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Hacking a Smart Car; Netanyahu Under Pressure to Cancel Congressional Address; Criticisms Continue for NBC's Brian Williams

Aired February 9, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: So you get your brand new car. You have all those smart features and you feel like, ah, life is easier. The problem is, you're right, but it's also easier for hackers. Security experts put 20 different smart cars to the test and the results -- well, let's bring in Rene Marsh. She's our transportation correspondent.

You can break the news, Rene, the bad and the good.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVT. REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: All right. Well, Chris, major automakers, they are failing to protect cars with smart technology against hackers and theft of drivers' personal information. All of that is according to a new report just out this morning.

Now, as you know, nearly all of the cars on the market, they have wireless technologies that could be vulnerable to hacking or even data theft. We know that using laptops, researchers were able to hack into two different vehicles' computer systems using a cable. They sent commands to the car and were able to cause the vehicles to suddenly accelerate, to turn, kill the brakes, even activate the horn.

Now, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, he put out this report. He surveyed 20 major car companies and found that there is a lack of appropriate security measures to essentially protect drivers, as well as their personal information.

You know, technology, like navigational systems, they store data, like your last location that you parked, your current location. So auto- manufacturers collect large amounts of data on your driving history. But oftentimes consumers are not aware of that. We should point out that automakers did sign an agreement to better inform customers about the information that's being collected, but this report just out this morning says it doesn't go far enough when we talk about protecting driver's personal information.

Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. So I have to worry about thieves, meter maids and hackers now with my car. Thanks, Rene.

MARSH: Sounds like it. PEREIRA: All right, thank you.

Time for the five things to know for your new day.

At number one, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will urge President Obama today to resist calls to send weaponry to Ukraine. The EU has adopted new sanctions against Russian-backed separatists, but delayed them for a week to give diplomatic efforts a change.

The family of American hostage Kayla Mueller pleading to ISIS to contact them. They believe their daughter, Kayla, is still alive despite ISIS' claims she was killed in a Jordanian air strike.

The Northeast is getting hammered again with ice and snow. Boston, once again, bearing the brunt of it. Parts of Massachusetts could see another two feet of snow through Tuesday.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson warning the Republican-led Congress, 30,000 Homeland Security personnel could face furlough if it doesn't approve the department's funding by the end of the month.

British singing Sam Smith the big winner at the 57th Grammy Awards. Smith won four, including two of the biggest Grammys for song and record of the year. The award for album of the year, meanwhile, went to Beck.

We update those five things. Be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Michaela.

The White House urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scrap a speech to Congress about Iran's nuclear program. Will this drive an even bigger wedge between the U.S. and Israel?

Plus, you won't see him on television for a few days as more of Brian Williams' reporting comes under scrutiny. Will the veteran journalist return to his nightly newscast?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right, so here is the latest. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure to cancel his visit to address Congress. The concern? It is straining the already tense relationship between President Obama and Israel. Not good, especially during nuke negotiations with Iran. Could the tension actually benefit Iran? That's the main question.

Let's bring in Aaron David Miller. She's a former advisor to six secretaries of state on Arab-Israeli peace negotiations and vice president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center.

Mr. Miller, always a pleasure to have you on. Please help make us better on this topic. Do you think Netanyahu should decline the invitation?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER ADVISER, ARAB-ISRAELI PEACE NEGOTIATIONS: I mean the guy's in a box, Chris. If he comes, visually, he's going to demonstrate that there's a certain amount of freeze to the U.S.- Israeli relationship. More than a few Democrats won't show. The vice president, a staunch stalwart of Israeli won't be there. He's not going to get a meeting at the White House. So that's the problem with coming. And, frankly, he's not going to change the administration's point of view or Congress' when it comes to the end state of these negotiations with Iran. If he doesn't come, he's going to be accused by his supporters and by his adversaries, frankly, of creating a real hash in the U.S.-Israeli relationship and having achieved nothing on an issue that is critically important to him. So the reality is, he's in a box.

