Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Chilling Audio Could be Newtown Shooter; Special Committee Officially Starts Bridge Scandal Investigation; Does Christie's Persona Hurt Presidential Hopes?; Best Buy Slammed By Dismal Holiday Sales; Oscar Nominee Winners & Losers

Aired January 16, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Best Supporting Actor. But still, when you heard them speak your name, what was that feeling like?

BARKHAD ABDI, ACTOR: That was -- so exciting for me. I couldn't sleep last night. I was thinking about it. So we decided -- up and down as soon as we heard it.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Let me ask you, where did you come up with the character? How did you figure out all the ins and outs and subtleties of acting there in your first time out?

ABDI: You know, the director Paul Greengrass helped me out a lot. And, you know, I use ad lot of my imagination and the background that I have as a Somali person.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And what was it like filming with Tom Hanks? And did you -- did you know when you were filming that your -- one of your lines in this movie was going to be the kind of the tag line? "I am the captain now." Did you know that was going to become, like, the iconic line of that entire film?

ABDI: Oh, not at all. Did not cross my mind a second. It was -- for me, that is the first time I actually see Tom Hanks in person, that I had to meet him in character. So it was really nerve wrecking for me and I was -- I became the character. And that line just came out. I had no idea it would be this big.

CUOMO: You know, a lot of people are always trying to figure out how it is that they realized a dream. What gave you the confidence to say, you know what, they want Somali pirates, I can a Somali pirate. I think I'm going to try and be in this movie. What gave that courage to say, let me go for it?

ABDI: You know, it was -- it was the fact that -- I like Tom Hanks' films and you know, before that, I was working on (INAUDIBLE) with a friend of mine called "pirate music". So (INAUDIBLE) piracy and a lot and I think that kind of stuff motivated me in the movie.

BERMAN: I think Tom Hanks probably likes Barkhad Abdi films now. I think it works both ways after what happened today.

CUOMO: I can't wait. We know you're still in Minnesota. You're going to have to move to Tinseltown now. We'll be looking for what work comes next.

Barkhad Abdi, congratulations.

BOLDUAN: Congratulations.

CUOMO: Thanks for joining us on NEW DAY. Good luck going forward.

ABDI: Thank you so much.

CUOMO: Wow. What an amazing back story.

BOLDUAN: His life story is a movie. I mean, it's so great.

CUOMO: To making a mixed tape, he's joking about it with a friend, he goes for it. Oscar nominated.

BOLDUAN: I love it.

CUOMO: Doesn't get more magical than that.

BOLDUAN: I love it. He's on my short list. I root for him.

CUOMO: Right? One of the reasons we love Hollywood. A lot of storylines, a lot of surprises, a lot of big moves to guess at. So we're going to take a break, when we come back, we'll take you to the "NEWSROOM." Carol Costello has so much more. The Oscar nominations are out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

For the first time since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, we could be getting disturbing new insight into the mind of a mass murderer. "The New York Daily News" purports to have uncovered a radio interview with Adam Lanza and it has a bizarre link to another news story.

You remember Travis the Chimp who attacked and severely disfigured a Connecticut woman in 2009. Well, Lanza said in this radio interview the chimp is not much different than a teenager shooting up a mall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attack can be seen entirely parallel to the attacks, random acts of violence that you see on you bring up on your show every week, committed by humans, which the mainstream also has no explanation for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An actual human. I just don't think it'd be such a stretch he very well could have been a teenage mall shooter or something like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Pamela Brown is live with more on this story.

Good morning.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Just a chilling thought to think that could be him. CNN still working to verify whether the radio show caller's voice is in fact the Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza. The chilling audio reported to be Lanza by the "Daily News" may provide insight to his mindset and might have even been an ominous warning a year before he went on a shooting rampage that shattered a nation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Is this the voice of Adam Lanza?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some little thing he experienced was the last straw and he was overwhelmed by the life that he had.

