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75 Million in Path of Monster Snowstorm; Sarah Palin Tries to Woo Conservatives for Donald Trump; Report: Putin "Probably Approved" Litvinenko Death. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 21, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[09:00:35] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, the East Coast bracing for a major storm. Get ready. This one could be one for the history books.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Usually takes me about 20 to 25 minutes. I've been on the road close to five hours now.

COSTELLO: And the monster hasn't even hit yet. How bad can it get?

Plus Trump topping in New Hampshire.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's a pretty big lead no matter how you cut it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TRUMP: That's a pretty big lead.

COSTELLO: Add in Sarah Palin.

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Our candidate is ballsy enough to get out there and put those issues on the table.

COSTELLO: Can any other candidate catch up?

And it sounds like a scene out of James Bond. Did Vladimir Putin approve a plan to poison an ex-spy?

Let's talk, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

A state of emergency. Virginia's governor taking action hours before a monster winter storm is set to plow into the eastern part of the United States. Some 75 million in its path and Washington, D.C. in the bull's eye.

Consider this a painful preview. The capital and much of Virginia sucker-punched by an icy snowfall. I'm talking one inch of snow. That made the roads treacherous last night. Hundreds of accidents and commutes dragging on for as long as six hours. And some people were trapped in their cars for more than six hours on the highway. After one inch of snow fell.

President Obama forced into a motorcade when the weather grounded his helicopter flight from Joint Base Andrews. The Secret Service vehicles with hazard lights flashing sliding their way back to the White House.

CNN's Rene Marsh live at Arlington, Virginia, and CNN meteorologist Chad Myers looks ahead to how bad it's going to get.

Let's start with you, Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the governor of Virginia just issuing a state of emergency for the state. That will free up state assets for the response when that big storm blows through here on Friday.

That's in the future. Let's talk about last night where so many people were trapped in traffic for hours at a time. This morning we were coming here to our live shot. We saw people with gas cans, who had run out of gas and had to abandon their vehicles because traffic was just that bad.

Keep in mind that was all because of one inch of snow. That is only the preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (voice-over): A crippling evening commute causing a gridlock nightmare in the D.C. metro area. People stuck behind the wheel for hours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was pretty rough driving home. And it took awhile -- it took him an hour to get four miles.

MARSH: As the snow on slick, untreated roads turned to ice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It usually takes me about 20 to 25 minutes. I've been on the road close to five hours now.

MARSH: Causing more than 160 crashes, including one fatality in Virginia. Only one inch of snow wreaking havoc and it's only a preview of the potentially historic blizzard to come. The nation's capital could be in the bull's eye for a record-breaking 30 inches of snow by Sunday.

This traffic app showing the accidents inside and outside of the D.C. beltway. An absolute mess. Crashes snarling traffic for hours. Forcing drivers to abandon their cars.

Pedestrians not spared from the hellish condition, including President Obama nearly slipping as he exited Air Force One, the commander in chief's motorcade slipping and sliding on snow-glazed streets, taking motorcade drivers more than an hour to get back to the White House. Snow crews in nearby Virginia and Maryland scrambling overnight,

piling up salt and positioning plows to prepare for the wintry onslaught. The expected blizzard drudging up memories of D.C.'s "Carmageddon" in January 2011 when heavy snow fell fast across the region knocking down trees and cutting power to hundreds of thousands along the East Coast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Still better than New York. I was living in New York this time last year and it was already pretty bad up there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: All right. And if you're traveling by air, one key piece of advice, start thinking about alternative plans now.

[09:05:01] That specifically if you are flying in and out of airports in this northeastern region that's supposed to get that heavy snowfall. I spoke with a couple of airlines this morning. And -- you should expect that they will start announcing pre-cancellations for flights on Friday as well as Saturday -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, Rene. So it's not like snow has never fallen in Washington, D.C. Icy rain has even fallen. So what's the deal with last night? Why were the roads left untreated? Why did the city come to a standstill after one inch of snow falls?

MARSH: You know, that's the key question. Many people are asking, you know, there are some officials on record saying that they did have people out there treating the roadways but clearly they were not prepared for what happened yesterday.

I can tell you, I was one of the individuals sitting in traffic. It took me -- what usually takes 15 minutes took two hours. There are several accidents, we're talking about a hundred -- more than a hundred accidents in the state of Virginia alone because many of the roads were not treated.

We do know that the mayor of Washington, D.C. will be having a press conference today, in about an hour or so. And you have to think she will be asked that very question, why did yesterday happen? We really are unclear at this point. But she'll be on the record in about less than an hour -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And she better say something good because a big blizzard is approaching soon and, you know, you have to wonder, will the city be prepared? If it's not prepared for one inch of snow and 30 inches are coming -- well, we're going to monitor that mayoral press conference. That will happen in the 10:00 Eastern hour of NEWSROOM.

