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Solange Fight; Boko Haram Informants; Too Much Hillary Too Early; SNL Pokes Fun at Jay-Z

Aired May 19, 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: AT&T set to acquire the nation's largest satellite TV provider, DirecTV, for nearly $50 billion. If approved, AT&T/DirecTV would be the country's number one television provider behind Comcast. AT&T's CEO says the merger would create new ways to deliver content through mobile devices, TVs, laptops and even cars.

Also this morning, we're learning about the first American to contract the MERS virus without visiting Saudi Arabia, the country where that disease originated. An Illinois man got it after having a meeting with another man from Indiana who got sick just days later. So far, three people have tested positive for the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome or MERS.

Opening bell on Wall Street. Executives from the investment firm Merck (ph) ringing the bell this morning. Stock futures are pointing slightly lower with investors being cautious after last week's market highs.

I'm back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: An ominous new threat is coming from the terror group behind the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian school girls. Boko Haram is now targeting an all boys secondary school in the same state where those girls were abducted more than a month ago. Nigerian police have been ordered to tighten security around all boarding schools in the region while the threat is being investigated.

Also this morning, we are able to cast some more light on this shadowy terror group. CNN's Arwa Damon spoke with two Boko Haram informants. They claim to know where the group's camps are but say the Nigerian government has failed to follow-up. Here's Arwa's exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We meet in a safe house. Just speaking to us could cost them their lives, already at risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the only way our children will have future.

DAMON: Mohammed (ph) and Osama (ph), not these two men's real names, are government informants on the feared terrorist group Boko Haram. They have seen the group's influence spread and lure in their friends.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After convincing you, they take you, once you move to their training camp, that is - that is the end. You won't come back again.

DAMON: Recruiting from among the poor who tend to make up their rank and file fighters and drawing in the educated, trained in explosives.

DAMON (on camera): The two informants we met describe their links to Boko Haram as being to mid-level fighters. They're not from the same state where more than 200 school girls were kidnapped. That is here, Borno (ph) state. This, its capital, Midugari (ph), where Boko Haram's radical ideology was born.

DAMON (voice-over): Unchecked by the government, the group grew more violent and ruthless, kidnappings becoming common.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take them to the bush and they will - they will force you to join.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Force you to join them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's either they join or they will kill you.

DAMON: The informants have heard of shadowy links to al Qaeda. Their friends who joined, trained in Sudan and Somalia. They claim to know exactly where Boko Haram's camps are in their area. But for the most part, they say, the government has failed to act. Similar to the accusations that Nigerian forces were warned in advance about the Chibok attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They will use them. They will use them to negotiate with the government about those of their members that have been detained by the government or to use them as human shields.

DAMON: They've seen their friends slaughtered and they know the group will show no mercy.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Midugari, Nigeria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Hollywood stars and others continue to try to raise awareness on those kidnappings in Nigeria. Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes walked the red carpet with their signs, "bring back our girls." They're in Cannes promoting their latest film, "The Expendables 3." Actress Selma Hyatt also brought her sign, posing for a few shots.

Here at CNN, we're not giving up on those girls either. We'll bring you the latest developments as this story unfolds. If you would like to help girls worldwide trying to overcome barriers to education, go to our website, the address is cnn.com/impact.

I'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton is all the talk and that could be a very, very bad thing. Two influential Democrats now worry Clinton is shooting herself in the foot by putting herself out there so early if she plans to run for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DEVAL PATRICK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I do worry about the inevitability thing, because I think it's - I think it's off-putting the average voter. I think that was an element of her campaign the last time.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: This is hard for me because I did talk with her and thought it would be better that she not get out there early because her favorability was so high that all that could happen in this is go down because somebody would do the stupid things that Karl Rove has just done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. Feinstein is referring to Republican strategist Karl Rove, who put Hillary Clinton's health in the spotlight by hinting Clinton may have suffered brain damage after a 2012 fall. All of this and Hillary Clinton hasn't even officially thrown her hat into the ring for 2016. Joining me now to talk about this, CNN political commentator Sally Kohn and Patricia Murphy, columnist for "The Daily Beast" and founder of Citizen Jane Politics.

Good morning to both of you.

SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Carol.

PATRICIA MURPHY, COLUMNIST, "THE DAILY BEAST": Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

So, Sally, Mrs. Clinton was supposed to take it easy for a year but here she is giving speeches, Bill is standing up for her. Will this hurt her chances in 2016 if she decides to run?

