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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Monster Snowstorm to Slam Millions of Americans; DC State of Emergency; The Race for President; Flint Cover-Up. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired January 21, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:14] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

First this news. Get ready for what could be a blizzard of epic proportions. More than 75 million Americans right now are in the path of a monster winter storm that is set to plow into the eastern portion of this country within 36 hours. Our nation's capital is likely to take the biggest hit from all of the storms in the system. Some forecasts are showing D.C. might actually get over two feet, two feet of fresh snow. Washington, D.C.'s mayor, Virginia's governor and North Carolina's governor have already proactively declared states of emergency.

In the meantime, Washington and much of Virginia already getting a sneak preview, if you will, because less than an inch of icy snowfall reached that area and the result was -- well, let's just say treacherous. The roads, awful. Hundreds of accidents piled up, dragging commutes into the long wee hours of the morning, in fact. Some people even abandoned their cars and just decided to head home on foot instead.

And check this out. The president's motorcade and, yes, it is slipping and sliding. He was forced into the motorcade when the weather grounded his helicopter flight from Joint Base Andrews. You can see those Secret Service vehicles with their double flashers on slipping and sliding their way back to the White House. Not something you often see.

CNN meteorologist Tom Sater joins us now.

So I'm thinking, you know, somewhere between now and 36 hours from now many of us are going to get hit.

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

BANFIELD: But really when is the official and the worst start of this?

SATER: That's a great question. It's going to start really in the next few hours. In fact, we're already seeing severe weather and some icing taking place. But the first flakes in Washington, D.C., maybe 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Friday, then blizzard by midnight.

Let's start with Washington, D.C. On average, they pick up 15 inches a year. Last year, total accumulation was 18.3. They're going to see that in just one 24-hour period. The models still want to drop 20, 30 inches. It only takes 14.5 to get into the top 10 snows.

In yellow now are the blizzard watch. The blizzard watches have been extended. There's now 30 million Americans just in the blizzard watch. So that means -- and yesterday I mentioned conservatively a million could lose power. We're talking several million could lose power. And that's just with the blizzard conditions.

The warnings now stretch across 12 states where icing is already taking place in parts of Arkansas, areas of western Tennessee and southern Missouri. The storm is just now, Ashleigh, starting to form. So until it really forms, we're not going to have a good idea of the exact track. That's why it's still iffy for areas such as New York City. But look at this, damaging winds, large hail, tornadoes across areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, into Alabama.

Then the ice picks up across Kentucky. This is going to be significant icing. But more in the way of it, I think, a third of an inch to a half-inch in parts of South and North Carolina. That's going to down power lines and down trees. We could have a million plus just in that area of power outages.

Then the snow ramps up. Friday evening to midnight hours. This is the icing. And this is going to cause road conditions just quickly deteriorating. But really a big power problem across the areas of the Carolinas.

Then we'll go back to the storm as it ramps up. Will the area of low pressure on the coast continue to slide out to the Atlantic, or will it start to curve to the north? If it does that, that's why the computer models are flip-flopping with New York City. The rate -- the snow totals will be either higher or lower. So, again, as we talk about New York City, it looks like maybe, sure, eight to 12 inches are possible. The latest models want to drop it down to just a couple. But the bull's-eye is still across the Delmarva area where not only hundreds of flights will be canceled, thousands. Airports could shut down. I-95 could be shut down.

This is a colossal storm in the making. And, of course, we're watching it closely, Ashleigh, because it can change hour by hour.

BANFIELD: It's just an absolute mess.

SATER: Yes.

BANFIELD: I mean, I wasn't expecting you to be talking about Louisiana in all of this, but I can see how much of a monster system this really is. All right, keep us posted as those models have a tendency sometimes to change.

SATER: We'll do.

BANFIELD: So keep us posted on whether that happens. Thank you for that, Tom Sater.

Tom was just talking about the airlines and flights and how they're going to be affected. The airlines themselves are advising travelers to start making some alternate plans right now ahead of that monster mess. Flight cancellations are expected to begin as early as tomorrow. And airports from Boston, right on down to D.C., all of the major air carriers, in fact, are already allowing passengers to change your flights for free. You do not often get that free option from the airlines, so take that option and be sure to give a call to an airline, find out what is happening with the destinations you're going to and from.

