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New Day

January Jobs Report; Moussaoui Accuses Saudis of Funding 9/11; "People" Magazine: Bruce Jenner Transitioning; Transgender Awareness in America

Aired February 06, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here's your Friday edition of the five things you need to know for your new day.

At number one, western leaders are stepping up efforts to stop Russia's increasing aggression on Ukraine. Vice President Biden meeting with European officials. We're about 30 minutes away from a sit-down between Vladimir Putin and the presidents of France and Germany.

Breaking now, Jordan has just completed a second round of airstrikes on ISIS targets in Syria as retaliation for the death of their fighter pilot. Those strikes were carried out by two dozen Jordanian planes accompanied by U.S. jets.

Officials are now saying there were problems with both engines on this TransAsia flight. That crashed, of course, caught on camera this week. Stall warnings also went off in the cockpit five times just after takeoff.

Five infants at a suburban Chicago daycare have contracted the measles. Ten more children, including some just too young for vaccinations, could also have been exposed. Officials have not identified the source of those infections.

Well, it looks like the snow just won't stop. The Northeast and Midwest bracing again for another round this weekend. Some of the same spots that were buried under feet of snow over the past few weeks, sorry to tell you, you may see heavy accumulations again.

We're always updating those five things to know, so visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, we do have some breaking news now. The new jobs report for January just released. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans here with the numbers for CNN Money now.

How's it looking?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's looking pretty good. It's looking stronger than we expected. When you look at January, 257,000 net new jobs created. Better than we saw in the end of the year, quite frankly, in December. And we've had some upward revisions, meaning there was stronger job creation in November and December. So you're seeing a trend here, Alisyn, of job creation that keeps going.

One interesting thing about this report is that the unemployment rate, that caught us by surprise. That ticked up. If you look at that, it was 5.7 percent. We've been expecting it to come down to 5.5. Here is my sort of on the fly guess for why this went up. All of these headlines about an improving job market means people who had left the labor market are trying to go back in and saying now I'm actively looking for a job. That can drive the unemployment rate up a little bit. But the -- but the important thing here is that the -- how far we've come. I mean this has been unbelievable the trajectory here. The kinds of jobs. We're hearing retail jobs. We're hearing health care jobs, construction jobs. That's important. Those tend to pay a little bit more.

CAMEROTA: It's interesting, though. I mean good news/bad news, as usual. If something -- if the unemployment rate ticks up, but it means more people are engaged, that's a good news story.

ROMANS: It means more people are engaged. And for a long time we've been saying if people like me every month are coming out and saying, look, the job market is improving, it is healing, it's healing. Last year was the best year for job creation since 1999. People are going to start coming into the labor market.

We have a great story on CNN Money this morning that shows you the quality of the jobs overall. Sixty percent of the jobs created since President Obama took office in 2009 have been temporary jobs, have been restaurant workers, have been home health care aides, servers. So we want to see the jobs broaden out to those business and information services, those higher paid jobs, construction, manufacturing. And we're starting to see that.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, what -- are these jobs numbers for January higher than expected or lower than expected?

ROMANS: They are higher than expected with some better revisions for late last year. So higher than expected on job creation. The unemployment rate ticked up likely because people are coming back into the labor market. They feel like they might have a shot this time.

CAMEROTA: Got it. Thanks for all the context.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: Christine Romans, happy Friday. Great to see you.

ROMANS: You too.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn, everybody's wondering if what's going on with Jordan will lead the region to get more involved and own this war against extremism. But remember this, prominent Saudis may have had a hand in the 9/11 attacks. That's what a former al Qaeda operative is saying. And if there is truth to that claim, does that mean that the U.S. has to think about who its allies are and what will really happen in that region? We have Michael Smerconish joining us next.

PEREIRA: It was rumored but now there's growing speculation about Bruce Jenner's gender identity. How could such a high profile transition, if true, affect the transgender community? We'll explore that ahead.

