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Jobless Rate Drops; Russians Spying on Olympic Visitors?; Lesbian Kisses in Sochi Games?; Interview with Joe Biden

Aired February 07, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Violence as the opening ceremonies just two hours away.

Anxiety running high as the world's eye turns to Russia. Straight ahead, how safe is the American team?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our job here is to just focus on what we can control.

COSTELLO: Plus Leno's last night.

JAY LENO, HOST, "TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": This has been the greatest 22 years of my life.

COSTELLO: Choking back tears as he took the stage.

LENO: I don't like good-byes.

COSTELLO: Inviting his very first guest, Billy Crystal, back for one more time.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Paychecks and politics, we begin this hour with breaking news about the economy and the nation's struggling jobs market. Minutes ago we learned that 113,000 jobs were created in January. That's far fewer jobs than we're expected. The nation's jobless rate slides a bit to 6.6 percent but that, too, is cause for concern.

We're going to break this down for you this morning. Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans is in New York along with financial expert Monica Mehta, David Wessell of the Brookings Institute, he's in Washington, and Jim Acosta is at the White House.

Christine, I want to start with you because these were kind of disappointing numbers.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They are, Carol. And perspective is everything here. 6.6 percent on the jobless rate. It's a heck of a lot better than 10 percent at the peak of the crisis but it's still not good enough, certainly for where we are right now.

I want to show you some of these important numbers to put this in context. You still have 10.2 million people unemployed, you got 3.6 million people who've been out of work for six months or longer.

Carol, I'm very concerned about that part of the labor market. Things are not getting better for the long-term unemployed and we're hearing and we're seeing a bias against those people who've been out of work for a long time.

People who are hiring are hiring people who are newly unemployed or still in a job. This group has really been left behind. And you still have a labor force participation rate of 63 percent. What does that mean?

Carol, it means too many working age Americans are not working. That number way too low, still shows you an economy that's leaving a huge, huge swath of Americans behind -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So let's parse this out further and go to you, David. Is there any silver lining at all to this?

DAVID WESSELL, CONTRIBUTING CORRESPONDENT, WALL STREET JOURNAL: There is. I mean, I agree that it was a disappointing number. We would like to have seen employers adding more people. But, you know, the Labor Department does two surveys every month. One of them of employers and the other of households.

The household survey is the one that brings us the unemployment rate and the numbers there actually are encouraging. More people working. A higher fraction of people working that labor force participation rate is up. So there is a -- that is the silver lining. It's very confusing, but when you go to households, more people seem to be working and it's not because people are dropping out of the labor market but the unemployment rate came down.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, at least there's something to feel positive about.

Monica, I want to talk to you about the long-term unemployed and what the answer is. We know the Senate just failed to move forward a bill that would have extended long-term unemployment for three months. What's the answer?

MONICA MEHTA, MANAGING PRINCIPAL, SEVENTH CAPITAL INVESTMENT: Well, I think if the question is how do we create jobs you have to look at where the jobs are coming from? In the last two years the bulk of the new job development has been coming from private employers and if you look at private payroll data it shows you that the bulk of the jobs are being created by companies with less than 500 employees.

So if the answer is small business, then we really need to start asking questions of small business owners, what can we do to make their lives better, what can we do to help them hire more people and I think that is what's going to help us create new jobs and start lifting up economic mobility in this country again.

COSTELLO: All right. Let's head out to Jim Acosta. He's at the White House this morning. Probably a little too soon for any sort of response. JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

COSTELLO: But what do you suppose the president's people will say?

ACOSTA: That's right, Carol. No official response from the White House yet but consider what they said last month. This is the second disappointing jobs report in a row after last month's disappointing jobs report. The White House said that it was focused on the future. It acknowledged that last month was less than expected.

I imagine the White House will say much of the same today, although the president or the White House will also say look, eight million, roughly eight million jobs have been created since 2009, 2010, and that they are focused on these executive actions that the president has been working on these last couple of weeks.

You heard Christine Romans talk about the long-term unemployed. Just last week the president had a meeting over here at the White House getting big companies to basically say listen, we're not going to discriminate against long-term unemployed again.

