Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Traffic Jam Hurt Business; December Jobs; Christie's Mea Culpa; Nine Flu Deaths in San Francisco Bay Area; Yelp Website Ordered to Reveal Sources' Identities

Aired January 10, 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: Down in New Jersey, was not a big deal. How would you characterize it?

BRIDGETTE PURSLEY, OWNER, DOG ON IT DOGGIE DAYCARE: It absolutely was a big deal. I've been here over 17 years and I've never seen anything like it. I'd look out at the bridge and everything was just at a standstill. It was madness. It was chaos. You know, people were fretting how to get to work. You know, they couldn't be late. I have several clients who are doctors, executives.

And, you know, because of someone's master plan, a game to cause, you know, the mayor trouble, no one blamed it on the mayor. No one said, oh, look at this traffic. I'm mad at the mayor. No. No one thought about the mayor. I don't know how she came up with that bright idea. But, you know, it impacted people. It impacted businesses. My business, being a drop-off service, again, my customers couldn't drop- off as they normally do because they all had to take the bus into the city.

COSTELLO: Right.

PURSLEY: And then when they took the bus, they just sat there. So, you know --

COSTELLO: Well, Bridgette, I'm going to let you get out of the weather and thank you so much for talking with us this morning. We appreciate it. Bridgette Pursley, thanks so much.

PURSLEY: Thank you so much. Enjoy your day.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM at 31 minutes past the hour.

Wall Street about to begin trading on some disappointing numbers out of Washington. Just 74,000 jobs added to the payroll last month. That's well below most estimates. Alison Kosik is live in New York watching the numbers.

What - they're in the plus side, that's good.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're on the plus side as far as stocks go. But no bones about it, this jobs report was a huge miss, Carol. You know some are saying, look, don't pay attention to this number because the 74,000 jobs added really doesn't jibe with other economic reports that we've been getting, like GDP that's been improving and these falling jobless claims number. That this report is just so out of whack with momentum that there could be seasonal factors involved or because of the holidays or the weather.

But critics say, uh-uh, the real picture is in the unemployment number. That if you look there, you'll see the real deal, the real picture of what's going on here. The unemployment rate went to 6.7 percent. Fell from 7 percent. That seems good with the headline.

But the problem is, you look deeper at the reason behind why the unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent, it's because the amount of people are disappearing from the workforce. That number is stunning. So you look at a third of the decline in that unemployment number is attributed to people finding work, but two-thirds of the people, 347,000 people just walked away, stopped looking for work. That is not the reason you want to see the unemployment rate fall.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Not at all. Alison Kosik, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, do you believe Chris Christie's apology. Was it too much about him and not about the people of New Jersey? Our political panel will weigh in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: This morning, new documents could shed even more light on that New Jersey bridge jam, that traffic jam, bridge-gate if you will, as the state assembly will release hundreds of documents related to the incident. They'll focus on David Wildstein, the Christie ally who refused to testify before the assembly yesterday after he was subpoenaed. He pleaded the Fifth.

E-mails shows Wildstein and a former Christie aide decided to close parts of the George Washington Bridge in an act of political revenge. It all comes from an epic press conference from Chris Christie, where the governor not only claimed he didn't know what happened, but repeatedly talked about the personal impact of the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: And I come out here today to apologize to the people of New Jersey.

I am embarrassed and humiliated. I am heartbroken. Betrayed my trust. I was blindsided yesterday morning.

So stupid. So deceitful.

I am stunned. I'm heartbroken about it and I'm incredibly disappointed. I'm just stunned my government fell short and I take responsibility for that and that's why I'm apologizing. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right, let's bring in Larry Sabato, the director of the Center of Politics at the University of Virginia, and John Avlon, who is a CNN political analyst and the executive editor for "The Daily Beast."

Welcome to you both.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CTR. FOR POLITICS: Thank you, Carol.

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

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Larry, I want to start with you. Was Christie's news conference too much about Christie and not enough about the people of New Jersey?

SABATO: Is the pope Argentinian? You know, Politicians it's all about me, myself and I. And, look, what he said was fine, assuming he was telling the truth. It amazed me though, Carol, that there wasn't more focus on the outrage that his aides felt that it was OK to inflict pain and damage on tens of thousands of innocent people just so they could stick to it a politician who had caused them a problem.

