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Russia and Ukraine; Holder Released from Hospital; Arizona Lawmaker at Roast Remembering Jim Lange; Lea Michele Song

Aired February 27, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Brooke Baldwin. Top of the hour.

I want to take you to Ukraine, because the U.S. is now confirming it is keeping a very close eye on the threat Russia might pose there. The fear right now, repetition of Cold War tactics. But today, Russia reinstated its promise that military movement right there at the border has nothing to do with Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We believe that everybody now needs to step back and avoid any kind of provocations. And we want to see in the next days ahead, obviously, that the choices Russia makes conform to this affirmation that we received today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This reaffirmation Secretary Kerry is talking about there happening as President Vladimir Putin orders military drills and battle readiness checks on armed forces near the nation's borders. One hundred and fifty thousand Russian combat troops are now at the ready.

And a U.S. military source telling CNN that troops could potentially move very, very quickly if and when order comes from Moscow. The feared goal would be to storm and reclaim Ukraine, specifically the Crimean peninsula there. A peninsula that connects Ukraine to Russia in the east.

Fifty gunmen have taken over a parliament building there, cutting the wire, storming the grounds. They raised the Russian flag. Look at this. A move many in Ukraine fear could be a symbolic move on what's to come. Keep in mind, this part of the country, this is the Russian dominated area. We've talked about this before, the area we've highlighted red for you. This is the part of the country that is dominated by ethnic Russians and Russian speakers.

So the concern now is, could the U.S. be on the verge of a new Cold War? Joining me now, two people who know this part of the world very well, Jim Clancy, Hala Gorani, both from CNN International.

Thank you so much for coming up here because I think the first issue, obviously, as it pertains to the United States, as Russia is tiptoeing up to the edge. If and when they invade, I know Sergey Lavrov is saying they're respecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine. What are the U.S. options? HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's, I think, further down the line. Jim, I'm sure you'll agree with me. We had Secretary Hagel, the defense secretary, at NATO headquarters in Brussels today saying to Moscow, don't go too far. We heard from the NATO secretary general as well, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, essentially saying, and I quote, "I urge Russia not to take any action that can escalate tension."

I think at this point we are in a situation where there's a lot of chest beating, where there is a lot of show of force. Is there really a belief strongly held that NATO or in the west that Russia is about to invade Ukraine? You mentioned Crimea specifically. I don't think that belief exists right now.

BALDWIN: You don't think so?

GORANI: No.

BALDWIN: So back to your point, we were talking about this before we began, this whole notion of chest beating of the Russians -

GORANI: Yes.

BALDWIN: Right up to the edge.

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: They're not tiptoeing. They've got 90 jets that have been roaring along the border.

BALDWIN: They're not tiptoeing at all.

CLANCY: They're letting Ukraine know -

BALDWIN: And the west.

CLANCY: Yatsenyuk, the new prime minister, don't make any military moves. Don't be as stupid as Saakashvili was in Georgia. Leave things alone. Russia is here. We have interests.

BALDWIN: You interviewed, what, two years ago, Viktor Yanukovych, the now fugitive former president of Ukraine. We're hearing he could be speaking. What was he like and what do you think he'll be saying? Do you think he's talked to Putin and Putin told him what to say?

CLANCY: No. I think he's his own man. I think he obviously relies on Putin a lot. But, remember, the Russians, Medvedev, made it very clear today, you know, everyone in the west says, well, we have a new government here, but they see that Yanukovych is still - he is the elected leader of the country. He fled, yes, because of the fine old tradition of Ukrainian politics, which is, as soon as you push anybody aside, get them arrest, throw them in jail so they no longer have a voice. He avoided that. Did he flee? Well, yes, he did. But at the same time, he is more vital to the Russian interest and everything else standing the way he is. He's going to hold a press conference, he says, tomorrow.

BALDWIN: He says. CLANCY: From inside Russia, mind you.

GORANI: From Russian territory.

CLANCY: Yes.

GORANI: And he says he's still the legitimate leader of Ukraine.

