Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Report: 49,000 Plus Flights Canceled In January; Manhunt On For Escaped Convicted Killer; Autopsy Today For Philip Seymour Hoffman; Christie Aides Face Subpoena Deadline Today; Seahawks Rout Broncos To Win Super Bowl; Joe Namath Blasted For Wearing Fur Coat; Jerry Seinfeld Back At New York Diner; Abortion Rate Lowest Since 1973; When Will Wall Street Bounce Back?; House Arrest For Olympics "Black Widows"

Aired February 03, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: People had to call in and say, look, I'm not coming in to work and making money. You had travellers having to pay for hotels and meals and alternative transportation just to get to where they needed to go. Let's say renting a car or bus ticket. That came out of their own pockets because remember airlines reimburse some of the costs, but not if it is related to weather. It is not necessarily the airlines fault. So you know, all these sad weather that we are getting, Carol, not just creating headaches for so many of us, but cost in our pocketbooks too -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alison Kosik, thanks so much. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with me. A manhunt now underway for a convicted killer described as armed and dangerous. Authorities believe Michael David Elliot who killed four people, broke out of a correctional facility in Central Michigan last night. He then carjacked a woman using a knife or box cutter and drove her to Indiana where she managed to somehow escape. Elliot took off when she called 911. No one knows where he is or where he is heading.

CNN's George Howell joins us now with more. Good morning, George.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning. Certainly, a story we are keeping in close contact with officials here at CNN Chicago because we are trying to figure out -- where he could be and what his movements might be. We just heard a news conference just within the last hour and got some insight into how this escape could have happened.

First of all, officials say that Michael David Elliot was able to get his hands on prison whites and apparently these prison whites, it's a uniform that is associated with working in the kitchen. However, he was not assigned at the kitchen at that time. Officials say during that time, somehow, he was able to get access to different parts of that facility where he twisted and contorted the fencing, both the inner fencing and the perimeter, the outer fencing to make his escape. I want you to hear though what officials say about him as a prisoner. They said that they never had any indication that he would try to escape. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This all has to do with custody classifications. This particular inmate had had no institutional problems for many years. He was at a level 2 classification. That's a little step down, but that's based on their performance in the institutions, nothing that in this man's history would have indicated a high risk for escape. He had been serving his time. So obviously, classifying inmates with the correct security level is important to us. We spend a great deal of time doing that in a safe and thoughtful way, measured way. But clearly, this man was an escape risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: So here is the timeline from that Ionia facility. We understand that he fled on foot to the city of Ionia that is where he apparently carjacked the woman and the two headed to Elkhart, Indiana. That is where the woman managed to escape. They both went into a convenience store, Carol, as you mentioned. She went into a restroom and called 911. Elliot continued to travel on.

Now, the question, you know, is he headed toward the Chicago area, headed south. Still, unclear. We do know from our affiliate, WOOD TV, that he may have family, friends or contacts in Grand Rapids, in that area. But certainly, we are keeping in touch with occasions and getting the latest information on this and trying to pass it on as soon as we can.

COSTELLO: And if you spot this guy, do not approach him, right?

HOWELL: Absolutely not.

COSTELLO: Call the police.

HOWELL: He is considered dangerous.

COSTELLO: All right, George Howell reporting live from Chicago this morning.

So many movie-goers just knowing that Philip Seymour Hoffman was in a movie immediately boosted the chances that it would be worth watching. By almost all accounts, the 46-year-old was one of the most talented actors of his generation. Today, he is seen as one of its most tragic losses.

Today, an autopsy is scheduled expected to confirm Seymour suffered a fatal drug relapse after more than two decades of staying clean and sober. Alexandra Field is outside the New York apartment where Hoffman's body was found. Good morning.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. At this point, working from the furry that Philip Seymour Hoffman may have died as a result of a heroin overdose. Law enforcement officials have told CNN that their next steps would be to try to determine where that drug could have come from and who could have sold it to Philip Seymour Hoffman.

