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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Winter Storm Smacks Millions; The War on ISIS: Japan Vows Revenge; Super Bowl 49: Patriots Win

Aired February 02, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, a deadly snowstorm hitting millions from the Midwest through the Northeast. Flights cancelled, schools closed, cities warning drivers that the morning commute will be very dangerous. Chad Myers is tracking the storm and the arctic chill that's behind it. It's coming up.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Making the terrorists pay. Japan vowing revenge after ISIS beheads its latest hostage. The new video creating outrage and new pleas for the safe return of other hostages. Live team coverage breaking it all down, ahead.

BERMAN: And then who needs sleep? A thrilling finish for the New England Patriots, the winners of Super Bowl XLIX, coming after an unbelievable ending, unfathomable. What's the Seahawks thinking? We'll break down all the big moments, ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm a very sleep- deprived John Berman.

ROMANS: John's working on three hours of sleep.

I'm Christine Romans. It's Monday, February 2nd. It's 4:00 in the East.

A major winter storm, let's start there, that's been burying the Midwest in snow, disrupting travel. It's about to be the same across the Northeast. More than 70 million people across a wide stretch of the country are affected. Some 2,000 flights now cancelled Sunday, many of them in and out of Chicago. Another 2,200 already scratched for today. The same storm system now moving into the Northeast, promising snowfall in New England, and a messy, messy commute around New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: The biggest threat in this case would be ice. We would expect a lot of icing on the roads and sidewalks up to a quarter inch of ice in some places. And a lot of that would happen in the early morning who hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: OK. Let's bring in meteorologist Chad Myers, standing by live right outside CNN's New York studio. You heard the mayor there of New York saying it's going to be happening in the early morning hours. That's now, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Getting pelted with sleet, graupel, which is snow that kind of melts on the way back down here, and then refreezes, and the snow is coming down as fast as they can plow, as fast as people can shovel, at least an inch an hour, maybe more. To the south of where we are, it is all rain. To the north, all snow. New England, as you said, really, Massachusetts, up to New Hampshire, Connecticut, lots of Connecticut, will get all snow.

The snow totals will be kept down here in New York City just by a little bit. I'm thinking less than six inches, but it's that sleet, it's the freezing rain on top of these buildings that can produce sheets of ice on the windows that eventually tomorrow, maybe the next day will start to fall on the people that are walking on the sidewalks here.

That's always a potential risk when we get rain and 32 degrees. The sign here at CNN Center says 33. That's great news. It can snow at 33 but the ice doesn't accumulate as quickly as 33.

But yesterday, it was a cold day in New York. A lot of this already frozen on the ground. It will be the same story in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Detroit, lots of snow on the ground, and many, many schools are already cancelled. That's good news. In Buffalo, we needed six inches to get a snow day. I think a lot of kids got a lot more than that overnight in some of these Midwestern towns, guys.

ROMANS: Yes, I'll say. All right. So much --

BERMAN: Graupel?

ROMANS: Graupel.

MYERS: It's a snow flake that tries to come down as a snow flake, kind of melts on the way down but not all the way, and then refreezes, and it comes down and hits in the face and it hurts.

ROMANS: Graupel.

BERMAN: Mean graupel.

ROMANS: Chad Myers teaches us something new every day. Thanks, Chad.

BERMAN: It has been a rough 24 hours for Chicago. They were hit with more than 15 inches of snow. No graupel. Wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour, the driving just miserable. The 350 plows and salt spreaders just can't keep up. The driving is treacherous, a lot of accidents.

Wow, look at that. I don't know what that guy was thinking. Travel is hazard that Chicago public schools are closed today.

Well, surf is up at least. That's Lake Michigan. It looks so cold, right? I mean, it looks so cold, I don't want to go near anywhere of that.

ROMANS: Schools closed today across a wide area of the country, from Omaha and Boston and beyond. It's not just driving that's dangerous in this blizzard. You can hit while standing still, and high winds and heavy snow downing trees in the quad cities area. That's in Illinois. In Iowa, the blizzard dropped up to 11 inches of snow canceling church services, closing businesses.

In Nebraska, the storm left the roads a hazardous mess, killing at least two, knocking out power to tens of thousands. Heavy snowfall also blanketing South Dakota with high winds, drifting snow, reduced visibility.

