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"The Interview" Movie to Play with Limited Release; Sony Ignores Threats; North Korea Suffers Major Internet Failure; Examining the Case of Another Young Man Shot by a Police Officer

Aired December 23, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 7:00 p.m. in Paris, 9:00 p.m. in Moscow, 3:00 a.m. Wednesday in Pyongyang, North Korea. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with breaking news. A Sony Blockbuster announcement, the announcement being that it will release the controversial film "The Interview" for authorized screenings on Christmas Day. The film is a comedy about the assassination of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. The film triggered the hacking at the film studio, Sony Entertainment, and the dispute between the United States and the North Korean government. The news comes after North Korea has been hit by two, not one but two Internet blackouts, original unknown, at least as of now.

Let's get straight to our Senior Media Correspondent Brian Stelter. Brian, I take it Sony has just issued a statement?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: They have. I'm just reading it right here, Wolf. And I think we can put it on screen for the viewers to read at home. It's from Michael Lynton, the CEO of Sony pictures. He says the movie will come out in limited release on Christmas. It says, we have never given up on releasing "The Interview," and we are excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day.

At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms in more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience. The context of that, Wolf, are two things to point out. One is he's not naming the number of theaters. And that's because Sony doesn't know the number yet. They are still working on it, as we speak, trying to figure out how many theaters can get copies of this movie by Christmas Day so that they can show it in theaters.

And then, number two, I think the more interesting part of the statement is when they say, we're continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters, that means some sort of video on demand system or some sort of online streaming service like a Netflix or a Comcast video on demand system, you know, the way some of our viewers are watching right now. You can sit on the couch these days and buy a movie with your remote control. It's unclear yet if Sony has any deals for that. But, clearly, they want this movie to come out, not just in theaters, but, you know, through some sort of on- demand or streaming service, also.

BLITZER: You know, we know the president of the United States put a lot of pressure, publicly at least, through the bully pulpit on Sony pictures, Sony Entertainment, Brian, to go ahead and release the film. You think that had --

STELTER: Yes.

BLITZER: -- an impact on Sony Entertainment?

STELTER: I don't think they'll admit it but I think it did. I think something happened last Friday, Wolf, between the president's statement and between the growing backlash against the studio for canceling the movie. Because remember, it was last Wednesday that a lot of the big movie theater chains like AMC and Regal and Cinemark all said they weren't going to show the movie. They weren't going to take the risk that was posed by the hackers. You know, these hackers invoked 911 in that very weird, very vague threat this time last week.

So, Wednesday the movie is canceled. Friday, the president speaks out. And also on Friday, we saw George Clooney criticize Sony. We saw a lot of folks start to criticize Sony for not releasing this movie. Then, over the weekend, all weekend, Sony worked on a distribution plan. Frankly, they did not have a lot of success. I mean, they haven't had a lot of people line up and say, we're going to help you get this movie out. But yesterday and today, there were a number of independent movie theaters that said, yes, we do want copies of this movie, and we want to show it on Christmas. So, that's allowed Sony to come out today and say that it will be shown in a number of theaters.

And let me just show one more part of the statement if that's OK. It says, we only hope this only the first step of this film's release. But we are proud to make it available to the public and have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech. That's a pretty dramatic statement from the head of a movie studio to potentially North Korea or to these hackers to say, we are proud to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress this film.

BLITZER: And we know, correct me if I'm wrong, at least some independent theaters in, what, Atlanta and Austin, Texas, they're going to be showing this film on Christmas Day? That's, what, a day after tomorrow.

STELTER: That's right. I'm also seeing Houston and Dallas. And I think as the afternoon goes on, we're going to hear about more and more theaters that are signing up for this. You know, this is a lot of independently owned cinemas that want to support this movie. Right here, you actually see the listings for one of the theaters where you're going to be able to see the movie in Atlanta on Christmas. And I've got to guess that they're going to have a lot of folks wanting to buy tickets.

If you know the Alamo Draft House chain, that's a famous theater in Austin that has since expanded to a number of other locations. You know, film fans across the country know that brand and that is one of the theaters that have said they will show the movie on Thursday.

BLITZER: And I want you to stand by, Brian. I want to bring in Tom Fuentes, our CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and Bob Baer, our National Security Analyst. Tom Fuentes, the concern had been if they show this film, there could be -- there were threats presumably from this group that hacked the Sony pictures, that there would be terrorist threats, if you will. How concerned should people be who are going to see this film on Christmas Day, whether in Austin, whether in Atlanta or anyplace else?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I don't see, frankly, Wolf, how they could carry out threats all over the country. And right now, they'd be hard-pressed just to even find the theaters that are actually going to have it well enough in advance to do something. And these theaters will have security. But I think this quickly went from Sony trying to protect itself after being heavily damaged already. The theater owners trying to protect themselves and their patrons. But it turned into patriotic fervor for how can we let this guy shut us down, censor our media, censor what we want to watch at the movies? And it turned into a patriotic almost demand that that movie be released and people get a chance to go see it.

