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Zuckerberg Faces Questions before Congress; Russia on U.S. Missiles; Bolton Pushed out Bossert; National Weather Forecast; Daniels Cooperating with Investigators. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired April 11, 2018 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: House Energy and Commerce Committee one day after dozens of senators questioned him for hours about the data breach.
CNN's Laurie Segall is live in Washington with more.
What a day, Laurie. What jumped out at you?
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN SENIOR TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: A huge day for the company, for the next couple days. You know, FaceBook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, he faced a grilling yesterday on Capitol Hill, apologizing for his role in mishandling user data. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, FACEBOOK: We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. And it was my mistake. And I'm sorry.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: We've seen the apology tours before.
SEGALL (voice over): During a grueling five hours of testimony, more than 40 senators pressing the FaceBook CEO on its data collection practices and its controversial privacy policies after the scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, a Trump-linked data firm improperly accessing the private information of millions of FaceBook users.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: Why should we trust FaceBook to make the necessary changes to ensure user privacy?
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Would you be comfortable sharing with us the name of the hotel you stayed in last night?
ZUCKERBERG: Uh, no.
DURBIN: I think that might be what this is all about, your right to privacy.
SEGALL: Zuckerberg taking the blame for not investigating the data firm more thoroughly or alerting the users to the breach.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), CALIFORNIA: Are you aware of anyone in leadership at FaceBook who is in a conversation where a decision was made not to inform your users?
ZUCKERBERG: I'm not sure whether there was a conversation about that.
SEGALL: And admitting FaceBook needs to improve its methods of policing the fake Russian ads that reach millions during the 2016 election.
ZUCKERBERG: This is an arms race, right, and they're going to keep on getting better at this and we need to invest in keeping on getting better at this too.
SEGALL: Zuckerberg confirming that his company's cooperating with the special counsel's investigation.
ZUCKERBERG: I actually am not aware of a subpoena. I believe that there may be. But I know we're working with them.
SEGALL: Zuckerberg signaling he's open to government oversight after senators pushed why Americans should trust FaceBook.
ZUCKERBERG: My position is not that there should be no regulation. I think the Internet is increasing --
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You mean (ph) embrace regulation?
ZUCKERBERG: I think the real question as the Internet becomes more important in people's lives is, what is the right regulation?
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R), LOUISIANA: The purpose of that user agreement is to cover FaceBook's rear end. It's not to inform your users about their rights.
SEGALL: Zuckerberg emerging unscathed with some lawmakers clearly unaware of how FaceBook works.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you sustain a business model in which users don't pay for your service?
ZUCKERBERG: Senator, we run ads.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SEGALL: It was very interesting to see some of those non-tech focused questions. I think one senator at one point asked Mark Zuckerberg if the company could see e-mails sent on WhatsApp. Well, you don't send e-mails on WhatsApp and WhatsApp is encrypted. So these are important questions at a very pointed time. So there was criticism over those types of questions.
One very interesting tidbit that I don't want to completely get ignored. Mark Zuckerberg said in the hearing that there will always be a version of FaceBook that's free. So read between the lines. That leaves the door open for a paid version of FaceBook.
And a little background on how he prepped for this. A source tells me that at FaceBook they set up a whole mock trial room, a mock hearing room for the last week, and he's been taking questions, hard questions nonstop.
You know, today he'll face more questions from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. We'll see if they looked at some of the criticism of the questions yesterday, and those questions might be a little more pointed today. We'll see.
Chris.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Laurie, thank you very much.
You know, look, it was interesting. I mean I know that -- you know, look, when you're sitting in front of a Senate panel and people are asking you questions, it's going to seem hostile, and there was certainly some hostility. I thought that was a pretty good day for Zuckerberg because I do not think there was a real depth of understanding by the senators or their staffers.
CAMEROTA: Right.
CUOMO: About not just what does FaceBook do, but how do you link the interests of the user --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: With the financial model. Because it's not just about ads. It's what they do with secondary revenue from that information. What kind of regulations? Zuckerberg was right, that's the question, but they didn't advance it.
CAMEROTA: I'm being told that FaceBook's stock is up 5 percent. So people gave it a good review generally, but we'll see if the House --
CUOMO: I should have bet.
