Return to Transcripts main page

Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Washington Braces for Strom; Latest Storm Prediction; North Carolina Snow; Presidential Race; Flights Canceled for Snowstorm. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired January 22, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:07] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

Our breaking news right now, Congress is wrapping up early, and Capitol Hill is shutting down. All of this because of the epic snowstorm that is literally at the doorstep of the Capitol. That building officially closing just a couple of minutes ago, noon eastern time. Lawmakers also taking Monday off for good measure. With more than two feet of snow and up to 30-mile-an-hour winds forecast for the D.C. area, this will be none too pleasing a place to be.

The blizzard warning prompting Washington's mayor to call this meeting with officials today. And she spoke a short time ago about the dangers of this storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: We see this as a major storm. It has life and death implications. And all of the residents of the District of Columbia should treat it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: In the meantime, six states, along with the District of Columbia, have declared a state of emergency. As many as 85 million people, 85 million, are set to feel the impact of this storm. All of this happening as this system slams the south with freezing rain and sleet and snow, from Tennessee to the Carolinas.

And then check this out, images from Nashville, where highways have been a mess. Yes, that's Nashville, Tennessee. Drivers stuck and others slipping and sliding their way to wherever it is they're trying to get. We're going to talk with Nashville's mayor in the next couple of hour and we're going to have much more on the forecast there and right across the country in just the next couple of minutes.

But first I want to take you right back to the nation's capital, where CNN's Chris Frates is standing by live at the salt dome.

I can only imagine that they have been shifting people on extra duty and that there are literally hundreds of thousands of pounds of salt either ready to go out or already out there in preparation for this. CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you've got it, Ashleigh. We've

been here since before dawn, and about 9:00 - just since about 9:00, it's just been a nonstop cavalcade of plows, trucks, frontend loaders. I'll tell you, the little kid in me, it's like the Tonka trucks I used to play with came to life. And we know that since about 9:00, 50 of these trucks have already come in and out.

And I want to take you though a couple more numbers here. We have over 200 plows deployed throughout this city, about 150 dump trucks, and 50 loaders. And that's all to move about 39,000 - 39,000 tons of salt. And that's filled to capacity. There's salt domes like this all over the city. They're all filled to capacity.

And we heard a little bit earlier this morning from the mayor, Muriel Bowser, and her team, and they are warning people that this is no joke. This is a serious storm and it's nothing to mess with. Here's what her director of emergency management said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS GELDART, DIR., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: I want to re-emphasize, this storm will be deadly. We need people off of the streets. So if you expect to see your street to be plowed during the day on Saturday or going through Saturday evening, it's not going to happen. We're going to keeping the roads passable. We're going to make sure our emergency crews can get to where they need to. And then come Sunday, late Saturday night and Sunday, depending on the weather, that's when we're going to start in earnest the dig out of the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So there you have it, this storm will be deadly. That's serious business. Also, we heard from the mayor who said this will be a life and death situation. So they're telling people not to go outside. And no surprise here, there's a state of emergency in D.C., in Maryland, in Virginia. That qualifies them for federal help if they need it, including the National Guard.

Now, just a few moments ago, the city government shutdown. The federal government has now shutdown. The White House canceling events there, canceling the press briefing. And I'll tell you, Ashleigh, city schools, they've been shut all day. The kids got a snow day, even though we haven't seen a flake hit the ground yet, just in preparation. They want to keep the roads clear for salt trucks like this to get their work done. They'll start to prep the roads, to make sure that we don't have another situation like we did on Wednesday, where just about an inch of snow caused havoc all over the region. They're trying to get ahead of this. But, more importantly, they're warning people, just to stay inside, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Chris, it's just - it sounds so busy where you are. And I think what you said was 39,000 tons of rock salt. I just want to let you know, up here in New York, we're talking 300,000 tons of rock salt as well at the ready with a lot more trucks like that behind you. So thank you for giving us this visual. FRATES: Why do you got to do that? Why do you got to beat D.C., New

York? I mean New Yorkers are always trying to be better than us, Ashleigh.

[12:05:04] BANFIELD: Yes, I know.

FRATES: We've got plenty of rock salt down here, too.

BANFIELD: Well, I only laugh because at this point it's just so unfathomable what's about to happy to all of our states, but it is very serious business. So I'm going to let you get back to accessing where their work is at. Chris Frates, thank you for that, live at the salt domes for us.

And then also on the phone right now I've got Washington, D.C.'s chief of police, Cathy Lanier, joining me live.

Chief Lanier, thank you for taking the time out to speak with CNN. This is really kind of you. I just wanted to ask you about some of the emergency preparation because your mayor has now announced everyone has to be off the streets by 3:00 p.m. today. How are you going to actually effectuate that?