And, really, underlying all of this is a question about the political system we've created. I don't believe this is an isolated incident, not just in New Jersey. That we've created a whole industry of political people who do this, who will walk over both grandmothers to win an election or to stick to it an opponent.

COSTELLO: Yes, doesn't anyone watch "House of Cards."

AVLON: Yes.

COSTELLO: I mean, isn't that what that's about, that show, right?

AVLON: Yes.

COSTELLO: Because that's what I thought about as I was watching this all unfold yesterday.

John, we just talked to a woman who owned a business near the George Washington Bridge. She said she lost business and money because of the traffic jams on the bridge, but she doesn't blame Chris Christie. In fact, she says his aide, who supposedly dreamed up this whole thing and put it into the works, I mean she said it was pretty stupid. A dumb plan. And Chris Christie couldn't possibly come up with such a dumb plan because the people on the bridge didn't blame the mayor of Fort Lee anyway.

AVLON: Well, it was a stupid plan. Chris Christie agrees to that. And anyone with any sense of perspective does. It was stupid. It was petty. It was thuggish and the worst part of politics. But, look, we're a forgiving people. And Chris Christie got off to a pretty good start yesterday in his 90-minute press conference trying to both take action, fire the aides in question, say the buck stops with me, I'm ultimately responsible, and that he didn't know that this was occurring.

Now, we've got this document dump today and we'll find out more. It's not good when your top aide at the Port Authority takes a Fifth all day, including just to whether he ever worked at the Port Authority. But there's still the chance that he can - he can override this crisis, this self-inflicted scandal. People are pretty forgiving. And Chris Christie, let's talk - I mean he was pretty popular.

COSTELLO: Yes, but, John, let's say - let's say he was lying, if he didn't know anything about it, right, he's still the person who's the --

AVLON: Yes.

COSTELLO: Who's in charge, right?

AVLON: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: So at the very least, isn't he a bad manager for allowing such an environment to exist?

AVLON: Yes. I mean I think that's the point. This isn't just an American system. This is a human problem. Tone comes from the top. To that extent, there's absolute responsibility for the environment you set in your administration that your top aides think that kind of thuggish behavior, in the context of a landslide election, is acceptable. So there is culpability for that environment, that culture inside the administration.

However, this is a lot bigger than American politics. This is a human nature problem because we've seen things like this. Whether it's Chuck Colson and Nixon, or Thomas A. Becket, you know, this is a story we've heard variations before in our history.

COSTELLO: Right. And, of course, if you didn't laugh about it, you'd have to cry, and that's why we're going to play David Letterman's top 10 from last night, so stay with me here. Roll the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN: At number 10, the shocking revelation of corruption in New Jersey. What? Number nine, blame the whole thing on getting drunk with Dennis Rodman. Number eight, more profanity than "The Wolf of Wall Street."

Number seven, claimed his heart was broken but acknowledged it might be obesity related. Let's see, said he wasn't a bully, then he put Chris Matthews in a head lock. Number five, Christie's claim he had no idea bridge connected New Jersey and New York. Number four, an appearance by the fake sign language guy. Oh, remember that guy? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) was my favorite guy (ph). And he was doing that stuff. And he almost got away with it. This. A little of that. Yes, over here. Yes.

LETTERMAN: Number three, boldly took responsibility by blaming everyone but himself. Number two, announced plans to execute his uncle. Oh, wait a minute. And the number one highlight of Chris Christie's press conference, interrupted press conference to smoke crack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Actually, I thought number three was the most true, he boldly took responsibility by blaming everyone else, right, Larry? I mean when -- it boils down to that, right?

SABATO: Well, that's definitely part of it.

AVLON: You know -

SABATO: You know you're in trouble when one of your excuses is Dennis Rodman. But, no. And, look, there's a lot more to come in terms of comedy too. You know, some politicians can be laughed off the stage. We've seen it before. So that's a - that's a side controversy by comparison to what actually happened.

