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100 Plus Dead In Today's Rioting In Ukraine; Shoe Bomb Threat For U.S. Bound Flights; Bank Of America CEO Gets 17 Percent Pay Raise; Officials Claim Water Is OK To Drink, But Several People Report Symptoms; Fighting For Women Voters
Aired February 20, 2014 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
Just ahead in the NEWSROOM they got the green light to drink the water again but is it really safe?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within a couple of minutes I'll have a headache.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the steam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the steam.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Some people say they're still getting sick after that chemical spill in West Virginia. Others are not taking any chances.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could not disagree with people who decide that they don't want to smell or they don't want to drink the water that smells of licorice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Plus Facebook drops a whopping $19 billion on the messaging service WhatsApp, but is it really worth it?
And later -- remember Isaac Lumpkin (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think you've done for your football team this year?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now they can't be lazy. If I can kick a ball, they can do their thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: We first introduced you to this high school kicker last month. Now his inspiring story getting the attention of the White House. All ahead in the NEWSROOM.
Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with me. We begin this hour in Ukraine where the death toll skyrockets and the truce in word only disintegrates. This is exclusive video. You see Ukrainian forces try to breech the fortress that now encircles the anti-government protesters.
Today has been the bloodiest day yet. At least 100 people killed and much of the world putting Ukraine's embattled president on notice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We expect the Ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peaceful protesters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: As Kiev burns, many say much of the blame lies with Russia and its president. The cold war crusader as Vladimir Putin basks in the glow of the Sochi Olympics. Just over 600 miles away, Ukraine spirals into deeper violence. The world wonders if it can pull back from the brink. Joining me now to talk about this is a former U.S. ambassador and career diplomat, Christopher Hill. Welcome.
CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Supposedly Ukraine's president is going to sit down with protest leaders. Do you think that will actually happen?
HILL: You know, it may happen, but the concern is, of course, it's too little too late. I mean, these protests have been joined by all kinds of different protesters including many people not affiliated with any of these opposition parties. This is huge stakes right now. Ukraine is a vast important country, lots of natural resources. But the real issue is that without Ukraine, Russia is Russia. With Ukraine, Russia is the Soviet Union. So this is really the big high stakes political gain here.
COSTELLO: So President Obama has obviously spoken out. Why hasn't President Putin or have we just not heard? He really did and we're not hearing about it?
HILL: Well, I mean, his government has been pretty consistent in its support for Yanukovych. You know, frankly Putin started this whole dance when he announced if Ukraine signed the associate deal with the European Union, he would cut off trade with Ukraine. So Ukraine was faced with the immediate cut off of some $15 billion worth of trade. That's why President Yanukovych made this faithful decision to go back on the E.U. deal. That brought people on the streets. Frankly, I don't think it's going to end any time soon.
COSTELLO: What more can the United States do? HILL: Well, I think we need to be diplomatically engaged. I think we certainly need to be engaged with Russians as tough as that is. I'm not sure of the sanctions, while sort of unnecessary sort of required element if you will, are going to be sufficient in and of themselves. The E.U. will have similar type sanctions. That is banning the leaders of Ukraine from traveling to the United States and the European Union. But believe me, traveling to the United States is the last thing on their minds right now.
COSTELLO: Are these live pictures you're showing us right now? These are live pictures so you can see that the protesters remain in the streets. There's smoke which usually means tear a gas or something more sinister. We just don't know, but as you can see it's totally chaotic there. You are saying, Ambassador, that you don't think that this -- will this turn into like a full out civil war?
HILL: I mean, the concern about Ukraine has always been the fact the country is kind of split down the middle. The northwest you have a very kind of Ukrainian national. In the southeast, you have much more of a Ukraine that wants to be closer to Russia. This is very much split down the middle.
It's not easy at all to figure out how they're going to get through this because the people in south eastern Ukraine including the historic autonomous region, part of Ukraine, but very historic to the Russians. There's no rebellion going on there. So, you know, the question will be -- the question has always been during Ukraine's 20 years of existence whether at this time can hold together. That's very much the issue right now.
COSTELLO: Ambassador Hill, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.
