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Markets Open Mixed; Verizon Retail Hack; Opponents Celebrate Anti-Gay Bill Veto; U.S. Concerned about Ukraine Situation; Tea Party Marks 5th Anniversary; Jesus Returns to the Big Screen Tomorrow

Aired February 27, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, just like Target all over again. Two more retailers possibly hacked, sparking new concerns about whether customer information is really safe.

Tea Party ain't over. But after five years, what does the Tea Party's future hold?

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come with me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we going to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Change the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: "The Son of God." Is he supposed to be hot? Why a more appealing Jesus seems to be the hot new trend.

NEWSROOM starts right now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

This morning in southern Ukraine, a Russian flag flies atop a regional (ph) parliament office after armed gunman seized the building. The (INAUDIBLE) comes just days after pro-western demonstrators ousted the president because of his growing ties to Moscow.

North Korea has fired four missiles into the East Sea. The question is why.

And nutrition labels on food packaging could be getting their first makeover in 20 years. The proposed new label focuses on calories and sugars, along with more realistic approaches to serving sizes.

Wall Street looking at a mixed open this morning. Trading is mostly flat as investors wait to hear from Janet Yellen. The new Fed chief testifies next hour before the Senate Banking Committee about the health of our economy. Alison Kosik has more from New York.

Good morning. ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

So this is the testimony that Janet Yellen was supposed to give before the Senate two Thursdays ago, but a snowstorm postponed it. But that same week, the new Fed chief spoke before a House committee. And when she did, she made quite the impact on the stock market because the Dow surged almost 200 points during the day.

You know, investors took comfort in what she had to say because what she wound up doing is making it clear that she's in no hurry to raise interest rates and that the Fed would continue dialing back its stimulus. No surprises there.

But since her last appearance, something different has been happening. A lot of data has come out about the economy. Most of it weak. Most of it blamed on the weather. So, Carol, today we'll see if she agrees that it's the weather's fault.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, we will.

In consumer news, we heard report today of a possible new retail hack attack. Tell us about it.

KOSIK: We're getting this story from "The Wall Street Journal" actually. And Verizon is investigating a possible security breach, not at one but at two retailers. The article isn't naming which ones, but this really seems to be, you know, a similar M.O. to what happened late last year at Target and Neiman. One thing that people may not know is that Verizon actually has a unit that specializes in cybersecurity.

Now, Verizon is telling "The Wall Street Journal" that the findings already substantiate a very real link between these later situations and something that recently happened. And what had happened, just to refresh your memory, over the holiday season, the data of millions of Target customers was compromised. A similar hack also confirmed by Neiman Marcus.

All of this, of course, investigators discovering that credit card swipe machines, you know, were the target of the hackers and that hackers got into Target's system by steeling the credentials of a refrigeration contractor and then inserting malware into Target's system.

But as far as the latest - this latest report about two other retailers, we've got a call into Verizon, waiting for more details. A Verizon spokesmen said he can't confirm "The Wall Street Journal" article because they do not discuss customer or client work, especially in the highly sensitive security arena.

Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm sure you'll keep trying, though. Alison Kosik, thanks so much. After days of consideration, Governor Jan Brewer's decision to veto Arizona's Religious Freedom Bill has opponents celebrating this morning. But supporters of the controversial legislation say this veto will not stop them. They vow to fight on. Ana Cabrera is in Phoenix this morning.

Good morning, Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

The conversation about religious freedom and discrimination continues here this morning and all across the country, really. The governor here telling us she received more than 40,000 e-mails and phone calls in the last couple of days over this bill here that opponents say would have opened the door discrimination. It's an issue that has created a lot of hurt and divisiveness. Again, not just here in Arizona, but really all across the United States. In the end here, Governor Brewer says she did what she had to do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: After weighing all of the arguments, I have vetoed Senate Bill 1062 moments ago.

CABRERA (voice-over): It was the news so many had hoped to hear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am absolutely thrilled.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happiness. Happiness. It's about time -- I knew she was going to do it.

CABRERA: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoing a bill that would have allowed businesses to deny service to gays and lesbians based on the owner's religious beliefs.

BREWER: I call them like I see them, despite the tears or the boos from the crowd.

