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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Eastern U.S. Digs Out from Blizzard; Blizzard Buries Washington; Snow Emergency Lifted in Philadelphia; Democrats' Final Sprint to Iowa; Donald Trump Talks Church at Iowa Rally; ISIS Releases New Video of Paris Attackers; Iran Plans to Revamp Airline Fleet; Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 25, 2016 - 04:29   ET

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

[04:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour.

Millions of Americans, though, digging out this morning from one of the biggest snowstorms the eastern United States has ever seen. Many face a daunting commute. Officials warning of icy roads, not to mention reduced bus, trains and plane service.

This morning about 1200 flights have been cancelled so far. Already, it's 4:30 in the East 1200 flights are not taking off. At least 16 people died due to the storm. A figure that will likely. The snowfall totals came in at record levels or close up and down the East Coast.

BERMAN: Glengarry, West Virginia, got the worst of it with 42 inches. New York, 26.8 inches. That's the second biggest snowstorm in the history ever in New York City. Washington got 22.4 inches. There's a dispute about whether they actually got more. There are some people in D.C. saying the measurements aren't valid.

Commuter s in the New York region, it's going to be tough for you this morning. The MTA says it will have service restored only on the seven busiest branches in Long Island railroad.

CNN's Ryan Young at Penn Station with more on the cleanup.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, 26.8 inches fell here in New York City. And you look all around the city, you can see the big burns of snow every single where. In fact, one of the places we're standing is here outside Penn Station. That's where the Long Island rail was shut down for some time.

We do know 80 percent of the service will resume Monday morning for those commuters. 300,000 people use that rail line. It's all a part of the city getting itself back to normal.

Now we drove in from New Jersey. One of the things that we noticed is, most of the roadways were clear. And in fact, it was very easy to get around most of the major intersections of the city. But all along the side streets, people were dealing with what you know that they were dealing with, which is that heavy inches of snow all over the place.

It's going to be a long cleanup effort all up and down throughout New York City. And something that we'll be watching and paying attention to -- John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Ryan for us. Thank you.

One of the hardest hit areas this morning the nation's capital. Roads still being plowed in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Look at that. Federal government offices and schools in the region are all closed today. And the D.C. Metro system will be running on a reduced schedule.

For the latest from Washington, let's bring in CNN's Jennifer Gray.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, day two of the big dig is beginning today and we have a lot of snow still to clean up. The crews have been out all night long on the roads trying to get them clear and I can tell you, Pennsylvania Avenue even has a stack of snow on top of it. However, some of the major roads, a lot of the major arteries are getting plowed, are getting cleared, but even in the downtown area, some of these roads are still not.

So that's part of the reason school was canceled again today. City of D.C., government office as well as the federal government closed down today as well. It's just going to take time to get the city back up and running. On top of that, we had a beautiful day on Sunday. Blue skies, temperatures got above freezing. We had a little bit of melting going on so it is going to be very dangerous, the morning commute.

We're going to have a lot of black ice and so again that's another reason why they cancelled school as well as those government offices. So it is going to take a while to get the city back up and running. We've been talking about these incredible snowfall totals. Dulles ranked number two as the snowiest storm ever. Reagan ranked number four. And so the storm definitely lived up to the hype.

This was epic here across the nation's capital. Still a quiet scene, though, in D.C. for the next couple of days -- John and Christine.

BERMAN: All right. Jennifer, thanks so much.

This powerful winter storm brought on flooding during high tides in some coastal communities in New Jersey. That's not only prompted evacuations but also brought back painful memories from Super Storm Sandy. Even though officials say there was no major damage.

CNN's Boris Sanchez has that part of the story from southern New Jersey.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the cleanup continues here in Ventnor City, New Jersey. This is a coastal community and as you can see behind me, when high tide came through, it created a mess on the street.

This is clear compared to how it was when the water was in the middle of the street, trash and ice strewn about.