I would bet, unless there's some legitimate security-related issue, he probably will come. At least as of yesterday he had every determination and expressed it that he intended to address Congress the first week of March.

CUOMO: Except that one line that came out of the Israeli side, I don't know what level of government it was, suggesting that they had thought the invitation was issued by both sides of the aisle, that everybody was on board with this, you know, suggesting that maybe there was a little duplicity at play. Maybe that gives them and out. We'll have to see how that plays out.

But let's talk about the policy consideration.

MILLER: Sure.

CUOMO: The risk is, well, Israel and the U.S. will have strained relations. Not in really any likelihood. But how does it impact the Iranian situation? And my question to you there is this, have we ever needed -- has the U.S. ever needed Iran more than it does right now if you look at all the different fronts where it's weighing in?

MILLER: Well, the administration clearly believes it does. I mean Iran sits at the nexus of just about everything that Washington cares about. Iraq, Syria, the campaign against ISIS, the nuclear issue, support for Hezbollah, Hamas. So you have the possibility that the administration has banked quite a lot on a nuclear deal as the key to over time perhaps resolving some of these other issues. The Iranian agenda, I think, is a different one and I'm not sure even a deal on nukes, Chris, is going to fundamentally alter Iran's strategy in the region, which, frankly, is at odds with ours on Iraq and clearly in Syria too.

CUOMO: I've been coming to you for help on this for some time. There's something that feels wrong with these nuclear negotiations, like this -- there's no "their" with them. Am I off? Is there something real being negotiated?

MILLER: Well, I think there is something real. I think the problem is that what we have essentially -- the framework within which we're operating is one that even a good deal, over time, could end up being a bad deal. I mean we've conceded Iran's right to enrich uranium. We've conceded Iran's -- the possibility to when this agreement expires, the Iranians are free basically to do whatever they want, including to produce an industrial grade enrichment facility. So -- capability. So even a good deal, frankly -- and a deal isn't going to do much politically for the president either. So, again, this is a Hobbesian (ph) choice, I think. A deal or to risk the consequences of no deal, which, who knows, could be adrift toward further tensions and maybe even more.

CUOMO: Hobbesian choice or Faustian bargain? We'll leave that for coffee. But the last thing is this. When you look at these situations, we haven't' discussed it but it falls into the context, Putin running roughshod over Ukraine, seeming not to be able to be motivated by any power conflict there with the president. What's going on with Netanyahu. What's going on with Iran. Is it fair criticism to say this is all proof of President Obama's foreign agenda failing, his perception of power failing?

MILLER: I think it's fair to say, Chris, that this is not 1945 to 1950 where the United States was a -- was the dominant power, truly (INAUDIBLE) both in Europe, in Asia, to a large degree and in the Middle East. Times have changed. And, frankly, there are real limitations on what the United States can do. I don't buy this leading from behind business, but I do think that you've got an interesting situation.

George W. Bush perhaps was too risk ready in his foreign policy. Maybe Barack Obama is too risk adverse. The real challenge for the next Republican or Democrat is whether or not that person, he or she, can find the right balance between risk readiness on one hand and risk aversion on the other, and therein lies, I think, the key to perhaps a more successful American strategy over there.

CUOMO: Times have changed, but Aaron David Miller, through six secretaries of state, you have been addressing the same issues. But thank you for the benefit of your perspective. Appreciate it, as always.

MILLER: Appreciate it, Chris. Thank you.

CUOMO: Mick, over to you.

