Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

British Home Office Orders Review of Asylum Seeker Housing; Dow Jones Officially in Correction; Iran's Zarif Speaks to CNN about U.S. "Sanctions Addiction"; Afghan Woman Recovering from Husband's Attack; IRC's David Miliband Discusses Fixing Refugee Crisis; Palin Follows Trump Endorsement with Campaign Appearances; Sanders Outperforming Clinton in New Hampshire as E-Mail Server Leaks Released; More Details in Flint, Michigan, Water Crisis; U.S. Braces for Epic Winter Storm; Cal Tech Researchers Say They Found New Planet. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 21, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[02:00:32] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Rosemary Church.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Errol Barnett. Thank you for joining us for the next two hours. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

CHURCH: We begin the hour with the focus on the migrant crisis. Austria is just one of the European countries struggling with the rush of migrants and refugees fleeing war and poverty.

BARNETT: Now that country says it will slow the pace of people allowed to claim asylum to less than half the number it took in last year. That would mean allowing just over 37,000 asylum claims this year.

CHURCH: In Germany, the vice chancellor says he understands why Austria is making this move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIGMAR GABRIEL, GERMAN VICE CHANCELLOR (through translation): This is Austria's cry for help to Europe because it is becoming clear that Austria, Sweden and Germany cannot alone cope with the refugee crisis. Europe must better control Europe's outer borders and we must come to quotas for refugees to steer immigration. Austria's decision is a cry for help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The International Organization for Migration says more than a million refugees arrived in Europe last year.

BARNETT: Queen Rania of Jordanian told the World Economic Forum that the international community needs to be more innovative in the way it deals with migrants. Her country's already taken in 1.3 million Syrian refugees. That number now accounts for 20 percent of Jordan's population.

And coming up in about 20 minutes, I will speak to the former British secretary, David Miliband, he is now the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, and we will talk about Europe's struggle to handle this massive influx of migrants.

CHURCH: Meantime, the British Home Office is ordering an urgent review of housing for asylum seekers in the northeastern English town of Middlesbrough. Media reports say their doors have been painted red.

BARNETT: As Hala Gorani reports, many asylum seekers worry this made their homes too easy to spot and made them targets for abuse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To an outsider, these red doors may look like a cheery decoration, brightening the streets of this largely industrial town in northeast England. But to those who live behind them, it can feel like a target as the majority belong to asylum seekers, like 32-year-old Abdel al- Bashir.

ABDEL AL BASHIR, ASYLUM SEEKER: Painting the door red you are telling everyone I am asylum seeker, less person than anybody, and, hey, I should be targeted. That's what is happening.

GORANI: The allegations were brought to light by "The Times of London" which found many asylum seekers in the area felt stigmatized by the red doors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have seen the paint. I don't know exactly what it means. After a couple of days, this is target because they're foreign nationals in the streets.

GORANI: After reports of arson, vandalism and intimidation, a local politician is bringing the issue to parliament's front door and pointing a finger at the contractor, in charge of housing asylum seekers in area.

UNIDENTIFIED BRITISH M.P.: It has some 168 properties in two wards. 155 of them have their front doors to the street painted red. And simply marks out of the properties and inhabitants for those with prejudicial motivations and evil intent.

GORANI: Something that the property owner denies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think that really the average guy walking down the street would be able to distinguish between -- to, make any distinguishment between asylum houses and other houses on the street particularly.

GORANI: The company that oversees the awarding of the asylum housing contract for the area says there is no policy to house asylum seekers behind red doors, but promises to repaint the doors different colors. But are the door colors just the tip of the iceberg in communities

like Middlesbrough where proportion of asylum seekers is highest in Britain? That's what one local campaigner for refugees believes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The housing issues like those, people have to share a radio, no common language, or faith, or culture. There is the issue of not having that for them to be able to take things forward.

GORANI: A problem that may go deeper than the paint on the front doors of a few hundred asylum seekers.