KOHN: You know, nobody knows, right? I mean Hillary Clinton, right now, if she does end up running, all the polls show, she has a higher lead than any non-incumbent candidate this early out ever, since polls have been done. So we don't know if it's going to hurt. There's two things, though, that we do know. One, that folks like Deval Patrick, who are thinking of running if Hillary doesn't get in, this sure is inconvenient for him, right? He'd like to know. He'd like to know so he can get out there and start putting his name out and campaigning. And everybody's holding back. That's number one.

But, number two, what we also don't know is, should Hillary decide not to run and say Deval Patrick and others get into the race, she could have untimely helped them by taking so much of the heat this far out that then this -- we have these sort of incredibly long campaign seasons now that can become incredibly ugly and she might help to shorten that for other folks if she chooses not to run.

COSTELLO: Yes, but, Patricia, remember how tired we were in 2012? I mean people weren't even interested in the end. I mean, come on.

MURPHY: Well, I mean, is it ever too early to talk about the next presidential race? Listen, I think the real danger for Hillary Clinton being out there is that the media doesn't like to have an anointed front-runner. In fact, the further ahead somebody is, the bigger the bulls-eye on their back. And that goes for Republicans and Hillary Clinton as well. So I think this -- the feeling of inevitability, I don't think that turns off voters really at all because there is still a lot of question about her candidacy, will she run, won't she run. There's also an element of history making that I think she's going to -

COSTELLO: Oh, she's going to run. Everybody says, will she, won't she. Come on, she's going to run. We don't' know.

MURPHY: Well, I think she's going to run, but we don't know and she hasn't said. And, really, what else is she supposed to do right now? I don't - I think we all know it's not in Hillary Clinton's DNA to sit at home and watch soap operas all day. I don't really know what else she's supposed to do. And if she weren't out on the stage and she weren't giving speeches and she weren't talking about policy, everybody would be talking about her anyway. And if she was not coming out in public, they'd say, where is she? What's wrong with her? She definitely has brain damage. You know, so, I don't know what she's supposed to be doing right now except going about her business. Will she, won't she, that's all anybody can talk about until she decides.

KOHN: Amen.

COSTELLO: But, Sally, her approval rating haves gone down, although they're, you know, 64 percent approved, which is good, but it's still slipped a little. And it's not like Republicans are going to back down. They doubled down on Karl Rove's intimation that Hillary Clinton could have brain damage. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL ROVE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: A concussion is by definition a traumatic brain injury.

DICK CHENEY, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Any presidential candidate or vice presidential candidate is going to have to answer questions about their health.

RENICE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Health and age is fair game. It was fair game for Ronald Reagan. It was fair game for John McCain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Republicans are going to continue to harp on this and it could be effective, couldn't it, Sally? KOHN: That sweat you see on all their brows is desperation pouring out of them. I mean when Karl Rove -- I love you, Karl -- but when you're trying to connect what was a really offensive suggestion -- brain damage is a permanent condition, it's not the same as a temporary concussion -- when you're trying to make that connection in order to damage -- you're sort of relying on speculation to try and damage a candidate, well, not only is that sad and pathetic, it's basically the entire Republican playing card are trying to hurt Hillary Clinton. That's why they're going into Benghazi.

They're doing it for two reasons. It's pure speculation at this point. They have all the serious answers. They've resolved everything they can. But they're trying to sort of catch her with "what ifs". Well we don't this, well what about that? It's pure speculation on trying to damage her because they don't have anything else.

And also, the longer they can focus on things like Benghazi and trying to attack Hillary Clinton, the longer Republicans can distract from the fact that they don't want to solve real problems in this country. They're happy to have her as a distraction.

COSTELLO: Well Patricia, I will say that I think it's totally reasonable to bring up Hillary Clinton's age and her health. We do it with every other possible presidential candidate, so why not her? I mean I'm not into brain damage thing. That was kind of silly to me. But other than that, I think it's reasonable to bring up the health of a potential presidential candidate.

MURPHY: I think it's totally reasonable to bring up the age, it's totally reasonable to bring up the health. I do just want to say though I think the wild speculation is what is so offensive to people. And I also think Karl Rove is not doing Republicans any favors by just making wild accusations that have really nothing to do with reality. Everybody knows, of course, is somebody healthy? How healthy are they? Who is their number two just in case? That conversation happens every four years. There's nothing wrong with it.

