Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

NJ Releases "Bridgegate" Docs; Christie, Aides Named in Class- Action Suit; Dallas Safari Club Auctions Chance to Kill Black Rhino; PA Police Search for Road Rage Killer; Target Revises Hacking Total to 70 Million

Aired January 10, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news here, as this is the political scandal surrounding New Jersey governor Chris Christie, CNN now has the documents just released by New Jersey lawmakers revealing exactly what went on behind closed doors in Chris Christie's office.

This is all over the bridge scandal. The George Washington Bridge scandal goes back to September.

Two of Christie's top staffers fired over the wake of this after they conspired to shut down the country's busiest bridge.

This is the bridge that connects Fort Lee, New Jersey, to Manhattan. Look at the traffic.

They're accused of doing this as political payback, retribution here, because the mayor of Fort Lee refused to endorse Christie in his gubernatorial re-election.

Joining me now, Joe Johns, CNN's crime and justice correspondent. And, Joe, we have been waiting for this.

I know you have been looking over some 900-plus documents just uploaded online.

What did you find?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, we're just making our way through these documents and there are a lot of them.

There's a lot of detail about -- here's one -- the reallocation of toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge. This is sort of a study, a report, that came as the result of changes in traffic patterns that made so many people angry.

The report really paints a picture of the level of widespread anger.

There's an e-mail in here that says the Fort Lee police chief called it a "monumental failure." And one of the things that's very clear is the test, the down sides of the test absolutely outweighed the benefit, something like 2,800 vehicle hours of delay, this report says. Now, there's an e-mail we found in here, and you know we've talked so much about one individual. Hus name is David Wildstein.

BALDWIN: Wildstein.

JOHNS: Right. Turns out, of course, he was big enforcer for Governor Chris Christie on the Port Authority.

A full month later, after all the excitement on the bridge had died down, he received an inquiry, an e-mail, and someone asked him, has any thought been given to writing an op-ed or statement about the George Washington Bridge study, or is the plan to hunker down and grit our way through it?

So Wildstein writes back in a very glib fashion apparently, yes and yes.

So nothing conclusive there, and, again, we've seen this lack of sympathy for the people who really suffered out there on the bridge.

One other thing, there have been many references, we've already found, to concerns among public officials about the problems on the bridge around the time of a Jewish high holiday, a lot of concern about that as well.

So, again, we haven't found what anybody would call a smoking gun, but we're really getting a fuller picture of the uproar over this test on the bridge, Brooke, as well as how some of the officials responded to it.

BALDWIN: Just to be crystal clear, just for people understanding, we know the federal government is now involved and they're doing this preliminary investigation.

But what you and so many teams of folks in Washington are going through, this is from state lawmakers. This is from within New Jersey --

JOHNS: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: Correct, yes.

OK, Joe Johns, thank you.

As soon as more of the e-mails, the conversations, come out, we'll get it on air on CNN.

Joe, thank you very much, in Washington.

Coming up next here, more possible trouble for Chris Christie because he is also facing a class action lawsuit in connection with this bridge closing scandal.

This has been filed on behalf of drivers and business owners who want money for their inconvenience being stuck on the bridge.

We're "On the Case," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK, so we just told you what's beginning to come out here, these 900-plus pages of documents uploaded online from this investigation into Chris Christie, the closure of this bridge.

But Chris Christie and some of his top aides and former top aides are named now in this class-action lawsuit. This is the first such suit filed in this scandal.

Plaintiffs allege they were inconvenienced by the massive traffic jams in September that were already planned as political retribution.

With us now, CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin and trial attorney Nolan Klein.

And, Nolan Klein, let me just being with you. Welcome.

NOLAN KLEIN, TRAIL ATTORNEY: Thank you.

BALDWIN: When you consider that people can be subpoenaed and people can be deposed in civil lawsuits, could civil action here be as big a threat to Governor Christie as possible criminal charges?

KLEIN: Well, OK, so, first of all, I don't know that there's any threat to Governor Christie now, civil or criminal, because I haven't heard or seen any evidence of any wrongdoing on his part.

We just heard your legal analyst look through 900 or so e-mails. So far, we don't see any connection to him.

