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White House Reacts To Dismal Jobs Growth; Bridge Jam Documents To Be Released Today; Legal Concerns Mounting For Christie; 200K Told Not To Drink, Bathe, Wash Clothes; New: Target Breach Expands To 70 Million; American Imprisoned In UAE Returns Home

Aired January 10, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

ANDY SCHOLES, "BLEACHER REPORT": Turning on bleacher.com, the Houston Rockets strolled into practice earlier this week and noticed this giant, inflatable bear, next to the Coke machine. They didn't think anything of it, but as they leave, watch. The bear comes to life. This is my favorite, Chandler Parsons, is just terrified. He even gets Dwight Howard. His cell phone goes flying. He kicked him right in the stomach.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Is there anyone inside him?

SCHOLES: Yes, Clutch the Bear. I was a Houston Rockets ball boy for about five years. Me and Clutch the Bear were good friends, very funny, great guy.

COSTELLO: I don't even know how to respond to that. Thank you, Andy Scholes.

SCHOLES: Have a good one.

COSTELLO: Next hour of NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello. This is just in to CNN. The White House now responding to those dismal numbers from the Labor Department, only 74,000 jobs added to our economy this month. The unemployment rate did drop three notches because so many people have stopped looking for work. It is down to 6.7 percent.

Jim Acosta live at the White House with reaction from the White House. Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right. You know, this should have been a moment for the White House to sort of tout the recovery here talking about how this unemployment rate had dropped below 7 percent. It hasn't been there since President Obama was elected president back in November of 2008.

But because of that dismal number, 74,000 jobs created in December, there is not a whole lot to cheer about. Let me just show the reaction, the statement released just in the last few minutes from Jason Furman, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, here at the White House. It says right here, "Though December's job growth was less than expected. We continue to focus on the longer term trend in the economy. Today's numbers are also a reminder of the work that remains especially on one of our nation's most immediate and pressing challenges, long term unemployment. Despite an abundance of evidence indicating that this challenge is far from solved, Congress allowed extended unemployed insurance to lapse at the end of 2013."

So you're seeing there while the White House is saying, we like the long-term trend here, the economy is continuing to create jobs, there was the mention there, Carol, of a very big political debate that has been going on all week long. That is just how to extend emergency unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless out there who have been waiting for those checks to get going again.

They got cut off at the end of last year. Democrats and Republicans, as you know, Carol, in the Senate, squabbling over how to pay for that. There was talk of a compromise yesterday then that fell through. The Senate left for the weekend so they are going to have to start up again next week. But this White House clearly taking this jobs report as an opportunity to make that pitch once again to extend those benefits -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Acosta, live at the White House this morning. Now I want to turn your attention to our global economic analyst, Rana Faroohar. Good morning, Rana.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: And I should mention you are also the assistant managing editor for "Time" magazine. Put these numbers in perspective for us. I mean, they found so dismal, 74,000 that's such a low number. Many economists had expected 198,000 jobs to be added to the economy so why the big discrepancy?

FOROOHAR: Well, for starters, they are much lower than expected and what's most disturbing is the work force participation number. That means the amount of people who are in the workforce that have jobs. That's the lowest it's been since 1978. That's an even important number arguably than the unemployment number itself. The reason that it was so low is in part due to weather, which knocked out as many as 75,000 jobs according to a lot of economists.

But also you are seeing job creation only in areas like retail, lower paying jobs, you're not seeing that middle market healthy job growth that we really want to see in order to believe that the recovery is stable and that we're going to have 3 percent economic growth this year.

COSTELLO: Just last question. Jim Acosta mentioned this. Everybody is fighting over unemployment benefits, you know, to pick up again for the long-term unemployed. But at some point, that has to be cut off and that's not going to create jobs either.

FOROOHAR: No. You know, it's very worrisome because there are more long-term unemployed in this country than there have been historically in a very, very long time. The social impact of this along with the economic impact is really important because research tells us that when people don't have a job for a long time, their families can be torn apart, there are higher levels of depression.

