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Iran in Focus as Uranium Deadline Nears; Hits and Misses at the Golden Globes; Support for Legal Weed Soaring; Retail Giants Hijacked by Hackers

Aired January 13, 2014 - 10:30   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. Let's check our "Top Stories" at 32 minutes past the hour.

A major mistake for Southwest Airlines: investigators trying to figure out why an airplane carrying more than 120 passengers landed at the wrong airport in Missouri on Sunday night. The plane touched down seven miles away from its scheduled destination. That airport's smaller runway which isn't designed for large aircraft forced the pilot to slam on the brake so the jet wouldn't crash into a nearby highway.

Former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon has been laid to rest next to his wife on his family ranch in southern Israel. Dignitaries, including Vice President Joe Biden attended today's state memorial for Sharon outside of Israel's parliament. Biden remembered Sharon as a complex man who cared deeply about Israel. The Prime Minister died Saturday after spending eight years in a coma.

Iran, Gates, Christie versus Snooki. We have a lot at our plate this morning.

So let's begin with Iran. January 20th, save the date. Iran will start eliminating some of its uranium stockpile on that day in exchange the U.S. will ease sanctions against Iran. Well not so fast there is now a bipartisan push in Congress to tighten, not ease U.S. sanctions on Iran. And if that happens according to Iran it will kill that diplomatic deal.

So let's start there with John Avlon CNN political analyst and "Daily Beast" executive editor and Will Cain, CNN political commentator and columnist of "The Blaze". Welcome to you both gentlemen.

WILL CAIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey Carol good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

If lawmakers vote to tighten sanctions, Iran says forget it, forget the deal. Why are lawmakers willing to take that chance, Will?

CAIN: Well look do we take Iran at its word? Should we? Has Iran given us any evidence over the last oh I don't know a couple of decades to take them at their word? If they are looking for a reason to back out of the deal and that's kind of what it sounds like, is it really going to be the possibility of increased sanctions exist or if they don't want to live up to the deal in the first place?

What this says there Carol, what this potential increased sanction bill says, is that a bipartisan group of senators aren't quite sure of Iran; 67 -- 67 senators. And one of them has described this as a diplomatic insurance policy. That's a quote from Democratic Senator Bob Menendez. So if Iran has a -- if Iran has a problem with the diplomatic insurance policy, I don't think they ever want to be in the deal in the first place.

(CROSSTALK)

CAIN: Hey look let me just say this, the appropriate analogy is this both sides have agreed to set down their guns right. This is America saying, yes but I'm just going to keep mine within reach in case you reach for yours that don't live up to your side of the deal.

COSTELLO: But John should Congress trump our diplomatic efforts like this? Is this Congress's role?

AVLON: I mean look, I mean that's an existential question about the role of Congress and the President in treaties. And -- but no this is an overreach. And this is why the White House is pushing back on Democratic senators in particular as part of that bipartisan coalition and making the point that if you are willing to push for sanctions to this point, whether it is an insurance policy or not, that you are raising the real possibility of derailing diplomacy. And the alternative to that is war.

And so you need to deal with not just you know an ideological debate society but real word implication of actions. And if diplomacy fails and Iran moves towards nukes more aggressively, that ultimately means war. And people need to appreciate the implications of their signing up for. It's not simply you know a theoretical position a real word implication.

COSTELLO: All right let's move on to Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates because he is defending his book big-time. Yes he says politics played into the war in Afghanistan. But in the end, President Obama did what was best for national security. So what's the big deal, John?

AVLON: Well I do think that you know the -- the most controversial comments were cherry-picked -- shocker -- when this book was leaked. And in the end, Gates is much more fair-minded and praising in parts of President Obama than the initial reports.

At the end of the day, the politicization around the White House is not a surprise but the fact that Gates said that the President ultimately did what was right, not what was politically expedient that should calm a little bit of our passions as we observed and really actually read this book by -- by who was by all accounts one of the real bipartisan heroes of public service the last (inaudible) decade.