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CAMEROTA: In a new deposition, the so-called 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui, accused more than a dozen prominent Saudi figures of donating money to al Qaeda, leading up to the September 11th terrorist attacks. Saudi officials strongly deny his claims. Let's bring in Michael Smerconish. He's the host of CNN's "Smerconish" and CNN political commentator.

Michael, great to see you.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: So we always knew that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia, but this contention of Zacarias Moussaoui goes further than that, that they were being bankrolled by Saudi leaders.

SMERCONISH: And it seems to support the contents of the 28 pages that the American public has never been permitted to see. Twenty-eight pages that were part of a congressional inquiry into September 11th, not the 9/11 Commission, that are highly classified, under lock and key, beneath the Capitol right now. And you have individuals like former Florida senator, chair of the intel committee, Bob Graham saying the American people should see what's in those documents. And it raises a great question as to why the administration won't release that data. I think we should see it.

PEREIRA: So why do you think they're not? I mean requests have been made countless times. Why?

SMERCONISH: Because I think they perceive the Saudis to be such a key partner in what's going on in the current conflagration in the Middle East and that they're worried --

PEREIRA: They'd lose (INAUDIBLE).

SMERCONISH: That the American people are going to take a look at these 28 pages and that we are going to go back (ph) blank (ph) in opposition to that continued relationship. President Obama, according to 9/11 victim family members, on two occasions, has said, I will release that information, but he hasn't done it so far.

CUOMO: Because it may hurt what the active fiction is about our allies in the region? I mean, if we want to have a little be honest session, you know, you know that the Saudis have this history of funding, if that's the allegation. We know that they have the population there for 9/11. But when you start looking at your allies. Look at Jordan. We love him. He's great. Look what he's going to do. He's got a real insurgent mode -- you know, element inside his own country. He's got a real division there. There's real oppression there. And that goes for a lot of the people we're saying are our friends. Where do you stop the analysis?

SMERCONISH: I think that's exactly what's going on. And in this particular case, the allegation in the lawsuit, and I've read a great deal about the lawsuit, including the testimony of Moussaoui, it's kind of interesting how that even comes to light. But the allegation is that the Saudi royal family, the house of Saud, has bought peace. They've paid off the Wahhabi clerics within their country, making sure that none of this is going to blow back within Saudi Arabia. And that which takes place outside of the country, well, that's a different matter.

Moussaoui comes to light in the context of this lawsuit where insurers are going after Saudi Arabia and they're saying, we want you to pay for our billions of losses for September 11th. And out of nowhere, Zacarias Moussaoui, himself having taken flight lessons in Oklahoma and Minnesota, writes to the judge and he says, I have testimony I want to offer. And so the plaintiff lawyer, based in Philadelphia, a guy named Sean Carter, goes out to the Supermax facility in Colorado and takes his sworn testimony and the allegations are as you've been reporting --

CUOMO: For what it's worth.

SMERCONISH: Right. I mean the Saudis say, look, the guy's a crackpot and the Saudis, to their benefit, they also say the 9/11 Commission didn't buy into this. The 9/11 Commission members that I've spoken to, including Bob Kerrey and John Lehman, they say, not too fast. We really didn't thoroughly vet this. Bottom line, all this information ought to be publicly released so that we can make up our own minds.

CAMEROTA: We do have a statement from the Saudi reflecting what you just said. They put out a statement, the embassy did, saying, "Moussaoui is a deranged criminal whose own lawyers presented evidence that he was mentally incompetent. His words have no credibility."

Let's put that aside for a moment and pretend that he is speaking the truth. Why did they do this? Why did the Saudis want to launch this terrorist attack against the U.S.?

SMERCONISH: I don't know that it's so much that they wanted to launch a terror attack, as it is they just wanted to maintain peace and stability within their own country. And so to establish, for lack of a better descriptor, Alisyn, their bona fides, their street cred with the Wahhabi clerics in their country, they have been paying these folks just to keep them at bay. And so the allegation here is that those payments ended up facilitating transport and training of at least two of the hijackers who were known to have located in southern California and then to have followed Anwar al-Awlaki to Virginia.