And, you know, he started off by saying corruption in New Jersey. Again, while we're to discussion on the New Jersey incident, I really think we ought to broaden it out and talk about what has happened to our political system and the people in it. It has gotten vicious beyond measure.

COSTELLO: Well, I don't think anyone would argue with -

AVLON: Yes, it -

COSTELLO: Go ahead. John Avlon, you worked for Rudy Giuliani. You know what it's like. I mean politics can be vicious.

AVLON: No, no, just - yes. Yes, I mean, look, you know, -- yes, it can. I mean, you know, politics ain't bean bag. But Chris Christie has a particular burden because there is a stereotype about New Jersey nationally, the Tony Soprano stereotype. So when you get hit with the bully stick, you know, that can leave a lasting mark. I'd just say, you know, I heard David Letterman's top 10 list. Compared to Kim Jong- un and Rob Ford, Chris Christie didn't have that bad (INAUDIBLE).

COSTELLO: I'd have to agree with that too. John Avlon, Larry Sabato, many thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, fighting the flu. Triage tents now set up at San Francisco hospitals. CNN's Casey Wian is covering that story.

Good morning, Casey.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

When you think about tents being set up outside a hospital in the San Francisco Bay area, you may think it's in response to a natural disaster, like an earthquake. But this time it's the flu. We'll have details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Doctors in the San Francisco bay area are waging war against the flu. Already blamed for nine death there this season. Triage tents have now been set up outside hospitals to handle the huge overflow of patients suffering symptoms.

CNN's Casey Wian is following that story for us.

Good morning.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It's a really concerning situation as you can imagine, nine -- as you mentioned, nine deaths so far this year from the flu just in the San Francisco bay area and the peak flu season hasn't even gotten under way yet. It's going -- it usually goes from late January through March.

These hospitals have set up these tents to in some cases deal with the overflow of patients that they are getting with these severe flu symptoms.

Now here's what's really concerning public health officials. The main strain of the flu this year that they are seeing is that h1n1, so- called swine flu, that cause ad global pandemic back in 2009 killing tens of thousands of people it's estimated.

That -- this particular strain of the flu affects people that are younger towards more middle age adults, not necessarily older adults who are usually the ones who are more victimized by the flu. So they are urging that everyone who has not had a flu shot yet should get out there and get one as soon as possible because it is not too late as we said that peak flu season hasn't begun yet. Lots of people in California and potentially around the country at risk -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Casey Wian, many thanks to you.

Here's what's all new on the next hour of NEWSROOM. He spent nearly a year behind bars overseas and for much of that time he was never told why. Now a Minnesota man is back home and speaking out about his time in the United Arab Emirates.

That's all new in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 51 minutes past the hour. In San Diego, an hour-long, high-speed chase ends in a flurry of gunfire.

As you might imagine, the driver inside that car was shot. He was taken to the hospital. He has not been identified. His condition, not known. Officials say the suspect's vehicle matched the description of a vehicle involved in a shooting earlier in the week. The chase started when the car ran a stop sign and refused to pull over.

Despite claims on the Internet that Niagara Falls is frozen solid, you can see here that water is flowing. But yes, it is partially frozen due to the extreme cold from the polar vortex. Experts point out that parts of the falls freeze every winter. But look at all of the ice in the Niagara -- isn't that beautiful? Scary but beautiful.

Officials are warning the ice jam could force water over the banks and lead to flooding. So there you go. Dangerous, too.

For the first time in the nation's history, more than 50 percent of U.S. lawmakers are millionaires. A new report shows that between the House of Representatives and the Senate, 268 members had an average net worth of $1 million or more in 2012. The richest is California Republican congressman, Darrell Issa, he's worth about $464 million. The least wealthy is Congressman David Valadao. Valadao. I'm sorry. He's a California Republican. He's actually $12 million in debt.

The days of the anonymous review may be over. A Virginia court has ordered review site Yelp to reveal the identities of seven users who wrote negative reviews after a company claimed the reviewers were not clients and all their comments were lies.

Alison Kosik is in New York with that story.

Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. I'll quickly walk you through this case. A Virginia company called Hadid Carpet Cleaning took Yelp to court. And what it said is that a number of reviews that were put on the site were negative and defamatory because the company had no record that these people reviewing it were actual customers.

