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CNN NEWSROOM

Alan Gross Press Conference; U.S./Cuban Relations; Alan Gross Free; Theaters Drop Movie

Aired December 17, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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


ALAN GROSS, RELEASED FROM CUBAN PRISON: This is great.

JUDY GROSS, WIFE OF ALAN GROSS: (INAUDIBLE)

GROSS: Yeah.

I have to say (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) and happy holiday season to all of you. Today is the first day of Hanukkah, and I guess, so far, it's the best Hanukkah that I'll be celebrating for a long time.

(LAUGHTER)

ALAN GROSS: What a blessing it is to be a citizen of this country and thank you, President Obama, for everything that you have done today and leading up to today.

I want to acknowledge the extraordinary determined efforts of my wife, Judy. Forty-four and a half years we've been married. I know you're not 44 and a half any more, but -- and my lawyer and personal Moses, Scott Gilbert (ph) and their efforts to restore my freedom. They have my endless gratitude, love and respect.

The relentless and often intense efforts by Judy and Scott, the partners and associates and staff of Gilbert LLP law firm, that's where we are right now, they made me take the jacket off. I didn't want to take it off, but they said I got to take it off. Tim Recer (ph) of Capitol Hill, Jill Zuckman (ph) of SKD Nickerbacker, have been inconceivable. Their efforts have been inconceivable.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont has been instrumental in shepherding the arrival of this day. And I want to thank all of the members of Congress from all sides of the aisle, such as Senator Flake, Representatives Chris Van Hollen and Barbara Lee, and numerous others who spoke up or visited me, subjected themselves to my ranting and helped me regain some of my weight. Even in Cuba, M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hands.

To all of those who tried to visit me but were unable to, thank you for trying. I'm at your service as soon as I get some new teeth and I hope that they'll be strong and sharp enough to make a difference.

To the Washington Jewish community, Ron Halber (ph) in particular, and his staff at the Jewish Community Relations Council, JCRC, all the executive directors, staff and volunteers of participating JCRCs, federations, synagogues, schools and other Jewish, Christian and Muslim organizations nationwide, God bless you and thank you. It was crucial to my survival knowing that I was not forgotten. Your prayers and your actions have been comforting, reassuring and sustaining. And to my extended family, especially my sister, Bonnie, my cousins and friends, Howard, Bruce, our Shabat (ph) group, Noni (ph) and Larry and so many others who exemplify the true meaning of friendship, thank you.

I do understand that there are many others who actively participated in securing my freedom of whom I'm only nominally aware at this juncture. I promise I will express a more direct and personal gratitude just as soon as I know who you are. But ultimately - ultimately the decision to arrange for and secure my release was made in the Oval Office. To President Obama and the NSA staff, thank you. In my last (INAUDIBLE), I wrote that despite my five-year tenure in captivity, I would not want to trade places with him and I certainly wouldn't want to trade places with him on this glorious day.

Five years of isolation notwithstanding, I did not need daily briefings to be cognizant of what are undoubtedly incredible challenges facing our nation and the global community. I also feel compelled to share with you my utmost respect for and fondness of the people of Cuba. In no way are they responsible for the ordeal to which my family and I have been subjected. To me, Cubanos (ph), or at least most of them, are incredibly kind, generous and talented. It pains me to see them treated so unjustly as a consequence of two governments' mutually belligerent policies.

Five and a half decades of history show us that such belligerence inhibits better judgment. Two wrongs never make a right. I truly hope that we can now get beyond these mutually belligerent policies and I was very happy to hear what the president had to say today. It was particularly cool to be setting next to the secretary of state as he was hearing about his job description for the next couple of months.