BROWN: According to a report in the "New York Daily News" it is. A cover story includes what is purported to be recently uncovered audio. Recorded a year before the 20-year-old committed one of the deadliest mass murders in American history. The paper spoke to two classmates of Lanza who said it was him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't act any differently than a human child would.

BROWN: The audio obtained by the "Daily News" is from an Oregon College radio show called Anarchy Radio. The man the paper identifies as Lanza wanted to discuss the death of a domesticated chimp named Travis but radio host himself proclaimed anarchist John Zerzan. In 2009, Travis was shot and killed by a police officer after he brutally mauled a Connecticut woman.

The caller who identifies himself as Greg compares the violent chimp attack with that of a teenage mall shooter in an over seven-minute interview.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His attacks can be seen entirely parallel to the attacks, random acts of violence that you bring up on your show every week, committed by humans which the mainstream also has no explanation for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An actual human. I just don't think it would be such a stretch to say he very well could be a teenage mall shooter or something like that.

BROWN: Zerzan doesn't know who the caller was but remembers the call.

JOHN ZERZAN, ANARCHIST: The voice was kind of odd, sort of robotic. And maybe he's trying to disguise his voice or something. I don't know.

BROWN: According to a blogger cited by "The Daily News," Lanza posted in an online forum under the user name Smiggles, a name Sandy Hook investigators say he may have used in instant messages and 12011 post uncovered by the blogger, Smiggles wrote about calling into John Zerzan's radio show.

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST: I think the subtext of what he is saying, violence is innate and instinctual to humans and really should not be punished because it is their natural basis. That's the message I think he is trying to get across. And the parallel to himself is obvious. He feels possessed by this need, this compulsion, to commit violence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And we reached out to Lanza's father, Peter, along with a Connecticut State Police spokesperson Paul Vance. And we are still waiting to hear back from both -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Pamela Brown, thanks so much.

Today the special committee investigating the New Jersey bridge scandal that's ensnared Governor Christie officials gets to work. One of its first tasks, subpoenaing Christie's former and current aides.

Sources tell CNN, former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly is on that subpoena list. Kelly sent e-mails to a Christie appointee at the Port Authority saying, quote, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

CNN's Erin McPike is in Trenton, New Jersey, this morning.

Tell us more, Erin.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

Well, first what we're told is that this committee will subpoena the documents. They want to see text message conversations as well as e- mail conversations to see what more was said. As you know, earlier e- mails and text messages are what first provided the evidence and what Bridget Anne Kelly had said.

Now in addition to Bridget Anne Kelly and some of my sources here in Trenton are saying that Bridget Anne Kelly is tremendously well-liked by her peers, there's wide-ranging disbelief that it was just her who issued this order, that it must have come from above or could be somewhere else.

We know that Bill Stepien, the most trusted political adviser in Chris Christie's orbit, will probably also be on that list. He was dismissed last week. And people think that he may know more as well. So we will certainly see Bridget Kelly and Bill Stepien. There may be others, Regina Egea is Chris Christie's current chief of staff. She was sent an e-mail. She may very well be on that list as well -- Carol. COSTELLO: We also understand there's a new attorney assisting this panel? One with experience deal high-profile governors and scandals? Tell us about him.

MCPIKE: Well, Carol, his name is Reid Schar and he was the former assistant U.S. attorney in Illinois and he worked on both corruption trials for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich who of course is no longer the governor. He is now in prison. He is in a law firm. But both sides are lawyering up.

We just learned this morning, just within the last hour or so that Chris Christie's administration also has brought on outside counsel. That firm is -- I will find it here -- Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher. And the lead attorney there is Randy Mastro. He is also an -- a former U.S. assistant attorney for New York, Carol. So a lot of experience on both sides here.

COSTELLO: All right. Erin McPike, reporting live from Trenton, New Jersey. We'll get back to you in the next hour.

CNN's chief political analyst Gloria Borger is here now.

