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New terror video came out today from men claiming to be suicide bombers threatening Russia; A New Jersey mayor is leveling claims against governor Chris Christie's office that directly tie the governor to threats of retaliation; Vatican officials were grilled on child sex abuse scandals by U.N. panel

Aired January 19, 2014 - 17:00   ET

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

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PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two men claiming credit for the attacks that took place in Volgograd just a few weeks ago, December 29th and 30th. Bomb blast that struck at a local train station and on the trolley bus killing 34 people. But ominously, the two men also promised there is still more to come especially during the winter Olympics in Sochi.

They say they have prepared what they describe as a present for Russians, for tourists who will be in Sochi during the games. They say it is in response, revenge for all the innocent Muslim blood, they say, that has been spilled around the world. And they say what has been showed so far is just a small step, an example of what is to come.

They say they have a list of names. People who are prepared to take target in the actions they had planned and to have a task for each of them. Russian officials said the attacks seen in Volgograd would not affect their security planning or posture for the games itself in Sochi because they believe their plan is thorough and everything is in place. They say they are prepared to host these games safely.

But those attacks did trigger a big surge in security in other parts of Russia notably here in Volgograd and you are expected to see a lot of that in the city tomorrow when the Olympic flame arrives by train at the same station that was targeted by terrorists just a few weeks ago. From there the torch relay will make its way through the streets of the city over the course of the day. Russian officials say they will not take any chances when it comes to security.

Phil Black, CNN. Volgograd, Russia.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Even before that videotape emerged today, lawmakers on both the house and Senate intelligence committees say that they are extremely concerned over security and safety in Sochi.

Former CIA operative and CNN national security Bob Baer shares those fears. And Bob, we know that it anticipated to some 15,000 Americans are planning to go to is the Sochi for the games. What would you say to them?

ROBERT BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, Martin, I hate to say it but I don't think it is safe. You know, I think the village will be safe, the facilities. I think the Russians would do a good job in protecting the immediate environment. But, the rest of Russia, I would be very, very leery of traveling around especially in public places.

SAVIDGE: And I'm wondering, you know, you have worked with the Russians here and we know that the U.S. is sending FBI members to apparently assist and provide security. How much cooperation to you anticipate between the two government seats, two kinds of law enforcement agencies?

BAER: You know, Martin, if you look at the history, I doubt you are going to get much. The Russians don't like to share secrets, internal secrets. They are unlikely include the FBI into their investigations. The FBI will be there, but they would be pretty much of the black, on the same way the central intelligence agency. The Russians just are not going to share. They are going to say look, we can do it ourselves. Don't bother us. We know about these people. So, we are just going to have to take their word for it. And look, 20 years now and they haven't been able to suppress this Islamic insurgency, the north caucus. So, I think, it is almost certain, we are going to see some sort of attacks in Russia. Maybe against our athletes, but I guess foreigners or Russians.

SAVIDGE: And Senator Angus came. He is a member of the intelligence committee said today that he wouldn't go to Sochi. I presumed I wouldn't neither then.

BAER: Absolutely. I wouldn't go. I was in Moscow during, you know, when you know, when the (INAUDIBLE) attack. I feel safer at that time then I would now, just wouldn't go. I wouldn't get on an airplane there. It is a precaution. I can't tell you there is going to be attack for sure, but the chances are high.

SAVIDGE: And what areas, in particular, would worry you? In other words that they would try to disrupt the games themselves or would they look for an opportunistic soft target surrounding the games?

BAER: I think if you look at the Volgograd, the two attacks that is, you know, highly traveled areas. You know, you look at that explosion in Volgograd. You can see from the color of it. It was the military explosives so we know they have access to dangerous weapons. And I think they will go for the biggest bang which would be against civilians and especially tourists.

SAVIDGE: And yet, we tend to think, you know, of a regime like this which of course, time. This is almost considered totalitarian. That security is one of the things they are good at.

BAER: They are brilliant at it. But the problem is such a big problem. I mean, the north caucuses, you know, you have got those people, potential recruits, everywhere in Russia including Moscow and St. Petersburg. And as good as the Russians are, they can't ensure 100 percent security.

SAVIDGE: All right, Bob Baer, I hope you are wrong actually in this case, but time would tell.

BAER: I hope so too.

SAVIDGE: Thank you very much for joining us today.

Back here in the United States. Things got stickier politically today for Governor of New Jersey. Chris Christie. A mayor on his state, shown here standing on Christie's left, added on to the governor's bridge controversy this weekend with the very serious accusations.

According to Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer, Christie staffers told her she would not get no hurricane Sandy relief money unless she played ball on a construction program.

And today on CNN, she named names and drew lines straight to the government .