In all seriousness, this is game changer, which I fully support. In the meantime, I ask that you respect my wishes for complete and total privacy. (INAUDIBLE). A judicious lesson that I've learned from this experience is that freedom is not free. And as personified by Scott and our entire team, we must never forget the two pillars of Moses' covenant, freedom and responsibility. I'm incredibly blessed finally to have the freedom to resume a positive and constructive life, but for now I'll close with a quote from one of Nelson Damil's (ph) characters (ph). "It's good to be home." Thank you and I wish you all a happy holiday season. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are your wishes for -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, everybody.

GROSS: I support the president. Thank you very much.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Just wanted to hang in there to see if he would be answering any of those questions. I mean just imagine that room there, all of the members of the media, you know, cameras going off, finally really witnessing history. I mean this is a man, Alan Gross, standing finally by his wife Judy's side, you know, after five years in prison in Cuba, serving five of his 15 year sentence for trying to basically bring the Internet, go around the Cuban blockade and bring this Jewish community Internet.

We have a lot to talk about. Again, let me repeat, we are watching history in the making. The United States and Cuba, after 50 years of ill will and resentment, have pledged to bury the hatchet. American Alan Gross, imprisoned by Cuba for the past five years, as of late this morning and as you just saw him speak for the very first time, back on U.S. soil. His release by Cuba apparently paved the way for this monumental shift aimed at full restoration of diplomatic ties, the mere mention of which is political dynamite among vocal Cubans exiles.

President Obama -- you just heard Alan Gross really thanking the Oval Office here, you know, sealing the deal in his phone call with Cuba's president, Raul Castro, and announced it to the nation two hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've instructed Secretary Kerry to immediately begin discussions with Cuba, to reestablish diplomatic relations that have been severed since January of 1961. Going forward, the United States will reestablish an embassy in Havana and high ranking officials will visit Cuba.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Again, let me repeat, we are talking half a century of strife that started in earnest with the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was about as close as the world had ever come to full on nuclear war.

We are also talking about the Castro support from Marxist revolutions in Latin America, and then we recall the perilous journeys across the Florida Straits of Cubans seeking freedom on U.S. soil and the angry, angry official attacks, such as this one uttered after Cuba downed a small aircraft whose Cuban pilot was trying to defect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Frankly, this is not cohonas (ph). This is cowardice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Again, cowardice, not cohones. Pretty much reflective there of U.S./Cuba relations for as long as anyone can remember. And today, mark this date, December 17, 2014, it changes everything.

Lots and lots to talk about here. We have Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, joining me now from Orlando.

Senator, wonderful to have you on. Thanks for joining me.

SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: Well, it's a hallelujah day, not only for Alan, but we know have two Americans home in that exchange. And then a whole bunch of other things are going to happen in the future, as you just heard.

BALDWIN: Let me get to the other things in a second. But first, Senator, I'd love just to hear your gut reaction to seeing Mr. Gross there, almost jovial, joking - making -- cracking jokes here. He's been in a Cuban prison for five years. He's back on U.S. soil. He's got his popcorn and his, you know, corn beef and rye sandwich on the plane. I mean, what did you make of what we just witnessed there?

NELSON: Just amazing. The American spirit is alive and well, even though they subjected him to such brutal conditions. So this is a hallelujah day.

And, by the way, when he gets around to finding out about all those people that helped. President Martelly of Haiti, at my request, went in a state visit to Raul Castro and asked for Castro -- this is a couple of years ago -- to release him. And at that point Castro told him, we want to talk to the U.S. government. So indeed there were a lot of people that were helping out.

BALDWIN: You know, I hear you singing hallelujah. But there are a couple of Republicans who definitely aren't. You have Senator Marco Rubio. It's a lifeline for the Castro regime that will allow them to become more profitable. The embargo is leverage, these sanctions are leverage. Jeb Bush, I don't think we should be negotiating with a repressive regime to make changes in our relationship. Senator Graham, this is an incredibly bad idea. What's your take on that?

