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Tensions Rise as Russian Flag Raised in Ukraine City; Nutrition Labels Could Get Makeover; Hillary Clinton Ramping Up for 2016?; Interview with Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California
Aired February 27, 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: Thanks a lot, Kate. NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, breaking news. In Ukraine gunmen stormed the parliament. The Russian flag now flying atop the building.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a direct challenge to the authority of the new government here in Ukraine.
COSTELLO: Molotov cocktails flying through the sky. America watching closely this morning.
Plus, the fat fight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Consumers will understand how many calories they're consuming at one time.
COSTELLO: New nutrition labels. The first in 20 years. The first lady making the big announcement.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: Get hyped for healthy snacks and fresh foods. We love it.
COSTELLO: Ahead, what you'll need to look for at the grocery store.
Also, breaking overnight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leave all your belongings and get off this aircraft.
COSTELLO: A smoke emergency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cannot breathe back here. Go.
COSTELLO: In complete darkness. Almost 100 passengers rush to the exits.
And easing Arizona.
GOV. JAN BREWER (R) ARIZONA: I have vetoed Senate Bill 1062.
COSTELLO: Governor Jan Brewer and a call for unity after killing an anti-gay bill. The crowd outside the court erupting in joy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am absolutely thrilled. Happiness. Happiness. It's about time. I knew she was going to do it.
COSTELLO: This morning, where the fight moves next.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And good morning. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello.
And we do begin with breaking news this hour. One of the youngest governments in the world under assault and caught in the middle of a new Cold War between Russia and the United States.
Angry crowds filled the streets of southern Ukraine after dozens of gunmen seized the headquarters of a regional parliament. Their first move to raise the Russian flag. It's more than symbolism in a country bitterly torn between old ties to Moscow and a future more closely aligned with America and the West.
CNN's Phil Black is in Kiev where demonstrators just days ago ousted their pro-Moscow president.
Tell us more, Phil.
BLACK: Well, Carol, we expected tension in the east and the south of the country where people maintain close ties to Russia culturally, ethically. But this is a real escalation.
First, huge crowds in the region known as the Crimea. Thousands of people, many of them pro Russians screaming "Crimea is part of Russia." Eventually those crowds dissipated but in the early hours of this morning, a big group of government perhaps as many as 50, heavily armed with automatic weapons, witnesses say, and rocket-propelled grenades have overtaken that parliamentary building.
All politicians, civilians inside have left the building. They now control it. But they are refusing to evacuate. They are refusing to recognize the authority of local politicians. Their intent at this point is not known. That it is really a direct rebuke to attempts here in the capital to establish a new national government. And one that wants to look West, to Europe and the United States -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Phil Black reporting live from the Ukraine this morning.
Now let's bring in CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is in London.
Christiane, I know you've spoken to all the players in the region. What is the sense you're getting? What are the fears?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have been doing a lot of interviewing of the opposition in the Ukraine, of those who align with Moscow and other international figures. There is obviously, clearly, a sense of crisis. The NATO chief has tweeted just today warning again that there should be no intervention by Russia, and that no misunderstanding created at this time.
Russia continues to insist that it will not intervene militarily. Again, a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, though those military games, some 150,000 troops along with dozens of aircrafts and tanks and other hardware taking place along that border with Ukraine is obviously setting people a little bit on a worried course.
Now what people are saying is the best and most sensible course of action is for the United States and for Europe to work with Russia, not against Russia, to make sure this all actually calms down.
And to insist by their actions and by their diplomacy that a stable Ukraine can happen along with Russia's cooperation and that is not about either the -- you know, my way or the highway regarding what next happens in Ukraine. So Russia needs to be brought in. And the diplomacy needs to be intense.
Russia needs to be told that there will be sanctions for any out of the ordinary activity and that there needs to be cooperation in moving Ukraine forward in stability and peace.
COSTELLO: And of course what Americans are most worried about is will the United States be forced to amp up its voice over these protests?
AMANPOUR: Well, America already is. The Secretary of State John Kerry has been doing so. So, too, has Chuck Hagel, the secretary of Defense. All making very loud and clear and public statements that they are watching, that they are concerned and that they want this to all be resolved peacefully.
Now Russia is bound by treaty that it signed along with other nations when Ukraine first became independent after the fall of the Soviet Union. Voluntarily gave up its nuclear arsenal. Russia is bound by treaty, not to intervene in Ukraine. So that is the legal basis that people are hoping will be respected.