I actually spoke to a couple who tells me that this area does get flooded more or less every time there's a nor'easter. Part of the reason why is because, as we look on this side, there's a bay, there's a canal, that runs through this neighborhood.

And coincidentally, as this storm was peaking, the full moon was in effect. So the tide was just that much higher. It was about a foot of water that came through this neighborhood. You can see the high water mark right there.

The gentleman that lives here told us that his garage did get full of water, but fortunately, he was prepared. He made preparations and raised several of his belongings so they wouldn't be affected by the water.

Coincidentally, we did speak to some neighbors that didn't really prepare for the storm. They didn't put up sand bags or board up. We asked them why and they told us that essentially the sand bags, when you live in a community like this, are useless. They say the water is going to do what the water is going to do. Fortunately, in this case, the water did not do much damage.

You can imagine, this is an area that was seriously affected by Super Storm Sandy just a few years ago. Doesn't really compare to what's happening now but fortunately it does not appear that the water damage is as extensive as it was then -- John, Christine.

[04:35:09] ROMANS: Good news on that front. Thanks so much for that, Boris.

New information this morning about that huge traffic jam on the Pennsylvania turnpike. Officials say the collision of two tractor- trailers riding in the wrong lane, the narrow construction lane during the Friday night blizzard forced the shutdown of most of the highway. Trapped drivers and roughly 500 vehicles for nearly 24 hours. State officials have apologized and are promising to learn from the debacle.

There were high school students from Omaha, there were two different college sports teams stuck there.

BERMAN: Sharing a bus.

ROMANS: It's unbelievable.

BERMAN: All right. So what is on tap for today's weather and when might this all melt? Let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Christine.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JAVAHERI: Let's send it back to you. ROMANS: That's good for those little ski hills around here that have

been struggling. They have not been able to get any snow. And now they finally have some.

For those facing that tough commute or shoveling, this is a reminder. Sometimes snow is prettiest when you have perspective, when you're not in it. Take a look at the screen. Drone video of the blizzard's aftermath. This was taken just above the shoreline on New York's Staten Island. Pretty.

BERMAN: It is very nice.

ROMANS: I hope that drone is registered.

BERMAN: Yes. We could get someone from CNN in big trouble for this right now.

All right. The Democrats, they will face voters tonight in a CNN town hall. The stage is set. A stage where Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, they will all be on it for the very last time before votes are cast in Iowa. So what will happen? Stay ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:41:45] BERMAN: One week from today, actual Iowa voters go to the actual Iowa caucuses and they will caucus and they will vote. For real. Democratic candidates, they get together tonight at a CNN town hall. This is the final chance for them to be on the same stage and answer questions from voters. Chris Cuomo will be moderating this.

Hillary Clinton, she got a small boost after trailing in the polls for the last few weeks. Two big endorsements, one from "The Boston Globe," which is huge in New England and New Hampshire, and one from "The Des Moines Register."

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest on the final sprint to Iowa.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, one week until the Iowa caucuses and the Democratic race is deadlocked. You could hear it in the voices of the candidates over the weekend as they traveled across the state urging voters to listen to their campaigns.

Now Hillary Clinton is making a pitch for urgency. She's saying that voters need to be with her, embrace her experience. This is what she said on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why? The stakes in this election are so high and we have to start to move toward nominating and electing a president and commander-in-chief who will continue the progress we've made, make sure it is not ripped away forcing us to once again be disappointed.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ZELENY: Now Bernie Sanders is asking his supporters to believe, believe in their ideals, believe in the possibility. He made a slightly different argument as he campaigned on Sunday. He reminded his supporters that it's close, he can win if they come out and support him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, we are locked in a very, very close race right here in Iowa and if we have the kind of turnout that I hope we can, we're going to win here in Iowa.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: And if we win here in Iowa, I think we're going to do very, very well in New Hampshire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now Clinton, Sanders, and former Maryland governor, Martin O'Malley will be on campus here at Drake University in Des Moines, making their pitch to voters at the CNN town hall meeting tonight. After that, the campaigns are getting into overdrive, mobilizing their supporters that they've spent months and months cultivating.

