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Christie Controversy; Christie Traffic Scandal; Christie Faces Fallout from Traffic Scandal; Christie Friend Fights Bridge Testimony; Sole Survivor of 1987 Crash Speaks Out

Aired January 09, 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: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me this morning.

Happening now, opening bell on Wall Street. U.S. stock futures just a bit higher, but Macy's stock surged in free market trading. The retailer said it would cut 2,500 workers and the street loved it.

Back to our big top story now, the New Jersey traffic jam scandal that has involved the administration of Governor Chris Christie. At the center of the controversy are top aides to Christie and a mayor there accused of targeting for political revenge. One of these top players, David Wildstein, was a highest level Christie appointee for the New Jersey Port Authority. The Port Authority is the group that operates the bridge connecting New Jersey and New York.

Wildstein received an e-mail from Christie's deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, who told Wildstein, quote, "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." That was believed to be an order to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge, that would be the nation's busiest crossing into New York City. That bridge also leads to Fort Lee, New Jersey, which is the jurisdiction of this man, the Democrat Mayor Mark Sokolich. Reports say Sokolich and the city of Fort Lee were targeted by Christie's aides after Sokolich refused to back Christie during his re-election bid.

Chris Christie's tough talking, no-nonsense style has made for some very memorable moments. Here's a look back at Christie's take on everything from reporters who go off topic, to a presidential election scheduled for just a few weeks after Superstorm Sandy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On Monday. Are you going to be addressing the legislature?

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R). NEW JERSEY: Did I say on topic? Are you - are you stupid? On topic. On topic. Next question. Good. Thank -- thank you. Thank you. Thank you all very much and I'm sorry for the idiot over there.

I find it fascinating that a doctor in Arizona who's never met me, never examined me, never reviewed my medical history or records, knows nothing about my family history, could make a diagnosis from 2,400 miles away. She must be a genius. You have numbnuts that Reed Gusciora who put out a statement, you know, comparing me to George Wallace and Lester Maddox. Now, you know, come on, guys, at some point you've got to be able to call B.S. on those kind of press releases.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't send your children to public schools. You send them to private schools. So I was wondering why you think it's fair to be cutting school funding to public schools.

CHRISTIE: What's her name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's her name, guys, real quick, because the governor's talking. What is it? Gail (ph). Talk to Gail.

CHRISTIE: Gail, you know what, first off, it's none of your business. I don't ask you where you send your kids to school. Don't bother me about where I send mine.

I don't give a damn about election day. It doesn't matter a lick to me. At the moment, I've got much bigger fish to fry than that. So do the people of the state of New Jersey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So some people love that tough talking and some people, well, they don't love it so much. But let's talk about that. Larry Sabato is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. John Avlon is a CNN political analyst and executive editor for "The Daily Beast."

Good morning to both of you.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CTR. FOR POLITICS: Good morning.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: OK, so this isn't the first time Christie has been accused of retaliation or bullying. He's known for this. The question is, will this scandal have ramifications nationwide? Will people really be so upset at this that it will ruin Christie's chances of possibly becoming president of the United States.

Larry, I'll start with you.

SABATO: Well, Carol, first, we have to know whether Governor Christie had any knowledge of this at the time the bridge was closed or those lanes on the bridge were closed. Second, we need to know whether he participated in any way in the cover-up after the incident first occurred.

Assuming the answer is no to both of those questions, and assuming he does the obvious thing, which is to clean house of his own appointees who were involved in this, then I think he can go forward. But clearly people are going to have a lot of questions about what kind of person Chris Christie is, and that's appropriate for a presidential campaign. Being governor of New Jersey is one thing. The enormous power in the Oval Office can easily be misused by a vindictive, bullying chief executive. We once had one. His name was Richard Nixon. And his staff reflected his values. So that's what we have to find out. Do the staffers in Christie's office reflect his values? Assuming Christie was not involved.