Hala Gorani, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:05:09] BARNETT: Now we want to tackle the global economy for you. The day began pretty well for national markets in the Asia- Pacific region. Things went sour in the afternoon, particularly in Tokyo. They were showing gains before lunch. But as you see there, the Nikkei finished the day down more than 2 percent.

CHURCH: We have another hour to go in Hong Kong. You can see there, it is at 1.38, down. Shanghai Composite just closed. That was down 2.44 percent. Australia's ASX 200 finished .5 percent higher.

BARNETT: Meanwhile, in New York, the Dow Jones Industrials are down more than 1600 points so far this year.

CHURCH: That puts the index officially in a correction.

CNN's Richard Quest looks at how and why we got here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: The trading day around the world started badly. And when New York opened, it got a great deal worse. The market was down from the start. And at one point had fallen more than 560 points. Towards the afternoon though, calmer minds came into the market. And the Dow Jones Industrials pulled back from many of the losses. It was still down nearly 250 and the closing bell rang.

Behind all of this, the falling price of oil which just keeps dropping. Brent crude was off nearly 2 percent, while West Texas was down nearly 7 percent. Both now under $27 a barrel.

Putting this altogether, and the markets are seriously concerned about the future direction, the strength of the global economy, and where, indeed, to go next. The next few days will be marked by volatility.

Richard Quest, CNN, Davos.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A Mexican Congresswoman has been detained for alleged ties to drug lord Joaquin "el Chapo" Guzman. BARNETT: Mexico's attorney general says Losaro Sanchez visited Guzman

in prison using a fake I.D. before the escape last July. And there's evidence she was with him on December 31st before he was recaptured.

CHURCH: For the first time since the Iran nuclear deal took effect, a senior Iranian official is speaking to CNN. Christiane Amanpour's exclusive interview with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:11:41] CHURCH: "Washington Post" reporter, Jason Rezaian, has made his first public appearance since freed from Iran last weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How you feeling, Jason? Good to be out?

JASON REZAIAN, WASHINGTON POST REPORTER & FORMER IRANIAN PRISONER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Glad to have you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Welcome back!

REZAIAN: Thank you very much. I can't wait to get home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joined by his family, Rezaian mostly kept quiet and waved to journalists outside of the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

BARNETT: He had asked for privacy during his recovery. And this is so relatable. In a written statement, Rezaian says, quote, "For now, I want to catch up with what's been going on in the word, watch a Warriors game or two and see the 'Star Wars' movie." He mentioned he wants to spend time with his family.

Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, is speaking to the media for the first time since sanctions against his country were lifted.

CHURCH: Our Christiane Amanpour sat down with Zarif for an exclusive TV interview. Zarif told Christiane, when it comes to sanctions, some in the U.S. have an addiction problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Iran has been called upon to not develop test ballistic missiles, which are designed to be capable of carrying nuclear weapon. We are not going to have nuclear warheads, so we don't design anything to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads. As I hear, Secretary Carter has already said the entire focus was on preventing Iran from having a nuclear warhead. We believe that we never wanted to have a nuclear warhead. Now the international community can ascertain, can make sure that Iran will never have nuclear warhead. And that would not -- should, basically relieve this anxiety that Iran is developing missiles that are capable or designed to be capable of carrying nuclear warhead. So we believe there was no base in law, there was no base in reality, and it wasn't -- it wasn't necessary. It was a nuisance that the United States decided to do this. I call it a sort of addiction, addiction that some in the United States have to sanctions and pressure. I think, just like people who smoke, they know that they don't work, but the addiction, for instance, from just from calling it quits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Interesting analogy there. Iran's foreign minister speaking with Christiane Amanpour.

CHURCH: Now to a very different story. 2015 was the warmest year on earth since record keeping began more a century ago. According to International Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA, the average temperature last year was 1.62 Fahrenheit or .9 degrees Celsius above the average for the 20th century.