But his legislative agenda when it comes to the economy, Carol, has been stymied up on Capitol Hill. Just look at the last several days, immigration reform, long-term unemployment insurance benefits. That has also been stalled. Minimum wage. That's not really going anywhere up on Capitol Hill. And so time after time after time the president is seeing his legislative agenda stalled and so this morning House Speaker John Boehner is out with another press release saying where are the jobs, Mr. President.

And you're going to hear Republicans, I think, throughout the day today, Carol, say, well, go ahead and sign the Keystone Pipeline if you want to use your pen, Mr. President. Sign that into law, let's get that one going.

And so at this point, Carol, I think the big question here in Washington is, can this president cut a deal up on Capitol Hill? I think that's the big question. Can he start to perhaps make some compromises here, maybe give the Republicans the Keystone in exchange for some of these other items to get his economic agenda moving.

COSTELLO: Jim Acosta, Monica Mehta, David Wessell, and Christine Romans, thanks so much.

So how will the markets react to today's jobs numbers? We'll have a live report for you when the Opening Bell rings around 9:30 Eastern.

All eyes on Sochi today with the Olympics opening ceremony beginning in just about two hours. But apparently some Russian eyes are focusing on visitors in their hotel rooms.

The "Wall Street Journal" is reporting the Russians are spying on Olympic visitors. In response to a question about the condition of hotel rooms, the Russian deputy prime minister told the "Wall Street Journal," quote, "We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall, and then leave the room for the whole day." End quote.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

We'll have much more on that angle later this hour.

There are also new terror concerns to report this morning, though.

Here's Jim Sciutto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned U.S. authorities is working with Russia and other countries to disrupt several plots related to the Olympics. Beyond the toothpaste tube terror threat it sparked a warning to airlines flying to the games.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: There are some very specific threat leads that we have, but at the same time it's difficult to ascertain whether this is aspirational, whether this is what the terrorists would like to do or whether this is operational. Whether they'd actually put this into effect. Whether they have the means of carrying this out.

SCIUTTO: U.S. officials are concerned the intelligence regarding the threat of attackers using toothpaste or cosmetic tubes to hide explosives originated from the group led by this man, Doku Umarov, who leads Chechen terrorists who have publicly threatened the games.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: The plot itself originated from the leader of the Chechen rebel extremist, Umarov. That's where this plot hatched out of.

SCIUTTO: While U.S. officials have increasing confidence about security inside the Olympic venue, transportation hubs leading to the games including planes, trains and automobiles, are still seen as softer targets and more vulnerable. Russia's deputy prime minister insisted Sochi is safe.

DMITRY KOZAK, RUSSIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (Through Translator): I would like to repeat once again that the level of security in the city of Sochi is not worse than New York, London, Washington or Boston.

SCIUTTO: That is little reassurance to some. Chechen terrorists have struck in the air before. Black widow bombers are believed to have brought down two jets in Russia in 2004. However, the intense security focus by Russian and international authorities now may make it more difficult for a similar plot to succeed again.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I can't think of a case where there's been a series warning publicly and then something actually happened. They've been (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO (on camera): Concern about the toothpaste threat led French officials to arrest two Chechen women this week in France. However, they found no evidence the women were a threat or had plans to travel to Russia. There are continuing concerns about intelligence cooperation with the Russians particularly pertaining to domestic threats inside Russia.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The actual games began even before the opening ceremony. Qualifying rounds took place Thursday in team figure skating, slopestyle, snowboarding and women's freestyle skiing moguls. They all went out without a hitch. The athletes say they're focusing on the games, not terror threats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID WISE, U.S. HALFPIPE TEAM: I don't think anybody up here has felt any danger since we've been here, so yes, we're pretty confident that we're going to be able to just focus on our skiing and competing, and not let those outside influences really bother or worry us. It's not something that I'm really focused own and I think I can say the same for the rest of my teammates up here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: One more thing about the Olympic Games. And this may surprise you since President Putin banned any promotion of gay activity at the games.

Well, here's the surprise. The Russians have added to the opening ceremonies pre-show.

This is the Russian female pop duo Tattoo. They're known for their lesbian kisses in public. Say what, you say?

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Sochi. So this is a surprise.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it certainly meant to be as well. I mean, I should point out that Tattoo nearly a decade ago managed to get global fame from really the lesbian kiss you saw in the music video. Though neither of them are lesbian and not frankly have in their career. Not really been promoting gay rights at all.