COSTELLO: Well I know Will it's not like most Americans have a great passion for what we're doing or what we were doing in Afghanistan.

CAIN: Right so the question is, did he do what's right for national security in Bob Gates opinion or in the American people's opinion or for that matter in his own opinion, in President Obama's opinion? And that's the question.

AVLON: Yes.

CAIN: Is President Obama leading in Afghanistan by conviction or by poll testing? What is driving his decisions? He campaigned on Afghanistan being the good war -- did he therefore feel like he had to push for the surge in Afghanistan or did he really, really believe, like Bob Gates, that that was the appropriate course of action for national security.

COSTELLO: OK we've got to move on and talk about Chris Christie. Because headlining Mr. Avlon's "Daily Beast", "Christie or Snooki, worse for New Jersey?" It seemed like just yesterday, Chris Christie was maligning the "Jersey Shore". Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: On this Snooki and The Situation business, I want to remind all of you of something -- that they are not from New Jersey. They are from New York. Snooki is from Poughkeepsie, The Situation is from Staten Island. They parachuted these losers into New Jersey.

And they want to make all of you believe that they are from New Jersey they're not. And I have told Cuomo a number of times, take them back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK John (inaudible) this headline on "The Daily Beast," and it's a very interesting article. So John with "The Daily Beast" which is worse, Snooki or Christie?

AVLON: I am going to go with Snooki on this one unless more implications comes out of Christie but look I mean, you know, the point of the article is Jersey gets a bad rap for a long time, I mean Tony Soprano, Boardwalk Empire. I mean really Bruce Springsteen is about the only thing broadly beloved by Jersey. So now, add Christie to the pile at least in this current scandal.

COSTELLO: Will your opinion?

CAIN: Well maybe Chris Christie is becoming a good proxy for the national opinion of New Jersey in particular. And that -- this scandal, in fact with Chris Christie in that, it is objectively wrong if it's true. It is an abuse of government power if it's true. I don't know if it's disqualifying or not but I also know it's probably been way, way blown out of proportion when compared to other abuses of government power, particularly issues like the IRS scandal with the Obama administration.

So we can look at something and it can be all these things at the same time.

AVLON: Carol -- Carol I've got to interrupt my friend, Will here.

CAIN: Hold no, don't interrupt. I'll be done in a second. It can be all of this things at the same time, it could be true, it can be an abuse of power and it can be totally, totally blown out of proportion like the reputation of New Jersey.

COSTELLO: OK, quickly John because I've got to go.

AVLON: Look -- yes look, conservatives have been trying to pivot this back to Obama all weekend with the talking point. This is actually in the context of New Jersey corruption scandals as bad as this is, there have been far, far worse.

(CROSSTALK)

CAIN: That's my point. It is blown out of proportion.

AVLON: So let's all put it some context and perspective not just go to talking points.

COSTELLO: All right John Avlon and Will Cain.

AVLON: All right.

COSTELLO: Many thanks as usual.

CAIN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, taking a look at the highs and of course the lows of last night's Golden Globes.

Nischelle Turner is live in Los Angeles for us. Hi.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi don't get me started. Oh actually yes get me started, because we have a lot to talk about Carol -- everything that happened at the Globes last night when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Amy Poehler and Tina Fey they were on fire last night at the Golden Globes. This was the second year hosting for this comic duo. Nischelle Turner, live in Los Angeles. And can they just do it every year from now on?

TURNER: Well you're going to have them again next year. So you'll be OK. And I loved how you said that. They were on fire last night, because they were. They were really so good. We knew they would be funny but, you know, they kind of gave us a little something different than last year.

They were -- they were funny and silly last year but this year, I thought they were really smart and kind of pointed, but you still didn't feel like they were being mean. Let's look at some of the best moments from Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TINA FEY, ACTRESS: "Gravity" is nominated for best film. It is the story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age.

In the name of gender equality this year, please welcome Mr. Golden globe, my adult son from a previous relationship, Randy.

