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Pussy Riot Members Beaten in Sochi; Facebook Buys WhatsApp for $19 Billion; GAP Raises Minimum Wage; Christie to Face Voters at Town Hall; Dream Month Continues for Armless Kicker
Aired February 20, 2014 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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TRAY BUTLER, TRAVEL WRITER: Atlanta's definitely a town that loves a long leisurely brunch. I love this patio for soaking up the sun and doing a little bit of people watching. Also a great place for getting a new twist on some southern classics.
I love vignettes. So good.
Here at Sister Louisa's Church at the Living Room and Ping Pong Emporium, which is one of my favorite spots in town. The walls are covered with art work by Grant Henry who is a local artist, a.k.a. Sister Louisa. The art is a little bit on the edgy side. But --
GRANT HENRY, ARTIST: There's 250 pieces in here.
BUTLER: Sell it.
HENRY: Yes. You know it's for sale. So people --
BUTLER: Can I buy one of these and leave with it today.
HENRY: You can do that or I will trade you for something at some point.
Everything is from thrift shops and antique stores.
BUTLER: Even though it is an art bar and it is a bar filled with art, it's not a pretentious crowd. It's always a good time. There's no comparison.
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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
As the Olympics are taking place in Sochi, Vladimir Putin's security guards are not putting up with any shenanigan.
All right this is rather disturbing video just came into us. These are Russian Cossacks or rather the southern Russian militia their beating and pepper spraying members of the punk band Pussy Riot as they attempt to film a music video in Sochi.
Oh but band members and other protesters are not deterred and vow to defy President Putin. CNN's Ivan Watson has more for you.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Russian punk band Pussy Riot strikes back.
(on camera): The members of Pussy Riot are saying they're not afraid right now of being detained or beaten. They're tired, exhausted of the pressure they've faced. Right now they're going to try to meet with members of the press and talk about the debut of their new video.
(voice over): The video uses footage of Russian security forces detaining and flogging band members this week in Sochi. The song denounces the Russian President Vladimir Putin for his government's crackdown on free speech and media.
(on camera): This has been a pretty bizarre event where you've had the members of Pussy Riot met not only by large numbers of plain clothed security officers but also by supporters of the Sochi Olympics carrying raw chickens and repeating the chant, we like sex with chickens.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We like sex with chickens. We like sex with chickens.
WATSON: These are university students. And one of their arguments is life is so good in Sochi right now, there's no need to protest.
The Pussy Riot members have warned that they're worried about what will happen to human rights activists after the international attention is lifted from Russia. Could they potentially face more repression in the future? It's something they and other activists we've talked to from other fields are clearly worried about.
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WATSON: And Carol, the women from Pussy Riot they told me that they were making this video to try to bring attention to the treatment that they say human activists and critics of the Russian government that they face every day. And their song can be funny. They point fun at the $50 billion price tag that these Olympics have had. And also at those famous double toilet bathrooms that have been built here for these Olympic Games -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And for that they're being flogged. That's courageous young women that's all I have to say.
Ivan another big story out of Sochi Ukrainian athletes are competing while just next door the violence rages on in their home country. What are we hearing from those athletes?
WATSON: It's putting immense pressure onto the 43 athletes that are part of the Ukrainian national team. My colleague Amanda Davis she had an interview with the leader of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee. He said that they're devastated. They had a moment of silence this morning of mourning for the people who have been killed in Ukraine. That they wore black arm bands in the Olympic village for that moment.
But it is creating divisions within the team. A slalom skier named Bogdana Matsotska and her father who is the coach her coach Oleg Matsotska have announced on Facebook that she will not be participating in her slalom event tomorrow. The leader of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee saying that it's a very difficult decision that she's under immense psychological pressure that all of the athletes and the coaches, everybody in the Olympic committee are really calling for unity right now. And they are heartbroken by this bloodletting and bloodshed back in their native country.
They're trying to bring back more medals as a sign of unity in a time when their country is so tragically divided -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Ivan Watson reporting live from Sochi for us this morning, thank you.
Facebook is making its biggest acquisition today spending $19 billion by a marketing service most of us have never even heard of it's called WhatsApp. The service allows users to send text messages, videos and photos. And you don't have to extra pay for them.
CNN money technology correspondent Laurie Segall joins us with more. Hi Laurie.
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. Well you know we might not have heard of it. But you go anywhere on the world everybody is using WhatsApp. A lot of folks have completely replaced SMS with it. You know it makes a lot of sense when you think that Facebook bought this company for $19 billion. It seems like a huge number.
