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CNN Saturday Morning News
Twitter Targeted in WikiLeaks Probe; Scott Sisters Released; Louisiana Coast Still Dealing With Pollution From BP Spill; The WikiLeaks Investigation; From Homeless to Hot Commodity; 'Jersey Shore' Starts Season Three
Aired January 08, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
The WikiLeaks probe widens, and this time Twitter is caught up in the government's dragnet. The court order focuses on Julian Assange. But will it have an impact on the way we all use social media? CNN's Jeffrey Toobin breaks it all down for us.
Two sisters who served prison time together and both (ph) are free this morning for the first time in 16 years. Overnight, an emotional reunion with their family. It is a CNN exclusive.
And the man with the golden voice will put it to use for a paycheck from homeless to employed. But where will he work? It's early and we are on it.
From CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is January 8th. Good morning to you. I'm Randi Kaye, in this morning for T.J. Holmes.
The popular social networking site, Twitter, is now drawn into the federal investigation into WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.
CNN's Kate Bolduan joins me live from Washington this morning with much more.
Kate, what have you got?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Randi. This is very interesting stuff.
A federal judge has ordered the social media site Twitter to hand over information about some of the people that are linked to WikiLeaks including Julian Assange. We all know is the WikiLeaks founder as well as U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning who is under arrest and suspected of leaking information to WikiLeaks. Also included here is Brigitta Jonsdittir, she is a supporter of WikiLeaks and a member of the Icelandic Parliament.
This is among other people that are involved in this and CNN had obtained the court documents from Jonsdittir but not yet independently confirmed their authenticity with the Justice Department, we should say. But in this order, the court order asked for the following information and more. Subscriber names, user names, screen names, mailing addresses, business addresses, e-mail addresses and bank account information and even more.
And it really appears that the court order was issued back on December 14th and we are learning about it now because the documents were unsealed earlier this week. It's unclear though what information, if any, Twitter has already turned over to the federal government.
But according to Jonsdittir's Twitter messages, she is quote, as she says in one of her messages "10 days to stop it via legal process before Twitter hands it all over," Randi. And she also, speaking to CNN, called this whole process unacceptable. And says this shows how nervous the U.S. government is.
KAYE: We have been following this case though for some time. I mean, it seems like every day there's something new on the WikiLeaks case -
BOLDUAN: Right.
KAYE: But why would you say this is so significant?
BOLDUAN: It is, of course, it begs the question, it's not like we see any real new information coming out. But if this is verified by the Department of Justice, this is offering us the first real look into the government's investigation, into the WikiLeaks site and the release of government information.
Most recently, of course, the disclosure of diplomatic cables as well as diplomatic documents. Attorney General Eric Holder has been very careful, of course, as you can expect to not discuss the specifics of their ongoing. They call it a criminal investigation to this point. But here is a little bit of how he described the U.S. government efforts and this was back in November.
Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Let me be very clear. This is not cage (ph) rattling. This is, as I said, active on-going investigation to the extent that we can find anybody who was involved in the breaking of American law and who has put at risk the assets and the people that I have described. They will be held responsible. They will be held accountable to the extent there are gaps in our laws. We will move to close those gaps, which is not to say - which is not to say that anybody at this point, because of their citizenship or their residence is not a target or a subject of the investigation that is ongoing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So Twitter for its part gave a brief statement to CNN saying that they are not going to comment on the specific requests but to help protect their users protect the rights, they do have a policy to notify users about law enforcement and governmental requests. This obviously falls in line with that, Randi. And it seems that we have quite a long way to go with this. And this is just the beginning of what we are really starting to see of the investigation.
KAYE: It seems that way. Kate Bolduan for us. Live in Washington this morning. Thank you, Kate.
And coming up in just minutes, we'll talk with CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin about the legal ramifications of this order on the future of social networking and privacy. You don't want to miss that.
Five minutes past the hour. Lots of folks wondering about if they are going to be able to get from point a to point b? What is going on with their flights. The man with the all the answers, Reynolds Wolf.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A few of the answers.
KAYE: Some of the answers.
WOLF: Or a few ideas.