NELSON: Well, I'm as anti-Castro as any of them. And I think this is a step in the right direction. It's time for us in the 21st century to move on, but this, of course, is conditioned upon Raul's willingness to give freedom to the Cuban people. Now, he released some dissidents. We're going to start these negotiations about recognizing Cuba. Let's see if he's going to give freedom of speech and of the press and freedom of assembly. Let's see if this really happens. And, if so, there will be an economic renaissance between the United States and Cuba, and especially my state of Florida.

BALDWIN: It's incredible to think. My mother grew up in Miami. It's incredible to think of what, you know, her generation witnessed and sort of maybe this changing of the tide. But the other part of this story that absolutely fascinates me, and this is something I watched Raul Castro's address at noon, I watched the president's -- President Obama's address. I understand that the pope was involved. You know, the Vatican, Senator Nelson, you know, facilitated some of these talks. Can you tell me any more about the involvement of Pope Francis and do you think that helps give -- we mentioned the criticism - you know, a little political cover for President Obama?

NELSON: The pope was. I have that on direct information. And again, it's showing what an extraordinary man this new pope is. Not only is he remaking the Catholic Church, but he is really putting his efforts at peace where his mouth is and he's making it happen. And now we need to turn him to the Middle East and on and on, on many other troubled spots of the world.

BALDWIN: Right. Final question, senator, from all the people asking me on Twitter, let me post it to you, when can everyone finally go to Cuba?

NELSON: Well, give Secretary Kerry some time to negotiate this. Let's see if they are genuine in the Cuban government, that they're going to start giving freedom to their people, and then we can start going to Cuba.

BALDWIN: All right. Senator Bill Nelson from Florida, thank you so much, sir, for joining me today on this historic, historic moment.

NELSON: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Part of the history here, we have our chief Washington correspondent and host of "The Lead," Jake Tapper - there he is -- standing outside where that news conference just took place.

You saw Alan Gross and his wife with your own eyes. You felt that -- perhaps some of that magic, that history in the room. What was that like?

JAKE TAPPER, HOST, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a very, obviously, very special moment. Alan Gross just in the United States for a few hours. He came into the room and the first thing he did, after remarking on all the reporters who were there to cover his return, his release from a Cuban prison, was he noticed that there were two American flags behind the podium and he looked over and he touched one of them. I guess it had probably been the first time he'd touched, maybe even seen an American flag in more than five years, other than on the plane he was on perhaps this morning.

He seemed remarkably composed, as you heard. And then there was another thing that we had been told about by the family spokeswoman, Jill Zuckman (ph), that he had lost several teeth, especially some of his front teeth, while in captivity. We were told that ahead of time. He gave the crowd a big smile after noting that he needed to go to the dentist. He had a litany of people that he thanked, as you heard. Obviously, President Obama, his wife, his attorney, members of Congress who had been working hard, the Jewish community, which had been working hard. He noted that today was the first day of Hanukkah and he wished the crowd a happy holidays several times.

And he talked about the remarkable moment he had today after he had landed, while he was at Andrews Joint Air Base today, a meeting with members of Congress who were there, senators and members of the House of Representatives. Coincidentally, Secretary of State John Kerry landed at Andrews and he went into the building where Alan Gross was.

BALDWIN: That wasn't preplanned, right, Jake?

TAPPER: No. That was a coincidence.

BALDWIN: Crazy.

TAPPER: And Kerry went into the building, gave him a big hug, and this was right around noon, and then they sat on the couch and watched President Obama announce this new Cuba policy -

BALDWIN: Amazing.

TAPPER: And Gross joked that he was watching Secretary of State Kerry learn from his boss what he was going to be doing for the next few months. And he firmly said he - that he supported the new policy. He, in fact, referred at one point to criticizing both the United States and Cuban governments' policies towards one another, which had hurt the Cuban people, and he made sure to thank the Cuban people, the Cubanos (ph), most of whom he said he loved.

BALDWIN: That's right, he said he had the utmost respect and fondness for most of the people of Cuba. Phenomenal details. If you get any more, Jake Tapper, we'll put you back on TV. Thank you so, so much, in Washington there.

