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85 Million People in the Path of Epic Snowstorm; National Review Slams Trump in Scathing Issue; Trump, "National Review" Spar As Iowa Vote Nears; CNN/ORC Poll: Sanders Takes Lead in Iowa. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired January 22, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:23] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

For millions of people along the East Coast, this could be the storm they will someday tell their grand kids about. Overnight this monster storm has raked across the south dumping freezing rain, sleet and snow from Arkansas to the Carolinas. Parts of North Carolina could see a foot of snow or more. And the storm will only get more ferocious as it churns up the East Coast. Washington trapped in the bull's eye. Up to 30 inches of snow. And 60-mile-per-hour winds are possible. Keep in mind what a couple of inches did just two nights ago.

In New York City, well, it's also in the danger zone with the more dire prediction saying two feet is possible. In all, 29 million Americans start the day under a blizzard warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: Everyone is on high alert right now. We take this very, very seriously. And the most important thing is for the people of New York City to recognize Saturday and Sunday don't go anywhere. Don't assume you're going to be traveling. Stay indoors. Let our Sanitation Department get out there and clear the streets because they've got a lot to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yes. CNN correspondents are covering all the angles of this major weather event as it unfolds. Polo Sandoval is in Charlotte, North Carolina, Chris Frates and Rene Marsh are in Washington, D.C., ahead of the storm and Chad Myers will show us where it is now and when it will strike, but let's begin with you, Polo.

Good morning.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Good morning. This wave of wicked winter weather already coating what is much of the south here with some ice and snow. In fact just the last four or five hours we really have seen the different stages of precipitation. Overnight we saw some light drizzle then the snow came at about 4:00 a.m. and now really it's more or less frozen rain.

And it seems that people really are trying to make the best of it. We've seen folks come out with their dogs to really take in the sights. But at the same time it's also affecting some operations and events. For example, there was a big pep rally that was scheduled to happen in this park later today ahead of the big Carolina Panthers game tonight -- rather Sunday. That is now canceled. But the game still moves forward on Sunday.

I can tell you now that the main concern now is the ice. Sure it is a very pretty scene out here but when you get the ice, when you begin to see perhaps some power outages so officials are keeping a very close eye on the situation there. Also on the streets.

And it seems to be, Carol, that people are heeding that warning from officials to simply stay home or maybe go out and take a walk if that's something that you want to do because we really have not seen a lot of traffic here in the heart of Charlotte. It's something very similar that we're seeing also in other southern states.

I'll remind you that we are seeing states of emergency in place or at least declared at, at least five places here in the region. But again a place that was supposed to host a big pep rally but now you just find a couple of dogs, a couple of people, and a very cold reporter right now, Carol.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I'm sure. At least the dogs are having fun.

Polo Sandoval, reporting live from Charlotte, North Carolina.

As I said right now the timing of the storm is critical. Chad Myers is here in New York City tracking when and where the most dangerous threats are.

Good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. You know, it truly is a storm that has done everything right so far. At least everything right where the models were saying it was going to happen. The models are saying the low is going to move up the East Coast, we're going to get snow, we're going to get ice. And that is still the forecast. The bull's eye is still Washington, D.C. Baltimore, that's -- you're going to get 24 inches of snow.

If we bust, if the storm is a complete disaster and doesn't happen, Baltimore and Washington, you get 18. That's what a bust looks like. If it's really big you get 30. So that's kind of the -- that's the pluses and minuses of where we are now.

Blizzard warnings for 27 million people across the country from Long Island, across New York City and all the way down even into about almost Richmond, Virginia, because you're going to see a lot of wind with the system. We're going to have winds with this, Carol, of about 40 to 60 miles per hour. So if you're going to start about seeing the snow, start plowing it. All of a sudden the plows are going to start moving it away and the winds is going to move it right back in. We see that all the time. New York City is still right on the cusp. I don't have a number for

this. Right now I think 8 to 12 is a good number. But --

COSTELLO: Yes?

MYERS: Eight is a minimum, I think. If we get a system, a band of snow like a lake effect -- here in Mansfield or Akron and Canton, you remember those bands of lake effect snow.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: Well, now let's talk about ocean effect. The ocean is a lot bigger. If we get a band coming in here that could be three or four inches per hour for three hours, all of a sudden that 8 inches for New York goes to 17. And there is no way to predict that. Is that Long Island? Is that New Jersey? Is that Westchester? It will be somewhere in the metro but I don't know if it's right here.

[09:05:02] COSTELLO: OK. Well, I'll be ready for whatever comes.

MYERS: I'm here.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad. I appreciate that.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: If you're trying to catch a flight out of the northeast, forget about it. Air travel is already a problem. American Airlines now moving its planes to the West Coast.

