Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Common Ground in Washington?; Interview with Rep. Peter King; New Details About Alleged Kidnapper Delvin Barnes; Arctic Blast Coming to the U.S. East Coast; Taylor Swift's Break-Up with Spotify

Aired November 7, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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


POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining us this Friday.

Those post midterm pledges to work together and help the country move forward will be put to the test this afternoon as some 16 lawmakers and top congressional leaders head to the White House. Joining me now, Republican Congressman Peter King of New York.

Thank you for being here, sir. Appreciate it.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: So, I think we're all glad to see that this meeting is happening so fast and we're all happy to hear everyone saying that you guys are going to work together and get things done for the American people. I want to ask you about this. Speaker John Boehner said to "The New York Times" yesterday that President Obama shouldn't, quote, "play with matches," by unilaterally pushing immigration reform because if he does he's going to get burned.

KING: Right.

HARLOW: What's your reaction to that comment and also what is the worst case scenario, do you think, for the president if he does decide to go it alone on immigration?

KING: Yes, first of all, I think -- I'm convinced John Boehner wants to make this work with the president and with Mitch McConnell. But I fully agree with what John said as far as the president taking preemptive action on immigration because for John Boehner to work with the president to get meaningful legislation, he has to bring his party along. And on an issue like immigration, for the president to take preemptive executive action, that would be such a shot that it will be -- make it very difficult for John Boehner to bring Republicans along on other issues. That would so poison the water.

So, I agree with John on that completely. The president, to me, if he's serious, they should sit down and I think we can make constructive progress on a number of issues, whether it's trade, whether even perhaps immigration.

HARLOW: But -- KING: Yes?

HARLOW: What's different this time? Because, you know, David Axelrod tweeted yesterday, President Obama's former adviser, that the president should at least let -- you know, have the House take it to a vote first. You see it right there, immigration bill won a huge bipartisan majority in the Senate, POTUS should agree to shelf executive order for an up or down vote in the House. But how can the American people know that the House is even going to bring this up for a vote? I mean what has changed? What have you and your Republican colleagues talked about and with other Democrats that convince people that this has changed and there's going to be progress?

KING: Well, first of all, I think -- first of all, conditions have changed. I don't believe we should bring up the bill that passed the Senate because conditions have changed in the Senate. We saw what happened last summer with all those kids coming across the border. So I think while our basic framework of a bill is a good starting point, there do have to be changes made. I think it has to be toughened up and there's got to be more security put in it. But that certainly can be used as a working document.

But I don't think the president should say, either you vote for the bill as it was or I'm going to take action. You know, there have been elections. Elections have consequences, as the president said several years ago. But I think that they can use the Senate bill as a working document to go from and go from there. But I don't see any obligation on Republicans in the House to vote for that bill, which was passed almost a year and a half ago. A lot has changed since then.

HARLOW: Talking about -- I'm interested in your discussions with your Republican colleagues. I mean, obviously, you don't all just get along with each other and are on the same page because you're in the same party.

KING: Right.

HARLOW: You were really critical of Senator Ted Cruz, saying, you know, in some ways you thought he was trying to hijack the Republican Party. But what conversations have you had with the leadership that really makes you think things have changed?

KING: Mainly it's just my knowledge of John Boehner. John Boehner is a very traditional person. He believes in the institution. And now I think he believes the speaker of the House, with Republicans controlling both houses, there is a real obligation to try to make things work. At the same time, he has an obligation to the people who put us in the majority, who feel very strongly about these issues and that the challenge is to get compromises that work --

HARLOW: Right.

KING: Where we can attain as much of our agenda as possible and yet still, you know, allow the president or give the president some of his prerogative. So, really it's going to be --

HARLOW: Let me --

KING: Almost a Ronald Reagan/Tip O'Neill situation.

HARLOW: And let me ask you one more thing, not focus on immigration, focus on jobs.

KING: Yes.

HARLOW: The issue number one for America is still the economy, still people are really not feeling the improvements in the economy and it is not broadly spread many feel. When it comes to tax reform, business issues, job creation, tell me about what you think the chances are of getting the next session of Congress to move things forward on that front, because McConnell and Boehner talked about it in their op-ed in "The Journal" this week. Do you think it's going to happen and ultimately have a material impact on job creation?

KING: Yes, that's one area where it really could work. First you have trade, then you have trade reform -- you have tax reform. I think as far as corporate rates, as far as allowing repatriation of profits from oversea, bring them back, put them in the market, start ending and cutting back in some of the regulations which are stifling the economy. But, obviously, the president would want something, too. And that, I think, is enough that can be put on the table there where both sides could come away with a victory.

HARLOW: I hope so. We'll be watching. Congressman Peter King of New York, thanks for joining me this morning

KING: You bet. Poppy, thank you.