[12:05:07] The warnings about this storm, they just keep coming in from leaders who are in cities along the storm's path. New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke just a short time ago and made it very clear that officials are not taking any chances this time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: Take this very, very seriously. This -- we're giving people a clear warning early. And this is something that did work last time. Giving people now a couple of days to change their plans, to prepare. Anyone who has the illusion that they're going to be taking big trips on Saturday and Sunday, get that out of your mind. It's not happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: In the meantime, D.C.'s mayor addressed residents earlier today. She not only declared a state of emergency, but she also issued an apology for what happened there last night. It was an absolute disaster. Just one inch of snow and the commutes were disastrous, the ice. You saw the pictures.

CNN's Chris Frates is live in D.C. with more on that.

I know that you're at the location where all of those hundreds of thousands of pounds of salt sit, waiting to be spread out all over those treachery pathways. Why weren't they put out yesterday?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ashleigh. Well, the mayor here, Mayor Bower, said that they had an inadequate response. She took responsibility for it and she apologized, saying that those salt trucks -- and if you look behind me, there's about 39 tons of salt that's going to be available to lay down over the roads, and that didn't go out last night. But the mayor saying that she apologizes, but trying to tell residents we are ready for this storm that's going to come barreling down on us. Let's take a listen. Here's how she apologized to residents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MURIEL BOWER (D), DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: I want to say, first and foremost to the residents of the District of Columbia, that we are very sorry for inadequate response. We believe that we did not provide adequate resources at a time where it could make a difference in last evening's commute. We should have been out earlier with more resources.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRATES: So there you have the mayor saying, we should have been out earlier and we're going to do it this time. D.C. under a state of emergency. That means that the city can call in FEMA. They can call in the National Guard if need, Ashleigh. And as you can see, right now, we have a tractor trailer going in there, loading up that salt. They want people to stay off the roads starting early on Friday, saying get home as early as you can on Friday so we can get some of this salt down on the roads.

We didn't do it last night. There wasn't enough salt down. We saw a horrendous mess of a rush hour. This time, city officials promise it's going to be different. They're asking people to hunker down after Friday. And just 36 hours of what could be two feet of snow, high winds and the city says it's ready, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Well, I certainly thought, Chris, when we came to you, I was going to see a line of those front end loaders coming in and out of that salt depot behind you. I just saw that one and he's disappeared I think behind you up on that pile. I'll be interested to see when that massive all-out assault really begins.

Chris Frates for us live. Thank you for that.

I want to talk more about this. On the phone right now is Chris Geldart, he's the director for Washington, D.C.'s Emergency Management.

Chris, thanks for being with us. I know you have your work cut out for you. But did last night give you and your team some pretty good guidance and counsel -- or should I say were you chastened by what happened last night? And if so, what's happening from now and into the next 36 hours to make sure nothing like this happens again?

CHRIS GELDART, DIRECTOR, D.C. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via telephone): Yes, thank you, Ashleigh, and good afternoon.

You know, last night was -- was just an unfortunate circumstance. We had crews ready to go out. As the mayor said, our public works department didn't have them out there early enough. We had a forecast of a half an inch of snow. We got 1.8 inches of snow. And it happened at our must vulnerable time, during the rush hour. And it not only affected us, but, of course, with all our commuters and folks that come in and out of the district, our surrounding jurisdictions were just a challenge with that.

You know, that was a storm that we were -- that was on our radar real late because it was a late-breaking storm. This one that we have coming in, a totally different story. This is a deadly storm, as your -- as you folks earlier had mentioned. And we have been preparing for this for quite some time. I would say that, you know, the --

BANFIELD: So that's interesting, Chris, that you say that because we just saw Chris Frates in front of the big salt depot but there was only one front end loader. Look, I don't know the logistics of getting salt out onto all those roadways, but it seems to me 36 hours is a pretty tight window to get as much covered as you can. When will that full on assault begin and get that ice and snow under control with the salt stocks?

[12:10:02] GELDART: Sure. Most of our salt trucks, those that do spread salt and the brine that we use on the -- on the roads are already filled and they're already standby and they're -- they're just waiting for us to do our full deployment at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. As you know, we're open for business today.