Let's talk about Venezuela now where at least five more people have been killed in violent anti-government clashes there. The opposition leader has been thrown into jail. Venezuela's president is vowing to crack down on protesters calling them fascist and accusing them of trying to destabilize the country. But protesters are fighting back. The pressure is mounting. They are demanding an end to the socialist government and end to the rising crime and an end to a shortage of goods.
Also this morning, there's a new terror warning rattling nerves and ratcheting up security. The United States is alerting airlines to be on guard for possible shoe bombs on international flights into the United States. If you've flown within the last decade, you know American airports already guard against this threat, which would be powerful enough to bring down an airliner in flight.
But overseas the screening is often less thorough possibly creating an opportunity for terrorist seeking an American target. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New concern terrorists may target direct flights from overseas heading to the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security is warning airlines that terrorists may attempt to hide explosives in shoes, cosmetics and liquids. The advisory mentions more than two dozen cities overseas including Paris, London, Cairo and some additional cities in the Middle East.
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The DHS warning is nonspecific, but the desire and capability is not large. It's al Qaeda and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
STARR: This demonstration shows the potential devastation a shoe bomb could cause. Sources say, intelligence indicates terror groups have been working on a new shoe bomb design. It's not the first time they've tried to blow up a plane that way. Shortly after 9/11, passengers on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami thwarted Richard Reed's attempt to detonate explosives hidden in his sneakers.
After that, the TSA started asking everyone in the U.S. to take their shoes off while going through security. This new warning comes just two weeks after U.S. officials warned airlines terrorists could hide explosives in toothpaste tubes on flights heading to Russia ahead of the Sochi Olympics. Officials say this new threat is unrelated.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: You know, Carol, U.S. officials continue to worry about al Qaeda and al Qaeda affiliates especially in Yemen. What they tell us is they believe these operatives have never given up their desire to attack the United States and that's one of the big worries about all of this -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon this morning. While most of us, cross our fingers and hope for that 3 percent raise. That's hardly the case if you are the CEO of Bank of America. Brian Moynihan saw a 17 percent pay jump last year to $14 million. CNN's Maggie Lake joins us with more on this story. Good morning.
MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Pretty nice, right? Clearly we are in the wrong business. Why do Brian Moynihan get all that money. Well, he's been nursing the bank back after the financial crisis. Last year, they had their profit in six years. We should point out, most of that is stock. Only a million and a half, only, is in cash. He's getting paid a lot less than his peers, Jamie Diamond at JP Morgan and Lloyd Blankfein at Goldman Sachs make north of 20 million.
But some people, you can imagine, are raising their your brows at this paycheck still for the bank, Bank of America, which comes in last place in customer satisfaction surveys. Rode has been riding legal bills now north of $50 billion to clean up the mess stemming from the mortgage practices and financial crises. It's still raising concerns.
COSTELLO: Maggie Lake reporting live for us, thanks so much.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, midterm elections are on the horizon. Politicians are out for every last vote especially from women. I'll talk to Georgia Representative John Lewis in just a minute about the Democrat's latest push for female votes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: All right, these pictures just in to CNN. We've been telling you about the situation in Ukraine. These pictures are from the heart of Kiev. I believe it's around these government buildings that where they have barricades set up. These are security officials that seem to be firing into the crowd of protesters although I can't be sure.
But there are protesters in the streets. We've seen those protesters all morning long. Some of them are throwing cocktails at the security forces. Others have makeshift weapons. A few of them are armed, but you see the situation is not getting any better in Kiev this morning.
Although we hear word of a possible meeting between the president of Ukraine and the protesters, the leader of these protesters, but nobody really thinks that is actually going to happen. We'll keep you posted though. Things are not getting better in Ukraine this morning.
Checking other top stories at 13 minutes past the hour, 35 members of a church youth group were injured last night when the second floor of an activity center came crashing down on them. It happened at the Freedom Baptist Church in Mississippi. Six people were sent to the hospital. Officials say none of their injuries are life threatening.
The University of Maryland hacked. The school says records for 310,000 students, faculty and staff were stolen including Social Security numbers, birth dates and university id numbers. School officials say no financial data was taken. State and federal investigators are investigating.