But I think an interesting point here, as we've discussed a lot over the last few days, this tug of war that Ukraine, it's kind of this proxy battle between Russia and the west.

BALDWIN: Right.

GORANI: It's also economic. I mean you cannot forget just how terrible an economic situation right now Ukraine is. And those who want to be closer to Europe -

BALDWIN: How do you mean?

GORANI: I mean they have huge debt. They need IMF help. The U.S. now, Washington, has said today, no later than today, we will provide financial help for you. This is also about how you can court those inside the country with money and pledges of assistance. That (INAUDIBLE) -

CLANCY: Yes. I'm waiting to see, though.

GORANI: But, yes -

CLANCY: $19 billion is the magic number. And I just don't know where Europe or the U.S. would get that kind of money, and get it and lay it on the line.

GORANI: They say they need $35 billion. You say 19?

CLANCY: Yes. Well, 19 is just the debt -

GORANI: That would be a discount.

CLANCY: $19 billion is just the debts that they have to pay back.

BALDWIN: Wow.

CLANCY: Now, keep this in mind. I mean corruption is a fine tradition in Ukraine, official corruption. And it's not only been Yanukovych and his party, it has been all of the political parties, all of the political leaders, all of the (INAUDIBLE). This country is steeped in corruption. It will not change until you actually change the system. As one Ukrainian said, this is the same government we had under the Soviet Union.

BALDWIN: We talked about orange (ph) revolution a couple of days ago.

CLANCY: Sure.

BALDWIN: This has been going on for years and years.

GORANI: Listen, the system - absolutely. And the system is not just the system as was - as the leadership was run by those close to Russia. It's also the opposition. They're not a magic bullet in terms of bringing democracy to Ukraine in the sense that we understand it.

BALDWIN: OK.

GORANI: So there's no good guy/bad guys here. You have to (INAUDIBLE).

CLANCY: You can stand at the podium and make all these kinds of promises, but, you know, writing the checks, I'm going to wait and see that.

BALDWIN: OK. Jim Clancy, Hala Gorani, thank you very much. We'll continue the conversations as we watch what's happening there very, very closely.

Meantime, while the world's attention has definitely been focused on Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, in North Korean, Kim Jong-un is determined to flex his military muscle with a missile launch. And it happened right here on the Korean peninsula. South Korea says its communist neighbor to the north has fired four short range missiles into the East Sea. It appears North Korea is unhappy with joint military drills by the U.S. and by South Korea, but it's not clear at this point if the missiles were actually fired anywhere near those exercises.

Breaking news here on CNN. We've been watching this for you today. An update on our attorney general, Eric Holder's, health. He was rushed to the hospital in Washington today with lightheadedness. Senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is live outside the hospital in D.C. with an update.

Joe, what are you hearing?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, according to a law enforcement official, CNN is now told that Attorney General Eric Holder has been released from MedStar Washington Hospital Center here and is now at home in Washington, D.C., resting comfortably. All the excitement started earlier today during a senior staff meeting at DOJ. He was reported to have felt faint and experienced shortness of breath, was brought here to Washington Hospital Center as a precaution for doctors to run some tests. We were told that he was talking to doctors, was alert and now we are told Eric Holder has been released from the hospital and is back home resting comfortably.

He works very hard, but appears extremely fit. He used to be and may still be something of a basketball player. I can tell you, Brooke, I played basketball with him back in the day.

BALDWIN: Did you?

JOHNS: He has a pretty good jump shot. So it's -- whatever happened, he wasn't admitted. He's back home. And they took some tests and we'll look to DOJ to tell us what's next.

Back to you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right. We wish him well and we wish there was video of that. My friend Joe Johns in Washington. Joe, thank you very much.

