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New Day Saturday

"Justice for All" March; Spending Battle: Senate Reconvenes at Noon; CIA Misled Public on Torture; Monster Storm Pummels West Coast

Aired December 13, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: There are rallies planned this weekend in cities across the United States. Protesters upset over recent cases of police killings and now thousands are preparing to march in D.C. demanding change.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And after debating for hours, the Senate delays a vote on a trillion-dollar government spending bill. That doesn't mean they will not be working this weekend. Senators, believe it or not, back in session in just a few hours.

BLACKWELL: And a tornado rips off the roof -- look, of this building, and others. Trees torn down, windows broken. This is in Los Angeles. All part of a massive storm system that brought a ton of rain to California. We've got all this covered on NEW DAY.

PAUL: A lot of bleeping going on there.

BLACKWELL: Yes, as one would expect.

PAUL: Yes, because it is Saturday morning. And we want to wake you up on a good note. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 8:00 here on the east coast.

PAUL: Yes. So let's start in the nation's capital where protesters are gearing up for the "Justice For All" march. This is a call to attention to recent police killings following the high-profile deaths of Eric Garner in New York, 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.

BLACKWELL: Protesters will begin their march near the White House and make their way down to the U.S. capitol. Organizers are calling for Congress to take action.

PAUL: Demonstrations we know also expected to take place across the country. So CNN political contributor, Van Jones, and CNN's Sanlen Serfaty are live in D.C. We want to start with you, Sanlen, where those protests are set to kick off. What is it like there right now?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christie, organizers here are hoping for two things, symbolism and size. As you can see behind me, things are just started to be set up right now. We haven't seen many protesters here on the ground in Freedom Plaza, but the symbolism of where this location is, is important.

We are starting here in Freedom Plaza and then protesters march down this iconic Washington, D.C. Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, that links the White House with Capitol Hill. But protesters really coming out today, we've seen a few already here on the ground.

And this is symbolic because it brings together four families that have never been together before. The families of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice, of course, those families who sadly share a lot of the same loss in their family.

And Trayvon Martin's mother, Sabrina Fulton, spoke with Anderson Cooper in advance of this march and here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER: I don't really believe that people are just going to change overnight. And it's a more deep- rooted hatred that people have for African-Americans. And if you're not an African-American, a lot of people don't understand. They don't quite get it. They just think that we are complaining about something that doesn't really exist. And we're living this every day. This is our life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And the family of Trayvon Martin, along with the other three families, will join together, start here and then march all the way to the capitol -- Christie.

PAUL: Sunlen, other than the mind shift collectively that they are hoping. We do hear that the protesters want lawmakers to actually act. Have they given any specifics what they want Congress to do?

SERFATY: Well, that's right. And that was a clear message, why they chose this national march to be here in Washington, D.C. today and to end on this really nearby the steps of the capitol. The organizers have said they want action, not just talk from Capitol Hill.

They want hearings held on police brutality, but specifically calling today for legislation that would let federal prosecutors take over cases when it involves local police.

They say there is a conflict of interest that arises when local prosecutors get involved and try to investigate the local police they deal with on an everyday basis. So Christie and Victor, that is a specific legislative ask for today. Back to you.

PAUL: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk more about the demonstrations and the requests made to Congress now with CNN political commentator, Van Jones. He's also on the ground there in Washington.

Van, what do you think? Is this a job for Washington, should this be handed over, these individual cases, to the Department of Justice?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think so, at this point. You know, first of all, it is very, very difficult for the police to police themselves. And that's true in any profession. We have meat inspectors. We have building inspectors not because we hate all the butchers or hate all the construction workers.

It's just you've got to have somebody giving you oversight, giving you checks and balances, and it's clear now that there is something out of whack, and what's happen is you have a generation now of young people who have these video cameras, these cell phones.

And there's much, much more information available to the general public in these cases, and I think that it would be very, very wise for the federal government to say, you know, let's give a little bit more oversight here, a little more confidence to the public that these cases are going to be handled in a fair and balanced way.

BLACKWELL: Let's listen to something that we heard from former President Bill Clinton, and then we'll talk about it in just a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: There's not any question that in Ferguson, whatever the findings of the grand jury, if the law enforcement officer had not gone after the man and felt compelled to shoot him, he would be alive.