PEREIRA: All right, Brian Williams is taking a leave of absence from his "Nightly News" show as more of his reporting comes now under scrutiny. Will he survive this firestorm?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Criticism of Brian Williams is getting louder following revelations that the host of NBC "Nightly News" embellished on a story about covering the Iraq war by falsely claiming that he was on a plane, a helicopter rather, that took RPG fire. The pilot of another chopper that was shot at expressed regret that Williams felt the need to exaggerate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOICE OF DON HELUS, CHOPPER PILOT WHO TOOK RPG FIRE: It saddens me you have so many other combat journalists out there that are in that type of situation, seeing those things happen. And more likely, they probably don't tell the story like that, you know, with embellishment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Brian Williams, for his part, is now backing out of a scheduled appearance with David Letterman. He has announced that he is taking time off of "Nightly News". How soon might he be back, if at all, is a question we have for our guests, Brian Stelter, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" and senior media correspondent. Guess who else is here? Frank Sesno, former CNN Washington bureau chief, director now of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.

Gentlemen, so great to have you both here. Last hour, we were talking to Brian, Frank, that -- about this vulture culture. And I feel like you might want to tap the breaks a little bit and put this into -- maybe to scale it for us. Because you make the point he didn't plagiarize. He didn't falsely create a source, that he didn't outright lie on camera. There was some massaging of truths.

FRANK SESNO, DIR., SCHOOL OF MEDIA & PUBLIC AFFAIRS, GWU: Right, right. This is the old man and the sea, and the old man and the sea actually has been catching fish. But the ones he's been telling us about are just a lot bigger than the ones he really caught, maybe.

PEREIRA: Right, exaggeration.

SESNO: In journalism, to our students in the job you do, we talk about proportionality. How big is the story? How loud do we scream? How bold is the headline? And we have to have proportionality when someone steps out of line like this. And what Brian Williams apparently did is to feather the nest of his story and his life rather liberally. And now he's paying the price. I mean, I saw something this morning --

PEREIRA: Proportionally, paying the price or no?

SESNO: We don't know yet. We don't know yet. And we don't know what else is out there. Because this morning I was reading in Huff Post that now there was some question about was he really mugged as he claimed he was when he was selling Christmas trees in Redbank, New Jersey, in the 1970s. So every word that he has uttered is now open for examination. And if it gets worse, it gets worse

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: You know, my wife was the first one to use the phrase vulture culture to me. But she's right; there's sort of a trial by Twitter that happens these days. But there's a reason why it happens. People in the country feel they've been lied to for a long time by lots of people, including about the Iraq war. So now here we are, relitigating one small piece of the Iraq war, one mission that Brian Williams was on but has exaggerated over time. There's a reason why people react the way they are reacting when they feel they've been lied to. SESNO: Well, especially when your job is supposed to be the

truthteller.

STELTER: And we do have to be held to a different standard.

SESNO: That's your job. When Hilary Clinton said, oh, I think they shot at me in Bosnia. And then they said, well, maybe there was a fishtail there. The public sort of expects public officials to embellish the truth; they don't expect journalists to embellish the truth.

CAMEROTA: When you're a main anchor, your one currency is your credibility. That's what you have. So if his credibility is now called into question, can he go back, Brian, and do his job the same as he was doing a couple weeks ago?

STELTER: It's going to be hard to imagine him sitting at the desk doing what he's always done. I wonder if people will take him as serious or take him in the same way. I have to say, though, a lot of viewers of his, a lot of fans of his, aren't following this the way we as journalists are. And I do wonder if a lot of viewers are going to turn on the TV tonight at 6:30, the way I do whenever I'm home, and I turn on NBC, see Lester Holt, who is a great anchor, but still wish Brian Williams was there. I think those reactions and what the ratings will mean a lot.

CUOMO: Who is judging is also a part of the mix here. Hopefully, what you're saying -- I don't know hopefully or not -- if people aren't as attuned to this as we, that raises another set of questions that go to Frank's proportionality. And also perhaps hypocrisy. Do you think the media is covering it too much? Do you think they're holding him to a standard that they, god forbid, never get held to themselves?

SESNO: This whole thing is so rich with irony you almost don't know where to begin. Because the day of the Walter Cronkite anchor is gone. I mean, because there's so many sources of information. So the idea that he's the only truthteller in the land is not true.