BARNETT: Experts say that El Nino, the warm water phenomenon in the Pacific, is mostly to blame for the higher temperatures. But the change was also largely driven by an increase in carbon dioxide and other manmade emissions.

CHURCH: Well, the earth may have had a warm year, but it is frigid in parts of the U.S. right now. People on the east coast are being told to stay off the roads ahead of what could be a very bad snowstorm.

[02:14:47] BARNETT: Also coming up for you this hour, in Afghanistan, where violence against women is still a major problem, the story of an Afghan mother, the victim of a brutal attack by her husband.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back. In Kabul, the Afghan network TOLO TV says seven employees were killed in a suicide attack that targeted a bus carrying journalists.

BARNETT: Now the Taliban claimed responsibility for this. A spokesman from the militant group is accusing the TOLO TV of spying for the West. The Taliban has threatened the popular network for reporting that Taliban fighters raped women during the militant's capture of the city last year.

CHURCH: Also in Afghanistan, a story that we must warn you contains disturbing images. Rezagrul (ph) is a young Afghan mother who should be enjoying motherhood with her baby.

BARNETT: Instead, she is hoping to recover from a brutal attack by her husband who disfigured her by cutting her nose off of her face.

Lynda Kinkade has Rezagrul's (ph) story and what is being done to help other abused women there in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 20-year-old Rezagrul (ph) lays in an Afghanistan hospital bed, her baby tucked closely by her side. Just days ago, her husband of more than five years sliced off her nose with a pocketknife. Her battered body evidence of prolonged physical abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KINKADE: Women for Afghan Women, a well-known advocacy group supporting victims of violence in Afghanistan, has taken on Rezagrul's (ph) case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was severely wounded, bleeding profusely, a couple days ago, so she needed blood. The Turkish embassy agreed to take her to Turkey for medical treatment. We are in the process right now of trying to get her a passport, an emergency passport, so she can go to Turkey for -- you know, to see if they can fix her nose.

[02:20:00] KINKADE: The village located near a Taliban controlled area in northern Afghanistan. It is believed that her husband fled to join the militant group.

In 2009, the then-President Hamid Karzai passed the Elimination of Violence Against Women Law. The issue gained worldwide attention when "Time" magazine featured Isha Mahamidzi (ph) on its cover. The case is similar to Rezagrul's (ph). Isha has since had her nose reconstructed in the U.S. and has started a new life in Maryland. But just how much progress is being made for women in Afghanistan is debatable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There has been some small progress, but not as much as women hoped for in the -- in the optimistic days after the fall of the Taliban, and frankly not as much as there should be. If the government isn't actually arresting men, prosecuting and imprisoning them for violence against women, it is writing a blank check and it's saying that kind of violence is tolerated.

KINKADE: In November, a 19-year-old woman accused of adultery was stoned to death in a Taliban controlled area in central Afghanistan. Months earlier, a woman was brutally beaten and burned by a mob of people in Kabul, falsely accused of burning a Koran.

Still, Women for Afghan Women say the government is trying to implement the 2009 law.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have set up violence against women units in the -- in the attorney general's office, both in Kabul and in the provinces. So whenever a violence against women case, it is referred to the specific violence against women unit within the attorney general's office. KINKADE: Rezagrul's (ph) case has proved there is still much work to

be done.

Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

#; The family of a former FBI agent last seen in Iran in 2007 calls mixed messages from the U.S. government outrageous.

BARNETT: White House officials say they believe Robert Levinson is not in Iran but somewhere else in southwest Asia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have reason to believe that he no longer is in Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: The FBI has been heading up the investigation into Levinson's disappearance.

Our Evan Perez has been speaking with officials.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Investigators believe that if Robert Levinson is alive, he is being held in Iran. That's in contrast to comments we've heard from the White House and State Department officials saying that Levinson is no longer believed to be in Iran.

