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New Day
Oregon Armed Activists Refuse to Leave Federal Building; "Star Wars" to Break U.S. Box Office Record. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired January 05, 2016 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:33:13] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it very well may be a question of who blinks first in eastern Oregon. Armed protesters are entering now their fourth day occupying a federal wildlife refuge. The local sheriff has a message for them, it's time to go.
CNN's Paul Vercammen is live on the scene there in Burns, Oregon, with the very latest for us.
I know it's very early there, but what do we know?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michaela, yes, you're right. It's early here. It's subfreezing here. We have not seen the protesters brandish any guns, by the way, nor have we seen any law enforcement. And the sheriff in the town here, closest town is Burns, basically is telling these protesters just to go home and get out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF DAVID WARD, HARNEY COUNTY, OREGON: You said you were here to help the citizens of Harney County. That help ended when a peaceful protest became an armed occupation. The Hammonds have turned themselves in. It's time for you to leave our community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERCAMMEN: The Hammonds are the father and son ranching team who did turn themselves in to federal authorities yesterday to serve out the rest of an arson sentence.
Now, the leader of the protesters, Ammon Bundy, had tweeted out that this protest will end when the Hammonds are freed and the federal government gives up control of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. That's the refuge behind me.
But for right now, what we have here is an interesting situation. We've got these demonstrators who have occupied these sort of unassuming one story buildings here that were unoccupied to begin with. But as they say, it takes two to tango, and right now the demonstrators don't have a dance partner.
Back to you now, Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, there you go, Paul, thanks for laying that out for us.
Joining us now is Brian Levin. He's the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.
[08:35:05] Brian, thanks so much for being here.
You just heard our correspondent there, as standoffs go, this one is pretty mild.
BRIAN LEVIN, DIR., CTR. FOR THE STUDY OF HATE & EXTREMISM, CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO: It is. But here's the problem. And thank you so much for having me, Alisyn. And let me also thank your wonderful staff.
First thing, yes, this - this is not going to be, if handled correctly, an incendiary event. The problem is, it has the potential for it. And what we want to make sure that we do is have law enforcement keep a low burn (ph) perimeter, have the spokesperson for law enforcement, in fact, be the county sheriff from Harney County, Oregon, not the feds, and just wait it out.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
LEVIN: That's the way to do it.
CAMEROTA: That does seem to be the answer and it does seem to be, quite frankly, what the feds are doing because it's cold there. These folks are not locals. How - how long can they last? I mean they might just decide on their own that the point that they're making is over. The feds may not ever have to do anything here.
LEVIN: That's right. You know, with law enforcement, as with much of life, sometimes silence and patience is a friend that never betrays you. And I think what we've seen, particularly 20 years ago when I was on this network talking about the Freeman standoff in Montana, one of the things that the FBI did following Waco, where there was a disastrous fire set by the Branch Davidians and Ruby Ridge, where a woman was killed while cradling a baby, is to let's deescalate. And the thing is, all this talk about, you know, whether they were other types of extremists or their race, let's keep things deescalating.
And what we need is some kind of perimeter. It doesn't have to be visible to the folks there. And have the county sheriff be the spokesperson. This is important because the county sheriff in the anti-government movement is someone who they can use as an intermediary. It is the federal government that is viewed as illegitimate, not so much the county leaders. Indeed the Posse Cometatus, which is part of this umbrella of anti-government movements, recognizes the county sheriff as the highest authority.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
LEVIN: So this is very smart the way the authorities are handling this and I think what we should do is basically keep a low burn perimeter, monitor it. At some point you can ratchet certain things up, like shutting off the roads, perhaps even the power and things like that. It's not necessary now. CAMEROTA: Right.
LEVIN: As someone whose son is in the Boy Scouts, I can tell you, in the winter out west, it gets cold.
CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean that's already starting to happen. And already - and furthermore, the two men at the heart of this dispute, the Hammonds, the father and son, have surrendered. They have surrendered. They are about to serve their prison term for the arson. So are you clear on what the activists still want?
LEVIN: Alisyn, that is a great question. Here's the thing. These extremists have been looking for a catalytic event to confront the federal government. There were other instances after the 2014 standoff at the Bundy ranch in Nevada that they were looking to make a stand. And a video came out last week and they were trying to get people to show up.
Here's the thing. This is not about the Hammonds. This is about folks who want to expose their anti-government extremism to the rest of the country. And to a certain extent it has some appeal. But let me just say to your audience, this is - this is not about people - as I wrote in a CNN op-ed yesterday - this is not about people who want to elect a blunt-talking president. This is about people who have opted out of the political process and believe our government is illegitimate. And it's very dangerous when they get a platform repeatedly.
