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New Day
Arctic Blast Grips Northeast; Rams and Patriots Head to Super Bowl; Controversial Missed Call; Rhodes Scholarship Winner on DACA Deal. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired January 21, 2019 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:32:20] ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: The northeastern U.S. is waking up to bitter, dangerous cold. Temperatures in the teens, the single digits after the region was hit with snow, sleet and freezing rain. Of course, the Midwest was as well. Parts of Maine digging out from well over a foot of snow. The severe weather also canceling thousands of flights.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now live with more.
Chilly in the ATL too.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. I can finally feel my fingers now after being in the office for a while. It is so cold. And feels like 40 degrees colder in Detroit right now than it does here. So I feel for you Detroit and Southfield and Grand Rapids, it is so cold.
Lots of snow on the ground, lots of ice on the ground, too. Lots of sleet mixed in, especially in Indianapolis, all the way through Columbus and points north of there. That's going to take a long time to melt off, so we're not going to warm up very much for a while until that ice and snow does finally get away. We will see some -- a little bit of light snow here. This is called lake-effect snow, but nothing like we've seen here over the past couple of days. Almost two feet of snow in some spots.
Now, it does warm up for the weekend a little bit in New York. The dog will finally want to go back out somewhere around Thursday or Friday because right now my dog didn't want to go out at all this morning. He peeked out and said oh, oh, heck no with this. But, finally, we warm a little bit on Thursday and then a cool down again for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. But, still, about where we should be. This has been a very cold weekend.
John.
BERMAN: Indeed. All right, Chad, thanks very much.
What started as a medical emergency blossomed to a full-fledged nightmare for passengers on a United Flight that was going from Newark to Hong Kong. The flight was diverted to Newfoundland to assess a sick passenger. Mechanical problems prevented the plane from taking off and the Goosby (ph) Airport did not have a customs officer on duty to meet the plane. Passengers were forced to sit and wait on that plane for 14 hours with limited supplies and temperatures outside dropping to negative 20 degrees. United has apologized.
Yes.
HILL: Not the not last we're going to hear of that one.
BERMAN: Oh, no.
HILL: Star gazers still soaking up last night's super blood wolf moon. Do we call them moon gazers this time around? The moon, earth, and sun lining up to create a rare total lunar eclipse. It was visible throughout North and South America, Europe and Africa, and it happened at the same time as the super moon, when the moon is full and closest to the earth. The earth cast two shadows on the moon during the eclipse. And thanks to sunlight passing through the earth's atmosphere, the moon appeared red at times.
BERMAN: I think it's after Wolf Blitzer, by the way. I want to see his face for the super blood wolf moon. Wouldn't it be cool to see Wolf's face on that.
HILL: We should recreate that.
BERMAN: Exactly.
HILL: We'll work on a little graphic.
BERMAN: All right, after one of the wildest championship Sundays ever, Super Bowl 53 is set. It will be the Rams taking on the New England Patriots.
[06:35:01] Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
I'm not going to forget last night, Andy, but Saints fans, man oh man, do they have something to be angry about.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys.
Yes, I'm not sure the sun is going to come up in New Orleans this morning. The Saints, you know, they were on the wrong side of the Minnesota Miracle last year and now probably the worst no call in NFL history has cost them a trip to the Super Bowl.
It was fourth quarter, tie game, Saints a first down away from running out the clock and kicking an easy game-winning field goal. On third down, Nickell Robey-Coleman just drilled Saints receive Tommy Lee Lewis before the ball arrived. Obvious pass interference. Well, not to the officials watching the play. And if you're wondering, there were two officials in position to make that call. One right behind the play, one right in front of it.
But Bill Vinovich's crew, they threw the fewest number of flags in the NFL this season. They should have thrown one more there. The worst no call ever ends up deciding the game. Rams win 26-23 in overtime. And the no call was so bad, the NFL's vice president of officiating called Sean Peyton right after the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN PAYTON, SAINTS HEAD COACH: It's a disappointing way to lose a game. It's frustrating, you know. Just getting off the phone with the league office. They blew the call. They said, this should never have not been a call. They said not only was it not interference, it was helmet to helmet. There were two calls. They just -- they couldn't believe it. It happened, though, so you can't dwell on it. We -- you know, we'll probably never get over it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: All right, the AFC championship game was also a thriller. For the first time ever, there were four league changes in the fourth quarter. And Tom Brady, once again, proving why he's the greatest of all time, making all the big throws when he needed to late in this game.
The Patriots also got some lucky bounces. They went into overtime 37- 31. For the ninth time Brady and Belichick are going to the Super Bowl. That's more than twice any other coach/player combo in NFL history. And, you know, some fans disappointed, guys, that they're going to have to watch the Patriots play in the Super Bowl for the third straight year. John, I know you are not one of those fans.
