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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Severe Storms Hit South; New TSA Scans; Holly Spring News Conference; Clinton Holds Lead. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 24, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Looking at. This is Como, Mississippi, located about an hour south of Memphis. People in these cars that you see, in trucks, were powerless against this tornado that suddenly appeared crossing the highway, pushing over these big trucks sitting in their - in the storm's path. Three states affected by this weather, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas. At least ten people are dead today, killed in their homes or inside cars when the storms hit.

Let's bring in meteorologist Chad Myers. He's at the CNN Severe Weather Center in Atlanta.

Chad, you know, it's Christmas Eve. Not a joyous day for many people in the deep south today. Can you tell where the storm system is right now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I can. It is still in the warm sector. It's where the warm fronts is just to our north right through here. The same areas by about 150 miles to the east, as we saw yesterday. And this is what we saw as the warm air, the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, rode right up into the frontal system, right through here and there was a jet stream involved. Some of these storms were going 60 miles per hour. Most of them were severe. Some of them had tornadoes and some of them had very large tornadoes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS (voice-over): This Christmas Eve morning, hundreds of people are waking up to utter devastation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy marcel.

MYERS: The destruction caused by a deadly tornado outbreak cutting across the south and Midwest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see debris.

MYERS: The tornado claiming multiple lives, including a seven-year-old boy, as residents desperately tried to hide in their cars and homes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And by the time I got out of my car, I had a tree that was in my windshield.

MYERS: In northern Mississippi, this tornado tore through a busy highway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh!

MYERS: Watch as the massive twister tosses this tractor-trailer as it barrels through traffic. Watch from this angle, from what appears to be the same semi. This driver, just feet away.

The winds in southwestern Tennessee roared up to 75 miles per hour as officials declared a state of emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The houses just exploded and they were buried in the rubble.

MYERS: Two people were killed east of Memphis, their bodies found under debris.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were in the house. We heard the wind picking up. We had 45 seconds and it just hit. We came - we walked out of the storm shelter, everything was gone.

MYERS: And in Arkansas, an 18-year-old woman died when a tree fell through her house, toppled by the high winds and heavy rain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christmas is all about love and we're going to love through this.

MYERS: Some residents in Mississippi clinging on to what say matters most, after losing nearly everything this holiday season.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't about the house. It was about my family that was the most important thing to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: So here's how it's set up. Little Rock, Arkansas, yesterday was 74 degrees. That's 23 degrees where - above where you should be this time of year. And that front moved right through Arkansas, into Mississippi, into Alabama. And we now know that at least 24 reports of tornado damage occurred. Some of these tornadoes may have been the same one on the ground for a very long time. In fact, this one that right here moved through Holly Springs may have been on ground for 140 miles.

The National Weather Service is out there with helicopters and planes looking to see if it was skipping along or was it one long tract tornado. We know it was at least an EF-3, maybe an EF-4 tornado, which means almost 180 to almost 200 - almost 200 miles per hour. I can see some of this damage at at least 150. So we'll see. The Weather Service going on the ground, they look at it, they know what the damage is supposed to look like for each category and they'll let us know.

Now, tornadoes happen in December, 24 on average, but not usually this big. Sometimes we get an EF-4 on the ground in December and it happened I think yesterday. We'll have to see. Twenty-four on average, most of them, of course, across the mid-South where the humidity is still there.

Alison. KOSIK: Just incredible. Think about that, a tornado on the ground for

140 miles.

MYERS: I know.

KOSIK: You're talking about Holly Springs. And I want to go to the mayor of Holly Springs right now. He's joining me on the phone. Mr. - his name is Kelvin Buck.

Mr. Mayor, thanks so much for joining us.

MAYOR KELVIN BUCK, HOLLY SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI: Thank you for having me.

KOSIK: Your county, Marshall County, was hit very hard by this storm. A seven-year-old boy died yesterday in this. My heart goes out to you, to your city, to your county. Tell me what you're hearing from the people on the ground there and across, you know, your city and your county.