Levinson is a former FBI agent. At the time he disappeared in 2007, he was working as a CIA contractor. His family has been highly critical of the deal announced this weekend in which Iran released five U.S. citizens it held in prison while the U.S. released seven Iranians it held and dropped charges against others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Just days ago, of course, Iran released five Americans it had been holding. The government there promised to help in the Levinson investigation.

We want to now get back to our focus on the refugee crisis in Europe. David Miliband is president and CEO of International Rescue Committee and joins us from Switzerland to discuss ways to tackle this crisis.

Mr. Miliband, thank you for your time in joining us on CNN today.

Of course, there are a number of meetings happening there where you are, as people try to spin out different ideas of ways to tackle the growing refugee crisis. You noticed that prolonged instability means refugees spend much more of their time away from their home country than was historically the case. So what changes need to be adopted in the E.U. specifically to address some of the new challenges?

DAVID MILIBAND, PRESIDENT & CEO, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE & FORMER BRITISH SECRETARY: Good morning. Good to be with you.

I think most viewers would be astonished to learn that the average refugee is out of their own country now for 17 years. That has very significant implications. First, it means it is essential that there is an economic component to the way the humanitarian system works. People need to work in the countries to which they flee, not just receive social aid. Secondly, the big theme of Davos this year is that the refugee crisis needs to be addressed at source in the Middle East through much greater help for countries like Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon as well as much more effective help inside Europe. First, to screen the refugees, make sure they're genuine refugees. Secondly, to distribute them across Europe. Thirdly, to make sure that Europe upholds its own standards for the way in which it treats people.

BARNETT: But as we have seen those standards have not been universally upheld. That's the issue in Europe. Talk to us more about what is happening around Syria, for its neighbors, for example. You have approximately four million Syrians that fled to other countries in the region. Tiny Lebanon is housing almost two million of them. Its population is roughly 4.5 million. What more could be done to help locally those -- those regional nations, Lebanon and Jordan, even specifically?

[02:25:02] MILIBAND: I think it's easy when one is hearing a lot of rhetoric about the European refugee crisis to think that it's rich countries bearing the greatest burden of refugees. Of course, you are right to say over 80 percent of the refugees are in the poor countries, in the Middle East and Africa, specifically in respect to the Middle East. It is important to realize that one in three people living in Lebanon is a refugee. One in eight in Jordan is a refugee. There are two million refugees in Turkey, a much larger country. And it seems to me that two things are absolutely essential. One is that the U.N. appeals for international aid to deliver the most basic food and support for people are fully funded. At the moment, there is only 40 percent funding of U.N. appeals for the refugees in the Middle East. That means a family in Lebanon are getting $13 a month per person for -- as a food voucher from the United Nations World Food Program. Those rations have been cut because there hasn't been proper funding of those social programs. Secondly, and vitally, it is very important that the refugees become contributors to the societies that they're living in. That's a very tough issue for Lebanon and for Jordan. But a central theme both here and at London conference coming up on the third and fourth of February organized by the British government, Kuwaitis, and the U.N., is that since the refugees are there for years not months. They need to be able to work, there needs to be a work permit system. And to make that work, the international financial institutions, including the World Bank, have got to be able to offer some support to countries like Jordan and Lebanon. It needs to be an economic program as well as a social program. Of course, while the Syria war is raging, all of this will feel like a Band-Aid. But no one here believes the Syria war is anything other than raging. No one is saying it is about to come to an end.

BARNETT: We hope some new ideas can be hashed out there.

David Miliband, president and CEO of International Rescue Committee, and former British secretary. Thank you for your time.

We are back with more CNN NEWSROOM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:28] BARNETT: This is CNN NEWSROOM. Welcome viewers joining us from the United States, and a warm welcome back to our international viewers. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. Let's update you now on our top stories this hour.

(HEADLINES)

BARNETT: Sarah Palin is following up her endorsement to Donald Trump with campaign appearances Wednesday. The former vice presidential candidate is trying to fire up conservative voters ahead of the Iowa caucuses a week from now.

CHURCH: Donald Trump is in a tight race there with Ted Cruz.

