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FaceBook Access of Private Information; Storm to Cause Delays; Hacked European Cables; Flynn Sentencing Postponed. Aired 6:30-7:00a ET

Aired December 19, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:25] ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: This morning FaceBook is facing another stunning user privacy scandal. "The New York Times" reporting the social media giant gave more than 150 partner companies intrusive access to user's personal data for years.

CNN's Brian Stelter is here live to help explain.

So there are these internal documents --

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HILL: That reveal the information. What kind of information are we talking about?

STELTER: Yes, "The Times" headline says it really well, FaceBook offered users a privacy wall thinking you would be protected and then let tech giants around it. This means companies like Spotify and Netflix and Microsoft's Bing, they were able to peer inside your FaceBook account and see, for example, your friends, see your private messages in some cases. Now, Netflix and Spotify say, we weren't going in there. We were not reading your private messages.

But the point is that FaceBook allowed the access. The point is that FaceBook said one thing to users, you're protected, you're private, and then did another. And this is yet another revelation about FaceBook seeming to contradict its own public claims. The point here, according to "The New York Times," it that FaceBook never admitted that it was doing this, that it was letting these trusted partners in and allowing them access to this information.

HILL: And, you know, FaceBook wonders why there's an erosion of trust among its users --

STELTER: Right.

HILL: When it comes to FaceBook. On the one hand, this is sadly, I think for a lot of people, not surprising, and yet the access should be surprising.

STELTER: Yes, I think we need to remain shocked by these -- these cascading revelations about how FaceBook actually works. It was nine months ago at Cambridge Analytica that we started hearing a lot about this. But actually big companies like -- like Microsoft, like Spotify, they have more access to your data than Cambridge Analytica did.

So here's what the company is saying in a statement to "The New York Times," saying in part, we know we've got work to do to regain people's trust. Protecting people's information requires stronger teams, better technology and clearer policies, and that's what we've been focused on more most of 2018.

So part of the explanation here is, this was in the past. This was happened years ago. We've started to close the doors that were propped open.

But the point here is that FaceBook propped these doors open on purpose --

HILL: Right.

STELTER: In order to make more money.

HILL: Also --

STELTER: There's always attention here between giving away your data --

HILL: Right.

STELTER: Using these sites, and then profiting off of them.

HILL: And trying to say something was happening that was not.

Really quickly, we have about two seconds. Could FaceBook face any charges or are there any sort of legal ramifications that we know about?

[06:35:02] STELTER: Right now it's about policy ramifications. It seems like the only ones doing the oversight are news outlets right now. Washington has been asleep about this and I think they're waking up now.

HILL: Brian, thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

HILL: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: They have access to your private messages. It seems to miss the point of the private part.

STELTER: Yes.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: They should just rename it, have open access to your messages.

HILL: Right, messages for all.

BERMAN: Messages for all. It's not named messages for all, I've noticed.

HILL: No.

BERMAN: All right, a huge tornado sweeping through a small town outside Seattle. Yes, Seattle. Video shows the twister as it hit a Walmart in Port Orchard, Washington. Residents report roofs ripped off of homes, broken windows and downed power lines. Authorities say there were no serious injuries. Meantime, an East Coast storm threatens to disrupt millions of holiday travelers. Uh-oh.

Chad Myers, what's going on?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Especially on Friday, John. A great day to fly today if you can get out or if you have -- you can change any plans, today is the day, not Friday. Sunny skies all across the northeast. Only three delays maybe. That would be Newark, Dallas and maybe Seattle. That's about it, and San Francisco. Other than that, in and out of all the airports perfectly today.

This weather's brought to you by the Shark Ion Robot Cleaning System. One dock, two Sharks.

So let's get to it. Let's get to where this storm is now across the Gulf Coast. Atlanta tomorrow will be delayed. But watch what happens to the storm as it works its way up into D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. This is on Friday. Today there will be some strong weather in Florida. It could even be a tornado or two. But this is what we're talking about, the rainfall coming down, 70 white dots on this map have all broke, they're all-tied record high for rainfall in one year. And more rain to come before that year is over. Some spots in New York City could pick up four inches of rain on Friday. That will slow you down.

Erica.

HILL: That does not sound good. All right, Chad, thank you.

BERMAN: I'm driving on Friday.

HILL: I'm driving too.

BERMAN: I'm driving on Friday. Come on.