BLITZER: What is your reaction when you hear this news, Bob? What do you think?

BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I agree with Tom. I don't think there's much of a threat of violence. The North Koreans aren't known to have networks here or followers. And, you know, it's always possible but it's a state that really doesn't project any sort of really a threat inside this country. I think what we may see, at the most, is more leaked e-mails. It would be slightly embarrassing for Sony. But not as embarrassing if they had simply just withdrawn the movie for good.

BLITZER: And right now, these are independent theaters, Brian. We're not talking about any major chains, movie chains out there where they have 500 or 1,000 theaters. They're still reluctant to go ahead and air this film, at least as of this moment, right?

STELTER: That's right. We haven't heard from AMC or Regal. You know, those are the two biggest chains in the country. The two that I end up going to, most often, to see movies. They were very concerned and understandably concerned not just about actual danger for cinema -- for the cinemagoers which is pretty unlikely, but also about the idea that just the possibility of any threat or any attack would dissuade people from going to the movies at all on Christmas.

There's a lot of other big movies coming out on Christmas. And we've got movies like "Unbroken" with Angelina Jolie and "Into the Woods" and a bunch of others. So, the concern is that people wouldn't go to the movies at all on Christmas. Now, all we've seen from CNN's poll today, most people thought that Sony's decision was an overreaction. So, I would -- I think they probably wouldn't have been discouraged from going to the movies.

But it was an understandable concern. And I agree with what Bob said there just now about where we're going with this. You know, it is -- it is hard to imagine that there's an actual threat for moviegoers. But I do think we could see more leaked e-mails, more leaked documents from these hackers. Because these hackers, last week, came out and said to Sony, you did the right thing by canceling it. Now, never release this movie or else we will reveal more of your data.

So, I think Sony has to be on guard as they release this movie in a limited number of theaters against the possibility of more leaks, more e-mails, more sensitive information getting out into the public domain.

BLITZER: I assume, Tom, just out of an abundance of caution, when people go see the film on Christmas Day, whether in Austin, whether in Atlanta or anyplace else, there will be metal detectors. There will be some extra security when you walk into the theater, right?

FUENTES: I don't know. That'll be a good question of what these theaters do, in terms of increasing their security. Obviously, they'll be on the lookout for anybody suspicious that might look like they're bringing something in that could be damaging. But I think that -- I think that that's not possible at every single place on short notice.

BLITZER: What do you think, Bob?

BAER: I agree with Tom. I don't think there's going to be any extraordinary security. And, you know, we also -- let's don't forget -- let's look at this regime. It may be half crazy but it's not a hundred percent crazy. Doing an attack in a movie theater in this country would be an act of war. And I think the leadership there is smarter than that. I hope they are.

BLITZER: You know, --

STELTER: Let me just say one say one more thing with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Brian. Go ahead, Brian.

STELTER: While we've been talking just now, Seth Rogen, the actual star of the movie, finally said something. You know, he hasn't comments all week, ever since Sony canceled this movie. But he just tweeted a minute ago saying, a little bit comedically, the people have spoken, freedom has prevailed, Sony didn't give up. And then, he said, "The Interview" will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Christmas Day. So, now, people like Seth Rogen, can stop avoiding the reporters, avoiding saying anything about this movie. Now, they can celebrate the fact that it will be seen by the public.

BLITZER: Now, my instinct tells me a lot more people will want to see the movie, Brian, now than would've wanted to see the movie before all of this commotion, right?

STELTER: I sure think so. This is a film with a $44 million budget. You've got to sell a lot of tickets in order to recoup that investment. That's why Sony wants this to be able to be online in some form also. Because, yes, some people are going to go to the theaters on Christmas Day. But they're going to make a lot of money potentially if they can find some partners to release this movie via video on demand or online in some form. We'll see if they're able to find a partner for that.

BLITZER: Brian Stelter is the -- our Senior Media Correspondent and also the host of "Reliable Sources" that airs every Sunday morning, 11:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. An excellent program on the news media. Bob Baer, thanks very much to you. Tom Fuentes, always good to have you here at CNN.

Just ahead, who pulled the plug on the North Korean Internet? The U.S. still isn't saying but the timing is certainly curious.

And later, a city and a police department in mourning. What will it take to heal the division between New York City police and city hall?