And in New York, police policy was against putting someone in a choke hold. And that man had six children, and was heavy and obviously not healthy, and doing something that didn't amount to much.

He was -- something for which perhaps he should be fined, he was selling cigarettes which were untaxed on the street. So what that means is that America has got a lot of work to do to establish a different sort of community relations, a different set of rules for how these laws are going to be enforced.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: There's one element there he talks about, community relations and also in that interview, he talked about people feeling as if they are expendable or not valued, their lives don't matter. That seems more like a heart and mind issue, more than something that can be elected from Washington. Am I wrong?

JONES: Well, first of all, that was a very powerful statement from a former president, and I think it was very well-received. And people have been asking the question, where is Hillary Clinton on this. Also could have been playing a little bit for the 2016 election. Not to be cynical. But that was a very, very welcome piece.

And it really is both. It's both hearts and minds and people trying to understand each other. If you look at social media, you have a big divide, African-Americans saying it's a major problem. A lot of whites going, this is being overplayed. That's important. Another thing, though, let's not forget, on the Republican side, you have Scott Walker who is a Republican governor, he's already signed legislation saying that in cases of police shootings, there should be an outside agency that comes in.

So on both sides of the aisle you're starting to see the political leadership of the country starting to address this problem. I think this march could mark a watershed in this issue today.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And we just had Martin Luther King III on, talking about the comparisons to 1963. We'll continue to have this conversation throughout the morning. CNN political analyst, Van Jones, thank you, Van.

JONES: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: We'll check back to get continuing coverage of what's happening in Washington and around the country.

PAUL: And listen, we do have to tell you about the latest regarding a surprise late-night decision that has the Senate set to meet today.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: That's a rare Saturday session.

BLACKWELL: And a lot of people are thankful they made it out of this -- yes, probably be saying the same thing. The guy in this video is pretty shaken up. A rare tornado slams into the heart of Los Angeles.

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PAUL: It's 12 minutes past the hour right now. Let's say it's a Saturday surprise on Capitol Hill. In less than four hours, senators are going to be back at work today, trying to pass a massive spending package to avoid another government shutdown, of course.

BLACKWELL: They were expected to adjourn for the weekend and resume debate Monday. But in a late-night twist, some junior Republican senators defied an agreement reached by the Senate's top leaders.

PAUL: CNN's Erin McPike is at the White House. So help us understand, Erin, exaclty what happened last night.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christie, Senate majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had reached this agreement they were going to ask for anonymous consent to adjourn until Monday when they would then hold that vote on final passage of this spending bill.

But when Reid asked for unanimous consent, it is then that junior senator, Utah Senator Mike Lee, a Republican, said that he wanted to be guaranteed that he could get a vote on his amendment that would strip funding from President Obama's executive order on immigration

Well, at that point, Reid said he couldn't do that and so Lee objected, so there is no unanimous consent. And instead the Senate will be in session at noon today, holding a series of votes on all sorts of things, nominations and others.

It's a procedural headache. But it is expected that on Monday there will finally be that vote on final passage for this $1.1 trillion spending bill -- Christie and Victor.

PAUL: And certainly President Obama has had something to say about this.

MCPIKE: Well, Christie, that's right. And he has said that he doesn't particularly like this bill, but he is expected to ultimately sign it. He is acknowledging the new political reality that he will face that he has to bend to the demands of some Republicans. Listen here to him talking about that yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This by definition was a compromised bill. This is what's produced when we have the divided government that the American people voted for. There are a bunch of provisions in this bill that I really do not like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: And what President Obama and other Democrats do not like is that it rolls back some regulations on Wall Street reform, and also raises the limits that donors can give to political parties.

But President Obama has also said that it funds the Department of Defense and other agencies in the fight against ISIS, which is critical right now, as well as Ebola, Christie and Victor.

PAUL: All righty. Erin McPike, we appreciate it this morning, thank you, Ma'am.

BLACKWELL: There is a lot going on across the country. Let's get to your "Morning Read." A funeral will be held later for Jessica Chambers today. She is the 19-year-old girl in Mississippi who was set on fire. She was burned to death. Hundreds of friends and family gathered last night to remember her vigil.

If you look closely there, you can see they wrote little messages on her casket there. Police are investigating the strong possibility that someone was with chambers just moments before flames engulfed her car.