Heavy snow not a problem for everyone, though. Just look at this dog and its workers in Wisconsin. He seemed to make out just fine.

BERMAN: Frosty beards.

ROMANS: Well, you know, it's tough in Wisconsin. These folks in Detroit, they made the best of a snowy situation, even skipping the Super Bowl for a chance to sled down middle mount hill.

BERMAN: Another Detroit area man, he thought he had had a terrific idea for the snow. Look at that. Strapped himself behind an SUV there and went for a little bit of a ski. He was going along pretty well until a local news station spotted him, broadcast it live. Put up the picture up live.

The local mayor who was being interviewed by the station was not impressed. Did not like it one bit. He called police to track this guy down and gave him a ticket.

ROMANS: That looks -- as a mom, that looks pretty dangerous. Like I wouldn't want my sons to see that because they wouldn't want to do that.

BERMAN: Deep down inside, you want to try it.

ROMANS: I would love to try that, but I see things with new eyes these days.

Schools will be closed today in northern Ohio with a complete travel ban in place this morning for Toledo. Snow emergencies declared, throughout that region. Cleveland -- the city of Cleveland has 40 removal crews out. A parking ban in place to make their work easier.

CNN's Martin Savidge is in Cleveland. He's got the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

You know, when it's all said and done, Cleveland is not likely to be the leader in the clubhouse, at least when it comes to snowfall from this particular snowstorm. But like a lot of the cities and so many of the people being impacted by it, it's likely and is already the biggest snowfall they have seen so far this winter season. It is a problem. As you can see, the streets here are covered with snow. The snowplows have not been able to keep up with the rate of snow that's been coming down.

Temperatures have been really critical, will be critical in storm. It had been hovering around the freezing point and that, of course, allows a lot of moisture to be in the air, which creates a lot of snow. It's cooled down, but the wind is picking up. That's a problem because, of course, it causes drifting and that too makes it a difficult issue when it comes to snowplows keeping up.

When it was Sunday, this was not a problem. But now, it's become Monday and it really is a problem, especially for the morning commutes, especially for schools and especially for air travel. Air travel in Cleveland, about 40 percent of the flights have been impacted. Ironically, not because of the weather here, but the weather of what's happening out west, particularly Chicago. That's had the greatest impact.

And speaking of out west, western Ohio, you talk about Toledo, there they really do have a snow emergency. Level three, in fact, the only people that should be op the road are emergency vehicles. Anybody else, you could be facing arrest. We'll see how the day progresses -- Christine and John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Martin Savidge.

You know, more headaches for travelers in Chicago, Boston, New York. If you're trying to go anywhere, on an airplane, sorry. More than 2,200 flights have been cancelled already. Mostly in the Midwest and Northeast, and that number will grow, of course.

It's in addition to thousands of cancelled flights yesterday. Chicago O'Hare has the most cancellations so far.

Also experiencing weather disruptions this morning is JFK, Newark, LaGuardia, Boston Logan. Sound familiar? It's a bit of good news for travelers, though. Most airlines are waiving change fees for passengers flying in the storm's path. These effects come just as operations were just returning to normal from last week's blizzard.

BERMAN: The president rolls out his 2016 budget today. The $4 trillion spending plan would hike taxes on some of the richest Americans and boost middle class incomes, at least that would be the goal. The president is also targeting a number of U.S. corporations that use loopholes to avoid paying certain taxes.

Erin McPike has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, the big news coming out of the president's budget proposal this weekend is the tax he wants to levy on U.S. companies that make large profits overseas and he explained the reason for that in his weekly address.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Since I took office, we cut our deficits by about two-thirds -- the fastest sustained deficit reduction since just after the end of World War II. We just have to be smarter about how we pay for our priorities, and that's what my budget does. It proposes getting rid of special interest loopholes in our tax code and using those savings to cut taxes for middle class families and reward businesses that invest in America.

MCPIKE: Specifically, President Obama is calling for a one-time transition tax of 14 percent on up to $2 trillion of earnings that U.S. companies have already made over overseas. He also wants to impose a 19 percent tax on all future foreign earnings to try to eliminate U.S. companies relying on tax havens.

Obviously, this is a surprising request for the president to make of a Republican House and Senate, but he says that he wants the revenue that it raises. That's hundreds of billions of dollars to go towards infrastructure spending, that's on highways, roads, bridges and transit systems.