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BLITZER: Today, North Korea is reeling after a massive outage that knocked the country offline for nine hours yesterday and for a shorter time after a second blackout today. The disruption reportedly took out key Web sites used by the Kim Jong-Un regime, including one run by the Korean Central News Agency. One expert saying, it's as if North Korea got erased from the global map of the Internet, at least for several hours. And it all comes as North Korea and the United States are locked in an escalating war of words over the Sony hack. After that incident, the president of the United States said the U.S. would respond, though President Obama never said how or when.

So, was this payback coincidence or maybe an inside job? Here's CNN's Kyung Lah.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North Korean television broadcast without a hitch leading the news Kim Jong-Un visiting a fish farm. But in cyberspace, the country went dark. State-run Web site KCNA blank or blooming with flowers. Web security expert, Matthew Prince, was watching what is calls the map of the Internet.

MATTHEW PRINCE, CEO AND FOUNDER, CLOUDFLARE (via Skype): The North Korean Internet had effectively been erased from that map.

LAH (on camera): When you say erased, what do you mean by erased?

PRINCE: The tube that connects them with the rest of the world has been cut.

LAH (voice-over): Cut by a hacker, by America? President Obama promised the U.S. would respond to the Sony hack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will respond proportionally and we'll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: Given the rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, DPRK watchers doubt the U.S. would bother or be so transparent. Could North Korea have cut the cord?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: Fearing the movie "The Interview" would manage to sneak in, or preemptive move on a future cyber-attack. Regimes like Egypt and Syria have switched off the Internet before. Or could it simply be coincidence, system failure at a time when the world watches? Cyber experts say that's unlikely. An outage of hours upon hours, even for North Korea, a country known for not having electricity or food for its people, is unusual. As Matthew Prince and I weigh the possible culprits, a surprise on state-run Web site KCNA.

LAH (on camera): Oh, wait, wait, hold on. What?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: KCNA is back up.

LAH: We are actually, I'm hearing that KCNA - KCNA appears to be back up.

(voice over): That, says the editor of a "Hacker" magazine, points to the most likely culprit, the rogue hacker, the on and off of North Korea's Web the hallmarks of a denial of service attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say any 14-year-old kid in this country could probably pull it off and any toddler in Germany. It's not hard.

LAH (on camera): Some hackers online have said they're responsible, but the hacking and security community are extremely suspicious of anyone claiming credit. We'll likely never know who did this. Adding to the long list of things we already don't know about North Korea.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: More on the breaking news coming up.

Also coming up, new evidence that the U.S. economy is shifting into high gear. We are going to tell you what's driving the market into new record territory and why more Americans are feeling optimistic right now.

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BLITZER: In news about your money, the stock market delivers an early Christmas present to investors. Economic growth soared during the third quarter, and Americans are feeling much better about the U.S. economy.

Today, the Dow Jones topped the 18000 mark for the first time ever. And, what, it was about 7000 when President Obama took office six years ago. Right now, it's at 18068. The record high followed the news that the GDP, the gross domestic product, soared 5 percent in the third quarter.

Poppy Harlow is joining us now with details.

Poppy, first of all, how significant is this GDP number? What does it say about the U.S. economy?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.

It is very significant. You can't understate how important this is. This is the broadest measure of how much our economy, the biggest economy in the world, grows. And it's growing at a really nice, healthy clip of 5 percent. This is the best in over a decade, the best since 2003.

It has a lot to do with me and you and how much we're all spending. That pushes GDP higher by the biggest margin. But it's broad-based. Right? You have housing growth. You have got business investment. You have got spending on a number of levels. So this is a really big deal.

Let's pull up the Big Board so folks can look at this market rally that is pretty astonishing. In four of the last live sessions, we have seen triple-digit gains each day for the Dow Jones industrial after the sell-off we saw last week. You have got the Dow up over 1,000 points in the last week.

And it's not just the Dow up 9 percent this year. The S&P 500, the broadest measure that your 401(k) tracks, that is up 13 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 14 percent. You cannot overstate how important this is. This is a real sign that the U.S. economy is recovering and is getting better by the month.

However, it is not without caution. I was just talking to a market analyst who said this is the third longest rally we have had in the U.S. market without seeing a 20 percent correction. And history shows, when we go this fast for this long and this high, we tend to see something bad happen or a big pullback. So don't get too excited, a little bit of Grinch before Christmas, I guess.

BLITZER: A new CNN/ORC poll just released today, Poppy, shows Americans are a lot more optimistic about the U.S. economy.

Take a look at these numbers; 51 percent now say economic conditions in the United States are good. That's up from 38 percent back in October. So Americans are feeling a lot more confident. What's behind this pretty dramatic increase?