Our Sunlen Serfaty s is watching these developments from Washington . And we will also hear from CNN's Tory Dunnan who is in Florida where Chris Christie today was going a kind of rock tour of Republican fund- raisers.

Sunlen, you first. This mayor is essentially saying that Chris Christie was playing games politics with people's lives and livelihood after the disaster.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, martin, the mayor went much farther today. This is the first time here on CNN that she is tying Governor Christie directly to these threats to the retaliation.

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SERFATY (voice-over): The alleged retaliation for Christie's team happened seven months ago. On CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," Hoboken mayor, Dawn Zimmer, tells Candy Crowley why she is coming forward now.

MAYOR DAWN ZIMMER, HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY: And I was really concerned that if I came forward and no one believed me that we would really be cut out of the Sandy funding. But as I watch coverage with bridgegate, I do see parallels.

SERFATY: Her charge Sandy aid for hard hit Hoboken was held hostage until she pushed through a project by the Rockefeller group, a real estate developer with ties to the New Jersey governor.

After this Hoboken event in May in a nearby parking lot, Zimmer says Christie's lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, communicated what she said was a message that was from Christie himself. ZIMMER: She came and she made a direct threat to me. The lieutenant governor pulled me aside and she said, you know, essentially, you've got to move forward with the Rockefeller project. This project is really important to the governor. And she said that she had been with him on Friday night and this was a direct message from the governor.

SERFATY: And then Zimmer says, Guadagno told her this.

ZIMMER: You tell anyone I will deny it. I mean, it is stunning. It is outrageous, but it is true. And I stand by my words.

SERFATY: She says her backed by a journal entry she wrote at the time about the conversation then saying about Christie , I thought he was honest. I thought her was moral. This week I found out he is cut from the same corrupt cloth that I have been fighting for the same four years.

The governor's office seen the statement calls Zimmer's characterization of the conversation with Guadagno categorically false saying, parties and politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and trying to get their faces on television.

Zimmer says, Christie and his chief are hiding behind spoke s people, but believes the lieutenant governor Guadagno will eventually confirm her account.

ZIMMER: And I believe if and when she is asked to testify under oath the truth will come out because I believe she will tell the truthful and she will tell the truth.

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SERFATY: And we contacted the governor's office again today, but they decline the response specifically to these new comments from the mayor. And where they stand by the previous statement that her characterization of the conversation is what is false -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right, Sunlen, thank you very much for that.

Have his troubles in New Jersey followed him to Florida where he is meeting with donors for a possible presidential run? We'll get the latest from North Palm beach next.

And then later, actor, activist and social media sensation, George Takei opens up about to his newest project that hits close to home.

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SAVIDGE: Governor Chris Christie's troubles are compounding in New Jersey while he is meeting possible future campaigns over on his trip to Florida. These are people that Christie hopes will write he checks if he decides to make a run for the White House. And today, is the main event of his Florida trip.

Our Tory Dunnan is in North Palm beach -- Tory. TORY DUNNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Martin, what is going on right now is that New Jersey governor Chris Christie is here inside this gated community at a private home. As you mentioned, this is not really a fund racing event per se. But it is an opportunity for Governor Christie to meet potential donors say should he decide to run for president in 2016.

And to give you more information about this event happening right now. It is a home that belongs to Ken Langone. He is co-founder of home depot, a billionaire. And CNN has actually been able to talk to him. And what heard from him is that the number of people wanting to come to this event since the scandal unfolded has gone up. He says he has been getting calls from people saying they like that the way the governor is handling it so far. Of course, that was before this latest allegations came out.

So, if there is an opportunity for people to ask Governor Christie about scandal, the allegation, it would be tonight at this event happening here in. And of course, Governor Christie is going to be meeting with several hundred people so we will keep close on eye that -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Thank you for doing that, Tory Dunnan.

Well, we just reported on these allegations new allegation against Chris Christie made by the mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey which she says that his office withheld super storm Sandy relief funding over her refusal to push through a development project. And this all surfaced during his big fundraising trip to Florida in a possible stepping stone to the 2016 White House bid.

So, let's bring our political panel. That's political commentator, Lz Granderson joining me from Chicago. And then Amy Holmes, conservative journalist and anchor of "the List" on blaze.com. She joins us from New York.

Timing is everything and the timing on this particular allegation is very interesting. So, do you think that this new allegations are really going to harm Chris Christie's reputation?

Amy, you go first.

AMY HOLMES, HOST, THE LIST, BLAZE.COM: Well, in fact, the governor's office is pushing back very hard on these allegations. Unfortunately your reporter did not report that the governor says that the mayor of Hoboken has received $70 million in Sandy relief recovery funs and recovery efforts. And that not a single grant application for the recovery efforts from Hoboken as been denied.