Now, John and Christine, we should also be getting many more details of the president's budget later this morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Erin McPike for that.

Can we talk about the Super Bowl, please?

ROMANS: Oh, was there a game last night?

BERMAN: There was a game last night. It was like it ended an hour and a half ago.

And it ended like this -- with Tom Brady leaving the field with his fourth Super Bowl ring. Here he is throwing a fourth quarter touchdown pass to Julian Edelman with about two minutes and eight seconds left in the game. That put the Patriots ahead. But it was not over, no, because of this insane catch from Jermaine Kearse. Bouncing, Bobbles, comes up with the ball. A nightmare for every Patriots fan.

So, then you see the Seahawks, they are getting close to the line, but -- no, Malcolm Butler with an interception there, oh my God, and the Patriots win.

I was watching from afar. You know who was there? Andy Scholes was at the game. Let's get his take.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, what a comeback, what a win for the New England Patriots. After a trying couple weeks, dealing with deflate-gate, the Patriots coming through with an epic comeback in Super Bowl XLIX to beat the Seahawks. But things didn't look good for the Patriots, down 10 points to start

the fourth quarter, but Tom Brady led them on two touchdown drives. He threw four touchdowns in the game, surpassing Joe Montana, the all time leader in Super Bowl touchdowns. But after the Seahawks Jermaine Kearse made one of the most unbelievable catches in NFL history, the Seahawks were in position for the game-winning touchdown, but a questionable play call led to rookie Malcolm Butler making the play of the game picking off Russell Wilson. Patriots win a thriller, 28-24.

The legacy of Brady and Bill Belichick may have skeptics, but after winning a fourth Super Bowl, there's no doubt they're two of the all- time greats.

TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: The other end of this twice now and being ahead late and not being able to make the plays to win. This time, we made the play to win. So, it's just awesome.

BILL BELICHICK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: Mentally and physically, this is as tough a group I've been around and I've been around some. These guys are really -- they're really special. I'm happy for them. And they deserve all the credit in the world.

RUSSELL WILSON, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS QUARTERBACK: I put the blame on me. You know, the guy made a play, you know? I don't know what I could have done differently, I meant to see it, you know? But we were right there, you know? So, I put the blame on me because I'm the one that gave them the ball in a way.

SCHOLES: And for the third time in his career, Tom Brady was named the MVP of the Super Bowl. He now has four rings, tying him with Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the most of all time amongst quarterbacks -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Thanks. I mean that, a big thanks to Andy Scholes for being there.

There's a lot of talk today. Did the Seahawks make an awful call there, running it on second down there? The interception by Malcolm Butler.

I want to know what you think. Please tweet us @earlystart, or @christineromans. Tell us what you thought of the play call.

I thought it was the wrong call, but I thought Malcolm Butler made an amazingly interception.

ROMANS: What a great game, and what a great night for Tom Brady and for John Berman.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

ROMANS: All right. Twelve minutes past the hour.

Japan vowing revenge after ISIS murders its latest hostage. The new video raising the question of the safety of others captured by these terrorists. Live team coverage of what we know this morning, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The prime minister of Japan is vowing to make ISIS pay for executing journalist Kenji Goto. The terror group posting video that appears to show Goto's beheaded body right after the militant nicknamed Jihadi John says, quote, "let the nightmare for Japan begin." The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacting with outrage, promising to, quote, "make the terrorists pay the price."

Let's bring in international correspondent Will Ripley, who has been following this story for us from Tokyo.

Will, this is a striking tone for the leader of Japan, isn't it?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is tough talk, Christine. But at this time point, it's pretty much just talk because Japan, as you know, is a pacifist country with a constitution that does not allow its military, which is known as the self-defense force, to engage in anything other than just that, self-defense.

Now, the prime minister, even before this hostage crisis unfolded, has been trying to expand Japan's role globally. It's why he was in the Middle East, pledging financial assistance in the form of humanitarian aid to the coalition against ISIS. And he's expected to introduce legislation here to also expand the role of the Japanese self-defense force allowing them to conduct missions outside of Japan if it involves the defense or the rescue of Japanese citizens.