Let's stay in Washington and let me tell you about the Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen, because she gave lawmakers an update on the economy when she testified today on Capitol Hill. The hearing with the Senate Banking Committee was postponed by a snowstorm in Washington. That was about two weeks ago. Yellen says the string of storms may have actually dented the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRWOMAN: Since my appearance before the House Committee, a number of data releases have pointed to softer spending than many analysts had expected. Part of that softness may reflect adverse weather conditions. But at this point it's difficult to discern exactly how much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Stocks rallied the last time Yellen testified before lawmakers. Now, definitely up in the green, up 70 points here. And so looking pretty good. Just about two hours away from the closing bell.

Coming up, breaking today, spies collected pictures of Yahoo user in sexually explicit situations. Yes, this is according to a report. We'll tell you how this happened.

Plus, a lawmaker in Arizona under fire for jokes he made during a roast of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County. Hear what he said and also hear from the sheriff himself live here on CNN.

Also ahead, for the first time we're hearing the song "Glee" star Lea Michele recorded about her boyfriend and late costar Cory Monteith died of that overdose some months ago. That's coming up as well. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We've got some startling new information for you about your life and your privacy here. Because according to a report in "The Guardian" newspaper, a British spy agency with some help from the NSA has been sweeping up and storing millions of webcam images if you're a Yahoo user. So a large number of those images were sexually explicit. The program code name Optic Nerve started around 2008, was still going on in 2012, this is according to the paper. The information reportedly came from NSA document provided to "The Guardian" by Edward Snowden. Now, Yahoo denies any prior knowledge of the program. They say if the report is true, it represents this whole new level of violation of its user privacy and they, of course, say that is completely unacceptable.

Now to this roast for controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio that's ended up burping one of his friends. The friend here is under fire, accused of racial insincity (ph). He is State Senator John Kavanagh. He was a major supporter of Arizona's just vetoed Religious Freedom Bill. He also, just looking back for you, some context, co-wrote Arizona's controversial immigration law. And he's now getting noticed for his jabs this past weekend at Sheriff Arpaio's roasts.

Now, yes, I hear you, you know, roasts are definitely offensive, satirical, they're mocking in tone. However, critics say that Kavanagh went too far when ripping into Joe Arpaio. And you know Sheriff Joe, his sheriff's department is under this federal monitor after the Department of Justice found his deputies were racially profiling Hispanics.

So let me play this for you. This is an audio clip of just a couple of Kavanagh's comments taken from the Southern Poverty Law Center's website. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KAVANAGH, ARIZONA STATE REPRESENTATIVE (voice-over): And Sheriff Joe is the kind of guy that you got to love, as long as you have a purse (ph). Going out with Sheriff Joe is always an adventure because usually when we walk into a restaurant, most of the wait staff and cooks dive out the back window. And when they don't, I never know what the hell's in my food.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's Ana Cabrera is live for us in Phoenix. And along with her is Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

And, Ana, I would love to hear how the sheriff is reacting to those comments we just played.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, we're going to talk to the sheriff in just a moment, but want to give just a little bit more context first. Again, this was a roast and the Southern Poverty Law Center tells us they sent in somebody to monitor this event. That's how they came up with this recording and admittedly they have been -- this is a group that has been critical of the Sheriff Arpaio.

Now, we also reached out to Representative Kavanagh, who made those comments. He did not want to do an interview with us, but he did give us this statement. And I just want to read part of it for you real fast before we talk to the sheriff. In his own defense, Kavanagh says, "the jokes I made at the Sheriff Joe Arpaio roast at his invitation were satirical comedy. The jokes were not directed at minority group members, but at the target of the roast, Sheriff Arpaio." And he goes on to say, "this is a personal attack," talking about the controversy that has been sparked since this roast. He says, "this is a personal attack upon me by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which appears to be politically motivated, probably due to my support of SB 1070," which was that controversial immigration law.

And now I want to bring in Sheriff Arpaio. He's kind enough to join us and offer his thoughts on what's become a controversy.

First, sheriff, did this roast go too far?

SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: Well, it was a roast. John Kavanagh is my friend. I support him. He's not a racist. He's very funny. So he made these comments. I can't speak whether he went too far.