Rene Marsh, thanks.

The real dread in Washington, though, as I said, tomorrow's threat of blizzard like conditions and near record amounts of snow.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is in the Weather Center to tell us about that. Good morning. CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. Yes, a deep

breath. And stay home for D.C., Baltimore and the like. Gaithersburg, Rockville, you're going to get more snow then Buoy and Annapolis, because Buoy and Annapolis, you will mix in with sleet and freezing rain. It may only be eight inches of snow there along the Chesapeake. But much more to the west where it's colder and drier and higher.

Blizzard watches for New York City and also for Long Island as well. And this is all part of the storm system that will make snow and ice from Memphis through Little Rock all the way to Nashville, Knoxville, Charlotte, an ice storm for tomorrow. A mess there into Raleigh as well. That's where the ice will be. Here is the where the snow is coming. And it's moving up into New York City, it's moving up into D.C., Baltimore.

But it's that BW Parkway. It's that I-95 corridor that I'm thinking that if you are to the west of there you get a lot more snow than if you are to the east of there like Dover, that's where you're going to see a lot of rain and sleet mixing in, and you won't pile it up like you will in D.C.

Even in D.C. the forecast could be 12 to 25. 12 on the east side, 25 on the west side. So we're going to have to deal with it. And the wind, because it's going to blow it around, winds are going to be 50 miles per hour. So power lines going to be coming down, a lot of drifting on as well.

New York City kind of same story for you. Westchester might get two, seaside New Jersey might get 20. I mean, maybe less. But you get the idea. There is such a big difference, a big discrepancy on all of these models on where it starts, where it's heavy and where it stops. And that's what we're going to watch for you. And it's still another 36 hours away from starting but when it starts it's going to get ugly, Carol.

Let me tell you, let's go to Washington, D.C. and also into New York City the next couple of days. D.C. 20 to 30 inches. On the east side, Buoy, probably eight on the west side, maybe Vicksburg, maybe that's where 30 is. For New York City, only six to 10. Maybe more on Long Island, I'm going to have to see what the temperature is there, but you see six to 10 inches across the city. Less to the north and a lot more to the south -- Carol.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Oh my gosh, your effects, they are fantastic, Chad.

MYERS: Thank you. They worked on these all day.

COSTELLO: Just New York City rose from the ground. That's --

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: It's the phoenix. To melt all the snow.

COSTELLO: I hope so. Chad Myers, thanks.

All right. Now to the race for the White House and Donald Trump strengthening his lead in one key early state. Now ahead by 20 points in the latest CNN-WMUR poll of New Hampshire Republicans. Trump with 34 percent of the vote compared to 14 percent for Ted Cruz. Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie among those vying for the remaining top five slots. Trump talked with CNN about those polls. The impact of Sarah Palin on this campaign and that highly publicized mistake over a bible verse at Liberty University.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: That's a pretty big lead. I'm very happy about it. It's a very respected poll and we -- you know, I've done really well in New Hampshire. I love the people of New Hampshire. And we've done -- we've done really great there so I'm very honored by it.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Let's focus on Iowa right now because you know the big news is you and Sarah Palin. What was it like with Sarah Palin on the campaign trail for the first time today?

[09:10:01] TRUMP: Oklahoma has been unbelievable. Iowa has been -- I mean, twice. I mean, no matter where we're going, it's like love. There's love in the room. And it's been incredible.

LEMON: You mentioned Oklahoma and Sarah Palin. You said today she had a great reception. In Tulsa she spoke about her son --

TRUMP: Right.

LEMON: Track's domestic violence arrest on Monday night implying that it might have something to do with his combat related trauma and she criticized the president's policies dealing with that. Did you ask her to address her son's arrest?

TRUMP: I told her it would be absolutely fine. I thought it would be appropriate. There was tremendous press and I think it's something that's very important to discuss, not even for her son but for so many other sons and daughters that are coming back from the Middle East where they have, you know, traumatic problems. They have tremendous problems. And I told her, I actually suggested about it.

LEMON: Do you think it's fair to link the president with her son's issues?

TRUMP: Oh, I think so. Look, you know, everything starts at the top. He's the president, and I think you can certainly do that.

LEMON: You've gotten a lot of gaff for this and I've had plenty of your supporters on who defend you and other people who are saying oh my gosh, this is a screw-up. Then Monday at Liberty University you said "Two Corinthians" instead of "Second Corinthians." You also said hell which is in violation of the student -- university student code of conduct.