CABRERA: The governor says the bill was broadly worded with the potential to create more problems than it could solve.

BREWER: I've not heard of one example in Arizona where business owner's religious liberty has been violated.

MICHAEL MCFALL, PROTESTED BILL SB 1062: I'm a business owner. And if she had signed it, I was going to move my business to California.

CABRERA: The reaction to her veto as passionate as the days of protesting that catapulted this bill and the state into the national spotlight.

CROWD: We did this! We did this!

CABRERA: The decision came as opposition reached a fever pitch, with some of the nation's most prominent lawmakers and business leaders joining the fight. The NFL was watching closely and the Arizona Super Bowl host committee for 2015 expressed concerns.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She didn't want to be known as the governor who lost the Super Bowl.

CABRERA: But not everyone was happy with the decision, including former state Senator Russell Pearce, the sponsor of Arizona's controversial immigration law that passed in 2010.

RUSSELL PEARCE (R), FMR. ARIZONA STATE SENATOR: I will not retreat because of some radical leftist activists don't like how we do things in Arizona.

CABRERA: The governor answering her critics with a call for unity.

BREWER: Going forward, let's turn the ugliness of the debate over Senate Bill 1062 into a renewed search for greater respect and understanding among all Arizonans and Americans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: So let's talk about the bigger picture. We know of at least a handful of other states that have looked at, are considering similar legislation. In fact, right ,now there's a bill that's working its way through the Georgia state house that essentially would allow businesses, private companies, to ignore laws altogether in this state on the basis of religious beliefs. Now, supporters again there say that they're just trying to protect religious freedom, while critics say that bill, that measure in Georgia, is largely aimed at denying services, once again, to gays and lesbians.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Ana Cabrera, reporting live from Phoenix, thank you.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: All right, we've been telling you all morning about the worsening situation in Ukraine. In the southern region, at a parliament building there, the Russian flag has been raised and protests are growing more violent and certainly more vocal. This has the United States on alert. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon, Christiane Amanpour is in London and Phil Black is covering this for us from Kiev.

But let's start with you, Barbara. What are U.S. diplomats saying?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we've been talking to our sources all morning here in Washington and their problem right now is to try and figure out exactly what the Russians are up to. Both Russian capabilities and the Russian intentions.

Let's go to capabilities first. With those Russian military exercises now on the Ukraine border, what U.S. officials are telling us is, this has given Vladimir Putin the ability to position forces closer to Ukraine and to, if he made that decision, move them into Ukraine very quickly. That will be very difficult for the U.S. There will be very little warning time, we are told. U.S. intelligence, the U.S. military will find it very difficult to track any Russian movements that quickly. It could all happen, and then the U.S. might notice it.

That goes to capabilities. Russian intentions, of course, the deeper question. At this point, they still do not believe that Putin has any intention of ordering Russian troops in. But he's positioning and certainly he is sending the message the U.S. believes, we are told, sending the message that he is willing to protect Russian interests in Ukraine if it comes to that.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Barbara Starr.

I want to go to Phil Black now just to ask you a question about U.S. or more U.S. involvement in Ukraine. Do people there want it?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't think the people here want to see things escalate to that point, certainly, Carol. That would be a terrible eventuality, I think, from the point of view of the Ukrainian people. These people certainly want to look westward and firm up their relations with Europe and the United States.

They're now, as we know, looking to the west for financial assistance. In the event of any sort of Russian incursion into Ukraine, if it were brief, it's something they would perhaps tolerate, not very happily if it were to be large scale and extended. Then that would obviously be a massive escalation and certainly I think, under those circumstances, they would be looking for support. Moral, if not practical to some degree from Europe and the United States.

But I think for the most part, everyone here, certainly in Kiev, certainly those who are very much supportive of the change in government here, are simply hoping that Russia does not act in any way that further destabilizes this country given the momentous changes that have happened here recently.

COSTELLO: So, Christiane, do you suppose Vladimir Putin is bluffing?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: : Well, look, you know, everybody's trying to figure out what are Mr. Putin's options. We have had some serious conversations with people who are right at the heart of the negotiations that eventually led to Yanukovych basically fleeing and this new opposition government.