He spoke with our Don Lemon about the importance of the endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION (voice-over): She wanted to endorse me. She let it be known. I was actually really impressed. And I have had a great relationship with her for a long time, but the fact that she chose me over many others, because frankly --

(CROSSTALK)_

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Over Ted Cruz.

TRUMP: -- that endorsement. Sarah's endorsement is a very powerful endorsement, especially in certain areas like Iowa. And they wanted that. And you -- by the way, you saw the crowd reaction today in Oklahoma to Sarah. It was a very important endorsement. I was honored she wanted to do that. She didn't want anything.

LEMON: Well, I'm glad --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: She didn't say, oh, I would look to do this, I'd like to have that. She wanted nothing. She wants what is good. She loves the country. She really wants -- she wants what is good for the country, Don, which is really nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me is Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst and columnist for "Bloomberg View."

Thank you for being with us.

Let's start with Donald Trump who is leading Ted Cruz by 20 points in the latest CNN/WMUR poll for New Hampshire. That is a significant lead. Now he has Sarah Palin's endorsement. What impact is that likely to have on Donald Trump's standing do you think?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The longer Trump continues to rise in the polls and gain ground on his nearest competitor, the Ted Cruz, the more and more pundits and conservative commentators and even mainstream Republicans are sort of coming around to the realization there is growing possibility, although not yet a probability he could take this nomination. It also shows that the attacks on Ted Cruz are working. It shows that the mainstream candidates, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, failed to do something spectacular that would allow them to break out. It shows that attacks against Trump continue only to fuel his support rather than diminish it.

CHURCH: On the other side of the political equation, we are also seeing Bernie Sanders outperforming Hillary Clinton in head-to-head match ups with the top Republican candidates in New Hampshire in that CNN/WMUR poll. That has to have the Clinton camp scrambling. What's happening do you think, and how bad is this for Clinton?

ROGIN: I think the Clinton camp realizes they were too late to the game to start to draw a big contrast between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. And go after Sanders, not necessarily in a negative way, but in a way that might start to impact his favorable ratings. At the same time, Hillary Clinton's unfavorable ratings continue to track high. And we see with more and more news leaking out about her troubles with her own e-mail server that she has a two-part problem here, she has to keep her own unfavorables low and start going after Bernie Sanders' favorables. They know they have got a problem. They're trying to fix it now.

[02:35:27] CHURCH: Yeah, you mention that server, because on top of all of this, Clinton's campaign has accused the intelligence community's top oversight official of conspiring with Republicans to leak sensitive information about her personal e-mail server.

Let's have a quick listen to what she said. She did reply to that late Wednesday. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: This seems to me to be, you know, another effort to inject this into the campaign. It is another leak. I'm just going to leave it up to the professionals at the Justice Department, because nothing that this says changes the fact that I never sent or received material marked classified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: That is quite an accusation. What sort of evidence does the Clinton camp have?

ROGIN: Yeah, so I interviewed Clinton spokesman, Brian Fallon, today. And he laid out a very circumstantial case that they say implicates the inspector general of the intelligence community in a conspiracy with Senate Republicans to leak sensitive information about the investigation. There is no hard evidence that the Clinton camp has put forward. They simply connect a string of dots and conclude on their own that the conspiracy is going on. Republicans and intelligence community deny this. In the end, it, there is no way to adjudicate this objectively from the outside. We don't know what is in the e-mails. The FBI investigation that Secretary Clinton referred to will make the final determination on this. And now that she has put her stock into that investigation, if it comes out against her and determines that she did do something wrong, even something illegal, she will have a very big problem, perhaps insurmountable, as she heads into the general election.

CHURCH: Rocky roads ahead for some.

Josh Rogin, thank you for joining us.

ROGIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Lawmakers in Michigan have approved $2 million in emergency funding to deal with the crisis in the city of Flint where the drinking water is contaminated with lead.