COSTELLO: Well, and, John, lest we forget, this isn't the first time Christie has been accused of political retaliation. "The New York Times" reports a former governor was stripped of police security at public events. A Rutgers professor lost state financing for cherished programs. A state senator lost his candidacy for a judgeship. It suddenly stalled for some reason. Another state senator was disinvited from an event with the governor in his own district. So maybe Christie can recover from bridge-gate, but what about the rest, because surely all of that's going to come out now.

AVLON: Well, Carol, look, politics is perception. And the problem of this particular scandal - and we'll know more after Christie's 11:00 press conference, which really could be pivotal in terms of the narrative of his administration and any future political attributions he might have.

But politics and perception. And the flip-side of being a tough guy is that your opponents call you a bully. We've seen this, especially in a tri-state area. When prosecutors become politicians, Rudy Giuliani, Eliot Spitzer, that that is an accusation that gets thrown around. Sometimes it is dead-on accurate. Sometimes it's just political opponents trying to find the negative spin on a core tribute that seems to be broadly popular.

Chris Christie is broadly popular New Jersey, but this is what his opponents have been griping about for a long time and all of a sudden you have a very urgent smoking gun and national media attention and that's why this is such a pivotal moment in the Christie administration.

COSTELLO: You know, Larry, Dana Bash brought up something interesting, you know, on "New Day." She said that Republicans weren't so into Chris Christie anyway. And it wasn't because of his bullying, it was because of his politics. So maybe we're just jumping the gun here thinking that Christie had any chance of winning the presidency in 2016 anyway.

AVLON: Well, (INAUDIBLE) -

SABATO: Well, Carol, that's what I've been saying. Look, I keep reading in the press that Chris Christie is the front-runner for the Republican nomination. No, there is no front-runner. There's not a single one of the approximately eight potential candidates that even has 20 percent of the Republican vote in the primaries. So Chris Christie and no one else is a front-runner. And Chris Christie has problems wholly apart from, you know, whether he's a bridge over troubled water, which he clearly is not. He's got problems with some of the social issues. He's considered too moderate by much of the Republican base. So I think you're absolutely right. COSTELLO: Well, the other question, John, is, New Jersey's newspaper came out and said, if these allegations are true, if Christie is lying about his possible role in bridge-gate, then he's not fit to hold office. Could he lose his governorship?

AVLON: Well, I mean, look, you know, if it is found that Chris Christie knew about this and lied to the people in New Jersey, of course that becomes very, very, very serious. His core attribute as a politician is that he's straightforward, he's blunt, he's honest. And if all of a sudden, you know, one of the core political sins is hypocrisy. And if that gets undercut and we find that Chris Christie knew about this, that becomes very, very serious.

There's also questions about the aides who ordered this shutdown. Not just whether it was reflecting tone from the top. Whether it's a Thomas A. Beckett-type situation or something more sinister. But also, when you slow down traffic and all of a sudden ambulances can't get to people, there are statutes on the book that could make that a criminal matter. But that will be played out over the coming days and weeks.

COSTELLO: All right, John Avlon and Larry Sabato, thanks so much for playing with me today. I appreciate it.

AVLON: Take care, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Chris Christie has long touted his ability to rise above petty politics. But was he just saying the right things get elected? Dana Bash live on Capitol Hill.

Hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.

Well, the sound of silence among congressional Republicans is deafening right now. But I'll tell you the way Republicans who have been on the receiving end of some of Christie's blunt talks are quietly reacting, right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We are waiting to hear what New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will say in about an hour and 15 minutes or so. He's accused of playing petty politics with people's lives, although he denies all knowledge of an order to cause major traffic problems to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey. Now, this could be a scandal of epic proportions for Christie. He's been preparing a run for president since, oh, Mitt Romney was running for office. Who could forget Christie's speech at the Republican National Convention. Christie, a featured speaker, did not top up the nominee but rather himself.

I want to bring in our congressional correspondent Dana Bash.

And he was still warmly received at that convention. So why aren't --

BASH: He was. You know, I was stand --

COSTELLO: So why are Republicans rushing to his defense now?

BASH: I was standing with the New Jersey delegation, so I have a little bit of a skewed perspective of how he was received there.