The question here is this, is it the inspiration from the Bernie Sanders campaign against the organization from the Clinton campaign that's actually going to win out here? The turnout is always important, but in this case in particular, will there be a big turnout like there was in 2008 for Barack Obama or a slightly smaller turnout as in previous years? That is going to determine who wins the Iowa caucuses and how long this Democratic presidential race goes on -- John and Christine.

BERMAN: All right. Jeff, thank you so much.

So this is tonight. The CNN town hall. 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Exactly one week before votes are cast in Iowa. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, they will face-to-face with voters in Des Moines. Chris Cuomo moderates. The candidates will appear for 30 minutes each to take questions from Chris and a large audience. Sanders will go first, then Martin O'Malley then Clinton. That is at 9:00 p.m. Eastern live only on CNN.

[04:45:02] ROMANS: All right. On the Republican side, Donald Trump enters the week with a reason to smile. A brand new FOX News poll now puts him in the lead in Iowa by a double-digit margin. Just two weeks ago, he was four points behind Ted Cruz.

Today is a busy day for Trump. He heads from Iowa to an afternoon interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer at Trump Tower in New York, then an evening rally in New Hampshire, then back to Iowa for more campaigning tomorrow. He's got a -- like a teleporter. No, he's got his own plane.

More now on Trump's final dash to the caucuses from CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Christine. Donald Trump on Sunday delivering his typical stump speech here in Muscatine, Iowa, with just eight days to go before the Iowa caucuses.

Before heading over to the rally here, he did attend church services Sunday morning. Obviously important here in the state of Iowa where evangelical voters are a key portion of the Republican primary electorate. He attended those services for about an hour and then headed over here where he did remark upon the fact that he attended those services, talked about how during the services they were discussing humility, and wondering whether that was directed at him.

Of course, also, Donald Trump hitting his rivals and talking about Ted Cruz being backed by oil money and talking about his position on phasing out the ethanol mandate. Talking about how that will be unfavorable for the economy here in Iowa. And of course going after Jeb Bush as he typically does. He talked about how Jeb Bush should just get out of the race.

And a week out from the Iowa caucuses, it still remains to be seen exactly whether Donald Trump can turn out supporters in the droves that are needed for him to secure a victory next Monday. But of course, he has a strong team in place here in Iowa. They have been pretty hush-hush, though, about the strategy that they are using to make sure that they get that victory and they are relying on a lot of first-time caucus voters.

So it remains to be seen if they can actually turn those people out, but they're certainly putting in their best effort and a week from now we'll have those results -- John and Christine, back to you.

BERMAN: All right, Jeremy. Thanks so much.

Trump may not end up being the only billionaire in the race. Former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, drawing up plans for a possible third party run especially -- insiders say -- if Trump gets the Republican nomination and Bernie Sanders gets the nomination for the Democrats. Trump says he would relish the competition. Bernie Sanders says he is confident that he could win against two men that he says prove his point about the ultra wealthy taking control of the country.

ROMANS: All right. Sarah Palin giving us another great reason to bring back Tina Fey this week. Fey returned after the former Alaska governor endorsed Donald Trump. And it was hilarious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TINA FEY, ACTRESS: We Americans are struggling. So many of us have lost our jobs at the factory or reality shows about Alaska. We've seen our own children targeted by the police for no reason other than they committed some crimes.

I'm here for all you teachers and teamsters. You farmers and charmers. Whether you're a mom or two broke girls or three men a baby, or a rock and roller, holy roller pushing stroller, pro-bowler with an abscess molar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a firecracker. She's a real pistol. She's crazy, isn't she?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yes. So that happens.

ROMANS: The sweater. The bolero sweater. I love the sweater.

