tv CNN Newsroom CNN January 18, 2014 2:00pm-3:01pm PST
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get the levels checked. don't go overboard on that stuff. too much calcium can raise the risk of heart disease. talk to your doctor even about the supplements. that will wrap things up. do stay connected with me cnn.com/sanjay. time to get you back in the "cbs this morning" with martin savidge. you're in the "cbs this morning." hello, and welcome, i'm martin savidge. nice to be with you. new jersey governor chris christie is trying to keep it positive in florida this weekend. he's the headliner at some fund-raising events today and tomorrow, campaigning for fellow republican governor rick scott. but he's got plenty of political trouble back home in new jersey. cnn's tory dunnan is in florida. is the bridge scandal being mentioned at all this weekend?
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>> reporter: i have to tell you, these events are totally closed off from the media. they're close door. you can't get really anywhere near them. so they're not coming out and talking to reporters. but we are talking to people who are inside the fund-raising events. the one here in orlando this morning was a fund-raiser for florida governor rick scott, and actually spoke with one woman who was inside about what was and wasn't said, and here is her response to some of my questions. what was the reaction in there to governor christie? >> excellent. >> it was great. >> excellent. >> reporter: what did he say? >> he talked about governor scott and how good he is. >> reporter: did anything about the scandal come up? >> what do you think? >> reporter: elaborate. >> what do you think? yes or no? what do you think? >> reporter: what did he say? >> zero, nothing, all for scott. scott is going to win. >> yes, it did come up. >> reporter: all right. so it looks like according to that woman, nothing was said about the scandal in that first fund-raiser here in orlando, but, martin, that was one of only three taking place.
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the other one in palm beach at a private home. that was a fund-raiser for the republican governors association, and then one's happening later on tonight in the ft. lauderdale area. that's another fund-raiser for rick scott. so these are all opportunities for fellow republicans to potentially come face-to-face with governor christie. maybe they'll ask him questions, maybe he'll respond. but again, these are closed-door events. >> right. all right. tell us about tomorrow, chris christie will be at the -- an a-list donors event. so who will be there? >> reporter: tomorrow's going to be huge, and this is really a big event, because it's really being referred to as a donor-outreach event. what that means is there are going to be people there at this house in north palm beach, a home belonging to the co-founder of home depot. he's also a billionaire. name is ken langon, and this is happening at his house. there will be big money there. this is not a fund-raising event. it's an opportunity for governor christie to meet with possible
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donors, say, if he decides to run in 2016. martin, i know that's far off, but that's what the talk is about this event happening on sunday, and actually, the guy who's hosting this has talked to cnn, and he said that interest has even gone up since this scandal, basically came out in the public, because people are calling him and saying, "hey, we like the way he's dealt with this, he's come out into the open," and they say they like the way he's been apologetic about it and embarrassed, as well. but we'll see what happens tomorrow night. they're expecting a lot of people there. >> interesting. all right, tory dunnan, thank you very much, from orlando. chris christie's florida trip follows days, of course, of media coverage, putting him on the defensive. so let's talk about christie's political future with two political analysts. mark in philadelphia, ben joins us from dallas. good to see you both. let me show you this poll -- >> good to see you. >> i'll show a poll first. the nbc/marist survey, and finds 7 in 10 americans says the bridge controversy has not changed their opinion of christie. so, mark, this thing is just
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going to be over now? is it done for christie? >> it's not done in any sense of the word. first of all, 7 in 10 people saying that they feel the same way about him is cool if everyone likes you, but if everyone thinks you're a bull in the china shop, you're still stuck a place. more information is going to come out. more investigation, more interviews will happen. and at some point, a smoking gun could emerge. and if it does, chris christie's career as a presidential candidate is done. >> dan, i know you're chomping at the bit. go ahead. >> yeah. i'm loving how democrats are playing this, because this -- the governor came out. he said he didn't know anything. 2,000 documents got released. not one smoking gun, as mark just called it, and they're hoping -- they want it so bad -- that there's a smoking gun, but as of now, there is not. he fired people, which showed leadership. he apologized, which is exactly what true leaders do when there
