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Christie Vows to Restore Trust; Christie Speech; Answers from Target; Senators to Target's CEO: We Want Answers; Cash Pours in for Wendy Davis; Bieber's Hollywood Mansion Raided

Aired January 15, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

In his state of the state speech, Chris Christie's goal was to focus on his native New Jersey, but many observers are wondering about the state of his administration as officials in Washington and Trenton launch twin investigations into bridge-gate. For his part, Christie addressed the situation head on in his remarks, vowing that the, quote, "breach of trust" would never happen again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: The last week has certainly tested this administration. Mistakes were clearly made. And as a result, we let down the people who we're entrusted to serve. I know our citizens deserve better. Much better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Erin McPike is following the story from Trenton.

Good morning. Tell us more.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning to you.

Well, as you know, tomorrow the investigatory committee that's forming to investigate this very controversy could issue subpoenas to some of Christie's staffers, many of whom were fired after this controversy. And Christie used the very top of his address to tackle these very issues and said that he is sure that his administration will cooperate. But then he quickly moved on and he started talking about the education reforms that he wants to implement in the next year, as well as some property tax relief reform.

But then on top of that, he started talking about the many accomplishments that he has already had in New Jersey, saying it has a better business climate, that they've cut taxes, just that the overall economic situation has improved in New Jersey. But I want you to listen to this. This is his top case to make if he is to make it to a general election in 2016. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: Even though the competition amongst states is fierce, the record on this is clear, no state in this country has shown more bipartisan cooperation and governance over the last four years than in New Jersey and our people are proud of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: So, obviously, as you can hear there, Christie was using the national spotlight to still try to pivot and make the case that he is a strong leader who could be in a very - a very attractive candidate in a presidential race.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Erin McPike, reporting live from Trenton.

While Chris Christie may be trying to put bridge-gate behind him, the controversy has turned into a national punch line for more than one comedian. For Jimmy Fallon, it was a chance to team up with another notable New Jersey resident. That would be Bruce Springsteen. They remixed the boss's classic hit "Born to Run" at Christie's expense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON" (singing): In the day we sweat it out on the streets stuck in traffic on the GWB. They shut down the toll booths of glory because we didn't endorse Christie. Let's run from cages on highways. Now we got three lanes closed so Jersey get your ass in line. Oh, baby, this bridge-gate was payback. It's a big slap to the state Democrats. We got to get out while we can. We're stuck in Governor Chris Christie's (INAUDIBLE) New Jersey traffic jam. Yeah. (INAUDIBLE). I can't hear you.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, MUSICIAN: Hey.

Governor, let me in. I want to be your friend. They'll be no partisan divisions. Let me wrap my legs around your mighty ribs (ph) and relieve your stressful condition. You got Wall Street masters (ph) stuck cheek to cheek with blue collar truckers and man I really got to take a leak. But I can't, I'm stuck in Governor Chris Christie's (INAUDIBLE) New Jersey traffic jam

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh, come on. That was great, wasn't it? Let's talk about it. Marc Lamont Hill is a CNN political commentator and host for "HuffPost Live." Ana Navarro is a CNN political commentator and a Republican strategist.

Welcome to you both.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to be hear.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: You were watch - you were riveted. I was watching you off camera, Ana, watch that parody. That was funny.

HILL: It's hilarious.

COSTELLO: I thought it was hilarious.

OK, so here's the thing. So all of these polls are out now and it shows not much is happening with Chris Christie. People have the very same opinion of him as they had before. I maintain that maybe this controversy will actually help him because his name is becoming even more well-known, Ana.

NAVARRO: You know, I think there's some weird things happening on the way to the forum, Carol. First of all, you know, he -- he had a pretty weak position with conservatives and I think that's actually improved in the last week because a lot of people are seeing this as a pile on by the liberal media. I mean we have been talking about this ad nauseam, which means to the point where it creates nausea, you know, for almost a week now and I think you're beginning to see the backlash of that. It may be overkill. Some in the conservative party that had doubts about him are saying, well, wait, if the liberal media is coming after him this hard, he can't be that bad. He is a conservative after all. He is one of us. Let us embrace him (INAUDIBLE).

HILL: I don't know about that. Ana always goes just one step farther than I like. I mean the truth is, yes, the conservatives are closing --

NAVARRO: Well, Marc, darling, I'm not trying to please you. Let me give you the news.

HILL: Clearly. There's no doubt about that. No, I mean, conservatives are closing ranks around him because there is a perception that there's a pile on. I agree with that.

But in the long term, I don't think that's going to endear him to conservatives who don't think he's conservative enough. If you liked Rand Paul before, you're not suddenly going to like Chris Christie because you think that the liberal media outlets are piling up on him.

Another thing is this -- I don't necessarily consider this a pile on. I think this is a worthwhile investigation to figure out what's going on. But you're right, the polls suggest that this is not going be a crisis for him if nothing new comes out. The people ultimately believe what Chris Christie is saying. But if new information comes out, if some emails get unredacted, if some source pops up, if anything happens that compromises anything he's already said, now he goes in the tubes for everybody.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, but if it just - if it's just contained to the state of New Jersey, I'm not sure the nation will care that much about it. I'm just throwing that out there.

