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CNN International: Police: At Least 15 Dead in New Orleans Terror Attack; Ukraine Cuts Russian Gas to EU After Contract Expired; Bursts of Brutally Cold Air to Hit Parts of the U.S.; Blake Lively's Legal Team Says Lawsuit Changes Nothing Regarding Her Claims. Aired 8:25-9a ET

Aired January 02, 2025 - 08:25   ET

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

[08:25:00]

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CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. The FBI is conducting what it calls a multi-state investigation into what role if any ISIS may have played in the deadly terror attack in New Orleans. At least 15 people are dead after a man in a white truck plowed down dozens of people on Bourbon Street on New Year's Day.

The driver of a truck died in a shootout with police. Police say he attached a flag from the ISIS terror group to his vehicle, and had made recordings where he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Investigators are also looking into whether the New Orleans attack may have been connected to the explosion of a Tesla cyber truck in front of Donald Trump's hotel in Las Vegas.

Well, Joe Biden says the driver of the truck in New Orleans was inspired by ISIS to kill Americans. Biden delivered remarks from Camp David Wednesday evening after being briefed about both the New Orleans attack and the cyber truck explosion in Las Vegas. He told the people of New Orleans that the entire nation is grieving with them.

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Well, let's dive a bit deeper into the role. The ISIS terror group may have had to play in all of this with our Nic Robertson. And Nic, what we know right now is that the FBI are working to determine whether this attack was inspired by or directed by ISIS. How are they going about piecing this together?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They've been to the location where it's believed he built all or some of those IEDs that were found in his truck and around the scene of this attack, and that's in New Orleans, and that premise was on fire when the authorities got there, maybe some information has been lost and damaged there that it appears that they're searching his residents in Texas.

So that will provide some information, their immediate concern is going to be, is there about to be another attack? Is he working with somebody else who's already got a plot underway? Then there'll be the concern is he himself through his actions going to inspire others to try to do something, even if he's not in communication with them?

So, there'll be multiple layers of this, but the immediate thing will be, who was he talking to in the past 24, 48 hours, where has he been and what's he been doing?

MACFARLANE: And it was interesting just hearing a little earlier in the show from a city council member speaking to Ryan Young, a reporter on the scene, saying that there are big questions raised here for the intelligence community, such as, were there red flags that were missed?

And I think this is important when we consider that it was just last year the FBI Director, Christopher Wray was stressing that there were potential coordinated attacks on U.S. soil being planned by terror groups such as ISIS. So, are those questions being addressed now?

ROBERTSON: One imagines they are in earnest, and as well, in the U.K., we can think about what the head of MI5was saying a couple of months ago. Ken McCallum said himself, 1/3 of MI5, the British intelligence services efforts were focused on international terrorists, and he saw ISIS as trying to mount international terrorism.

It's not clear if he means send elements to another country for those attacks or just inspire and push other people to do that. But yes, the ISIS threat is real. So, what was missed? We know that officials really saying, well, he didn't work alone. Well, if you know that already, was he -- who was he communicating with?

Did you miss those communications? And then the fundamental we were discussing earlier that Al Qaeda and ISIS have been telling their supporters go out and do attacks with vehicles at speed in pedestrian areas. And the bollards protecting Bourbon Street in the heart of New Orleans, they were down that night.

Now, officials say they were in the process of being upgraded, but on the night of a major public event with a huge, known gathering of people, that's, again, I think, something security intelligence, are going to look at. Did the attacker know those bollards were going to be down?

How did he know? I mean, he will have invested a lot of time and effort. It appears if the bollards had been up, he would have been thwarted.

MACFARLANE: And as you mentioned, I mean, the concern right now is whether or not there will still be follow up attacks the you know, the given the investigation is still ongoing. And there is concern because we are still due, or New Orleans are still due to hold this sugar bowl event that had been delayed by 24 hours later today.