BERMAN: No. No. I don't understand what you mean by lucky bounces, Andy. We're going to leave that. I'm going to let you get away with that one for a second. And to our audience out there, I'm not going to talk about the Patriots for a few seconds because I think people are getting upset at me for talking about them so much.
But we brought Joe Lockhart back, Andy, to talk about the NFL calling Sean Peyton.
Joe, in addition to being press secretary for President Clinton, was also communications director, executive vice president of the NFL up until very recently.
Joe, when the NFL gets a play so wrong, when the refs get a play so wrong, is there anything that can be done?
JOE LOCKHART, FORMER NFL EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT: There really isn't. These plays aren't reviewable under the rules. A lot of times the, you know, whoever you're rooting for you see it your way and the guys sitting in New York, they don't care who wins. So sometimes it's a complicated catch, no catch.
This wasn't complicated. They just blew the call.
I mean the interesting part about this is, there's a history with the Saints and the league office going back to bounty-gate and there's a lot of mistrust. And, you know, Sean Peyton is a great coach, but he's not particularly a big fan of the league.
And the ironic thing is, at the end of -- during the off-season, Sean Peyton was put on the competition committee and they -- you know, they do some work during the year, but their work really starts after the Super Bowl and they'll be meeting. And you want to be a fly on the wall in the competition committee when Sean Peyton comes in and talks about officiating.
BERMAN: But just to put a fine point on it, is this black and white? That call gets made. The Saints are going to the Super Bowl?
LOCKHART: The call gets made, they can't replay the game, they can't call it back. And, you know, there are a couple times a year where Al Riveron, on the vice president of officiating, has to just pick up the phone and say, we're sorry.
BERMAN: I'm sure people in New Orleans, not enough (INAUDIBLE) sorry.
LOCKHART: Not enough.
BERMAN: All right, Joe, appreciate it.
HILL: No, as he said, we're not going to get over it for --
BERMAN: No.
HILL: Which -- and you can't blame them.
BERMAN: No.
HILL: President Trump's latest offer to reopen the government includes some protections for dreamers, as well as money for the border wall. We'll speak with the first dreamer to win the Rhodes scholarship about his feelings on this latest proposal.
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[06:43:34] BERMAN: President Trump proposed a deal to reopen the government. The plan includes temporary protections for DACA recipients in exchange for $5.7 billion in border wall funding. Now, Democrats have already rejected the offer.
Joining me now is someone with a unique take on this. It's Jim Park. He is the first DACA recipient to win the Rhodes scholarship, waiting to go to Oxford next fall. In the meantime, you're here just waiting, Jim.
Thanks so much for being with us.
When you hear the president extending an offer of an additional three years of protections, because right now you're in a illegal limbo.
JIM PARK, FIRST DACA RECIPIENT TO WIN RHODES SCHOLARSHIP: Yes. Right. That's right.
BERMAN: You don't know what will happen to you.
PARK: That's right.
BERMAN: Is a three-year extension of protections progress?
PARK: No, it's not. And I think we have to remember, if somebody came to you in the middle of the night, broke a bunch of stuff and then told you I'll give you $5 billion -- or give me $5 billion in exchange to fix it, you would naturally ask, what are you talking about, right?
So the president of the United States was the person to end the DACA program, he's the reason why the DACA program is currently on stay through a nationwide injunction at the federal judiciary. And so, to me, the fact that DACA is -- ultimately it's prosecutorial discretion, right? And so extending it three years, it's not permanent. We need some permanent solution to regularize the status of DACA recipients and TPS (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: What is it like to live here with no sense of permanence?
PARK: Yes. Yes. And so thinking about that question yesterday, I went back to a letter from -- from Dr. King that he wrote in Birmingham Jail, and he talks about the difference between moral and legal. And so when I think about what it's like to live in America under this uncertainty, I want to urge consideration that what's moral is not what's legal, right?
[06:45:23] And when I think about the wall -- you know, when I was a kid, my parents and I would go to the Statue of Liberty. And we would just be on the ferry looking at it, marveling at its spectacular symbolism. And human beings are symbolic creatures, right? And so we look at symbols to guide our behavior and our customs and traditions. And so thinking about the possibility that a wall could be at the southern border of my country is really disheartening and discouraging.
BERMAN: The wall -- had the wall been in place, would your family have been prevented from coming here?
PARK: No. And that's an important thing to note that I think around 40 percent of undocumented immigrants come to the U.S. by plane and overstay their visa. That's how they become undocumented. And a wall wouldn't have fixed that. So someone like me would not -- I would not -- it wouldn't have prevented me from being undocumented. And that's something that I think this administration doesn't actually get, right, that a lot of undocumented folks don't come in through -- with inspection and overstay their visas and that's how they become undocumented.
BERMAN: You were a visa overstay?
PARK: That's right.
BERMAN: All right, you are headed to Oxford in the fall.