What happened? What do you think of this whole controversy? TRUMP: Well, I think it's OK. I think it was fine. You know we've

had a number of people and my mother was from Scotland. And in Europe and in the U.K., they say -- they actually say two. They say "Two Corinthians." And the number of people have pointed this out. And it was not a big deal. Frankly Tony Perkins wrote that out for me because Tony thought it would be great. He knew I was going to Liberty. Has a great respect for Liberty and Tony Perkins is a very, good guy. And he actually wrote out "two," he wrote out the number two Corinthians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is in New Hampshire with more on the state of the GOP race.

Good morning.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. Well, Ted Cruz will hit the campaign trail here in New Hampshire later today. And the focus for him today really is about trying to recapture a lot of this lost momentum that he's seen after this long slug, those hard 48 hours that his campaign has its endured. But this comes as the attention out here on the campaign is still very squarely focused on Donald Trump and Sarah Palin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY (voice-over): Palin wasting no time rallying Trump supporters in Oklahoma. The two packing a double dose of star power, taking aim at the GOP establishment.

PALIN: Our candidate is ballsy enough to get out there and put those issues on the table.

SERFATY: Palin serving up red meat for the conservative crowd.

PALIN: We got a red head from the big red apple running for president. And yet the GOP machine all of a sudden they are saying we are not red enough. We are not conservative enough.

SERFATY: And talking about her 26-year-old son's arrest on domestic violence charges, taking a jab at the president in the process.

PALIN: I can certainly relate with other families, who kind of feel these ramifications of some PTSD. It is now or never for the sake of America's finest that we have that commander-in-chief who will respect them and honor them.

SERFATY: Those comments making headlines on the heels of her major Trump endorsement.

TRUMP: Every one of the candidates wanted her endorsement. And in particular Ted Cruz, who right now is having tremendous difficulty.

SERFATY: In New Hampshire Ted Cruz fighting to regain momentum after Palin made the case that Trump is the one with the conservative cred. PALIN: Are you ready to stump for Trump?

SERFATY: And the latest slams from former Republican Senate majority leader Bob Dole, warning of full cataclysmic and wholesale losses for the GOP if Cruz prevails.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Trump is welcoming the support of the Washington establishment. Indeed Mr. Trump said that they should support him because he said Ted won't go along to get along. He won't make deals with the Democrats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And that was Ted Cruz's attempt there to try to reshape the narrative around his campaign right now, really trying to pin that establishment label squarely on Donald Trump and trying, of course, Carol, to paint himself as the true anti-establishment candidate -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, reporting live for us from New Hampshire. Thank you.

And while Trump and Cruz trade shots and go negative on the trail, John Kasich who is rising in some polls and falling in others is making his mark by walking on the sun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a lot of candidates are like the prince of darkness? You know, I consider myself the prince of light and hope. And I don't spend all my time getting people riled up about how bad everything is. I acknowledge the challenges but then I say look, come together, through Americans first, we can solve these problems. The people are hungry for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Are they? With me now, Ana Navarro, CNN political commentator, Jeb Bush supporter and friend of Marco Rubio, and John Avlon, CNN political analyst and editor-in-chief for the "Daily Beast."

[09:15:09] Welcome to both of you.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Carol.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

So, John, voters don't want a prince of light and hope, they want to roll around in doom. They want a savior. Right now, that would be Mr. Trump.

So, can Kasich really make inroads? AVLON: Well, there is certainly an opportunity to try to be a

candidate of light and hope, a uniter not a divider as George W. Bush once said. But the problem is, as you pointed out, the mood of the GOP base is very much about someone who is a divider not a uniter. Whether it is Cruz or Trump.

The question is, in that center right lane, who can emerge? "The Union Leader' endorsed Chris Christie. He did well in some polls. Kasich doing well in some polls. But who can be the standard bearer? Maybe it's Jeb, maybe it is Marco. But that lane is still unclaimed, and really diffused.

And remember, in New Hampshire, 44 percent are independent and it's an open primary. And that is what makes the character of this primary so totally different than both Iowa and South Carolina.

COSTELLO: So, do these percentages surprise you? This is the latest CNN poll, right, WMUR. That's what I'm looking at, right? Yes, I see up there, CNN/WMUR.

So, Ana, does it surprise you since New Hampshire's famous for its independent voters and moderate Republicans, who the leaders are at the moment?

NAVARRO: You know, it doesn't surprise me. I think it's been very consistent for a long time. And I think that there is two real races going on in New Hampshire. First of all is who wins the state outright. That is a race that right now we see is between Trump and Cruz.

But the second race going on, and it is equally important is who comes out, who emerges out of that center lane mainstream Republican faction. Will it be Chris Christie? Will it be Jeb Bush? Will it be Marco Rubio? Will it be John Kasich?

Whomever leaves that state having won that race is going to go into South Carolina with an enormous amount of momentum. Now, I will tell you, both Kasich and Christie have got everything going on New Hampshire. They have to leave it all out there. All four of them do.