So, that is new information from the governor's office. But as you heard down in Florida, Chris Christie is the man of the moment. And people are even more interested in him on the Republican side. And they do admire how he was hiring the GW bridge closing scandal, if you want to call it that. That he sacked that deputy chief of staff and his former campaign manager and was unequivocal that he had nothing to do with it. SAVIDGE: Lz, is there a risk here for Democrats that they can appear like they are just sort, you know, jumping on the van wagon, blaming on to this and making more than really politically it should be?

LZ GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. And you know, Democrats obviously, have a history of doing that, you know, when he pumped in that chest too aggressively when it seems like they have an eye got you moment.

But I wouldn't dismiss this situation as quite as easily as Amy did, only in the sense that, you know, this is the second time with someone extremely close to Chris Christie who has been accused of doing something that is not above (INAUDIBLE).

Now, you can say that Chris doesn't know anything about this. You can say Governor Christie is just finding this out. But this makes two people then in his inner circle who are out doing things without his knowledge. And so, while he may not have anything to do with Hoboken, he may not having anything to do with the bridge, but what we are seeing is a pattern of people extremely close to him outdoing things without his knowledge and that is not a good look for a president.

HOLMES: But we don't know that lieutenant governor he did do that. I mean, that is an allegation one, again, that the governor's office is pushing back very hard on by pointing out at Hoboken --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: $70 million in recovery efforts, when this mayor said that money was held hostage. Sorry, rather Governor Christie is saying, no, Hoboken did get quite a nice pile of cash.

SAVIDGE: All right, let me just insert myself here real quick, because I want to move on to another topic before we run out of time.

And in switching gears, I know, let's talk about President Obama, his football comments in the "New Yorker" magazine. And a reporter asked him about the risk of concussions and brain injuries in professional football. And the president says that if he had a son quote "I would not let my son play pro football."

Lz, you are sports writer too, so, were you surprised by Obama's position on pro football?

GRANDERSON: Absolutely not. I mean, there are a lot of people who have been paying attention to the science and to the stories and to the lawsuits and are coming to the same conclusion that while we may still watch it as a guilty pleasure, if our children, if our son came up to it and say they want to play those sports based upon the information that we have gathered, if we are able to present it with other options, we were trying to pursue those other options.

SAVIDGE: Then why pro football? Why not say like high school football? Why not say even younger demand?

GRANDERSON: I'm sure that was just a slip of the tongue. I noticed that as well. I was like, you know, you got to start who could play football, chances are he is too old for people to tell him what to do an any anyway. I just assume that was just a slip of the quote and not him say specifically pro football by actually football in general.

BAER: Noted on your parenting skills. You have good insights.

Also, we should say that Obama talked about his news on marijuana. President Obama says quote "I smoked pot as a kid and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from cigarettes that I smoked as a young person outgrew a big chunk of my adult life. I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol."

Amy, do you agree with the president's alcohol-marijuana comparison here?

HOLMES: You know, the president wonders why he is so polarizing that he is in appropriately weighing in on very thorny and sticky and controversial pop culture and parenting issues.

Getting back to football, he said that he wouldn't put his son in football. There are lots of parents who have their sons played football or their sons want to, who would love it, who find it is a great outlet for them in terms of this athleticism and their interest.

When it comes to the issue of alcohol and pot et cetera, for him to be drawing this comparison and basically saying they are equivalent, a lot of parents don't feel that way and don't appreciate the president of the United States coming out and sharing that point of view.

I would also like to point -- hold on, Lz. I also like to point out that this same president called the owner of the team that hired Michael Vick. So, on the one hand, he says he would have a compete pro football. On the other hand, he is congratulating a football player who went to jail for dog rings happening on his property.

I think we are seeing a lot of hypocrisy and once again, weighing in on this issues inappropriately as president of the United States and chief of the law enforcement in this country.

SAVIDGE: I'm waiting for Lz to jump in.

GRANDERSON: You are going to let me respond please?

SAVIDGE: Go ahead.

GRANDERSON: All right, first of all. They ask a man a question. Do you expect him to say no comment like some sort of, you know, (INAUDIBLE)?

HOLMES: I expect him to be the president of the --

GRANDERSON: Let me finish, I let you finish. I'm going to finish now. They asked him a question, he responded. Now, if he has not half-half as he jumping in to things. He was actually hedging what he said if you read the entire interview, what he said about football. And the fact is, is that if someone asked me, regardless of what my profession is, would you let your child, do x, y and z, you should be able response to that without having people stay at home, you should be weighing in like, you know, as if you don't have a right to say anything.