I know, it gets confusing. But the bottom line is, Mr. President, show us those 28 pages. We can handle the truth.

PEREIRA: Going back to this Sean Carter, who you -- the attorney that you spoke --

SMERCONISH: The lawyer, yes.

PEREIRA: The lawyer you spoke to. What was his sense? You had a chance to talk to him. What was his sense about -- it's not that I'm trying to harp on this, but I -- is this a guy that's just --

SMERCONISH: No, it's a great question.

PEREIRA: Is it a Hail Mary pass? Is this a guy that's coming clean suddenly? What's the motive?

SMERCONISH: I said -- I said -- and a little plug, he'll be on my program tomorrow, so I'm going to go over this on my own show. But I said, is he a crackpot? You questioned him. You went out there. You were in the same room with Moussaoui.

PEREIRA: What was your sense? Yes.

SMERCONISH: What's the vibe? And he said, you know, he was calm. He was lucid.

CUOMO: He needs him.

SMERCONISH: I said --

CUOMO: What do you think he's going to say, I didn't find him very credible?

SMERCONISH: Well, OK, so I said to him, Chris, well, what would be his motivation? What does Moussaoui -- Moussaoui's never getting out of the Supermax facility.

PEREIRA: Right.

SMERCONISH: So why would he want to interject himself into this? The lawyer's comment to me was, I think he looks at the Saudi royal family and he resents the fact that he's in the slammer and they're not and they've never been held accountable. We don't have to buy into that. I just want all the data. I want to see the 28 pages. I want to see Bill Clinton's testimony. I want to see George Bush's testimony. And I want to see the testimony of Vice President Cheney. We haven't seen any of that information and yet we think we know everything about September 11th.

CAMEROTA: I mean very quickly, to Chris's point --

SMERCONISH: Yes.

CAMEROTA: If those 28 pages are released and it does implicate the Saudis, then what happens to our relationship with them? I mean the damage of that --

CUOMO: How much can you implicate it, though, Alisyn, because if you really have real proof that they were behind it --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: They wouldn't have the same alliance that they have right now.

SMERCONISH: I don't know.

CAMEROTA: Are you sure?

CUOMO: Maybe -- maybe in the aftermath of 9/11, you think -- they all know the pages are going to come out at some point, right? Everything gets out at some point.

SMERCONISH: Right. Fifty years from now.

CUOMO: Do you really think that the United States would have cozied up to Saudi Arabia if they know that they fund the worst thing that's happened to them?

SMERCONISH: Chris, they might -- they might be the best dance partner available in that part of the world. We might not like them, we really might not trust them, but we don't have many alternatives. That might be at the heart of this.

CUOMO: Even if they tried to kill us in an existential act?

SMERCONISH: They may not have known what the ultimate outcome of September 11th was going to be.

CUOMO: That's why I'm saying I don't think you get a straight line.

SMERCONISH: So let's get the 28 pages and then we'll re-evaluate.

CUOMO: I would love to hear what you say.

CAMEROTA: Michael Smerconish, great to see you, as always.

SMERCONISH: Thanks, guys.

PEREIRA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: As always, you can check out "Smerconish" Saturdays at 9:00 a.m. Eastern on CNN. Hear him weekdays on Sirius XM at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

PEREIRA: A very different type of discussion ahead, Bruce Jenner's gender identity garnering headlines again. Could the high-profile former athlete address these rumors soon? We're going to talk about it, next.

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PEREIRA: Speculation continues to grow around the gender identity of a former Olympian, Bruce Jenner. Rumors have been swirling for years, recently intensifying, that Jenner is transitioning to a woman. "People" magazine's new cover story on news stands this morning says he's finally happy and transitioning.