HILL: Or maybe we're not driving on Friday, John. Maybe this is something we have to figure out here. You should drive today. There you go, Chad Myers said so. Take that up to the bosses.

Meantime, a major hack exposing some of the most serious concerns of countries around the world, including thoughts on President Trump. So just what is in these hacked diplomatic cables and what's the possible fallout? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:41:35] BERMAN: All right, new this morning, a big headline in "The New York Times" reporting that hackers infiltrated the European Union's diplomatic network. They hacked diplomatic cables. The paper obtained more than 1,000 hacked cables, some of them revealing the international community's serious concerns about President Trump, Russia, Iran and more. The messages were discovered by the cyber security firm Area One.

Now, CNN has not reviewed the documents yet, but "The Times" clearly has as part of their article.

Joining us now, CNN national security analyst James Clapper. He was previously the director of national intelligence under Barack Obama. And hacked data was your business. I'm just curious, having survived and lived through WikiLeaks during the Obama administration, when you see huge hacks like this of diplomatic cables, do you break out in hives?

JAMES CLAPPER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Unfortunately, I don't anymore, John. I probably should. You know, I really don't have to worry about it. But I do think, and it's useful to put this in context here, the cables I read, the small sampling of cables I read were sort of EU restricted, which is equivalent to what we call for official use only, which is about a half step above unclassified. And these didn't seem to have the risks involved in the case of the Chelsea Manning WikiLeaks revelations, which did put people at risk and, of course, was quite embarrassing for some of our diplomatic relationships.

The EU is notorious for poor communications security, and I think this episode is going to be a wake-up call for them to brush up and modernize their cyber security.

BERMAN: And, clearly, if you read the article and compare it to what you went through with WikiLeaks. This does appear to be lower level information and correspondence.

There is some interesting stuff in there, in particular as it regards the United States, and opinions of the United States and the Trump administration. There's a cable from after President Trump's Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin, when, among other things, he more or less took Russia's side in the attack on the 2016 election and also suggested that U.S. residents would be subject to Russian questioning. This was the cable. In one cable European diplomats described a meeting between President Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Helsinki, Finland, as successful, at least for Putin.

I suppose it's not surprising that that was the European view of that summit, is it?

CLAPPER: No, it isn't. And that was the public view of a lot of people that was already out there. And so, again, I didn't -- from the sampling I read, I didn't see any stunning or shocking revelations here that -- much of it, I think, was out in the public domain anyway.

BERMAN: All right, I want to talk to you about the Michael Flynn sentencing that turned out not to be the Michael Flynn sentencing that happened yesterday.

Flynn, I should note, ran the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is one of the many outfits that you ran in your long career. Judge Emmet Sullivan, at one point, turned to Michael Flynn, to General Flynn, and said, you sold out our country. Now, the judge had to clarify later that he didn't realize or he misspoke when he said that Flynn was working as a foreign lobbyist or unregistered foreign agent when he was in the White House. He wasn't. He stopped that before he got that. But, still the idea that he sold out the country in his lies to the FBI and some of the works he did as an unregistered foreign agent, do you think that is a reasonable assessment?

[06:45:12] CLAPPER: Well, I -- that's pretty strong. I think -- I think Mike made some serious errors in judgment and he certainly clearly was about undercutting the administration that was still in office. You know, if the judge had in mind what he was doing with Turkey, that would perhaps more fit that characterization.

But I thought the importance to me of what the judge said was that larger audience that he was addressing. And I thought it was a ringing endorsement of the rule of law and the importance of facts.

BERMAN: Why do you think that message was necessary?

CLAPPER: Well, I think -- and I don't know what Mike's attorneys were thinking to make this allegation, you know, about the FBI ambushing or entrapping Mike Flynn. I mean that was an absurd thing to say substantively. And the timing couldn't have been worse. When it appeared both the Mueller team, you know, and his defense team were agreed on no jail time. So they jeopardized that by the assertion.

I also think the -- again, the larger audience here, I'm thinking of people like the president's attorney that -- who has a rather cavalier dismissal of wrongdoing and felonies, and I thought that the judge, you know, was a comeupins (ph) time and appropriate.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting, I was talking to Kenneth Starr, of all people, last night, and he thinks that one thing that Judge Emmet Sullivan had an issue with was George Papadopoulos. And the judge even brought up Papadopoulos inside this hearing. Papadopoulos got jail time for lying to the FBI. It was 14 days, but it was jail time. And perhaps this judge was looking at Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general, someone who was a White House national security adviser, and was basically saying, it's one fair if one guy, Papadopoulos, a lower level guy gets jail time and you get nothing.

