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Taliban Terrorists Kill School Children in Pakistan; Interview with General Pervez Musharraf; Sony Cancels "The Interview" New York Premiere; Lawsuit Filed Against Sony by Ex-Employees

Aired December 17, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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


CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, December 17th. We have breaking news here for you. We're talking about Sony Pictures. They're telling theater owners they can cancel showing the now controversial film "The Interview" if they want to. One of the largest chains in the country has decided to do that.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Plus the big premier tomorrow night in New York City has also been canceled. These moves have in reaction to a terror threat. are threatening to attack theaters that choose to show this comedy which depicts the assassination of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. So for all the latest let's go to Pamela Brown who is tracking all the developments live for us from Washington. What do we know, Pamela?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's clear that the hackers are trying to racket up the fear leading up to the release of the movie next week, and it's working. Some big developments since this threat reportedly from the hackers surfaced yesterday. So far the stars of the controversial comedy have canceled press appearance, and the major theater chain Cinemark has decided not to feature the film. We expect more fallout today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kim Jong-Un wants to do an interview with Dave Skylark?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a fan.

BROWN: Amid mounding threats form the hackers to call off its Christmas release, Sony says it currently has no plans to pull its upcoming movie "The Interview."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take him out.

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

BROWN: But now developing, a person close to the situation says Sony would not object if theaters decide to pull it from their box offices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to go kill Kim Jong-Un?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Totally.

BROWN: Carmike Cinemas, reportedly the first movie chain to pull the plug from their more than 270 theaters across more than 40 states. Landmark Theaters also bailing, canceling Thursday's premier in New York. Even the film's stars, Seth Rogan and James Franco, dropping out of all media appearances this week, this fear in the movie industry prompted by a new threatening message purportedly from the Sony hackers, the FBI investigating their promise of a bitter fate to anyone who sees the controversial North Korean comedy. The message says, "Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September, 2001."

CRAIG A. NEWMAN, MANAGING PARTNER, RICHARDS, KIBBE, AND ORBE: Now they've got the threats against people. If you see the movie, be careful. They're threatening the families of Sony employees. This has taken hacking to a level that we've never seen before.

BROWN: This week a leaked scene from the film was posted showing the gruesome assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, something the country condemns as an act of war. U.S. law enforcement sources tell CNN the strong suspicion is that the reclusive country is the instigator of the hack and possibly outsourced it to a group elsewhere as retaliation for the controversial film. The FBI is scrubbing Sony's computer system, trying to gather enough evidence to be able to definitively point the finger at the hacking culprit.

NEWMAN: It is a complex, nuanced investigation. The more sophisticated hackers have gone through multiple, multiple infrastructures to get to where they've gotten to. So it's not something that Sony is going to solve in a day or a week or a month.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In fact it could take months. Sources I've spoken to say the hackers had access to the Sony computer system for several months before the FBI was brought in, so a lot of time to do damage, making it even harder for investigators to get to the bottom of it. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Pamela, and there will be more developments about what the U.S. government is doing in response to the Sony situation and we'll get to that.

But first, we really want to turn to what's going on in Pakistan because it seems to be the new reality of radical Islam. Funerals have begun for the 132 children killed in a horrific massacre at an army school in Pakistan at the hands of Taliban militants.

Now, in response to this heinous attack, Pakistan's prime minister has lifted a moratorium on the death penalty for terrorism cases. But to be frank, this is all-out war, and a lot of questions are being asked now about how much power the Taliban actually has in Pakistan and if the government and the military is doing enough and can do enough to stop them. Our next guest has a very unique perspective on all this. He was president of Pakistan for seven years from 2001 until 2008 and one of the pillars of the military there. He is General Pervez Musharraf joining NEW DAY exclusively this morning. General, thank you for joining us on NEW DAY. I'm sorry that it is on this occasion. Our condolences to the people of Pakistan and the families who were victimized in this situation.

GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, FORMER PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN: Thank you very much. Yes, indeed. We all owe condolences to those families, and may Allah shower his blessings on the departed souls of these young boys.

CUOMO: General, is what we just saw here an aberration, or do you believe this is the new face of radical Islam and what their intentions are?

MUSHARRAF: No, it's not an aberration certainly. It's a continuation off of whatever has been happening over the last 15 years in the region and in our tribal agencies. It's a continuation of that. And maybe because of lack of resolve from the government side here, they have got strengthened. The terrorists have got more encouraged and more strengthened.

CUOMO: Why is that? What has happened with the Pakistani government and military? How little control of the situation do you have?

MUSHARRAF: Well, I think the situation is serious definitely, but it's controllable by the military. Here the problem has been over the past six, seven years that the government, the elected governments, the so-called democratic governments were showing lack of resolve in dealing with terrorism. And there was a lack of direction and real strategy and policy being given to the military, to the law enforcers, to be implemented. So that has been the problem.

CUOMO: And to be frank, General, that suspicion, that concern about the resolve has existed before, the period that you point to during your own administration. Full disclosure, you and I have discussed this several different times. Let me remind you of something that you said about the war on terror, specifically finding and returning Osama bin Laden to the United States. Let's play the clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: If you knew where Osama bin Laden was, would you go in and get him and turn him over to the United States?

MUSHARRAF: Let's get into the semantics, but we will get the target, yes, indeed. Absolutely.

CUOMO: Even if it were Osama bin Laden?

MUSHARRAF: Absolutely.

CUOMO: And you would turn him over to the U.S.?

MUSHARRAF: Let's not talk about --

CUOMO: It's a big question.

MUSHARRAF: How we will behave with him, will we treat him very well or we'll beat him or something. Why get into it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Now, at the time you were then president and general, and that was interpreted at their being two minds in the fight against terror when it comes to Pakistan, that there is a division of sympathies between the terrorists and those who want to fight terror. Did that exist then and does it still exist now?

MUSHARRAF: No, not at all. I totally disagree with what you said.

CUOMO: It's what you said, general, not me.

MUSHARRAF: I was not committing myself. I was not committing myself to hand over Osama to the United States. Doesn't mean that I have two minds. We have to deal with him. We have our own honor and dignity. We have our own environment to cover. If we don't want to give Osama bin Laden to the United States that does not mean we're pro-terrorism. Absolutely not. We are fighting terrorism. We will deal with Osama bin Laden in the interests of Pakistan and not in the interests of the United States. So how do you conclude from that that we are double- minded on fighting terrorism? I'm sorry, I don't accept this argument.

CUOMO: It comes, the argument comes from the context. Not only is it what you said, your own words, but also evidence of a double-game that when you look at the areas where radical Islam has been able to take root, these are the same areas where you allowed as proxy these Pashtun warriors to fight wars for Pakistan, to be separate, almost as a Frankenstein monster. And you said yourself that there's sentimentalities. It's complicated in Pakistan when it comes to how people feel about terrorists.

MUSHARRAF: No, no. This is a complicated situation here. Unfortunately, you in the United States do not accept your own blunder that you have committed. I have said that whatever has happened here, whatever the reorganization, the regrouping of the Taliban occurred because of your failure in Afghanistan to convert a military victory into a political victory. And when I say political victory, to put a government in Afghanistan representative of the ethnic groups. And in that the Pashtuns being 50 percent of Afghanistan should have had the leadership. You did not do that. So therefore you alienated the entire Pashtun community, and therefore Taliban came into being again. They rose again. They reorganized themselves started fighting.

So this blunder you should accept. No, there are a lot of things where Taliban, now what was happening within Afghanistan, where there was a Shia dominated government here in Afghanistan and why Pakistan has ethnic, geographic, historical, and culture links.

CUOMO: Yes.

MUSHARRAF: It's the Pashtun community who was being alienated.

CUOMO: I understand.

MUSHARRAF: And then you have the Taliban. So we had our own way of dealing with the situation.