The other thing, let's talk about the bullying question for just a second because people haven't changed their opinion about that either. Some - I've come to the conclusion that people actually like bullying politicians and that's a plus. Ana?

NAVARRO: Well, I think they like politicians that are in charge. But also, Carol, there's been two big platforms that he has had since this came out. One was the press conference and two was the state of the state yesterday. And both times he's come out calm, cool, collected, contrite, apologetic. He's done a good job in those two performances. Marc is right that if a smoking gun comes out, and that's a big if, he is toast. But until then, he's doing a very good job in being sincere and credible in his apology. And I think, actually, the national public and the New Jersey public has never seen this apologetic side of Chris Christie. So it's a new angle we're seeing.

COSTELLO: See, again, Marc, it's helping him. The crisis is helping him.

HILL: Well, there's the problem. They've never seen the apologetic side of him. They're used to seeing the bully. They're used to seeing the bull in the China shop. And eventually Chris Christie's going to have to become who he actually is. He's not going to be this nice guy for more than another few weeks.

The other issue here though is that while the general public seems to think -- seems to believe him and thinks that he's not a bully, when you look at the numbers across partisan lines, you see that Democrats and women do read him as a bully. And when you move to the national stage, particularly when you frame yourself as someone who can go across partisan lines, you're going to have a challenge when people don't like you. And I think Chris Christie is not more likeable now than he was two weeks ago. I think that's an overstatement. Let's not confuse crisis management with an actual virtue here, an actual success story here. It's not.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Marc Lamont Hill, Ana Navarro, many thanks for the interesting conversation this morning.

HILL: A pleasure.

NAVARRO: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, senators looking for answer in that Target hack attack and the store's CEO now being summoned to Washington. Christine Romans has that story.

Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Two prominent Democrats saying it's been three weeks, the story seems to change by the day. By now, Target experts must know what's going on. Come to Washington and tell us. I'll have that story right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Quick check on Wall Street for you know. Investors may be encouraged by one positive development this morning. Bank of America announced better than expected earns and revenue for the fourth quarter and maybe the market is responding, up 40 points. But then again it's really, really early. In other news this morning, investors are getting revved up over the latest move from General Motors. For the first time in six years, the carmaker will pay its shareholders its common stock dividend. The company has already paid dividends on preferred stocks. Investors will see the 30 cent quarterly dividend on March 28th.

Let's talk about Target now. Anger over Target credit card hack attack is spreading all the way to Washington. Two senators are calling on Target's CEO to testify before a committee demanding answers about what went wrong and what the company has learned during the investigation. Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans is following that story.

Good morning, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. These are the Democrats that Claire McCaskill and Jay Rockefeller have sent a letter to Target saying, look, you've had three weeks now and for three weeks the new information seems to be coming out every day. By now, we think there should be enough for you to come to Washington and tell us really what's going on here.

In that letter they say "We expect that your security experts have had time to fully examine the cause and impact of the breach so we'll be able to provide the committee with detailed information." That means please come to Washington will you? There are some -- some credit unions who are asking other congressional committees to get to the bottom of this and make sure it doesn't happen again.

You know Carol, yesterday the JPMorgan CEO, Jamie Dimon told investors that two million of those chase cards they changed the number on two million cards.

COSTELLO: Wow.

ROMANS: And they will change the number on even more of them and he was pretty, pretty interesting on this subject. He said, he thinks it could happen again. It really could. He said I don't think this is the end of the story. The story is not over, unfortunately. That's what he said.

And he said that banks like his and the retailers are going to have to work together and work a heck of a lot harder to make sure it doesn't happen again.

And he had kind of a dig -- he had kind of a dig on the retailers, if you will. This might be a chance for retailers and banks for once to work together as opposed to suing each other like we've been doing the last decade. As you know they've been fighting over the swipe fees, you know, the banks get paid every time you use your cards. The banks and retailers were fighting in court blah, blah, blah.

Well they need to really stop the fighting and start working together to make sure this doesn't happen again -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well that would be nice. Christine Romans, many thanks. ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM she shot to political fan with her marathon filibuster over a strict abortion law. Oh now the cash is pouring in for Wendy Davis' campaign for Texas government -- Texas governor, rather. CNN's Peter Hamby has that story. Hi Peter.

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Hey Carol yes, ever since Wendy Davis announced she's running for governor last October Democrats have wondered can she raise the kind of money to be competitive in a state as big and as expensive as Texas. Well guess what? She just did. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: This seems kind of unusual. A Democrat running for governor in the state of Texas raised more money in the second half of 2013 than the leading Republican candidate did. We're talking about Wendy Davis. Remember she made national headlines after her marathon filibuster against a restrictive abortion bill standing 11 hours straight in those pink tennis shoes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WENDY DAVIS (D), TEXAS STATE SENATE: The true intention of these bills is to attack a basic human right -- the right for any woman in this American society today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now Davis could face off against Republican Greg Abbott the State Attorney General in November's election. Now she may be gaining momentum, but Abbott just might have the cash advantage. Joining me to talk about this -- CNN's political reporter Peter Hamby. Take it away Peter.