We have been told that it was a phone call between Yanukovych and, we believe, President Putin over the weekend that caused Yanukovych to see the writing on the wall and to essentially agree that somehow he had to shorten his time in power, agree to new elections. Obviously, then, events took over and he fled. And now we have the situation that we do.

Many people have told us that it simply would not behoove Putin to intervene militarily in the Ukraine. That he doesn't need to do that. That he could just sit and wait to see how the eventuality plays itself out. We have had these massive military maneuvers, a redeployment of more than 150,000 troops, hundreds of tanks, aircraft and other military hardware by Russia towards the border with Ukraine. But we're being told, and the world is being told, that this is just normal, they say, military maneuvers to protect their areas of interest.

Russia is obligated by treaties signed in 1994, along with the U.S., along with the U.K., to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. There is no legal justification for any kind of intervention.

In addition, we don't exactly know who these people are who have taken over the parliament in the Crimea and have raised the Russian flag there. According to the established official, the premier of the Crimea region, he's not even able to talk to these people. Are they acting totally independently? Who are they and what are they doing? We simply don't know. Remember, we saw quite a lot of this taking over of government bases and ministries and the like in Kiev by the opposition during the hype of the uprising.

The new interim prime minister in Kiev has also issued strong warnings today that there must be no attempt to intervene militarily by Russia inside Ukraine. But I will say that one of the key EU foreign ministers also said that the new Ukrainian officials, the interim government, need to reach out to the ethnic Russians in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine, need to reach out to Russia and absolutely make it clear that the new Ukraine is a Ukraine for all Ukrainians, whether they be ethnic Russian or not.

And, for instance, this law that they passed trying to ban the Russian language in those parts of Ukraine needs to be rescinded and it was needlessly provocative. So those kinds of things need to be now dealt with very, very carefully.

COSTELLO: Christiane Amanpour, Barbara Starr, Phil Black, thanks to all of you. And we'll revisit as things continue to develop in Ukraine. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The Tea Party turns five years old today. And it's holding a big birthday bash in Washington, D.C., with special speakers like Michele Bachmann, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. And while the Tea Party Movement is looking to make a big impact at this year's primary and general election campaigns it may not have the fervent following it's had in the past.

CNN's political director Mark Preston joins us now to talk more about this. Good morning, Mark.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey good morning, Carol. Yes five years ago the Tea Party came to life. You know, largely because of Obamacare and President Obama being elected into office. They really came to life and really helped the Republicans take back the House of Representatives in 2010 elections. They were credited with helping restore some sanity when it came to spending here in Washington. They were credited with being critical of the Republican Party which a lot of people thought was a little out of control during the Bush years when it came to spending, but they were canned when it came to their rhetoric when it -- the discussion became division and the fact that they didn't want to compromise, Carol. That they didn't understand how to govern; they were very, very much into bomb throwing that they didn't want to come to the table.

So after five years, as you said, they are here in Washington. And now they are discussing the way forward -- Carol.

COSTELLO: A couple of things, right? Various Gallup polls shows that for the first time, a slight majority of Americans have a disfavorable view, and unfavorable view of the Tea Party right 51 percent. That's the Gallup poll. I don't what this -- this is "The New York Times" poll. But if you look at the Gallup poll, it's 51 percent have an unfavorable view of the Tea Party. Michele Bachmann once headed the Tea Party caucus in Congress. Is there such a thing right now? Has it gone away?

PRESTON: Well it's still there. You know the Tea Party is at this interesting crossroads right now. They still have a bit of energy, certainly, throughout the country. But they are at this crossroads about where do they go? You know, the Tea Party is largely a grassroots organization, but again, people right now are very frustrated and angry at Washington.

If you look at "The New York Times" poll today as well, you know, they had this interesting number about how frustrated people are at gridlock in Washington. And a lot of people think that's due in part to the Tea Party. And if you look at right now, how much influence does the Tea Party have over the Republican Party, look at that right now. A lot of people think that the Tea Party has too much influence over the Republican Party; 37 percent right now, Carol, you know, think that the Tea Party has too much influence.