CHIEF CATHY LANIER, WASHINGTON, D.C. POLICE (via telephone): Well, what the mayor has said is that, you know, this is a serious and dangerous storm and that we would like to have everybody remain in their homes so they can stay safe, but she's not given a declaration or ordered people, but we are taking this very seriously. So, I mean, there are some - some limited circumstances where we - we can take someone (INAUDIBLE) in imminent peril and assist them with getting shelter, but, you know, the big part of the storm is going to be very high winds, driving, blowing snow, and this is heavy wet snow. So there's going to be trees coming down and powerlines coming down. This is - this is not a storm to - to take lightly. So we really want to have people in their homes, they're remaining safe and allowing emergency workers to do what they've got to do.

BANFIELD: And with that in mind, chief, I have to ask you, a couple of years ago in New York we saw emergency vehicles and ambulances jammed into snowbanks, drifting snowbanks, like you just mentioned, and absolutely at a standstill. What are you doing, with your emergency services and with the police force, to say tie up with perhaps snowplows so that you can get through what's coming your way to help people in need?

LANIER: Well, we've taken vehicles that we know will not make it through - through these conditions out of service. So I mean there are certain vehicles that just don't belong on the roadway when there's even, you know, the begging of the storm. We have heavy duty SUVs and we also have some larger emergency trucks we can bring out. And at the end of the day, we have some Humvees on standby to go out and do what we've got to do. All that being said, when you're talking 2-plus feet of snow that's coming down with the intensity that this storm is coming, three inches an hour in some cases, there's going to be challenges. So we're asking people to just use 9/11 for emergencies. We will respond to every call. We'll get there. Sometimes it will take a little longer to get there, but we're going to get there.

BANFIELD: And my guess is that you've been a police officer in D.C. area for 25 years. So you know the drill. You've been through this before. I'm not sure if you've been through something this serious before. But what are you expecting? I know you can forecast what kind of 911, you know, responses you're going to get, what kind of calls you're going to get, what kind of emergencies. So what's sort of on the radar?

LANIER: So what typically happens - we had snowmageddon a few years ago and it's slightly different because it came in the course of a few day and it was a couple of storms on top of each other, but we still had two feet of snow out there. And so what we started to see once the snow stopped - during the snowfall, my big concern right now is collapses, roof collapses, trees and power lines snapping and coming down, because, you know, this is a beautiful city. We have a lot of big trees. So that's why we ask people to stay in their homes rather than out on the roadways or in their cars.

Then once the storm stops and people want to get out and get around and they - and they come out and start trying to move around, they're walking in the middle of the roadways because the snow is just so deep everywhere. But we still have emergency vehicles that have to get around. So we're just trying to get people to work with us as best we can, because we are going to have to respond to emergencies. There's going to be no question that we're going to have emergency calls, just like the fire department will.

BANFIELD: Without question. Chief Lanier, thank you so much for your time. And, honestly, I mean this from the bottom of my heart, good luck getting through the next 36 hours.

LANIER: Oh, thank you very much. We got it.

BANFIELD: OK, Chief Lanier joining us live from the D.C. area. The forecasters say the first flakes of snow are going to be seen where Chief Lanier is in Washington, D.C., in the next one to three hours. Chad Myers here live with me.

I think I heard you say just about an hour ago that you got the fresh model in.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

BANFIELD: And this is the one we have for the next 11 hours or so, correct?

MYERS: Exactly. Really, we update these models - they run them at the Weather Service every 12 hour. There are models that run in between, but I don't ever believe that they're as accurate as the one model that runs at 8:00 a.m., or 7:00 p.m., depending on the time zone, and then 8:00 a.m. or 10:00 p.m., depending on your time zone. So -

BANFIELD: So this is our last report and how bad is it?

MYERS: I've upped Philadelphia significantly. I think Philadelphia now it's not 10 to 14. I think it's 18 to 20.

BANFIELD: Wow.

MYERS: And we're still looking at D.C. at 20 to 30. Baltimore, 20 to 30. But we may never see that number. There may not be anywhere where there's 20 inches of snow because it will be 4 inches or 8 feet. If you add in a wind of 40 miles per hour, the drifting with this system will be tremendous.

[12:10:07] Blizzard warnings for almost 30 million people. Officially, 29 million people in a blizzard warning. Understand now, there's 20 million pets in the same warning area. They're cold, if you're cold. It's going to be that - it's going to be that serious, even for pets in and out, if they do need the go out. That's it. Baltimore, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, blizzard warnings for you.