Look, why aren't they rushing to come to his defense now? I think for several reasons. One is that he is kind of a man on an island. And that has been the thing that has helped him so much. It is one of the main reasons why he did so well as a Republican in the blue state of New Jersey, because he is somebody who is supposedly transcending politics. But the reason he got there is because he has been very aggressive, bluntly so against people like John Boehner, the top Republican in the House, the top Republican elected official effectively in the land. That kind of talk has not won him a lot of political allies, even though people look at him with great admiration and respect for the way he's been able to handle himself thus far.

So, so far today I actually - I've got to tell you, I've been texting and e-mailing some people to try to get reaction. They have been very quiet publicly -- privately. I was saying this morning, you could see the smirk coming through the texts. It's sort of hard for them to hide. I just e-mailed one potential presidential candidate who happens to be in the Senate, an aide to him saying, would the senator want to come out and talk after Christie and the response was, "no thank you."

COSTELLO: But, still, it is 2014, Dana Bash. The race for president is, of course, two years from now and that's an eternity in politics.

BASH: Of course.

COSTELLO: Is it possible this could all fade away?

BASH: Absolutely. Look, it is possible at, you know, 11:15 or 11:01 this could be diminished greatly, totally depending on what Chris Christie says about his knowledge and then, of course, if he puts his blunt talk where his mouth is. And if he does the kind of thing that he encourages other politicians to do, which is to be really up front, get it over with, the kind of thing that he told Jake Tapper in an interview on Election Day in November.

The other thing to keep in mind, and I know you noted this earlier, is that looking ahead to 2016, though, take this scandal away, he is somebody who would have had to break so many trends and molds within the Republican Party in order to get elected as the Republican nominee for the White House, because he is somebody who is much more moderate than Republican primary voters or caucus voters in Iowa and primary voters in South Carolina like.

So for him to even have a chance this scandal is almost irrelevant to the basic fundamental politics that he differs with so much in 2016. So that is why he has got to have to reclaim this I'm different, and ultimately the question is, you know, could he beat the Democrat and that is the kind of thing that he's going to have to convince -- if he runs -- Republican primary voters that that is the reason why they should -- support him, rather.

And, you know, history shows -- and I have been out on the campaign trail a lot talking to a lot of primary voters throughout the years, that they don't tend to take the long view. They want to have somebody who is with them on the core principles and when it comes to his politics, he is not there. He is much more moderate than a lot of them.

COSTELLO: All right, Dana Bash, thanks for your insight. We appreciate it, as always.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the man who may be at the center of the New Jersey bridge scandal fights a call to testify. We'll get the latest on Mr. Wildstein after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Let's head back out to Trenton, New Jersey now, shall we, where attorneys for David Wildstein, a former Christie appointee and the man who is at the center of this New Jersey bridge scandal, are fighting a subpoena calling for Wildstein to testify before the state legislature regarding his role in those bridge lane closures.

Erin McPike is live in Trenton following that part of the story.

Any developments, Erin?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, right now this court hearing is still ongoing so the judge is still hearing the attorneys' case.

What we understand from some of the reports from people inside the courtroom right now is that David Wildstein did not show up to this court hearing. It is simply his attorney. But we still don't have any answers yet, of course, on whether or not David Wildstein will have to appear here at noon to testify before this committee of the New Jersey assembly.

Of course if he does testify, that will be less than an hour after Chris Christie holds the press also here in this very building. We'll have to see if Chris Christie throws his former high school friend under the bus.

So still yet to come, but we should -- hope to have an answer in the next few minutes or so about whether David Wildstein will be testifying later today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, you can understand why he might not want to testify because if there are threats that criminal charges may be filed because those lane closures prevented ambulances from getting to the hospital and possibly caused deaths and more injuries, then you wouldn't want to -- you know, he'd plead the Fifth. I wouldn't want to testify.

MCPIKE: Of course not. But as you -- as you may know, there are more and more authorities getting involved in this now. You may also know that Senator Jay Rockefeller who chairs a very powerful Senate committee also wants federal officials to start looking into this. So it may very well be if he is able to avoid testifying today, he may not be able to do so in the future. So it's probably just delaying the inevitable if he doesn't testify here today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Erin McPike, live in Trenton, New Jersey. Thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a plane crashes just moments after takeoff, 156 people die, and one person managed to survive. She's now speaking out for the first time.