But the way that the Republicans are going about it and by being just way too cute by half "I think by saying I'm not really talking about her age, I'm just talking about brain damage." You know it's ridiculous. I think that turns people off and tells them that Karl Rove is not part of a serious effort or a serious party and they obviously don't have enough serious candidates to put up against Hillary Clinton right now.

So I think there's not much else she can do right now. And I think for the good of the Republican Party, Karl Rove should do a little less wild speculations.

COSTELLO: Well we'll see what happens. Sally Kohn, Patricia Murphy, thanks for your insights I appreciate it.

MURPHY: Thank you.

KOHN: Thanks Carol. COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, "SNL" has a little fun with that leaked security video showing Jay-Z and his sister-in-law Solange getting into the fight on the elevator.

And Nischelle Turner is now laughing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Jay-Z, Beyonce and Solange may have moved on from that elevator stuff that was caught on security cameras but not before "SNL" took a stab at what happened that night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got an exclusive, we have a leaked video. This time with the audio included.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It tells a completely different story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Man what a great party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God there's a spider on you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What get it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It keeps moving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kick it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh great job. I love you, Solange.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey thanks again for that help with that spider.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know what; no problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go back to the party.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes that would be fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I loved it -- I love it when she said foot five.

Anyway there's something else on the Beyonce scene I have to tell you about. The real Jay-Z and Beyonce have released a nearly four minute eye-popping star-studded trailer for their upcoming on the "Run" tour.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: It's cool, right? Except it's not really a movie and it's not really real.

Nischelle Turner is live in Los Angeles. I want to start with the spider thing first. Because I thought that was really funny.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well Carol they must have been listening to us on Friday, right?

COSTELLO: I know.

TURNER: Because you said I need to know what happened here. And they said just for Carol we're going to let her know that it was actually a spider on Jay-Z's jacket that Solange was trying to get off. Who would have ever thought that? That was the only thing that happened there. She was trying to be helpful, Carol. That's it.

COSTELLO: Well I loved it. I love it when Rudolf came out and impersonated Beyonce. It was funny. You have to go online and watch.

TURNER: Yes she does a great Beyonce. It was good to see her come back and reprise her role for the special engagement.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about this strange movie trailer thing. It's really not for a movie. It's for a tour. But it's fake. What's up with that?

TURNER: Well, it's good. Movie but not the movie. The tour that is the tour and is going to happen this summer and this -- I call it actually the best promotional hype tool that you could have. It's working because of course we are talking about it. We're showing it right now. They put together this short film, Beyonce and Jay-Z, to promo for their upcoming summer tour called "On the Run".

You know, if you blink, you'll miss all of the celebrities in this. It's 3:45 long. It's got so many Hollywood celebrities in this. I'm going to run down a couple of them for you. Sean Penn is in it. Don Cheadle who you see there on the screen. Jake Gyllenhaal, Blake Lively -- they all make appearances. Emmie Rosum, Guillermo Diaz which by the way I'm a (inaudible) in this from "Scandal". There he is right there. And Raschida and Kidada Jones are also in it.

Now, Carol I'm going to take you back a little bit because I think this is kind of I think the remake or sequel to the 2003 remake that they did of Tupac's "Bonnie and Clyde". Now, if you remember, that's actually where Beyonce and Jay-Z met each other on that song. It's where they started dating in the making of that video.

Now here we go. We've got 11 years later. They are kind of making part two of "Bonnie and Clyde" with this "On the Run" promo skit. So I think that's kind of cool -- kind of paying homage to where they came from and where they are now as a couple.

COSTELLO: It's romantic to me, to see explosions, of people shooting at each other.

TURNER: Beyonce stripped down in the hotel room.

COSTELLO: Whatever Nischelle Turner, thanks so much. We're back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Taking a look at our top stories at 58 minutes past. Former executive editor of "The New York Times", Jill Abramson making her first public appearance since her controversial firing last week to just wrap up her commencement address from Wake Forest University and she jokingly referred to her firing at "The New York Times" many, many times. We'll get into specifics in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

The Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against five Chinese military officials accused of cyberspying. It's the first time the United States has filed such charges. The officials are accused of stealing trade secrets from a number of U.S. companies. Attorney-General Eric Holder is expected to talk about the charges live at the top of the hour.

Kraft is recalling 1.2 million cases of cottage cheese that could spoil prematurely and cause you to get sick. The company says the recall was precautionary after discovering that ingredients used in nearly three dozen cottage cheese products were not properly stored.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins now.