In fact, I was talking to a Republican strategist before I came on the air here and the Republican strategist said that you know they did do some good things. They did talk about reining and spending but the fact is Carol that they -- they were not able to come to the table. They talked too much about division and they didn't know how to governor -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right we're going to talk more about this in the next of the NEWSROOM. Mark Preston, thanks so much.

Jesus in the new movie "Son of God" is hot and even sparked this hash tag #hotJesus. He looks like Brad Pitt, a question for you this morning. Does Jesus really have to be sexy now?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Jesus is back on the big screen. "Son of God" releases tomorrow in theaters nationwide. And it's the first major movie about the life of Jesus since Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" in 2004.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you need help?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing to help with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going fishing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm telling you, there's no fish out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did this happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come with me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we going to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Change the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: If any of this looks familiar that's because "Son of God" is the film adaptation of the History Channel's widely popular miniseries "The Bible". Churches across the country are actually renting out the entire movie theaters for early screenings. In California, one congregation bought every single seat at a 16-screen movie theater.

"Son of God" is also generating a lot of heat because Jesus is so sexy. Take a look at the actor Diogo Morgado. He looks like Brad Pitt. He's already inspired loads of swooning women and also my op-ed at CNN.com.

I write quote, "I'm not the only one gawking at Morgado's Jesus. He inspired the hashtag #HotJesus. It went viral on Twitter. The actor told The New York Times he doesn't want his looks to distract from the movie, but, if the message of Jesus was love, hope, and compassion and I can bring that to more people by being a more appealing Jesus, I am happy with that. So clearly we have a new trend. A more appealing Jesus is not just a better prophet he's sexy."

The question for me became, must Jesus be sexy, too? Father James Martin is here to discuss this. He's the author of the new book "Jesus the Pilgrimage" and is also editor-at-large at "America" magazine. Welcome, father.

REV. JAMES MARTIN, CATHOLIC PRIEST: Thank you very much.

COSTELLO: OK. First off, it would be extremely difficult to find the exact right actor to cast as Jesus. The filmmaker said as much. But through the years, Jesus has sort of morphed from good looking to great looking to now sexy. Why is that?

MARTIN: Well I think it's a natural trend we tend to like to look at pretty people on the screen. But you know in first century Palestine, his disciples didn't follow him because he had six-pack abs. They followed him because he healed the sick and still going and raised people from the dead. So I think we have to look at priorities.

COSTELLO: Was Jesus sexy?

MARTIN: You know, physically we have no idea what he looked like. You know ironically, though, back in the first Century Palestine, it was more likely that he was short and certainly darker. I don't think he looked like Brad Pitt, though.

COSTELLO: Well it's funny, because if you look at the actors around Diogo, they actually would look more like Jesus than Diogo.

MARTIN: Yes I noticed that. It's funny. He seems to be the only one that looks like he has highlighted hair. Everyone else has darker skin and curly black hair. So it is kind of odd, he does seem a little out of place among his disciples and followers.

COSTELLO: OK so let's try to go a little deeper. You told me that people have a hard time accepting Jesus who is not physically perfect. They feel uncomfortable with Jesus being human. What do you mean by that?

MARTIN: Well I think a lot of people have a hard time -- Christian belief is that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. And by fully human we mean in all things, he got sick, he maybe sprained an ankle, he got tired. And I think there's a difficulty among some people, among some Christians to accept his full humanity. He was fully like us in all things except sin and that's hard for some people and so I think we tend to move towards a perfectionist Jesus, even in terms of his appearance.

COSTELLO: And why is it -- why is it important for Jesus to also be human? Is it because it makes him more accessible, perhaps?

MARTIN: Well, that's at the heart of the Christian message. You know God became human in order to show how much he loves us and also in order to help us relate to him. You know Jesus was a relatable person. He was someone from a very small town in Nazareth, who is a carpenter and in fact when he started preaching and doing these miracles people said, who is this, is he not the carpenter from Nazareth? So you know God became human in order to show us God's love for us. And we need to remember that.

COSTELLO: Father James Martin, thanks for the discussion. I appreciate it.

MARTIN: My pleasure.

COSTELLO: You can read my entire op-ed on HotJesus at CNN.com/opinion.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)