BERMAN: I -- the sweater. There's a debate over the sweater.

ROMANS: Is there?

BERMAN: For sure. You know, better than Donald Trump's tie. That Donald Trump, he ties his ties too long. Just saying.

Oil prices tanking. What does that mean for the stock market rally or lack thereof? Let's get an EARLY START on your money next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:01] BERMAN: ISIS has released a gruesome new propaganda video containing what it claims are the final words of the nine Paris attackers including suspected ringleader. It also seems to confirm that orders of the massacre came from the very top.

CNN's Nic Robertson is live in London with the details.

Nic, what are you learning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, this is a very slickly produced propaganda video by ISIS. It is 17 minutes long. It starts off with a montage of video images of the night of the attack taken from news media, often with the news media commentary on them. Then it cuts to the beginning of a sequence of interviews with each of the people it says were involved in the Paris attacks. There are three that they say are French, four they claimed a Belgian, two of them are Iraqis.

But this is a very, very crucial video. This is very much in keeping with some of the ISIS videos we've seen in the past. Brutal executions of people and each execution is carried out by one of the attackers. They're in brand new camouflage equipment. They look -- they appear to be in the desert and Iraq or in Syria. And they have a message. The message is that they're going to attack. Two of them actually seem to indicate very clearly that their target is going to be Paris.

After one brutal execution, one of the -- one of the alleged attackers says soon the Champs Elysees, that big boulevard in the central Paris, I believe everyone is familiar with, and another one says, we will be attacking at the feet, the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. So it's a very clear narrative, propaganda from ISIS to say OK, these guys who attacked in Paris actually it all began here in Syria and Iraq. Indeed you see some automatic weapons by a training where they're shooting at what appeared to be -- could be human targets painted on a wall, John.

BERMAN: Yes. It appears they want to show the linkages there, the connective tissue between and Syria and Europe and around the world. Propaganda to be sure.

Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

ROMANS: This morning flights may resume from the U.S. to Iran following a decades-long hiatus. Airlines used to fly daily from New York's Tehran before the Islamic Revolution. Now in the wake of the nuclear deal and the dropping of sanctions, the country is looking to rebuild its airline industry.

Senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen live for us in Tehran with the latest developments.

And, Fred, a lot of reports that Iran is looking to purchase some big, you know, high cost airplanes because they need to -- it needs to really revamp its air infrastructure.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. I mean, it needs to revamp its air infrastructure, Christine, in every way. Their airplanes are old. Their airplanes that don't have the spare parts they need. Iranian Airlines at this point in time are some of the most unsafe in the world. But at the same time, they do anticipate that a lot of tourists are going to be coming here as the country opens towards the West and also the U.S.

And you're absolutely right. One of the destinations they want to fly to they say possibly within the next couple of months is the United States. Possibly New York or L.A.

[04:55:05] The Transportation minister told me yesterday that Iran wants to buy around 500 aircrafts. About 100 short range aircraft and about 400 medium-to-long-range aircraft. And he also said about 100 of those aircrafts he would like to purchase from Boeing so it appears as though American companies could get in on those deals as well.

The Iranians say they want to upgrade their airports as well. They want to do that as fast as possible because they know they need the tourism industry on top of the oil industry they already have. So at this point in time, you can see them opening up towards the West. However, that confrontation that they have is also still there. In fact, last night, there was a video that came up of Iran's supreme leader greeting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers who took those American sailors.

A couple of weeks ago the supreme leader praised them, said that they did a great job. At the same time, the Iranians also claimed that their speed boats are superior to American Naval vessels. So you can see they do still have that confrontive tone but at the same time you can also feel the country opening up and you can feel a lot of excitement here at what many hope will be an economic recovery here -- Christine.

ROMANS: So interesting. All right. From Tehran, Fred Pleitgen for us this morning. Thanks, Fred.