BUCK: Well, by hearing and by doing my own analysis and reconnaissance, we've already determined that there's been a tremendous amount of devastation in three primary parts of the community. And in - just like going out and taking a look, I mean, total homes destroyed, churches destroyed. I mean one house after another in all the residential areas around the three particular areas. So it's devastating. We certainly are very saddened by the one death that has occurred and the multiple injuries that have occurred.

[12:05:10] So our crews have been out this morning trying to get an assessment. We've got MEMA (ph) here and some other agencies here that kind of help us with this, the Red Cross. We're just trying to pull things together now.

KOSIK: Now, I understand the governor of Mississippi, Phil Bryant, has declared a state of emergency in your state, in Mississippi. What kind of assistance are you going to be asking for? Have you even had a conversation with the governor yet?

BUCK: Well, the governor is set to arrive here any minute now here at the command center and, of course, we'll get a - I'll get a chance to have a moment or two with him directly in just a little bit. But primarily we'll be looking for the normal kinds of assistance that come along with a tragedy like this. Things to help us with the extra cost of trying to recuperate from this and to deal with the problem. You know, those kinds of things. We'll be more specific with him based on what he can share with us.

KOSIK: Mr. Mayor, you know it's Christmas Eve. People of your county are dealing with this tragedy instead of enjoying the holiday. What kind of message do you want to give to those people whose lives are just so terribly affected today by these storms?

BUCK: Well, we always say to people that they must have faith, they must pray, but they also must be very vigilant in making sure they're in a safe environment. We have seen these kinds of events happen in other places. It's happened to us now. We've got to find the resolve to do our best to recover and just try to help each other out. We've gotten outpouring of support from communities from around us. We've just got to rally together and make this the best out of this very, very terrible situation.

KOSIK: All right, Mayor Kelvin Buck, we certainly wish you the best in the recovery effort and the cleanup in this aftermath of these devastating storms. Thanks so much for joining us on the phone today.

BUCK: Thank you. Thank you.

KOSIK: And you're looking at live pictures of a news conference set to happen there in Holly Springs. The governor is expected to speak about the devastation that tore through Mississippi yesterday with this massive tornado. We will go to that news conference as soon as it begins.

That severe weather pounding the deep south is also having some effect on Christmas Eve air travel, especially on flights through major hub airports in the east, like Atlanta, Philadelphia and the big three airports that serve New York City.

Let's go to CNN's Sara Sidner. She's at LaGuardia Airport, where something else was announced today that could slow down your trip this Christmas.

Sara, what is this new protocol that TSA has rolled out?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's interesting, a lot of people don't know about it just yet, but they may experience it when they're in line. And basically what the TSA has said is that they are not going to let everyone opt out of going through the body scanners. They are going to say to some passengers, no, we will not give you a pat down, but they're very clear in saying that the only passengers they will do that to is if it is warranted by security considerations in order to safeguard transportation security.

And so they're saying, look, you can still ask to be patted down instead of going through that big bubble that we're all used to going through, but some people may be denied if they're considered (INAUDIBLE).

KOSIK: OK. OK, Sara, I hate to break you off there. We want to go live to Mississippi where the governor is speaking there after those devastating storms.

MAYOR KELVIN BUCK, HOLLY SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI: Are we OK right here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're OK right there.

BUCK: All right.

OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just speak up and you'll - you'll be fine. BUCK: All right. OK, we're here now with some of the emergency

officials. Some of the first responders. We've had an opportunity now to do a little bit more of an assessment of what's actually going on, what we have in front of us out in the community. And so I have several of those officials here who can perhaps answer any questions you might have.

Of course, last night we were hampered by not only the darkness, but the fact that it was still doing some raining and the weather in general. This morning, we've been able to get a much closer and intimate look at this situation and so some of the people that have been out can now give us a little bit more detail as to what they can - what you can expect, what our plans are as we move through this process.

So I have with me several of them. I know that our fire chief here, Chief Holbrook, will be able to talk to you and answer any questions. We have our police chief, Chief Dwight Harris (ph), our sheriff, Sheriff Kenny Dickerson, and others that are here. Our councilman, Kit Kelly (ph), and others. So if you have any questions, we'll be glad to entertain those questions. If you need an opening statement from our chief, he's certainly able to give you the latest.