COSTELLO: Christiane Amanpour, appreciate your insight this morning. Thanks so much.
Also new this morning, tensions are rising along the Korean Peninsula. South Korea says its communist neighbor to the north, North Korea, has fired four short-range missiles into the East Sea. North Korea has been protesting joint military drills that are now being conducted by the United States and South Korea.
A routine flight from Los Angeles to Oakland ended with a quick evacuation in almost complete darkness for passengers and crew aboard a Delta Sky West jet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leave everything behind right now? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're evacuating.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please leave all your personal belongings behind. We'll let you back on when we've cleared off the plane. We do thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leave all your belongings and get off this aircraft. Go. We cannot breathe back here. Go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Leave your luggage behind for goodness sake. After the flight landed, the smell of smoke filled the cabin. The plane taxied to the gate where the 75 passengers and four crew members hurried off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINTON JOHNSON, PASSENGER: By the time we got to the gate, the cabin started filling up. Smelled like burnt rubber and the pilot just immediately put the plane to a stop. Just really came to a jolting stop. And the flight attendants were telling everybody to get off. Get off the plane. Get off the plane. Leave your stuff behind. Get off the plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: No one was hurt. Firefighters could not find the source of that smoke.
If you do a lot of reading in the grocery store aisles you want to know this. Those nutrition labels that are so riveting to the health conscious among us may soon undergo their biggest makeover since they were last overhauled more than 20 years ago.
Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to walk us through.
They are a little bit easier for me to read but --
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I like the glasses, by the way.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
GUPTA: That makes it easier to read I'm sure, too.
COSTELLO: It does. It certainly does. It's nice to be able to see.
GUPTA: You know, they didn't have mandatory labels before 1990. I didn't know that. That's --
COSTELLO: I didn't either.
GUPTA: So they were voluntarily before that but this is the big overhaul as you mentioned. And the key here, I think, and if you can take a look at the labels is they want to take the things that people are really looking forward and may emphasize those. Make them much more obvious.
Take a look at what exists now and what the proposed labels are. And these are proposed labels specifically. This is going to take some time. That's hard to read actually as it turns out.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Wow. Yes. There's a better graphic.
GUPTA: There you go. But look, you can see in the middle there, the proposed one, 230. That's the calories. That's something people really want to know. Sometimes that sort of information is hidden. Also vitamin D because there's such a deficiency of vitamin D in so many people. They want that a more obvious thing as well.
The big thing, Carol, I think you'll appreciate this is so many of these things give you that information but then it says this is eight servings.
COSTELLO: Yes.
GUPTA: Makes you feel pretty good but that's just 1/8 serving that you're reading about. They want to make that much more clear as well. So you're seeing what is in the package versus just one single serving.
COSTELLO: I see you have some props with you.
GUPTA: Yes. You know --
COSTELLO: So give us an example.
GUPTA: I think the best way to put this -- you know, maybe this would have been four servings in the past. And they said, look, what does -- what does a typical person really eat? Let's give them that information. Maybe this is more like two servings now. And they'll say that. So you'll see the nutrition information for two servings. Or if you're going to eat something lightly in one single sitting -- I don't know if you'll eat in a single sitting.
COSTELLO: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
GUPTA: You're going to just eat one. Right? They'll say. But they're going to say look, OK, we know that this is typically considered four servings. But we know it's likely people will eat this in a single serving so let's put that information on there as well, or sodas.
COSTELLO: So that will be more prominent. So it will say something like 10 chips equal this amount of calories and has this much fat?
GUPTA: It'll say that sort of stuff. It'll also say if you eat this whole bag, here's what you're going to get. So you don't have to sit there and do the math. It will make you think a little bit more maybe if you're -- if you're -- you know, keep eating.
COSTELLO: Well, it's been interesting this shift because just yesterday we were talking about the obesity rates of young children going down.
GUPTA: Yes. Yes.
COSTELLO: And now we have a change in food labels. School lunches are more healthy.
GUPTA: Yes.
COSTELLO: So these are all good things.
GUPTA: I think these are all good things. And, you know, look. I mean I don't think anyone thinks labels are going to solve the problem or -- you know, if you look at the labeling so far in fast food restaurants, for example, interesting study shows that people who read those labels they order about 10 to 20 calories fewer per meal. Not very much but still, as you pint point out, better than nothing. And these things start to add up over time.