It's not clear how prominent they'll be. There's some suggestions they might actually perform. What's pretty clear from state media is that their song, "They're Not Going to Get Us," is going to be the one that -- Russian Olympic team enters the arena, too.

But this is all, obviously, Carol, part of some bid to soften the criticism of the Kremlin's pretty anti-gay stance in this recent legislation which has caused some outcry from many of the attendees and many human rights groups on the outside of the games, too. Probably much really to change the broad tone of Moscow's message towards the world's gay population but at the end of the day it might just be a symbol of perhaps them wanting to seem a little bit sympathetic for the criticisms against them -- Carol. COSTELLO: Lots of criticisms. You're right, Nick Paton Walsh, because if you logged on to Google this morning, then you probably saw this.

Google Doodle is celebrating the Winter Olympics by taking a stance against Russia's anti-gay laws. The rainbow colors are just like the pride flags of banners used in support of the LGBT community.

Google also cites the Olympic charter that stands up for all athletes regardless of sexual orientation by saying, quote, "Sport is a human right."

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, AOL employees get their retirement benefits slashed. And the reason might surprise you. The CEO is blaming two sick babies and Obamacare.

We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Controversial comments coming from AOL CEO Tim Armstrong surrounding the reasons why the company decided to cutback on retirement benefits for its employees. On CNBC, Armstrong placed the blame squarely on Obamacare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM ARMSTRONG, AOL CEO: Obamacare is an additional $7.1 million expense for us as a company. So, we have to decide whether to pass it on to employees or whether cut other benefits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But later that same day, in a company-wide conference call, Armstrong appeared to shift the blame a bit citing two distressed babies born to AOL employees. Armstrong said, quote, "We had two AOLers that had distressed babies that we paid a million dollars each to make sure those babies were OK in general and those are things that add up into our benefits cost."

An AOL employee listening to their call, took some notes and sent them to a tech blogger who then published them online, igniting a firestorm.

Joining me now to discuss this, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. She's the co-founder of moms rising, a group that supports women's issues.

Good morning and thank you for being here.

KRISTIN ROWE-FINKBEINER, MOMSRISING.ORG: Good morning.

COSTELLO: First of all, I can't believe Armstrong would say that on a conference call that included employees.

ROWE-FINKBEINER: I can't believe it either, particularly since 50 percent of the workforce, for the first time in history, are women and three quarters of moms are in the labor force.

It was flat out ridiculous. AOL as a company is worth $3.7 billion. That's billion with a B and has 5,000 employees. So, two sick babies are certainly not going to break their bank.

What we have is a red herring. We have a scapegoating situation where they blame moms and babies for a decision he made which is to cut all his employees 401(k) plans and highly paid CEOs need to step up and take responsibility for the decisions they make.

COSTELLO: Well, it was surprising he didn't mention any of the other hundreds of expensive medical procedures, cancer treatments, hip replacements. Why single out families?

ROWE-FINKBEINER: You know, that is an excellent question and it's one that I immediately went to myself last night. Sadly, right now, in the United States of America, discrimination against moms is widespread. And while this is a ridiculous example and it's really outrageous, this is not the only time that moms have been discriminated against.

Right now, hold on to your hats, maternal status is a greater predictor of wage discrimination than gender. And so, we see across the country over and over again moms with equal resumes and job experiences getting hired less, being paid less and being blamed for things like this.

It's not OK because 81 percent of women in America do have children by the time they are 44 years old. So, this means that while not all moms are called out by the CEO of AOL, most women do experience some type of discrimination due to their maternal status in their lifetime.

COSTELLO: Now. in fairness to Mr. Armstrong he did cite Obamacare as a another reason he had to like cut benefits, cut the 401(k) benefits to employees. It was both things combined. A lot of companies are citing Obamacare as a reason why they are cutting benefits.

ROWE-FINKBEINER: Now, that also is a red herring and a scapegoating. Let's face it. Health care costs have been rising for decades, skyrocketing, even. From what Mr. Armstrong has said it appears that AOL has an employer sponsored health care plan which means that the employer is negotiating directly with the health care plan for the coverage of their employees and that means that Obamacare has nothing to do with it. In fact, the cost can't be directly related to Obamacare in this instance.