KAYE: Oh, come on. I tried to build you up there.
WOLF: Oh, you did a good job. And I do appreciate it.
Folks, we've got an interesting situation right now. You could see a lot of delays in New York. All due to an area of low pressure and it's very easy to see. If you look very carefully at this radar image, you can see we got some snow showers near Chicago or at least on the western side of Michigan heading south. Some of these across the Tennessee Valley going east. Some of these heading north over towards Richmond and Washington. It's a pretty good sign of rotation. That's your area of low pressure.
With that, we got the scattered snow showers in parts of the entire city of New York. Before the day is out, you might see anywhere from two to five inches of snowfall in downtown New York. However, for upstate New York, you may see a bit more, some places approaching a foot of snowfall.
Another big issue we are going to be dealing with in parts of the southeast, you're going to be seeing very different. We have a lot of wind coming in, very breezy conditions in Atlanta and Birmingham, Alabama. A lot of cold air that's going to be in place. And then it's going to be this area of low pressure, extreme South Texas that is going to be pulling its way to the northeast. As we fast forward from today and into tomorrow's forecast, that has the potential to create quite a bit rain along the coast. But also in portions of the Tennessee Valley, maybe some ice.
Back in Alabama, some ice. Perhaps even in Atlanta, Georgia, you can see up to half an inch of ice, coupled with that snow, some widespread power outages and many delays can be expected. So frustrating times ahead. It looks like these are some of the places that could be most affected as I mentioned will be basically a stretch that will go from Louisiana into Arkansas back into Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia into the Carolinas and perhaps as far north as a bit of the Appalachians. So West Virginia and Huntington, you may get a combination of the ice and snow.
Some places obviously a bit more than the others but if you have a choice between the snow or the ice, you're going to take the snow every time. The ice can be crippling. If we have those widespread power outages in rural areas, Randi, there's every possibility it could take a week or perhaps even longer to restore power for a lot of people. So frustrating times ahead.
KAYE: All right. Thank you, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
KAYE: We'll check back with you.
Here are some of the other top stories we are keeping an eye on right now. New York Police looking for this man as a possible suspect in the killing of a Portuguese tourist in a Manhattan hotel. He is also believed to be a Portuguese tourist. Police say a 65-year-old man was beaten to death at the Intercontinental Hotel. We'll bring you more details on this developing story as we get them, of course.
It was a tearful reunion overnight in Florida for a pair of sisters who walked out of a Mississippi prison Friday. CNN was the only network there for the reunion. The Scott sisters were released after 16 years on the condition that Gladys Scott donates a kidney to her ailing sister, Jamie. Otherwise, they would have waited until 2014 for their first chance at parole.
They spoke just hours ago to Soledad O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE SCOTT, SPENT 16 YEARS IN PRISON FOR ARMED ROBBERY: At one point, I knew I wouldn't make it to 2014.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: You thought you were going to die?
J. SCOTT: I thought I was really going to die because it seemed like my body was just going down and my spirit was going down with it.
GLADYS SCOTT, SPENT 16 YEARS IN PRISON FOR ARMED ROBBERY: We're going to fight this. I said your grandson needs you. And so she told me, you going to give me your kidney? I said, yes, we both going to have one kidney walking out of prison.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And that's video of them leaving the prison in Mississippi. They drove to Pensacola, Florida for a reunion with their mother and their own children.
Harry Reid is saying the Tea Party movement is already on the way out even though Tea Party members just now taking their seats in the new Congress. The Senate majority leader says their survival is based solely on the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: The Tea Party was born because of the economy. The economy is probably the worst it's ever been except for maybe the Great Depression. The Tea Party will disappear as soon as the economy gets better. And the economy is getting better all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: A boat tour yesterday of the Louisiana coastline highlights one very ugly fact, there are still areas covered in oil from the BP leak in the Gulf of Mexico eight months ago. Officials are expressing concern over claims that the cleanup is just about complete. It led to this exchange between the every outspoken Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser and the Coast Guard commander on the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILLY NUNGESSER, PRESIDENT, PLAQUEMINES PARISH: Well, I put a girl that worked for the parish on the boat because we were called on Sunday to have somebody out there Monday morning. So don't song and dance because if you want to get ugly don't throw (bleep) back at me. You give me the money, let me put the plan together then you can blame me.