COSTELLO: I hope so.
GUPTA: Yes.
COSTELLO: Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.
GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, some amazing pictures from the Midwest this morning. An unusually fast flowing Illinois River now stuck and frozen solid. There's an ice jam. Now residents of Illinois are worried what will happen when that ice jam breaks up.
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COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 13 minutes past the hour.
Brutal cold is smacking the Midwest again this morning. And sparking new fears about what happens when the big thaw finally comes. These are pictures of the Kankakee River in Illinois. Kankakee River in Illinois. Sorry about that. It's one of several waterways clogged with ice jams.
Now when these ice jams break up, the force has the potential to send large chunks of ice and high water into people's homes.
CNN meteorologist Indra Petersons is live in New York with more on this.
Good morning.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Yes, unfortunately we're still talking about this very cold temperature after we had warmed up. We saw a lot of melting and that's the reason we're seeing a lot of ice jams. But of course we are cooling off again.
Take a look at the temperatures we're looking at this morning. Forty- one below. That's what it feels like right now, Carol, in Duluth. Also feeling like just the teens on the East Coast. And unfortunately this cold air expected to only spread further to the northeast by tomorrow.
As far as how unusual this is, look at these temperatures. In the afternoon, the highs only expected to be in the single digits out toward Chicago. That's 30 degrees where they should be for this time of year. Also out towards New York City. We're talking about a good 12 degrees below where it should be.
Tomorrow again that cold air spreads even farther to the east, guys. Keep in mind out west, the big story is finally they're going to be seeing some rain. But unfortunately it's too much rain, too fast will be a big concern this weekend -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Indra Petersons, thanks so much.
Looking at other top stories now.
Police in Baltimore County, Maryland, are investigating an incident between an officer and a young man who was videotaping that officer making an arrest. The student's video has gone viral with the officer telling him he's just his freedom of speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POLICE OFFICER: Do not disrespect us and do not not listen to us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not --
POLICE OFFICER: Now, walk away and shut your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) mouth. You're going to jail. Do you understand?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The young man taking the pictures with his cell phone was not arrested but police say they want to talk to him as part of their investigation. Even though he had nothing to do with the person they were arresting here. We'll keep you posted.
There will be new restrictions along this year's Boston marathon course following the deadly bombings last year. Organizers say backpacks, handbags and containers with more than one liter of liquid are banned from the April 21st event. Strollers also banned. Runners will be allowed to carry clear plastic bags and wear very small fannie packs.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says the investigation into bridgegate is a distraction that will not prevent him from doing his job. At a town hall meeting Wednesday, the topic never came up.
But on his "Ask the Governor" radio show, Christie said he won't give in to the hysteria surrounding specific questions into that political scandal that just won't go away. Christie says people want to work with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I was at a town hall meeting today in Longville Township, 525 people there and not one question on any of this stuff. People want me to do my job. I'm going to do my job. If the legislature wants to be partisan and political and block the agenda that the voters voted for in November for their governor, the only person all the voters voted for, then they're going to have to put up with the political consequences that come along with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Christie continues to defend his handling of bridgegate as the investigation moves forward into the lane closures last year on the George Washington Bridge.
Will she or won't she? Hillary Clinton hasn't said if she plans to run for president in 2016 but her fiery speeches and her stop this week in the key swing state of Florida certainly suggest she's eyeing the Oval Office. Clinton's fiercest critics are already weighing in.
Our senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar responds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's only 2014 but the likely presidential candidates are jockeying for position.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: When women are excluded and marginalized, we all suffer.
KEILAR: Hillary Clinton spoke about gender equality Tuesday at Georgetown University as she ramps up her public schedule. She has a sizable lead among Democrats and Republicans eyeing the White House are taking aim.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I think Hillary Clinton is going to struggle to win on multiple fronts.
KEILAR: Florida Senator Marco Rubio slammed Clinton Tuesday for the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. It claimed the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens while she was secretary of state.
RUBIO: They should have closed that facility or provided adequate security. They did not under her watch. I think she's going to have to answer for Benghazi.
KEILAR: And Jeb Bush.
JEB BUSH (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Of course it matters.
KEILAR: Responding to a question about the testimony Clinton gave shortly after the attack. CLINTON: Was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night that decided to go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?
BUSH: Four Americans lost their lives. It matters. It matters a lot.
