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Quest Means Business
Dow Losing Streak Extends Over Trump Fears; Trump Son-In-Law Tasked with White House Overhaul; Giant gold coin stolen from Berlin museum; Delta needles United over; leggings; U.S. Travel Industry Assn. Warms of Travel Restrictions
Aired March 27, 2017 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00] ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, and with that fist pump and that round of applause, that marks the end of yet another trading day on
Wall Street. Interesting because, initially we all woke up this morning, the Dow was down triple digits and now it's ending the day down ever so
slightly, down about 46 points or so.
Still, this has been a massive wakeup call given what happened on Friday with the delay in implementing Donald Trump's healthcare reforms. That
delay is indicating to the market that economic changes in terms of Trump's economic agenda might be more difficult than it seems.
It is Monday, March 27th. Incidentally, my mother's birthday. Happy birthday, mom, if you're watching. Tonight, markets throw a Trump tantrum
as the Dow extending its losing streak. The president's son-in-law gets a new job in a White House corporate style overhaul. And a new meaning to
the phrase, loose change. A giant gold coin worth millions is stolen in Berlin. Hello, everyone, I'm Zain Asher and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Hello, everyone. Tonight, investors wanted the president to get past healthcare and focus on their priorities but not quite like this. After
the failure of the Republican healthcare bill, Wall Street is worried that the Trump administration will not, will not be able to deliver on its
massive economic agenda. It's a lot of promises over the past few months.
Let's take a look at how the Dow did. The Dow actually fell from the open adding to Friday's losses. It climbed back a bit later in the session but
not enough. It was the Dow's 8th straight day of losses, and that by the way, is the worst streak of losses since 2011. This is what's at risk for
investors. Tax reform, which by the way is just as complicated as healthcare. Regulation rollback and the president's trillion-dollar
infrastructure proposal. At the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer warned getting all that done will certainly not be
easy or quick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: These are big things. There's a lot of groups that are going to want a ton of input because of the very
nature that it's been 30 years, but I think part of this is going to be dependent on whether -- the degree to which we can come to consensus on a
lot of big issues. But I know that we have a goal and it will depend on a lot of these issues both on the corporate side and on the individual side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: And to discuss all this, Ted Weisberg is the founder of the brokerage firm Seaport Securities. He joins me live now from the New York
Stock Exchange. Teddy, good to have you on the show again.
TED WEISBERG, FOUNDER, SEAPORT SECURITIES: Thank you.
ASHER: So, you remember back on November 8, November 9, it seemed as though Donald Trump could literally do no wrong. The market has rallied 10
percent to 12 percent since that day. But now, ever since Friday, what do you think? Is the market suddenly sobering up? Was Friday a massive
wakeup call for stocks?
WEISBERG: I don't know if it was a massive wakeup call. Political legislation and change in Washington is kind of like making sausage. You
know, it's a long, tortured process, and hopefully the end result will be acceptable to all. But it is a process. I guess you could say it was a
bit of a wakeup call that, you know, a lot of these proposals simply aren't going to be a layup that they're going to have to work to get them through.
But I do think that the election was, in fact, still a game changer for the stock market. Yes, we've given a little back, about 500 or 600 points but
let's not forget we're up 2200 points almost in a straight line. Trees don't grow to the sky, so I mean, you're making me philosophical about down
markets, but the reality is now the hard work begins and I for one am convinced that the lines of least resistance remain up not down for the
market, and I think that any selloff, quite frankly, is a better buying opportunity than a selling opportunity.
ASHER: Yes, opportunities to take some profit off the table. But when you think about it, I mean, listen, investors know that politicians, whether
it's Republicans or Democrats, tend to over promise and under deliver. We've been through elections before, we get how it works. When you think
about today, Teddy, I'm curious, because when we woke up we saw the Dow just immediately right out of the gate at 9:30 this morning it was down
triple digits and then throughout the day we begin to see it pull back a bit just in terms of it being down pretty much flat, only about 40 points.
What happened? Why did the market start feeling better in the middle of the day?
[16:05:03] WEISBERG: I'm not sure why it started to feel good, but I think, listen, we need to look at the end results and the end results is
we're still now, as you pointed out, the 8th down day. We haven't had 8 down days since what you said, 2011. Quite frankly, it doesn't seem that
way to me, having been here darn near every day since 2011. But I'll accept those statistics. It's never fun when they go down, but clearly,
we're sort of in a negative buy. The fact that we can climb out of that big hole this morning, I think it tells us that there's still underlying
interest for stocks.
The problem is markets really don't like the unknown, and so what happened with the healthcare bill, it's kind of sent a lot of shockwaves through the
system, but at the end of the day, I just would not sell this administration short. As difficult as a time as they're having now, I
think the overall projections, the still overall stated goals I think are very positive not only for the U.S. economy but for the stock market.