You know, forget about the amount of consumer spending, which is already low, you start to have real social problems as a result of this. So I think this is going to continue to be a very contentious and important debate.

COSTELLO: Rana Foroohar, thanks so much for joining me this morning.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome. Also this morning, new documents could shed light on the New Jersey bridge controversy. CNN will bring you the details as soon as we get them, but they are related to a subpoena for David Wildstein, the Chris Christie ally as the center of the scandal. Wildstein pleaded the fifth at a New Jersey Assembly hearing yesterday. He refused to say what he knew about the incident.

For his part, Chris Christie stepped before the cameras and in a nearly 2-hour news conference repeated his claims that he had no prior knowledge of this plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue. There is no way that anybody would think that I know about everything that's going on. I don't know what else to say except to tell them that I had no knowledge of this. All I know is, I don't know. I am humiliated by the fact that I did not know this. The answer as of right now, is I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's bring in our chief national correspondent, John King. John, what do we expect to learn from these documents today?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Potentially, new developments and new details, Carol. I talked to the chairman of that legislative committee last night and he said he doesn't think there are any earth shattering headlines here, but he hopes it gives people a better understanding of the back and forth between Christie's staff and what was done at the Port Authority, the New York/New Jersey Port Authority to put that now infamous traffic jam in place in Fort Lee.

Moving the cones, cut off access lanes that was done as, what we now know, was a petty political vendetta orchestrated by Christie's deputy chief of staff, she was fired yesterday, and by his campaign manager. He also was told he was being remove from the Christie operation yesterday at that news conference you just played from the governor.

And so you are looking there at the (inaudible). You see Bridget Anne Kelly right here. As we get the documents, Carol, I do want to tell you about this potential new development. The committee chairman and the staff are meeting as we speak this morning to consider a subpoena for her. You showed Mr. Wildstein. He was subpoenaed before the committee.

He refused to answer any questions of meaning yesterday invoking his Fifth Amendment right. He was the person at the Port Authority that put this in place. He was in contact with Brigitte Anne Kelly about that plan. The governor says he knows nothing about it. There was some questioning, is there any evidence to refute that, any evidence to challenge the governor's assertion?

Well, Bridgette Anne Kelly would be a key witness to the committee and to the criminal investigation that is in its early stages and I am told that New Jersey Legislative Committee is meeting the staff and the chairman meeting to consider issuing a subpoena for her.

COSTELLO: All right, John King, many thanks to you. Of course, legal concerns are mounting for Governor Christie despite he is saying he lack any knowledge of this controversy. Six people have now filed a lawsuit against Chris Christie and other New Jersey officials claiming they lost wages due to being late for work in that traffic jam. Now, some New Jersey Democrats think there should be a criminal investigation.

Joining me now to talk about that side of the story, Ashleigh Banfield, host of CNN's "LEGAL VIEW." Let's start with a lawsuit from the six people from Bergan County. Do they have any chance of succeeding?

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST, CNN'S "LEGAL VIEW": It's tricky. There is something called sovereign immunity and I'm sure most people will understand. You can't go and sue the government when things don't go your way unless the government operates outside the boundaries of its authority or does something really abhorrent.

So if it can be proven that what these e-mails show effectively did shut down the roadways and it was all done in dirty tricks and there was a cause and effect, meaning the people who are angered by this and have filed a lawsuit, can prove that their action did cause their trouble and economic hardship then possibly.

And then of course, Carol, you know how things go. Oftentimes, settlements can arise from that as well. So they could prevail even legally, it's potential, and they could also prevail if it just gets settled because don't forget, this is political. These headlines are awful.

COSTELLO: Right. OK, so that's what could happen civilly, but there could also be some sort of criminal charges. What might those be?