[12:10:05] QUESTION: I think, mayor, what we want to know at this point, we know that a lot of devastation has comes through, but how many fatalities, how many injured people are there come daylight?

BUCK: OK. You want to come respond to that?

CHIEF KENNY HOLBROOK, HOLLY SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI: Kenny Holbrook, fire chief, Holly Springs.

We have one confirmed fatality. The little boy that was in a vehicle that was struck by the tornado. That's the only confirmed fatality that we have.

Last night, we did a secondary pass. First we did a primary. We did a secondary last night. And came back in daylight this morning to do a complete survey again. We have a lot of responders from neighboring communities here. Utilizing our law enforcement, our EMS people and our fire people, we were able to complete this third survey. And during the survey, we located any hazards we may have and to have all of those hazards contained and noted all the utility access and such as power lines being down and things, they are being handled at this time.

We have approximately 5,000 customers without electricity and the utility company is working diligently on that. Now that we have cleared all of the residents of any sort of hazards, we will be able to utilize a lot of the volunteers that have came in from different areas such as chain saw crews and debris removal people. Everything on our roadways has been removed where it's accessible. All damage now at this point is on private property. And that's where these other groups will come in and we can utilize them. They can go and work with the homeowners at that point and assist them. We've got a shelter set up for anyone what doesn't have a place to

stay that needs a place. The Red Cross is running a shelter in Holly Springs at the Multipurpose Center. And any donations that people would like to make, we have - utilizing that same facility for the drop-off point. It will be on North Memphis Street here in Holly Springs Multipurpose Center.

QUESTION: Chief, are you releasing the name of that little boy yet?

HOLBROOK: No, ma'am, I am not. You'll have to get that through the coroner's office. We'll withhold that.

QUESTION: How many people are injured at this time?

HOLBROOK: We don't have a total count at this point. I know that we were reported to us last night that 18 folks had been transported to the local hospital in Olive Branch. And, you know, that had more severe injuries. I could not even begin to tell you how many walking wounded went to the doctor or hospitals on their own. That accounting will have to come later.

QUESTION: Chief, we have noticed that there is a memorial that's been set up right along Highway 7, what appears to be the location where the little boy died. Is that an accurate spot?

HOLBROOK: I can't respond to that question. I've been in command center all - so I'm not familiar with where you're talking.

QUESTION: What's one of the major problems you're dealing with right now, chief, if there's one out there right now that you guys are having to work on?

HOLBROOK: The biggest problem we had was spontaneous responders. If you can use that word, spontaneous responders. They just came. And understand that, you know, in an emergency situation like this, everyone wants to help. But this morning, like I say, as of last night, people that were not a member of the law enforcement, EMS or fire community, we withheld sending them out doing the emergency work. Now that that is finished, we can utilize a lot of this help in the private sector.

Now, you know, we can't assume the responsibility that we don't know what training people have. So that - that's been the - probably the hardest part of managing hundreds of people that you've never met until that moment. So I think we did a really good job at it. I got a lot of good help. You see all these gentlemen standing behind me. That's the support team that got this accomplished. One person can't do it all. And I want to applaud them for their job.

QUESTION: Is there one - chief, you know, it's a small town and everybody knows everybody else. And I'm wondering, has it hit - has it been difficult for the folks here, obviously, to see and witness what's been - what's happened in the last 24 hours?

[12:14:58] HOLBROOK: I'm sure. The small - the smaller the community, the more people you know, the - as the emergency responders here, you're going to deal with your family, your relatives, you know, people that you meet and greet every day on the street. In a big, large metropolis, you may never see someone that's related to you. But, yes, it's - things that people have to deal with and I think everybody, on (ph) the responder, even at this point has handled that very well.

QUESTION: Mayor, what's your take on that?

BUCK: Well, I would tend to agree. You know, this area, Marshall County and Holly Springs, is one big community. And, of course, a lot of the devastation didn't actually happen in the city of Holly Springs. But, of course, our first responders have to respond to it just as well as anyone else. Our sheriff is here. He just took a fly over of the area and he could certainly give you a little bit more information as to what he saw during the fly over of what happened in the more rural areas of the area. But it's been a complete effort and, of course, in a small town, the little lines that make up the municipalities in the county don't make a whole lot of difference to us.