But don't tell me I got a voice in the way you put that crappy document that isn't worth the paper it's written on. That is bull (bleep) OK. Because don't piss me off. Because that is (INAUDIBLE). Because you know what I kept off the TV hoping you do what you're supposed to do and you haven't done it. So kiss my (bleep).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: (INAUDIBLE) A Marine Corps vet is standing his ground against his homeowners association over the American flag. Mike Merola went ahead and put up this 20-foot flag pole even though the association denied his request. So now they are suing, citing the height violation and the wind noise from the flag, believe it or not. The association says they aren't against the flag, they just want it on a six-foot pole.
Merola says he will fight the proposed $10 a day fine in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE MEROLA, MARINE CORPS VETERAN: This is for not only those that are serving now, those of us who served before but for the people that paid the ultimate price. That's why I'm flying the flag. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: All right everyone. Now, pay close attention here. This is something you don't see every day. That is an alligator there in the water which isn't all that rare in Venice, Florida. But, of course, this one, as you can see, is orange. Yes, orange.
Now, one local animal expert speculates it's an incomplete albino alligator. So it still has some of the pigments but others say that it's mud or maybe some iron deposits or even orange paint, but somehow made it this way. But no one, of course, really wants to get that close to check. I can't say I blame them.
The future of internet privacy and social networking, it could all be thrown into a frenzy with the federal court's decision on Twitter. Our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, breaking it all down for us, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: As we have been telling you, the social networking site, Twitter, has now been pulled into the government's investigation into WikiLeaks and founder Julian Assange. According to Salon.com and CNET, a federal judge has ordered the site to cooperate. Investigators want names and addresses of users.
So let's bring in CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin who is joining us by phone from New York to discuss all this.
Jeffrey, I had to ask, what do you make of this? Now, the Justice Department ordering Twitter to hand over the names and accounts of those actually pushing this information out there from WikiLeaks. How significant is it?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST (via telephone): Well, it's significant because this is what the Justice Department does when it has a serious criminal investigation. People think that everyone is - everything is known about how WikiLeaks got this materials. That is not true at all. The government has to figure out how this classified information got from the people who had access, perhaps Private Manning. He's certainly the first person charged, but he may not be the only one to the people who put it on the web Julian Assange and company.
But the steps in between are very much unknown, at least, to the public and the Justice Department has every right to go into the electronic records of the people who were involved with those two folks and see what they, you know, how they have been handling the information.
KAYE: Yes, I mean, the Justice Department, Eric Holder, they said that they would prosecute anyone spreading this information. So I guess they are following through on that. Does Twitter have any right here to keep that information or will this go forward?
TOOBIN: Absolutely not. And this is really just basic law enforcement procedure. If, for example, as, you know, prosecutors have done for dozens of years, your phone records. You can go to the phone company and see who you've been calling. Your bank records. You can go to the bank to see where you have been writing checks. This is just the modern equivalent.
You can go to social media, Twitter or Facebook and get an individual's record. Now you can't do it for no reason at all but prosecutors have the right to subpoena that just as they have the right to subpoena financial records or any other kind of personal record.
KAYE: Sure, but anyone who uses social media is probably saying, hey, you know what, it's my right to tweet what I want. How can this happen?
TOOBIN: I think people engaged in social media have even less right to complain than people who have bank records. I think all of us assume that bank records are supposed to be private. And they are except when the government has a reason to get them. Social media is at its core about putting information out in the social world.
If you don't want people to know what you are thinking, don't tweet it. And the idea that a tweet, once it's out there is somehow going to disappear just like people might think an e-mail might disappear. I mean, I don't think there are that many naive people left. I think most people realized that once you start typing into a keyboard and sending something out into cyber space, there is no such thing as that disappearing. In law enforcement, once engaged in a serious investigation, as it is here, is going to be able to track that down.
