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Christie, Bridgegate and "Brand Management"; Why Did A Retired Officer Snap Over A Text?; Family Of Pregnant Woman On Life Support To Take Legal Action Against Hospital This Week; Hillary Clinton's Rough Road In Iowa; American Journalist Kicked Out Of Russia; Critics Slam Government Headed By Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki

Aired January 14, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm out of here.

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ANDY SCHOLES, "BLEACHER REPORT": This video got 250,000 hits on YouTube, Carol. The pastor's name is Tim Christianson. This was a bit of a joke. He actually did come back and they had a traditional service, but how great is that. He is a pastor that really gets people in church. He was like, come on, we have got to go.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Everyone knows Jesus is a big football fan.

SCHOLES: Of course, he is.

COSTELLO: Andy Scholes, many thanks. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. Embattled New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, has kept a low profile in the wake of two political scandals that could derail his presidential ambitions. It has been five days since his marathon news conference. He denied any role in a massive traffic jam that may have been an act of political revenge.

And since then, the feds have opened up another investigation, specifically whether Christie improperly used Hurricane Sandy relief funds to make these tourism commercials starring his family. Critics say they are just thinly disguised campaign ads. CNN's Erin McPike is in Trenton this morning with more. Good morning.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning. Well, we know today from sources in the Christie administration that he will take the opportunity to use this speech to tackle that George Washington Bridge controversy. He will mention it. We don't know how much time he will focus on it, but this is a chance for him to use the national spotlight to turn the page. We know that he will unveil a property tax relief initiative.

He will also talk a lot about education reform. According to excerpts of the speech, he will say life in 2014, demands something more for our students. It is time to length both the school day and school year in New Jersey. So he really wants to turn the page to start talking about getting things done.

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MCPIKE (voice-over): In the midst of weathering a full blown political super storm, Chris Christie will discuss the bridge closure scandal when he delivers his annual "State of State Address" this afternoon. This will be the first time the popular New Jersey governor is in front of cameras since his marathon apology last week.

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I am soul searching on this, but what I also want the people of New Jersey to know is that this is the exception, not the rule.

MCPIKE: But it's not just bridgegate anymore. On Monday, CNN revealed the new storm clouds forming over the brightest spot in his governorship, his response to Superstorm Sandy.

CHRISTIE: Because we're stronger than the storm.

MCPIKE: Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone thinks these tourism ads that promote the whole Christie family might be a misuse of the federal relief funds given to help New Jersey recover from Sandy.

REPRESENTATIVE FRANK PALLONE (D), NEW JERSEY: I think there's extra money that was spent on the ads to put him on the air during a campaign that could be used for other purposes for Sandy relief.

MCPIKE: Federal auditors are probing those allegations though Christie's office dismissed the revelation as conveniently timed and added the Obama administration approved the effort. Another possible incident of retribution, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a Democrat, considered endorsing Christie for re-election last year, but then declined to do so on July 18th.

Over the next few days, Christie appointees canceled upcoming meetings with him leading Fulop to write an e-mail to a former Port Authority official, Bill Baroni, who had since resigned. In the e-mail obtained by CNN, he wrote in part, "I am not sure if it is a coincidence that your office canceled the meeting several weeks back that seemed to be simultaneous to other political conversations elsewhere that were happening.

Prior to that, you were always very responsive and I sincerely hope the two issues are not related." And there's more on the scandal that started it all, the lane closures to the George Washington Bridge last fall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do think laws have been broken.

MCPIKE: New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski will lead a brand new special committee forming today that will utilize a special council to investigate Christie's key staffers and the governor himself. The committee will have subpoena power. It intends to call on fired deputy chief of staff, Bridget Ann Kelly and Bill Stepien, Christie's long time, trusted political advisor.

