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Trade Opens Mixed; Too Big to Jail; Avalanche in Colorado; Passengers Stranded; JetBlue Passengers Stranded Until Tomorrow; Statue of Satan Proposed for Oklahoma Capitol; Celebrities Perform for Repressive Regimes; UTEP Sports Gambling Scandal
Aired January 08, 2014 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
Wall Street looking at a mixed open this morning. A disappointing turn after the Dow ended the day in the green for the first time on Tuesday. Alison Kosik live at the New York Stock Exchange.
Good morning, Alison.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Looks like, yes, yesterday may have been a one hit wonder, but we did get a strong report on the labor market. Private payroll processor ADP says the private sector added 238,000 jobs in December. It happened to be the biggest gain in more than a year. Also, November's numbers, those were revised better than originally reported and the gains last month were broad based. And what that means is that they included a lot of sectors. That's another good sign that those jobs being added aren't just in one place.
And look at this. If you look at all of 2013, yes, we've been keeping track of that. And 2.2 million jobs were added last year. That's not too bad. But, if you look at what we lost in 2008 and 2009 in just two years with a little over 8 million jobs. So the number of jobs that we've gained back in the following four years, true, it still isn't enough to get back to the high point we were at, but it is getting close.
In fact, one economist sounds pretty optimistic. He said the good news is that businesses at this point are growing more, they're becoming more and more confident and they're boosting their hiring. We're going to get a better picture of this on Friday, Carol, when the big government jobs report comes out. That factors in both private sector employment and public sector. Those numbers coming out on Friday.
A few minutes into the opening bell already, the Dow is down 43 points.
Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Alison, thanks so much.
We know banks like JP Morgan have been called "too big to fail," but are they also too big to jail? CNN has learned that during a meeting between prosecutors and bank regulators about JP Morgan's failure to alert authorities in the Bernie Madoff scandal, prosecutors wanted to make sure that if they charged JP Morgan with crimes, that regulators would not revoke the bank's charter. Regulators would not go along. In other words, go ahead and levy fines for financial crimes, but anything else is too risky. You can't send anyone to jail. CNN justice correspondent Evan Perez live in Washington.
It - I don't know, it sort of sounds like get out of jail free card for bankers. Is it?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, that's what it sounds like. It -- we were told about this meeting a few weeks ago as the Justice Department prosecutors in New York were nearing their investigation - the end of this investigation into JP Morgan and what it knew about Bernie Madoff's scam.
Now, we're told that they wanted some assurances that the bank wouldn't be closed down, essentially, and that hundreds of thousands of people wouldn't be put out of work and they couldn't get those assurances, which is why you see that they ended up with this $1.7 billion settlement, which is going to restitution for the victims, but yet it seems like a slap on the wrist for the bank, Carol.
COSTELLO: In all, JP Morgan paid, what, more than $14 billion in fines last year alone.
PEREZ: Right.
COSTELLO: So how is JP Morgan still a bank, number one, and how is Jamie Dimon still the CEO?
PEREZ: Well, you know, the -- Jamie Dimon is very popular in Wall Street. I mean his bank has put aside about $23 billion just to pay different -- they expect settlements of about a dozen investigations that are still ongoing. So on Wall Street, they view his profitability, that's the mark by which he is judged. And JP Morgan, if you put aside all these settlements, is a very highly profitable bank. It's the biggest bank in America. And that's how he keeps his job.
COSTELLO: OK. So let us take him out - let's take out the intense admiration on Wall Street for Jamie Dimon. What about in our halls of justice?
PEREZ: Well, you know, he has had to come into the Justice Department. It's very rare. You see the attorney general himself brought in JP Morgan's CEO, Dimon, to do negotiations -- face-to-face negotiations in recent months. And, you know, I think one of the things that keeps coming back is, you know, the last one of the big banks that failed in 2008 was Lehman Brothers and a lot of - a lot of people in government don't want to see that repeated. They don't want to see the chaos that that caused in the U.S. economy and the global economy. And so you have this real fix that everybody is in. They want to be tough on these banks, but at the same time they can only be so tough, Carol.
COSTELLO: I don't know, something's not right there. Evan Perez, thanks so much.
Checking our top stories at 35 minutes past.
It won't hit book stands for another six days, but a new memoir by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is reverberating across Washington and beyond. In surprisingly blunt details, Gates blasts President Obama's lack of faith in military leaders. He also rips Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, two potential candidates in the 2016 presidential race.
This morning, Dennis Rodman saying happy birthday to North Korea's leader, Kim Long-un, who turned 31. Former NBA star and his team of retired basketball players reportedly lost their exhibition game against the North Korea team. That's according to Sky News. Rodman has come under fire for his friendship with Kim while refusing to help an American imprisoned there.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's the winter resort to the stars, but now the ski season in Vail, Colorado, has turned deadly. We'll have more for you after a break.