AMY POEHLER, ACTRESS: I don't want to do this. This is so stupid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Golden Globe goes to Amy Poehler of "Parks and Recreation".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Amy Poehler's first win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: You know how do you get -- how do you get better than making out with Bono in the audience? How do you get better than that?

COSTELLO: And then he started to get into it. Look at him.

TURNER: I know. I think he enjoyed it a little bit. He is like, well, why not? Here we go. I am so happy for her. I am a little bit biased because I really do like "Parks and Rec" and I feel like it hasn't gotten the love it deserved from the critics because it was almost always overshadowed, by the way, by "30 Rock" because "30 Rock" won so much. I am glad she got her due.

COSTELLO: Me too.

Can we just touch on Jennifer Lawrence' dress because she's been getting a lot of flack for her dress. People have dressed in similar fare on Twitter. And I must say it is pretty darn funny.

TURNER: Yes, I know that the whole #Lawrence thing has been trending on Twitter because people have been kind of wrapping themselves in bed sheets and cord and saying I am Jennifer Lawrence. I actually -- and I know I don't -- please don't tweet me bad things -- I liked the dress. I thought it was different. She is young, she's fresh.

She takes chances when it comes to fashion. I think she did again last night. Not everybody is going to agree with me. I know this.

But I did think that -- can I just say, can we talk about my favorite of the night? Because --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Can we talk about why you weren't in Jennifer Lawrence's dress. TURNER: I know. I know. That's why we're moving. We're just going to etch-a-sketch it in our mind.

COSTELLO: I was going to like -- get up on line and we will show you and draw it for you.

TURNER: Exactly. My favorite of the night was Lupita Nyong'o. And I don't know if we have a picture of her. I hope we do because she had on this stunning red Ralph Lauren cape dress. I have to say, at the end of "NEW DAY" I misspoke and said she had on Calvin Klein. Please, let me correct myself and get this right because Ralph Lauren deserves his due for this outfit. I thought she was stunning, the makeup, the hair, everything.

She is fast becoming a player in the fashion world. Watch out for Miss Lupita Nyong'o. As well as watch out for her acting. I think she might have a good Thursday morning Carol because Oscar nominations are that morning.

COSTELLO: There is the dress. I don't think it looks like a bed sheet wrapped with duct tape.

TURNER: No. I think she likes this silhouette. She likes kind of the mermaid silhouette. I think she looks really good in it. I think the dress is different. I think it is fashion forward. I don't think it is terrible but, listen, somebody is always going to have something to say. You don't have people that miss very often and there will be varying degrees of opinions on this dress.

COSTELLO: She looks beautiful in anything. She could wear a bed sheet and look beautiful.

TURNER: There you go.

COSTELLO: Thank you Nischelle Turner.

TURNER: Absolutely -- Carol.

COSTELLO: NEWSROOM continues in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just 30 minutes after takeoff, a registered nurse made her mark coming to the aid of a pilot flying the plane. Linda Alweiss was minding her business finishing a Sudoku puzzle when the flight crew asked if there was a doctor on board the plane. Linda and another nurse on the plane were able to get the pilot out of the cockpit and set up an IV. The co-pilot was able to get the plane on the ground soon after where paramedics were ready and waiting.

Pot is hot and I mean hot. As you know, Colorado started selling pot legally on the first of the month. To say it went well is an understatement. Local affiliates tell us, many pot shops are limiting the amount of marijuana a customer can buy, because so many people bought pot. Some have even raised their prices too. Tim Cullen owns the Evergreen Apothecary. He joins me live. Good morning.

TIM CULLEN, OWNER, EVERGREEN APOTHECARY: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. Who knew so many people smoked pot?

CULLEN: I didn't know either. We have seen unprecedented crowds at the store. As a matter of fact, we've never not had a line at the store. It forms about an hour before we open and we turn people away at the end of the night. Truly amazing.

COSTELLO: Is there an average customer? Who is buying?

CULLEN: It is people from all walks of life. We've seen people from every cross-cut. I really think when you look at how strongly Amendment 64 passed it lends itself to a wide section of people. It is all over the board, not your stereo typical college stoner at all.