But when you look at Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. They had 30 million users at the time. This company has 450 million monthly active users they're adding a million users every month.
So for many folks, they're saying this might have been a good buy for Facebook.
COSTELLO: Well and the guys behind the deal they have an interesting story.
SEGALL: Well that's the really fascinating part. You know Jan Koum who is one of the co-founders he actually immigrated to Mountain View when he was a teenager, he -- he was literally living off food stamps, had no money at all and he ended up going and working for Yahoo.
But he got this idea for this communication app. And an app that allowed people to connect because he immigrated from Ukraine, he grew in a communist country where communication was very much a luxury.
His cofounder he met at Yahoo and his cofounder -- here is a fun tidbit but -- actually once they left Yahoo, ended up applying for a job at Facebook. I want to read you a tweet. He tweeted this in 2009 he said "Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life's next adventure."
You see Facebook turned him down when he applied for a job and then so did Twitter. Let me read you this. "Got denied by Twitter headquarters. That's OK. It would have been a long commute."
You know when you -- when you look at this, it's truly a Silicon Valley story and a Silicon Valley win for these guys who had seen failure and had dealt with, you know, a lot of hardships in their lives. And you know everyone at Facebook is very, very excited about this. This is their mission to connect the world they say this is their next step -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And now they're billionaires. Good for them. The wound has healed.
Laurie Segall thanks very much.
SEGALL: Thank you.
COSTELLO: We'll be right back.
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COSTELLO: A victory for those that support raising the minimum wage and it comes from an unusual source, The Gap. Critics have long said raising wages could cost jobs and raise prices but Gap Inc. apparently doesn't think so.
The company is raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour this year and $10 an hour next year. These raises will affect 65,000 U.S. employees. This pay bump includes all Gap stores -- Banana Republic, Athleta, Piper Line, Intermix and Old Navy.
Joining me now is the vice president of Old Navy, Lynn Albright. Welcome.
LYNN ALBRIGHT, VICE PRESIDENT, OLD NAVY: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Why did you decide to do this?
ALBRIGHT: We felt it was the right time to invest in store employees and our brands. You know, the majority of our customers engage with our brands in our stores. And we wanted to create a competitive advantage so that we could attract and retain the best brand ambassadors in our stores that we can find.
COSTELLO: So by raising these wages, you want to attract the very best employees you can and keep them.
ALBRIGHT: We do. You know, we have so many people that work in our company at various levels who started as part time sales associates. So it's a part time job, it's also a place where people start their retail career. And we want to invest in them so that they choose us to grow their retail career and we can have the best in class talent.
COSTELLO: Other retailers don't feel quite that way. They say if they pay their workers more, they'll have to raise prices on goods. Will Gap customers see an increase on what they buy in your stores?
ALBRIGHT: No, they won't. You know, I think what's different for us is that we're coming from a position of strength. We have year over year sales and earnings growth -- eight straight quarters of growth. We're coming from a place where we can afford to make this investment. And we feel very strongly that it's going to have a return many times over.
COSTELLO: Other people say that retail jobs are just starter jobs and that, you know, you work there for a year or two and then you leave for higher paying jobs. Is that how you see your employees?
ALBRIGHT: You know, we have a variety of employees. A lot of people work for the discount regardless of where else they work. They shop for their families, and they view that as a great benefit of working there. So I think that for whatever someone wants to get out of working for great brands with great values that started with the Fishers who founded Gap almost 45 years ago, it's a great place to work.
COSTELLO: Gap CEO made it very clear that this raise in wages is not politically motivated. The timing is curious though.
ALBRIGHT: You know, I realize that but this is a discussion we've been having for quite some time. So it's -- again it's an investment in our businesses; it's a way for us to ensure that we do more for our employees, and that we do more for our customers, we do more in our communities and ultimately we do more for our shareholders. So the timing was right for us. It was an independent decision.
COSTELLO: Lynn Albright vice president of Old Navy, thanks for joining me.
ALBRIGHT: Thanks for having me.
COSTELLO: Any time.
For the first time since the traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge, Chris Christie will face his constituents face to face at a town hall on the Jersey Shore. And the appearance comes at a crucial time for a man many think could be a 2016 presidential contender.
A recent Quinnipiac poll shows nationwide favorable opinions of Christie have dropped sharply from 47 percent in December to 33 percent last month.
CNN investigative correspondent Chris Frates joins me from Washington with more on this. So what can we expect from today's town hall?
CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning Carol. I think what we can expect is a couple of things. One, of course we'll be listening for anybody asking about the bridge gate scandal and the investigations, trying to get a sense of how the Jersey voters feel about it and how interested are they hearing from their governor about it.
But this is primarily a Sandy funding town hall. The governor's going to talk about the second stream of Sandy funding from the federal government -- how he wants to spend it.
And the other thing to watch here is there's been some protests about how that first bit of money was spent. And it will be interesting to see if any of the protesters who have been unhappy about Jersey spending of the money confront the governor and give us one of those trademark Christie moments where he often takes on folks who ask him tough questions in this venue.
The other thing that's important to note here Carol is that all of the public appearances that Christie has done since Bridgegate have been about Sandy. This is an area where he feels he's strong. He ran on reelection with it. He feels that this is something that he is able to talk about and talk about well. So no surprise here that he is putting himself in an area where he feels like he's in the comfort zone.
COSTELLO: A slew of subpoenas have been issued related to Bridgegate. Some of Christie's top aides have refused to answer questions. So where do things stand in the investigation?
FRATES: Well, that's a great point Carol. And that's still happening in the background back in Trenton as he's out there talking to Shore residents. Just yesterday the committee went to court and asked the judge to make two of Christie's former top aides, Bill Stepien, his former campaign manager and Bridget Kelly, his former deputy chief of staff turn over documents regarding those lane closures on the George Washington Bridge.
Now, of course, Stepien and Kelly have said that they don't believe they need to produce those documents. They believe that their Fifth Amendment rights are violated for self-incrimination that they don't need to produce those things. The investigative committee has taken them to court and said yes you do. We believe that as soon as you hit "send" on those e-mails or texts, that those things are no longer -- you can no incriminating yourself with something you already shared.
And so that continues to grind forward in the background here every time Chris Christie goes out and does anything.
COSTELLO: OK. We'll wait to see what happens in that town hall later today. Chris Frates, thanks so much Chris.
FRATES: Thank you.
COSTELLO: I'm back in a minute.
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COSTELLO: A 14-year-old high school kicker will never forget the past few months. Poppy Harlow first introduced us to Isaac Lufkin just before the Super Bowl.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot more to this kick and a lot more to Isaac Lufkin than his winning field goals.
ISAAC LUFKIN, HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER: I want to play in the NFL. The Ravens or --
HARLOW: You want to keep wearing purple?
LUFKIN: Yes -- purple.
HARLOW: He's still riding high from an undefeated season and a freshman football state title. He led his division in onside kick recoveries this year. Remarkable considering this is what Isaac goes through just to suit up.
You don't want anyone's pity?
LUFKIN: No. I don't like pity. Pity just makes me weaker.
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COSTELLO: OK. So after Poppy's story aired, Isaac and his mom were the guests of the NFL at the Super Bowl. But the attention did not stop there.
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COSTELLO: I think there's one more person who needs to give Isaac a call. That would be President Obama. Don't you think that would be a good idea? President Barack Obama could invite him to the White House.
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COSTELLO: Poppy Harlow joins us now with an incredible update. Good morning.
HARLOW: Good morning to you Carol. Well, it's not a trip to the White House, but it's pretty darn good. We wanted to tell all our viewers that Isaac Lufkin got a pretty neat letter. Let's show everyone. This comes from President Obama.
He saw this story, was so inspired by Isaac's determination like I was, like you were, like all of us were that he wrote Isaac a letter. I'll read just part of this. He wrote, "Your success on and off the football field serves as a reminder of what can be achieved when we work hard and stay focused on reaching our goals.
You have set a powerful example not only for your teammates for all Americans and I hope you continue to aim high and strive for excellence in everything you do."
So what did Isaac say about getting this letter, Carol? He acted cool on the phone telling me about it like a 14-year-old. He said you could tell the president watched the videos about me because of words he chose. He says it really hasn't sunk in. There's a picture when he got the letter.
I said so, are you going to write the President back? He said Yes, I'll probably message him on Facebook first and then I'll write him back." So there you go. From the mind of a 14 year-old but go Isaac. We're so happy for you.
COSTELLO: He can tweet the President. Right?
HARLOW: Sure. You're right. You're right. He certainly, certainly can.
COSTELLO: That was awesome. Made us all smile and we always need that. Poppy Harlow -- always great to have you.
HARLOW: Thanks Carol.
COSTELLO: Thanks for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello low.
"@THISHOUR" with Berman and Michaela after a break.
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