In general --

BALDWIN: There's this class-action lawsuit has been filed.

KLEIN: A class-action lawsuit has been filed. Anybody can file a lawsuit if they have $400 and a law degree. It doesn't mean there's any merit to it.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

KLEIN: The fact of the matter is that a class action would be very difficult in a case like this where you have to prove everyone in the class suffered the same damages.

Some people here -- I mean, we hear some stories that perhaps ambulances were delayed. Those would, of course, be very serious cases. Some people missed business meetings. Other people were just inconvenienced. Maybe their dinner got cold.

And so this people would not be in the same class, and no class action could be brought on their behalf.

Frankly, other than perhaps someone who perhaps medical care was delayed and perhaps suffered physical damage as a consequence, I don't see how anybody files a lawsuit.

It's an infuriating situation whether it was Governor Christie or his subordinates that the government would do this intentionally, but I don't know that always translates into a meritorious lawsuit.

BALDWIN: OK. OK, let's also, though, keep in mind that Christie said yesterday he was lied to by his staff about this, that he knew absolutely nothing about it.

Sunny Hostin, let's talk, though, about the criminal end of this. The U.S. attorney for New Jersey, he is Paul Fishman. He has opened this preliminary inquiry.

I want you to listen to Alan Dershowitz. We chatted yesterday, constitutional attorney Alan Dershowitz and I.

And I asked him about this investigation out of New Jersey, if it would likely be compromised because of Governor Christie.

This is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, AUTHOR, "TAKING THE STAND": It shouldn't be New Jersey. It should be New York because he has a history of taking revenge.

And that's why the prosecution should face in New York, where he has no power, no authority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Reputation for revenge. Do you agree with that, Sunny Hostin?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, I know professor Dershowitz, of course, and I think New Jersey would be the appropriate office to investigate anything.

But I think we really need to --

BALDWIN: New Jersey you're saying?

HOSTIN: New Jersey, yes.

BALDWIN: Not New York?

HOSTIN: Not New York.

But I think we should make it clear that this is a very preliminary investigation.

In my view, looking at the facts of this case, without knowing more, without discovering more, I think criminal charges are really remote, and so, you know, I don't think that's going to happen.

But getting back to the civil suit, which I have a copy of, I actually think this is problematic for Governor Christie.

BALDWIN: Do you? Why?

HOSTIN: Yeah, I do.

Because I think that when you look at this complaint, in particular, Brooke, you see that some people suffered panic attacks. Many people were late to work. Many people were docked pay.

And so I think there could be a class certified here. I think it passes the smell test.

And I think what is most problematic is it does open up the door to Governor Christie and others being deposed in a civil suit, and that does spell trouble, because what are they going to do?

Are they going to plead the Fifth like we saw yesterday before the New Jersey assembly? And so to sort of suggest that this is a frivolous lawsuit I think is --

BALDWIN: Nolan? Nolan is shaking his head.

KLEIN: Yeah, I -- you know, to the first point, you know, with all due respect to Professor Dershowitz, who I have great respect for, there's a difference between the state authorities and the federal authorities.

Right now, the U.S. attorney is doing an investigation. Any charges to be brought would be brought in federal court, where the state authorities, in particular, the governor, don't have authority.

And so that's really the reason why I believe it was referred to the federal authorities.

As far as the civil suit, a civil suit doesn't have to pass the smell test. It has to comply with the --

HOSTIN: Passes more than that.

KLEIN: -- elements of a class action, one of which is commonalty.

And we just heard Sunny say that some people had panic attacks, and some people were stressed out, and some people this and some people that --

HOSTIN: Some people were late and went without pay.

KLEIN: That's fine, and there may be people who were docked pay or maybe people individually can be brought suits, because there damages would be different; people are paid differently.

But to lump all of these people together plainly doesn't comply with the typicality component of any class-action lawsuit.

BALDWIN: OK, Sunny Hostin and Nolan Klein -

HOSTIN: I disagree.

BALDWIN: I hear you disagreeing. We have to see how it plays out civilly and possibly -- not yet -- possibly criminally.

Thanks to both of you very much.

Coming up, have you heard about this story? There's a safari club right here in the U.S. They're auctioning off this permit to hunt a black rhino in Africa.