Here's how it shapes up. It's raining in Atlanta, but it will change over to some snow. It's been snowing in Little Rock. That's six inches of snow in Little Rock, three in Nashville. Still snowing and icing in Charlotte, in Greenville, in all of North Carolina as the storm runs up the East Coast. It snows all night long. This is a long duration snow event. That means, it's going to snow for 36 hours. So if you get one inch an hour for 36 hours, that's easy math, but some people will see two to three inches per hour, just maybe not for that long. We'll get some very heavy snow here in New York City as well. They'll get snow into Connecticut, in Rhode Island and also into Massachusetts, but it will be less as it moves off to the east. The bull's eye is truly the nation's capital.

BANFIELD: Thank you for mentioning the pets. I often say, having grown up in Canada, where temperatures plunge down to minus 40, set a timer if you're going to let your pet outside.

MYERS: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Set a timer so you don't forget. It's really important. And, you know, keep an eye on your neighbors, always.

MYERS: Yes. And the water's going to freeze. Their water bowl outside isn't going to stay liquid for very, very long.

BANFIELD: Yes.

MYERS: So keep - if there's some place you can get them shelter, it's very important.

BANFIELD: Thank you, Chad Myers. Keep us posted if you do see any of those tweaks to that model.

MYERS: We'll do.

BANFIELD: Do appreciate it, Chad. We're going to talk to him in just a little bit again for updates.

We've been watching, of course, those metro centers of D.C. and Philly, but much farther south, we're going to have plenty of problems there too. Blizzard conditions to deal with. Yes, in the south. Here is the proof. This is earlier today in Charlotte, North Carolina. The morning commute through snow and through slush. That is not a misprint on your screen. That is Charlotte. It's also home to a major airline hub where very few planes are moving today as that storm arrives in earnest.

CNN's Polo Sandoval doing the duty for us in Charlotte.

This is a big weekend for the NFL. It's the championship game on Sunday. I know you can play football in the snow, but is there any special plan in place for this?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually, Ashleigh, I can see the stadium from where I'm standing between buildings and I can tell you that they have been working to clear those parking lots of all that snow and ice because that game is still scheduled. The concern, though, is for the folks who may be making their way into town to take part of what is expected to be a huge event on Sunday.

About 800,000 people call this place home. And you can bet at this hour, nearly all of them are affected in some way, shape or form. Back to the football angle here. In fact this park in Charlotte was supposed to be hosting a huge pep rally at about this time. They were expecting about 4,000 or 5,000 people here. Instead, you will only find me and a couple of folks that have taken their dogs out to play in the snow. And even, I have to tell you, Ashleigh, even walking around has been treacherous, not to mention driving. It's one of the reasons why officials are trying to drive that point home for people to stay indoors at least today if they don't have to go out. Sadly, we have seen those numbers, at least four weather-relate deaths. That's a number that they do not want to see go any higher, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: I just - I'm not used to seeing you dressed like that in - in the Carolinas. It's just odd. Polo, thank you for that.

SANDOVAL: Yes.

BANFIELD: And stay warm, my friend. I know you've had an outside job all mornings, so thank you for your efforts. We appreciate it.

Coming up next, a place we are used to seeing a lot of snow, Iowa. Guess what? The final four just ten days away, these four. It is a showdown, folks, and the only thing clear in the newest polls is that anything can happen on either side. Lots to talk about. Lots of sniping. Much of it in print. Indelible. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:18:07] BANFIELD: In just 11 short days, we're going to have some actual, official results from actual official voters in the 2016 race for president. And until then, we don't have that. Instead, we have something very tantalizing, brand-new polls, that suggest yet again Donald Trump is out ahead, and so is Bernie Sander, two unconventional populist candidates with seemingly nothing else in common. Each have opened up meaningful leads in Iowa. With the Iowa caucuses now just ten days away, Trump is polling 11 points ahead of Ted Cruz among likely GOP caucus goers. Bernie Sanders has now pulled 8 points ahead of Hillary Clinton. But each of those leads depends on voters who haven't caucused before, or at least haven't caucused regularly. That's important.

When we sample Iowa republicans who did turn out back in 2012, the outcome is different, Trump and Cruz are neck and neck. Among Iowa Democratic who caucused in '08, Hillary Clinton leads. And not just by a little, a lot. For its part, "The National Review," the magazine, is certainly hoping to sway Republicans everywhere against Trump. That's officially the title, "Against Trump." That's the headline. It's a magazine, even though Trump calls it a newspaper.

Inside that magazine, founded by conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr., it says, and I quote, "Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free floating populism with strong-man overtones." Ouch. Unless you're Trump, because typically he just doesn't care about this stuff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, the "National Review" is a dying paper. It's got - its circulation's 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)

[12:20:11] BANFIELD: Again, it isn't a newspaper. It's a magazine. It's been around a long time.

I want to bring in executive editor of CNN Politics, Mark Preston.