And CNN affiliate WMC spoke with the man police questioned about Chambers' death, and he says investigators told him Chambers' last word was the name Erik or Derek.

PAUL: Meanwhile, a landslide has killed at least 17 people in Indonesia and that toll could go much higher, obviously. Disaster officials say 91 people are still missing. Heavy rains forced rescue crews to suspend efforts to find people trapped in the debris. BLACKWELL: Systems are back up and running this morning at London's Heathrow Airport, but travelers are told to watch for cancellations or delays as the flights get rescheduled now. Heathrow officials say the air traffic control system was knocked offline yesterday by a system error, not by hackers.

PAUL: OK, here is your morning smile. An early Christmas for families in Massachusetts, two customers at two separate Toys "R" Us stores paid off thousands of dollars in customer lay-away accounts. These so-called lay-away angels paid off the bills for 275 people at a cost of nearly $40,000. Toys "R" us says this is the largest lay-away donation of this holiday season. Merry Christmas to them.

BLACKWELL: Yes, a great start to this last-minute rush.

In sports later today, we'll learn who will take home the coveted Heisman Trophy. They are Amari Cooper, Melvin Gordon, Marcus Mariota, the favorite to win. Those are the candidates up for the award.

PAUL: Good luck to all of them.

I don't know if you have seen this video yet, but, my goodness, take a look at a tornado in the heart of Los Angeles.

(VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: We bleeped him there because he's probably having a moment.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: But he got it all on tape. We've got it for you, the whole thing, no holds barred. Stay with us.

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BLACKWELL: That monster storm that's been pounding the west coast is easing up a little bit this morning.

PAUL: Good news to all of those folks out there. It did something Los Angeles has not seen in nearly a decade.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes, bleep is right. You're looking at a tornado whipping across south L.A. roofs, windows, debris, trees, everything ripped up and flying through the air. The guy taking the video says obviously this was scary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE MENA, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Saw my rooftop fly off, in front of the house. I saw the trees swaying. I saw a lot. It was crazy. It was crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're still shook up.

MENA: I am. Yes, I am. I am shook up right now. I am shaken up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now look at that. Who wouldn't be? The tornado's winds reportedly were about 65 to 85 miles per hour. We know that there was a daycare center damaged. Thankfully, no reports of injuries, that is the most important thing there.

But let's bring in Kelly Huston. He is the deputy director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. Thank you so much for being with us, Mr. Huston joining us on the phone now from Sacramento. Can you give us the latest on the weather situation there in California this hour?

KELLY HUSTON, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES (via telephone): Most of the weather system has passed through California now. What we're seeing is the cleanup part of the process for us. It was not quite as bad as we expected.

But it was a bad storm for us. It brought us a lot of water and some high winds and we had about 300,000 people without power at one point. So it was a pretty significant storm, but luckily, we didn't suffer as many of the impacts as we thought we might have.

PAUL: So is power restored to most folks this morning?

HUSTON: Yes, there are still some sporadic power outages, but it's a fraction of what it was. And the utility companies had -- here in California had already planned to put people out into the field to be able it to respond to them. So PG&E, Southern California, Edison, some others are still doing some small outages and localized outages. But widespread outages are pretty much gone.

PAUL: You know, a lot of the pictures we're seeing here, you know, of rock slides and buildings down on cars make you wonder how mobile things are there. Are roads passable for the most part?

HUSTON: Yes, we had some localized flooding, which caused the closure of a few roads. The Pacific Coast Highway near San Francisco had a rock slide. That was closed. And then the mountain passes got some snow, which closed them down temporarily.

But as far as major road closures, those have been reopened at this point. And we're looking pretty good. We're hoping for some sunshine today here in California. And that will be the cleanup process going on in several parts of the state.

PAUL: Fortunately, as we said, we hear no reports of injuries. But we did hear that some people were trapped in their homes and some had to be evacuated. Do we know -- is everybody safe? Has everybody been found? Nobody is missing?

HUSTON: Yes, we don't have any reports of fatalities at this point. And the rescues that occurred were few and far between. We did have some in Southern California, a few up here in Northern California. One was in the Los Angeles River. We had a few folks that had to be rescued out of a mobile home park. But by and large, nobody missing, and the system worked as it should have and providing the mutual aid. We had rescue teams out in the field and ready to go and there were only a few incidents, luckily.