HARLOW: Well, this morning there are some new details and new charges to report in the case of Delvin Barnes, the man accused of snatching a woman off of a Philadelphia street, holding her hostage before Wednesday's rescue. This morning, Barnes is in Virginia, charged with kidnapping a 16-year-old girl there just a month ago. He reportedly doused her with bleach and gasoline. Barnes has an extensive rap sheet, including an attack on his ex-wife. His former father-in-law says Barnes should never have been on the street. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY, FORMER FATHER-IN-LAW OF SUSPECT: I hope that he spends the rest of his life in jail or give him the death penalty. He really don't deserve to be living. Give him the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in jail. What about the three strikes you're out thing? And he got a lot of strikes. What's he still doing walking around in the streets? He ain't got no business walking around in the streets, you know? And if he'd have got the time that he supposed to have got with my daughter, these two -- this wouldn't have happened to them two young ladies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, joining me now to talk about it, HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson, also Mike Bouchard, a former assistant director for the ATF, the federal agency that captured Barnes on Wednesday.

Thank you both, gentlemen, for being here.

Mike, I want to begin with you, because I think a real question here is, how closely was this man being monitored and should he have been more monitored? You look at a rap sheet including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, breaking and entering. He was wanted in Virginia for rape and attempted murder. What happened?

MIKE BOUCHARD, FMR. ATF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Well, I don't think he was being monitored. Again, if you've done your time in prison and you're out on parole or probation, they can obviously monitor you. There was recently an arrest warrant obtained for him and they were actively looking for him on that arrest warrant. It's just all this information came forward at once, which led them to find out that he was involved in this abduction.

HARLOW: Joey, when it comes to this 16-year-old girl in Virginia --

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Sure.

HARLOW: That he allegedly hit over the head with a shovel, stuffed in his trunk --

JACKSON: And burned her, Poppy.

HARLOW: Right. And when you look at DNA evidence, how big a factor is that going to be for police in this one because --

JACKSON: It could be huge.

HARLOW: You know, because according to the documents, he has admitted to this last abduction.

JACKSON: Yes, it's going to be huge. And first of all, what a pleasure to be speaking about someone who was found alive, right, and the person's being brought under, you know, into justice --

HARLOW: To justice.

JACKSON: As opposed to someone --

HARLOW: Right.

JACKSON: We've spoken about other stories that are not so favorable.

But in any event, when it comes to that case, he's got -- it's a long road to hoe for him. Of course he was extradited back to Virginia, where he stands now. He's going to face the attempted capital murder charge based upon his conduct. He's going to face the kidnapping charge in addition to the sexual charges that come there. And so what the police will do is they'll take the DNA evidence that they have in the case that they obtained, they'll take statements, of course, that that 16-year-old victim made and of course she, although burned, is alive as well and they'll prosecute him. And so with the evidence that they have, they'll piece it together.

He, of course, is entitled to due process, but it's a pretty compelling case against him, particularly when you add this other case as well because it goes to show common plan of scheme. So look for authorities, Poppy, to introduce evidence of that in that case.

HARLOW: And, Mike, I also want to talk to you about this big question that people are asking is, were there other victims? We don't know at this point in time, but what we do know is that authorities are trying to figure that out. Talk to us about how they're going to do that, other than obviously questioning him, and who knows what he might come forward with.

BOUCHARD: Sure. Certainly in these kind of cases you -- after the person's arrested, a lot of the people start coming -- a lot of your more important leads start to come forward. They'll do search warrants. They'll look at his computer. They'll look at his phone. They'll talk to all of his associates. Put the information out to the public. And you'll probably see, much like in the University of Virginia murder and abduction, other victims now recognize him and say, you know, come forward and say, I also had a case involving this person. So the investigators, the case is far from being over. They're going to start to tie all the loose ends together and bring in all the new information and see if there's any additional charges.

HARLOW: Yes, well, it's been incredible to look at the rap sheet and the history on this one. Gentlemen, thank you both. We're going to continue to follow this, of course, on the show. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Checking your top stories this morning.

Sparks flew behind an Air Canada Express flight as it made an emergency landing in Edmonton. Three people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The plane had been rerouted to Edmonton after a tire blew on takeoff from Calgary and high winds prevented a return there.

Also, this in Chicago. You've got to see this video. Yes, that's a plane landing sideways. Pilots earned their pay flying into Chicago yesterday. Heavy crosswinds at O'Hare Airport caused several planes to land at a very sharp angle to the runway. Dozens of flights were canceled and others were delayed. Wow. Look at that video.

Talking about the wild weather, a bomb cyclone -- yes, that is an actual weather term -- is triggering an arctic blast. It is just like the one we had last winter. How lovely. And winter is not even here yet. The frigid weather system targeting the eastern U.S., again? Why is the east getting hit so hard again?

Indra Petersons joins us now. Why, why, why?

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: On that note, everyone loves when you talk to me about this. Yes, it's so early and we're talking about a huge arctic blast coming our way. But what everyone's so confused about -- what does it have to do with Typhoon Nuri? -- it used to be a Super Typhoon -- off the coast of Japan. So why does that bring us in the United States this cold, arctic air?

Well, keep in mind, everything you know about Sandy, right? You had the extra tropical moisture, once it actually, the remnants kind of were out there, it combined with another winter system. That's what's going on right now. If you go all the way to the Bering Sea, you have the remnants of what a s Super Typhoon, Nuri, combining with the polar jet. So all this cold air now has produced this monster system. You're talking about that pressure dropping more than 24 millibars in 24 hours, and that's where you get that big weather lingo name.

