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Gitmo-Freed Terrorist May Have Participated in Benghazi Attack; Rodman Sings "Happy Birthday" to Kim; Other Celebrity Performances for Dictators; New Movie, "Philomena," Tells Story of Woman's Search for Child Taken from Her; Fan Sues NFL Over Super Bowl Ticket Pricing; Gabby Giffords Skydives on Shooting Anniversary; Polar Vortex Recedes

Aired January 08, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And just like that, poof, we lost both of them. But I can tell you this.

There is a fascinating, incredibly lengthy write on CNN.com that has much more of the stats and figures and opinions from both sides of it. So go to CNN.com.

Coming up next, one of the fears about closing down Guantanamo, a former detainee taking part in a terrorist attack.

We are learning what may have already happened in Benghazi, Libya.

Plus, Dennis Rodman not only bows to a dictator, he sings, oh, yes, serenading to north Korea's Kim Jong-un.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Bottom of the hour, I'm Brooke Baldwin. It has been a long- held fear by some in Washington that once Guantanamo Bay detainees are set free, they will return to terrorism with a deeper disdain of the Americans who locked them up.

Now, that fear may be a reality. A former Guantanamo Bay detainee is suspected of playing a role in the attack on the U.S. compound, the diplomatic compound, in Benghazi, the deadly attack that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

CNN's Elise Labott, our foreign affairs reporter, joins me here and tell me. What we know about this guy and his movements after he was released from Gitmo?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: We are talking about Sufian al-Qumu. He was a long-held terrorist working with Osama bin Laden.

He trained with bin Laden in the 1990s and went to work for one of bin Laden's companies in Sudan before then going back to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban against U.S. forces.

Then he went to Pakistan. He was picked up there, went to Guantanamo and was released back to the Libyans in 2007. They were supposed to keep an eye on him.

The Libyan authorities released him in 2008 and he has been working in eastern Libya in Derna and working for a group called Ansar al-Sharia. This group has a couple of branches throughout Libya, also one in Tunisia.

And U.S. officials say Libyan sources have told us over the last few months that men under his command were believed to have been at the site.

And that's why the State Department is taking some action against him and Ansar al-Sharia. They are expected to designate the group, its branches in Benghazi and Derna and also in Tunisia, as a foreign terrorist organization in the coming days.

BALDWIN: OK, Elise Labott, thank you.

And now we move to NBA vet Dennis Rodman, causing even more controversy, showing the world today exactly how much he adores his friend and dictator, Kim Jong-un, and this bizarre relationship they have struck.

It is the North Korean leader's birthday today, so who better to sing happy birthday than Dennis Rodman?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NBA PLAYER: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The birthday love did not stop there.

On the court, Rodman -- here he is -- bowing, 90-degree angle, showing a sign of deep respect for the dictator Kim Jong-un.

Rodman and a team of former NBA players played this exhibition basketball game to mark Kim's birthday. The American team, by the way, lost. This is according to state media.

But just yesterday we showed an interview that shocked many when Rodman implied to our own colleague here at CNN, Chris Cuomo, that an American who has been imprisoned without explanation in North Korea -- that the American did something wrong.

Rodman is not the only celebrity to get cozy with a brutal dictator. Nischelle Turner joins me to discuss more on the list.

I remember during everything happening in Libya. A lot came out about those celebrities singing to Gadhafi, right?

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely, Brooke.

Yeah, Dennis Rodman is who we've been talking about lately but he is definitely not the only. He said he gifted this basketball game for the North Korean leader's birthday.

But we have seen several A-list entertainers perform or appear and then apologize for these types of encounters with other regimes that are also labeled as repressive.

Back in 2011, there was this Wikileaks Web site that revealed that Beyonce, Usher, Mariah Carey performed at a private concert that was funded by the family of now-deposed Libyan dictator, Muammar Gadhafi.

And after that revelation, all of them said there were going to donate their paychecks from the event to charity.