It's a very controversial idea here. Ever since World War II, Japan has been under the protection of the U.S. military, and a lot of people here would like it to stay that way. But the prime minister and many allies, including the U.S., feel that it's time for Japan to expand its role, which is why you're seeing Japan -- its global presence. It's why you saw the prime minister in the Middle East, and it's you're going to see a lot of debate here, especially in light of what happened of the murder of the Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, Christine.

ROMANS: You know, Will, I struggle to understand what ISIS gains by murdering those two Japanese citizens.

RIPLEY: It was savage, it was brutal, it was unnecessary, it was cruel, which is basically the M.O. of this terror group, a group which, by the way, continues to just gain enemies, including intelligence sources and analysts that I've been talking to here say, even people on the ground in the Middle East are getting fed up with ISIS. People that are in the same countries as ISIS. In fact, it was interesting to hear some predicting that this group is only -- given that it's so unpredictable and it can't govern, it may only be a matter of time before it implodes. And now, they can certainly add Japan to the list of countries that very much would like to see that happen.

ROMANS: All right. Will Ripley for us in Tokyo this morning -- thank you, Will. BERMAN: What's going on, the people of Jordan are still desperately

waiting for word on the fate of Jordanian fighter pilot, the one captured by ISIS. Muath al-Kasasbeh was not mentioned in the latest ISIS video featuring Kenji Goto. ISIS has said it would kill the pilot if they did not release a convicted female terrorist.

Jordan has said it is willing to release Sajida al-Rishawi, but only if ISIS provides proof the pilot Kasasbeh is still alive. So far, ISIS has not done that.

Let's go to senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir live with the latest.

Good morning, Nima.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Well, Jordanians don't know whether to gain hope that the pilot wasn't mentioned in the beheading video of Kenji Goto or further despair. His family, who has been pleading with the Jordanian king to get their sons released, are now pleading directly with ISIS. Jordan says that it is continuing to work any and all back channel contacts that they have seeking that crucial, crucial proof of life, but none is forthcoming. And even though they are watching closely all the social media accounts through which ISIS has been communicating in the past, there's absolutely nothing forthcoming. They are still, as you say, committed to releasing Sajida al-Rishawi, but they won't do it without having at least something in return, at least knowing that al-Kasasbeh is alive.

Jordan, of course, is a key western ally, and they are reiterating in spite of all this the commitment to the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. But it is against a background of growing anxiety domestically and a lot of vocal criticism. This mission was not very popular. There was a concern that Jordan was part of coalition airstrikes resulting in civilian deaths in a neighboring Islamic country. And now, there's concern about what will happen to those that are sent in harm's way, John.

BERMAN: Nima Elbagir for us covering this. Interesting to see how public opinion turns as more and more of these brutal murders surface.

Nima Elbagir, thanks so much.

Happening now, the measles outbreak is spreading. President Obama is now weighing in with a new warning. It's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: We are expecting today to get an updated number of people who have caught measles across the country. The Centers for Disease Control says in the first 28 days of January alone, 84 cases were reported in 14 states. A scare in New York happened after a new measles case surfaced at Bard College. That's just 100 miles north of New York City. President Obama is urging parents to get their kids vaccinated. They

want to get this outbreak under control. This is the outbreak that a lot of people say started right around Disneyland in California. But, again, now coming to the East Coast.

ROMANS: Fourteen states now, 84 cases in 14 states.

All right. Bobbi Kristina Brown remains hospitalized this morning in a medically induced coma. The 21-year-old daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown was found by her husband Saturday face down in a bathtub, not breathing. She was revived, taken to the hospital and is now said to be on a ventilator in intensive care. Bobby Brown, in a statement, appeals for privacy, saying, "Please allow my daughter to get the love and support she needs."

BERMAN: Rap mogul Suge Knight could be arraigned as early as today on murder charges. Knight is suspected in a hit-and-run incident last week that suspect killed one man and injured another in Compton, in California. The 49-year-old surrendered to police on Friday. He's currently being held on $2 million bail.

ROMANS: An actor who appeared as one of the "Power Rangers" in a television series is under arrest, suspected of murder. Police in Palmdale, California, say 36-year-old Ricardo Medina allegedly stabbed his roommate with a sword over the weekend following an argument. He's being held on $1 million bail.

BERMAN: All right. Twenty-five minutes after the hour.

This big winter storm is burying millions from the Midwest to the Northeast. It is ugly. We are tracking this storm, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)