CNN's Rene Marsh joins us from Reagan National to tell us more. Good morning.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, take a look behind me you will see there's a lot of activity. I would say in a few hours from now you're not going to see all this action. It's probably going to be a ghost town. I mean, these folks are -- it's really like a game of beat the buzzer. They are trying to get out of here before this blizzard gets to this general vicinity, Washington, D.C.

We're already hearing about certain airports, Philadelphia International. They have announced publicly that all flights have been canceled tomorrow. We expect to see the same thing here at Reagan's National Airport, as well as Dulles Airport. So what does that mean? It means no airport operations. No one is going anywhere if you are trying to get there by plane because the conditions just will not be favorable for that.

Right now at this hour some of the harder hit airports, Charlotte, this airport where I am, they are seeing the cancellations really stack up by the hour. We know that momentarily they're going be headed out to the tarmac. They're going to pre-treat the runways because for the few that are coming and taking off they want to make sure there is no slipping and sliding. But then there's going to come a point today and into tomorrow where nothing is happening. You will not even see a plane on the tarmac.

When will it change? When will it get back to normal? It is anyone's guess at this point. Generally speaking takes about 48 to 72 hours for them to start the system, get it up and running again. But when will it will be normal? Could take a bit longer than that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I bet you're right on that count. Rene Marsh reporting live from Reagan National in Washington, D.C.

Less than three hours from now federal agencies will shut their doors well ahead of the blizzard's arrival.

CNN's Chris Frates is on the National Mall to tell us more. Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. And I'm here at the Salt Dome in Washington, D.C. As you can see behind me they are getting ready for the storm that's barreling towards us. And officials spent the last couple of days trying to reassure a very jittery public that they were in fact ready for this storm. That's because on Wednesday night we got a bit of a squall, just about an inch of snow but man, it shut down the area. Even President Obama's motorcade got caught in it.

He was coming from Joint Base Andrews to the White House. It's usually a 20 or 30 minute drive. It took the president an hour to get home. Those regular folks like you and me it took five or six hours. Some folks just got out of their car and started walking. And yesterday we heard from D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser and she apologized. She said they didn't have enough salt trucks on the road and she reassured everybody that they are going to have enough trucks ahead of the storm which is going to start later this afternoon.

Now in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, they've all issued a state of emergency, and that qualifies them for federal help if they need it. Including the National Guard. And we also know that the city government, the federal government, is going to be shut down at noon. The White House canceling events, cancelling the press briefing today as well. D.C. public schools shut down all day. That's because they want to keep cars off the road. They want to start to clear up the roads so they can get these salt trucks working.

You see behind me here, that's part of the 39,000 tons of salt that they have at their disposal here in D.C. They're going to start treating those roads, trying to get ahead of this storm so that they don't repeat the devastating effects that we saw on Wednesday and try to get ahead and make things a little bit easier after this massive storm comes through, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Chris Frates, reporting live from the salt barn in Northeast Washington.

New York and New Jersey, as I said, also preparing for record snow. But New Jersey's governor will not be manning Jersey's efforts from the front lines but from New Hampshire.

Chris Christie says it's unclear right now when and if the storm will hit. And he does have a phone. New York City's Democratic mayor on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLASIO: I know he needs to come back. You know, look, a day or two ago it might have been a question mark. Right now it's not a question mark anymore. And obviously we are being warned that it could even be worse. When we find this out, with each storms, sometimes it's less than we expected, sometimes it's more. So for any governor it's time to come home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Christie defends his decision to stay on the stump. He has said the lieutenant governor is on the ground in New Jersey and if he needs to go home, he will.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, forget the Democrats. Republicans trying to take down the two GOP frontrunners, and it is getting downright vicious.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:13:14] COSTELLO: Vicious. It is the only way to describe the "National Review's" diatribe against Donald Trump. Twenty-two, 22 prominent conservatives say they are against Trump, calling him everything from a charlatan to astoundingly ignorant.

Last night in Las Vegas Trump fired back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: "The National Review" is a dying paper. It's got -- its circulation is way down. Not very many people read it anymore. I mean, people don't even think about "The National Review." So I guess they want to get a little publicity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The Republican National Committee piling on canceling the "National Review's" partnership in the next Republican debate. The "National Review" say well, it saw it coming, calling it, quote, "a small price to pay for speaking the truth about the Donald."

That truth included calling out Trump's, quote, "emotional immaturity, how he's made a career out of egotism," and comparing him to a con man, and concluding that, quote, "our nation's solidarity is being tested and will only make things worse if we go Trumpster diving."

Well, let's talk about that with John Fund, he's a columnist at the "National Review."