ASHER: But Teddy, what will hat will this mean for tax reform? Given that they didn't end up saving the $1 trillion they had expected from
healthcare, what will it mean to implementing tax reform? Are we going to see a sort of watered down version of tax reform?
WEISBERG: First of all, I don't think the health reform thing is a dead issue. It might be a dead issue as we speak but I don't think that's a
dead issue by a long shot. I think tax reform will be politically easier. Cutting corporate taxes, politically easier. Repatriating trillions of
dollars that are sitting off shore in the treasuries of U.S. corporations, politically easier. In fact, I think of all the legislation that they are
focused on, they probably picked on the hardest one to start out with.
ASHER: A lot of people are saying that.
WEISBERG: And one would wonder why they did that and not take a few baby steps before they tackle the 800-pound gorilla. But either way, you know,
it's more or less behind them, at least in the short term. I don't think it's a dead issue. This is not -- you know, this is never an easy process.
I just wouldn't be discouraged. Will the market sell off a little more, perhaps, but I don't think it's a bad thing?
ASHER: And actually, a lot of people are saying maybe they can take some of the lessons they learned on healthcare and implement it going forward.
All right Ted Weisberg, live for us there, thank you so much. Appreciate you being with us as always.
Let's talk more about healthcare because one notable absentee in the final days of negotiations was Jared Kushner, that's the president's senior
adviser and son-in-law. He's married to Ivanka Trump. He was actually in Aspen on a ski holiday which apparently, sleep the president was not very
happy about. But Kushner returned to the White House with a to-do list that's getting longer and longer by the minute. Let me just give you an
example.
The President has suggested that Kushner is the ideal person to negotiate peace between Israelis and Palestinians, obviously, a tall order. And if
that wasn't enough, Kushner is also being named as a key player in terms of trade negotiations, in terms of talks between Mexico and Canada as well.
And now he's actually being given even more responsibility as well. Kushner is actually going to take a lead role in streamlining the
government in terms of leading this new White House office of American innovation.
The goal is essentially to apply business principles to make the government run more efficiently, run more like a company. But it is not all rosy for
Jared Kushner. He's also setting some time aside to actually speak with the Senate Intelligence Committee as it looks into Russian meddling into
the U.S. election. Kushner was the Trump campaign's primary point of contact with all foreign government officials.
Let's talk more about this with the perfect person. Jim Acosta joins us live now from outside the White House. So, Jim, is it a little bit of a
stretch to think that Jared Kushner, in addition to creating peace between Israelis and Palestinians, in addition to negotiating NAFTA with the
Mexicans and Canadians, is now going to create anything of substance with this new office of innovation? What are your thoughts?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He certainly does have a full plate and it's getting fuller, Zain. That you're absolutely right
about that. He's one of the President's most trusted advisers. He has been that way since the campaign and throughout that transition period, and
so now he's been given this role of streamlining government. It's something that presidents and administrations have been trying to do for
decades here in Washington. It is, I suppose, part of what President Trump means when he says drain the swamp here in Washington D.C.
[16:10:00] But as you mentioned, Jared Kushner has a whole host of other distractions to deal with, one being that he does plan to testify before
the Senate Intelligence Committee in the coming weeks here about his dealings, his meetings with Russian officials during the transition period.
The Senate Intelligence Committee -- I just got a statement within the last couple of hours confirming this that Jared Kushner will be testifying. It
does not say that a date has been set. That apparently is coming later. But apparently, the President's son-in-law now among a number of officials,
including the former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. He's going to be asked about these conversations
that he had with Russian officials and Russians during the transition timeline.
One of those meetings was with the Russian ambassador, Kislyak. We already knew about that, but there's another one that came out just in the last 24
to 48 hours that he met with the head of a bank that apparently had been sanctioned by the Obama administration in response to the Russian
intervention in Ukraine and Crimea. So, that is certainly going to prompt a lot of questions asked of him by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
ASHER: All right, Jim Acosta, live for us there, thank you so much. Appreciate that. David Gergen, let's talk more about this. David Gergen
has been an adviser to four U.S. presidents. He's now a CNN's senior political analyst and professor at Harvard's Kennedy school. So, David,
thank you so much for being with us.
Here's the thing. As Jim Acosta was talking about, there have been a lot of controversies with this White House right now. This new announcement
about Jared Kushner heading up this brand-new office, this White House office of American innovation, it's sort of interesting the timing of it.