And as you can imagine, given this story today, the reaction is pouring in, in Havana. We have the only TV correspondent there live. We will talk to him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We'll get you back to the breaking news here and talk to someone in Havana, Cuba, in just a minute. But first, the latest on the holiday comedy that's turning into this just total nightmare for Sony Pictures. Sony is giving its blessing to theaters that decide not to show "The Interview." And some chains are definitely now taking them up on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You two are going to be in a room alone with Kim and the CIA would love it if you could take him out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take him out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For coffee?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dinner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For chimchi (ph)?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The Seth Rogan/James Franco movie has raised hackles in North Korea and put Sony at the mercy of hackers who are now threatening people who go see this film. At least two theater chains that we know of at this moment are pulling the film. That obviously could change any second. The country's oldest theater group, Bow Tie Cinemas, announcing today it will not be showing the interview at any of its 58 theaters. Keep in mind, it comes out Christmas Day. Earlier we'd been reporting Carmike Cinemas dropped "The Interview" from all 278 of its locations. I know, it's a lot. We're going to talk to Jay Thomas in a second here, who's laughing over this. Tomorrow night's premiere at a theater in New York has also been

called off, right, so this is pouring in. Seth Rogen, James Franco have canceled their press tour for the movie, but filmmaker Judd Apatow, who produced Rogen and Franco's 2008 comedy "Pineapple Express," isn't letting the threat stop him. We go to Abatow's Twitter. He says, "I am not going to let a terrorist threat shut down freedom of speech. I am going to 'The Interview'." Here he is. Finally in person. What a treat for me. Emmy Award winning actor and SiriusXM radio host Jay Thomas is here.

Good to see you, sir.

JAY THOMAS, SIRIUSXM RADIO HOST: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: So for -- when you're reacting to all of those theaters -

THOMAS: Yes.

BALDWIN: You know, saying no, what were you thinking?

THOMAS: On my Sirius radio show months ago when they said they were going to - you know, you knew this was coming, they were going to kill this guy, I said, well, can you imagine if we did a movie to kill the Iranian president or they did a movie where they were going to kill Barack Obama. And I said, you know, this guy is nuts. The Japanese head of Sony had never, ever done anything to the movie department. He called them up and he says, are you crazy? They blow his head up and his skull goes -- this guy has nuclear weapons that he shoots over us. So I --

BALDWIN: So you don't think it's appropriate, period. Because there was apparently a film, I think it was a British film or a South Korean film from a couple of years ago that assassinated George W. Bush, right -

THOMAS: I remember that one.

BALDWIN: And at the time Hillary Clinton said it was despicable.

THOMAS: It was.

BALDWIN: Yet now we have this. You say it's not OK, whether it's the North Korea's leader or our leader or Iran's leader.

THOMAS: Well, you picked a crazy person. And he - he would love -

BALDWIN: Has crazy capabilities.

THOMAS: He is the craziest guy you can get. And maybe the movie is hysterical. But -- and then what's funny about Hollywood is, everyone is so -- such a chicken in Hollywood. Look at them running. Look at them running. So they're really tough and they're, you know, creative, you know, integrity and all that and that becomes immediate crap when someone scares them. So they all run away. They'll all be fine. But it's absolutely hysterical to me. The guy is nuts. He said, I'll do something if you do this. And I think most people think it's really funny.

BALDWIN: Well, Sony's not laughing.

THOMAS: Sure.

BALDWIN: They're calling this cyberterrorism. Now there's this threat that's basically saying, you know, from this group, remember 9/11, threatening any theatergoer on Christmas Day.

THOMAS: That's all probably North Korea. It's probably all North Korea.

BALDWIN: We don't know that. It could be someone - you know, it could be -- North Korea could hire someone to do this. It could be someone not at all, you know, related to. It could be someone trying to sound like North Korea and isn't. We just don't know.