Rashes, headaches and nausea, is the water in West Virginia safe or not? It's been more than a month since the do not drink ban was lifted for 300,000 people. Water had been contaminated by a chemical leak. There's e6d when people started drinking the water OK to drink, visits to the emergency room skyrocketed. Remember how this went down. On January 9th the chemical spill was detected. Ten days later, officials lifted the do not drink ban for everyone.
Two and a half weeks later on February 5th, the CDC concluded the water was acceptable for all uses. The next day several high schools closed because the water still smelled like the licorice, the chemical in the water, and on February 10th, Poison Center official says the symptoms after drinking the water like nausea and headaches may not be from those chemicals. Today some health officials are still refusing to drink the tap water. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Officially this water is supposed to be just fine, but look what this woman says happened to her when she washed her face, and when this boy bathed, and when this man's wife takes a shower.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within a couple minutes I'll have a headache. COHEN: They're not alone. After a chemical spill last month, officials instituted a water ban for about a week then lifted it saying the chemical was at very low levels. New data from West Virginia shows when people started drinking and bathing again, visits to doctors' offices and emergency rooms shot up with people saying the water made them sick. Even the county health department they posted these sign, don't drink the water.
(on camera): This is the County Health Department. Should you be saying the water is OK to drink if official agencies are saying it's OK?
DR. RAHUL GUPTA, KANAWHA, CHARLESTON AN PUTNAM COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: Official agencies are saying it's OK but not saying it's safe to drink. It's important to make that distinction. We've got to make sure the water is safe. That's really the word here. People are looking for that word.
COHEN (voice-over): Indeed. The word safe is nowhere in the official guidance from the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC said based on animal studies, they calculated levels of the chemicals a person could likely ingest without resulting an adverse health effects. That's not good enough for Dr. Rahul Gupta. He is the head of the Board of Health. He's avoiding tap water.
(on camera): You want to hear that word safe.
GUPTA: Absolutely, we do.
COHEN: Dr. Gupta says in some places like his house, you can still smell the chemical, it hasn't disappeared.
(on camera): Is your wife drinking the tap water?
GUPTA: She's not.
COHEN (voice-over): This week the governor of West Virginia asked the CDC to do more testing. The CDC has not continued monitoring health problems there.
GUPTA: So the event seems to be over from a lot of people's perspective at state and federal levels. On the ground when we talk to people, it's not over. They're continuing to suffer with issues.
COHEN: With no studies on this chemical's effect on humans, some residents and businesses are not taking any chances. In a recent survey, only 4 percent of people in the area said they are drinking tap water, water that officially is fine to drink.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen live in Charleston, West Virginia, and our legal correspondent, Jean Casarez is in New York. Elizabeth, I want to start with you. How frustrating that two months later people in West Virginia still don't feel it's safe to drink the water? COHEN: Right. You know, when you're here and you talk to people, you can feel how incredibly disconcerting it is to have doubts about your water. I mean, officially it's supposed to be useable. When you don't hear the word safe come out of health official's mouth, they're careful to use that word. You can smell the nauseating licorice smell. It makes you uneasy. People are warming up you bottled water to bathe their children. That's how unsure they are even though officially it's supposed to be OK.
COSTELLO: Jean, the last time we heard from Freedom Industries, the company responsible for this spill, we could forget this. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY SOUTHERN, PRESIDENT, FREEDOM INDUSTRIES: It's been an extremely long day. I'm having trouble talking at the moment. I would appreciate it if we could wrap this thing up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We actually have a lot of questions. It's been a long day for a lot of people that don't have water.
SOUTHERN: At this moment in time, I think that's all we have time for. Thanks for coming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not done. Anyone else have any other questions?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Carol, there are so many legal issues on so many fronts. For instance, tomorrow there's going to be a hearing in bankruptcy court because they did file bankruptcy following all of this. I have called several times their bankruptcy attorney who is located in Pennsylvania. He has not returned my call.
The hearing tomorrow will be in federal court in West Virginia. I was able to get some documents from a Charleston, West Virginia site that a newspaper site, that has posted some of the documents. It looks like mundane issues that the defense, meaning the debtor in this case, wants to retain civil consultants in this matter to help them without legal court. They want to get their own consultants.