CUOMO: Right.

MUSHARRAF: That maybe may sometimes clash with your interests. But it certainly was not clashing with our common interest of dealing with terrorism and fighting terrorism.

CUOMO: While there --

MUSHARRAF: We were doing it in Pakistan. We should not be dictated by you on that issue.

CUOMO: Except that you say it's complicated and you're right, but in a little bit of a different way also. You got a tremendous amount of assets and money and military and otherwise from the United States because you were supposed to be joint purposes here. And while there may be lots of blame to go around, isn't it true if you're going to talk about what's happening in Afghanistan specifically with the disorder of the Taliban there in Afghanistan, isn't it true that there are Pakistani foreign military officers that greatly help and control what's happening with Afghanistan's Taliban and that you allowed that to continue under your watch?

MUSHARRAF: No. Tremendous amount of resources being given et cetera, this has been trashed so many times. This is what you keep saying.

CUOMO: Is it not true? Is anything I just say untrue?

MUSHARRAF: No, at all. It is absolutely not true. Some amount has been given.

CUOMO: Some amount? Billions of dollars.

MUSHARRAF: You've been talking about $10 billion. I know. I've been on your television so many times, $10 billion over, I don't know, six years, and out of it half of the $10 billion was reimbursement of services provided, which means it was our money. You were reimbursing us $5 billion.

CUOMO: No. We were paying you to do things. The United States was paying you, general. The United States was paying you fees for Pakistan --

MUSHARRAF: No. That was for our services.

Anyway, let's not get into this discussion because I've said many times you have helped to the tune of about $400 million a year, per annum. It's not a great amount. If you see the hundreds of billions of dollars that you've spent here and hundreds of billions you've spent in Iraq, if you give Pakistan for fighting terrorism and also promoting your cause, the cause was common, fighting terrorism, if you've giving $400 million to Pakistan, that is certainly not such a huge amount.

CUOMO: Let's look at this current situation because, look, the past helps understand why we are where we are, but the question is, how do we move forward? You have your own situation right now. You're technically under some type of detention in Karachi. But you seem to be working 0 your way out of your political and legal problems there, which may be a commentary of the instability of the government there. But it's about where you go now.

You have a situation now with these children who have been sacrificed in a war they have no role in. And it begs the question of whether or not there will be a new resolve to fight the radicalism in your country. Do you believe that will happen?

MUSHARRAF: It will happen. I think it will because the people of Pakistan want it. People of --

CUOMO: All right. We lost the general there. But, look -- I think he's back.

MUSHARRAF: -- and the military is totally on -- military also feels that we have to crush them. So therefore it will happen.

But let me also say, the problem is where you can help us, you don't help us. Now the person, the commander, thisAbdullah is the man who is the head of TTP, the Taliban in Pakistan. Do you know where he is? He's in Afghanistan. And I'm reasonably sure that he's being supported -- he was supported by the Karzai government. He's being supported by rah of India who carry out these terrorists attacks in Pakistan. I am reasonably sure that your intelligence would be on board. They must be knowing where he is. Why don't you help Pakistan? The problem is your terrorists have to be our terrorists, but our terrorists, somehow you ignore that. You don't take them to be your terrorists. Why don't you help Pakistan? Why don't you tell rah to lay off?

CUOMO: I think the --

MUSHARRAF: Lay off. Why didn't you tell President Karzai to hand over this man, Abdullah, to Pakistan? Have you said this? No, sir, never.

CUOMO: General, I understand your perspective and I know that it is complicated. However, you know, the United States and the west could ask you the same question. You have former military officers that are hemming organize the Taliban in Afghanistan. You must have good intelligence also because they're your own people there. It's complicated. The question is, where is the way forward?

General Musharraf, there's a lot of speculation that you may come back into power there, as bizarre as that might sound. So we thank you for your perspective, and we look forward to seeing where you take the country.

MUSHARRAF: Thank you. Thank you very much.