The idea the media are piling on somebody else from the media is true. And that's a feeding frenzy. On the other hand, the media should apply the same amount of scrutiny to those in the media as they apply to any other institution.

So the answer is we live in an age of feeding frenzies. This comes along -- whether it's the Bruce Jenner story or this story or what have you, we have these kind of peaks, these eruptions of attention. And this is one of them. When you live totally in the public eye and you have a paycheck as big as Brian Williams does, which is about what you're paid, I think.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: We need to talk.

SESNO: That's just going to happen. And at some level it should. We need to ask ourselves as a culture have we celebrified ourselves out into hyperspace?

PEREIRA: So here, that's a very good point, because there's this bizarre intersection of celebrity and journalism that's happened. I don't know even know when we can point to when it began, but this is where it proves to be quite problematic.

STELTER: When you were joking about my paycheck, I was about to say, in my dreams. But that's part of the issue here, right? If we're going to pay anchors $10 million a year and we're going to expect them to be everything and be gods, basically, is that maybe a wrong thing? And maybe is that --

SESNO: Yes, well, and then you have the other role of the network. Because on the other hand, the network says be a journalist, be the trusted face of news. They just started running that whole new set of promos --

STELTER: They did.

SESNO: -- about Brian, about how trusted he is. Meanwhile, the PR machine at the network is saying Jon Stewart, go, David Letterman, go. Be out there and be a personality. Be on "30 Rock". Be things you as a journalist, as a pure journalist, would never do.

CUOMO: They're also having their own people talk about the situation. And you can say, hey, Frank Sesno is a friend of mine so I'm not going to give you a completely unbiased opinion, but then give you something that I want you believe the way you believe everything else that I tell you. That's a little dicey also. Maybe a little easier for our friends over at "Morning Joe" because Joe is not a journalist, so he can say it as someone who's just part of --

STELTER: Yes, and there was a full-throated (ph) defense this morning on "Morning Joe" of Brian Williams as a person. They -- Joe also said he thinks nobody can be held to this standard of perfection.

But I'm not sure I agree with that. If you were telling a story about Iraq that's been exaggerated over and over, over the years, we should hold you to a standard that says you're not going to do that.

SESNO: Where is the network?

(CROSSTALK)

SESNO: This is our guy. He's put his life on the line for us.

PEREIRA: I feel like we're going to be talking about this for a while and hopefully, Frank, we can have you join us again, Brian as always. Broken trust is a hard thing to mend; it doesn't happen overnight. It certainly takes time. Let us know what you think. Tweet us or go to our Facebook page, you know how to reach us.

CUOMO: All right, with that going on, you know what we need. Remember this guy? Can we please show who we're going to be talking about? Remember him? All heart and a shovel. We've got news for you and maybe it is the Good Stuff. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right, it's time not just for the Good Stuff. You saw the graphic. This will be the better stuff and here's why -- last week, we told you about a 21-year-old Stephen Madelon out of work, brand new baby. Snow comes, what does he do? Grabs his shovel and takes care of his neighbor for frree. You know why? No, you don't. It was just because.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MADELON: I thought I was just, you know, one guy out there just doing something, making a difference. The reaction you get is -- it's so worth it, it really is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Hard work, not looking for rewards except the satisfaction of that work and helping others. Also known as the ideal employee. And guess what. You stepped up, our brothers and sisters. Since the story aired, Stephen has received a brand new bed, a new kitchen table, hundreds of cards and letters, new clothes for the baby and, yes, job offers.

CAMEROTA: That's awesome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIIP)

MADELON: I expected nothing and I got everything. It's just awesome. The deed in my mind wasn't as big as it was to other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right, so there you go. We'll keep you updated on his efforts to get his family on the right track, so thank you to him and thank you to you.

Lot of news, time to get you to the "NEWSROOM" with Ms. Carol Costello.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEWSROOM": Thanks so much. You guys have a great day.

"NEWSROOM" starts now.