I don't even think Trump cares if it's a newspaper or a magazine or if he knows the difference between. It doesn't matter to him. It doesn't matter to a lot of his supporters. But the weirdest thing here, Mark Preston, is that, you know, with 10 days to go, we have people within the GOP sniping at their two frontrunners. Usually it's the Democrats that would be doing that. But the Republicans are doing that. It's like no other race that I can - I can ever remember.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Yes, no question about it. And when you see "National Review" assemble 22 conservative thinkers and thought leaders to come together to try to take out Donald Trump, as you said, 10 days before the Iowa caucus, that's pretty amazing in many ways. You see the likes of Glenn Beck and Erik Ericson aligning themselves with establishment Republicans to try to take down Trump. Huge. On the other side, Ted Cruz, the establishment, Washington does not like Ted Cruz because he doesn't play their game. So you're right, these two gentlemen are leading not only in Iowa but in New Hampshire and their GOP establishment is trying to find a way to take them out of this race.

BANFIELD: OK. One of the establishment dropped out of the race. It was Lindsey Graham, senator, and in his mind he says both Cruz and Trump are - they're the same in terms of bad options. And I want to let you hear, and the rest of our audience hear, how he put it. It was more strident than that. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you nominate Trump and Cruz, I think you get the same outcome. You know, whether it's death by being shot or poisoning, does it really matter? I don't think the outcome will be substantially different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So no matter what is said or how it is said, is there any hope for any kind of GOP establishment candidate at this point or have they completely misread the GOP base and what the base wants out of the party?

PRESTON: I think it's a little bit of both. Look, Donald Trump is still at 37 percent right now here in Iowa. Still leads in national polls. There's obviously an attraction from conservatives for Donald Trump. So the base is coming to him. The same with Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz is somebody who went to Washington and did not get into the click. In fact, he fought against the establishment. He did things in Washington, such as shutting down the government, that got the establishment angry.

But to your point about what will happen to an establishment candidate, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, can one of them emerge? Right now they can emerge if Trump and Cruz try to destroy each other. And, quite frankly, not after the Iowa contest, because none of those establishment candidates are playing here, they're playing in New Hampshire, it will be the day after the New Hampshire primary, who will be the one on the telephone telling the other three candidates they need to get out. And that's something we're going to be looking for, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: You know, the polls seem to be having everybody reacting and panicking and changing course and - and the word establishment seems to be a really bad word these days, even for the Democrats. I want you to hear what the answer was from Hillary Rodham Clinton when Wolf Blitzer asked her about that very word. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": But are you the establishment?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just don't understand what that means. He's been in Congress. He's been elected to office a lot longer than I have. I was in the Senate for eight wonderful years representing New York. He's been in the Congress for 25. And so I'll let your viewers make their own judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Yes, it's that e-word, but the b-word is the "Boston Globe." They may be the only people with the headline, "what if the polls are all wrong," Mark Preston? Is anyone else within the candidates' teams talking about maybe the polls are off?

PRESTON: Well, if you go to Twitter and you look at her senior strategist, Hillary Clinton's senior strategist, he goes after CNN and says that our poll is off as well and calls into question our methodology. Look, let's just quickly say this about the polls. The polls are a snapshot in time of where we are at this time. And what you try to do is, you take the polls and you string them together and you try to find if there's going to be some kind of theme. That's where we are right now and that's what the polls are showing. Hillary Clinton is losing to Bernie Sanders here in Iowa. That could quickly change, though, as you know, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: It's why it is so fascinating and it's why I think all these debates have rated so incredibly high, that and the Trump factor.

Mark Preston, nice to see you. Thank you, sir.

PRESTON: Thanks, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Coming up on Monday, make sure you've got your popcorn, because exactly one week before the Iowa caucuses, CNN's Iowa Democratic presidential town hall, moderated by my colleague Chris Cuomo, starts at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here and again. It is live. Anything can happen.

Coming up next, more than 5,700 flights canceled have already been canceled, and the storm is just barely getting cranked up yet. We're going to tell you how bad things are at the various airports, whether it's going to affect you, and just how much worse it is likely to get. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:29:43] BANFIELD: If you are looking to fly out today, you had better get on the phone and check with your airline, because there's a pretty good chance something's amiss. The massive snowstorm set to pummel the East Coast is causing huge headaches for travelers. More than 5,000 flights have now been canceled and dozens of airports across the country are being impacted, if not shutting down, almost completely.

CNN's Rene Marsh joins me live from one of those airports feeling the effects at D.C.'s Reagan National Airport.

Young lady, you have just about two hours to pack it up and get out of there and get home because no one's supposed to be on the streets. And I can imagine, not a lot of planes are going to be on that tarmac behind you.

[12:30:07] RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVT. REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, I just did a count, Ashleigh. Clearly, things are thinning out here.