I mean, the Louisiana Attorney General came out and said she was concerned about that. Should they be concerned about holding another major event so quickly in the wake of this time.

ROBERTSON: I think there are going to be a lot of security officials who are going to feel that they really have to step up and provide that level of security. And we heard from a city councilor speaking to our reporter on the ground there, saying that she was confident that they could, that she wasn't going to go to the game, but she will be going now, this idea that we're not going to let the terrorists defeat us.

But if you at an intelligence level, if you haven't been able to piece the whole puzzle together, this you know, might lead us to draw to the conclusion that they've already decided that New Orleans is not a threat, and they've done everything that they can that I think is a bit of a reach at the moment. So, I'm sure there will be competing interests the city that wants to project itself as somewhere safe for tourists to come to.

They have a short window of opportunity to do that before people's attention move on and people think of New Orleans as being unsafe, against the notion that there's more digging to be done to find out more about this attack and more about potential associates, more about things, weapons, explosives that may have been stashed by him or by others that could later be triggered.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. Well, New Orleans a major tourist destination. This is the first, I think, four major events set to be hosted within the next month. But now, Nic, thank you. And as we mentioned, the attack in the popular French Quarter in New Orleans happened less than a mile from where the Sugar Bowl was to be hosted on Wednesday.

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The annual college football game was postponed for 24 hours for public safety. Kickoff is now expected to take place later today. CNN's Sports Correspondent Andy Scholes joining us with more. And obviously, Andy, a lot of concern still about the safety aspect of hosting this game in just a couple of hours' time or later this afternoon.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah.

MACFARLANE: What can you tell us about the security operation that's being put on the ground there.

SCHOLES: Well, Christina, you know, this is the first year for the college football playoffs, but the Sugar Bowl, you know, it's been a huge event in New Orleans for decades. You know, they're going to be thousands of Georgia and Notre Dame fans, you know, walking through the French Quarter, they -- all the fans.

They go down poetry street to get to the super dome where the game is being held, you know. And instead of that normal energy for a big game, a big atmosphere. You know, fans certainly are going to feel a little uneasy after what happened. Now, the Superintendent of New Orleans Police says they're going to have hundreds of officers and security personnel lining those streets, and they're going to be doing everything they can to make it safe.

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ANNE KIRKPATRICK, SUPERINTENDENT OF NEW ORLEANS POLICE: We have put officers out there as a grid, walking down the streets, every street in the French Quarter, looking for suspicious packages, bags, ice chest, you name it, and they have been locking it as a grid.

We've been doing the same thing on -- and all the accesses into the super dome. Part of the safety plan, as we have bomb dogs out there sweeping the super dome and all the exterior area, and we're locking that down that will be locked down through the game tomorrow.

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SCHOLES: Now, Georgia's football team, they did hold a walk through at the super dome last night while Notre Dame, they held meetings at their hotel and fighting Irish Head Coach Marcus Freeman. Well, he spoke with ESPN about what he told his team after the terror attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCUS FREEMAN, NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH: The toughest moments the culture of any program of a nation is revealed, and I have a lot of faith this country rally around New Orleans and support all the victims of families that were affected today.

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SCHOLES: Yes, so kickoff there in New Orleans is going to be at 04:00 p.m. Eastern this afternoon. The winner of this big game, they move on to play another big game, the Orange Bowl, a week from today. So, the journey continues for whoever wins this one now. You know, Christina, moving a game of this magnitude, with just so many fans traveling in for I mean, it's really tough.

Never happened to the Sugar Bowl in its 91-year history, but Delta and Southwest Airlines, they both issue travel advisories for New Orleans, allowing people to rebook their flights for free. So that at least help alleviated some of the headache that a lot of those people were dealing with there in New Orleans.