CAMEROTA: If the House lawmakers and their staff are better prepared for all of these technology questions. As you know, I'm the Wilma Flintstone of technology, so I can relate to these -- even that's an old reference -- I can relate to these senators not knowing how everything --
CUOMO: No, Betty. You go for Wilma?
CAMEROTA: Wilma.
CUOMO: You're a Wilma person?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: Are you a Betty or a Wilma person?
CAMEROTA: Our question of the day.
CUOMO: A Fred or a Barney person.
CAMEROTA: That's our question of the day. We --
CUOMO: Don't tweet her because you'll get no response.
CAMEROTA: That's right.
CUOMO: All right, President Trump planning his response to the Syrian chemical attack. Russian leaders making an ominous threat this morning. We've got the former director of national intelligence, Jim Clapper. He's going to give you what the stakes are in that situation, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:38:50] CUOMO: All right, Russia obviously playing a game here, issuing an ominous warning to the U.S. The Russian ambassador to Lebanon says that Russia will shoot day any -- shoot down, sorry, any Americans -- American missiles fired at Syria.
Let's do that again.
Russia says that it will shoot down any American missiles fired at Syria. OK. That's the simple message if you know how to speak.
It comes as we wait to see what President Trump's military response is going to be to the apparent chemical attack. There is a game afoot.
Let's discuss this and the deadly implications with Jim Clapper, CNN national security analyst and, of course, former director of National Intelligence.
So, Jim, help us understand this. We know that Assad is doing terrible things to his own people. We know that it has involved and may once again involve chemical weapons which are decried under international law. They are illegal. It would require U.N. action to make some kind of concerted military effort, but it's illegal. What are the stakes? What are the options?
JIM CLAPPER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, first of all, I just want to say that I'm in the Wilma camp with Alisyn. I just want to make that point clear.
[06:40:04] CUOMO: Thank you for putting that -- giving that some --
CAMEROTA: Thank you.
CUOMO: Giving that the prominence it deserves, Clapper.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CLAPPER: Right.
CUOMO: Now, back to the potential World War III scenario.
CLAPPER: Well, ever since the Russians started operating in Syria, this has been a -- and it's, you know, a very confined space there, particularly when you've got a lot of airplanes flying around. So the potential for incident has been there for some time. And so what we have now is -- and I would tell you that I believe the Russians have the air defense capability employed in Syria that they could be a threat.
CUOMO: Right. So -- so --
CLAPPER: So the --
CUOMO: So they say we're going to shoot down missiles, not planes, right? That's a meaningful distinction.
CLAPPER: Yes.
CUOMO: But as playful as we're being here when I say World War III, God forbid, but the scenario that needs examination is, you do something, as the U.S. or with or without any of its allies to counter what Assad has done. But then what is done in response to that military action --
CLAPPER: Right.
CUOMO: By Russia and Iran, that has to be part of the calculus, yes?
CLAPPER: Well, this is a calculus, whatever the scenario. I mean it's like the -- if we were to do a cyberattack against the Russians for what they had done during our election, well, you have to weigh, what is the counter retaliation going to be? And so it's the same situation here. Is this a bluff on the part of the Russians? I don't know. I just hope that on our -- our -- for our part, we've thought through the implications. If they even attempt to shoot one down, let alone if they have any success at it. I'm reading where, you know, they're attempting to jam the control process for our drones. So this tit for tat there in Syria, in the absence of a policy -- and I'm -- it looks to me as though the issue of Syria is just as in tractable for this administration as it was for the last one, of which I was a part.
The other comment I would make, Chris, is, you know, the use of chemicals of any sort, whether it was chlorine or sarin even is absolutely egregious. But, you know, Assad has killed probably tens of thousands of innocents, women and children, using conventional munitions.
CUOMO: Right.
CLAPPER: Which doesn't seem to level -- rise to the level of outrage that using chemicals does. And it just points to me, you know, we don't have much of a policy in Syria.
But as for the Russians, this could -- I don't think this's going to go to World War III. I do think cooler heads will prevail here, both on the part of the Russians and the United States. But it --
CUOMO: Well, we saw last time the action from this administration, which politically played very well.
CLAPPER: Yes. CUOMO: Made the Trump administration, at least to some, look much more muscular than the Obama administration. It didn't have the net effect that people had hoped for, obviously, because the same type of attack is continuing now.
So, we'll see. We'll wait and see what the White House, what the generals in the military put together as a plan and have you come back on to discuss that.