Would you say this was some kind of P.R. stunt perhaps to distract away from other issues plaguing the White House right now?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Everyone wonders that. I think you forgot to mention that on weekends Mr. Kushner is supposed to
cure cancer. He's going to have a rather large portfolio and I think everybody is looking at this and saying, what? The issue when a
president's son-in-law has this and sits just a couple of doors away in the White House and has all this responsibility assigned to him, if he's
supposed to settle the Middle East, where does that leave the Secretary of State and the State Department? With the role for them?
If he's supposed to do trade, what's the role for the Commerce Department and the Treasury Department that typically carry out a lot of these kind of
questions. Now on the innovation, I don't think that's necessarily a big- time consumer. It is important to point out that President Obama had a similar kind of effort basically drawing upon Silicon Valley to see if he
could bring technology into the executive branch. Going all the way back to the Clinton days, there was a reformed government effort. There was a
reformed effort in the Reagan days.
So, this is typically done and some gains are made. It's important to do. But right now, the question becomes whether instead of reforming the
bureaucracy, whether Mr. Kushner can apply himself to reforming the President's own team. Clearly, they need to get some work done. They need
to get more players in place. They need to get a White House that's better functioning in order to avoid another debacle like healthcare.
ASHER: David is my next point, because if the president is giving all this responsibility to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who he says is his
confidante, extremely loyal. Obviously, he's family. How does that play with the likes of Steve Bannon? How does that play with Reince Priebus?
How does that play with Kellyanne Conway? Is there back biting and competition between those four?
GERGEN: Well, there are power centers that are conflicting, I think it's safe to say. Let's take the issue of trade which is one extremely
sensitive. Mr. Bannon is the leader of forces for protectionism and to move away from multi-lateral trade agreements to bilateral trade
agreements, to renegotiate with Mexico, to pull out of the Transpacific Partnership. He and the Secretary of Commerce, in this case, Wilbur Ross,
and there's some others on his team very much want to go after China and they're in favor of import taxes, border tax so to speak.
Whereas, there are others in the President's team led by Gary Cohen who comes out of Goldman Sachs who is the chief economic adviser in the White
House right now and some of the more traditional people like the Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, they very much more believe in free trade and let's not
tear up all these agreements. Let's not go after the Chinese too hot and heavy.
You've got the Secretary of State who says, wait a minute, let's not go too far after China on trade. We may need them in North Korea a lot more than
they are doing now. These disputes have not been settled yet.
[16:15:00] I think it's important to note that when the President last Friday said he was moving on to tax reform, he told the "New York Times"
I'm moving onto tax reform. And trade. So, that's an issue that's just around the corner too. It's going to be very controversial.
ASHER: Right. And we'll see if he can actually bring the different factions of the Republican Party and Congress together to work on trade.
David Gergen, I have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Appreciate you being with us.
The repeal of Obamacare has failed for now. Important to note for now. But President Trump has managed to overturn a part of the Obama legacy, the
Keystone XL pipeline is back on. It would bring oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast of the United States. The Obama
administration had stopped the pipeline after intense protests about its environmental impact. The project has been a priority certainly for the
Canadian government. Its environment minister told me they can build the pipeline and protect the environment at the same time. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHERINE MCKENNA, CANADIAN ENVIRONMENT MINISTER: Our government has been pretty clear that the environment and the economy go together, and so we've
come out with a really serious climate plan, but we also realize that we're a resource-based economy and we're not going to transition overnight. We
have supported, our government supported Keystone XL. I think it's a good story and the Prime Minister was in Houston the other week speaking to an
energy audience and he said we wouldn't get a serious climate plan without pipelines and we wouldn't get pipelines without a serious climate plan. I
think the point he's trying to make is we need jobs. We need to transition. We need to be serious about climate action. And you can do
both.
ASHER: How so? How do you balance both? How do you balance economic growth? How do you balance a boost in jobs? And the economy with also
environmental sustainability as well?
MCKENNA: I think when you design policies you make sure that you're moving in the right direction in terms of sustainability so we put a price on
pollution, on carbon pollution, but at the same time we need to get our resources to market. We even have the money so we can invest in renewables
and other areas. You can do both and you have to do both. This is the 21st century. Canadians certainly expect us to take serious climate
action. They expect us to grow our economy and create jobs. So, I'm here in New York also talking about the relationship, the trading relationship
with the United States and how important it is and how energy goes back and forth across the border. Keystone is an example but also electricity, so
clean hydro from our provinces goes back and forth. So, there's really an economic case for working together and that includes on climate action.
ASHER: When it comes to working together, this administration has been criticized quite a bit by environmentalists because you've got Scott
Pruitt, head of the EPA. Obviously, I know you've met with him. He's talked a lot about not believing that carbon dioxide necessarily causes
climate change. You've also got the fact that the Trump administration cut the EPA'S budget by 31 percent which is the highest amount by any other
department. How do you work with a government when your goals are so fundamentally different from each other?