PARK: That's right.
BERMAN: We talk about the legal limbo here. One of the things that isn't at all clear is, once you go to the U.K. --
PARK: Yes.
BERMAN: Whether you can come back.
PARK: Yes. And I still don't know. So last time I was here, I was still uncertain about how I'm going to figure out the legal challenge of going to the -- going abroad and coming back with some sort of guarantee that I'll be able to return.
But the bottom line is this, DACA remains one of the most important advances for the immigrant rights community. And my ability to go and come back, there might be a possibility that through DACA, a provision called Advanced Parole, might allow me to leave. And so I think it's -- it's important to keep in mind that DACA, that itself is a victory for the immigrant rights community and we have to mobilize around it. In addition to DACA, some permanent legislative solution that's enshrined in the law that regulates the status of DACA recipients.
BERMAN: Now, I understand -- it sounds like politically --
PARK: Right.
BERMAN: You're against the wall anyway. But, again, personally, and for other people like you who are living in this limbo, it's an argument over $5 billion, which is a lot of money I know --
PARK: Yes.
BERMAN: But in terms of the U.S. budget it's tiny.
PARK: Yes.
BERMAN: It's a tiny little bit of money. Some fencing, some barrier here. Do you feel like it would be worth giving money to a construction project to end, even if just for a few years, this uncertainty you're living under?
PARK: Yes. So there are two things, right? The first thing is, I don't see it personally as just a construction project. Again, I see the symbols that signify what America means. That -- the Statue of Liberty is one of them, right? And I think -- so it's not just about whether or not we're going to allow the president to start his construction project. It's a symbol -- it's a powerful symbol of what we're saying to immigrants and people outside of the country.
The second thing is, if the president really wanted to protect dreamers, he wouldn't have ended DACA and DACA would not be currently teetering because of a nationwide injunction in the federal judiciary. And so if he really wanted to protect DACA recipients, he wouldn't have ended the program.
BERMAN: If it was a permanent solution -- would you be in favor of some funding if there's a permanent solution?
PARK: So that would be a different question. And that's -- that's one of the important things, we need some permanent, legislative solution, but I think that can happen after we end the shutdown. BERMAN: Jim Park, thanks so much for being with us this morning. As I
said, congratulations.
PARK: Thank you.
BERMAN: Headed to Oxford next year. And I hope that we see you back here in the United States after you go there.
PARK: Yes. Thanks for having me.
BERMAN: Erica.
HILL: "Saturday Night Live" giving the government shutdown the game show treatment. That's next.
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[06:52:55] HILL: "Saturday Night Live" doing a little "Deal or No Deal" in its spoof of the government shutdown. Here's a look at some of your late night laughs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Now in your briefcase here you got the deal that Congress offered you in December.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I said no deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, nobody's excited about that play.
Nancy, how you feeling tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, just normal, not like drunk on my own power or anything.
I'm so sorry, Mr. President, if the government's shut down, you can't do the State of the Union. It's for security reasons, not because I'm vindictive or anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't do the State of the Union? Then, guess what, you're not flying to Afghanistan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no. I can't go on my vacation to a war zone? What will I do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to open that case from the Clemson football player.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, that's not a briefcase, that is a crave case from White Castle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'd still like to have him open it, Steve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. OK, fine, open the case, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hamburgers. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: And then the sound miraculously stopped.
HILL: Uh-huh. That's exactly what happened on Saturday night too. No, it went on.
BERMAN: Kate McKinnon as Nancy Pelosi is one of the best developments so far in 2019.
HILL: I do like that for 2019, yes. I'll give you that.
BERMAN: It's turning out to be a good year.
All right, President Trump's proposal to end the government shutdown, not making Democrats or some conservatives happy. Is the president showing cracks in his deal-making abilities? That's next.
HILL: Also, this Sunday at 9:00 Eastern on CNN, be sure to tune in for a remarkable true story about triplets separated at birth. Here's a look at three identical strangers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I tell people my story, they don't believe it. But it's true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've always thought, what would it be like if you turned the corner one day and you saw yourself.
[06:55:02] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my, God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first time that the boys met the three together, it was a miracle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was nothing that could keep us apart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's when things kind of got funky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something was just not right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to know the truth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was always a question mark.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The parents had never been told.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're trying to conceal what they did from the people they did it to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's still so much that we don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How could you not tell us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Three Identical Strangers," Sunday at 9:00 Eastern on CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am here to break the logjam and provide Congress with a path forward.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first thing we need to do is open the government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president's been very clear, he's talking about 234 miles of fencing along a 2,000 mile border.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's the one who got rid of DACA protection in the first place. I don't think you should even consider this.
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: It's our understanding that they went on throughout 2016. The president can remember having conversations with him about it.
[07:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He keeps having to readjust his stories as more facts come out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president said he had no dealings with Russia during a time period when