Let me ask you --
CLAPPER: Well, I -- let me just say --
CUOMO: Go ahead.
CLAPPER: Let me just say, Chris, real quickly that the problem here is by just doing these pin pricks and then we sit -- we sit on the sidelines until they use chemicals again that's recorded in these egregious videos and we don't have a sustained policy.
CUOMO: Understood. Understood. We've heard it before. But, you know, look, political will is where that comes in, right? You don't have an American population right now that's looking to put -- to watch American blood and treasure get spent there. And this is a president who hasn't been anxious to do that. So, again, let's see what they come up with, Jim.
And let me ask you a political question while I have you.
So Tom Bossert, homeland security adviser, is out. Do you see this as a problem of attrition from the administration, or Mr. Bolton coming in at the -- as the national security adviser and having the right to have his own people on the team?
CLAPPER: Well, it's both. Clearly Mr. Bolton does have the right to have his own team. But that's the problem with this constant turnover. And the White House is a difficult enough place given the, you know, the intractable issues you deal with to have the distraction all the time of, gee, am I next. And Tom Bossert, a very competent professional and articulate spokesman for his areas of counterterrorism and homeland security. So I think it's a loss for -- a net loss for the White House and, for that matter, for the country. He's a very competent individual. And it's too bad.
Now, I -- you know, I respect Mr. Bolton's right to have his own team, but when you're constantly turning over national security advisers, each one of which is probably going to do their own house cleaning, that just creates all kinds of distraction and turmoil.
[06:45:07] CUOMO: In good government sometimes they do say constancy breeds consistency.
Jim Clapper, thank you very much. Appreciate you weighing in on these weighty issues.
CLAPPER: Thanks, Chris. CUOMO: Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: And the Flintstones. Team --
CUOMO: Yes, that's what I meant.
CAMEROTA: Team Wilma.
CUOMO: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Yes, we'll see. We'll take the (INAUDIBLE).
CUOMO: You're not doing that great with the meanest people in the world, by the way.
CAMEROTA: We'll add -- we'll take the score. OK, well.
Meanwhile, porn star Stormy Daniels cooperating with federal investigators. What evidence is she sharing? We'll ask her lawyer, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: Enough with the cold and the snow. It's finally starting to feel spring-ish again in the east.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has your forecast.
How are we looking and for how long?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're great until Saturday night. It's funny when you get to spring and 60 feels like 80. And then in July, 60 feels like 30. So just enjoy this weather. It is on the way. Fifty- two for the high today, but it gets warmer here all the way across the East Coast.
This weather's brought to you by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, packed with goodness.
[06:50:03] This is the first truly good forecast I've been able to give for such a very long time. Mild air coming in. Temperatures in D.C. will approach 80 degrees over the weekend. Now, there is colder air behind it, so that's Sunday into Monday. But just enjoy this while we can. Temperatures in Atlanta above 70 all weekend long, even across the Northeast running (ph) all the way into the 80s. The temperature is going to be 82 in D.C. And even for New York City, we go all the way to 77 Saturday.
I believe there will be fishing poles in people's hands that they got for Christmas finally for the first time across the East Coast all weekend long.
CUOMO: Bass season, April 15th. You've got to come up. We've got to wet a line, Chad Myers.
MYERS: Fair enough. CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much for the forecast.
Porn star Stormy Daniels' lawyer says his client is cooperating with federal investigators. Why? What does that mean for the case? Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:55:11] CAMEROTA: Stormy Daniels is cooperating with federal investigators. A source tells CNN that the feds are looking into the nondisclosure deal and the $130,000 payment made by President Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen to silence her about her alleged affair with Mr. Trump.
Joining us now is Stormy Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti.
Michael, great to have you here in studio.
MICHAEL AVENATTI, ATTORNEY FOR STORMY DANIELS: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: What was Stormy Daniels' reaction to the search of Michael Cohen's home?
AVENATTI: Well, I mean, I think with each step in connection with this process, she feels more and more vindicated. You know, we think that it's pretty obvious that the American people have come to the conclusion that this was not some publicity stunt. This wasn't some money grab. She did this for the right reasons, namely to get the truth out. And I think that Monday's raid is further evidence of that.
CAMEROTA: But how? How does the raid of Michael Cohen's office and home effect your case or change your case?