Nelly Furtado also came under fire for performing at a Gadhafi-funded concert. She, too, then donated her paycheck after the news became public.

Now, many times these celebrities plead ignorance and then they apologize afterwards. Here, the difference is Dennis Rodman doesn't seem to care what other people think.

But on the other hand, then you have figures like Josephine Baker. She kept performing after Germany occupied the country in World War II, and history later revealed that she had been recruited by the French to spy and report on German military movements.

And then we have people like George Clooney who revealed last year that he uses the millions that he's paid for his Nespresso coffee commercials to pay for a satellite to keep an eye on the government of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.

So you kind of have both sides of the coin a lot.

BALDWIN: That's right. Gadhafi is gone and I go back to that example of all those A-listers performing for him, apparently.

Don't their representatives, don't they have an idea of where in the world they are going and the politics of said nations, and that they are not very friendly with the U.S.?

TURNER: A lot of times it can be about the paycheck, Brooke. It definitely can.

Sometimes the artist, like in Jennifer Lopez's case, when she performed for the Turkmenistan president, that she said she had no idea what was going on there, and afterwards, she apologized in a statement.

So, a lot of times, they say we don't know what's going on, but some of them get paychecks upwards of a million dollars to do these one- time performances so it can be about the bottom line a lot of times in these cases.

BALDWIN: That's a lot of zeroes for one night.

TURNER: Exactly. BALDWIN: You just have to think about where you are and who you're singing for again.

Nischelle Turner -

TURNER: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: -- thank you very much.

TURNER: Sure.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, have you heard of this film? It's called "Philomena." It's getting all kinds of buzz, even nominated for several Golden Globes.

But some Catholics are crying foul for its raw portrayal of what happened to a teen who got pregnant out of wedlock.

And coming up next, I'm so excited to talk to the woman who the movie was based on, the Philomena, and the director of the film.

Hear more of this remarkable story and their response to the critics, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK, we are about to talk about this fantastic film, but huge spoiler alert here. Spoiler alert! Let me say that over again, spoiler alert.

It is so worth it, because you are about to meet the woman whose story has become the surprise hit of Hollywood, the film bears her own name, Philomena.

Critics love it. It is now up for not one, not two, three Golden Globes. That's this coming weekend.

But, Catholics, there has been backlash since the prime villain here is a nun.

The movie is based upon this true story about Philomena and her search for the boy on this book, her Anthony.

Lee was an unwed teenage in Ireland. She was sent away like many young moms at the time to the nuns to give birth.

They put Lee into hard labor. They forced her to give up her son, Anthony, when he was 3, and ultimately kept her from ever meeting him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did not abandon my child. He was taken from me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She spent her whole life trying to find him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's (inaudible). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I met him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dear god. What is he like? Do you remember anything he said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or it may have been hi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was the trailer. Now, you get the real life Philomena Lee. She joins me next to the film's director, Stephen Frears, who is up for a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay.

So, first, congratulations to both of you, and welcome.

STEPHEN FREARS, DIRECTOR, "PHILOMENA": Thank you very much.

PHILOMENA LEE, BIRTH MOTHER FEATURED IN "PHILOMENA": Thank you.

BALDWIN: Philomena, first with you, because we know the film spends a lot of time about how your son was taken from you.

Can you take me back to the decades and decades ago and recount the last moments when you saw that little boy drive away?

LEE: I could not believe it when he was taken away from me. I had one of the nice nuns.

She came down and said, "Come quickly. Come up the stairs and look out the window. Your boy is being driven away in the car with the little girl adopted with him, Mary."

I kept that picture in my mind all my life, looking out the back window of the car and he was gone.

BALDWIN: That was it. For 50 years, he was gone and you wondered what happened to him and --

LEE: I wondered and wondered.

BALDWIN: Forgive me, there was a bit of a delay.

Over the years, you meet this hard hitting journalist whose name is Martin Sixsmith who ultimately wrote this story and took it hesitantly.