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is something wrong. and he got rid of the people around him that caused the controversy. so i think democrats are actually at the point now where they're starting to overplay this. they want it so bad, they want to destroy christie so bad, that i think voters are now starting to notice that, that this is really not about was he involved. it's this, "i want him, i want chris christie to go down, and i want to take him down, i want to watch his whole career just be blown to, you snow, smitherines, and if they're not careful, it may be a big backfire all over traffic. >> i want to go back to the marist poll that also showed something else, that, in fact, chris christie was losing some ground if there were a hypothetical presidential match-up between hillary clinton. and i'm wondering, is that suggesting of perhaps a problem? of course, still, there's a lot more to come, mark, right? >> well, there is a lot more to come, whether there's any more evidence or not, there's certainly going to be more
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conversation about chris christie, and that's going to be problematic. it's something he'll have to respond to. as opposed to say hillary clinton, who has a fairly clear pathway to the nomination, chris christie will have to compete with fellow republicans who are going to use this to beat him up with, so he doesn't make it to the national stage. that's going to be a key challenge for him. and, also, the fact that his poll numbers are dropping in relation to hillary clinton is because, as it becomes more of a national name, people are making decisions about who they like, and it may be that people don't like chris christie as much as they thought he did. >> this is the fun part, because we already know that, mark, you're not, and democrats are not, going to vote for chris christie. but chris christie being blunt as he is is exactly what got him to where he is today. i mean, if you look at the poll numbers, anytime there's an issue around someone -- whether it be obamacare saying you keep your doctor, the president's approval ratings went down. when the government was shut down, the republicans got blamed for that. what happened? the approval ratings went down, and they've come back up. this is part of that. but to act as if this is truly
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going to have any impact on the presidential election, 2016, i think is really laughable, if there is not involvement from the government, which we don't see any involvement from him at the end of the day. and the other thing is the republicans are smart enough in the primary to not attack chris christie for something that looks like he was not involved in. so you don't have to worry about that in a primary if you're chris christie. >> they're not going to attack him -- >> people on your own team won't be dumb enough to do that. >> they won't attack him for -- >> let me ask you this. we've already talked about the danger of the democrats overreaching here. ben brought that up. and it could be a valid point here, especially if they continue to go after christie on this. >> absolutely. >> are you worried about that? >> i'm not worried about that, because there are two conversations happening at the same time. one is, did he know about the bridge scandal? and, again, we have no reason to say, "yes," yes, but what we also have is a question about his managerial style which is
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being spotlighted. whether or not he knew that, or not, we have a question about whether or not there's a culture of vindictive behavior, a culture of intimidation, a culture of bullying in that place. why would an employee think it's okay to do that? those are questions that will be constantly raised. no, i don't expect rand paul to stand up there, or marco rubio, you know, to say, you know, he contributed to a bridge scandal. but they may say, this is the guy you want this charge. >> ben, let me ask you, do you really think that governor chris christie, if he announces his candidacy, is really the candidate of choice for the vast majority of conservative republicans? in other words, why make so much about this if he really hasn't got a chance? >> look, i think he is based on name recognition overall. probably the front-runner right now. >> but it's way early, you know that. >> -- easier path -- well, right, but what i'm saying is, i think it would be easier for chris christie to win the general election if he can make it through the primary. it is going to be a tight battle for the primary -- >> that's the case for anybody. >> -- a lot of conservatives --
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well, yeah, there's a lot of conservatives that are afraid that he is not conservative enough to win a primary in the south and on super tuesday, and those things. but i don't think any of this traffic will have any bearing on any conservative voter when it comes to primary, whether they're looking at rick santorum or they're looking at huckabee or rand paul, or anybody out there. >> you picked the three most extreme -- you just picked -- you just picked the three most extreme candidates, and we've seen in the past, through john mccain and mitt romney, that's not necessarily who republicans want to elect in the primary. it's a whole different ball game. but the bigger question here is not just who do republican primary voters like, because you're right, i'm not a republican primary voters, it's what calculus they make in the poll. oftentimes, they say, like they said in 2000, i don't like mitt romney -- or i don't like john mccain better than mike huckabee or romney, however, i think mccain has a better chance. again, mitt romney, we don't like him, santorum can't win.
