games. The coaches will lead you in that direction.

COSTELLO: So, Rachel, also, in Anderson Cooper's interview last night, Chris Kluwe said that there were witnesses to his allegations, players, other players, on Minnesota's team. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KLUWE: I'm confident because it is the right thing to do. Also, one of the things that I'm going to push for and will absolutely demand is the fact that there must be anonymity for these witnesses. Being black balled in the NFL is a very real possibility. That's not something I'm willing to force my former teammates is to submit to. If it means interviewing all members of the 2012 Vikings in order to make sure no one is singled out, then that's what it takes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Rachel, do you think that other players will ever come forward and stand up for Chris Kluwe and say, I heard those comments too?

NICHOLS: Well, I think it depends as Chris points out, what kind of shield they are given in this investigation. It does help this investigation that the Minnesota Vikings' coaching staff is in flux right now. The head coach has been fired. The assistant coaches are still technically retained by the team but a new coach is going to come in there. They usually bring in their own assistants.

If this was a case where that coach was currently very much employed, the whole administration there was employed and, therefore, players were concerned about keeping their jobs, that might be a factor in having them be quiet. I think players will be a little bit more likely to talk if they feel like, hey, there is new coaches coming in here anyway.

We have to impress all new people. As Chris points out, that anonymity or having some protection from the team where the NFL is important, like it is in any investigation where people are being asked to tell on their bosses.

COSTELLO: Just to button things up, David, Rachel said a lot of personnel are leaving. Are the Minnesota Vikings really going to look into this when most of the people allegedly involved in this are going to be gone anyway?

CORNWELL: I think they will. I think they have to. I think the commissioner will be sitting in the background to make sure that they are doing a comprehensive and a legitimate investigation. Given the things that went on with Jonathan in the Dolphins, I've met with the commissioner about that. Now, this in the Vikings, there is no doubt that the NFL is at the cutting edge of some social issues. They are going to deal with this responsibly. There is no question in my mind.

COSTELLO: How is Jonathan Martin doing, by the way?

CORNWELL: He is doing very well. He is back in school, studying, doing very well and anxious to get back into the NFL and play some football.

COSTELLO: So you think he will definitely play football again.

CORNWELL: Jonathan is one of the best tackles in the National Football League. Some team is going to want to have him on their team. I don't know if the Dolphins is the place he will end up but he will be able to play football in the National Football League. NICHOLS: If you can play football, people will want you on the team.

COSTELLO: I heard that from both of you many times this morning. Thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the vote we've been talking about in the Senate on unemployment benefits is just about to begin. A live report from Washington next.

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