HARLOW: So, they're great numbers. And I think it's twofold.

First, it is unquestionably gas prices. You have a national average for gas prices of $2.38 a gallon. That is remarkable. You have got oil still below $60 a barrel. And that translates into a lot more money for the average American to spend. And what are they doing with that? They're not holding onto it. They're spending it. They're pushing it into the economy.

And it couldn't, frankly, happen at a better time, right, the holiday shopping season. So, with gas prices, Americans feeling like they have a little more spending money, that makes us all feel better. Secondly, it's jobs. Like, when you look long term, we have to remember that finally this year, the U.S. economy gained back the 8.7 million jobs that we lost during the great recession.

And that feels good. It's not great, because we're not where we need to be in terms of job growth in line with population growth. But we have regained all of those jobs. Also something important to note, Wolf, starting in January, 20 states in this country will have a higher minimum wage.

And that matters for people in terms of, again, their spending money and how they feel. So, if they're working in a minimum wage job in those states and those cities that have passed these sweeping reforms in the last year, they're going into the new year knowing that they're going to make more money by law.

And also just finally one note, when you look at 2014, this is the best year of job creation since 1999, so a lot to be happy about going into this Christmas.

I will say, though, a word of caution, still got a global economy in question, Europe and the reliance on Russia, the ruble having that dramatic decline in the past few weeks. I think still a lot of question marks there, but the U.S. market certainly shrugging it off.

BLITZER: It's certainly better to grow jobs, 300,000 jobs or so last month, hundreds of thousands of jobs in recent months. That compares to losing 600,000 or 700,000 or 800,000 jobs back in the great recession in 2008 and early 2009.

HARLOW: Yes. We will take it.

BLITZER: Yes, Poppy, thanks very much.

Just ahead, New York City's mayor visits a memorial for two fallen police officers, but can he bridge the divide between his office and the NYPD? We will talk with a law enforcement expert about what can be done in New York.

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BLITZER: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington. Police in New York City and around the United States, they are on a

higher state of alert right now following the ambush murders of two NYPD police officers. Earlier today, the New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, visited a memorial honoring the officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

The police department is following up on new threats following the killings and taking extra precautions. According to "The New York Times," NYPD officers on foot patrol are being told to work only in pairs. The department has suspended pairs by auxiliary officers. There are unarmed volunteers who work with police. Also, security around the New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square will be increased.

Another fatal shooting involving a police officer is adding tensions between the community and law enforcement. We're talking about Milwaukee. The district attorney there has decided not to charge police officer Christopher Manney for killing Dontre Hamilton during a confrontation back in April.

Manney is white. Hamilton is black. The officer said Hamilton, who was mentally ill, grabbed his nightstick and started hitting him. He fired 14 shots. Hamilton's mother says the case is bigger than the death of her youngest son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA HAMILTON, SON KILLED BY POLICE: It's not just about Dontre in Milwaukee. It's about all the lives that have been taken.

We hurt. We work to live in a community that we live in, and our system has failed us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights review of the case in Milwaukee. Officer Manney has since -- he has been fired for not following protocols, but won't be charged.

The mistrust between the police and the community, the rift between the mayor of New York and the NYPD, what will it take to heal the divisions?

Cedric Alexander is president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and public safety director for DeKalb County in Georgia. That's right around Atlanta.

Cedric, thanks very much for joining us.

You're also a member of President Obama's select Task Force on 21st Century Policing. I know this is an important task force. How do the communities and police departments get a handle on this problem? Specifically, what does the mayor of New York and the NYPD, what do they have to do to get on the same page?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF BLACK LAW ENFORCEMENT EXECUTIVES: Well, I'm more than confident, Wolf, that the mayor and the leadership there within the police department are going to find a way to work through this.

There are a lot of hurt feelings, a lot of people not listening to each other right now. But I am more than -- I am more than confident that they're going to work through this.

This is a very difficult time now, not just in New York City, but across the country as well, too, because leading into this holiday season, I truly believe that, in all of this, we're going to find our way through this. But there's got to be a beginning of an opening dialogue of communication between police and community and leadership.

And one thing I'm very clear about from a leadership position, being head of NOBLE, being head of a major police department, and the roles that I have been given, is that we have to talk to each other, we have to sit, we have to talk, we have to understand. These are very complex and convoluted issues.

Many of them have been longstanding. They have a lot of emotional feelings attached to them as well, too. So -- but we're going to have to find a way through this. And those who are -- those of us who are in leadership positions are going to have to really sit down and find a way to work through this, so that we can be role models and set examples to the rest of the country in terms of where we want to see things go.

BLITZER: Because it's pretty ugly. I have been covering these stories for a long time.