Can you describe that meeting and how key he was, this happy between the two of you? LEE: Well, I kept it a secret for 50 years, and then I used to go home quite often. And my brother, he was the only chap in the whole world who knew about Anthony, because he was about 18 months older than me. And he actually got me to the home originally.

I went home in 2000, I think it was, and -- for a holiday again. And he said, "Will you, for goodness sake, go back home and tell your daughter and son -- my present daughter and son -- which I did.

And, of course, my daughter was -- she said she'd had some kind of an inkling about it, but she straightaway took up the conscience to try and find him. And she tried and tried for -- Adoption (inaudible), adoption (inaudible).

She tried for a whole nearly 18 months and she even rang the White House when she realized he'd worked at the White House, but didn't get any information there, which, of course, secrecy again.

And we tried everywhere until a friend of Jane's, my daughter, went to a party one night and she knew Martin Sixsmith who wrote the book. He was a political journalist and she -- the friend said, would you write a story about it?

And he said, No, I'm not interested. I only do political journalism. He gave her -- yeah, he went back home and gave Jane -- gave the friend his address. And he said we will get Jane to get in couch with me if she wants to, and from then on they took it up.

BALDWIN: They took it?

LEE: They took it up.

BALDWIN: They took it up.

And I know -- forgive me for interrupting, and, Stephen, I want to get to you -- but just for people who aren't familiar.

They took it up. He was this hard-hitting journalist. He said, I don't do human interest stories, and thank goodness he did. And this entire journey begins.

But, Stephen, to you, there have been critics who say "Philomena" is unfair. It's unfair to the Catholic Church with one Catholic leader calling this pure propaganda.

Bill Donahue actually went on to say, quote, "A half century ago an Irish woman gave birth to a son out of wedlock and gave him up for adoption.

"He was born in an abbey, a venue that allowed the mother to avoid being stigmatized."

Do you see the film as anti-Catholic?

FREARS: First of all, I question the words "gave up," "gave up for adoption," since I don't think Philomena was consulted about the child being taken away.

The child was actually taken and sold.

BALDWIN: Right.

FREARS: It's very, very easy to criticize the Catholic Church. They give you large enough targets.

Philomena was just telling me stories, outside. I suspect we let them off lightly.

And, also, the story is really about Philomena not losing her faith, not losing, so she remains a very devout woman.

So, there is a separation between the institution with all its faults and the woman's faith, which I would have thought the Catholic Church would absolutely embrace.

BALDWIN: At the end, Philomena, this is what -- what you see in the movie is that you forgive the nuns for doing this to you.

And in the end, even though, spoiler alert, you never get to meet your son because he's passed away.

How would you characterize this whole experience?

LEE: It took me a very long time. I was heartbroken after I left the home, and went to work in Liverpool for two years.

And then I went down to where I live now in (inaudible) in England, and I took up psychiatric nursing, and there I worked for 30 years in the same hospital -

BALDWIN: Wow.

LEE: -- came across a lot of psychiatric patients, a lot of -- they were so -- because of bitterness they were so hurt and everything else.

And I had to put my own bitterness behind me and gradually started to come back to my religion again.

But it was so much hurt caused through business that I just couldn't remain bitter all my life. I just couldn't do it, because I saw so much hurt from patients that I had nurse and looked after.

To me I had to forgive and just let it go and let it -- at least I had found him through this series of looking for him. I found him, although, as I say, he was dead when I found him.

At least I found him. I was able to put him to rest.

BALDWIN: The story of -

LEE: I am able to help a lot of the psychiatric patients and put my own sorrow behind me and just help them to get on with their life. I couldn't remain bitter.

And after only 61 years ago and how could anybody remain bitter so long?

BALDWIN: It's wonderful. It's a beautiful message of not being bitter, of forgiving and how you tell the story of your secret and everything.

I highly recommend everything about this. The film is "Philomena."