Joining us now, model and founder of Gender Proud, Geena Rocero. First of all, we have to point out, Geena, that we cannot confirm here at CNN that Bruce Jenner is transitioning. This is "People" magazine's reporting. But you've had your own journal journey. You were born in the Philippines. As a child, you knew something didn't quite fit. Tell me more about that.

GEENA ROCERO, FOUNDER, GENDER PROUD: I mean, growing up in the Philippines I knew at a young age that my gender assignment was different, and I had the opportunity to self-identify. Thank god that my family supported me.

PEREIRA: Explain that identity of gender assignment, because that will be new terminology to some people.

ROCERO: Certainly. I think when people -- when we're born, there's a gender assignment. And people think that gender assignment, either you're just male or female. My gender assignment, I was assigned boy at birth. But I knew at such a young age, at 3, 5 --

PEREIRA: The physical characteristics didn't fit?

ROCERO: Yes. So I needed to go through that journey to match who I really am.

PEREIRA: That journey took a long time?

ROCERO: Yes. Took a long time.

PEREIRA: How many years?

ROCERO: Well, you know, I knew at such a young age but it's a constant journey. I'm still in that journey. It's a journey of self- discovery.

PEREIRA: Right. So we know that Bruce Jenner has not publicly acknowledged this or publicly proclaimed anything, but we have been seeing a change. He is in the public eye, so we have seen the change. What is it that we're not seeing potentially if this is what's happening?

ROCERO: Certainly. I think the most important thing is to understand and respect the notion of self-identification.

PEREIRA: Yes.

ROCERO: Bruce Jenner will tell his own story on his own when he's ready. As a person who has experienced the same thing, will come out publicly, the most important thing is owning your own story. I think what we see in the media, I think the most important thing to point out is the courage it takes if he is, in fact, transitioning. The courage it takes to be the person that you are, to say to the world -- this is who I am. That takes a lot of courage.

PEREIRA: How does that happen? What does it take? Because, for you, you said it's been a process. Did it take -- was it an "aha" moment for you when you finally decided to utter the words out loud, to change the way you referred to yourself? How did it happen?

ROCERO: I knew at such a young age; that in itself was a big opportunity for me to start at a young age and having the support system of my parents.

PEREIRA: They were supportive?

ROCERO: Yes. When I was 15 years old, a transgender woman discovered me and I started joining beauty pageants for transgender women in the Philippines. So that allowed me to fully express who I am at a young age. And that's such a key component to understand, that at a young age, I was able to fully express myself.

PEREIRA: You're in a very different situation. In the Philippines, you had a family that's supportive. Here in the United States I think we're still trying to understand this, right?

ROCERO: Yes.

PEREIRA: The transgender community is present. It is growing more vocal. But the understanding, is it there yet, Geena?

ROCERO: I think the -- what happened last year in 2014, there's so many visibilities.

PEREIRA: Sure.

ROCERO: and we need to go deeper into understanding what this visibility means. I think it's an opportunity for us to talk about whether the opportunities and the difficulties that the transgender is going through.

PEREIRA: Give us an idea of some of the challenges?

ROCERO: Certainly the violence and discrimination that happens within the transgender community, to understand the intersections of identities, and what that means for the difference between what does a transgender person of color is going through, the difficulty -- this month alone, there's three transgender women alone of color who's been killed. So we need to go deeper and understand what are the factors around that.

PEREIRA: Can I just pivot for a second? Because you speak of visibility. This is a person that is incredibly visible. He has been part of a reality show; he's part of the Kardashian clan. Do you think that's going to further complicate all of this if he is, indeed, transitioning?

ROCERO: We won't really know until these things happen. Visibility is a good thing.

PEREIRA: It is a good thing?

ROCERO: It is a good thing. It is an opportunity for us. PEREIRA: Can it be stifling for the individual if they're trying to

find their own voice?

ROCERO: It is. It is a choice that one person would make to do it publicly. It is difficult on its own to go through that journey, but visibility creates awareness.