The other thing I would say is that, they're emboldened by the fact that Cliven Bundy did not have to pay the $1.2 million fine that a court has ordered, including Republican appointed federal judges, and said we definitely won. And while it is prudent for the federal government and law enforcement to stand down, and I think in this case it's quite prudent, what we can't have are people who are now ratcheting up, confronting law enforcement or taking aggressive action and getting away with it consistently, because what this will do over time in embolden them and other extremists to be in situations which are not quite as sanguine as this one.
CAMEROTA: I see. OK. Brian Levin, thank you for the analysis of all of this.
Let's get over to Chris.
[08:40:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, another real battle between good and evil. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," officially a force to be reckoned with at the box office. The record it is about to break, ahead.
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PEREIRA: All right, the music tells me it's time for the five things you need the know for your NEW DAY.
At number one, President Obama is unveiling his plan to combat gun violence this morning. He will use executive action to order expanded background checks in some private firearms sales. Twenty-seven days and counting until the Iowa caucuses. Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush all have events in Iowa and New Hampshire today. Part of the big push towards the first presidential nominating contest.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, frontrunner Hillary Clinton aggressively pushing for votes in Iowa, while trying to tighten that gap with Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire. Bernie Sanders will talk Wall Street reform in New York today.
Another country picking a side in the (INAUDIBLE) between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Kuwait siding with the Saudis, recalling its ambassador to Iran, as Iran's president slams Saudi Arabia for cutting ties.
Tonya Couch, the mother of the so-called affluenza teen, she'll appear in a Los Angeles courtroom today. Couch will likely be formally charged in her native Texas for helping her son Ethan flee the country. She will face up to 10 years if convicted.
[08:45:03] And if you'd like to have more on the five things, be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.
Chris.
CUOMO: Thank you very much, Mic.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" dominating the multiplex. The movie is about to conquer a piece of coveted box office real estate. The financial powers of the force, next.
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PEREIRA: All right. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is truly out of this world. Experts are predicting by the time the box office closes today the film will become the top domestic grossing film of all time, surpassing "Avatar's" record $760 million.
Want to talk about it with CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," The one, the only, Brian Stelter. You are sort of amazing with all of this data because this right here, if you look at the top grossing films, it has already almost surpassed "Avatar." I was looking -- 740.3 million in 19 days. And we haven't even opened in China yet.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's the most remarkable part about this.
CUOMO: The Force is strong.
PEREIRA: The Force is strong for this one.
STELTER: You look at these other films, "The Avengers," "Jurassic World," "Titanic" almost 20 years ago, these are the current U.S. record holders in terms of the amount they've made in their entire lifetime in the entire box office. Well, it took "Avatar" 72 days to get to that point you saw there, over $700 million. As you said, it's taken "Star Wars" just 19 days.
[08:50:01] PEREIRA: Just under 20, yeah.
STELTER: That is what's most remarkable, this land speed record, so- to-speak, that "Star Wars" is setting and it says a lot about our box office world and our media world that the movie -
(CROSSTALK)
PEREIRA: Does it also say a lot about the franchise though?
STELTER: Probably more than anything else it is about that. Now if you adjust these numbers for inflation, the original "Star Wars" is actually still doing even better, but when you look at these kind of modern era numbers -- we know how much ticket prices cost now at the movie theater -- this is a very rare movie that it felt like a communal event. So yes, today is probably the day it will actually break the "Avatar" record and then it will continue to break more records after that. But this is the biggest U.S. record you can break. There is nothing bigger than this in the United States.
CAMEROTA: Doesn't it make you wonder what took them so long? Because all they did was play the hits.
STELTER: Right.
CAMEROTA: They recapped the best of the original "Star Wars." They brought back the great characters who are now decades older.
PEREIRA: But maybe - OK, I want to debate with her on this one. Maybe the timing was just right. Maybe it was too soon to do it before now.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMEROTA: Well that's possible.
STELTER: Well remember, the three films that George Lucas worked on a number of years ago, his follow-ups, were not well received at all.
CAMEROTA: That's right. And part of it is because they didn't try to reinvent the wheel with this one. They went back to - They had basically another bar scene, like they recapped the bar scene, and they recapped the original sort of bare bones good and evil struggle.
CUOMO: Don't stare at any of it. And it is also a good time for that good and evil struggle.
PEREIRA: That is what I'm wondering, if it is because of what's going on, the climate in the world.
CUOMO: I think - there's a little bit of contemporaneous nature to this, don't you think?
STELTER: I do think there absolutely is. People can relate to what they are seeing in this film. There is a lot of textual analysis even you can do. But talking about George Lucas for a second, he sold this franchise for $4 billion. He's had some regrets about selling it, he's had some controversies. He's said some things he regretting saying about what it's been like to see his baby being taken care of by someone else. But maybe that is what it took. You know, to this point about why it worked and why they did it now. Maybe it required a new director, J.J. Abrams, coming in. And then reworking with some of the original material --
PEREIRA: But it was risky. That was a risky thing to do. I mean, this could have gone a couple of ways, right? If they hadn't nailed all of those scenes. We know how "Star Wars" fans are very particular. We also know that the technology could either impede it or make it a great success, which it seems to have done.