Best of you luck to you at the Golden Globes. Philomena Lee and Stephen Frears, thank you very much.

LEE: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Coming up, did you try to get a ticket to the Super Bowl this year? If you did, you probably ran into some serious sticker shock.

One man is actually -- because of this, he is suing the NFL, saying the ticket prices are simply too high for the regular guy.

Does he have a case? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK. If you are one of those football fans who dreams of going to the Super Bowl but can't quite afford it because the prices are too high, you are not at all alone.

Now there is a man who actually is fighting, legally speaking, to change that. He is Josh Finkelman, a New Jersey businessman, filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL this week.

He claims that they are pricing the average fan out of the biggest game of them all, the Super Bowl.

Finkelman claims the NFL made only one percent of tickets available for fans, and his lawyer says that violates New Jersey's consumer fraud act.

So, Danny Cevallos, our CNN legal analyst, I've never been to the Super Bowl, but I guess they're somewhere in the range of $2,000 and upwards?

But is the NFL actually violating a law by making them so expensive?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: New Jersey, the state of New Jersey, prohibits withholding more than five percent of tickets from any event.

This complaint alleges that the NFL is withholding 99 percent of its tickets. And the reason this is bad for consumers is that by withholding it they sell them to secondary buyers who then create this secondary market, and the mark-up is astronomical

What's so interesting is that the state of New Jersey itself has used this law to go after ticket-sellers in the past, but the more cynical observer might suggest that it hasn't bugged the NFL because god forbid you scare away the Super Bowl from the state of New Jersey.

But, of course, that's only the cynical observer who would make that observation.

BALDWIN: OK. So bottom line, see any of this changing anytime soon?

CEVALLOS: Like this lawsuit, New Jersey takes a hard-line approach in protecting consumers, especially when it comes to tickets, so I like this lawsuit so far.

It will be really interesting to see how the NFL responds, but if you look at the letter and the numbers of the law, it appears that just from this complaint that the NFL may be in violation of New Jersey's consumer protection statute.

BALDWIN: Danny Cevallos, thank you very much.

And it is warming up across the U.S. after the, quote, unquote, "polar vortex: gripped much of the country, but exactly how cold was it?

Here's an example. An escaped inmate actually chose to go back to prison because it was just so darned cold.

We'll take a look at some of the more unique stories that came out of the cold snap.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want you to take a look at this picture because it's pretty remarkable. It was taken about an hour ago.

This is former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords skydiving, three years to the day after she was wounded and left partially paralyzed in that shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona.

Giffords was one of more than a dozen people wounded that day when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire on the congresswoman's meet-and-greet on January 28th, 2011.

Six other people were killed and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, tweeted out this picture.

He wrote, "Gabby landed beautifully. Happy she's safe. So proud of her bravery."

Are you ready for a little warm-up? I am. High pressure in the Southwest and balmy air from the southeast will be driving this polar vortex back where it belongs before the end of the week, which is great.

Lest we forget how cold it's been, take a look. This is "CNN Pop," the big freeze edition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Most of us got sucked into the polar vortex that plunged much of the country into a deep freeze.

But this guy in Kentucky really learned a lesson. You see, Robert Vick is back on ice after escaping from a Kentucky prison.

Freedom didn't last long. In an 18-degree-below-zero wind chill, he asked to be sent back to prison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said, Can you call the law on me?

BALDWIN: Vick is being treated for frostbite.

And really, folks, don't try this at home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so cold that if you put boiling water and throw it into the sky it turns into snow, just like this.

BALDWIN: It worked for us, but dozens have gotten burned trying the same trick.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you burn yourself?

BALDWIN: She sure did, throwing boiling water in the 50-below wind and getting burned in the process, but look how cool!

A better bet for you blowing frozen bubbles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, I'll see if I can poke my finger into it. Right there. So, completely frozen. I'm going to sign off because I'm going numb. Bye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks so much for watching.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.