MCKENNA: I would say at a high level like the Trump administration we care about jobs, we care about economic growth, and we also care about clean air
and clean water. I met with administrator Pruitt and we had a discussion about that. Certainly, we're very focused on making sure this the United
States is still working with us on the Great Lakes. And 40 million people rely on clean water from the Great Lakes.
But I think there's opportunities to work together. What I've always said is that climate action is an economic opportunity. Mark Carney, the former
governor of the Bank of Canada, now governor of the Bank of England, calls it a trillion-dollar opportunity. So, clean energy innovation is a way
that you can create good jobs. You can grow your economy and the President and Prime Minister Trudeau, when they had their visit a month ago, they
came out and talked about the statement that they released. Talked about clean energy innovation. So, I think that's an area that I'm going to
continue making the case that there's an economic opportunity. I'm also here meeting with -- at the state level and cities, talking to cities and
businesses are really keen on climate action.
ASHER: One of your government's sort of major objectives with this new administration is of course NAFTA, NAFTA renegotiation coming up. The
rhetoric that's negative has been largely geared towards Mexico. What sort of guarantees do you want from the Trump administration about the U.S. and
Canada's trade relationship?
MCKENNA: In all my meetings, I start off talking about the trade relationship and what an excellent relationship we have. Canada is the
biggest customer to almost every single state. $2 billion of trade goes across borders every single day and 9 million American jobs rely on trade
with Canada. So, we're here as a great partner and there's a huge economic opportunity to continue working together.
Our supply chains are integrated, and we want good jobs and we want to grow our economy.
[16:20:03] It's not a win/lose proposition. It's a win/win, that we believe in free trade and we think that working with the U.S. we'll all
benefit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: That was Catherine McKenna, the Canadian Environmental Minister speaking to me earlier.
Political turmoil in South Africa is sending a shudder through the currency market. President Jacob Zuma could be close to giving his respected
finance minister the boot. We'll be live in Johannesburg on this story for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Welcome back everybody. The South African rand is tumbling after the country's Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, was unexpectedly told to
cancel a road show meant to promote the South African economy. President Jacob Zuma ordered officials to call up a series of meetings with investors
in London and return home.
The Kaffel (ph) is certainly raising speculation that Gordhan could be out of a job. He's the country's third finance minister in the last year and a
half. Joining me now is my good friend Eleni Giokos. She's live for us in Johannesburg. So, Eleni, what do you think about this? It's quite a
radical sort of extreme step to sort of recall the country's finance minister in the middle of an international road show. Do we know why?
What happened?
ELENI GIOKOS, CNNMONEY AFRICA CORRESPONDENT: It's a really good question and I think everyone is scratching their heads today going why as Pravin
Gordhan lands in London with his team, a delegation that's supposed to get investors on their side after the national budget was announced about a
month ago. The presidency, Zain, said, well, must come back with immediate effect and needs to return to the country. No reason given. A very short
press release. That kind of fuels speculation. It fuels concern about what the underlying reason is. One of the reasons could of course be that
a cabinet reshuffle might be imminent.
Very concerned that Gordhan is going to be replaced. It's a conversation we've had for a very long time, Zain. We keep saying that we know Pravin
Gordhan is not going to last for very much longer because he hasn't been towing the Zuma line. He hasn't been part of the political machinery and
hasn't been part of the Zuma faction as well.
I think that this has been one of the big reasons and major concern has come about as well. The rand tumbled. It's down around almost 3 percent
against the dollar, 4 percent against the pound as well as the euro. Markets are not liking this. They're very concerned about what this is
going to mean for the economy and of course the political scenarios going forward.
ASHER: When you think about the timing of all of this though, Eleni, can we sort of glean anything as to the timing of this. Obviously, Pravin
Gordhan was approved for the international road show and all of a sudden, the plug was pulled.
[16:25:00] GIOKOS: Exactly. It makes absolutely no sense. Most people are coming out and saying something dramatic must be happening on the
sidelines. We know that there are some court cases coming up this week, very complex kind of to go into it, but it has to do with corruption
allegations that includes the President and a very high profile family. It also has to do with a possible cabinet reshuffle that had been speculate to
happen around this time as well.
So, there are underlying things that could be backing this up, but it's stuff that we've known about. So, for it to come now so suddenly and so
abruptly has shocked everyone. I have to say it's not just the community that Pravin Gordhan had to cancel meetings with. We of course at CNN had
been booking an interview with the minister scheduled for tomorrow morning. Just an hour before the announcement was made, I was on the phone with the
treasury securing that interview. So, it was abrupt, it was a shock and I think for all parties involved.