BANFIELD: So that's a little trickier and of course, right now, you can bet your bottom dollar that a lot of different agencies are taking a peekaboo at what might be out there. We know for one right now the New Jersey U.S. attorney has announced, as of yesterday, they are looking at this. How extensively, we don't know yet. What they are going to get, what kind of documents, what kind of facts, what kind of subpoenas as you heard John King allude to, could be issued as well so they have to some of these players so that they have to swear under oath this time and tell what they know, that all remains to be seen. But you could also imagine that some people on the state level in both New Jersey and New York, because that George Washington Bridge stands both states and both of those jurisdictions, they could also be taking a look as well. Why New York when this was really a New Jersey issue? Sure, the bridge ends up in New York, but the actual place where the directives to shut down that bridge traffic, that place, that building, it is in New York.

So you could see the Manhattan district attorney, who again it is a very political position as well, might want a piece of this also.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Ashleigh Banfield, many thanks to you.

BANFIELD: Sure.

COSTELLO: In other news this morning, an environmental disaster in West Virginia, 200,000 people are scrambling to find water to drink after a massive chemical spill. It happened in Charleston, West Virginia, which is West Virginia's capital, after a leak in a chemical storage facility owned by a company called "Freedom Industries."

Now so far, no one has been able to get in touch with that company. But the chemicals that leaked from the company, a form of methanol, drained into the Elk River, which then made its way into the water treatment facility. The governor is urging people not to drink the water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR EARL RAY TOMBLIN, WEST VIRGINIA: Do not use any of the water with the exception of using it to flush the commodes or for fire protection? Do not drink it. Do not cook with it. Do not wash clothes in it. Do not take a bath in it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: If you do drink the tainted water, the West Virginia Health Department says you might experience severe burning in your throat, blisters on your skin or nonstop vomiting. Emergency rooms are packed with concern people. Stores are running out of bottled water. This morning, West Virginia State University is cancelling classes and the State Supreme Court of Appeals is also closed.

A number of other schools and businesses have closed due to this water emergency. Later this hour, we expect to get an update on the situation from the water company as well as emergency management officials.

Now let's turn to some news that's sure to rattle the nerves of millions of you. This morning, retail giant, Target revealed that it vastly underestimated the number of shoppers caught up in that security breach over the holidays. Now we are learning 70 million people have had their information stolen in the recent data breach. That's almost double the number previously reported.

Christine Romans is our chief business correspondent. You have been following this. How did Target get the numbers so long wrong?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They just didn't know. They found out about this 40 million with credit card information of 40 million and now in their forensic --

COSTELLO: I am going to stop you there because we are having a problem with your microphone, Christine. We'll talk about Target after a break. We'll come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we've got it together now. Christine Romans' microphone is working. We're talking about Target and the revised number of people affected by that data breach is 70 million. That's mind-boggling.

ROMANS: It's mind boggling. You're absolutely right. I mean, as Target is going through its forensic investigation of what happened, who got what and how much, they realized it's 70 million. So first, we told you about the 40 million, the credit card or card payment information, the card number was taken, the CVV, that little number on the back and encrypted PIN numbers.

Here's what else they got, Carol, for 70 million people, names, mailing addresses, maybe e-mail addresses, phone numbers for 70 million people. Here is what the company says. They say that they are sorry that this happened, that their customers have to endure this, that guests have to endure this, it is frustrating for our guests to learn that this information was taken. We are truly sorry.

They are going to give credit monitoring to every customer who shopped at Target during the period after Black Friday. They are not saying when you are going to be able to sign up for that. Let me give you a really important piece of advice.

Consumer expert, Susan Graham, the director of Consumer Protection at the Consumer Federation of America, Carol, she is saying be careful of people taking your information and now pretending to be Target, trying to figure out whether or not you have been breached. Be very careful, if anybody calls you or e-mails you asking for personal information do not give it to them. Seventy million people now wide open for fraud and abuse.

COSTELLO: That's just unbelievable. So are they any closer to finding out who did this?

ROMANS: We don't know who did this. We know the company is taking a hit. I mean, it's advising Wall Street that its sales have fallen after this. That it's not going to make as much money because of this. It's going to be months and months to mop this up. It's going to have to provide credit monitoring to millions of people. Mostly, what people are asking me, who cares when Target figures out who did it? It is already been done. What should you do?