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if republican voters love chris christie but think the bridgegate will be an issue for democratic voters, for swing voters, independent voters, they may make a different decision. it doesn't matter whether they care about it. it's whether democratic voter also care about it in the general election. >> gentlemen, i have to end it there. i thank you very much, and i know this is not the last i will talk about chris christie, so let's save a little for another time. thank you, both, for joining us. >> thank you. >> i noted neither one of you has a tuxedo, which means, of course, you are not going to the white house for the first lady's birthday party, which is happening this evening. and that brings us, of course, to the next story, which is the fact that we have one of the biggest parties that's taking place in washington tonight. cnn's sunlin is at the white house where she's been trying to crack the secret of the exclusive guest list. we already know that mark and ben are not going to be there. any luck in finding out who will be there? >> reporter: that is really top secret information at this point, martin. it has been such a tight-lipped
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around this guest list. what we do know is once the sun starts going down here is when the dancing shoes will start to come out. i want to show you the invitation here, because there are a few specifics. first of all, the party starts this evening at 9:00. there'll be snacks and sips, dancing and dessert, and specifically dance attire was requested by the white house. and let me give you a little indication of how big this party's going to be, how much is going to take over the white house. it's going to be -- open up the entire state floor. that's the first floor, the ground level, of the white house as you can see behind me. so guests will be able to move freely between the east room, into the red, blue, and green rooms, and into the state dining room. now, we've been told that there will be a house band set up, and there'll be special performances and celebrity surprises throughout the evening. so i know everyone is looking forward to finding out just who those people are, because we've heard so much speculation. but in addition to the celebrities, people say this party really is about michelle obama's friends. we've been told that there is a
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big contingent of her chicago friends coming out for the party tonight, and beyond that, everyone is guessing who else has the hottest ticket in town. >> they're keeping it very much under wraps. everybody's speculating about who's going to be there and who's not going to be there, and talking about the fact that they've said eat first. i suspect there's going to be plenty of food knowing the obamas and knowing the white house. so i don't think that's going to be an issue. you know, this is going to be a party of her friends. this is not official washington. >> reporter: and we have been told it's a very small and select group on the guest list, but small by white house standards, about 200 to 300 people here tonight, martin, and we'll be watching as people go in and talking to them on the way out, hearing all of the little fun tidbits about that party tonight. >> normally, we'd, of course, be monitoring people's facebook pages, but apparently we won't see anything out there, are we? >> reporter: the white house, specifically on the invitation,
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interestingly enough, said no photography, no cameras allowed. we'll see if we can get our hands on any photos. >> all right, please do. love to see them, and the message to first lady, if she can send a few, we'd like them. thanks very much. a-list stars are dressed to impress nor another event tonight. the screen kt aers guild awards. live look now outside the shrine auditorium in los angeles. the show begins about three hours from now and it could give us a hint about who will win the academy awards, which are slated for march 2nd. can you s you can see the fashions in about 90 minutes, 6:30 eastern time. coming up, daniel ellesburg, once called the most dangerous man in america for his 1971 "pentagon papers" leak. hearing what he has to say about president obama's reform of the spy programs. plus, polls show that bridget having -- that's bridgegate, sorry, having little effect on the opinions about christie. what does it say about his brand and maybe his future? we'll talk to an expert on that.
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but first, one of our favorite chris christie moments of the week brought to us by none other than jimmy fallon and the boss, bruce springsteen. ♪ some day governor i don't know when ♪ ♪ this will all end but till then ♪ ♪ you're killin' the workin' man ♪ ♪ who's stuck with governor christie ♪ ♪ for leading new jersey traffic jam ♪ imagine if everything you learned led to the one job you always wanted. at university of phoenix, we believe every education- not just ours- should be built around the career that you want. imagine that.
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president obama's big speech unveiling changes to the nsa spying programs will affect your privacy. every phone call that every american makes will continue to be logged for the number dialled and the length of that call. the nsa will keep the records for now, but access will be tightened. earlier, i spoke with daniel ellsberg, the man who leaked the classified pentagon papers about president obama's plan.