BARNETT: However, the mayor says fixing the damage to infrastructure and people's health could cost as much $1.5 billion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN WEAVER, MAYOR OF FLINT, MICHIGAN: There have been estimates out there. But that is only about infrastructure. That's why we can't say exactly what we need. Because the how do you put a cost on what happened to what we have done to people, what happened to them? We know we have kids that are going to need lifelong services and support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The White House has sent an envoy to Flint to help coordinate federal efforts to fix the problem. U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the issue during a visit to Detroit on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am very proud of what I have done as president.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: But --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: -- the only job that is more important to me is the job of a father. And I know that if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself that my kid's health could be at risk. That's why, over the weekend, I declared a federal emergency in Flint, to send more resources on top of the assistance that we already put on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And we are learning new details about how officials in Michigan have dealt with the crisis over the past two years. The governor has released all of his e-mail about the situation.

BARNETT: They include comments from one staffer who says it was the city's problem, not the state government's. Others seemed to dismiss complaints and call the issue a political football.

We get more here from CNN's Sara Ganim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Melissa Mays says the ominous change in the water was particularly noticeable at bath time.

MELISSA MAYS, FLINT RESIDENT: My youngest would tell you, mom, it is yellow, filmy, gross, a foamy thing. And it smelled like open sewer. We were being told, we're still getting used to the new system, safe, it is OK.

GANIM: But it wasn't OK, far from it. Flint's tap water was laced with dangerous levels of lead. The state knew about it, and did nothing.

(on camera): The trouble began two years ago when the state decided to switch Flint from Detroit drinking water to a new system. But the new system wouldn't be ready for two years. In the meantime, to save money, they switched to the Flint River water.

CROWD: Three, two, one.

[02:39:46] GANIM: That first decision turned out to be a mistake, as did nearly every step the state took after it. Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality shoulders much of the blame. What a preliminary task force calls an abysmal public response. At the time, the state agency told Flint it didn't have to add an anti-corrosive agent to the water, saying it was not necessary, until two six-month monitoring periods had been conducted. In other words, they were willing to wait a year to see whether the water was safe.

All of the while, highly corrosive river water flowed through the city's lead pipes, leaching lead and other dangerous metals into the water supply. And what came out of the tap in many homes was toxic.

(SHOUTING)

GANIM: Almost immediately residents started complaining their water was brown. Some people developed rashes, became sick. Early tests revealed fecal coliform bacteria. So the city and state officials added chlorine to the water supply and told people to boil their water, both mistakes, which can actually increase the level of lead.

(SHOUTING)

GANIM: At city meetings, residents were repeatedly told the water was safe.

MARC EDWARD, VIRGINIA TECH RESEARCHER: We found the worst lead and water contamination that I have seen in 25 years. And believe me, I have seen a lot.

GANIM: Residents didn't find out about the lead until this man stepped in. Marc Edward is a Virginia Tech researcher who tested the water early last year.

EDWARD: It was very scary to see the levels of lead, which were hazardous waste levels of lead coming out of her tap water.

GANIM: That's right, the lead levels in one home were so high, water from the tap could be considered hazardous waste.

His testing led to this EPA memo, an interim report which was leaked last summer. It said the high levels of lead in the water was especially alarming because the state's water testing was flawed, so true lead levels were probably much higher.

EDWARD: We were just waiting for the appropriate authorities to help Flint residents to enforce federal law.

GANIM: When Flint's former mayor asked the EPA for more information, he was shut down, as you can see in the e-mail exchanged obtained by CNN. The EPA regional director writes, "The preliminary draft report should not have been released outside the agency," and that "only when the report is revisited and fully vetted will it be shared with the city."

But that wouldn't happen until months later. Meanwhile families were still drinking water poisoned with lead.

The EPA blames the state saying in a statement to CNN, "What happened in Flint should not have happened." And that "The EPA's ability to oversee was impacted by failures and resistance at the state and local levels."