PAUL: All righty. Deputy Director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Kelly Huston, we appreciate your time, sir. Thank you.

HUSTON: You're welcome.

BLACKWELL: People are angry. They are frustrated and demanding justice. Protesters are expected to fill the streets in the nation's capital today, to bring attention to the recent police killings. They want lawmakers in Washington to get involved. But will they? We're going to take you live to Washington.

But first, food trucks, they are trendy, but the garbage they leave behind is not. In this week's start small, think big, a woman in Portland, Oregon, has come up with a sustainable solution to keep the good food and eliminate the trash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have always been a food cart customer, and have loved the food carts. But I hated using those disposable containers, every month, the food carts and their customers are using and throwing away over 60,000 disposable containers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I get the chicken?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Portlanders are very green-minded so I knew I wasn't the only one who wanted some other choice. Go Box is a service, providing reusable takeout containers to food carts and other food vendors and their customers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a Go Box?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, two.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way it works, someone comes sign up for Go Box. It costs $18 a year for an unlimited subscription. They get their meal in a reusable container and when they're done, they return it to a nearby drop site in exchange for a token, which they keep in their wallet until they're ready for their next meal.

They hand that to the vendor and get another meal in a go box and repeat that as many times as they want. Go box picks up the used containers after they're returned. We have them washed in a commercial kitchen, and then we return them clean to the vendors, and we do that all by bicycle. The bicycle is really important, because it's much better for the environment and it's also much better economically.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The environmental part is important to me, definitely. I feel that kind of makes up for the cost and the sort of slight inconvenience of not throwing something away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're expanding to other cities, and it doesn't have to be food carts. It can work in any kind of city center with a lot of takeout restaurants.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It is 8:30 on the dot right now, and we're so glad to have your company. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you this morning.

PAUL: Hands up, don't shoot. That is the rallying cry expected to echo in the streets of the nation's capital today as protesters rally to call attention to the recent police killings of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice.

BLACKWELL: Protesters will begin their march there at Freedom Plaza right near the White House and then make their way down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol. This is just one of many rallies. You can see the dots here -- they're across the country today.

PAUL: And earlier today, we talked to Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest son and asked him what his father would think of all of the recent unrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN LUTHER KING III, SON OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: He would also have to raise the issue not just of police -- brutality and misconduct, but brutality and misconduct within our own communities. I think he would raise that issue, because he always talked about loving each other, sharing, caring, lifting each other up. And all of that, I think, must be discussed while the nation's attention is galvanized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Martin Luther King III also said that consistent law enforcement training, along with community policing, is what he believes will bring change. And, of course, we will continue to cover what's happening across the country, and we'll take you live to Washington as soon as that rally begins there at Freedom Plaza across from the White House.

Now, back to one of our top stories this morning: the drama and late- night surprises on Capitol Hill. You're looking live here at Washington. It is a cold morning there. But things are going to heat up in about three-and-a-half hours. Senators will meet again to try to hash out this massive spending package to avoid another government shutdown.

PAUL: Last night, they were supposed to adjourn for the weekend, and resume the debate Monday. But there was a twist. Some junior Republican senators defied an agreement reached by the Senate top leaders, forcing lawmakers from both parties to get back to work today.

BLACKWELL: And joining me now for more, Lisa Boothe, a Republican strategist and senior director at the Blackrock Group and Maria Cardona, a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist.

I want to start with you, Maria because typically, the storyline when we get to the end of the year and there is a possible government shutdown, it's the Republicans. Why Boehner can't corral the Tea Party or some of the more conservative members of the Republican Party.

Now you're seeing people like Elizabeth Warren stand up and call out the President. Let's listen to what she said on the floor last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Washington already works really well for the billionaires and the big corporations and the lawyers and the lobbyists. But what about the families who lost their homes or their jobs or their retirement savings the last time city bet big on derivatives and lost? What about the families who are living paycheck to paycheck, and saw their tax dollars go to bail out Citi just six years ago? We were sent here to fight for those families. And it is time -- it is past time for Washington to start working for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The President says he doesn't like the spending bill, but he's going to sign it. Does he have a problem with the progressive wing of his party?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, not at all. In fact, every Democrat that you talk to, I think, will agree with Senator Warren. She's absolutely right. And I think the point that you started with is still the right one, Victor. You see in the senate right now, the problem is not Democratic senators. The problem is Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Mike Lee, who are now holding up the spending bill in the Senate, and if the government shuts down, it will be on them.