BERMAN: Great to have Fred there.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: So much going on in that country right now.

All right. This morning, authorities intensifying the manhunt for three inmates who escaped from a prison in Southern California. The FBI releasing wanted poster and asked for the public's help offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to their capture. Officials say the escape was well thought out and possibly planned for months. They say all three are dangerous. They were jailed for felonies including murder and attempted murder.

ROMANS: Investigators from Malaysia and Thailand are being dispatched to the southern Thai coast to try to determine if debris that washed ashore could be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. A large piece of curbed metal was found by a fisherman on Friday. MH-370 vanished back in March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. 239 people on board.

BERMAN: Take a look.

All right. Severe turbulence forced an American Airlines flight to make an emergency landing in St. John's Newfoundland on Sunday. Seven people, four passengers and three flight attendants, were taken to a local hospital with injuries. An official says the American flight headed from Miami to Milan, Italy briefly encountered heavy turbulence that forced the diversion.

Pretty scary video.

All right. Super Bowl 50, we now know who is playing. The Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning, they are going. Tom Brady, he's going home to Giselle.

There's Peyton Manning with one of his two touchdown passes. It looks pretty good in the 20-18 victory over the Patriots. The fourth trip to the Super Bowl for Peyton Manning not sealed until this moment right here when the Patriots went for a two-point conversion with no time left after a heroic attempted comeback that failed.

Meantime, the Carolina Panthers, they just crushed the Arizona Cardinals right now. Is that Ted Ginn right there? Who's that? They played really well. That's Cam Newton. He threw for a touchdown, ran for some others. They pretty much just crushed the Arizona Cardinals. Did everything they wanted to do.

The Panthers and the Broncos, they are both number one seeds and they will face off February 7th in Santa Clara, California.

ROMANS: So the Patriots go home. Were you sad? BERMAN: Yes, I was sad. Are you kidding me? It was awful. They

were down the whole game. And then they came back three times in the fourth.

ROMANS: It was a great game.

BERMAN: They had two fourth and tens in the fourth quarter and Brady found Gronkowski twice. It was very heroic and then --

ROMANS: Those guys are really great players. But I have to say, now your work productivity is going to improve dramatically.

BERMAN: Absolutely. I can pay attention to these elections that I understand --

ROMANS: There you go. Yes, we've a little thing called the elections.

BERMAN: I hear now. I heard it last night only at about 7:00.

ROMANS: Now that the Patriots, let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning.

Asian markets closed higher. European markets are falling, though, right now. So are U.S. futures, bringing an end to a rally that started on Thursday. Oil prices there, they are falling sharply here. The price of crude has been volatile the past few weeks to say the least. It plunged below 27 bucks on Wednesday. The lowest level since 2003. Then it surged to $32 over the next two days. Crazy and now it's down more than 3 percent on concerns of global supply.

Investors are gearing up for a busy week of earnings. Big names like Amazon, Facebook, Apple, they will report fourth quarter results. Wall Street bracing for disappointing reports. Analysts expect a 5 percent profit decline for companies in the S&P 500. If that forecast holds, it would mark the first back-to-back quarterly decline since 2009. Remember 2009? That was not a great time.

Twitter overhauling its leadership in a bid to turn around the company. CEO Jack Dorsey says four of the social media company's top executives are leaving. Dorsey has been trying to revive the company he founded. Investors have been critical of its slowing user growth. Shares have lost more than half their values since its IPO in 2013.

BERMAN: Turn around. Bonnie Tyler wants to help anyway she can.

EARLY START continues right now.

The big clean up is on. This morning, cities along the East Coast, struggling to get back to something close to normal after the monster winter storm. This commute is going to be awful for so many people. We'll tell you what you need to know ahead.

ROMANS: In fact, don't even make the commute. Stay home. One week --

BERMAN: And watch us.

ROMANS: One week to Iowa the candidates out in force trying to sway voters with just seven days --

(END)