Welcome, John. JOHN FUND, COLUMNIST, THE NATIONAL REVIEW: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. So why did the "National Review" decide to publish such a -- such a manifesto?

FUND: Well, you just showed some evidence. Donald Trump referred to the "National Revenue" as a newspaper. We've been a magazine for over 50 years. So he doesn't even know enough about "National Review" to call us a magazine? He also attacked us for saying that he said -- William F. Buckley, the founder of "National Review," would be ashamed of what the magazine did with this cover.

But William F. Buckley wrote a column about Donald Trump before his death in which he called him a demagogue and a narcissist. So I mean, he can't even get his facts right.

[09:15:00] He just makes stuff up.

COSTELLO: But still, the tone of the article is so vicious. And it is.

FUND: First of all, these are 23 leading conservative figures, including two former attorneys general, Ed Meese and Mike Mukasey. Tomas Sowell, the prize winning economist. You go down the list, it's the who's who of conservatism.

And most of the language is very strained. You picked out the most inflammatory bits, but does any of that compare with the inflammatory language Donald Trump has been using the last few months? I don't think it's even close.

COSTELLO: "The National Review" said it saw what the RNC, it saw what it did -- it saw it was coming. That the RNC --

FUND: I think the --

COSTELLO: -- not going to participant in the next Republican debate.

FUND: Look, if you are going to have a partner taking sides in a political contest, I can understand why they wouldn't want that is the debate partner. I don't have any complaint with that.

I do have a problem with the fact that Donald Trump is masquerading as the conservative when he's a Democrat until late 2009 when he gave prodigiously to Democrats until 2011, and when he's the most egregious abuser of eminent domain taking people's property without proper procedure in the country.

COSTELLO: Why not wait and challenge Donald Trump in the debate on those things?

FUND: Well, we have written a lot of columns that have gotten nearly as much attention as this since he announced in June. We've been on this beat since June. And now that the people are actually voting, now that we're going to test the polls and see if they are right, it is important for us to be involved in the debate. COSTELLO: You know, in a way some analysts might say you are playing

right into Donald Trump's hand, because people who support Donald Trump don't like the establishment.

FUND: Carol, you know the job of journalists is to tell the truth and to present facts. That is all we're doing. We have our opinions and we have our facts. Donald Trump has his facts. Just most of them happen to be wrong.

COSTELLO: Well, Donald Trump might look at your article and say that's your opinion.

FUND: Well, yes, except that he gets it wrong consistently. He makes stuff up. Debate after debate he's been caught just telling whoppers. And lately, he doesn't even know we're a magazine and he thinks William F. Buckley would have liked him. William F. Buckley knew Donald Trump and he didn't like him.

COSTELLO: Just so strange. You have powerful conservatives trying to topple the leading GOP conservative running for president.

FUND: He's not a conservative.

COSTELLO: He's still at the moment most Republican's voters' choice for president.

FUND: Well, let's have the actual vote. A lot of this is about momentum. The winner of Iowa gets momentum into the New Hampshire, gets momentum if into the South Carolina. We'll see if Donald Trump has that momentum.

And you know what? If he loses, he's always said I'm never a loser. It will be interesting to see how he handles that news.

COSTELLO: It will indeed. John Fund, thanks for stopping by.

FUND: Thank you.

COSTELLO: All right. For Donald Trump, as I said, the dustup with the "National Review" is just the latest in a slew of controversies in the 2016 campaign. For more on the potential impact, I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash.

Dana, good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Go ahead. Take it away.

BASH: No, please, please.

COSTELLO: No, I just wondered what do you think the impact will be?

BASH: No, I'm surprised its taken this long for a group of conservatives to form an alliance like they have using the pages of the "National Review" to do so. Because in covering Republican politics and I've been counting, believe it or not -- it is my fifth presidential election really covering. And all along on the Republican side especially there has been kind of a purity test. Sometimes it's overt. Sometimes it is not but it has been very real.

You saw John McCain had problems in 2008. Mitt Romney first in 2008 and then 2012 never really got the heart and soul of the base behind him. And in large part, it's because he changed his position on abortion. He changed his position on other issues that have been really important to conservatives.

That has been thrown out the window for Donald Trump. I mean, he was outspokenly pro-choice. He has been outspoken in his history in a book that he published, wanting a singer payer universal healthcare system. And so much of the conservative base they just don't care. It is not they don't know. But they don't care.

So, the fact that this is now happening as John fund just said because we are getting so close to the voting time, I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier. I will say though elected officials, whether it is -- or candidates, have tried and failed. So, perhaps that is why it has taken so long, because every time a Republican has tried to go up against Donald Trump, they have been hurt by it.