BANFIELD: Yes, we'll so you can't -- you can't get out too soon then I guess, eh?

GELDART: Folks are in and out of the city, so we've got to clear that out.

BANFIELD: OK. Well, I wish you the best of luck. You have your work cut out for you. This is not going to be easy. And I hope that we are not having tragic conversations tomorrow that's for sure. Chris, thank you. Appreciate it. Chris Geldart joining us live on the phone from the Office of Emergency Management in D.C.

Coming up next, pundits and political opponents have been predicting his implosion for months now, but his lead just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Could Donald Trump actually be on the verge of the best primary showing in modern history?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Remember the summer of Trump, which most everybody thought would be over by Labor Day? Well, you just heard us talk about blizzards and epic snowfall and it's still the summer of Trump.

[12:15:10] Check out our latest midwinter poll from chilly New Hampshire. Even before Sarah Palin signed on as a Trump pitch woman, the real estate mogul turned reality TV star turned presidential candidate held a 20-point lead over Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Compared to December, Trump is up two points. Cruz is up eight. And look at Jeb Bush, hitting double digits for the first time since it really was the summer.

Safe to say, Trump and Cruz are not sharing any hype anymore. Apart from that whole citizenship thing, Trump says his nearest challenger just isn't a very nice guy either. Here is Donald Trump on the phone with my CNN colleague Don Lemon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): This country needs help. It needs leadership, Don, and it needs it fast. And Ted is not the right guy. Hasn't got the temperament. Hasn't -- I mean, look, everybody dislikes him. I mean he's a nasty guy that everybody dislikes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Wow. Say what you feel.

Now, here's an indication of how strange an election cycle this is. Bob Dole, the very embodiment of establishment Republican politics, and a strong supporter of Jeb Bush, agrees with Trump. At least about Cruz, that is. The former Senate majority leader and Republican presidential nominee himself is telling "The New York Times," quote, "I don't know how he," and he's referring to Ted Cruz, "is going to deal with Congress. Nobody likes him. If he's the nominee, we're going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures." Should be punctuated with the word "ouch."

Time to bring in CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash.

Dana Bash, this has not been a good week for Ted Cruz. This is just the latest in the list of things that haven't gone right.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is, except, to play the devil's advocate, if you are Ted Cruz and your whole campaign is about raging against the Washington machine to get that kind of comment from Bob Dole, the former Senate majority leader, the former Republican nominee back in 1996. You use it. And I'm sure he -- if he hasn't, he's going to momentarily, to your advantage and you say, you see, it's the Washington establishment -- he calls it the Washington cartel -- doesn't like me. They don't want us. So we've got to fight back against that because, look, it's not the first time that Ted Cruz has heard from or about the fact that he's not well liked in the halls of Washington. He knows it. He makes jokes about the fact that when he's with his Republican colleagues, never mind Democrats, and eating, he needs a food tester. So it is -- it is a fact of life for Ted Cruz, that he fought against them, he made a lot of people mad and they still don't like him.

BANFIELD: I hear you. So you go after the non-establishment types, which is exactly what Donald Trump has been doing since the beginning.

BASH: That's true.

BANFIELD: What Sarah Palin says is his strongest suit, which was Sarah Palin's strongest suit as well. So how many anti-establishment people are out there? And if they're going to be splitting the vote, I can tell you right now, there's a piece in "The Week" right now that basically says that this could be an absolute trouncing like nothing we've seen before. Let me just read this quote. "Ironically, Trump could not only win, he could win more decisively than any non- incumbent Republican contestant for the nomination since the dawn of the modern primary system." Is that just "The Week" saying that or are there people where you work saying that?

BASH: There are people who I'm talking to saying that. And here's why. The system -- the calendar is different this time. And the irony of all ironies is that the Republican National Committee set up the calendar in order to -- in the hope of having a nominee earlier in 2016. So, for example, you know, you have Iowa, you have New Hampshire, you have South Carolina and then March 1st is a huge day. Just on that day alone, there's going to be 632 delegates awarded. So, Ashleigh, what that means is, by the time we get to March 1st, somebody, if they really run the board, this is a big if, if Donald Trump really runs the board, he could be really close to getting to -- getting the number of delegates that he needs. And that's just by March 1st.