We know from law enforcement sources that he was found upstairs in a fourth floor apartment in this Greenwich Village building. He was found dead on the bathroom floor on Sunday. Sources say that he had a needle in his left arm as well as two small baggies filled with what appears to be heroin, according to police.

There were also as many as eight other empty baggies in that apartment. According to sources, those baggies were marked with different labels, brand names that are typically associated with the sale of heroin. Philip Seymour Hoffman's body was taken away by the medical examiner after an NYPD crime scene unit came and took a look at the scene.

Yesterday, the medical examiner also spent several hours on scene here. In the past, Hoffman has spoken publicly about his history with drug addiction and drug abuse. Although a lot of his fans who have come out here today leaving flowers, leaving candles.

<10:05:15>

Some of them have said that they had no idea that he was privately struggle with those issues. Today, they are remembering him as really a talented actor who will be greatly missed -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. I see the flowers behind you. Thanks so much, Alexandra Field.

In New Jersey today, the special panel investigating the George Washington Bridge scandal is approaching a key deadline. Some 20 people in organizations tied to Governor Chris Christie face subpoenas related to the lane closures.

CNN investigative correspondent, Chris Frates is in Trenton, New Jersey, with more for us. Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. So it's an important day here in New Jersey, about 20 subpoenas coming in from people in Christie world. Those subpoenas are due at 5:00 today. I talked to a Democratic Assembly aide just a few minutes ago who told me, no word yet on how many will come in. It is important to note that most of those folks have gotten an extension. So they bought themselves some more time here in New Jersey.

There is no sense of the deadline for the new extension or who has gotten those extensions. The other thing happening today in New Jersey is Chris Christie will go on a local radio station here and do an "Ask the Governor" program. That's the first time that he has taken any questions since his January 9th marathon press conference right after Bridgegate broke and he dismissed two top aides.

So it will be interesting to hear what the people of New Jersey want to hear from their governor for the first time since this scandal has broken.

COSTELLO: Well, it will be interesting, Chris, because over the weekend at a Super Bowl event, some people booed Chris Christie.

FRATES: Well, that's right. He has gotten booed. There is also a development with a top aide named David Wildstein at the Port Authority. On Friday, his lawyer sent a letter saying that there was evidence that exists that maybe Christie wasn't telling the full and whole truth and so that has also reignited this story. So we will see what folks -- how much of that is sinking in here in New Jersey when he goes on at 7:00 tonight.

COSTELLO: Chris Frates, reporting live from a snowy New Jersey.

No doubt from the start, the Seattle Seahawks are Super Bowl champs. Seattle's vaunted legion of boom defense lowered the boom on Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. Just seconds into the game, they had a safety and the Seahawks kept on scoring, running up a 43-8 stomping the Broncos. Malcolm Smith, Seattle linebacker, was named MVP. But back in Seattle, some celebrations got a bit out of hand.

Seattle fans started a bonfire tossing furniture into the flames and they chanted their team's name. Fireworks, though, from a city landmark, the space needle lighting up with the team's trademark 12th- man flag flying high, but the Super Bowl is more than just about football, of course, like, I don't know, Joe Namath's fur coat in 40- degree weather.

Sunlen Serfaty joins us live from Washington to talk about all the other non-football moments that made this Super Bowl special. Good morning.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. That's right. Sometimes the best moments of the game are what happened off the field. This Super Bowl was no exception. Let's first kick off with a Super Bowl fashion report. Now legendary Jets quarterback, Joe Namath, as you said, was there to do the coin toss. It was that huge fur coat that you see him wearing that really stole the show.

This was, of course, a throwback to the look Namath would wear on the sidelines in the 70s. People were really in a frenzy over this last night on Twitter. Let me read to you a few. One person wrote, quote, "Joe Namath coat was just a bit too people." And another person tweeted, quote, "Sympathy to the puppy bowl dogs that gave their life for Joe Namath's coat."