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the president was not even band-aids or aspirin for the fourth amendment, which is near death. it was sugar pills, basically placebos. it didn't pretend anything. it didn't, i think, have any effect at all. when it comes to protecting, defending, supporting the fourth amendment to the constitution and the first amendment, edward snowden has done more than any member of congress, any official in the united states, going up to the president himself. >> that was daniel ellsberg, the man who leaked the pentagon papers decades ago. coming up next hour, a very different voice. we'll ask tech pioneer john mcafee about obama's nsa reforms, plus we'll talk to mcafee about his time on the run in central america. the target data breach has affected millions of shoppers and the target brand has taken a big hit in the public eye.
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so let's talk about it with martha pease, a strategic marketing consultant and ceo of demandworks.com. martha, good to see you. thank you for joining us. >> good to see you. >> before we begin with target, i wanted to get your quick take on chris christie, because that's obviously a big political brand, and you talked about it last week. as a brand expert, how do you think he's handled things so far? >> well, governor christie this week did a lot to regain positive momentum behind his brand, his somewhat tarnished brand. he, you know, took a position again in terms of taking control of his agenda for the state. he changed the conversation back to really being one about governing. he took a slightly higher profile with going to florida. he apologized. he made a real emotional connection, i think, with people this week, and those are all actions that really play to his core strength and his brand. so i think he made progress this
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week. >> and in talking about that brand -- i mean, there was a poll that had come out and said that, actually, most americans did not feel that their opinion had changed. and does that really tell you how strong his brand is? >> absolutely. absolutely. i mean, he came into this scandal -- or this crisis, or whatever label you want to put to it -- he came into it with a very strong brand and a lot of goodwill. and a real strong aspirational element to his brand. people identify with him. but i have to say that going forward, i would look very closely at some under lying indicators of brand health in terms of his brand. one, certainly, the subpoenas and what will result from that in terms of his staff and any connection that he might have had to the scandal, have major implications for his brand. i think, also, the theoretical presidential poll -- the poll that came out this week that showed hillary clinton really gaining double digits now ahead of -- ahead of governor christie
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in a presidential race, 13% versus 3% a month ago -- is a number going not in the best direction for governor christie. and i was interested to see, also, there's a likability factor associated with brands. if somebody likes my brand or my product or my politician, they're invested in that person being successful, so likability is an important measure of brand health. and governor christie's likability came down in the past week, according to one poll, quite significantly, in fact. almost 24%. so those are trends that i would keep an eye on in terms of overall brand health for governor christie, and making sure that he continues to push hard against -- on the positive, to counteract any declines. >> let me bring in target before we run too far out of time. target, of course, is the company that's now facing a lot of backlash. how much trouble do you see target really being in? >> i think target's got a big challenge on their hand.
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it's an incredibly difficult situation that they're in. i have no doubt that they're doing the best that they can. their customers, though, are reacting on both a practical and emotional level. practically, they've got to figure out how to remediate the credit card situations that many of them find themselves in. but, you know, for people -- for their customers, people don't think of themselves as a piece of data that's been breached. people think of themselves as an individual whose privacy has been invaded, and i'm a customer who hasn't been well protected by target, at least p perceptually, and they need to have an emotional relationship with their customers in they want to come through this successfully. >> target has been criticized for taking too long to report this information, and yet these kind of leaks take a long time to actually diskcover and track down how much information has been lost, so you can't jump out and say something you don't
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know. i'm wondering if the backlash by the public is legitimate against target, because they feel that they withheld information? >> well, that's a -- that's a very difficult question to answer right now, because there are criminal investigations under way, and there are legal issues involved now. and you just don't know how much target is able to say or not say. i think their big challenge is to be as transparent as they possibly can and to explain as much as they can in realtime. you know, target has trained us as customers over the years to expect more. that's their brand position. and as consumers, we're going to be looking to target to really overdeliver, to expect more from that brand in terms of how they deal with this particular incident, and to expect really more of them going forward, to protect our security and protect us as customers. >> right. as you always say, i guess, it's not how you fall, it's how you pick yourself up, for chris christie and target, we'll both have to wait and see.
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thank you very much, martha. >> thanks, martin. meanwhile, new developments now in the case of that suv driver attacked by a group of bikers in new york city. we'll have the latest right after this. across america people are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar, but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®. he said victoza® is different than pills.