But in terms of security, Christina, the Superintendent of New Orleans Police, added that they are going to beef it up to a level that even more so than they were preparing for the Super Bowl that were -- it also will be held next month.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, just over a month's time the Super Bowl. And as you say, Andy, I think what 80,000 expected for the Sugar Bowl later today. So, we will wait to see, but it's good to hear the airlines at least doing their bit to help. Andy Scholes, thanks very much. And we'll be back with more news after the break. Stay with us.

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MACFARLANE: Palestinians in Gaza are beginning the New Year in the same way they ended it, living in an active war zone. Authorities say Israeli strikes on a tent camp sheltering displaced families in Southern Gaza killed at least 11 people overnight, including children and the Head of Gaza's police.

The Al-Mawasi area is a coastal region designated by Israel as a humanitarian zone. It comes less than one day after two dozen Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across Northern Gaza. South Korea's embattled president is vowing to, in his own words, fight to the end.

Yoon Suk Yeol is facing impeachment efforts and prosecution after his short-lived imposition of martial law. South Korea's corruption investigation office issued an arrest warrant for the president earlier this week -- police in South Korea are stepping up their investigation of Sunday's crash of the Jeju Air jet that killed 179 people.

They've been searching one International Airport, the scene of the tragedy, as well as carriers' officers. The search comes after South Korean officials announced that a damaged flight data recorder from the plane will be sent to the U.S. for analysis. CNN's Mike Valerio picks up the story.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the biggest headline today is certainly about the cockpit voice recorder, and we now know that South Korea's transportation ministry has a transcript of what was said on that voice recorder communication between the cockpit and the control tower.

But in terms of when we the public are going to be able to see that transcript or hear audio from the voice recorder, those are still unanswered questions. However, South Korea's transportation ministry was able to reveal just one specific detail about what they've heard on the voice recorder.

And they told us this, they can't verify, they cannot verify the specific timing of when the cockpit and control tower had difficulty communicating. Now we do know, before landing, the control tower warned the plane about birds in the area. Minutes later, the pilot called out, May Day, May Day, May Day, and then bird strike.

The plane would then crash a short time later. Now, as for the police searches of the airport and airline offices, a search warrant was issued on charges of, quote, professional negligence resulting in death and injury. That's according to South Jeolla police and South Jeolla is the province where the crash happened.

So, what we're looking for in the days ahead is a concrete time frame on when the flight data recorder is going to be sent to the United States. It is too damaged to be assessed here in South Korea. The NTSB is taking the lead on that front of the investigation. Certainly, a somber start to the new year here in South Korea, the headlines and the pictures in the paper certainly tell it all.

So many families and loved ones leaving offerings on these tables that are just steps away from the crash site in memory of the victims. And more than 1500 people volunteering their time to help families at the airport. Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul. MACFARLANE: Well, gas prices have ticked up in Europe today. That's because Russian gas is no longer flowing to Europe through Ukraine. A transit deal between Kyiv and Moscow has expired. Despite the war between the two countries, Russian gas have been moving through Ukraine, supplying what Brussels based think tank says is about 5 percent of the EU's total gas imports.

European officials say the EU has been working with countries for over a year, preparing the end of the gas deal. Clare Sebastian joining us more details, and it's pretty symbolic, Clare, isn't it? Because sort of ends Moscow's decades long dominance over European energy markets, but it's also financially impactful to them.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, if you think that just before the war, they were trying to, you know, start up another pipeline with the North Stream to now they've lost all but one down in the south in the Baltic Sea, the tax stream. So, you know, Ukraine and President Zelenskyy as sort of calling this a strategic defeat for Moscow.

Others have compared it to the expansion of NATO. But I think for Europe economically, the big thing to watch now is price. We're seeing an uptick of just under 3 percent right now in Europe. It's not a big move, but it's been pretty stable over the last year, and right now we're at the highest point since about November of 2023 in terms of European futures, how much that continues to rise, I think, will depend, obviously, on the weather.

To an extent, the gas storage is in Europe, they are pretty healthy going into this. They were at 95 percent by November 1. So, Europe is in a pretty good position. There are some who are concerned about what happens next winter, if they have to deplete them faster.