[09:20:00] COSTELLO: Yes, they have. And also this comes as the new poll shows Donald Trump with a solid grip on the Iowa caucuses, 37 percent versus Ted Cruz's 26 percent. So, give us a perspective on that.

BASH: That's right. And this actually could -- it plays into Donald Trump's argument that all of the writers in the "National Review" are wrong. And that they are missing the point of the direction the Republican Party can and should go down. That vote now is among likely caucus voters.

So, what that means is he argues he's expanding the Republican tent. He's expanding the arena for Republicans. And so, if he is right about that, then he can do that. Then, you know, from his perspective everybody at the "National Review" and all of the Donald Trump naysayers will have egg on their face.

COSTELLO: OK. So let's touch on the Democratic side for a second because there is a sharp reversal there. Bernie Sanders now leads in Iowa with 51 percent compared to Hillary Clinton's 43 percent. So, give us some perspective again.

BASH: Really, it is the same dynamic. What is driving Bernie Sanders new lead in this poll is that there are a lot of people who say that they are likely to go caucus who were not caucus goers back in 2008.

But even more stunning than that is if you take a look at the difference in just the last month. You see it on the screen there. Just in December the roles were reversed. And Sanders was trailing big time to Hillary Clinton. Now he's leading big time. I mean, that is the definition, Carol, of a surge. And so that is the

wave that Bernie Sanders is riding right now. The question is whether he can maintain it for the next 11 days. It doesn't seem like a very long time. But it could be an eternity in politics.

COSTELLO: All right. So, Dana, stay there I want to dive deeper into the numbers. Joining me now, Andy Smith. He's director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

Andy, welcome.

ANDY SMITH, DIR., UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SURVEY CENTER: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, delve into these numbers for us. What are we not seeing?

SMITH: Well, I think one of the things that is important when looking at any poll is the sampling frame being used. Likely voters and previous caucus-goers are the two primary ones you see being used in Iowa.

Among likely voters it has its advantages because it does include the potential new voters that Trump might be able to the polls or Bernie Sanders might bring to the polls. Previous caucus-goers has its advantages because it is hard to do and something that takes time and if you have done it in the past, you are much, much more likely to do it than someone who's never done it.

So you will get different results based on who you talk to it. Clinton does better against past caucus goers. And Bernie Sanders does better among likely caucus goers.

That is really in important. I'm not that familiar with the state of Iowa's demographic change, but in New Hampshire between 2008 and 2015, 30 percent of the potential voters are different people. They either were not living in the state or were too young to vote in 2008.

And we're seeing here that makes a huge difference in support for sanders. So he does much, much better among those younger people and first time primary voters I suspect he does the same in Iowa.

COSTELLO: I think it is important to point out too Dana that New Hampshire and Iowa, you are surveying mostly white voters. That is not strength of the Democratic Party for sure. So that does make a difference.

BASH: That is exactly what the Hillary Clinton campaign is trying to pound into every reporters that he had the reporters head they talk to. Iowa has a very white demographic. Same goes for New Hampshire and that is the demographic that at least his own political life, Bernie Sanders has won with. He comes from Vermont, another very white state, which is why the Clinton campaign is turning their focus in a big way to South Carolina, which is more in keeping with the Democrats demographic that they tend to rely on to win national. However, I've talked to several Clinton sources, or I should say

Clinton allies, people who want her to win who are getting more and more worried about South Carolina. Because the Sanders campaign as it becomes more and more robust and aggressive, they are going into South Carolina, not necessarily his naturally habitat, if you will. But they are trying to tap into the black vote, for example, that Hillary Clinton and the Clinton team thought that they were going to do very well with.

[09:25:00] COSTELLO: OK. And just one last question for you, Andy, because I think this is important. And if you could keep your answer short that would be great because I have to hit the brake here.

So, Andy, how much did the results in Iowa and New Hampshire really matter when you look at the big picture?

SMITH: I think they matter a lot. New Hampshire has historically been the state which makes the most difference in determining the delegates that you get after New Hampshire.

John Fund mentioned earlier the importance of momentum. Voters in states like South Carolina are just starting to engage. The winners of New Hampshire and Iowa and if Sanders wins both, he's going seen as a winner and Clinton is going to be seen as the loser. And that is the key factor for voters in any primary or caucus. They want somebody who can win in November. Win is win, lose is lose.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave there.

Andy Smith and Dana Bash, thanks to both of you.

And I want to --

BASH: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

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

It is the final pitch for all the candidates before the first votes are cast and a unique opportunity for Iowans to ask questions of the three Democrats. That's Monday night at 9:00 Eastern, only on CNN.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: bracing for a blizzard. This is what the roads look like right now in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tens of millions of Americans in the path of this major storm. We're waiting to hear from the D.C. mayor.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)