Moving on now to one of my favorite parts of the game, of course, the commercials. If you are a Seinfeld fan, no doubt you loved this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, go watch the second half.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seriously?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I'm going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Newman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Jerry. They went a bit savory this year. So I had to make a quick Danish run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seahawks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: In this mini-reunion, of course, has been speculated about for so long. This is actually an ad for Seinfeld's web series called comedians in cars getting coffee. Lastly, one more for you, the Coke commercial also sparked some controversy. The ad featured people from many ethnicities singing the song, "America, the beautiful."

Now this upset some people. They said the song should not have been sung in several different languages. There was a boycott Coke hashtag trending last night on Twitter. One person tweeted, never buying Coke again. "America the Beautiful" in a language other than English is just wrong.

<10:10:15>

Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, I will just hold my comment over that one. Let's talk about Hillary Clinton because she was tweeting during the game. What did she tweet?

SERFATY: That's right. Hillary Clinton tweeted this about the game, which was on Fox. Here is her quote. She says, "It is so much more fun to watch Fox when it's someone else being blitzed and sacked." This was re-tweeted, Carol, more than 20,000 times today. Last night, a spokeswoman for Clinton tells us this was 100 percent humor. Back to you.

COSTELLO: Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much. Later this hour, they competed against thousands of online submissions and last night, they earned a spot at the Super Bowl. Coming up, we'll talk to the two filmmakers that were behind last night's winning Doritos commercials.

Also still to come, thousands of hotel guests may have had their credit card information stolen. Up next, we will tell you which hotels were hit and how you will know if you have been hacked.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 14 minutes past the hour. A new study says the nation's abortion rate has fallen to its slowest level since 1973, the year of the landmark Roe V. Wade, one reason, the use of early medication abortions like plan "b."

A high school shooting far from the United States. <10:15:12>

Russian police say a student shot to death a teacher and a police officer and then took 20 classmates hostage. The gunman released the other students and was then arrested.

The first American athletes are arriving in Sochi, Russia, getting ready for this week's start to the Winter Olympics. They arrive under a cloud of stifling security concerns. Terrorists have launched deadly attacks elsewhere in the country and have vowed to strike the games.

Investors are waiting to see if the start of February triggers a rebound on Wall Street. The Dow tumbled more than 5 percent last month marking the worst January since 2009 so how long before stocks pick back up?

Let's head to New York and check in with chief business correspondent, Christine Romans. Good morning, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We are starting February basically where we left off in January, just a lot of concerns. You know, the S&P 500 is down 3.5 percent this year, Carol. The last time we had even close to a correction was about 9.9 percent decline almost two years ago, April, 2012. So many, many of my sources saying you could see a little bit more on the down side here and it would still be a healthy thing to do.

So I have five reasons, Carol, why you should not be surprised if stocks keep selling in February. I mean, first of all, people are selling risky assets, emerging markets and stocks. What goes up must come down. The stock market was up huge last year. It needs to pull back, a new chapter at the fed, a new tapering, a new leader of the fed, transition there.

These fragile five they are calling them, big emerging markets that are having trouble as the fed is pulling stimulus out of the global system. Watch the emerging market and still questions about the U.S. recovery. We are going to get a jobs report later this week. We are hitting a treasury debt ceiling on Friday.

That is going to be some political risk. We are going to have auto sales today. We just need to know if there is good tracks for the American recovery. While we are still asking those questions, it is still tough going for stocks.

COSTELLO: OK, so I'll chill a little bit on that. Something you cannot chill on or chill about. If there is another troubling security breach, another company hacked.

ROMANS: Yes. This is the same security firm that alerted us to the Target breach is now telling us there was a hotel breach last year. If you stayed at a Sheraton or Westin, or a Marriott that was managed by this company called "White Lodgings" then you could have had problems. The banking industry was noticing that people had this common background. They stayed at these hotels and then later their identities were -- their credit cards and debit card information was stolen.