QUESTION: Do you have an estimate on how many people are without power right now in the county?

BUCK: And talking with our utility department, we estimate around 4,000 are still without power and some could be without power for a few days, others could be a little bit longer, but they are working. Several crews have come in to try to assist our utility department in restoring power throughout the grid.

QUESTION: What about the concerns of people trapped inside of their homes at this time? A lot of homes are damaged. There's no concern for that?

HOLBROOK: We've done a thorough search of all areas that were involved. We have located everyone. We have no reports of anyone missing at this point. And like I say, this was our third sweep we went through this morning in the daylight. So we feel 100 percent confident that the emergency is over as far as anyone not being located in - in Marshall County.

QUESTION: Is there going to be an established curfew?

BUCK: Well, we haven't had any discussion about that in the city. We - the area that was hardest hit within the city limits doesn't appear to have any kind of a threat or need for that kind of a curfew to be imposed. Now, the county, I'm not sure if at all they'll have any kind of - I will say to you this, that perhaps they will be out, you know, patrolling and making sure that people's property is maintained and the sheriff can speak to that.

QUESTION: Sheriff -- sheriff, can you - can you ask - talk a little bit about that?

SHERIFF KENNY DICKERSON, MARSHALL COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Yes. DICKERSON: Yes, sir. Well, first of all, thank you. We appreciate you all's coverage and alerting everyone through the news and whatever. This has been certainly devastating for all of us. But again, our community, as always, pulls together and we have these type of tragedies and works together, the citizens, the city and the county and the fire departments. And we have - we do have reason at this time, I've just been advised by my patrol supervisor, we do have two fatalities. We have a second fatality that's expired according to the information received by Major Cook (ph).

We just did a fly over, I did, with the (INAUDIBLE) County helicopter. It's unreal what you see from the air. We're going to have millions and millions of board (ph) feet of (INAUDIBLE) wood and timber that's damaged and down. Many, many homes has got severe damage. It's just unreal. You'd have to be in the air and looking down to see it to really realize how bad it is.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) because they said it was on the ground for a long time.

DICKERSON: Yes.

QUESTION: Did you follow the path? Did you see that?

DICKERSON: Well, of course it come our way from south, from Nola (ph) County, up this way and across back of Walmart, across the road, Highway 7 south and then went back north across 78 to (INAUDIBLE) to my rear and turned over quite a few trucks that were traveling, automobiles and so forth. And considering what has happened, it's bad but it could have been a lot worse.

QUESTION: Have you ever seen anything like it?

DICKERSON: Well, yes, I have. I have seen a lot worse, but it's bad.

QUESTION: You said it's your second fatality that's been confirmed in the county?

DICKERSON: Pardon me?

QUESTION: You said it's the second fatality that's been confirmed in the county?

DICKERSON: That's - I was just patrolled - advised by my patrol supervisor, Major Cook, that we did have a second fatality, a person that's expired.

QUESTION: Was it a man or a woman or -

DICKERSON: I don't - I don't have that information at the present time. Sure don't. But, again, as always, the city and the county has worked together, the community has worked together and, as a result of this togetherness, as you see here, we've made a lot of progress and made the very best out of a very bad situation.

QUESTION: Everybody knows this, sir, but can you say your name for me, please?

DICKERSON: Sir?

QUESTION: Would you give me - if everyone knows you but would you say your name for me, please?

DICKERSON: Yes, Kenny Dickerson, sheriff of Marshall County.

QUESTION: Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.

QUESTION: Sheriff, one more question for you. We've heard reports of 18-wheeler (INAUDIBLE) flipped over and (INAUDIBLE) specific highway.

DICKERSON: Yes.

QUESTION: Was he able to -

[12:19:54] DICKERSON: Well, as I - as I was riding in the helicopter just moments ago just south of here near a farm location, I observed several 18-wheelers, trailers turned over the side, farm-type trailers, but they were 18-wheelers. Sure were. Along with several vehicles. And it's just - it's bad but it could have been a whole lot worse and we're thankful that we had no more damage than we did and - regardless we had so much, but it could have been a lot worse.

QUESTION: Thank you, sheriff.