ASHER: Eleni Giokos, live for us there, I'm sure you're going to find answers. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.
U.K. Home Secretary, Amber Rod, is calling for WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services to give the government a back door after emerge the
Westminster attacker used WhatsApp just minutes before he struck. Rod has summoned tech leaders to a meeting on Thursday to talk about encrypted
messaging and extremist content on sites like Facebook and Google. Let's talk more about this with our resident tech expert. CNNMoney's Samuel
Burke who joins us live now from London. So, Samuel, we know that the terrorists, the Westminster attacker basically sent a message on WhatsApp
about two or three minutes right before the attack. We don't know what he said, which is crucial for the investigation. Is there any way for the
tech companies and I mean WhatsApp specifically and Facebook, the parent company, to work with the U.K. government on this?
SAMUEL BURKE, CNNMONEY BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they might be able to work together but when it comes to encryption, Zain, there
is no middle ground. It is black and white. Either it's encrypted or it's not and that has the U.K. tabloids here telling people or asking them to
take sides. "The Sun" says, "What side are you on, WhatsApp?" Whats That's after the Home Secretary made these comments to journalist Andrew
Marr.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMBER RUDD, UK HOME SECRETARY: It is completely unacceptable. There should be no place for terrorists to hide. We need to make sure that
organizations like WhatsApp and plenty of others like that don't provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURKE: Here's the problem, Zain. Basically, what the Home Secretary is calling for is some type of middle ground, encrypted but with a back door,
it doesn't exist. These companies have made it so encrypted that even they can't get in, Facebook or WhatsApp. What she's asking for would be a key
for to get into everybody's back door. But what would happen then if that key got into the hand of the burglars and then they could get into
everybody's back door.
ASHER: You know, Samuel, it's interesting because as you're talking I'm suddenly reminded about a similar case here in the United States when the
FBI was investigating the San Bernardino terrorists and you had a similar issue because the FBI needed to get into the terrorists' phones and Apple
wouldn't let them. But then the FBI then found their own way and then dropped the case against Apple. So, is there something that the U.K.
government can learn from the FBI in all this?
BURKE: And that is exactly what we are headed toward here in the U.K., Zain. The FBI versus Apple. But this time it's the U.K. government versus
the messaging app. In the end, the FBI did give up its fight because they found a way to get into the phone not through breaking the inscription, but
for actually getting into the phone and every expert with whom I have spoken today has said the U.K. government is better off trying to get into
the phone than helplessly trying to get into these messaging apps because they don't think it's going to happen.
ASHER: So, they're simply not budging. All right, Samuel Burke, live for us there. Thank you so much, appreciate that.
Still to come here on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, no small change. If you find this, look closely, if you find this golden coin, you better call the
German authorities right away. I'll explain why after the break.
[16:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Hello, everyone. I'm Zain Asher. Coming up on the next half-hour of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, a giant gold coin worth millions of dollars goes
missing from a museum in Berlin. And its day two of the United Airlines leggy-gate scandal. First, these are the top news headlines on CNN at this
hour.
The U.S. and Iraq are now investigating reports of civilian deaths in western Mosul after a U.S.-led coalition air strike struck in the same area
amid the ongoing fight against is. An Iraqi official said at least 112 bodies have been pulled from the rubble.
Top Russian dissident is facing 15 days in jail and a $350 fine after organizing large anti-corruption protests in Moscow and other cities as
well. Hundreds of other demonstrations were also arrested as well. The kremlin is calling the protests, quote unquote, illegal.
Deeply shocked, saddened and numb. Those are the words used by the mother of the man responsible for the London attack last week. Khalid Masood
killed three people and fatally stabbed a police officer during the rampage last week. Officers shot Masood dead. In her statement his mother said
she does not condone his actions or support the beliefs which led him to commit the atrocity in the first place.
Australia's most powerful storm in years is bearing down on northeastern Queensland. Cyclone Debbie is expected to make landfall soon. Thousands
of people have been evacuated. The region is bracing for heavy gusts, dangerous storm surges and flash floods.
Several high school teachers and students were killed at a ski resort about 200 kilometers north of Tokyo. Dozens of students and teachers were taking
a climbing lesson when the avalanche struck. 40 people were hurt.
Investors are weighing up whether to shift from equities to gold, and the thieves in Berlin are one step ahead. A solid gold coin worth millions of
dollars has been pinched from the museum in the city. The Canadian coin known as the Big Maple Leaf is adorned with her majesty the Queen,
Elizabeth the second, the massive coin is featured in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for its purity levels. In the words of the Berlin Museum,
it's gone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Call it the curious coin caper. Police say thieves broke into Berlin's Bode Museum overnight and pulled off a heist
worth millions.