A lot of people now are calling their banks and switching their cards saying I want the same account but a new number. You need to look frequently at your online activity. You will not be held responsibility for fraudulent activity. Target is saying, you are not going to be held responsible but I think that every consumer should take it into their own hands. Target lost all this information. The only one that can keep an eye on it is you.

COSTELLO: Yes, you should only trust yourself when it comes to things financial. That's a true story. Christine Romans, thanks to you.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Chris Christie may have apologized, but the investigation is just beginning into that New Jersey bridge jam that led to the ouster of some of his most trusted aides. We are waiting this morning for documents related to the incident to be released by the New Jersey State Assembly. Joining me now is a member of that body, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson. Good morning, sir.

GORDON JOHNSON, NEW JERSEY STATE ASSEMBLY: Good morning. Thanks for having me this morning.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being on. We appreciate it. We are expecting hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents. Have you seen any of them?

JOHNSON: Actually it is more like thousands of pages. Yesterday, at the (inaudible) Committee, of course, we had the pages that related to Mr. Wildstein, which is about 900 pages of documents just for him. We decided, the committee decided to make this public, all the documents public. That's why we have this being released by the Office of Legislative Services.

COSTELLO: So can you give us a hint in what we may find out?

JOHNSON: I don't think you will find anything much more than what's already out there. There are a lot of redactions in these documents that the committee has requested from or through the attorney, Wildstein's attorney, to send us un-redacted documents, which we went through later this year. At least he said he would provide it to us. But I don't know if there is much out there. I've not seen the documents so I really don't know. I don't think there would be much more than what we have already.

COSTELLO: Just remind our viewers, Mr. Wildstein is the guy that worked at the Port Authority. He is the one that ordered the lane closures, right?

JOHNSON: That's correct.

COSTELLO: And Chris Christie's deputy chief of staff supposedly kind of ordered him to do that. I'm sure you watched Chris Christie's news conference yesterday. Do you believe that only those two people were involved?

JOHNSON: I do not. I do not believe that. Miss Kelly is the deputy chief of staff. She works in the shadow of Chris Christie. I had a desk two or three down from the main office. I can't see how this young lady could create this act on her own without someone else in the governor's office knowing about it. I can't believe that. That's why we need to bring Miss Kelly in under subpoena once the committee gets the authority to subpoena more people.

COSTELLO: Did you think that Governor Christie was truthful when he said he had no knowledge of this scheme?

JOHNSON: I find that very hard to believe. I mean, you know like -- let me give you a quick timeline here. November 13th, Loretta Weinberg, Assembly Member Wisniewski and I attend a Board of Commissioner's meeting at the Port Authority, monthly meeting, seeking answers for this traffic tie-up. Of course, we got no answers. December 4th, Loretta Weinberg and I attend another meeting of the Board of Commissioners for the Port Authority, again, we got no answers.

December 6th, two days later, Wildstein resigns. Now on that, six of these commissioners represent New Jersey. They are chosen by governors from New Jersey. I don't see how one of these individuals didn't call the governor's office and say, we have problems going on here and you need to look into that.

December 9th, Mr. Foy, the executive director of the Port Authority says there was no traffic study. He had no knowledge of a traffic study. It didn't exist. No one looked into it. He had to see this. It was a public meeting at the transportation. No one told the governor this was going on I just don't understand that.

COSTELLO: Well, another curious thing is Mr. Wildstein stepped down, but no one knows why. He made a lot of money. He made like $290,000 a year or something like that. Why would he step down? What led to that? Do you know the reason?

JOHNSON: Well, I guess because of his involvement in this scene here. Of course, that he not only did he step down, but he retained an attorney. And then took the Fifth Amendment yesterday of course.

COSTELLO: He took the Fifth Amendment and he is not talking. I suspect the deputy chief of staff will do the same.

JOHNSON: I suspect that's a very good possibility. I don't know, but we definitely need to call her in under subpoena once we get the authority to do it later.

COSTELLO: Who do you suspect gave her the order to put this plan into action, if anyone?