But Kasich and Christie really need a New Hampshire win because they have nothing going on in South Carolina, whereas Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio do. They need to be propelled by the momentum from New Hampshire. If they don't get that establishment lane in New Hampshire, Christie or Kasich, I don't know that they go on further.

COSTELLO: OK. But as it is now conservatives are ruling the roost when it comes to these primaries and caucuses. And it does make you wonder a little about the Palin factor.

"Red State" this morning, the conservative blog. "Red State" had an article that featured a headline that read, "Go home, Sarah, you're drunk." It charges Palin exploded in an inglorious display of crass opportunism.

So, John, you hear from the other candidates people. Especially Ted Cruz's people, only complimentary things of Palin, even though she's supporting Donald Trump.

So, why is "Red State" coming out punching hard and not Cruz's people?

AVLON: A lot of conservatives have major buyers' remorse about elevating Sarah Palin and attacking her detractors in 2008. And their ideological support of Sarah Palin looks foolish in retrospect to many of them. But Ted Cruz people running for president don't have the freedom to say that. Conservative columnists and commentators can.

But, you know, that definitional shift is certainly occurred whether it is Matt Lewis or other folks at "Red State". But, look, you know, the strength of Donald Trump in New Hampshire I think is more significant, certainly statistically than what's happening with Ted Cruz. And, you know, if he can do well with independents, it's in part because the independent vote cohort has moved right in wake of the Tea Party. And those folks have always loved Sarah Palin.

But people have really paid attention to analyzing what she's saying and deciphering the word salad that occasionally emerges, realize that she may be popular, she may be populist and she is, but she is not a serious figure in the conservative movement.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave there. John Avlon, Ana Navarro, thanks to both of you.

And we want let you know about the big event next Monday night in Iowa. It will only be seen on CNN. Exactly one week before Iowa chooses, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Martin O'Malley will go face-to-face with voters in a CNN Democratic presidential town hall live from Des Moines. Chris Cuomo is the monitor.

It's the final pitch for all the candidates before the first votes are cast. So, watch it on Monday night.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, straight out after novel. Did Vladimir Putin order the execution of an ex-Russian spy?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:23:07] COSTELLO: The murder of a former Russian spy continues to hunt the Kremlin. A new British report finding a direct link between the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Russian president.

The report released today says Vladimir Putin, along with the head of the Russian security agency, quote, "probably approved the death of Kremlin critic Litvinenko in 2006."

The ex-KGB spy died after drinking something with radioactive poison. On his death bed, he said it was Putin who killed him.

CNN's Matthew Chance live in Moscow. He has more for you.

Hi, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. That's right. Well, it's been ten years almost since the killing of Alexander Litvinenko in London of polonium poisoning, polonium 210 or radioactive isotope, causing a horrific death.

And this report now released by the British courts finally pointing the finger of blame at who's responsible for ordering the killing saying it was the head of the FSB at the time back in 2006, but also that the decision and the operation to assassinate Mr. Litvinenko would probably have been approved by the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Here is what it says, "The FSB", this is the report, "The FSB, which is the Russian intelligence service, operation to kill Mr. Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr. Patrushev, the head of the FSB at the time, and also by President Putin." So that's very strong language, going much further than it was expected to go. It also identified the two killers who actually carried out the poisoning in London, Dmitry Kovtun, Andrei Lugovoi as well.

But the fact that Vladimir Putin himself has been found to probably be responsible for ordering the killing is sending shock waves between the relationship -- the already shaky relationship I should say between London and Moscow. And so, we could be standing on the brink of a much broader diplomatic problem between the two countries.

[09:25:08] COSTELLO: (AUDIO GAP) Moscow this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: we are moments from the opening bell. Are stocks about to get rocked?

And state of emergency? D.C. already in chaos and the monster storm hasn't even hit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Wall Street may be ready to hit pause on this week's rollercoaster trading. It looks like they'll start the day in positive territory. Shall we go to the New York Stock Exchange? Seemingly is shrugging off the losses in Asia.

Christine Romans and Alison Kosik are following the numbers as always for us.

Alison, let's start with you. Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

So stocks do seem like they could stabilize at least for the morning. But you know how things change on a dime here on Wall Street.

Helping to calm things down, the head of the European Central Bank, which is the equivalent to the Fed, holding a news conference today basically saying he's willing to do whatever it takes to stimulate Europe's economy even more than the ECB is already doing.

And you remember, a lot of selling here in the U.S. markets is in part over concerns about slowing global economy. So, the ECB is willing to put even more stimulus into the economy that could only help rev up the global economy as a whole. But even if we have some green arrows today on Wall Street, traders are telling me don't get too comfortable. You're going to see stocks stabilize until you see oil prices stabilize, which continue to fall just a bit today.