But more important than that, it's bringing us cold air. Why? Picture like a rope. You take a rope and you just go like this, you talk about that energy going down the line, it's that ripple effect, and that's what's going to bring that cold air down to the south, that jet stream is going to dive way far down there, bringing us this very chilly air.

So what we're dealing with right now, this isn't the story, guys. This is just typical for this time of year. Another cold front makes its way through this weekend behind it. Still not the story, not until the middle of next week, is that cold, arctic drop and bringing temperatures, Poppy, 20 degrees below average for even this time of year. No one likes seeing me this year.

HARLOW: Can't wait. Do you think I'm going to be able to make it through the winter without saying polar vortex?

PETERSONS: Please don't.

(LAUGHTER)

PETERSONS: Maybe next year you will.

HARLOW: Indra Petersons, thank you. We appreciate it.

Coming up next in the NEWSROOM, Taylor Swift isn't just shaking it to the top of the music charts, she's shaking off the popular site Spotif. How Swift' decision to pull her music from the streaming service could impact the way we all listen to music in the future. That's next.

(MUSIC: TAYLOR SWIFT'S "SHAKE IT OFF")

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR SWIFT, MUSICIAN (singing): We are never, ever, ever getting back together. We are never, ever, ever --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Singer Taylor Swift can add Spotify to her list of breakups. Swift pulling her music from the streaming site after the release of her record-setting new album "1989". Spotify turned to Twitter to try to woo Swift back. Pretty funny tweets here. They said, "We love @taylorswift13 but she asked her to pull her music off Spotify. 40 million of us say stay stay stay. #justsayyes."

Spotify even announced a new playlist in Swift's absence, saying, "We hope she'll change her mind soon. In the meantime, check out what to play while Taylor's away. #justsayyes."

So will Spotify ever get back together with Taylor Swift? CNN's Brooke Baldwin. OK, we're both obsessed with, "Shake It Off", this song.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, are we?

HARLOW: I am. Sorry, you admitted in the break room.

BALDWIN: We kind of are -- whatever, yes. Love it. So here's the deal. Let's go with the relationship analogy, right? If you are suddenly breaking up with someone, sometimes you need a little wallowing time. But I'm guessing -- given the fact that 24-year-old Taylor Swift made $62 million last year alone, when you think of this album "1989", this thing went platinum, it's the first time since "The Eminem Show" in 2002, that is 1 million copies sold in one week, folks -- I'm guess guessing the singledom sans Spotify feels pretty good.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (voice-over): Taylor Swift is shaking off dire predictions about the future of the music business. In a year that was on track to have no platinum albums, her new one, "1989", sold more than a million copies in one week. It is the biggest album debut since 2002 and it comes despite this breakup.

Swift dumped Spotify. This week, she pulled all of her music off the popular streaming service.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Albums don't go platinum anymore. This was amazing that she pulled it off, and to do it without Spotify, without the big streaming service, makes it remarkable.

BALDWIN: In a "Wall Street Journal" op-ed this summer, Swift explained, "There are many people who predict the downfall of music sales and the irrelevancy of the album as an economic entity. I am not one of them."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taylor Swift.

BALDWIN: But traditional music sales are falling. Album sales tumbled nearly 15 percent for the first half of this year. At the same time, on-demand streams are up 42 percent. The problem? Streaming services don't pay musicians very much. On Spotify, it comes out to far less than a penny per stream.

Spotify defends its model, insisting it pays nearly 70 percent of its revenue back to the music community.

But shunning Spotify may not work if your name isn't Taylor Swift.

SWIFT (singing): Welcome to New York

STELTER: This works for her and it works right now, but I don't think it's going to work for many others and I don't think it's going to work in the future. People want to stream. People like me love their Spotify accounts and they even pay for them.

BALDWIN: And Swift can afford to take the chances. She is the second richest woman in music, earning $64 million last year.

SWIFT (singing): I keep cruising, can't stop, won't stop moving

BALDWIN: And the mega-success of "1989" will only make those numbers grow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: So it's interesting when you look at this, because some people would say Taylor Swift is an anomaly and it can work for her but other people and other singer-songwriters need Spotify. But you had someone on your show, wildly successful, who says no way.

BALDWIN (on-camera): So when you talk to these really true singer- songwriters -- I had a woman, Maria Schneider, she's won multiple Grammys, she just wrote a single for David Bowie, she said, listen, Spotify is basically a data collection advertiser and they use music basically as the carrot for consumers. And it's pretty interesting. There was this fascinating article in "Slate" and they talk about how really this is for the percent, the Beyonces, the Taylor Swifts, the Justin Timberlakes. But, beyond that, if you have a singer-songwriter and they're paying their own money, let's say $150,000 to $200,000 for an album, they are getting pennies.

HARLOW: I think the number from "The Wall Street Journal" was .007 cents per stream.

BALDWIN: But the question will be if other artists will pull a Taylor Swift, if others can afford to do that.

HARLOW: Yes, we'll see.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

HARLOW: Thanks for coming, Brooke. We'll be back in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)