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And of course, replacing Russian gas for countries that continue to rely on it, the likes of Slovakia, of Austria, of Hungary will be more expensive, particularly if you're talking about LNG, Liquefied Natural Gas. Now in the in terms of actual disruption, the place where we're seeing this concentrated seems to be Moldova at this point.

Transnistria, which is the breakaway Republic on the border with Ukraine, has had to actually cut electricity supplies to civilian buildings, to residential buildings, 130 schools, apparently, are affected. So that is something that we can be keeping a close eye on, that could turn into a humanitarian issue.

MACFARLANE: Other options do they have at this stage? I mean, you say this was one of the main -- their major source of energy supply, and the temperatures are freezing there at the moment. Can anything be done?

SEBASTIAN: For Moldova specifically?

MACFARLANE: Yeah. SEBASTIAN: Well, I think, you know, the rest of Europe could step in and try to help them provide but I think obviously the politics is complicated there, because you have Moldova saying that Russia is trying to weaponize this. Russia had actually said it was going to cut the gas to Moldova even before Ukraine let that transit deal expire, because they claimed that payments hadn't been made.

Transnistria, which hosts the power station where the gas is supplied to says that Moldova has blamed that on Transnistria. So, it's very complicated there, but President Zelenskyy himself has called on Europe to sort of step in and try to help Moldova through this course. Moldova has a pro-EU President.

MACFARLANE: And for Ukraine itself, presumably there will be an impact here. Could it be that they become that this makes them more vulnerable in many senses, because they could be more open to attack with the gas no longer flowing through Ukraine using that vital pipeline.

SEBASTIAN: Yeah. I mean, I think, look, while the gas was still flowing, which it's extraordinary that it was for so long during a full-scale war, the assumption was that Russia wouldn't shoot itself in the foot, literally, by you know, hitting its own the pipelines carrying its own gas.

Now that it -- now that the gas is no longer flowing, there are some who believe that it is more vulnerable. I think, look, there have been stress tests on this kind of infrastructure, and it has withstood it. And there's obviously a question as to, you know, what happens if the war ends?

Could the gas be restarted Russia? Although Ukraine was making transit fees of about 800 million or so a year, Russia was making upwards of 5 billion a year from these gas supply. So, Russia has more to gain. Should this ever restart? Although, of course, we don't see any sign of that as of now.

MACFARLANE: We will wait to see in the coming months. Clare, thank you. Of many people in the U.S., the final weeks of the winter 2024 felt more like autumn, but an arctic blast is coming. Next week could be the coldest of the season.

More than 70 percent of the country's population will experience freezing temperatures and possibly dangerous wind chills in the coming days and weeks. Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is joining us from Atlanta. How cold is it going to get, Elisa?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pretty cold. We're looking at temperatures well below freezing for a lot of the lower 48. Today, we're keeping those very cold temperatures bottled up to the usual spots, the Northern Plains, the Great Lakes, interior parts of New England.

This is where the temperatures will stay below freezing. But as we head towards the weekend, that cold starts to shimmy south, and what triggers it is a winter storm that's going to cut across the U.S. as you go into the weekend. It develops on Saturday. By Sunday, we really start to see it flourish with rain, ice and snow.

We have cold air that tries to shimmy south, comes into the top side of it, and could create all of this snow and some icy conditions as well. A cold rain for most of the southeast. So, we're dealing with multiple types of precipitation from the storm. Some of that snow could be heavy.

We are worried about a big swath of ice from the Ozarks through the Tennessee and Ohio valleys. That ice could be significant for difficult travel, dangerous travel, down trees, power lines, really could be significant. Then the rain again for much of the south. Now we have some of that cold air in place to create all of that snow and ice.