CUOMO: Thank you.

A lot of news this morning. That was a big story we're covering, but there are others as well, so let's get you to Michaela for the headlines.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Chris, thanks so much.

Here are those headlines at 14 past the hour.

Breaking overnight: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott demanding a joint investigation into the Sydney siege. Now, among many of his questions, how the gunman was not on the country's terrorists list and how he was able to legally get his hand on a gun.

In the meantime, a makeshift memorial is growing at the hostage site where people are leaving flowers and cards and signing condolence books, all in honor of the two victims whose lives were lost.

The manhunt for a suspected mass murderer in Pennsylvania is over. Bradley Williams Stone's body was found in the woods near his home outside of Philadelphia. Officials say the Iraq war veteran appears to have died from self-inflicted knife wounds. Stone was suspected of killing is wife and five of her relatives, including a 14-year-old.

An update for you here now: actor Stephen Collins is publicly confessing to sexually abusing underage girls in a statement to "People" magazine. "The Seventh Heaven" actor said he assaulted seven girls from 1973 to 1994. He now says he deeply regrets what happened and claims he has not had an impulse to do it again in the last 20 years. Collins' admission comes after a private recording to him confessing to child molestation was released by TMZ.

This is a wonderful thing to share with you. The sound of a baby crying is music to the ears of this mother of six.

Mariah lost her hearing late in life and never heard her six-month-old son Morgan cry or coo. Well, that changed earlier this week with the help from a California Hearing Aid Center. For the past five years, they've given free hearing aides to people who could not afford it otherwise. This year, 12 people between the ages of 33 and 94 were given the gift of hearing.

CUOMO: The good stuff.

CAMEROTA: That's so great.

PEREIRA: I'm sorry. I got a pre-emptive jump on it.

CUOMO: Oh, no, don't apologize for that.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Yes, it makes us all grateful to hear a baby crying.

PEREIRA: Absolutely. Good perspective.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Michaela.

All right. Movie theaters pulling the plug on "The Interview" after being threatened with terror attacks. Sony Pictures is in crisis as former employees file lawsuits saying the company ignored warnings to secure employee information.

We'll tell you all of the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: The New York premiere of the controversial new movie "The Interview" tomorrow night is canceled as a major theater chain announces it's pulling the plug as well. All in reaction to a terror threat made by cyber hackers who sent Sony Pictures into crisis mode.

This as two former Sony employees filed a class action lawsuit alleging Sony failed to secure its computer systems.

There is a lot to get to. So, let's begin with Brian Stelter. He's our senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES."

Also joining is Cari Laufenberg. She's an attorney and partner with Keller Rohrback, that's the Seattle law firm who has filed that compliant.

Cari, we'll get you in one second.

Brian, I want to start with you. The past 24 hours have gotten more ominous. We're not just talking about salacious e-mails anymore. We're talking about threats. They threatened to do a 9/11-style attack on any theater that actually airs this movie.

What's happening?

BRIAN STELTER, HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Well, of course, they want to scare them away from seeing the film. The hackers think they have power him. I'm afraid some of the theater owners are giving them power by deciding not to show the movie next week. This puts Sony in a very tough position and the theaters in a tough position. Sony is saying to the owners, we understand that if you don't decide to show the film. At the same time, Sony is thinking about other ways to release it. Maybe they could stream it online and let you pay a few bucks and watch it from the comfort of your own home.

CAMEROTA: Isn't that the answer? Isn't that the answer? Otherwise movie theaters, nobody wants a repeat of the Aurora, Colorado tragedy.

STELTER: But a lot of people think that's farfetched. I mean, we're talking about cyber hackers, people that maybe -- might be we -- don't know, might be sitting in the basement in the middle of nowhere doing this. We don't think they have that much power. The federal government said they don't think there's any threat here.

But the mere words, the mere possibility is enough to make some of these theater owners walk away.