BANFIELD: Yes.

BASH: Again, it's a big if, but it is possible.

BANFIELD: But that's like 40 days away and that's a nanosecond in politics as well.

BASH: Right, right, right.

BANFIELD: OK, I want to switch gears to the other side the fence now and that is the Democratic race because another piece that was pretty significant came out in Politico talking about how maybe Hillary Clinton's team misjudged that early game and those early primary and caucus races and that Bill Clinton is coming in to sort of strong-arm them, to say, walk away from those early races now and let's focus big-time down the pike. Super Tuesday and the really important races where Hillary can make her mark. Is that true? Is that really happening?

[12:20:04] BASH: I have heard very similar things. I was just talking to a pretty plugged in Democratic strategist who is very much for Hillary Clinton, who is very concerned, Ashleigh, very concerned. Because if you look at where things stand in Iowa and New Hampshire now, the assumption, as of today, is that she will lose Iowa and New Hampshire. New Hampshire kind of, you know, was -- is maybe not surprising given that it is almost Bernie Sander's home turf because he's from the neighboring state of Vermont. Iowa is a relatively new surprise. So that is why, if you look at the calendar there, Democrats who support Hillary Clinton have been hoping that South Carolina is their firewall. There is -- it's not a natural habitat for Bernie Sanders, who is, you know, used to appealing to white New Englanders and South Carolina, you have to rely a lot on the African-American vote.

But, here's the but, and here's the reason why Bill Clinton and others might be very concerned. If you keep that map up, that is the same date, March 1st, we were talking about for the Republicans. This is the same case for the Democrats. And although you see a lot of blue there in the south, where there is a big African-American possible vote and a possible vote for Hillary Clinton, you also have some northern states there. You have Vermont, Bernie Sander's home state. You have Michigan. And you have other -- excuse me, Minnesota, rather. You have Massachusetts and others that could break for Bernie Sanders. Never mind the fact that we are hearing that Bernie Sanders is being pretty aggressive in getting the organization down in those southern states that should be more naturally towards Hillary Clinton. So, yes, I am hearing concern. I haven't heard it from Bill Clinton, but I'm hearing concern from people who very much support Hillary Clinton.

BANFIELD: He's the guy that was called the comeback kid for a reason. Dana Bash, thank you for that. Appreciate it.

BASH: Thank you.

BANFIELD: On Monday, exactly a week before the Iowa caucuses, don't miss CNN's Iowa Democratic presidential town hall moderated by Chris Cuomo, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

I want to move you over to Flint, Michigan, now. The lead water crisis getting national attention as allegations surface that officials there knew there was a problem and did nothing about it. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:26:26] BANFIELD: With tempers flaring over Flint's lead water crisis, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has released more than 250 pages of his e-mails that relate to the crisis from 2014 to 2015. But with so much of the conversation over the decision and when the decision was made to switch the water source, like was it made in 2013, we're still waiting on the e-mails from 2013.

This is not doing much, however, to win over the people who are living in that town. Because neither is the $28 million that was just approved in the Michigan house of representatives and the emergency funding. And that's because in reality this could be a billion dollar problem or more. It's a starting figure. It's a problem that could easily have been avoided as well.

Sara Ganim explains the story behind Flint's toxic water problem.

(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 me, mom, it's yellow and it's a filmy, gross, foamy thing. And it would smell like open sewer. But we were being told, we're still getting used to the new system. It's safe. It's 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.

GANIM (on camera): The trouble began two years ago when the state decided to switch Flint from Detroit's 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.

GANIM (voice-over): 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 report 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 the while, highly corrosive river water flowed through the city's lead pipes, leeching lead and other dangerous metals into the water supply. And what came out of the tap in many homes was toxic. Almost immediately, residents started complaining. Their water was brown. Some people developed rashes, became sick. Early tests reveals 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I built this place with my taxes!

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

MARC EDWARDS, CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING PROFESSOR: We found the worst lead in water contamination that I have seen in 25 years. And, believe me, I've seen a lot.

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

EDWARDS: It was very scary to see the levels of lead that 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 were "especially alarming" because the state's water testing was flawed. So the true lead levels were probably much higher.