DICKERSON: Yes, sir.

BUCK: Well, I think that's about all unless you all have some more questions. The latest we just got the word about the person that was - second person in Marshall County was a lady, a female. That's all I have. That's all the information I have about her now.

I just want to say one last thing about all of the support that we've gotten from different agencies from around the area. Olive Branch, Byhalia, Oxford, just a number of communities around the area. And so has the private sector. There's some private sector companies that have been a part of trying to help us and volunteering and making donations. Home Depot and some others. So we just want to thank them for what they've done to try to feed and help and provide things like generators and some very important equipment needs that we might have and be running short on.

QUESTION: Mayor, is there a - any - we have a lot of people asking, you know, what we can - can we do to help? Is there anything you guys need, like water, blood, bed sheet, blankets, any of that kind of stuff?

BUCK: Well, we do have a staging area for some of that. We've gotten quite a few requests of making contributions of some kind. And we've directed them to the Multipurpose Center where the Red Cross and others have assembled and have a presence down there and so if they want to make some kind of a donation. We don't have the specific needs right now and perhaps before the day is over our chief and some of the other emergency officials will be - have a better understanding of what the needs might be. But right now, we have a lot of people out here providing a lot of things for the first responder, as well as for residents.

KOSIK: All right, you've been listening to a live news conference. That right there, Kelvin Buck, the mayor of Holly Springs, along with - Holly Spring, along with community members, EMS, recovery crews, responders to this devastating storm that hit their community along with - in Mississippi, along with two other states. Them saying that with the light of day they're able to assess the damage and survey the area and also give a confirmation that there have been two deaths in their community because of these storms, including a seven-year-old boy. But they also say that they have found that no one is trapped in their homes. That they've done a thorough search of the community.

Interestingly enough, this is a small community, Holly Spring. Only about 7,500 people - population in Holly Spring. So one of the EMS officials saying that some of these responders know the people whose homes they are going to, it's that small of a community.

We are expected to hear from the governor at some point. We will go back out to the news conference if he does step up to the mics.

Up next, who would win a Trump/Clinton election? Brand-new CNN poll numbers hot off the press. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:26:43] KOSIK: All is quiet on the campaign trail today as the candidates spend the holidays with her families, but polls have brought Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton a gift. She remains on top in a new CNN/ORC poll, well ahead of Bernie Sanders, 50 percent to 34 percent, although dropping slightly since November. And Sanders is gaining a little traction with Martin O'Malley trailing at 3 percent.

Let's talk more about this with CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns.

Joe, thanks for joining us. I'm thinking Clinton must have made quite an impression on voters in the last debate.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think you're right, Alison. Part of this poll was done before the debate and part was done after the debate. Clinton showed much more strength after the debate. So she picked up steam following her performance on national TV. One thing worth noting, though, is that while Clinton dominates the Democratic field, including Bernie Sanders, that strength is just not apparent in the hypothetical match-up with the top Republican contenders. She's two points up over Donald Trump, but just two or three points down against Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, all of that coming within the margin of error. So, in some ways you can say she would be running neck and neck with those Republican contenders if the election were held today, Alison.

KOSIK: It seems that way. So what are you hearing that Sanders is saying about these new poll numbers? JOHNS: Well, Sanders is pointing to the fact that while the CNN/ORC

poll is a national poll, the primaries, as everybody knows, are won state by state. And he says he's got strength in state polls. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When we began this campaign, as you will recall, we were in 3 percent, 5 percent in the polls. I think all of the pundits considered us a fringe candidacy. Today, we, perhaps, are in the lead in New Hampshire. We're, I think, closing in here in Iowa. And your poll seems to indicate that we have national momentum. So I think we have come a really long way in seven and a half months and we're feeling really good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So, Iowa is closing in and our poll also clearly shows that voters are now getting in the position of determining who they're going to put their money on, Alison.

KOSIK: I can imagine how those conversations are going to go over at the dinner table over the next couple of days for the holidays. Joe Johns, thanks for that.

Inside the battle against ISIS. Houses rigged to explode as Iraqi forces with support from American troops try to drive ISIS out of Ramadi. We've got details on that coming up.

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