The state was continuing with its own mistakes. According to Marc Edwards, butchering a round of water testing. They not only tested the wrong homes but altered the reports, eliminating tests from two homes that would have shown toxic levels of lead.

The state says the changes were legitimate.

EDWARD: They fabricated a report that made it appear like Flint was passing the lead and copper rule with flying colors. GANIM: In the fall, the government admitted there was lead in the

water and Flint was switched back to Detroit's water supply. But it wasn't until earlier this month that the state of Michigan started bringing in bottled water and declared a state of emergency.

Sara Ganim, CNN, Flint, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Coming up in our next hour, we'll hear from a woman whose son was diagnosed with lead poisoning. She is basically a resident- turned-activist now, trying to stop this from happening elsewhere in the country. Stay tuned for that.

CHURCH: In the city of Detroit, the school system is asking a judge to ban teachers from calling out sick as a form of protest. On Wednesday, almost all schools there were closed. Educators are protesting what they say are poor working conditions in public schools, rat infestations, crumbling walls, classroom overcrowding, and low pay. Detroit school officials say there isn't enough money to fix everything and that the school system is drowning in debt.

BARNETT: Still to come this hour on CNN NEWSROOM, 50 million Americans bracing for a major winter storm. And Washington, D.C. could be facing a blizzard of record proportions.

[02:44:31]CHURCH: Plus, astronomers think they found a ninth planet in the solar system. And it's much, much bigger than earth. We'll take a look. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: If you are watching from Washington, D.C., stay home tomorrow. Don't go to work. Because the east coast of the states is getting ready for what could be one of the biggest snowstorms ever recorded. Multiple car wrecks in Washington, D.C., for example, well, they presented workers from treating the icy roads. And the mayor there is asking everyone to stay home if they can.

CHURCH: Even President Obama's motorcade had a hard time getting over the ice.

The storm system could affect tens of millions of people. In Virginia, state police reported 163 car accidents due to the slippery conditions.

BARNETT: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is tracking this for us.

Pedram, you noted this will hit the D.C. area and the east coast hard. The region will be walloped with the system.

[02:48:25] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's an expansive are. You take the storm system itself, it's the size of multiple U.S. states put together. It's parallel to the eastern seaboard. Some time Friday night into Saturday morning. Take a look. 30 million people underneath winter storm watches now. Ahead of what we have in store in the next couple days. Eight million in store for a blizzard watch right now. I want to point this out. When you take eight million people around Washington, Baltimore, think about that, a blizzard watch for a place densely populated. Keep in mind, for blizzards across the United States. Most blizzard prone areas in the United States are states of Wisconsin, the state of Minnesota, on into the northern plains, sparsely populated in spots across the region of the U.S. Certainly not sparse low populated here. This would be profound implications if the forecast verifies over a couple days and, at this point, the models beginning and better agreement as far as what could occur. Friday into Saturday, the storm would parallel the eastern seaboard, pushing offshore. That fringe, whether it goes well to the north or the south really dictates how much snow we pick up in certain spots. But at this point, high likelihood we get the heaviest snowfall in Del Marva, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and lesser amounts as you work your way towards New York City.

Take a look at this. Indication in dark purple, literally near the top of the charts when it comes to the snowfall expected. Two feet in and around Washington, D.C. Weather records have dated back to the 1890s across parts of the nation's capital and, take a look, when you peel back the weather archives, two feet doesn't happen often. In fact, only one time did it exceed two feet in the region, back in 1922. Of course, there is a wind element to all this. We get winds that could gust 45 to 55 miles an hour. Put this in place three hours, you reduce visibility and a definition of blizzard falls in place across this region of the United States. Again, a treacherous scenario from Friday into Saturday.

I want to bring the forecast into play as we let the flakes fly. Take a look at what we have in store. Washington, D.C., at this point looks like would get the bull's eye of the snowfall. Come to New York, bring it down to around 6 inches. Boston lesser amounts, down to 2 inches. And this is the latest update as far as the forecast for the region. Numbers have been changing over the last couple hours. It will have major, major impacts if you have any travel plans across the region.