Gloria, good morning.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: You wrote the -- you wrote a column for CNN.com. I just want to read our viewers a bit of that. It was titled "Is Christie presidential?" And you write in part, quote, "If Obama wasn't tough enough, he is hard-hitting. If Obama was partisan, he's worked across party lines. In some, Christie could lead in the precise ways that Obama disappointed. Until a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge. Then came another stark contrast. The vindictive and more important petty, petty Christie culture as opposed to the stature the presidency demands."

I understand where you're going. But the polls don't really reflect that because people haven't changed their opinion about Chris Christie. In fact, this scandal doesn't seem to be hurting him at all.

BORGER: Well, it -- yes, I think actually what you're seeing in the state of New Jersey is the people are still sort of saying, OK, he's been a good governor. We are going to give him a second shot. But there are questions about his temperament, Carol.

And when you look at some matchups nationally, for example, against Hillary Clinton, his numbers have gone down eight points.

I think the questions of people are asking now is -- does he have the temperament to be president and believe me, Carol, we all know it's early. This isn't anywhere near 2016. But I think that people are going to look at how he handles this scandal. Almost as much as a scandal itself. He said he knew nothing about it.

They are taking him at his word. There's a long investigation that's yet to follow. Not only in the legislature but as Erin points out he's having his own internal investigation. And we'll have to see how this story unfolds. You know, particularly at this critical time and as he heads into the fundraising phase, as you get ready to run for the presidency.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about that fundraising phase because our -- people who would normally give Chris Christie money now pulling away?

BORGER: No. I think what they're -- what they're saying is, wait a minute, wait a minute, is he going to be the most effective candidate to run against Hillary Clinton or whomever the Democratic nominee is?

You know, Carol, this is the time that you start really gathering all those chips from big fundraisers. So he's heading to Florida this weekend for a very, very important fundraising trip. He is raising money for Rick Scott in Florida. But he's also going to meet with really important funders for his own presidential campaign. Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot, one of his big backers.

And in Florida in particular, Carol, they're going to take a look at Chris Christie, one of the other big candidates they're looking at, of course, is Jeb Bush. Another one they're going to be looking at is Marco Rubio. So they're going to be sizing up Chris Christie's viability and his electability and they are going to try and figure out, OK, is this the horse we want? And -- you know, this scandal is not helpful to him. Let's put it that way. But how he handles it will be very important to how they look.

COSTELLO: All right. Gloria Borger, thank you for your insights this morning.

BORGER: Sure.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Christmas goal for Best Buy. The company getting slammed on Wall Street after a dismal holiday sales.

Christine Romans has more for you.

Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Ho, ho, ho, oh no. Best Buy shares down by 30 percent this morning on disappointing holiday sales.

I'll tell you what's going wrong with brick and mortar retailers -- Carol.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Shares of Best Buy taking a hit in pre-market trading. At one point, shares were down as much as 33 percent. This after the company reported disappointing holiday sales.

Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here with more on this.

It just seems like yesterday, we were celebrating the new CEO of Best Buy for his brilliant business moves.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, last year, the stock tripled, tripled, you know? That's a really big gain. You've got these problems here today, which is a problem at the holiday problem.

Look, they didn't have the holiday sales they expected. Discounts really pinching things and didn't -- discounts of other people luring Best Buy customers elsewhere and the company really having a hard time here in pre-market, stock down 29 percent.

The CNN Money headline, Carol, really says it best. Best Buy holiday sales stink.

Here's something so interesting. Or for so many retailers, really brisk competition from Amazon and smart shoppers who know that they can go online and find the cheapest price, that's proving to be a problem for foot traffic for some of the retailers. They did not have the holiday season that they hoped. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't what they hoped at all. And Best Buy really bearing the brunt of it for best buy.

COSTELLO: Christmas shopping season was longer. Did that have any effect?

ROMANS: It was a week shorter than usual. There was one less week --

COSTELLO: But the stores opened earlier, right?