CLAPPER: Yes, I think that there's a message there. And also that people that occupy such senior positions in the government, and specifically in the White House, should be held to a higher standard.

So, yes, I think, again, he makes a good point.

BERMAN: You feel that way based on your years of service?

CLAPPER: Feel what way?

BERMAN: That people who have higher level positions should be held to a higher standard?

CLAPPER: Yes, I do. I absolutely do.

BERMAN: All right. Director Clapper, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

CLAPPER: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Erica.

HILL: Coming up, an incredible rescue captured on police body camera. And to really understand the full magnitude of it, we want to show you more of this. Rescuers pulling a burning man out of his car to save his life.

BERMAN: Just unbelievable.

Also, find out what former First Lady Michelle Obama had to say about this picture that had Jimmy Fallon's audience in stitches. That's next.

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[06:52:16] HILL: Two sheriff deputies in Texas being credited for pulling off an incredible rescue. Take a look at this body cam footage. It shows them running towards a burning car to free a man who's trapped in the passenger seat. This happened last week.

So they managed to drag the man out of his car. His abdomen and legs still on fire. The heat so intense it actually melted one of the body cameras. Officers placed the man in a nearby puddle to cool down. Then he was airlifted to a Houston hospital. And at last check, we can tell you, he is listed in stable condition.

BERMAN: Only because of them. Only because of what they did. That is so intense.

HILL: Amazing, right? Yes. And that it melted. And the fire was so intense. He's still on fire as they're pulling him out and it melts -- starts to melt one of the body cams.

BERMAN: All right.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama stopped by "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" overnight. She joked about what was really going on through her mind leaving the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": This is you -- this is after the Trump inauguration.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: Yes.

FALLON: This is waving from Air Force One.

OBAMA: Uh. It's like --

FALLON: Can you just walk me through --

OBAMA: Bye, Felicia (ph).

FALLON: What was -- but is that what was going through your mind?

OBAMA: A lot was going on that day.

FALLON: All right. Yes, yes, OK.

OBAMA: That was a day. And right before that, you know, my daughter's friends decided they needed a sleepover for the last day. I was like, are you guys kidding me? I mean this is -- we're leaving. You've got to take all your stuff, pick it up, the blankets, the bears. They're all crying and we're like, get out, you've got to go. So there was that. And then the Tiffany's box. It was just all, you know, a lot.

FALLON: Yes, it was a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So there was a lot going on that day. It was the most loaded sentence in that exchange.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: And there was the Tiffany box, she adds.

HILL: That was also a little --

BERMAN: Yes.

HILL: I'm just going to -- I'm going to drop that one there. You do with it what you will.

BERMAN: Yes. Yes, everyone was like, bye Felicia, got the big laugh. It was everything else that that sent the not so subtle message about how she really felt that day.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: Me thinks.

HILL: I don't think the former first lady has been all that guarded, though, in her feelings as of late.

BERMAN: That's a good point.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: That's a good point.

All right, President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn admitted in court he wasn't trapped by the FBI. He knew it was illegal to lie to agents. So why is the White House standing by this made-up claim he was ambushed?

HILL: But, first, the new CNN film "Love, Gilda," takes a look at the remarkable life of the comedy legend Gilda Radner. It airs New Year's Day, 9:00 p.m., right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GILDA RADNER, COMEDIAN: Hi, I'm Gilda Radner, and -- OK, now.

People want to know, what made you funny? From the time I was a kid, I loved to pretend.

[06:55:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was the very first performer chosen for the cast of "Saturday Night Live."

RADNER: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just loved her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I basically stole all of my characters from Gilda.

RADNER: I can do almost anything if people are laughing.

Boom, ba, ba, boom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gilda was just not quite herself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One morning she just said, I don't know what's wrong with me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The comedian gets the most unfunny thing in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She felt that she could be of help, and that's exactly what she did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How often do we get to know exactly how brave we are?

RADNER: I always felt that my comedy was just to make things be all right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Love, Gilda," New Year's Day, at 9:00 p.m.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[07:00:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Judge Sullivan was pulling back and looking at the pattern of wrongdoing from Donald Trump's administration to saying I'm disgusted by this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have Michael Flynn and the president of the United States