WINFRED WENZEL, BERLIN POLICE SPOKESPERSON (translator): We believe the thief or thieves broke in through the window in the back of the museum,
they managed to enter the building and went to the coin exhibition where they a stole a single object.
KINKADE: The single object, no small change, an extraordinary coin. Minted in Canada it's called the big maple leaf. Featuring a portrait of
Queen Elizabeth on one side and weighing 100 kilograms. It takes several people just to lift it. It has a face value of $1 million but by weight
alone it's worth more than $4 million and it's made almost entirely of pure gold.
[16:35:00] [16:05:00] WENZEL: It is of extraordinary purity, a gold grade which is exceptional. Also. its enormous weight and size make it special.
KINKADE: Now that's some serious coin. Police are saying very little else about clues in the case. For now, the search continues for whoever
illegally took this legal tender. Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Let's talk more about how this gold coin grew legs and disappeared. I'm joined by Erin Thompson, assistant professor of art crime at John Jay
College of Criminal Justice here in New York. It weighs about 200 pounds. This thing is massive. You can't exactly hide it in your purse. How on
earth do you steal it from this museum?
ERIN THOMPSON, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ART CRIME, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Obviously, it was more than one person and there seems -
- there must have been a security flaw discovered by the thieves. We're seeing sophisticated gangs of criminals spot some flaw in museums and steal
something, whether it's art, rhinoceros horns or here a gold coin.
ASHER: This had bulletproof glass around it. You would assume that there's surveillance cameras, you would assume that if you move this piece
of gold coin there would be alarms that went off. How do you penetrate security that tight?
THOMPSON: The museum hasn't told us yet and they might not because sometimes the answer is embarrassing. A couple years ago, there was a
major theft in Paris. It had the latest security systems but the staff got annoyed with the sirens going off and they disarmed it.
ASHER: When it comes to a prospective art thief casing the museum and watching, they have to really pay attention closely to figure out where the
vulnerabilities are in the security system. How do they even figure out where there are gaps in security?
THOMPSON: Famously, at the New York Natural History Museum a number of gem stones were stolen from a case with the latest high security because a
thief who happened to go there for his lunch break noticed that a bunch of boy scouts were bumping into the case and nothing was happening. It turns
out that the security system had just run out of juice. It was on a battery pack.
ASHER: When it comes to tracking this gold coin down, obviously, it's massive, how do they go about figuring out in terms of the investigation,
how do they go about figuring out who might have stolen this thing? It's not necessarily that easy to hide something like this.
THOMPSON: What we often see happening is sophisticated criminal gangs figuring out how to steal and dispose of something and hiring some street
thugs to do the dirty work for them. I wouldn't be surprised if we actually caught the men who stole this, but I would think that we're never
going to see this coin again. It's going to be melted down as soon as possible.
ASHER: It's going to be melted down. How would you go about selling something like this or melting it down, and then how do you get rid of it
after that?
THOMPSON: This is so pure it makes it even easier to melt it down. It's at a lower melting temperature. Usually, we add some impurities to make
gold a little more durable, but here when the face value is so much less than the weight of the gold, there's no point in keeping it whole or with
the security risk. There was only five of these made so if you try and sell this, pretty quickly the police are going to be called.
ASHER: What can museums around the world, art museums, different museums, actually learn from this story? Is there any way to actually keep your art
100 percent protected?
THOMPSON: Unfortunately, no. But that's true of everything.
ASHER: Despite the amount of money, they spent on security though.
THOMPSON: Yes, but they have to spend some more. What I think museums should learn is this is a great opportunity to go to your donors and say,
look, you always want to give me money to buy a new painting. Why don't you give me money to keep what we have safe?
ASHER: More bulletproof casings. Thank you so much. Appreciate you being with us.
THOMPSON: Thank you.
Well, it was sheer agony for United's social media team this weekend. The airlines rivals are now trying to stretch the leggings controversy into a
second day. That story next.
[16:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: United Airlines' rivals are looking to capitalize on the leggings controversy that went viral. It began on Sunday when two teenage girls
were told they could not board a united flight from Denver to Minneapolis because their leggings, the leggings they were wearing, violated the
airline's dress code. Passer passersby began tweeting and before you knew it united had a full-blown crisis on its hands and now delta is getting
involved. It tweeted, flying delta means comfort. That means you can wear your leggings. It's important to note that these girls were not ordinary
passengers. They were using the travel pass for the friends and families of united employees.