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MCPIKE: Now as far as how these scandals are affecting the perception of him, there are a couple of polls that came out yesterday we want to tell you about. The first is a Pew Research poll that shows that nationally, 60 percent of Americans say their view of Christie is unchanged since these controversies began. There is also a Monmouth University poll that shows his approval rating within the state has dropped about 6 percent in the last couple of weeks.

Now Carol, we should also point out that the onslaught of attacks from Democrats is just beginning. However, in addition to the speech that he will give today, his annual state of the state address that will allow him to lay out his goals for the next year, just next Tuesday, he will give his second inaugural address, which will allow him to lay out a more sweeping vision of what he wants to do in the second term -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Erin McPike reporting live for us this morning. I want to bring in our chief national correspondent, John King. So Chris Christie is going to deliver a state of the state. He wants to lay out his vision, but I must say, in my mind, not many people will be listening for that.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a great guess, Carol. There is an opportunity if he can turn the page. Think of it this way. Chris Christie is to politics right now what Target is to retail. He had a blue collar brand that people really like.

Now, there is an identity crisis there. He needs to look people in the eye in his state and thinking about running for president nationally as well and say, I get it. We are going to cooperate with these investigations. I'm sorry this happened.

If there are lessons for me to learn about the culture of my leadership style, I'm going to get those too. Yes, he wants to talk about education reform, property taxes. He wants to reach out to the very Democrats in the assembly who are investigating him and say, even as you conduct these investigations, we have important business to do.

Let's prove we can do our business while you get these investigations out of the way, a delicate balancing act, a serious test of his political skills -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So Erin McPike alluded to these new investigations by Democrats. What are they? What do we know about them?

KING: Well, what the Democrats have done is they have decided to form one investigative committee in the legislature. The chairman of it will be the same gentlemen we saw leading the hearing last week where one of Christie's deputies took the Fifth Amendment.

So what's going to happen? This committee has subpoena power. It wants to talk to his recently fired deputy chief of staff. It wants to talk to his campaign manager who Chris Christie had to give painful news to last week saying never mind, you are not going to head my political operation anymore.

It is going to want to talk to the governor's chief council. It's going to want to talk to other people in the governor's inner circle, than means, Carol, what, weeks, if not months. Here is the challenge for the governor. He wants it to put it behind him as quickly as possible. He wants the evidence to prove what he said last week. That, yes, this happened in his office. He had nothing to do with it.

There is no fingerprints, no evidence, nothing that shows he was aware of it or that he authorized it. But all of these people are now hiring lawyers, Carol. There are criminal investigations as well. So this is going to go on likely for months. The challenge for Governor Christie is to cooperate and try to get things done at the same time.

There are legitimate questions here and a boatload of politics. Democrats see a chance to bruise this guy and bruise him good.

COSTELLO: All right, John King, many thanks to you.

Stay tuned for our coverage of Governor Christie's "State of the State" that begins at 3:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Another tragedy, another pointless death with no real reason why. This morning, a 43-year-old father is dead. His wife wounded after going to see a movie at a Florida theater. Investigators say a retired Tampa police officer opened fire during an argument over texting. Neighbors of that officer can't believe it.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Curtis is a good guy. He has always been very nice to my wife and myself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It can't be. He is just not that kind of person. I can't imagine what happened that he would do that.

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COSTELLO: No one can. Rosa Flores is following the story for us. Good morning.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, good morning. I should tell you that we just got information into the CNN NEWSROOM. This is from the arrest affidavit. So you mentioned all of this was over texting. Well, this arrest affidavit gives us additional details and I'm going to quote here because this is extremely interesting. And I'm quoting here, "Words were exchanged between the victim and the defendant and the victim turned and threw a bag of popcorn at the defendant."

Now we are learning here that a bag of popcorn was thrown. After the Miranda Rights were read to this suspect, here is what the suspect. The victim turned and stood up striking him in the face with an unknown object. Also reading from this affidavit, it says that witnesses advised that they did not observe any punches being thrown. Lastly, one of the other new details that we have learned from this affidavit is that a 380 semiautomatic handgun was used in this particular case. So again many questions still linger in this case. The suspect is scheduled for his first court appearance at about 1:00 p.m. today.