In the House, yes, you had some objections and I think very real objections from Democrats who thought that this was too much of a give-away to Republicans. But at the end of the day, John Boehner is going to have to thank Nancy Pelosi, because a lot of Democrats did vote for this bill, I think, saving him from having the embarrassment of not having this pass.

And also at the end of the day, Democrats can really focus on three huge priorities that they were able to maintain intact -- the Affordable Care Act, the action on immigration, the executive action that the President announced just a couple of weeks ago, and money to fight ISIS. Those are three huge priorities for the Democrats that frankly Republicans have wanted to scuttle from day one.

BLACKWELL: `, what do you think? I want to put the same question to you. It's kind of a give-away, but do you believe the President has a problem with the progressive part of his party?

LISA BOOTHE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I do think he has a problem, because you have Nancy Pelosi, who is whipping against the vote. Meanwhile, you have Steny Hoyer that's encouraging folks to vote for it and the White House also encouraging folks to vote for it.

But here is the important thing, Victor. We have to remember why we're here right now, why we have to pass this spending package, and it's because Democrats failed to pass their appropriations bills. Republicans in the House passed numerous appropriations bills in Congress. They debated those appropriations bills for almost 90 hours in a transparent process and they also considered 412 amendments.

Democrats passed zero. So we're governing crisis to crisis because Democrats failed to do their jobs and next Congress, Republicans have the opportunity to set the nation's fiscal priorities through a budget and returning the process to a regular order through a budget and appropriations bills.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about Ted Cruz, who says that he wanted to hold up the passage of the bill to get the senate to vote on the -- an amendment to block the President's action on immigration. Is that going to be his consistent pattern moving forward that he is going to stop every piece of legislation, every nomination until there's a vote on trying to overturn an executive action?

BOOTHE: Well, look, I disagreed with the government shutdown last year. And I absolutely think that, you know, we need to move forward and pass this bill as a Congress, and look towards next Congress to set the fiscal priorities of the country.

But if -- if you're speaking specifically to immigration, Republicans are actually best served by passing this legislation, getting it passed in the Senate, because what this bill does is it takes the rest of the government spending to September, and takes the DHS, the Department of Homeland Security spending until February, and then when Republicans assume control next Congress, they have an opportunity to reexamine the immigration content of this legislation and to have that debate in congress.

BLACKWELL: You know, Maria, the president introduced Elizabeth Warren to the country when he invited her into -- I remember the Rose Garden ceremony. And now she's turning and pointing out the members of the administration, who are from Citigroup or have some Citigroup history. Are the banks too close to this president, to this administration? It would not be unique to the Obama administration, but is there a bit of maybe the word hypocrisy is too strong. Maybe it's the right word here.

CARDONA: No. Absolutely not. Look, Elizabeth Warren, I think, is giving voice to a lot of folks within the Democratic Party who believe that the great recession was the fault of the big banks, including President Obama. That's one of the reasons why he won election in 2008. It's another big reason why he won re-election in 2012, is because he rallied against the big banks over and over again, because they were not working for the benefit of middle class families. So Elizabeth Warren's voice is a very important one in the Democratic Party. It's one that the President absolutely likes to have out there, because it focuses and underscores what this party stands for in terms of fighting for the middle class.

But I want to clarify something that Lisa said. Pelosi -- Leader Pelosi never whipped against this bill. She made her voice known, and she made her objections known. And I think, again, that is a voice, very important voice in the Democratic Party. But at the end of the day, and she said this, she never tried to sink the bill. She wanted to make sure that the Democratic priorities were taken care of.

And at the end of the day, even though Democrats, including this President, object to the rollbacks in the Dodd/Frank bill, one piece that was in there is increasing protections for middle class families on the Consumer Protection Board, and you can thank senator warren for making sure that that happens.

BLACKWELL: All right. Maria Cardona, Lisa Booth, we have to leave it there. Appreciate both of you this morning.

BOOTHE: Thank you Victor.

CARDONA: Thanks, Victor.