KAYE: Yes, this could certainly change social media forever. Just very quickly, what do you think the next step in this case might be? What can we expect?
TOOBIN: Well, I think - undoubtedly, a lot is going on behind the scene. Because what investigators do in circumstances like this is they find the e-mail records of say Private Manning, who is already under arrest. He's the soldier who is accused of taking a huge volume of classified information and giving it to WikiLeaks. What law enforcement does is look at his records, who has he e-mailed? Then you look at those people's records and you look at those people's people's records and you follow it up the chain and you see that you can determine how classified information got out.
KAYE: All right. Jeffrey Toobin, we really appreciate your coming on this morning and talking to us about this.
TOOBIN: Good to talk to you, Randi.
KAYE: Thank you.
From homeless to hot commodity all in a matter of days. We'll tell you all about this voice over talents latest comeback appearance when we check out what's trending on the internet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back.
If it is hot online, we are watching it for you. Sandra Endo is in Washington tracking the stories that are trending on the web.
Sandra, what do you have for us?
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi, trending big this week and, of course, this weekend, the "Jersey Shore," a new season is underway. Season three premiered Thursday night on MTV. And there's a new cast member joining the bunch. Snooki, look out.
Well, there's a spoof of the new season and it aired on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like music and I love to dance.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can solve a Rubik's cube in 17.3 seconds. I enjoy GTO -- gardening, tea and literature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENDO: And in the real show, the claws are already out. Now this video is also trending and going viral. This is the way to really get married. Take a look. A flash mob starts singing and dancing at a Boston area mall, then here comes the bride and groom.
(VIDEO CLIP)
ENDO: The couple Jon and Caroline (ph) Kleiman say it was fun and perfect getting married among friends and family and a bunch of shoppers.
All right. Randi, trending this week, you have seen his face and you have heard his voice. The homeless man with a golden voice. Ted Williams - he was discovered on the streets of Ohio panhandling. And overnight he became a huge sensation. He has a zillion job offers to be the voice of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. He's even been on all the networks and TV shows. He's even been offered a house.
Check him out for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED WILLIAMS, THE GOLDEN VOICE: You are watching "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Tonight's guest star, (INAUDIBLE) and musical guest (INAUDIBLE).
Back to you, Jimmy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENDO: Well, I'm sure if you flip to any channel or radio station, you will hear that golden voice. That is what's trending this weekend.
Randi, back to you.
KAYE: Thank you, Sandra.
Coming up, twin weather trouble ahead. New England is in the bulls eye today. It is the south's turn tomorrow. Details next in our top stories.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. Twenty-seven minutes past the hour. Checking top stories for you right now.
An anti-American Shiite cleric has returned to Iraq after three years of self-imposed exile in Iran. Thousands greeted Al-Sadr in the Shiite city of Najaf. Al Sadr called for Iraqis to unite and end the fighting among the different ethnic and religious groups.
Dangerous mail in D.C. a package ignited yesterday at a Washington postal sorting building, startling workers but not injuring anyone. It was addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Police say the package was similar to a pair that ignited Thursday at two Maryland state offices.
Tears and hugs overnight in Pensacola, Florida. Sisters Gladys and Jamie Scott arrived at their mother's home just about six hours ago. They spent that past 16 years behind bars for an armed robbery. They walked away with about 11 bucks. The governor or Mississippi suspended their double life sentences on the condition that Gladys give a kidney to Jamie who is diabetic. Her dialysis has actually been costing the state about $190,000 a year.
Well, the warning is out. Winter storm watches have been issued for much of the southeast. There is the potential for heavy snow and ice. That is expected to have an impact on air travel across the country. So before you pack your bags, check with your airline.
We are back at the top of the hour with more news and these stories. A hero for anyone who has ever been frustrated by spam in their e-mail inbox. One man fought back and became a millionaire in the process. He joins us live with his incredible story.
And Mario Armstrong is back with more must haves from the Consumer Electronic Show including a gadget practically guaranteed to make your family's next road trip a very peaceful one.
Thank you for joining us. We'll see you in 30 minutes.
"YOUR BOTTOM LINE" with Christine Romans starts right now.