ROMANS: Yes. They did open earlier. So, you have a week less. But they were doing all this -- remember all that advertising and all the promotions. You know, brown Thursday now. Open on Thanksgiving.

It just wasn't enough, Carol. In some cases, you had all this activity and interest early in the season and it just petered out. You didn't get the -- Best Buy even said they didn't have the customers they expected. Fewer customers in the week leading up to Christmas than they expected and that was a real problem for them, that late part of the season.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, many thanks as usual.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM: The nominees are in for this year's Oscars. There were some snubs.

Can you say Oprah, Nischelle Turner?

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I can. Oprah, Carol Costello. And you're right. There were some big omissions for the 86th Academy Award nominations this morning. We will tell you who got in and who were left out this morning, when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Who is in and who is out? Just moments ago, we found out this year's Oscar nominees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Explorer has been hit. Explorer, do you read? Explorer! Over!

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Love this. Sci-fi thriller "Gravity" up for best picture and best-leading actress with Sandra Bullock.

Who else made the cut? Who else got snubbed? Michelle Turner live in Los Angeles with a look.

Also, with us Krista Smith, the senior West Coast editor of "Vanity Fair" magazine.

But I like to start with you, Nischelle, run things down for us.

TURNER: Sure. OK, yes. So, there was a lot of love given out by the Academy this morning, but there are some people that are going to be disappointed. Carol, I'm going to run down the major categories for you, best picture, actress and actor.

I'm going to start with best picture. First of all, there were nine movies that were nominated this morning. "American Hustle," "Captain Phillips," "Dallas Buyers Club," "Gravity," "Her," "Nebraska," "Philomena," "12 Years a Slave" and "The Wolf of Wall Street".

A couple of names that you might have thought you'd hear this morning, but you did not, Lee Daniel's "The Butler" off that list, "Saving Mr. Banks" left off the list.

Now, let's move on to the actress category. This was a good one as well this year. Nominated this morning, Amy Adams for "American Hustle", Cate Blanchett for "Blue Jasmine." Sandra Bullock for "Gravity," like you mentioned. Judi Dench for "Philomena." Meryl Streep for "August Osage County." This is Meryl Streep's 18th Oscar nomination.

COSTELLO: Wow.

TURNER: But I mentioned that "Saving Mr. Banks" was left out of best picture. Well, Emma Thompson also left out of best actress. And going into awards season, a lot of people how thought this was between her and Cate Blanchett. She played P.L. Travers, Emma Thompson did in "Saving Mr. Banks".

Now, let's talk about the men, the actors. I think this is the most competitive category this year. Nominated this morning, Christian Bale for "American Hustle." Bruce Dern in "Nebraska." He was just phenomenal in that movie. Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street," my favorite movie of the year, by the way.

COSTELLO: Wow.

TURNER: Chiwetel Ejiofor in "12 Years A Slave", so powerful. And Matthew McConaughey in "Dallas Buyers Club."

Now, when we talk about the omissions, there is a long list in this category. No Robert Redford. No Forrest Whitaker. No Tom Hanks. And no Joaquin Phoenix.

Now, both Tom Hanks and Joaquin Phoenix, their movies were nominated but they were left off.

"American Hustle" and "Gravity" both lead the nominations this morning, with 10 nominations apiece, "12 Years A Slave" not far behind with nine, Carol.

COSTELLO: I was kind of surprised that "Wolf of Wall Street." And, Krista, I'll post this question for you, because a lot of people did not like this movie. They just thought it was one big naked party for like three hours.

KRISTA: I mean, it definitely was polarizing. People either loved it or they hated it or they felt it was too long. And there was way too much T&A going on. Bu it is Leo DeCaprio and Scorsese and they are it. And Leo, I would have to say, gave a phenomenal performance. You're riveted from beginning to end.

COSTELLO: Nischelle, you mentioned it was your favorite movie.