PAUL: All right. This is cool. Take a look at what a drone captured.

I wonder if Chevy Chase lives there. We'll tell you where it is, and what else we got to see. Stay close.

First though, ALS ice bucket challenges were big this summer. But one young man's video stood out as it helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against a disease that he can't escape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anthony Carbajal got silly to draw attention to ALS. Then he got serious.

ANTHONY CARBAJAL, HAS ALS: ALS runs in my family. My grandmother had it. My mother was diagnosed when I was in high school. And I was diagnosed at 26 years old. ALS is so, so scary, you have no idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The average person survives only two to five years after being diagnosed.

CARBAJAL: An ALS diagnosis is really a death sentence. All my muscles in my entire body will eventually atrophy away, until I can't use them anymore. The later stage of the disease, a person is trapped in their body so you can still feel and hear and think clearly and see, but you can't speak or move or even breathe on your own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carbajal hopes his progression will be as slow as his moms. Amazingly, she lived with ALS for 13 years, but the disease has already taken away his wedding photography career. CARBAJAL: Right now my hands are starting atrophy away. They're

getting weak. I'm having trouble starting my car, buttoning my shirt.

ALS does not discriminate. It's typically understood as an old disease but I'm trying to change that perspective.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After Carbajal shared his ice bucket video, the charity he supports, ALS Therapy Development Institute received about $4 million in donations. Now more patients like Carbajal can take part in a study to identify potential treatments.

CARBAJAL: Talking about this disease is so, so hard but so necessary, because it's empowering other people to share their stories, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Mock executions, sleep deprivation, slapping, punching, freezing showers. This was all part of the report that we read from the CIA's techniques to interrogate terror detainees during the tenure of George W. Bush. But according to the senate report, those tough tactics did not actually help elicit critical information about terror attacks.

PAUL: We want to bring in retired army Brig. Gen. David Irvine. General -- thank you so much for being with us. Do you think, first of all, that releasing this report will spark new terror attacks?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID IRVINE (US ARMY-RET.): I think that the report is of more benefit to the American people than anyone else. I don't think it will have the effect of stopping terror attacks at all. I think that's something that we're going to have to deal with for a long time to come.

PAUL: Now, I wanted to ask you, you admit you have some knowledge and some bias about interrogation techniques, because you were commissioned as an army strategic intel officer. You taught prisoner of war interrogation, military law for 18 years. Were the torture tactics that you heard about at Guantanamo, were those tactics that were discussed in your teachings?

IRVINE: The tactics that were employed by the CIA that are the subject of the senate report have never in the history of the United States army been part of army doctrine or policy. That was unheard of in the time that I was part of the army, and in the time that I taught interrogation to soldiers, marines and airmen.

PAUL: I do want to get to another new report this morning from the British newspaper, "The Guardian "on the origin of ISIS specifically. It says that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi started a terror group more than a decade ago at Camp Bukaa, an American prison camp in IRAQ. The ISIS Jihadi in a report blames the U.S. for the rise of is ISIS. Saying if there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no ISIS now. Buca was a factory, it made us all, it built our ideology. What do you say to that? IRVINE: Well, when General Petraeus was operating in Iraq, he would

ask his troops, his officers every day, how many more terrorists have we created by what we are doing or what we plan to do? It's a convenient narrative, I suppose, for ISIS to make those claims or for someone to blame that on the United States.

However, it's clear that we dealt with people in a way that didn't make us any friends. We probably taught them a number of things that they might not have considered, didn't know. And we're paying a price for that kind of approach. It wasn't smart. It didn't produce useful intelligence. But it did make us a lot of enemies.

PAUL: All right. Retired army Brig. Gen. David Irvine, we appreciate your service and we appreciate your time today. Thank you.

IRVINE: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Now, on a much, much lighter note, she gets called names by the Sony executive and then she has to sit out the premier of her new movie. Angelina Jolie has had a pretty bad week. We'll tell you why she's missing the premier of something that she directed.

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BLACKWELL: All right. Here are some of the top stories we're working on. Police in Portland, Oregon have arrested a 22-year-old man in connection to a shooting yesterday near a high school. Four people were shot -- one of them, a 16-year-old girl. She is still in critical condition. Now a gang task force is investigating here.