CABRERA: You thought his comments were funny. Other people took offense at the comments, saying that his jokes didn't necessarily target you. That it was Latinos, it was other minority groups that were the target of these jokes, the butt of these jokes, and that it took his speech as hate speech. What's your reaction to that?

ARPAIO: Well, I'll tell you what the reaction - I never talked about this. I'm going to do it the first time on your show. There's a double standard. The same people, for four years, have gone around following me around calling me Nazi, Hitler and everything else. Why don't they defend me? That's - I'm not asking you. I know that.

CABRERA: I don't think hate speech is condoned by anybody.

ARPAIO: Well, I want them to start defending me then.

CABRERA: But is an eye for an eye OK? Is that right?

ARPAIO: No, I'm not saying that. If I knew Kavanagh was a racist, I wouldn't even be near him. He's not a racist. He's making jokes. Everybody jokes with me.

CABRERA: And yet this was a roast. However, he is a state representative. So what he says carries a little bit more weight.

ARPAIO: I don't know if it carries more weight than a talk show host like Lopez calling me every name in the book on national TV. People fire journalists for making one word sometimes. So I don't know if being an election legislator, he wasn't near in his role as elected legislator. He was there as a private citizen, as my neighbor in Fountain Hills (ph) to make fun of me. I don't take -- that's OK with me.

CABRERA: But, again, going back to, did his comments go too far? At some point, it's my understanding you said, OK, OK, this is enough.

ARPAIO: No. You know, he's the one that made the comments and I'm not going to criticize him. And people say worse about me than that, OK.

CABRERA: Well certainly then you can emphasize with the people who hear these comments. I'm Hispanic myself. I took offense to the jokes that he made. He also made jokes about Muslims. Asians could have been offended by some of the jokes that were made.

I want to play one more clip for our viewers that involved some of the other minority groups that he also talked about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAVANAGH: A lot of people claim that SB 1062 was going to cause discrimination based upon religion in Arizona. And I scoffed at that until tonight when a Muslim waiter serving up here walked up to Sheriff Joe, wouldn't give him dinner because he said, I don't serve swine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And I know you couldn't hear that, but we - but you were there. You were live in person when he made the comment about Senate Bill 1062, which we've been talking a lot about here in Arizona this week. A lot of people thought could create a situation which discrimination was OK. And in that comment, he talked about Muslims. And so I guess my question to you is, is it ever OK, given our country's history, to throw race out there and use it in a joking way when those comments can be construed as offensive?

ARPAIO: If it's serious, the answer, it will never be used if they're serious. And I was a top federal guy in Mexico, South America, Turkey, the Mideast with the Federal Drug Enforcement. I know a little about foreign countries. I know about racism. I know. And I'm not (ph) going to get into my family's background. So, no, I'm not a racist. He's not a racist. He was just making some comments. I didn't tell him what to do. In fact, I got him five minutes before. I had Nugent there. Governor Perry was talking about me. A lot of people roasting me. But why did they have to put this out yesterday? Why didn't they put it out three days ago? Why did they wait for the governor's decision? That's another thing. So you can see the politics involved in this.

CABRERA: Sheriff, we have to end it there. Sheriff Arpaio, thank you so much for joining us.

ARPAIO: Thank you.

CABRERA: We really do appreciate you coming on.

ARPAIO: Thank you.

CABRERA: Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Thank the sheriff for us. And, Ana Cabrera, thank you very much. Great interview. Great back and forth there from the sheriff's perspective.

Now to this. "The Dating Game" gave a lot of Americans their first peak into the sexual revolution, but it's also a place that a lot of celebrities got their first exposure to the public (ph). Take a look at the impact of the show and the man who held it all together, host Jim Lange, as we remember him today.