So, again, we see a highly paid CEO who I may add made $12 million last year scapegoating moms, scapegoating Obamacare, really not taking responsibility for stepping up for the decision he made to cut the retirement beaches of all of his employees. If it was the $2 million that he says that the babies cost then maybe he could have not taken a raise last year which was more than $2 million. It's ridiculous when companies put their profits and own salaries over real people.

COSTELLO: Well, in fairness to our viewers you're a big Obamacare supporter. I should mention that. We have reached out to Mr. Armstrong. And we wanted to get him on the air and he's not returned our calls.

So, thanks to you, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner for joining us this morning. I appreciate it.

ROWE-FINKBEINER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM. It is a CNN exclusive interview. We talked to Vice President Joe Biden and he's giving new clues about a potential run for president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Vice President Joe Biden finally giving insight to a potential run for president in 2016, in a CNN exclusive interview with Kate Bolduan. And, oddly, it has to do something with fast cars and Corvettes.

Kate Bolduan joins me now to explain.

Good morning.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

When you think fast cars and Corvettes, you think of me, right? No, of course not.

But Joe Biden, you might think of Joe Biden. The man does love cars. And he admits that. It was something caught my attention earlier in the week when he was Corvettes and this Corvette though is out, and he said that was the one overwhelming reason to not run for president, was being able to get back the wheel and go from zero to 60 in 3.4 seconds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Can I ask you one fun question about Corvettes?

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sure you can. Now you hit my sweet spot.

BOLDUAN: I know it's sweet spot. What can I say?

You had a lot of fun earlier this week speaking to the UAW.

BIDEN: I did.

BOLDUAN: Talking about Corvette, talking about going zero to 60 in 3.4 seconds.

BIDEN: That's right, man.

BOLDUAN: That was the one reason you said you would not run for president.

BIDEN: Well --

BOLDUAN: Other than Corvettes, give me another good reason why you shouldn't run.

BIDEN: I can't.

BOLDUAN: Yes?

BIDEN: There may be reasons I don't run but there's no obvious reason for me why I think I should not run.

BOLDUAN: Do you have a timetable?

BIDEN: Probably the realistically a year this summer.

BOLDUAN: Is Dr. Biden onboard?

BIDEN: When I ran the first time, Jill didn't want to run again. Second time, she came to me and said, you got to run. The reason she wanted me to run? Because she was convinced if I ran, we'd end the war in Iran and we have a sounder foreign policy. And she was convinced that if I ran, I would work like hell to make sure the middle class got a fighting chance.

For me, the decision to run or not run is going to be determined by me as to whatever am I the best qualified person to focus on the two things I've spent my whole life on -- give ordinary people a fighting chance to make it and a sound foreign policy that's based on national interest of the United States, where we not only are known for the power of our military, but the power of our example.

I think the future for this country, I know, people think I'm too optimistic, but it is incredible -- so much just within our grasp. It doesn't mean I'm the only guy that can do it. But if no one else I think can, and I think I can, then I'd run. If I don't, I won't.

BOLDUAN: Sounds like a man who is seriously considering. Thank you so much, Mr. Vice President.

BIDEN: Thank you. Appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: And, Carol, I mean, I think you can see this does not look like a man in the sunset of his career. This looks like a man who is ready to fight for it. I mean, you can see him talking about it right there, and almost sounds like announcement speech right there.

COSTELLO: Has he seen the polls? Hillary Clinton has like 70 percent support among Democrats.

BOLDUAN: Agreed. Yes, the latest poll has her at 73 percent and him 11 percent or 12 percent. I mean, clearly the poll is not in his favor. But there's a lot of time that can turn around.

And I think right now, Joe Biden is just looking for leverage and to be out there.

John King made a good point. We were talking about this earlier. He was saying, you know, some vice presidents in his second term as you're heading out of a second term, they tend to lose relevancy and this is, if nothing else, Joe Biden is fighting to stay relevant and he's doing a pretty good job at it. Vintage Joe Biden.

COSTELLO: CNN's Kate Bolduan, thanks so much.

Coming up, opening bell on Wall Street and investors react to this morning's disappointing jobs report.

Christine Romans is in New York.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Carol, 113,000 jobs created in the month. You know, that's better than the end of last year but just not enough. What are we going to do about it? What are stocks going to do about it? I'll have that right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. Welcome back I'm Carol Costello.

The opening bell just ringing on Wall Street. Just an hour ago we learned 113,000 jobs were created in January, far fewer than expected.