And in regards to marijuana, the president has not really said anything that the medical community has not already said as well through their research. He is not half-half the outgoing making comparisons and telling parents what they must do. But the fact of the matter is, the reason why the mayor was on that particular level, as far as drug in the first place, is because President Nixon didn't like the drug, not based on science but because of politics.

And so, there is nothing wrong with him saying what science has already said about marijuana. But one thing I mad about it is the fact that he didn't come out and just say I think it should be legalized.

SAVIDGE: We have to end it there. And thank you both, Amy you started it. And Lz, you ended it. So, we appreciate it and we know we'll be talking again.

Thank you both.

Disturbing details that emerged when a United Nations committee grills Vatican officials over the sex abuse scandals that rocked the catholic church. You will hear more right after this.

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SAVIDGE: Dennis Rodman is going to be out of the public eye for a while. The former NBA star's agent said today that Rodman has checked into an alcohol rehab facility for the next 20 or 30 days. He reportedly started the program Wednesday and the agent says Rodman's drinking as escalated to a level that nobody close to him has seen before. And that Rodman is embarrassed and remorseful, those were in quotes, about his recent behavior in North Korea. That he blames on excessive drinking.

This week, Vatican officials answered some tough questions on the child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church. The United Nations committee grilled Vatican officials and disturbing details were revealed.

Alexandra Field as the latest.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, it was a highly unusual public grilling for Vatican official, one of which admitted to the U.N. committee holding hearing that there is quote "no excuse for child sex abuse." The U.N. panel on the right of the child convene Geneva. Panel numbers pressed representatives of Vatican on what kind of sanctions are imposed on abusive priest and whether this priests are turned over to justice systems in countries where crimes are committed. There were also asked about what has been done to prevent bishops from transferring priests to different parishes to cover up abuses. Reaction from the catholic community to the hearing has been mixed. Some say it represents a step forward toward more transparency.

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ROBERT HOATSON, ROAD TO RECOVERY: The fact that the Vatican was going to have to appear before a committee was very interesting to me because as a church, as an entity, the catholic church has really never explained itself. And its whole approach toward the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

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FIELD: Meanwhile, the catholic league for religious and civil rights offers us a very different take to just in the U.N. committee has no real authority and offering that the hearing was only an opportunity for grand standing.

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BILL DONAHUE, CATHOLIC LEAGUE FOR RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL RIGHTS: I just did see this today it gives the impression that it is ongoing. It is not ongoing. Our problems are largely behind us. So, I'm concerned about feeding the stereotype out there which had truth in the past. It doesn't have legs today.

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FIELD: One Vatican official assured the U.N. panel that action on the issue of sex abuse is a priority. Pope Francis is holding a senior Vatican official to carry out full due proceedings against guilty and protect the helmet of church in March -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Alexandra Field, thank you very much.

Coming up, actor, author, activist and social media see sensation, George Takei, and his husband, Brad, talk about their newest project. Stick around.

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SAVIDGE: The Sundance film festival in full swing in parts of Utah. One film that everyone seems to be talking about is being a Takei. It showcases the life of legendary after George Takei, perhaps best known for his role in star trek.

Takei opens up about this years in a Japanese-American Internment camp, life changes and his personal achievements. Takei and his husband, Brad, gave CNN's Miguel Marquez a preview of the film.

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GEORGE TAKEI, ACTOR: I was involved in a civil-rights movement. I marched with Dr. Martin Luther King. I shook his hand, talked with him. I was involved in the peace movement during the Vietnam war.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In an acting job, they also put you in stereotypical roles. G. TAKEI: That is right. And the struggle for getting a more true depiction of Asian and Asian-American characters in the media which directing the effected professional career. But all this time. I was silent about another aspect of my life, I was gay from the time I was nine or ten, I knew that bobby excited me more than Janey.

MARQUEZ: Brad, he said that he did not want control over this project but he strikes me as someone who is very much in control freak, if I may.

BRAD TAKEI, GEORGE TAKEI'S HUSBAND He is the control freak.

MARQUEZ: Really?

B. TAKEI: What happened is that, Jennifer Cruz, the director, she showed up at our house one day so to speak and the cameras just rolled. Jennifer approach and direct her teams as just sort of to stay in the background. And so, after while, we forgot the cameras were there. And as a result, we just live our lives and Jennifer has been part of our lives. And whether our lives are normal or unusual, she is on to send the documentary.

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SAVIDGE: Takei says that the film was shot over three years and it has been narrowed down now to 90 minutes.

I'm Martin Savidge at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. The latest on the terror threat against the Olympics and the newest allegation against New Jersey governor, Chris Christie tomorrow morning, 6:00 eastern on "NEW DAY."

Paul Walker, a life in the past, life begins right now.

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