AVENATTI: Well, there's no question that that raid resulted in significant part from the filing of our case and what we've done in connection with this case over the last -- over the last five weeks. And they would not be raiding Michael Cohen's offices, a practicing attorney -- it's a very high bar to be able to go do that -- they would not be able to get those warrants and execute on those warrants without substantial evidence of wrongdoing. And we have every reason to believe that that wrongdoing stems directly from this $130,000 payment and the NDA.
CAMEROTA: And what is that evidence that they based it on?
AVENATTI: Well, again, I'm not at liberty to talk about the evidence. We're cooperating with investigators with that.
CAMEROTA: Have you turned over evidence to them?
AVENATTI: I'm not going to answer that question. We've been in contact with them. We are cooperating fully with attorneys from the southern district of New York. These attorneys that are on this case, this is what I'll say, these are some of the best and brightest U.S. attorneys in the entire nation. They are being aggressive. They are being diligent. There's no question in my mind, based on the track record of that office, they're going to get to the bottom of this. CAMEROTA: Has Stormy Daniels spoken to those investigators?
AVENATTI: I'm not at liberty to answer that.
CAMEROTA: Why not? I mean what's secret about that?
AVENATTI: Well, because, we want to be respectful of the process. This is a very, very serious matter. There's a lot of things that hang in the balance and we want to be respectful of the job that the fine U.S. attorneys in the southern district are doing and the work that they're doing, and we're going to respect it.
CAMEROTA: But you confirm that she is cooperating?
AVENATTI: We are fully cooperating. We're going to continue to cooperate. And we're going to do everything in our power to ensure that the truth comes out and is known to the American people.
CAMEROTA: OK.
Now, on Monday, when you came on, you promised that you were going to, the next day, be releasing a sketch of the man that Stormy Daniels says intimidated her in a parking garage when she was with her infant. Where's that sketch?
AVENATTI: Well, we have the sketch. We haven't released it because we were asked to not release it on -- on --
CAMEROTA: By whom?
AVENATTI: Well, I'm not going to answer that. But here's what I'm going to say. A lot has happened in the last 48 hours. We may not end up having to release that sketch. That's what I'll say.
CAMEROTA: I don't understand that. Meaning that that person is going to be apprehended, whoever intimidated her?
AVENATTI: A lot has happened in the last 48 hours. There's been three raids that were conducted. A lot of information has come to light. We may ultimately not need to release that sketch as it relates to identifying the individual who threatened her in Las Vegas. And that's all I'm at liberty to say.
CAMEROTA: But just -- look, this is an issue of public safety, OK? If there is somebody who's on the loose who requires a police sketch to be apprehended, are you saying that there could be an arrest that we would see of that person?
AVENATTI: What I'm saying is what I just said. There's been a lot of developments. We are cooperating with law enforcement on multiple fronts. We're going to be respectful of that process and we're going to do what is best as it relates to identifying this individual, being diligent about it, and being smart about it.
CAMEROTA: Look, I understand what you're saying. You're trying to follow the proper process with the investigators. However, you're also trying this in the court of public opinion. You make a lot of TV appearances. We appreciate you coming on here. But in the court of public opinion, don't you -- do you feel that you need to provide more evidence?
AVENATTI: Alisyn, the reason why I make a lot of TV appearances is because CNN asked me to come on -- wait a minute, multiple shows every day. MSNBC does the same thing. The other major networks. If -- if you guys are tired of having me on TV, then stop asking me to come on TV.
CAMEROTA: I -- all we're looking for is what the evidence is, because you promised some.
AVENATTI: And -- and -- and we have released evidence. And, you know what, there were a lot of people four or five weeks ago that thought that this was a nonsense case, it was a publicity stunt, et cetera. Well, guess what, everything that we have said was going to happen has basically happened. Our track record is phenomenal over the last five weeks. Not good, not great, phenomenal. So I think we're doing what is required of us. I think that we've been diligent about it. I think that we're doing it for the right reasons. And I think the American people are starting to see the fruits of that labor.
CAMEROTA: How does this, what's happened in the past 48 hours, change your case? Anything. The timeframe. The outcome. What is -- why are you so excited about what happened over the past 48 hours?
[07:00:05] AVENATTI: Well, I don't know what we're excited about what happened. CAMEROTA: You know what I mean. Why are you so bullish on what's happened over the past 48 hours about your case?