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by the helmet cam of one of the bikers. it ended with one biker critically injured and the driver dragged out of his vehicle and beaten. well, now the driver of the suv is planning to sue. rosa flores, who's following this story from new york, and, rosa, who will he sue? >> reporter: well, the driver of the suv in that viral video showing an suv being chased by bikers intends to sue the city of new york, the police officers, identified or not, and the new york city police department. now, cnn has learned this from documents obtained from a city law enforcement -- city law department spokesperson, rather. and here's how it all started. an suv being chased by bikers in september of last year. authorities say the driver, alexian lien, was chased by bikers after he initially bumped one during a biker rally. also on board, lien's wife and 2-year-old daughter. lien ran over bikers, critically injuring one of them. the chase ended in traffic.
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lien's windows were smashed and he was dragged out of the suv and beaten. now, these new developments are from these documents showing that lien plans to sue the city of new york on the basis of -- and this is the claim, according to these documents that i'm going to read here -- excessive force, false imprisonment, assault, battery, negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligence in hiring, training, and the retention of police officers. but again, martin, all of these documents are in the intention to sue the police department, the officers, whether they've been named or not, and the city of new york. >> rosa, do those documents suggest how they are going to prove any of this? >> reporter: you know, if you look on the second page, it does shed some light as to how that's going to happen. and here is how. i mean, it literally just paints a picture of what was going on. so this family was in the streets of new york, driving legally, it says here, and then it says, threatened, imprisoned,
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attacked, assaulted, battered, robbed, and the motor vehicle vandalized and damaged by a vicious and unruly mob of motorcycle riders. now, this says that the city had knowledge only because, it says, that undercover police officers were there, and the off-duty police officers became on-duty police officers when these assaults and attacks were made. now, we should add, again, that these documents are only an intention to sue. as for lien, he has not been charged. 11 other people have been indicted, and at this moment, we know that their next court appearance is at the end of this month. martin? >> mm, all right. rosa flores, thank you very much for the update in that case. coming up, a father forbidden from attending his own daughter's funeral? what could be up with that? we'll explain next. humans --
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a father is forbidden from going to his little girl's funeral, because the police say he killed her in a drunken spree. 11-year-old shanti lanza was having a slumber party with her friends at her mother's house. during that party, her father showed up with a gun. he was told to leave, but he came back hours later, allegedly drunk. outside the house, police say he
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fired four wild shots in the air. one bullet went through the second-story bedroom and pierced shanti's chest. the father has pleaded not guilty to reckless homicide. shanti's mother wants him at the funeral to help her say good-bye. but a judge said "no" because someone else might get shot at the funeral. joining me now to discuss this, criminal defense attorney holly hughes and psychologist dr. jeff gardier. nice to see you both. holly, let's talk about this, public safety. the concern for public safety, which is what the judge is worried about. >> right. >> versus a dad's grief and ability to say good-bye to his daughter. >> well, let's first remember that dad is the reason that the daughter is dead in the first place. >> correct. >> and that has a huge weight in the judge's decision, because what the judge said, is i am worried that there might be vigilantes out there. and not just worried about the defendant's safety, which, of course, is an issue for her. she clearly said, i don't want anybody taking a shot at him, but it would be extremely dangerous for the law enforcement detail that would be responsible for transporting
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him, because he is in custody, martin. so he would have to have sheriffs or sheriff's deputies or someone from the jail or the local police department be with him, and she's afraid that law enforcement could be in that line of fire if someone decides to take it into their own hands. >> so i guess that means that that trumps the man's personal grief, the family's grief? because he's not found guilty yet. he's accused and the evidence may be there, but he's still innocent. >> right. and it does trump at this point, yes, it's what we call public safety or public policy law. and basically, the judge has to consider everybody in the equation. and while it is absolutely traumatic for this father that the little girl is dead, and he's not going to beab able to y good-bye, he'll have to find a different way to process that, and i'm sure dr. jeff can tell us how that works. >> that's exactly right. dr. jeff, regardless of the scenario, is grieving something that humans need to experience here? >> absolutely. what they're saying is going to
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grieve this symbolically. what may end up happening is he may get some time with his deceased daughter privately under the aegis of the sheriff or sheriff's deputies, but you won't be able to do the public or the grieving with the family that he'd like to do. but, also, please be aware that there were three domestic violence charges against him filed by mom. mom did not show up. those were dropped. so i'm very suspect when mom says, please, let -- let this man be at his daughter's funeral. i wonder if this is a continuing cycle of violence in that she may feel emotionally, psychologically that she is self-coerced into inviting him to be there. >> yeah, and that brings up a very good point, holly. do you think that could have entered into the judge's reasoning? >> absolutely. because what we're see something a pattern where there were prior domestic violence incidents where the mother was the victim.