KEILAR: Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has tried multiple times in the last couple of weeks to make Bill Clinton a liability for his wife.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: He took advantage of a girl that was 20 years old and an intern in his office. There is no excuse for that. And that is predatory behavior and it should be -- it should be something we shouldn't want to associate with people who would take advantage of a young girl in his office.
KEILAR: It's red meat for conservative voters with intense animosity for Hillary Clinton.
AMY WALTER, NATIONAL EDITOR, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: She is still an incredibly polarizing figure, and attacking Barack Obama is a great way to fire up your base if you are a Republican, but attacking the Clintons is almost as good if not better.
KEILAR: Clinton has even factored into a Republican primary.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: The Secretary Hillary Clinton.
KEILAR: One GOP opponent of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is running this ad that features him hugging her.
But for now, Clinton is trying to stay above the fray.
CLINTON: We believe this is the unfinished business of the 21st century -- giving women the tools and resources to break through the barriers that keep them from contributing to fully participating in their governments, economies and societies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Stay above the fray but also Hillary Clinton has been trying to get her message out as she does ramp up her public schedule. Last night here in Coral Gables, Florida, she talked to several thousand students, faculty, staff and supporters at the University of Miami.
And, Carol, it was pretty fascinating. You could almost hear her fleshing out the themes for a stump speech. She was talking about participation and inclusion for women and also young Americans and the underrepresented.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
Brianna Keilar reporting live from lovely warm Coral Gables, Florida. Thank you so much. Still to come in the NEWSROOM: a major discovery of mistrust inside the United States Army. Nearly 600 soldiers no longer allowed to help military sexual assault victims or even be drill sergeants because of sexual abuse in their own past.
We're going to talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Five hundred eighty-eight soldiers can no longer hold a position of trust in the Army. They can't be sexual assault counselors, recruiters or even drill sergeants. All of them disqualified after an internal review found they'd been busted for everything from drunk driving to child abuse to sexual assault.
Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier joins us now to talk more about this.
Good morning.
REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D), CALIFORNIA: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: It's hard to fathom -- 588 soldiers who held positions as sexual abuse counselors or other management roles found to be unfit. Are you surprised there were so many?
SPEIER: Well, I'm shocked that there are so many. But I am equally shocked by the fact that this did not -- this was not disclosed by the Army. This was a resourceful reporter who dug this up.
And it really begs, I think, a bigger question, why weren't these people who are in these positions of trust screened more completely before they were given these posts?
Much like the Air Force, where we had over 30 military training instructors who were in one way or another charged with having sex or having sexually harassed trainees. Many of them 17, 18, 19 years of age.
So, the military has got to get serious about recognizing that they have a problem of sexual assault, sexual predators within their ranks.
COSTELLO: Congresswoman, you routinely speak about military sexual assault victims. You fought to open military offices to investigate sexual abuse. I mean, how is your fight been progressing?
SPEIER: Well, the fight is one that I often call a marathon, not a sprint. And we have made some significant improvements to the way the military handles these cases. But it's one of those things that if we don't stay on them it will drop to a lower priority.
We need to get these cases out of the chain of command. And I'm working very hard in the house. I have more than 150 co-sponsors on a piece of legislation to do just that. But we can't even get a hearing in the House Armed Services Committee. So we have some people who are deaf at what's going on. And we owe a responsibility to every service member, man and woman, who is serving in the military that they are safe from predators.
COSTELLO: Yes. It shocks me that, you know, the House Armed Services Committee doesn't want to talk at length about this because last year, the military said sexual assault rose 30 percent. But the number of those incidents being reported to commanders is less than 10 percent. Obviously, we still have a problem.
SPEIER: We have a huge problem. They don't trust the system. And they have a reason not to trust the system, because although there are 3,000 to 5,000 of these cases that actually are willing to report, the truth of the matter is only 500 of them go to court-martial and less than 250 of them actually result in convictions.
So, your odds are so bad that your case is going to be handled appropriately. And that's what has to change. More prosecutions and scrub the culture clean of sexual predators.
COSTELLO: Congresswoman Jackie Speier, thanks for your insight this morning. We appreciate it.
SPEIER: My pleasure.
COSTELLO: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer sides with opponents of a controversial anti-gay bill, but supporters say their fight is not over.
Ana Cabrera live in Phoenix this morning.
Good morning.
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
The conversation about religious freedom and discrimination continues this morning, especially as other states consider similar legislation. We'll have more on Governor Brewer's veto and the bigger picture when we come back.
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