And the source told me this morning, the concern is not just about "The Interview." The concern is that theater goers won't go to the theaters at all. They won't go and see "Unbroken". They won't go and see "Into the Woods". Any movie around the Christmas holiday season, and that's a real problem for theaters. CAMEROTA: Look, you're probably right. It is probably hackers in a basement somewhere. And they're not capable of any sort of 9/11-style attack.

However, the NYPD, no shrinking violets, felt it was best to cancel the premier because they can't tell, the said, if it's a cyber threat, if it's a cyber attack or a physical attack. As of today, they actually can't tell what these cyber hackers are threatening.

STELTER: But, of course, that's what they want to install fear. They want to instill fear and we as Americans, we as citizens of the world, don't have to let them succeed in their attempt to instill fear. I think we think about this in Sydney earlier this week and we think about that now with a Sony movie, a comedy movie that has suddenly become this big controversy.

CAMEROTA: Ms. Laufenberg, I want to start with you about what -- your law firm represents some of the employees who say that Sony was reckless in terms of their computer system. What are the employees claiming?

CARI LAUFENBERG, ATTORNEY FOR FORMER SONY EMPLOYEES: The employees are claiming that Sony was already well-informed of the security breaches that had occurred in the past couple of years, that it knew that its data had been compromised and was at risk of further compromise. And it did nothing to secure that data, to make sure that employees' most personal and sensitive information could not be accessed, and now in the hands of criminals.

CAMEROTA: What sorts of information are we talking about?

LAUFENBERG: Well, we're talking about the kinds of information that would be in most of our employer files, Social Security numbers, salary, bonus information, severance package information, dates of birth, passport scans, all kinds of information that are now available on the black market.

CAMEROTA: Now, if, in fact, Sony did know that their computer systems were vulnerable, why didn't they do anything about it?

LAUFENBERG: Well, that's a very good question. And we don't have a good answer. I mean, what's come to light and in fact through some of the hacked information, is that Sony's general counsel and its IT department had serious concerns about the safety of its electronically stored information. And we also know that it was looking for opportunities to make cost cutting and accepted the risk of not buttressing its security further.

So, when you take those facts further with the prior hacks and release of information, for instance in the Sony PlayStation litigation, which was just settled by Sony a couple months ago, you have a situation that is quite outrageous and egregious and it's really upsetting to Sony's current and former employees.

CAMEROTA: Quickly, how much money are your clients seeking? LAUFENBERG: Well, you know, it's really hard to put a dollar figure

on this. But I can tell you that it is not going to be cheap for these people for the rest of their lives to monitor their identity and their credit by, you know, purchasing security from various service providers. These services do not come cheaply. And so, it's going to be expensive for them to try and mitigate the damage that Sony has caused.

STELTER: You know, it's a reminder that there's been embarrassing e- mails. But there's serious damage done to a lot of rank and file employees, private medical records and Social Security numbers, that's real damaging.

CAMEROTA: Sony is in trouble, Brian, not only will this lawsuit cost money, redoing their computer systems will cost money, who knows what the future of this movie is and its reputation has been tarnished. Where does Sony go from here?

STELTER: It's an incredible financial blow to repair all this damage. At the town hall meeting the head of the company tried to ensure staffers that they're in a strong financial position. They're not talking about the end of the studio, as we know it. They are still making movies right now. They are still making TV shows, but this is all anyone is talking about, and the financial repercussions are going to last for years.

CAMEROTA: Brian Stelter, Cari Laufenberg, thanks for all of the information this morning.

STELTER: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: We want to hear from you on this topic. Would you go see this movie despite the threats? Should bit released aced at all? Go to Facebook.com/NewDay or you can tweet us @newday.

Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Alisyn, so if you're one of those folks who feel young at heart, you know what, you may be doing the right thing. You could be adding years to your life. This is about science.

Researchers have dug up facts and when Sanjay Gupta comes in here, our doctor is going to give you the information on this new reckoning of how we feel meaning how we are. By the way, Sanjay is 11.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)