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so this man was allegedly violent to her in the past. the police would be called, a report would be made, but when it came time to prosecute, this victim of domestic violence -- and we see it all the time, it's not unusual -- whether it's fear, whether it is coercion, they will back down. they'll recant, martin, say, no, no, it didn't happen that way, no, i'm not coming to court and testifying. a lot of times it's because they're afraid of more retribution, further problems if i tell on the abuser in open court, he's going to be really mad. and then, i'm really going to be in for it. so that absolutely played into it. there's a pattern and history with this man. the judge has to move on. >> i want to move on, it took place in wesley chapel, florida, and a memorial service held for chad oulson, the man shot and killed during an argument over texting in a movie theater. days after the shooting, what police still don't know is, why? so, jeff, can someone like
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this -- and we're talking about the suspect in this case, who is a former police officer -- can they just snap? could that be what happened? that's what neighbors think happened to imhad. he just snapped. >> well, it seems, martin, there has been a pattern with this individual, even cnn has uncovered someone who feels that she may have been harassed by this individual a couple of weeks before this. it seems that he has some issue being at the movie theater, anyone who talks during the movie, anyone who picks up a telephone, anyone who's texting, he just gets very, very irritable. so i would suspect being age 71, there might be some issues with irritability, with some sort of maybe dementia. i don't think he just snapped. i think this is a pattern that has been growing and just got to the point of where he actually went off. he was a ticking time bomb. >> right. and i did actually talk to that woman who made these claims that she, also, had seen him doing this at a theater before the shooting.
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holly, let me ask you this. stand your ground, florida, you know, they go hand in hand here. >> right. >> do you think that could be brought up, and would it be legitimate in a case like that? >> absolutely not, martin. the only thing that this poor victim did was take out his phone, during the previews of the movie, and text his little girl's baby-sitter to make sure everything was all right. that, in no way, affects or bothers the suspect. >> it was a very verbal argument, and then, of course, the popcorn is thrown, an it's in a darkened theater, and the complaint is it was an unknown object. >> okay, words alone are not enough, okay? and further more, martin, come on, seriously? this does not take a lawyer. this is common sense. if somebody throws popcorn at you, you know it's popcorn. you smell it, you see it, it gets stuck on your clothing. ever been to a movie and had nice, buttery, slimy popcorn? it's going to stick on you, martin. there is no way that stand your ground is applicable here, and quite frankly, i don't think any lawyer would be foolish enough
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or brave enough, all right, brave or crazy enough, to try and float that in court. it's just laughable. >> all right. we'll have to see. >> mm-hmm. >> dr. jeff gardere, thank you, nice to see you. holly, thank you, as well. >> you, too. coming up, actor, author, activist, and social media sensation, george takei, and his husband, brad, they'll join us right after the break and talk about their newest project. so please stick around. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me,
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smack dab in the middle of the hollywood awards season, hollywood heads to park city, utah, for the annual sundance film festival. you might have heard of it. the festival celebrating now its 30th year. it will showcase 117 feature-length projects, including several performances from hollywood a-listers. one film that has everyone talking, "to be takei," chronicles the life of george takei, and his time in an american internment camp, and his starring role on "star trek" and how his witty sense of humor has launched him into an internet phenomenon. >> oh, my goodness, they're lining up outside. [ cheers ] thank you. thank you. >> a couple of years ago, and he was supportive of it, since he's the first openly gay character.