Now this all started, like we said, with texting. Now, we know popcorn was involved. Inside a theater and ended with one man dead and this man, 71-year-old Curtis Reeves, arrested and charged with second-degree homicide. He retired in 1993 as a captain with the Tampa Police Department.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's absolutely crazy that it would rise to this level of altercation over somebody just texting at a movie theater.

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FLORES: Again, here are some details that we've learned from police. The 43-year-old Chad Oulson and his wife were at a theater in Wesley Chapel, Florida about to watch "Lone Survivor." When the previews were rolling, he was text messaging with his 3-year-old daughter. Police say the suspect, Curtis Reeves, became irritated with the text exchanges between Oulson and his daughter pulled out a gun and shot Oulson, injuring him and his wife. Injuring his wife and killing him.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their voices start going up. There seems to be almost a confrontation. Somebody throws popcorn. I'm not sure who threw the popcorn and, bang, he was shot.

ALEX CUMMINGS, WITNESS: Blood started coming out of his mouth. I just held him I was trying to hold him up and he just fell down.

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FLORES: We should add that an off-duty sheriff's deputy detained the alleged shooter and secured the gun until police arrived -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So Rosa, I know you are just getting this new information, but if the suspect says that Mr. Oulson struck him, couldn't he invoke Florida stand your ground law?

FLORES: You know, there are so many questions about this case. We are also trying to figure out if a concealed handgun license, if he had a concealed handgun license in this particular case. I don't want to speculate. I really don't know, because the only thing that I have is this particular arrest affidavit and what it says in it. But, again it does say --

COSTELLO: I am just wondering. You can carry a concealed weapon if you have a permit. He was a retired police officer. You would assume he would know the law. It is interesting he would tell police investigators that this man stood up and struck him after the popcorn was thrown so many unanswered questions. I'll let you get to it. Rosa Flores, thank you so much.

New developments this morning in a heart breaking case in Texas, the family of a pregnant woman being kept alive on life support is expected to take legal action this week against the hospital that refuses to unplug her from a ventilator. Marlise Munoz has been in a coma since November. This case has sparked a national debate about a pregnant woman's right to be taken off life support. CNN's Ed Lavendera has more from Dallas.

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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This week, the family of Marlise Munoz is expected to take legal action against the Texas hospital that refuses to unplug her from a ventilator. Munoz is pregnant and collapsed in late November after suffering a blood clot in her lungs. John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth says Texas law requires that Munoz be kept on life support in hopes of saving the unborn baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were told she was brain dead November 26th.

LAVANDERA: Munoz's family says Marlise never wanted to be kept on life support. It's a conversation her husband says they had often. They're both paramedics and the parents of a 15-month-old boy.

ERICK MUNOZ, HUSBAND: We've seen things out in the field, and you know, we both knew that we didn't want to be on life support.

LAVANDERA: The Munoz story has sparked a debate over laws that overwrite a woman's right to be disconnected from life support if she is pregnant. About 30 states have these laws on the books. If Munoz is indeed brain dead like her family says, even the people who help write the Texas law say, her husband's wishes to disconnect should be followed.

THOMAS MAYO, SMU LAW PROFESSOR: If she's brain dead, she's already dead so letting her die isn't really the concept. But can he say take her off the ventilator? I believe he can.

LAVANDERA: Attorneys for Erick Munoz tell CNN legal action is expected this week. John Peter Smith Hospital officials say they're encouraged by this development because the courts are the appropriate venue to provide clarity, direction and resolution in this matter. Marlise Munoz is now about 21 weeks pregnant, but medical experts say it's hard to know for sure if the fetus can survive.

DR. JEFF ECKER, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: The same as saying that things will be well because you can have important affects from situations like this that aren't manifested as things that can be seen on ultrasound or MRI.