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COSTELLO: There are new details this morning about a deadly avalanche in Vail, Colorado. You know now the avalanche killed skier Tony Seibert, the grandson of one of Vail's cofounders. It also injured three others. Ana Cabrera is in Denver with more on this.
Good morning.
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
We're now learning that Anthony Seibert was a very experienced skier. He loved the outdoors. Spent a lot of time in the back county. He was with three of his buddies. They were in an area that's known to be popular for skiers and snowboarders in the back country. Again, not inside the Vail Resort ski boundaries. But we're told, to get to this area, it's just a short hike from the top of Vail Mountain. So it is accessible and it's also an area that's avalanche-prone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA (voice-over): A scoured mountain side, trees tossed like toys, a giant avalanche leaving behind a deadly path of destruction.
ETHAN GREENE, DIRECTOR, COLORADO AVALANCHE INFORMATION CENTER: It's been described as a couple hundred yards wide and maybe up to 10 feet deep, running close to 1,000 feet vertical.
CABRERA: This is the back country not far from the Vail Ski Resort.
JESSIE MOSHER, EAGLE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE PIO: It is not on Vail Resort's mountain. And it is for experienced skiers and snowboarders.
CABRERA: The huge slide trapped four people. Rescuers worked quickly to save three, but it was too late for their friend. The victim now identified as 24-year-old Anthony Seibert, the grandson of the ski area's founder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are fabulous skiers. He was a fabulous skier.
CABRERA: It's now the second avalanche fatality in Colorado in just over a week. This amazing video is from the same area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that an avalanche. That's (INAUDIBLE) an avalanche. No, I'm dropping (ph). I'm dropping (ph).
CABRERA: Another avalanche triggered just days before Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dig (ph) me out (ph).
CABRERA: Here, Davis Lamar (ph) digs out his brother, saving his life.
GREENE: What we've been seeing over the last say 10 days or so is just a general increase in the size of the avalanches in the back country.
CABRERA (on camera): Why is that?
GREENE: Well, we have some very weak snow near the ground that formed early in the season and we've been getting kind of consistent snowfall. So the slab over it is starting to get thicker and larger.
CABRERA (voice-over): And it's happening all across the Rocky Mountain region. Three snowmobilers triggered an avalanche in Montana last week. One of them was buried and killed. And trails were closed at this Utah resort when an avalanche temporarily buried several skiers. All of them survived. Experts urge anyone heading into the back country to be prepared for the power of Mother Nature.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Now, information really is the key here. You need to know the risks. You need to know how to test the snow for avalanche conditions. You need to understand the angles and what those risks pose. Now, avalanche.org is a really good place to look for the latest avalanche information where you are. And experts say a shovel, a beacon and a probe are just some of the key and essential equipment you really need if you go into the back country, especially right now.
Carol.
COSTELLO: Ana Cabrera reporting live for us this morning.
No relief yet for many weary JetBlue passengers. The airline says all passengers whose flights were cancelled Monday should make their intended destinations by tomorrow. JetBlue is operating normally, but has a massive log jam of stranded passengers. Rene Marsh live in Reagan National Airport in Washington with more.
Good morning.
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, the weather was the big story and then came JetBlue and it became the story. Passengers, they were criticizing the airline saying they did not handle the weather disruptions very well. Well, we now know today JetBlue is trying to make good with some of those frustrated flyers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARSH (voice-over): Thousands of JetBlue passengers are finally reaching their destinations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to get you home.
MARSH: As the airline tries to get back on track following their unpopular decision to ground all planes scheduled to depart New York City, New Jersey and Boston airports Monday night into Tuesday.
KRISTA HOBISLAN, JETBLUE PASSENGER: I had to find out through the news that my flight was - that they shut down completely.
MARSH: JetBlue canceled more than 1,800 flights since Thursday, stranding thousands of passengers in the U.S. and the Caribbean and bruising the public's opinion of the airline. Now it's in damage control.
ROB MARUSTER, JETBLUE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (voice-over): I absolutely think we did the right thing because when you're doing things for safety reasons, not only of our people but of our assets and inevitably our customers, I think we're doing them the best service possible, no matter how hard the short term pain is.
MARSH: In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, the airline said cancellations impacted 150,000 passengers. Operations are returning to normal, but JetBlue predicts the backlog could take another day to work through.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got the last seat, first flight out.
MARSH: Almost every major airline was impacted by the now infamous polar vortex, but JetBlue bared the brunt of the criticism.
DANIEL BAKER, FLIGHTAWARE.COM: They're certainly a victim of their location. The vast majority of their flights are to and from the northeast. And I believe the plurality are to and from JFK. They were more affected than the carriers that they're being compared with.