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just seemed like a natural, sort of, story line, that would be inspired by george. >> hello. how are you? [ speaking foreign language ] >> that's very impressive. >> thank you. >> cnn's miguel marquez is live inside the cnn lounge this park city, utah, accompanied this hour by george takei and his husband, brad. miguel, take it away. >> thank you, there, martin. i am with george takei and brad takei, breaking news on cnn, your name has been legally changed, husband. >> takei and takei, brad and george takei. >> the big premier is tonight. >> tonight. >> and i've learned you've never seen this film. >> we've never -- well, we've seen rough cuts. but when jennifer kroot approached us -- >> the director? >> -- the director, we didn't want a vanity film. i'm an actor, and always suspect. so we said, we'll have nothing
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to do with the control of it. you have complete editorial control, final cut and all, and we will not invest a penny in it. it's your project. we will be your subjects, we'll operate to the extent that you want us to, we'll open up our family photo albums, but it is your project. >> but is it -- and it is about many things. it's about you two. but it's also about the play that you produce, it's about your history, your parents' history. tell us a little bit about the entirety of it. >> well, the incarceration of american citizens of japanese ancestry, unconstitutionally, has shaped my whole being. i was a child then, 5 years old to 8 years old. so when i became a teenager, much after the internment, i was very curious about what that all meant. and my father was one who told us about the details of it, and also his philosophy. he said, our democracy is a
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people's democracy, and it can be as great as the people can be, but it's as fallible as people are. our democracy is vitally dependent on good people to be actively engaged in that process. and he took me to the stevens for president headquarters and -- >> and this affected you throughout your life. >> it did. >> how did it play out throughout your life? >> again, as my father said, it's important to be actively engaged. sometimes holding democracy's feet to the fire. and so, i was involved in the civil rights movement. i marched with dr. martin luther king, shook his hand, talked with him. i was involved in the peace movement during the vietnam war. >> and in an acting job, they put you in various stereotypical roles. >> that's right. and the struggle for getting much more true depiction of asian and asian american characters in the media, which direct -- which directly
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affected my professional career. but all of this time i was silent about another aspect of my life. i was gay, from the time i was 9 or 10, i knew -- >> you knew? >> -- bobby excited me much more than janey. >> brad, he says he did not want control over this project, but he strikes me as someone who's very much a control freak, if i may. >> he's the control freak. >> really? what happened is jennifer, the director, she showed up at our house, so to speak, and the cameras just rolled. jennifer's proeapproach to direg was to stay in the background, and after a while, we forgot the cameras were there, and as a result we just lived our lives and jennifer captured part of our lives. and whether our lives are normal or unusual, she is on -- it's in the documentary. >> our married life is very ordinary. in fact, quite boring. >> somehow, i don't buy that. >> no, no, where it's different is, you know, i'm an actor.
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and an actor's life is hectic, idiosyncratic and very crazy. not unlike sundance. i mean, it's madness here. and he's the one that brings order to it. he's organized. he's controlling. and i'm very obedient. >> do you know how many hours were shot, over how long they shot? >> yeah, from start to finish, it was a three-year -- >> oh, my. >> -- time of -- >> oh, my. >> -- time out of our life. and obviously, hundreds of video film was shot, and it was narrowed down to 90 minutes of dense material. it's a lot of stuff happening in 90 minutes, but it's kind of an action-packed romantic comedy -- >> romantic comedy, because, you know, it's -- >> one hopes. you haven't seen it yet. >> well, we saw the rough cut. >> i see. >> i'm really looking forward to the -- >> how nervous are you going into this? >> well, particularly, because we want it to be a success. we've got, you know, a taste of it.
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and we're eager to have a lot of distributors there. we're looking forward to a lot of laughs, a lot of applause, and a lot of great -- >> we're going to be right back, but right now, let's all toss to break. we'll be right back with george and brad takei. ♪ ♪ so you can have a getaway from what you know. so you can be surprised by what you don't. get two times the points on travel and dining at restaurants from chase sapphire preferred. so you can taste something that wakes up your soul. chase sapphire preferred. so you can.
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before the break, i was -- i wasn't -- we were talking to and we were talking to actor @&hc% takei and they are live at the sundance lounge in utah. back to you. >> well sh, my, we happened to g on to george and brett, and thank you for sticking around. >> thank you for having me. >> and i am nervous around you. >> and people say that now. >> and it is the ras cal howard stern who did it. and oh, my, that is a normal thing, right?