LAVANDERA: Marlise Munoz's body remains inside this hospital while the debate over what should happen to her rages outside. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: And legal experts say the case is a complicated one because although Ms. Munoz may have had conversations with her family before she collapsed, she didn't leave anything in writing. As a result, the hospital is bound to the state's law despite the family's wishes.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a U.S. journalist kicked out of Russia and one of the first such cases since the cold war.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really don't have any theories. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

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COSTELLO: Up next, Russia's reason for booting him and why the country is standing by its decision.

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COSTELLO: It seems not every Democrat in the land is desperate for Hillary Clinton to run for president. Iowa is starting to look like a political mine field. In fact, Iowa Democrats are actively seeking out alternatives to Clinton in the run-up to the presidential race. Our national political correspondent, Peter Hamby, has been working his sources. What are they saying?

PETER HAMBY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, the conventional wisdom here in Washington of course, is that Hillary, you know, is the unassailable front-runner. That's partly true. She does have enormous favorable ratings. She trounces any potential opponent in the polls, including Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Mark Warner, Martin O'Malley, all these names that political junkies know, but most Americans really don't.

I just spent a week in Iowa talking to Democrats on the ground, the base, activists, political strategists, elected officials, just really taking their temperature at this early state about how they feel about Hillary. The honest answer is that Iowa Democrats are in like with Hillary, but they are not in love with Hillary. This doesn't mean they will not support her if she runs for president.

There was an interesting paradox in talking to Democrats on the ground in Iowa that emerged. It is that there is not really widespread, organic, grassroots enthusiasm and passion for Hillary Clinton. Yet, at the same time, there is tons of respect for her. Most people I talked to there said they would absolutely support her if she runs for president.

I want to read you one quote real quick, Carol, for a state representative I talked to, Brian Mayer (ph), that sort of typifies how people out there, how Democrats think about Clinton. He said, quote, "She needs to become more populist. If somebody comes to Iowa and has that populist message, she is going to be well received. All this talk about we are in a progressive moment, income inequality, wage stagnation, you know, the Elizabeth warren boom. COSTELLO: I was just going to say that, Peter. I was going to say can you say Elizabeth Warren, who says she is not interested in running, but you know politicians always say that.

HAMBY: They do and she took a pretty hard line. She said she is going to serve out the rest of her term, you know, which is 2018. She says she is not going to run. Warren's name is one name that continues to come up organically. Frankly, it is the only name that comes organically across the board. When he asks people, who are you looking at other than Hillary Clinton, other names surfaced from here and there, John Kerry, the secretary of state came up repeatedly in Iowa. Elizabeth warren, she pops up all the time -- Carol.

COSTELLO: The other names out there is what, Joe Biden and Maryland's governor, he is thinking of a presidential run, but you don't hear the passion associated with those names that you do when people say Elizabeth Warren.

HAMBY: You know, that's absolutely right and Joe Biden has been out to Iowa. Martin O'Malley has been out to Iowa. I can say this too, Carol, that there is not a lot of people in Iowa really like Joe Biden, but there is no one out there that thinks he is going to be the next president of the United States -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Fascinating. Thanks so much, Peter Hamby. If you want to read the rest of Peter's article and his insights about Hillary Clinton, you can do that on our web page, cnn.com/under politics.

Just weeks before the Winter Olympics in Russia, Moscow is standing by its decision to expel an American journalist and author who has been critical of President Vladimir Putin. It is one of the first such cases since the cold war. Russia's defense, they say David Satter violated visa entry rules. He isn't buying it.

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DAVID SATTER, AMERICAN JOURNALIST: It is ironic I think that Putin has described Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker, as a human rights activist and indicated it is appropriate for Russia to give him asylum and let him live in Russia, where as I, pursuing legitimate journalistic activities embark from the country.