TURNER: Yes. What do you say about my taste? It's like a big naked party.

COSTELLO: Well, when I think of big naked parties, I do think of you, Nischelle Turner.

TURNER: You know what? I'm going to claim that because I thought the movie was really good. I loved Scorsese's directing style. It was very kind of fast-paced, a little bit frantic, a little bit manic. But it held from you beginning to end.

It is a movie, two hours and 59 minutes of real movie time. I also thought that Jonah Hill did his best work in this movie. He got a nomination this morning as well.

So, I really thought it was very well done and very good film. There were a couple of omissions that I thought were kind of -- whoa, I thought Oprah may get a nomination this morning. The Academy did not recognize her for her work in "The Butler." She has been one of the critical darlings this morning.

I also think in the directing category, there was a lot of star power. I mean, you talk about Martin Scorsese. He got a nomination. David O. Russell, who's become a favorite in Hollywood, got a nomination for "American Hustle" this morning. Also, Alexander Payne who makes really interesting movies, he got a nomination for "Nebraska." Alfonso Cuaron for "Gravity" and Steve McQueen for "12 Years a Slave."

This is Steve McQueen, I think, Krista, you mentioned this earlier, his first nomination, only his third film. He is a great director and so deserving of this nomination.

You were surprised by "Wolf of Wall Street," Carol. I was a little surprised with all of the nominations for "Gravity", because there were a lot of questions, you know, people love the film, but there were a lot of questions about the science of the film. That was one of the story lines this season. Like was it real? Does this really happen?

I know you did a segment on this not too long ago.

COSTELLO: Oh my gosh, if they -- asked a question about every Hollywood movie, could it happen? Nobody would ever be nominated.

TURNER: Good point, Ms. Costello. Good point.

COSTELLO: No, I just thought "Gravity" was great because it -- it put you in the moment. May hands were sweating as I watched Sandra Bullock floating off into space. Not many movies do that for me anymore, frankly, Krista.

SMITH: You know, Sandra Bullock is amazing in this, especially when you know what she had to go through to make this essentially alone in a dark box. You know, in this -- you know, staring straight ahead and basically acting alone. It is an incredible feat and stamina to make this movie.

She absolutely takes you along with her. That's what worked in this film. You are invested in her and her character she creates.

And Alfonso Cuaron, I mean, he's a frontrunner for best director. He invented a technology in order to make this film. It's one of those Hollywood stories where month one wanted to make it and it was years and years and years and it kept going and falling apart and then finally got it done. Massive success.

COSTELLO: Well, I love it because Sandra Bullock was second choice for the lead role. Right?

SMITH: I think it had a lot of -- I -- yes. Definitely.

I am shocked. About Tom Hanks. Amazing to me. I thought for sure he was going on get in. "Captain Phillips," the movie is nominated. Nominated for best supporting actor.

I felt like he did some of his best work I have seen in his career.

COSTELLO: It is interesting because Meryl Streep is nominated every year, for the 18th team. I believe that would be a record.

There doesn't seem to be any, you know, tom hanks, I mean here, is a great actor and started many great movies but he'll never approach, you know, Meryl Streep's nomination. I don't know -- I don't know what that exactly means. If she is --

TURNER: I think it is -- I think it is very interesting because I think Krista is right. Going into this awards season, people thought Tom Hanks could be a double nominee for his work in "Captain Phillips" and in "Saving Mr. Banks" playing Walt Disney.

You know, he had a really good year this year, and it is very interesting, and I think big omission that he got no love from the Academy for either film today. I agree. I agree with you, Krista.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

Nischelle Turner and Krista Smith, thanks so much for the discussion. We appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: don't drink the water. That's what the CDC is now telling pregnant women in West Virginia.

Jean Casarez is in Charleston this morning.

Hi, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. You know, the CDC is saying if will is any amount of that chemical in the water, pregnant women should continue not to drink it. We did our own testing to see exactly what is in that water. We will have it after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)