In the Marriott, these are the places where the hotels were attacked. What we're hearing from white lodging, is that this is an investigation. They are not going to release any more information until more is known. In industry, after industry, they say they are looking into it. There is nothing more they can do. Whether you have gone to Michael's, Target, Neiman Marcus, it is a wild west out there with your information.

COSTELLO: Really frightening. Christine Romans, thanks so much. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, in Russia, security tightens just four days before the winter games in Sochi. We'll tell you about the new action being taken against dozens of so-called black widows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

<10:21:44>

COSTELLO: This morning, there is a dramatic new development in the terror threat that hangs over the Olympic games in Sochi. With only four days before the opening ceremonies, CNN has learned exclusively that dozens of potential suicide bombers have been largely placed under lock and key. The so-called black widows are under a form of house arrest until after the Olympics end. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh live in Sochi digging up the details for us. Hi, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we drove into the hills of Dagestan to where the suicide bombers that hit the Volgograd train station late last year came from and we spoke to some women there who said that they had been told by local police that they weren't allowed to leave the town until the end of the Olympics where they lived. They are going to be checked up about three times a week.

I spoke to six of them in total who said there were many more. There was one thing that reunited these women. They have recently lost two clashes with Russian Special Forces, a husband or a brother who was himself a militant. They were open in saying the police are concerned they may go off and blow themselves off here.

They of course denied any such intention and complained about the impediment of their civil liberties that that police order constituted. I went to a second town where I saw a number of strict Muslim men that is more of stir sex of the Muslim faith here in Dagestan.

The police often accuse them of radicalism. They gave me a list of 64 people who they said had also been told by police to sign a declaration they wouldn't leave the area where they live until the Olympics were over.

The police aren't confirming this. It does seem to suggest they are deeply concerned about the movements of a number of people even though I should point out both people say they represent no threat -- Carol. COSTELLO: So Americans are nervous enough about all of the terror threats, right. But I understand in Sochi, some of the big hotels aren't ready for business like the Marriott.

WALSH: That's what we understand too. There has been a last-minute rush. Up in the mountains a week ago, there was a real sense of panic then. They continue at this point. They are standing behind the coastal cluster, the lower part along sea level where there are many of the Olympic venues. There is a sense of preparation here.

Only four days left to go. There are a lot of finishing touches that need to happen. The major issue now is security. You might be able to make out in the sky a couple of the security cameras that are being put up. It is hard to drive on some of the roads here for locals. They need permits. A lot of police around.

A sense of building up here and a lot of chatter of American voices in hotels, American teams and tourists here in number. I think after Barack Obama's statement on Friday that it is safe to come to Sochi may have had some impact -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Maybe. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, another round of snow the east coast and thousands of Super Bowl fans caught in the middle of it all. We'll have a live report for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

<10:28:29>

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with me. Let's check some top stories now at 28 minutes pas the hour.

Former Chicago mayor, Richard Daley is in the hospital in the intensive care unit. Doctors at that Chicago hospital are monitoring the 77-year-old Daley after he became ill on Friday. He was returning from a business trip to Arizona. Daley served 22 years as a Chicago mayor, the longest in the city's history.

A trial begins today for a man who shot an African-American teenager to death at a Florida gas station. Michael Dunn says he shot Jordan Davis in self defense. The police found no guns in the car the teenager was riding in. He said he asked the teens in the car to turn down their music and heard threats and claimed he saw a gun.

Well, the snow held off for the big game, but getting home today is going to be a mess for Seahawks and Broncos fans. More than 1,000 flights have already been canceled at the New York City metro area braises for up to 10 inches of snow today, my gosh. had Myers is in the middle of it all. Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. There were people without coats on here yesterday, because it was 55 degrees. The road is still a little bit warm. If not, everything is sticking to the roadways, but 10 inches of snow coming down. Over 400 airport delays in New York City alone, you multiply that by 120, 150 people per plane, that's almost 60,000 people that didn't get to go where they wanted to go today.

Hopefully, they get on other planes. We have 6-10 inches of snow still to come on top of probably the 1-2 already here. This is going to be a tough night home.