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COSTELLO: Mr. Putin, are you listening? Probably not. CNN senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson is live in Moscow with more on this story. Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Morning, Carol. Well, you know, this is one of those situations where you look at Russian bureaucracy. It can be incredibly heavy handed and very dense to see your way through.

David Satter has explained this very clearly. He was told to come back to Russia to apply for another visa. When he got back here, the paperwork he was supposed to get when he arrived back wasn't ready. That delayed him going on to the next office to get it processed.

They told him he was too late when he got there. Several days later, he went to court, accepted that he had broken the law, paid a fine, was told to leave the country. I hope you are keeping up with me here. It is complicated. That's the problem. When he finally left the country, applied for the visa again, a month later, guess what, on Christmas day, in fact, he was told, you are no longer welcome. You violated Russian law.

But what is complicated here is, is it because they set him up for these failures, which is what they -- which is what he believes, that he believes he was set up on purpose by the Russians to commit flaws in applying for his visa or is it because, as the Russians say, a mistake was made that he pled guilty in court to making a mistake and breaking their law.

This has sort of fallen between the cracks, but because of bureaucracy, he is going to have to pay the price. He is saying that this is, of course -- he is saying this is completely unprecedented.

COSTELLO: Well, Nic, you apply for visas to work in the country. Did that ever happen to you?

ROBERTSON: Well, it hasn't happened to me here, but it has happened to me in other places before. So journalists can certainly fall afoul of countries and their visa regulations and restrictions. Sometimes it isn't and in my case, until a change of leadership incurred in that country, that you will be allowed back in the country. I asked him, what is it he thinks he has been writing that could be stirring up trouble here.

This is something we are hearing here as well. We don't know. He doesn't know if this is fact, if this is the reason he is being barred or blocked. He has been writing things about how President Putin came to power about what were believed to be terrorist explosions in and around Moscow in 1999 or were they perpetrated by some element, not terrorists, some rogue element of the government.

He thinks it is maybe his book that has been translated into Russian that makes those allegations, also written about by Russians here in Russia as well. He thinks that may have triggered it. No one knows and that's the murky thing about Russian bureaucracy. It is complicated and dense and doesn't seem to be something you are going to be able to get clarity on.

What I have been told here is this is a decision that was unlikely to be made directly by Putin, certainly, not something that he is going to roll back at this stage. However it looks to the rest of us here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Nic Robertson reporting live from Moscow this morning. Thank you. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, two years after the U.S. left Iraq, are things any better? CNN's Michael Holmes is in Baghdad. Hi, Michael.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi to you, Carol. When we come back, we were speaking with a former Iraqi PM, who is not complimentary about the current PM and also had some words for the United States on what's going on in Iraq. We'll have that when we come back.

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COSTELLO: On the morning of December 18th, 2011, the last U.S. troops crossed over into Kuwait from Iraq effectively ending our country's on-the-ground military involvement in Iraq. Many held Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's government would usher in an era of reconciliation and people working together regardless of their ethnic background.

But as we see, the violence is continuing to escalate. It is clear to some that two years later, things are getting worse in Iraq. CNN's Michael Holmes has covered the region extensively traveling to Iraq 14 times. He is in Baghdad today. Hi, Michael.

HOLMES: Hi, carol. Yes, that's right. I was there that day that the U.S. forces crossed over from Iraq into Kuwait ending America's war in that country. It certainly didn't end the war for Iraqis. Nouri Al- Maliki as you said, he was voted in promising inclusion, power sharing, keeping everyone in the fold. It hasn't happened that way.

Today, we also spoke with the first prime minister after Saddam Hussein. A secular politician who was very popular here. He had harsh words for Nouri Al-Maliki, called him authoritarian, said he is leading a one-man band and completely isolating Sunnis. He wasn't all that complimentary of the United States. They say their support for him has been without enough. I don't know. Sort of suspicion about his motives, they say that the U.S. needs to apply more pressure. Have a listen.