One area of good news, Rosemary, again, the forecast is for late Friday into early Saturday morning for it to be its maximum. It would be a time when most people would probably be home as opposed to say if this were to happen on Friday morning around rush hour. Some piece of good news there.

BARNETT: At least time to prepare.

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: 20 inches, that's horrible.

Thank you.

BARNETT: Thanks, Pedram Javaheri. CHURCH: A man in Minneapolis is having fun with the freezing weather.

Tom Groning (ph) takes blue jeans, dips them in water, and when they freeze, they stand up by themselves.

BARNETT: A bunch of invisible men standing around. It started as a winter prank as few years ago to cheer up a neighbor. Now people look forward the few display each and every year.

CHURCH: Very artistic.

Two American astronomers have discovered a possible ninth planet in the solar system and it's not Pluto.

BARNETT: But it is so far away that it would take up to 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun.

CNN's Rachel Crane has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember when Pluto's status was demoted to dwarf planet, leaving the solar system with eight major planets? Spacers rejoice, our ninth planet glory might just be restored.

(on camera): Researchers from Cal Tech believe they have found evidence of a massive planet in our solar system. They appropriately nicknamed it Planet Nine.

(voice-over): They believe Planet Nine's mass could be 10 times that of earth and that it dwells far beyond the known planets, with an orbit that is 20 times further from the sun than Neptune. In fact, Planet Nine is so far from the sun they estimate it would take somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 years just to go around the sun once.

(on camera): Now, researchers haven't exactly laid eyes on Planet Nine.

(voice-over): They discovered it using computer simulations and mathematical models. Unusual orbits and clusters of objects were analyzed beyond the orbit of Neptune. They say they're the result of the gravitational force of Planet Nine.

But they are not the first to claim they discovered a new major planet beyond Neptune.

(on camera): In fact, the hunt for Planet X has been on over a century. But every promising claim has ultimately been shut down by scientists. That hasn't stopped the researchers from going public with their theory. They help to galvanize the scientific community and start a worldwide search to find Planet Nine and prove its existence.

Happy planet hunting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Absolutely.

Well, if you don't mind getting up before sunrise, then the skies are offering a very special treat for the next few weeks. From now until February 20th, you can see five planets spanning the sky together at the same time with your naked eye.

BARNETT: Kind of cool. Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter will be visible 45 minutes before sunrise. U.S. viewers, night owls, I know you are awake. More than a decade since it last happened. Check it out.

CHURCH: Just have to stay awake.

Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the happy ending to a story we first told you about in August.

BARNETT: 9-year-old Jia-Jia was considered unadoptable. He was 3 months old when his parents abandoned him after a botched surgery. CNN's Will Ripley met Jia-Jia in an orphanage in Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very, very hard to find a family for Jia-Jia. He waited nine years. He waited nine years.

[02:55:11] WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A family that promised to adopt him backed out. Many of his friends found homes and moved away. Now, finally, an American family is finally filing paperwork to adopt Jia-Jia.

(on camera): Dad, mom, three sisters, grandparents. Wow, that's a big family.

RIPLEY (voice-over): The Wilsons from the Kansas City area are trying to raise $36,000 in adoption costs.

"If I have parents," he says, "I can live. I can have a live."

Jia-Jia's new life is still likely months away, an eternity for a young boy waiting nine years for a family.

(on camera): It's OK.

(voice-over): Suddenly, no more words. Only tears.

(CRYING)

RIPLEY (on camera): It's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Incredible story there. Now, Jia-Jia's wait is finally over. Will was with the Wilson family as they arrived in China to meet their son and bring him home. That story tomorrow, right here on CNN NEWSROOM, at 8:00 in the morning in Berlin.

BARNETT: Rosemary and myself invite you to stay with us today. We have much more coming of in our next hour.

CHURCH: We are covering U.S. politics, a monster storm, and global markets.

We are back in a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)