Let me show you one example of one of the reviews. One of them said, do not use this company. They overcharged me for a service they did not perform and refused to give me a refund.

Now the court would up agreeing with the company's argument and that breaks Yelp's terms of service because they weren't actually customers. So it did order -- the court ordered Yelp to disclose the user's information -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, I have such mixed feelings about this because if you're going to write a nasty review online, you should post your name. I mean, why not? Why be anonymous?

KOSIK: Well, you know, people are in fear of retribution. But, you know, that's why they don't put their identity on there, Carol. But keep in mind this is just one case in one state. And the judge says generally reviewers are entitled to those First Amendment rights of free speech. But here it's believed they weren't actual customers so it's considered defamatory. Now if you go on Yelp, you'll notice -- it actually has lots of visitors. And if you use the site reviewing restaurants, stores or services, you have nothing to worry about if you go on there. But here is a warning to people there who are posting malicious reviews, especially if you didn't use the company.

You know, you have to have gone to the company or know what's going on to go ahead and put one of those reviews on. But this is also good news for businesses. Because bad reviews on these sites can create a big financial hardship.

You know, I have to say this, you know, as much as I hate how, you know, on Twitter or even on these review sites, people kind of hide behind their handle, and all the haters, they just kind of say what they want.

You know there is something to be said for free speech -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Alison Kosik reporting live from New York this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Andrew Luck leads the comeback Colts into Foxborough. His reputation is really growing, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, THE BLEACHER REPORT: Yes, that's right. As they come back against the Chiefs, Andrew Luck's boss is actually comparing him to one of the greatest athletes of all time. We'll tell you who next in your "Bleacher Report."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Eight teams are still alive in the NFL playoffs. All of them are Super Bowl dreams.

Andy Scholes is here with the "Bleacher Report."

SCHOLES: You know, Carol. Hopefully these weekends games will be like the last weekend. Because the wild card round was awesome.

Now the first game on tap tomorrow is going to have New Orleans Saints at the Seattle Hawks. Now New Orleans was blown out earlier this season in Seattle. So this time around Saints head coach Sean Payton is pulling out all the stops to get his team ready. He's gone as far as to paint the Seahawks logo on the Saints practice fields in New Orleans. He's even blown out two giant speakers while trying to simulate the noise the teams are going to face in Seattle.

Now we'll have to see if these strategies works. The Saints and the Seahawks, they kick off at 4:35 Eastern tomorrow afternoon.

That game is followed by the Colts at the Patriots. Now the Colts, they're still riding high after their amazing comeback against the Chiefs.

This week Rachel Nichols caught up with the team's star quarterback, Andrew Luck. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN'S SPORTS ANCHOR: Your general manager compared you to Michael Jordan the other day. He said that you have your ability to raise your game in the fourth quarter to meet the moment. Why do you think you are a guy who plays up when the stakes go up instead of shirking from them?

ANDREW LUCK, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS QUARTERBACK: You know, I'm not sure. I know I'm no Michael Jordan by any means. I don't know. I'm not even a tenth of what he's done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: He's got a better beard than Michael Jordan has ever grown there, right?

COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE) off, man.

SCHOLES: I kind of like it. You can catch that whole interview plus more on "UNGUARDED" with Rachel Nichols. That's tonight, 10:30 Eastern right here on CNN.

All right. Two years ago, the Celtics' Jeff Green had to have open- heart surgery after having heart aneurysm. Now he's using that terrifying experience to help a 10-year-old named Spencer handle his fears.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF GREEN, CELTICS PLAYER: Being told that something is wrong with your heart, you know, it's a blow.

SPENCER, PATIENT: It was scary, because I've already been here a lot and it wasn't fun to come back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now these two have become instant friends who share similar stories and similar scars as you can see. Spencer has had six open- heart surgeries. He's on the list to have a heart transplant. But through all these adversities, Carol, he's never lost his positive spirit. He says he'll keep smiling just like Jeff Green.

COSTELLO: He is like a little man. It's like amazing.

SCHOLES: Great, great story there.