MARSH: JetBlue has a history of weather troubles. In a 2007 storm, passengers sat for eight hours on the tarmac in New York, prompting new federal rules. But the airline says it has changed and takes proactive steps to protect passengers.
MARUSTER: When weather is going to win, we let weather win.
MARSH: To make good with angry passengers, JetBlue is offering compensation based on how many times their flights were cancelled. One cancellation, 5,000 frequent flyer points or $50, up to 20,000 points and round trip flights, or $200, for four or more cancellations.
PETER SHANKMAN, MARKETING CONSULTANT: When issues are weather related, airlines do not have to offer compensation. So JetBlue going out of the way to do that is a really good first step into making this right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARSH: All right. And we can tell you, Carol, that overall today looks a lot better for flyers. JetBlue, for example, just one percent of their fleet we're seeing cancelations and seven percent delays. By this time yesterday, we were seeing double digits. So, again, a much better story for people trying to get to their destinations.
Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Rene Marsh reporting live from Reagan National Airport this morning.
Coming up in the next hour of NEWSROOM, cropping the curves. Television actress turned cover model Mindy Kaling is raising eyebrows after her latest photo shoot. Actually, "Elle" magazine is the one raising the eyebrows because a lot of her is missing. Find out why she says, if you want to see more, you've got to take her out on a date. And more than one. That's all new in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
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COSTELLO: Checking our "Top Stories." It's 48 minutes past the hour just minutes from now the so-called dead banker is due to appear in a South Georgia courtroom. Aubrey Lee Price is accused of embezzling $21 million from a small town bank. Price earned his nickname after disappearing in an apparent suicide was actually declared legally dead but as you can see he is very much alive.
The congressman who pleaded guilty to cocaine possession now back on Capitol Hill. Republican Trey Radel of Florida apologized for his actions again yesterday but said he is not thinking yet about reelection so he may face a GOP primary challenger in August. Radel completed a substance abuse program in Florida and said he will continue treatment in Washington.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lost my health insurance three years ago when my wife lost her job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never thought --
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COSTELLO: Some of you will be seeing ads like these during the Winter Olympics next month. The Department of Health and Human Services says it bought air time for targeted ads touting Obamacare enrollment. The ads will air in markets with the highest rate of insured people. Officials did not say how much was spent to purchase this air time. A giant statue of Satan surrounded by smiling children it could -- it could go up at the Oklahoma State House right next to a statue of the Ten Commandments. Take a look, if the group's application is accepted this beastly figure could be on the state house grounds complementing that monument to the Ten Commandments. Supporters say it is a matter of religious freedom. Here's more now from Courtney Francisco from CNN affiliate KFOR.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COURTNEY FRANCISCO, KFOR REPORTER (voice over): Finally revealed a goat figure with children at its feet. The monument The Satanic Temple hopes will soon sit at the state capitol.
LUCIEN GREAVES, THE SATANIC TEMPLE: We decided to go with that because it is a fairly traditional character. It also offers a lap that visitors can come to sit on, have their picture taken with.
FRANCISCO: The devil's image sitting beside the Ten Commandments is an odd pair. But Satanic Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves says the monuments together represent religious freedom. Not everyone agrees.
PAUL WESSELHOFT, OKLAHOMA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I think they are trying to get our goat and I'm not going to let them do that.
FRANCISCO: Representative Paul Wesselhoft believes the Satanic statue won't pass through the preservation committee.
WESSELHOFT: What will disqualify them has really nothing to do with Satan as such, it's -- that it has no historical significance for the state of Oklahoma. The only reason why the Ten Commandments qualified is because at the capitol what we do is we make laws. We are law makers. Well one of the earliest laws that we have are the Ten Commandments. So therefore it has historical significance.
FRANCISCO: But the Satanic Temple says its statue carries the same weight.
GILAVES: It absolutely is of historic value. Not only would a Satanic monument send a clear and distinct message that America respects plurality, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, but it would also stand as a historical marker, commemorating scapegoats, the marginalized and the demonized minority, the unjustly outcast."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Thanks again to Courtney Francisco from our affiliate KFOR. By the way the committee in charge of approving the monument says it's not taking applications until a lawsuit over the Ten Commandments monument is settled. The ACLU sued calling that monument of the Ten Commandments an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion.
Dennis Rodman isn't the only celebrity to get cozy with the brutal dictator. That would be Jennifer Lopez performing for the president of Turkmenistan last June. He's the same man that Human Rights Watch labeled one of the world's most repressive leader. J Lo later apologized for that performance through a statement.