So there will be argument I think just on issues of establishing this bankruptcy case. Let's not forget the criminal investigation. I'm also continuing to monitor that with the U.S. Attorney's Office. It is continuing. That's going to be the huge one, Carol.
Will there be criminal charges filed against the individuals of Freedom Industries because of this, the clean water act? Now they're conducting interviews, getting subpoenas to have searches done on the property. And then of course, ultimately, we'll see what happens there.
COSTELLO: Well, it's kind of disturbing that, you know, Freedom Industries have declared bankruptcy, right? Because who's footing the bill for this cleanup. It's the state of West Virginia, right? And maybe federal officials for all I know, right?
CASAREZ: That angers the people. They say we can have no responsibility because we have so many debts. We cannot pay the debts we have more or less the ones that will be coming. I'm not surprised. Your initial question was why haven't we heard from Gary? I'm not surprised, facing multiple charges, one civil suit. One civil suit in federal court I understand. Anything he says truly can come into the courts of law.
COSTELLO: Elizabeth Cohen and Jean Casarez, thanks so much. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The fight for women voters ramping up in Georgia. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Georgia Representative John Lewis, both Democrats are in Atlanta today. They are appealing to female voters at a forum entitled "When Women Succeed, America Succeeds."
This Republicans claim it's the Democrats who are waging a war on women. Earlier this year, former Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee said, quote, "The fact is the Republicans don't have a war on women. They have a war for women to empower them to be something other than victims of their gender."
Joining to talk about the event, Democratic Representative John Lewis. Welcome, sir.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: Well, thank you very much. I'm delighted and very pleased to be with you.
COSTELLO: Well, I am glad you're here too. Please tell us about your event and why such an event is necessary in 2014?
LEWIS: It is still necessary to get women to where they should be. It is true that when women succeed, America succeeds. Women in America and in Georgia have been left out and left behind. For every dollar a man earned, a woman only earned about 77 cents. That's not right. That's not fair. We've heard from many women today telling their story, powerful stories. Too many women are receiving what I call starvation wages. They work from sun up to sun down with very low pay. We've got to do much better. They have child care, taking care of elderly parents --
COSTELLO: Definitely when it comes to child care. I was going to ask you, is there legislation pending that might help solve these problems?
LEWIS: Well, we have legislation pending in committees. A member of the Senate and member of the House on a Democratic side have introduced legislation, comprehensive legislation to provide for child care. Child care is necessary if you expect mothers and women to work. Somebody got to help take care of the little children. COSTELLO: I have to ask you about this because it wasn't long ago that Rand Paul struck back against the idea that Republicans are declaring a war on women. He said on the CNN "STATE OF THE UNION" -- well, listen for yourself. I'd like you to comment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: The whole thing war on women, I laugh. They say there might have been. The women are winning. I think the victimology and all this other stuff is trumped up. We're playing a she raid one party does not care about women or women advancing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Do you think that Republicans care about women?
LEWIS: Well, the great number of Republican members of the House and the Senate voted against equal pay for women. The Democrats in the House and the Senate supported it. The first bill that President Obama signed was equal pay for women. It was called a led better act. The woman working in the state of Alabama, the case went to the United States Supreme Court. She was doing the same work as men, but not earning the same pay. That's not right, not fair, not just.
COSTELLO: So are you saying that Republicans don't care about women?
LEWIS: I just happen to believe that we all should care about women. Without women, without our mothers and grandmothers, we wouldn't be around.
COSTELLO: Senator Paul also went on to criticize Democrats for supporting Bill Clinton who he says has exhibited, quote, predatory behavior. Can you respond to that for me?
LEWIS: I think on the part of the senator that is a very cheap shot and will not play. We fought that battle years ago. The people are not concerned about what Bill Clinton did more than 20 years ago.
COSTELLO: Thank you so much for being with me this morning, Congressman John Lewis.
LEWIS: Thank you so much for having me.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Facebook puts down billions to buy an app many of us have never heard of. Laurie Segall is here with more. Good morning.
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. This man was in line for food stamps and later sold the company for $19 billion. I've got that story after the break.
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