JOHNSON: I would not speculate on that. I am still trying to figure out why they even did this. There is a lot of speculation as to why this happened. You are not going to punish the mayor of Fort Lee by tying up bridge traffic. You are punishing the working class people, the people who are trying to get to work every day. You are punishing the residents of Fort Lee when the first responders couldn't get to respond to their calls because of the traffic chaos created.

You are not hurting the mayor of Fort Lee directly by doing that. The governor came up and apologized to the mayor of Fort Lee. The mayor accepted his apology and assured him that it wouldn't happen again. This political retribution wouldn't happen again. I don't know what they were trying to gain by doing this or who was behind it.

COSTELLO: Governor Christie insists he had no knowledge of this. In your mind, should he stay in office? Should he step down? What should happen?

JOHNSON: I think Mr. Chris Christie or Governor Chris Christie should tell the people exactly what he knew and when he knew it.

COSTELLO: He supposedly did that for almost two hours yesterday afternoon.

JOHNSON: Well, I find that hard to believe, though. That's why we have to get information from other people, testimony from others, who were involved in the scheme. I find it very hard to believe that in this very small office, in the governor's inner circle that this could go on without him knowing about it or without someone underneath him knowing about it.

COSTELLO: New Jersey State Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, thanks for your insight this morning. We appreciate it.

JOHNSON: Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: You're welcome. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, locked up overseas, now an American returns home after months in prison in the United Arab Emirates for posting a parody video. Ted Rowlands is live with that story. Hi, Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. He has a lot to say about his time in captivity. You will hear from this 29-year-old coming up right after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: An American man living in the United Arab Emirates is now safe at home in the United States after spending months locked up in prison for making parody video mocking teenagers in the UAE.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a dangerous weapon. It is called a hagon. This is from our very traditional we wear before, but this is good weapon. I will teach you now how to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's a bit of the parody video. Shezanne Cassim compared his trial to a Kangaroo court and says he and his friends did absolutely nothing wrong. Ted Rowlands is following the story from Minneapolis. Good morning.

ROWLANDS: Good morning, Carol. He arrived back here in Minneapolis yesterday. He has a lot to say about the last nine months. As you can imagine, he is happy to be home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Back home walking through the Minneapolis airport, 29-year-old Shezanne Cassim was finally free to say what he really felt about spending nine months in a Dubai prison.

SHEZANNE CASSIM, FORMER UAE PRISONER: I feel angry, a lot of time was wasted.

ROWLANDS: Cassim had been working in Dubai as a business consultant when he and four friends were arrested last April for making this video, an obvious parody about a fictitious suburban Dubai fighting force, sort of want to be gangsters.

CASSIM: I did nothing wrong. There was nothing illegal about the video even under UAE law. I was tried in a text book kangaroo court and was convicted by any evidence.

ROWLANDS: Cassim says for four months, he wasn't even told why he was in jail and after four court appearances. He says he found out that the judge who ordered him to prison hadn't even watched the video.

CASSIM: They were very indifferent and callus in the way they approached our trial.

ROWLANDS: He does say he was treated well by prison guards.

CASSIM: Physically, yes, there is no abuse. But in terms of the prison facilities, there was nothing. We were pretty much in a cage for nine months.

ROWLANDS: Last month, Cassim and two of his friends were sentenced to a year in prison for damaging the UAE's image under newly enacted cybercrime laws. He was freed early for good behavior.

CASSIM: They wanted to send a message in the UAE public saying this is what we will do to people that do a silly YouTube video. So imagine if you do something that is actually critical of the government. It's a warning message. We're scapegoats.

ROWLANDS: While Cassim was in prison, the effort to free him included support from around the country including comedians like Will Ferrell and lawmakers in Minnesota and Washington.

(on camera): Were you aware that everybody was pulling for you?

CASSIM: I was aware but I didn't know how far that went. I didn't have any access to information.

ROWLANDS: And grateful, I assume?

CASSIM: Very grateful, very grateful.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROWLANDS: He spent the night with his parents last night. He says he has a lot more to say about the last nine months, Carol, and he will come out and say that over the next few days. One thing he did say, he doesn't plan on going back.

COSTELLO: I can't say that I blame him. Ted Rowlands, many thanks.