I want to make it clear there are different rules for what you can and can't wear depending on your ticket. United says that anyone using company
perks must actually wear clothes that are neat and professional. That's United's words. That means no lycra, no spandex. Delta's own policy for
pass riders says you should never wear revealing garments, swim wear or sleep wear, and other airlines have different dress codes as well. Qantas
recently banned flip-flops and shorts from its business and club lounges. Ben, thank you so much for being with us. This is interesting because a
lot of people are accusing United of sexism because if you're banning girls from wearing tight clothing, you can't really apply the same thought
process to men. What do you make of that?
BEN SCHLAPPIG, BLOGGER: Exactly. So, I think the assumption here is that it's sexist because women would generally be the ones wearing tight
clothing. In reality however I think this was not intended to be sexist. Perhaps these were outdated policies, thinking of spandex clothing from 20
years ago, that's tight and revealing. In this case I don't think that was the intention they were going for. Unfortunately, that's how it's unfolded
on Twitter.
ASHER: It might not be the intention, but the fallout, Ben, has been huge. First of all, what do you make of how united dealt with this in terms of
their tweets about this issue?
SCHLAPPIG: I think that's the big crime here. United, they were abysmal in how they handled it. They basically responded by suggesting that
employees -- they basically said that this was the policy for passengers, paid passengers, rather than making it clear that these were employees. It
then took them several hours before they went online and issued a formal apology and explained the situation. I think that's why other airlines
have started to capitalize on this, because this is a great opportunity for them to get some P.R. points.
ASHER: This made Delta's weekend, I have no doubt about that. Here's the thing with this policy though. I understand what they're saying in that
when you take these united passes, you are in effect representing the company, but teenage girls who are traveling with their parents, you can't
really say that they're representing the company. They themselves don't work for united, plus they're so young, plus everybody wants to be
comfortable when they travel. I wear leggings when I'm traveling.
SCHLAPPIG: Exactly. Part of this whole concept of representing a company that's strange is you would never know who is and who is not an employee.
[16:45:00] ASHER: They're not wearing a badge saying my dad works for United.
SCHLAPPIG: The intent is that these are not the people who are showing up dressed horribly in flip-flops and not wearing clothes as we do sometimes
see people do, but unfortunately, I think maybe it's time to update the policy and reflect that nowadays airlines for the most part are the gray
hand in the skies.
ASHER: How does United recover from this from a P.R. standpoint? They had celebrities tweeting at them. Patricia Arquette tweeted at them.
SCHLAPPIG: They issued a formal apology and explain the situation and said that revenue passengers can wear leggings. Unfortunately, that's about all
they can do. Perhaps they could actually update their policy for those nonrevenue travels going forward and allow them to wear leggings. Maybe
that would be a good move given how this is portrayed. A lot of people on social media just want to sensationalize the story.
ASHER: I'm sure Delta is going to be eating this up. Thank you so much.
The head of the U.S. Travel Association tells me that travel restrictions imposed by president Trump put his America first agenda at risk. His
warning comes ahead of a meeting in Washington of 300 travel leaders from across the United States later on this week. The Trump administration has
imposed electronics ban and an attempted travel ban from some Muslin majority countries. Here's what's Roger Dow had to say about it.
ROGER DOW, PRESIDENT AND CEO, U.S. Travel Association: International travel for the U.S. is the darling of the economy. The U.S. gets $250
billion a year from 77 million international legitimate travelers that come here. So, any reduction in travel is harmful. I think the message has to
be, the U.S. is closed to terrorists and open to legitimate travelers.
ASHER: So then for the White House the question then becomes how do you juggle -- obviously one of president Trump's key campaign promises was
we're going to make America safe, you know. When you -- from president Trump's perspective, how do you balance keeping the United States safe,
especially when it comes to reducing the possibility of terrorism in this country, but also keeping this country open for business from the
perspective of international travel?
DOW: I think it's a very important balancing act. Security and safety is job number one when it comes to travel. After 9/11 the U.S. economy came
to its knees, as did the world economy in an hour. You look at what's going on now in France, Brussels, turkey, their travel business is going
way down. So, security is very important, so we support that. Our message to the president is let's get the word out and very clearly that we want
legitimate travelers, we want to make sure that we have the proper vetting without tremendous inconvenience and there's a small portion of the world
we have to watch for. But the message is if you want America first, one in nine Americans gets their jobs from travel, and if travel goes down
internationally it is going to be very harmful to the U.S. and to America's economy and way of life.
ASHER: So, your worry now is that even if it hasn't had an impact right now, that possibly one to two years into this administration the impact of
the messaging being sent abroad in terms of traveling to the United States, in terms of people being welcomed to travel to this country, might have a
detrimental effect on incoming travel?
DOW: A negative message about wanting people to come to the U.S. absolutely can hurt the country. We saw that post-September 11th when we
did tighten down security but the world began to think that we didn't want them. We've come back from that in a big way and it's important that we
don't have that happen again. We've got to say that the world we welcome you, we want you, we don't want bad guys.