CUOMO: They stayed old school with it, which was nice from that perspective.
STELTER: When you see these numbers, it does sort of mask the fact -- this was a big risk. A month ago there were lots of questions about whether this would actually pull it off and whether Disney was making a mistake here. So the fact that it has dominated the box office for three weekends, and it's going to continue to for some time --
CUOMO: How many more do you think there are going to be?
STELTER: Well, we know there is one coming at the end of this year, the spinoff, the prequel, (inaudible) will come out for the end of this year. Then we're going to get at least two more that are in production just within this trilogy. And then I'm sure - it's like a tree, right? It will continue to grow new branches beyond that.
PEREIRA: OK. So I mentioned China earlier because it's set to open in China and then that means that it is likely to break global box office records.
STELTER: Yeah, that's the business story here is that this movie is not open in China yet. China is the second biggest movie market in the world now behind the United States. The challenge for Disney in this is that "Star Wars" isn't as well known in China, isn't all well known as a franchise. So they have been doing a lot of marketing, a lot of promotion throughout the country, in order to get people ready. So it opens on Saturday. It if it does well in China, it will help break the "Avatar" record globally, which is over $2 billion. That is going to take more time. Right "Star Wars" is at 1.5 billion. But already that is an amazing number in this modern media age and it's important for Disney. The business story here is that Disney needs this movie to do very, very well. It's having some trouble on the cable side of the business, so it be doing really well in the movie studio side is lifting the whole ship.
CAMEROTA: You know, just to get into a little of the water cooler controversy about this movie, some people don't like seeing the characters aging like Carrie Fisher.
PEREIRA: Oh wow. She has done a whole reaction which has been really strong. I have to admire her for that. CAMEROTA: Yes. Right. I mean, -- so if they went for the sentimental
value of bringing back Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and people love that.
STELTER: It worked.
CAMEROTA: But other trolls don't like that time has passed and she's aged since then. But that was the right decision, clearly, from the numbers.
CUOMO: Most people have bigger problems.
(LAUGHTER)
STELTER: Same is true for, Chris, as an African-American character, one of the new stars of the film.
CUOMO: He is great, by the way. He is great. He reminded me of that kind of same feel that Billy Dee Williams captured when he did it. In fact, he even tricked me. I was like is this Lando Calrissian -- But he isn't. Let me ask you something. Who would we be in the movie?
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: They just gave me the wrap sign.
PEREIRA: We have to wrap. I think that's a good idea.
STELTER: That's so disappointing.
CUOMO: Who would we be?
STELTER: It's just getting good.
PEREIRA: We have to wrap. We've got "The Good Stuff" coming up. I know. Nice try.
CAMEROTA: Chewbacca.
PEREIRA: No. She better not --
CUOMO: You like the big hairy guy, don't you?
(LAUGHTER)
PEREIRA: That's my "Star Wars" boyfriend.
CUOMO: Chewbacca?
PEREIRA: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
PEREIRA: Thank you, Brian. CUOMO: Mick, hail the cab.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: All right. A man walks into a church with a gun. What? It turns into "The Good Stuff." No joke. Coming up.
[08:54:56] PEREIRA: Well we're going to need it after that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: All right. Sometimes "The Good Stuff" starts off -- out of a bad situation. This is one of those, but what an amazing story. New Year's Eve, Pastor Larry Wright is speaking to the congregation, OK, he's about ready to give the sermon. A man walks in with a gun - into the church with a gun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PASTOR LARRY WRIGHT: He said, you know, I came here with some terrible things on my mind. I wanted to do some bad - I was going to do some bad things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: We know how this goes all too often, right, but not this time. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: When I told the congregation, it is OK, he wants prayer. And I began to pray for him. And he fell to his knees and began to cry, weep and he had his face on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: It worked. Pastor Wright got the man to hand the gun over. Exchanged hugs with him and other members of the church started hugging the guy. He stayed for the rest of the sermon. Can you imagine?
CAMEROTA: No. I mean, it's all the more powerful after what happened in Charleston, South Carolina.
PEREIRA: Absolutely.
CUOMO: Yes.
PEREIRA: And obviously he was taken -
CUOMO: He was disturbed. The pastor says the man was - that authorities got involved to take him for an evaluation afterwards. I don't know where his whereabouts are.
PEREIRA: We'll see if we can follow up on that. CUOMO: But for that pastor, he stepped up - no matter what you believe
in or don't believe in - he stepped up for the people in that church. And it worked.
CAMEROTA: Thank God it worked this time.
All right. We have a special programming reminder for you before we close out. This Thursday at 8:00 p.m., President Obama will join Anderson Cooper for an exclusive live town hall event on guns in America.