But behind the storm, you get that plunge of even more cold air that's even colder than this round that we have now, that frigid air stays in place through the week, and then there's another round that comes in after that. So, by Monday, we're looking at temperatures 15 to 25 degrees below normal from Kansas City down towards Nashville.

Continues to spread eastward as we go into Tuesday. And Wednesday, a look at that big area from Nashville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas City, all with temperatures about 15 to 25 degrees below average. So yes, it's winter, but this is colder than temperatures typically get.

More than 70 percent at the lower 48 is looking at temperatures below freezing through the next seven days, because there will be multiple rounds of it. So just this weekend alone, we're looking at these morning low temperatures that is about 11 degrees Saturday morning in Chicago, that is about 10 degrees below their normal.

Same thing in Atlanta, temperatures getting towards below freezing, which is below average for the time of year. The daytime highs, stay pretty chilly, around freezing in New York City, while below freezing in Chicago through the next several days, going into the work week, temperatures a bit below average with those highs in the 40s and Atlanta, so again, staying on the cool side of things.

But look at how long these lasts, because we're looking at multiple rounds of arctic air spilling south. We're way below average and below freezing in Chicago through the next seven days and beyond.

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Look at the overnight lows, the teens, the daytime highs, barely making it to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, and that will be the same for New York City as well, just staying well below average and below freezing, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, this slightly not just to be a quick snap for. Elisa Raffa, thanks very much for the update. OK, still to come, Actor Justin Baldoni fires back after co-star Blake Lively accused him of sexual harassment. What he's claiming in his libel suit against "The New York Times" ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MACFARLANE: The actor accused of orchestrating a smear campaign against actress late Blake Lively is suing "The New York Times" for $250 million. Justin Baldoni, Lively's co-star in the film "It Ends with Us", says "The New York Times" failed to vet Lively sexual harassment claims. And that the paper relied almost entirely on Lively's version of events. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has more.

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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Actor, Justin Baldoni, who also directed the hit movie "It Ends with Us", is now suing "The New York Times" for $250 million, launching a counter attack in an escalating controversy with his co-star Blake Lively.

Baldoni and his team saying the newspaper was party to a quote, vicious smear campaign by Lively who filed an earlier complaint accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on set and retaliation during the promotion of the film. It's just the latest salvo in an ongoing dispute between the two actors that erupted during production of the movie, in which Baldoni plays Lively's on-screen abusive husband.

The complaint filed by Baldoni and a total of 10 plaintiffs, including his producing partners and publicist states. "The Times" relied almost entirely on Lively's unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence.

Lively's original complaint was filed with the California Civil Rights department almost two weeks ago and was first obtained by "The New York Times". It alleges Baldoni and his team tried to destroy Lively's reputation after she raised concerns about repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior by Mr. Baldoni.

"The Times" published their article December 21, highlighting excerpts from the Civil Rights Complaint, including text messages from a crisis PR manager for Baldoni, that say, quote, we can bury anyone. "The New York Times" telling CNN, they will, quote, vigorously defend against the lawsuit, saying our story was meticulously and responsibly reported.

It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And vetting the allegations and reviewing the material, that's where they ended up. But I think it's going to take a little while to determine and see exactly where all this falls, because there's a lot of conflicting claims, but that's what litigation is for.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Baldoni's complaint alleges the paper omitted text messages to serve Lively's narrative, saying the article central thesis encapsulated in a defamatory headline designed to immediately mislead the reader, the complaint says.

[08:55:00] It was Lively, not plaintiffs who engaged in a calculated smear campaign. Further saying, Lively, used sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production. And that Lively is public image suffered as a result of a series of high- profile blunders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grab your friends, wear your florals.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): What she tried to deflect with her complaint. Attorneys for Lively sent CNN a statement on Tuesday, saying nothing in this lawsuit changes anything regarding her claims. Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN, Los Angeles.

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MACFARLANE: And that will do it for this edition of CNN Newsroom, thanks for joining me. I'm Christina Macfarlane. "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson is up next.

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