PEREIRA: It sure does.

ROCERO: And I think it's allowing people to talk about what, you know, the discrimination that happens within the transgender community. The health care that needs to reflect for transgender care. Things -- unemployment rate. The suicide rate.

PEREIRA: And the suicide rate sadly is very high in the transgender community.

ROCERO: It's nine times.

PEREIRA: Why is that? Is it because of the struggling to find identity? Is it because of the bullying, the threat, the violence? What is it? Or is it not any one thing?

ROCERO: Transgender people don't have a problem; it's society's point of view. For the longest time, people think that you're either just male or female. In between that, there is a gender spectrum of identities, of the way you express yourselves. There's an LGBT community within that. So we need to understand that it's not just being male or female . In between that there's a culture of expression, of gender identity that is fluid, that is continuum, that is beautiful and colorful, and what a world that we're going to have if we have that culture.

PEREIRA: Imagine this, Laverne Cox from the fantastic show "Orange Is The New Black" is a trailblazer in the transgender community. It's those kinds of images of you speaking out. Your organization does a lot of work. The organization is called Gender Proud. You're doing a lot of work to make sure this acceptance is there.

We want to continue to elevate this conversation and we want to hear from you. Tweet us and join our conversation or go to facebook.com/newday.

Geena, I'm very, very pleased to meet you. I'm very proud of you for sharing your journey with us and thankful to you as well.

ROCERO: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

PEREIRA: Thank you so much. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Mick, you're about to meet a hero two times over. Can you imagine saving a life? How about saving two livers, totally different situations? A man did just that and that's why, my friends, he is the Good Stuff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CUOMO: Time for the Good Stuff straight out of Buffalo, New York.

CAMEROTA: OK, Buffalo.

CUOMO: An ordinary guy who's done the extraordinary not once but two times. Gary Heard is already helping out a neighbor blowing the snow off her sidewalk, because he's a good guy. He looks up, he sees another man in trouble, shoveling, had a heart attack. What does Gary do? He runs over, rubs freezing snow on the man's face to keep him conscious. Doesn't see help coming quickly enough. Loads him on to a pickup truck because the ambulance just couldn't get down the snowy street. Guess what? The man lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He saved your life.

FRANK SLOAN, SAVED BY STRANGER FROM HEART ATTACK: Yes, he did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think of that?

SLOAN: Gary's my friend. I'll do anything for Gary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Aw.

CUOMO: And well he should. And best, guess what? Gary, no stranger to saving lives. Last year he saved a young girl choking on a lollipop. That's why kids should never have them. As for whether Gary thinks he's a hero or not, he gives all credit to a hero of his own.

(BEBIN VIDEO CLP)

GARY HEARD, MAN RESCUES YOUNG GIRL FROM CHOKING: You know, I just said a prayer and so thanks to, you know --

KENETRIA ALLEN, DAUGHTER SAVED FROM CHOKING BY STRANGER: He just has an amazing spirit. He's an amazing guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: He did the right thing.

PEREIRA: He is an amazing human being.

CUOMO: Because he thinks it's the right thing to do, and that's why that plowing man is the Good Stuff.

PERREIRA: Aren't you glad you have a neighbor like that.

CAMEROTA: That's a two for one for Friday.

CUOMO: Right?

PEREIRA: Especially with snow coming.

CUOMO: That's for sure; we need Gary in our lives, all of us do.

All right, lot of news. Let's get to the "NEWSROOM" with Ms. Carol Costello. How are you?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEWSROOM": I'm still laughing at that "plowing man". We all need a good plowing man in our lives, yeah.

PEREIRA: Oh wait.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Exactly. Have a great weekend, guys.

CUOMO: Carol, what did you mean?

CAMEROTA: Carol! There are innocents watching.

COSTELLO: I meant nothing by that at all. I have to start the "NEWSROOM" now.

"NEWSROOM" starts now.