Also ahead, "Glee" star Lea Michele records a song in honor of her late boyfriend and co-star. And now we are hearing it for the very first time. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Before there was eHarmony or Match or Tinder, there was Jim Lange, the first host of the popular game show, "The Dating Game." Family members tell the Associated Press he died Tuesday morning in his California home. He was 81 years of age. He suffered a heart attack. And he hosted "The Dating Game" for more than a decade beginning back in 1965. And just looking at his guests, I mean talk about Hollywood's a-list.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Number three, if you were in charge of everything, what would you make the national pastime?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I would make the national pastime just to love.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (1974): OK, lady number three, I have only been in this country five years and there are some expressions I still don't understand. What does it mean "hanky panky"?

MICHAEL JACKSON (1972): Whenever I go out, girls are always following me. If we go out together and a bunch of girls start follow me, let's hear what you'd say to them to make them go away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get away from him. He's mine, not yours!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, their young faces. The iconic loss in the game show world. "The Dating Game" was legendary and the set, of course, many, many shows following suit after that. So here now with more of the impact of "The Dating Game," is HLN entertainment anchor A.J. Hammer. And so as he would do, the floor is yours.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN ENTERTAINMENT ANCHOR: That's right. Yes, all of the contestants would end the show with that big kiss. We remember that, Brooke.

But, of course, long before there was ever Juan Pavlo (ph) running around, you know, shirtless on a beach with (INAUDIBLE) vowing to walk down the aisle with him. It was "The Dating Game" that started it all. And as innocent as it all may seem now, when you're looking at Jim Lange with his big glasses and that set, it was actually pretty racy for its time. You know, this was the mid-1960s when it launched. The writers, Brooke, were charged with coming up with questions that would hopefully lead to what were considered sexy answers back then. You heard Schwarzenegger a moment ago saying, what is this hanky panky. And the list of celebrities - it's amazing looking at who was on this show -

BALDWIN: It's amazing.

HAMMER: And many of them before they were even stars, like Tom Selleck and Suzanne Somers and Annie Kofman (ph). Even Steve Martin was on the show. So you kind of got to wonder, would any of those guys have wound up on "The Bachelor" or "Bachelorette" if they were born in a different time.

BALDWIN: I can't imagine they would. There was something so special about that back in the day and I love -- I love just the sweet questions that were so naughty back then, but -

HAMMER: Naughty.

BALDWIN: Naughty. Switching gears, though, talking about "Glee." It has been seven months since the death of "Glee" star Cory Monteith. And so now we've learned that his girlfriend, "Glee" star Lea Michele, she has recorded this heartbreaking song about him. Here's a clip of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEA MICHELE, "GLEE" (singing): It's been seven whole days, seven whole days since you paralyzed me. Seven whole days, seven whole days since you lost your fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sad, sad, A.J.

HAMMER: Yes, it is really sad. This new track is called "If You Say So." She's singing it essentially about the last four words that he supposedly said to her before he passed away. And this would be a haunting song even if we didn't know the back story. But knowing how Cory died, knowing how he left Lea behind, it is just heartbreaking, as you say. You feel her pain. You even feel her anger at losing him in her words and in her voice.

Of course, the two of them were a couple on "Glee" and in real life. They'd been dating for almost two years when Monteith died last July. He was in his Vancouver hotel room when he died from a heroin overdose, as we know. We repeatedly hear in the song her singing that it's been seven whole days. Seven whole days. So --

BALDWIN: What does that mean?

HAMMER: Well, it's easy to imagine -- she hasn't talked about this publicly yet, but taking it at face value, it's easy to think that she put these words to paper when she was in what would have been an unimaginable place, just a week after his death. The album, as you saw, is called "Louder." It's going to be out on Tuesday. It does seem, however, that she is doing all right despite this unimaginable tough year she's had.

BALDWIN: OK. A.J. Hammer, thank you very much.

HAMMER: You got it.

BALDWIN: New details today emerging about how New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's administration handled that bridge scandal. We are finding out more about who said what to whom and what role did a rabbi play? We have that for you.

Also ahead, the first lady, Michelle Obama, introducing new foot labels coming to a grocery store near you. But the thing we're wondering here, look at this, will this really make a difference in what you buy? I talked to one critic who says, nope. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)