THOMAS: Yes.

BALDWIN: But do you think, given the threat, laughable or not, do you think Sony shouldn't release the film, period.

THOMAS: It's really -- it's really scary if he launches against an island in -- a disputed island that they have. Yes, it's kind of scary. Now they're say they edited it down so that the head doesn't blow up as badly. Well, you blow one head up, you've blown a head up. Ad some people say it's very funny also.

BALDWIN: They had to tone it down. That's what we - that's part of what we learned in the leaked e-mails.

THOMAS: But what - they killed the guy. You know, what -- would it have been any better if they'd have made it into a fictitious guy? I don't know. They will never show it in Asia. That's a huge market. My answer is, I probably would pull it. I would probably pull it.

BALDWIN: As an actor, and we just said, you know, Rogan and Franco aren't doing these scheduled press, you know, the junkets, the press conferences.

THOMAS: That's bad. That's really bad.

BALDWIN: Would you be doing the same thing?

THOMAS: No.

BALDWIN: Would you hang back?

THOMAS: I would -- if I did the movie and I said that I wanted all of this creative integrity, how could I not have thought the guy - the crazy person that we're doing the movie about wouldn't launch missiles. So, no, I would have gone to them and taken my medicine. And if they do strike, Seth Rogan and James Franco, what a great end to their careers. They made a movie. They kept their integrity. And they caused a guy to launch a missile. I don't think he will.

BALDWIN: Oh.

THOMAS: But think about it for a second. I mean they were told this when they first started all of this. The guy said -- it's like I'm -- if you say I'm going to punch you in the nose, they did it.

BALDWIN: Right.

THOMAS: And so, as a broadcaster, when I look at it, I go -- as an actor, you know, I'd have done the movie in five seconds, you know, (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: Hopefully - hopefully it's a pump fake. Jay Thomas, thank you.

THOMAS: We'll see. We'll see. I think it would be against Japan, maybe not the United States.

BALDWIN: OK.

THOMAS: And that's upsetting to everybody over there.

BALDWIN: All right, Jay Thomas, thank you so much for swinging by. I appreciate it.

THOMAS: Yes, I'd have gone to the opening, of course. You know me.

BALDWIN: I know. I know. Thank you.

THOMAS: If they give you first class airfare, I'd have been there.

BALDWIN: I'm sure they do. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. Jay, thank you so much.

THOMAS: I do know. OK, thanks.

BALDWIN: The smallest coffins - coming up, the smallest coffins are the heaviest. That is just one tweet in response to unimaginable tragedy in Pakistan. CNN has new information today on the six men who scaled the wall of a school and commenced this massacre.

And, more of our breaking news coverage out of Cuba, where the so- called Cuban Five, some of whom were exchanged in this swap for this American, one senator calls them convicted spies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Another December, another day I sit in front of the camera telling you about children taking their last breaths inside what is supposed to be the safest place in the world, their school. Last night, parents went home without their children, 132 children. All that's left are their empty pillows holding the scent of sons and daughters. Their toys, their pajamas all left behind because just hours before they put on those uniforms to go to school, as they did each and every morning, but this time would be the last time their parents would wish them a good day, to say good-bye. That is because monsters, killers decided to take their way to the

most innocent among us, the ones who cannot nor should have to ever fight back. These gunman, Taliban militants, ambushed this school, armed with guns and explosives and zero intention of leaving anyone alive, all of this while kids took math tests and others hid beneath benches until the killers found them. Students watched their teachers die before the terrorists pointed their guns at them, shooting pointblank.

Outside, horrified parents stood waiting, listening to those gunshots, watching the terror unfold, wondering if there son or their daughter had survived. Parents and relatives raced through these hospitals and, in some cases, ran through the morgue looking for their children. One father told the Associated Press, and I'm quoting him, "my son was in a uniform this morning. He's in a casket now. My son was my dream. My dream has been killed."