CNN's Rene Marsh is live in Washington.

Good morning.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, she was known as the nation's miracle baby. But just how did she survive this crash when everyone else passed away?

We delve into that on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A little girl who was the only survivor of a plane crash in Detroit in 1987 is all grown up today, of course, and speaking out for the first time about what it's like to be a sole survivor.

The story of Cecelia Cichan is featured in tonight's CNN Film starting at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Rene Marsh live in Washington with a preview.

You know, I've always wondered what happened to that little girl. I remember that accident clear as day.

MARSH: Right, and she -- like you said she's an adult now and she is speaking out. We're talking about Northwest 255. It crashed, it burned before disintegrating into pieces of just twisted metal and just charred debris. But somehow some way 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan was the only one to make it out alive.

But why? She's still asking that question today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (voice-over): August 1987, Northwest Flight 255 leaving Detroit for Phoenix falls out of the sky a minute and 23 seconds after takeoff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a crash on the airport. Airport's closed.

MARSH: The aftermath devastating. The plane unrecognizable.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Good morning. More than 143 people died at Detroit's Metro Airport tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A light DC-9 crash shortly after takeoff.

MARSH: How could anyone survive this? But the path of wreckage led rescuers to a miracle under a bridge. JOHN THIEDE, FIREFIGHTER: We saw a chair that was laying upside down and we picked up the chair. And underneath it was the little Cecelia, the survivor.

MARSH: Four-year-old Cecelia Cichan severely burned but alive. 156 people on board died including her parents and 6-year-old brother. She's become the nation's miracle baby. Cards and toys poured into the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The message has already arrived here, loud and clear, that the whole world is rooting for Cecelia.

MARSH: Investigators say the pilots didn't set the plane's wing flaps and flat in the right position.

CECELIA CICHAN, SOLE SURVIVOR OF NORTHWEST FLIGHT 255: I got this tattoo as a reminder of where I've come from.

MARSH: Decades later Northwest 255 is literally etched into the fabric of who Cecilia is and she still bears the scars. She credits luck for her survival but biology and physics may play a role, too.

DR. KRISTY ARBOGAST, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: A child has several advantages in a crash environment. Their bones are more pliable so they can withstand forces, higher forces without fracture.

MARSH: Cecelia was not the only young sole survivor. Ruben van Assouw, Mohammed el-Fateh Osman, Bahia Bakari, Erika Delgado and George Lamson, all young sole survivors.

Dr. Kristy Arbogast studies why children sometimes survive crashes that kill others.

ARBOGAST: Simply children are smaller than adults and therefore are less likely to contact something.

MARSH: Whatever the reason, Cecelia got a second chance at life and she's living it happily. She's now in her 30s and married.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: All right. Well, despite these catastrophic crashes, aviation overall remains very safe. The National Transportation Safety Board says 95 percent of people involved in an airplane accident survive. And according to one report, 2013 was the safest year for aviation with a record low of total fatalities -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Rene, can Cecelia remember anything about the crash?

MARSH: You know, she remembers when you talk to her -- and when you see the film later on this evening, you know, she has faint memories of her mom. She doesn't really remember much about the actual impact and those details. But of course she's got all of the media clips and all of the newspaper clips to kind of fill in the blanks.

But she says she depends on one of those rescuers who discovered her to kind of fill in the blanks of that very day. You know, she's even asked the question of, what did my parents looked like when they were discovered. So a lot of it she doesn't remember. She has to depend on people who were there and remember the just awful details -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, I can't wait to see the doc. Thank you so much, Rene Marsh.

And tonight you can hear more from Cecelia Cichan as she breaks her silence for the first time in the CNN film "Sole Survivor." It airs tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello.

It's nearly three years before the presidential election and by many accounts the Republican road to the White House runs through New Jersey. Well, get ready to hit the brakes.