The problem, at least one of the problems, this rhino is endangered. The safari groove says it's receiving death threats, but wants people to know the hunt would actually help the species.

We'll talk about this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I don't think I've ever said this before. This is a hunt to promote animal conservation.

You heard me right. Tomorrow night, the Dallas Safari Club will auction off the chance to kill a rare black rhino.

This is perfectly legal. It is meant to save the rhinos who are endangered.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Dallas with more on this. And I know this Dallas Safari Club, they are getting death threats because of this auction.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have been receiving death threats.

All of that information has been turned over to the FBI office here in Dallas, and we're told by the FBI that they're looking into those threats, as well.

But this story has really sparked a fascinating debate over efforts to save the black rhino in Namibia, the country on the southern African continent.

And what's fascinating about all this is that both sides are essentially arguing they're trying to do what is best for the black rhino.

There are only about 5,000 black rhinos left in the world today. About 1,700 of those are in Namibia.

And the Namibian government for the first time has given a group outside of its own country the ability to auction off one of these permits, and this will be done tomorrow night.

The Dallas Safari Club is holding a convention here in Dallas at the convention center. Tomorrow night, they will auction off this permit from the Namibian government. As you might imagine, it has sparked all sorts of debate. The safari club says they're doing this to save the animal, while wildlife conservation groups are saying this is a terrible idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARTER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DALLAS SAFARI CLUB: When you talk to the scientists involved, sometimes having to sacrifice an animal for the overall good of the herd and the species is what you're trying to do.

JEFFREY FLOCKEN, INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE: I think it's a farce to say this is being done for conservation.

I do agree there is sometimes a need to manage wildlife population, in small areas, but there are less than 5,000 individuals left of this species.

Instead of killing it, it could be moved to a different area, be used to bring in photo tourism or ecotourism, something that doesn't kill the animal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: I think it's important to point out what the Dallas Safari Club is saying is that the Namibian government has identified two or three black rhinos that can be hunted, that there will be government patrollers that go out with whoever wins this auction bid and will tell them essentially which black rhino they can kill.

They say it will be an old male, an old cranky male who they say is more and this is a rhino that will not be reproducing or participating anymore in the species there in Namibia and that will be the kind of black rhino that is targeted.

People have all sorts of questions, but in the long run, it's fascinating because both sides are arguing that they are doing what is best for the black rhino.

BALDWIN: I'm sure people are scratching their heads and there's so much more to this story.

We'll watch the full report on this rhino hunt controversy, this auction tonight, "OutFront," tonight at 7:00 Eastern.

Ed Lavandera, thank you very much.

We are also learning new details about the manhunt in Pennsylvania for a gunman who shot and killed a victim in an apparent fit of road rage.

The victim may have been chased for nearly 5 miles before he was gunned down.

CNN correspondent Jean Casarez has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: Residents of this small community of Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, continue to be on edge, following a deadly highway shooting of 28-year-old Timothy Davison.

The shooter is still at large, law enforcement says it was a case of road rage.

CAPTAIN STEVEN JUNKIN, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: We obviously have an individual out there who was so incensed that he continued to pursue Mr. Davidson and took it to that next step.

He murdered an individual for whatever slight that he perceived.

LARRY MORRISON, YORK COUNTY RESIDENT: Our daughter travels the highway every day and you think it could have been her. It's hard to think things like that can happen in this small area.

CHARENE MORRISON, YORK COUNTY RESIDENT: It's just scary. You're just driving along and all of a sudden, boom.

CASAREZ: It was 30 minutes away from this community on Interstate 81 where Davidson was driven off the highway last Saturday morning, then shot at repeatedly by someone driving a dark Ford Ranger XLT pickup.

Police say Davison had made multiple calls to 911, saying he was being chased by a vehicle and that the driver was very aggressive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be advised now, multiple gun shot wounds, as well.

JUNKIN: We're issue an advisory to all body shops and dealerships in the area to be on the lookout for a Ford Ranger with recent damage seeking repair.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: OK, Jean Casarez, let me bring you in, because we understand investigators are working a very specific clue to help them find the truck in this case.

Tell me about that.