COSTELLO: Are we talking grandmothers? Who are we talking about?

CULLEN: Certainly. Everyone 21 to 75 have come in the store in the last couple of weeks. It has just been all across the board.

COSTELLO: Is it more people who have never smoked it before. Are these people who know what they are doing?

CULLEN: We honestly don't ask that question but we do give everyone a little warning, specially about the edibles, because it is easy to take too much and have an uncomfortable experience. We give everyone a heads up about the products that they are buying. And also a public education campaign about traveling overstate lines, about reselling what they are buying. We are just trying to make sure everyone who is making a purchase is complying with the state and city rules.

COSTELLO: Under the current rules, speaking of rules, pot shops have to grow their own marijuana. How does that affect your supply?

CULLEN: It does affect our supply. We're ramping up right now. We currently have two new warehouses under construction as well as we're working our way through the back stock that we had set aside for this event. But we need more licensed stores to come online to meet the demand. It would be akin to alcohol prohibition ending and only a handful of liquor stores in the entire country, all located in one state held the liquor licenses.

So we are seeing an incredible amount of demand right now that we can't indefinitely support alone. So I think as time passes and more stores become licensed, the demand on the handful of stores that hold the licenses right now will decrease.

Tim Cullen, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

CULLEN: Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: That massive security breach at Target last month has become the largest in U.S. retail history. Target says more than 100 million people may have been hit.

And now, Neiman Marcus is investigating whether it's been hacked. CNN business correspondent Zain Asher is in New York with more on this. Good morning.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Carol. Good morning yes. First, Target now Neiman Marcus and cyber security experts I've been speaking to really do see that that list could get longer with millions of more cards -- for example showing up on the black market.

Now here's my advice. If you shopped at Target, you know, over the holiday period, it is very important that you be proactive. You can't just simply wait for the (inaudible) to show up on your account. Call your bank -- I can't stress this enough -- call your bank and request a new card.

Also, now that we know as of Friday, that these Target hackers actually got access to people's e-mail addresses, watch out for scam artists basically e-mailing you trying to get more information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN GRANT, CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICAN: They could get calls or e-mails from scammers not only pretending to be from Target but perhaps pretending to be from their card issuer or an ID theft protection service asking them to confirm their information or telling them to click on something that would load spyware onto their computers and steal their personal information that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Right. They're taking on links -- so people you don't recognize, clearly not a good day right now. Target is offering one year free credit monitoring service before all those were affected.

You have Target CEO coming out and apologizing. And Even though he is sorry, what is going to change? Retailers need to ban together to invest in upgrading the technology. The credit card/debit card technology we us in this country is decades old compared to (inaudible) and other countries. If you don't upgrade it, you could see mass attacks happen again -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I was just talking to someone that she said she wanted to proactively just cancel all her credit cards because she shopped at Target. Is that what people should do?

ASHER: Well listen, a lot of people are saying, that that is time- consuming to do that. I mean it certainly is. But if you are worried, it is not a bad idea. Listen, there are other things you can do. Go online, check your statements.

There are so many people who tell me over and over again, that they only wait until their credit card statement comes in the mail before they check.

I check my statement -- I know. I check my statement every couple of days online. That's important. Also lastly, you can set up, you know, little sort of text message alerts so that if a certain amount, over $500 or $300 or whatever, is used on your card, you are instantly notified. It is all about keeping abreast of what's happening with your account -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And the final question. You know, I am scared to use any sort of credit card in any store. Really --

ASHER: Should we just use cash? Should we just use cash.

COSTELLO: Exactly. The world is not going that way. It is going to plastic, right? So you are kind of stuck.

ASHER: You are kind of stuck. And listen -- a lot of cybersecurity experts I've been speaking today do worry that this list could expand beyond Target and Neiman Marcus. We have reached out to the major retailers to see what they're doing to protect customers -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Zain Asher, many things. Thanks for the advice.

And thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.