CNN's Nischelle Turner, live in New York with more on all of this. Good morning.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. I'm kind of still thinking about folks unveiling Satan's statue, Carol. I'm never really sure where to go from that but here's where I'll go.
Yes, Dennis Rodman is not the only celebrity that has been talked about in situations like this. Rodman said he gifted this basketball game that they are playing for the North Korean leader's birthday. We have seen several A-List entertainers perform or appear then apologize for encounters with other regimes that have been labeled as repressive.
Back in 2011, the WikiLeaks Web site revealed that Beyonce, Usher and Mariah Carey all performed a private concert funded by the family of now deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi. After that revelation all of the artists said they were donating their paychecks from the even to charity.
Also singer Nellie Furtado came under fire for performing at a Gadhafi funded concert. She too then donated her paycheck after the news became public. Now while many times these celebrities plead ignorance and apologize afterwards, the difference here is Dennis Rodman doesn't seem to care what anyone thinks.
On the other then you have figures like Josephine Baker who kept performing in France after Germany occupied the country in World War II. And then history later revealed that she had been recruited by the French to spy and report on the German military movement.
And then today, we have George Clooney who revealed last year, that he actually uses the million of dollars that he's paid for his (inaudible) coffee commercials to pay for a satellite to keep an eye on the government of Sudanese president, Omar al Bashir. So there is a lot that goes into play here. A lot of people Carol say celebrities should just stay out of the political arena.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: What? Wait a minute, George Clooney bought a spy satellite?
TURNER: Did you not -- yes, I read that this morning. He makes all this money for these coffee commercials and he decided to do that. You know he is very active especially in issues in Africa and so this is what he wanted to do with the money that he makes.
He has said several times that he funds his career. He does these big budget films to make these money but he funds his career and the things that he wants to do with the coffee ads. That's why he doesn't mind when his face is attached to different products where some celebrities say I don't want to be endorsing anything. He doesn't mind it, because it gets him money to pay for some of the passion projects that he likes to do. COSTELLO: Interesting -- Nischelle - I learned something. Thank you very much.
TURNER: Wait I learned something from the Satan unveiled statue.
COSTELLO: I would like to pump the breaks just a minute. WE have to go back. Nischelle Turner, thanks so much.
TURNER: There you go.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the careers of three college basketball players are over. Gambling, Andy Scholes?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Yes, betting on sports when you're a student athlete is a big no-no. We'll tell you where all this went down -- next in your Bleacher Report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Following an FBI investigation, three UTep men's basketball players have been kicked out of school for gambling on sports. Andy Scholes this is bad.
SCHOLES: Yes, it's bad -- Carol. You know, gambling on sports when you're a student athlete is big no-no. Now it's unclear what exactly these players gambled on. Utep officials say it was not on their own game. I guess at least that's one silver lining in this whole thing.
Yesterday, Utep made the announcement that leading scorer McKenzie Moore, Jalen Raglan and Dustin Crosgile were all off the team and were no longer enrolled at the school. For NCAA rules, any type of sports gambling is not allowed and results in a one-year suspension and a loss of a year eligibility. Now all three of these players were upper classmen so their college career is now effectively over.
A New Jersey man is suing the NFL because he says the league is pricing the average fan out of the Super Bowl.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go, Josh Fenkellman.
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SCHOLES: That's right. His name is Josh Fenkellman. He claims the NFL made only one percent of tickets available for fans and that violates the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. He is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The NFL says they're reviewing this suit. But the league did point out that the majority of Super Bowl tickets are given to teams which then sell them at face value to fans who win lotteries.
Florida State completed their dream season Monday night beating Auburn from the national title but someone got a little too excited when rushing to get the championship t-shirts ready for order. The official shirt was available yesterday afternoon. It had the score backwards. It said Auburn won the game 34-31, not Florida State. The shirt has, of course, been since fixed -- Carol.
No word yet on if anyone actually received this one with the wrong score. I guess it would be a collector's item -- right.
COSTELLO: That's right.
SCHOLES: All right. In the line up section on BleacherReport.com. Today it comes from the Heat. Pelicans last night, Lebron is going to get the bucket plus the foul. After being helped up by his teammate, this fan wanted to pick up Lebron. He goes in and gives her a nice big smooch on the cheek.
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LEBRON JAMES, MIAMI HEAT: It's 2014, man. It is all about sharing the care. She loves the heat. It's a great experience for her. I'm happy I'm able to do that for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: What a souvenir. You know, you go to the game and you end up getting kissed by Lebron.
COSTELLO: It's all about sharing and caring.
SCHOLES: She will never forget that one. She will probably not wash her face for a week, too -- right.
COSTELLO: I'm sure she won't. Thanks, Andy.
Next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
Happening now in the NEWSROOM, former secretary of defense, Robert Gates on the attack.