ASHER: Time for a quick break here. When we come back, this was meant to be the final week in Wall Street for the Fearless Girl statue. There she
is staring down the bull. We told you about this story when she was first put up there on Wall Street. Now we're hearing that she's staying for much
longer than anticipated. I'll discuss it with New York city's public advocate. That's next.
[16:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Welcome back, everybody. It seems that Wall Street's iconic charging bull will have company for at least another year. The fearless
girl statue that everybody has been ranting and raving about, she's been sort of staring down the bronze bull for the past few weeks, is now going
to stay a little bit longer. The pair make for poignant juxtaposition. You have this small girl squaring up to the muscular beast. She's a symbol
commissioned by the advisory group state street advocating for more women on corporate boards. Now as I mentioned, she is extending her stay to next
year after a petition was signed by nearly 30,000 people. Earlier I spoke to Letitia James, public advocate for the city of New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LETITIA JAMES, PUBLIC ADVOCATE, CITY OF NEW YORK: She's a beacon. She's a symbol of hope and inspiration for countless women all throughout this
country and even internationally. Basically, what she stands for is the ability to dream big and to dream beyond your wildest imagination, and that
there is no ceiling too high and there's nothing that you can't accomplish if you believe and you can stand up even to a raging bull.
ASHER: You know, a lot of people -- it's certainly attracted a lot of tourists and a lot of people are for making it permanent but there are
critics as well and people say, listen, this is a commercial stunt, it's free P.R. for this company state street. What do you make of that?
JAMES: I don't believe that at all. It sparked conversations in homes --
ASHER: But it's put there by a firm, a Wall Street firm.
JAMES: But it has sparked a revolution, not only in homes but in businesses and government, and it really speaks to the issues affecting
women, income inequality, the fact that women are paid less than men. Women are paid 79 cents on a dollar that a male does for doing the same
job. It speaks to the issue that perspective employers should not be asking perspective employees about their salary history. It speaks to the
lack of women on boards, in corporate firms and law firms, the lack of women in journalism and editorials, on editorial boards. It speaks to the
absence of women in powerful positions from the White House all the way to the state house.
ASHER: But is you know as well as I do it's going to take a lot more than just a statue to fix that. As public advocate, how do you intend -- beyond
starting a conversation, how do you intend to implement policies here in New York city that's going to address some of your concerns?
JAMES: It started with the march right after the inauguration where millions of women took to the streets to talk about how we should support
planned parenthood and how we believe in the affordable care act and how women should not be left without healthcare. It also sparked conversations
in the city and the state. I'm leading an effort again to prohibit perspective employers from asking about salary history. I've been raising
the issue and in fact I'm having a forum on Thursday with regard to pay equity. I've been talking about the feminization of poverty which is why
we raised the wage and advanced an increased minimum wage in our state and city.
Now we need to talk about women in the human services and how we need to focus on women in the human services and how they are struggling every day.
We talked about child care in New York city and New York state. We have sick leave in New York city and New York state. All of these issues is
because there's women in positions in the city and state and we're talking about issues that women care about. When women vote, women win. Clearly
what we really need to do is move forward and elect more women into politics and into government.
[16:55:00] ASHER: It's interesting because one of state street's sort of main goals with this fearless girl statue is actually to create more
diversity on corporate boards, specifically corporate boards. Obviously, she's in the heart of Wall Street and staring down the famous bull.
Specifically, beyond just sort of conversation and raising awareness which, don't get me wrong, it's hugely important, but beyond that how do you go
about promoting diversity on corporate boards?
JAMES: Excellent question. I am a trustee for the largest pension system in New York city. One of the things that we will be focusing on is
whenever we do business with any finance company, one of the issues that we should be raising is how many women serve on your board. How many women
are employed, how many are partners. We should also extend that also to the city of New York. We should use our economic position to ask firms
that we do business with, how many women do you have as attorneys, how many of them are corporate, on your corporate board. How many of them are
partners? How many women do you employ. What is your policy on maternity leave. What is your policy on healthcare. And what is your policy in
general with respect to the pay equity in your corporation. Those are the issues that government officials should be asking each and every day. It
would go a long way in furthering our economy and boosting the salaries of women and boosting the salary of New York city, New York state and our
country as a whole.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Letitia James speaking to me earlier about more gender diversity in the corporate world. Well, if you want a daily digest of the top business
stories delivered straight into your inbox, subscribe to the QUEST MEANS BUSINESS newsletter. I can't recommend it enough. It features Richard's
profitable moments and all of our headlines at CNN money. Go to CNNmoney.com/quest to subscribe. That is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for this
evening. I'm Zain Asher, the news continues right here on CNN.
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