CASAREZ: This is really interesting. Not only is the damage on the shooter's pickup truck, it's on the driver's side.

And also, they believe that when they hit the victim's silver SUV and pushed it into the median, that silver paint got on that pickup truck, so people are also supposed to look out for silver paint.

And you know what else they said, Brooke, that the owner or a driver of a pickup truck like that, look to see if there's somebody that has problems, that is unstable.

And if it you see that, they want you to call the Pennsylvania state police because they want to get this driver off the roadway.

BALDWIN: OK. Look for the markings, call police. There are reports that the gunman could be involved in other shootings. Have police responded to that?

CASAREZ: They did today, finally, and there was another shooting out of a pickup truck in the neighboring community that we went to yesterday.

They are finding that, forensically speaking, they are not related.

That's good and bad because that means there's two shooters out there, but the one on the interstate is the one that shot and killed Timothy Davison. His funeral is set for tomorrow.

This is a capital crime, Brooke, and so they are looking for him.

BALDWIN: Jean Casarez, thank you.

You remember the Target security breach, names, addresses, phone numbers stolen from 40 million customers?

Well, check that number because Target now says it is much higher. Try 70 million people victimized.

So, we wanted to know, how did the numbers increase so much? That answer is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is Friday and new jobs numbers have taken a lot of people by surprise and not a good surprise kind of way.

Take a look with me. After a couple months of strong gains, the Dow Jones was treading water. Seventy-four-thousand is the number of new jobs created. Maybe cold weather was partly to blame?

The unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent, but most of the drop is from people bailing out of the job market, gave up looking for work.

But analysts say, don't panic. One month does not make a trend.

And if you shop at Target and, really, we all kind of do, heads up. Hackers stole information on a whole lot more customers than originally thought.

Alison Kosik is joining me. We thought that number was 40 million and now that number has almost doubled.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. Target is saying it's much bigger. It includes 70 million people.

BALDWIN: Wow.

KOSIK: Even worse, the hackers, this is what they got. They got a hold of more sensitive information than the company said before.

Now, Target says even more information was stolen, things like names, street addresses, phone numbers. That's on top of the credit and debit card numbers that were stolen.

Target's business? Yeah, that's feeling the pinch, too. Sales fell between two and six percent after Target announced the security breach last month.

Its profits, Brooke, will also suffer because of what happened.

Brooke?

BALDWIN: OK. What do I do if I thought I was in the clear. I thought wasn't part of the 40 million. I could be in the additional 30. I'm a Target shopper.

How do I know if I've been affected, and what do I do?

KOSIK: OK, so, the company is offering free credit monitoring for a year.

Now, you have three months to sign up for that and it also says it's going to be giving more information next week.

Plus, Target is telling customers, look, you are not responsible for fraudulent charges.

But here's what I would suggest. I would suggest calling your bank if you haven't already. Many banks like Chase are issuing new credit and debit cards to customers automatically.

But you have to keep an eye on your statements, anyway. But if you see anything suspicious, call and report it.

And, now, after hearing that e-mail addresses and phone numbers are in the hands of hackers, be extra careful. Don't give out any personal information over the phone or by e-mail.

Experts say thieves could be posing as Target employees to get your information. Just be real vigilant about what's going on, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Call your bank.

Alison Kosik, thank you very much. Have a good weekend, my friend.

KOSIK: You, too.

BALDWIN: And let me leave you with this. Let's talk football.

NFL playoffs continue, of course, through this weekend. And if you're watching, you may see an earthquake. What? I know. Let me explain.

The Saints versus the Seahawks, and the last two times New Orleans visited Seattle, CenturyLink field was rocking. Not just noisy, it was actually loud enough to register earthquakes.

So now they have actually placed equipment to see if this happens again. You're looking at this. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network has installed two portable seismometers. One is in a maintenance room. The other is in the stands.

So, whatever side you're on when you're watching the game on Saturday, just think, there could be serious rumbling happening in Seattle.

Let me just quickly, before I let you go, my Twitter has absolutely blown up over that teacher interview.

Thank you so much for everything that you have said. And we will make sure that we put that on the blog.

If you want to pass it along to your teacher friends or whomever else, go to CNN.com/Brooke.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Have a wonderful weekend.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.