HAMBY: Hi Carol. Yes you mentioned Greg Abbott. Really one of the best candidates in the country in terms of the state he's running. He's got a really good profile there. He's got $27 million in the bank. So he's got a lot more money than Wendy Davis.

But as you mentioned it was reported just last night that Wendy Davis in the second half of last year raised over $12 million for her campaign which is actually more than enough. That's what people were hoping she could raise probably more than $10 million Democrats were to see if she will be viable and she did. And she actually out-raised Greg Abbott who raised about $11 million.

Now looking inside the numbers, you know, about $3.5 million went to a committee affiliated with Wendy Davis. Not explicitly her campaign but taken together this is actually a very good number for Wendy Davis. And even Republicans admit she's the best candidate the Democrats have put up in years. I was listening to conservative talk radio in Dallas tuning on my computer this morning and even they were saying that. She -- at this point in 2010 the Democratic candidate at the time Bill White only raised $6 million. So this is a very good number for Wendy Davis, but she still has a very hard road ahead. This is still a very red Republican state as we know -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's true. Because you know who's governor right now. That would be Rick Perry. So she does have a long way to go. CNN's Peter Hamby, thanks so much.

The FDA is issuing a new warning about acetaminophen. The pain killer commonly found in prescription drugs like codein and Vicodin an over the counter products like Tylenol. The FDA wants doctors to stop prescribing combination drugs that contain more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen because of the risk of liver damage.

Now the warning may be startling to anyone who has for example, Tylenol extra strength in their medicine cabinet which can contain 500 milligrams of the drug in each tablet. The FDA says it will issue a separate guideline for over the counter drugs at a later time.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the Biebs get raided, Justin Bieber's home searched and guess what a good friend gets busted. Nischelle Turner has the latest on the troubled pop star. Hi Nischelle.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey Carol yes. The latest chapter in the Bieber drama -- we will dissect and discuss when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Justin Bieber. The Bieb -- what can you say? He got a rude awakening yesterday by police officers. He was greeted at the door by these Sheriff's detectives and they had a search warrant and a battering ram. This all happened in his big California mansion which you're looking at.

Police were looking for evidence in an egging incident that happened late last week. And when they went to search the house they found something well more than eggs.

CNN's Nischelle Turner is following the story in Los Angeles. Good morning.

TURNER: Hey, good morning Carol. You know there have been 101 jokes made about this, because the sheriff's deputies went in search for eggs. But really this is serious, because they went and executed a felony search warrant -- one that could prove very costly now for one Justin Bieber.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Nearly a dozen police cars surrounded superstar Justin Bieber's multimillion dollar mansion Tuesday. Once inside, L.A. County deputies searched for surveillance video. Video that could reveal whether the entertainer was involved in damaging a neighbor's home. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. I'd like to place an assault.

TURNER: It started Thursday when a neighbor of Bieber's claimed the star threw these eggs at his home. CNN couldn't verify the authenticity of this video. According to TMZ the neighbor seems to believe Bieber was on the other end of this verbal altercation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got another one for you after these.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Come right here over here you (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

TURNER: The damage is estimated by the homeowner to be around $20,000.

LT. DAVE THOMPSON, L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: I get that it was done with eggs which makes you feel like it's a lower level crime. But a felony crime is a felony crime no matter how you commit it.

TURNER: According to the deputies, Bieber was cooperative, but one of the singer's guests rapper Lil' Za was arrested when police allegedly found drugs believed to be Ecstasy and Xanax.

BRIAN BALTHAZAR, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: I don't really think this is about just a bunch of eggs being thrown at a house. I think this is about a bunch of neighbors who've had enough of a carefree, somewhat reckless 19-year-old pop star --

TURNER: This is just the latest in a string of Bieber blunders.

Back in march he lashed out at a paparazzo in the UK. And in May two neighbors called police after catching the star allegedly speeding down residential streets. Now the 19-year-old mogul with a top ten album and legion of fans will possibly be prosecuted if investigators find enough evidence.

THOMPSON: None of this has to do with him being a celebrity. This is a felony crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: You may be saying $20,000 in damage for egg throwing? Well, that's because the authorities say these houses in the area where Justin lives are so pricey, that any sort of damage done to the house, that damage price is escalated.

Now, we also should say that CNN has reached out to Justin and his representatives for comment on this investigation and the egging incident. They did decline our request for comment. We also reached out to Lil' Za's representatives. He was released. He posted bail last night -- Carol.

And we also should say that there have been no arrests in the initial situation that the authorities went to Justin's house for. That's the egg-throwing incident. Nothing has come out of that at this point.

COSTELLO: Maybe this will be the wakeup call he needs. Who knows? But you're right. It's turning serious. And I'm sorry I joked about it, because this is serious. Right?

TURNER: Listen, the egg throwing thing is -- when you go looking for eggs you say what are they going to match the eggs. Were they cage free? Were they organic? That is funny, yes. But what they went for and what they found now can become very serious.

COSTELLO: All right. Nischelle Turner, thanks so much as usual.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.