PAUL: And we've learned a man suspected of killing three people in the Atlanta area is under arrest now. Police say Aeman Pressley, whom you see there, shot and killed two homeless men around Thanksgiving holiday and then killed another woman last Saturday night. Officials aren't giving a lot of details in the deaths but they do say the murders of the homeless men were committed using the same distinctive bullets.

BLACKWELL: It is a tough day at the Jolie-Pitt house -- Angelina just taking a sick day. She is sitting out the premier of the movie "Unbroken", which she directed. In a video message to all of the people who are waiting to hear, the Oscar winner said she's heartbroken that she'll be missing this -- she'll be at home, itching, instead of promoting her new film.

It's been a rough week for her. Earlier, hacked e-mails revealed a Sony executive called her names, including "minimally talented" and "spoiled brat".

PAUL: And that was an unfortunate moment with that picture where she got to look at that person face-to-face.

BLACKWELL: I wish I could have listened. Ok, look at this -- Drones and Christmas lights equal awesome sauce.

BLACKWELL: I love that nobody else in the neighborhood tries. There's no other light in the neighborhood.

PAUL: I think Chevy Chase lives there. Look at this footage. It's from Richmond, Virginia. Darryl Watkins captured a bird's eye view of -- this is just one home, obviously. But here are some of the fun facts. The family reportedly spent more than 500 hours setting up the 200,000 or so lights that you see there, plus about 800 home-made decorations. Look at that. That -- I don't think there's any electricity for anybody else anyway.

BLACKWELL: You know the people I feel bad for --

PAUL: I love it.

BLACKWELL: The neighbors who have to see it, and the mail man who has to claim climb over it every day to get to the front porch.

But it's pretty.

PAUL: It is pretty.

BLACKWELL: You know, it's been a long, hard week we just mentioned for Sony Pictures after the computer hackers released all sorts of the movie company's secrets.

PAUL: We're going to have the latest details on the fallout and what's next for the studio giant. Stay close.

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BLACKWELL: The FBI is investigating the massive hack at Sony Pictures. Secret after secret -- you've heard some of them -- released on the web this week.

PAUL: Yes, Hackers released private e-mail exchanges to employees' social security numbers. Justice correspondent Pamela Brown, has been following the fallout now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want us to kill the leader of North Korea?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: With Sony's movie about assassinating North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un just days from opening --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Kim Jong-Un --

BROWN: Sony exec Amy Pascal was talking publicly for the first time since the hackers suspected of being North Korean broke open to the studio's computer system and published millions of confidential and embarrassing e-mails some of which bash A-Listers like Angelina Jolie for being, a quote, minimally talented, spoiled brat. Just days after that e-mail surfaced between Pascal and Hollywood producer Scott Rudin, Pascal was seen here at an LA event receiving, with a seemingly frosty reception from Jolie. Pascal told deadline.com -- "I am mostly disappointed in myself." That is the element of this that has been most painful for me. I don't want to be defined by these e-mails after a 30-year career.

In one e-mail to Rudin, Pascal a big fund raiser for President Obama insinuates Obama only likes films with African American actors like Django Unchained."

Pascal told deadline.com, "I'm embarrassed, deeply." Today the White House confirmed Pascal and Rudin have apologized.

EARNEST: I think that a lot of people who read those e-mails, maybe not everybody, but I think a lot of people, cringed a little bit when they were reading them.

BROWN: But much more damaging than the juicy tinseltown e-mails, the hackers have also published the medical records of Sony employees and their spouses, even their children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 20 years ago, I was the world's most wanted hacker, I was an FBI active for a number of number of years.

PAUL: Kevin Mitnick is still hacking, but now he's going it to help companies test their security.

It's like Pablo Escobar becoming a pharmacist -- or

PAUL: Nick says this was no snatch and grab job by the Sony hackers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN MITNICK, MITNICK SECURITY.COM": They spent a lot of time doing what they call information reconnaissance to attack Sony. So it's really not that difficult for hackers to break in, but what's interesting about Sony is the amount of information they were able to steal right from under their nose.

BROWN: Pamela Brown, CNN, New York.

BLACKWELL: All right. Justice correspondent Pamela Brown -- thank you so much.

There's a message for us. We will see you back here at 10:00 eastern in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PAUL: Looking forward to that. But don't go anywhere. "SMERCONISH" starts for you right now.