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>> well, oh, my. >> and i has become quite a -- and howard does and say a lot of enraged things, and when i first went on the show, and he did something outrageous, he would say, oh, my, and he put it on tape and whether i am there or not, and if somebody says something outrageous, he hits the button and it is my voice "oh, my." >> yes, i want that as a ringtone and i want to read a tweet that you did and in newsman voice. someone get me a wide brim hat and sunglasses, because i am crashing parties at yoko ono. >> and i did bring the big sunglasses, but i took it off. >> and part of the story of both of you is owning with what howard stern did, and you could have crawled into the shell, and you could have been hurt by it. >> walked out. >> but you owned it.
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>> and what is life been about you, because you created your existence? >> well, the thing is that we wanted to reach a different kind of audience. you know, i go on a lot of the speaking tours for the equality of the lgbt community, but people are busy pursuing their living and surviving, and how do you reach those people? howard has an enormous listenership of people who don't really pay attention to the issues of the lgbt community. he and he gave us that avenue, and we discussed it before going going on that we are going to do that show, because it will give us great access to that straight fair-minded group of people that are too busy to really think about equality for the restf of us, and howard helped me to get that by being outrageous. >> and because howard is such a
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story that you to tell the truth. if they smell that you are an imposter or fraud, you are destroyed. so that is what we liked about it that george and i are openly gay and been together 26 years as a committed couple and five years legally married and that awe thoen theticity of george is what people like, and they had it in the documentary. >> and that documentary you popped back in. >> and howard gave me the identity as george takei. >> but it is not the facebook post, but it is team thework. >> absolutely. >> and the book "oh, my" goes right into that. how much do you do collaborating on that? >> well, george is the boss, and he is the editorial draw of it, and we have a team of people who he help us, but basically, it is the george takei brand that gets out on his social media platforms. >> and that gives us access to, again, a wide range of people, and we with were able to talk about lgbt issues and in a humorous way, and it is humor
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that is the social glue that connects disparate hearts of our society, and here we are now in the state of utah, which when we first got invite td to be a par of sundance, we were delighted, because it is a marriage equality state. we were looking forward to it, and then all of this, you know -- >> just something that you are watching very carefully now? >> yes. >> and before we we run out of time, and this is big in hollywood premiers and a few hours from now, you will be there, and what are you wearing? >> well, i am going to be hugo boss. and are you listening, hugo boss? i need a free suit. >> yes. >> and he will get that. >> and how classy. >> and i want to be wearing a big smile e knowing that the premier of documentary, and this is a life-changing moment in our life, and we are excited that the documentary will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people.
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>> and when will folks see it? >> we don't know, because we are here to sell the distribution, and we hope to get a good distributor and so hopefully within a year or so. >> and martin, crashing the parties with george and martin takei. >> thanking you, martin. a wall street reporter left his home a week ago to take a quick walk, but he has not been seen since. his family says that a story that he had been investigating may have had something to do with his disappearance. hey, buddy? oh, hey, flo. you want to see something cool? snapshot, from progressive. my insurance company told me not to talk to people like you. you always do what they tell you? no... try it, and see what your good driving can save you. you don't even have to switch.
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nwas the most watchedage otelevision event ever.s so, what's next? the upcoming winter games from sochi. where every second of nbc universal's coverage will be available on every device. on tv, online or streaming on the nbc sports live extra app. beginning february 6th, experience the winter games everywhere. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal
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police and volunteers have been scour iing the longhill ar for missing report david byrd. his family is particularly concerned, because byrd has a liver condition that requires medication twice a day. the family says that the credit card was used two times last week in mexico, but the family is not confirming that. he is a market reporter for the "wall street journal." it has been a painful vacation for dozens of passengers at the "imamajesty o the seas ooh" cruise line. they say that 66 pas sep, jr.s were suffering from the various gastrointestinal problems, and more than 429 people were aboard
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the cruise ship and they say that norovirus is the reason for that problem. >> and "saturday night live" welcomes the first female black member in six years. she will make her highly anticipated debut in a few hours. she is joining us now after it was planned for the cast's lack of diversity, and she had a following from the web series and appearances in a few commercials. in 20 minutes' time, we will speak with former "snl" actor chris parnell about what it is like to step into that "snl" spotlight. all right. let's reset. you are in the "cnn newsroom" and i'm martin savidge. on the left is the screen actor's gild and on the right is
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