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New Day Sunday

Four-Hundred-Plus Americans Evacuating Ship Quarantined Due To Coronavirus; Early Voting Underway In Nevada Democratic Caucuses; President Trump To Attend NASCAR's Daytona 500 Today; Trump And Bloomberg Trade Insults On Twitter; All-Star Game MVP Award Named After Kobe Bryant; Hundreds Evacuate As Mississippi Braces For Historic Flooding. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired February 16, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:02]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And so, the traveling world is once again roiled by the question of reclining seats in economy, and just what is the right thing to do? As airlines cram in more seats to fit more passengers, they're going to have to reckon with the consequences of their design.

Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Recline.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Recline.

WALKER: The next hour of NEW DAY starts right now.

(MUSIC)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I think with just what the Democratic Party is, a party of vitality, differences of opinion which we will resolve.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will not create the energy and incitement we need to defeat Donald Trump, that candidate pursued, advocated for and enacted, racist policies.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Families in New York city who are losing their children to gun violence at alarming rates. I wanted to save lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a historic event, unprecedented in the last 35 years. We haven't seen flood levels like this in the area since 1983.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to affect a lot of people. It is certainly something that you should not take for granted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This entire weekend, it's really about paying tribute to Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi and late NBA commissioner David Stern.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be able to honor Kobe Bryant and his legacy, it's a beautiful time. It's a beautiful time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

BLACKWELL: Good Sunday morning to you. Top of the hour now. I'm Victor Blackwell.

WALKER: Good morning. And I'm Amara Walker.

BLACKWELL: Let's start with breaking news in Japan. Starting at any moment now, an evacuation of hundreds of Americans stuck aboard a cruise ship under quarantine for almost two weeks now because of the coronavirus.

WALKER: Soon, they will be bused from the Diamond Princess to board chartered flights back to the U.S. More than 400 Americans have been on board the Diamond Princess ship for the past 12 days. At least 46 of them have tested positive for coronavirus.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Matt Rivers is at the airport in Tokyo where evacuees will be boarding their flights soon. We're going to start, though, with CNN's Will Ripley, he's in Yokohama where the cruise ship is docked.

Will, what's the timeline we're expecting?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are expecting really any minute now, Victor, for passengers to depart off of the Diamond Princess, get on those buses. We count 12 parked outside the ship along with three military vehicles. And then things are expected to move pretty quickly. It's only about a 15, or 20-minute drive to airport where they will begin what could be a very long and uncomfortable journey.

Passengers on the ship were told to pack their belongings. They're also told to bring along water and snacks and to dress in layers. They were warned it might be a bumpy, long ride back to the United States.

But for many, it is a welcome ride after what they've gone through here for almost two weeks now of quarantine, confined to their cramped cabins. Many of them without windows, only able to watch television and basically look at each other under the quarantine, except for the rare, you know, hour or so they're allowed out every few days.

But there are some Americans who are being left behind both on the ship and in Japanese hospitals here, because as you mentioned, there are 46 Americans who tested positive for coronavirus. They do not qualify for these evacuation flights. Some of their family members are also choosing to stay behind.

What is the plan for them? The answer from the government, they just don't know. What the government does know, people who remain on the ship are believed to be at a higher risk of infection from coronavirus, which is why they have strongly advised all Americans who can get on these flights to do so.

WALKER: And, Matt Rivers, to you now. I mean, you have the status and a timeline on, you know, when the charter flights will depart. But yes, it will be relieving for many of the Americans who will be evacuating the ship and getting on the charter flights. But they're going to be facing yet another quarantine.

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. I mean this process for these passengers has been tough so far. It's going to remain that way for people who go back to the United States.

We're expecting two charter flights to land here at the airport, one of two airports here in Tokyo. The first plane set to land in just a few minutes from now on one of the runways behind me there. The next plane landing about an hour later. The turnaround is going to be pretty quick. As Will mentioned, this is going to be a quick process. Passengers brought here straight from the ship, put from buses on board the planes and off they go.

The first plane set to take off around midnight. The next one about two hours after that. They're heading to Travis Air Force Base in California. Some will remain there. Others will go to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

But no matter where they go, they're going to be in quarantine for two weeks. That's out of an abundance of caution, according to the American government. But according to some passengers we spoke to, they're wondering why weren't they evacuated, you know, ten days ago? They've been in quarantine more than ten days now. Where was the American government ten days ago? Why the about face?

That's why they're frustrated. But whether they're frustrated or not, they're staring at two more weeks in quarantine at a base in either California or Texas.

[07:05:05]

You know, this journey, this really ordeal for these passengers goes on.

WALKER: Very long ordeal. Matt Rivers and Will Ripley, thank you both for your reporting.

Today, the Iowa Democratic Party will begin a partial recanvass of the caucus results following the disastrous failure of their caucus app. Meanwhile, the second caucus of 2020 is this week, and nearly every Democratic candidate is campaigning throughout the state today.

BLACKWELL: Early voting got off to a rough start yesterday. Look at this precinct. Voters stood in line here for more than three hours.

So, what was the problem? Well, the large voter turnout, paired with too few volunteers to process them. WALKER: Tensions are heating up on the campaign trail between

Democratic rivals. In an interview with NBC, Joe Biden says Bernie Sanders hasn't done enough to condemn his supporters for their online behavior.

BLACKWELL: And Sanders took a swipe at Michael Bloomberg for his past positions on stop and frisk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The stuff that was said online, the way they threatened these two women who are leaders in that culinary union, it is outrageous. Just go online. I invite anybody to go and take a look, the things they said. The vicious, malicious, misogynistic things they said, the threats they put out.

And to say, I disassociate is one thing. Find out who the hell they are. Many of them work for me. Fire them, see what's going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't think he's been curious enough?

BIDEN: I'm hoping he's looking.

SANDERS: Regardless of how much money a multibillionaire candidate is willing to spend on his election, we will not create the energy and excitement we need to defeat Donald Trump if that candidate pursued, advocated for and enacted racist policies like stop and frisk, which forced communities of color in his city to live in fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: All right. Joining me to break down the headlines is Julia Manchester, Political Reporter for "The Hill", and CNN Political Analyst, Julian Zelizer.

Good morning to you. Thanks for joining us.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

WALKER: I would like to start with sound from voters in Nevada, because it gives us a sense of how they're thinking and some are admitting they haven't made up their minds yet, especially with, you know, really, no standard bearer for the Democratic Party emerging.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Who are you excited about?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leaning towards?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Biden and Amy Klobuchar.

REPORTER: OK. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang on. I don't know who I'm doing really. I know

a Democrat for sure. I just -- I can't believe what Trump has been doing.

REPORTER: So you know Democrat for sure?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll be a Democrat for sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoever makes it in the Democratic party, that's who we'll vote for in the primary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: So you can see there that you have some moderate voters like those in this family who are still looking for their candidate. Julia, you reported a bit on this. About the impact of splintering the moderate vote, which ultimately benefits Bernie Sanders, but also for the divides, the Democratic between moderates and progressives.

JULIA MANCHESTER, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Absolutely. When you look at the moderate lean of the party, it's split really between four candidates. Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Mike Bloomberg and Joe Biden. Bloomberg hasn't even officially -- you know, we haven't seen the full impact he will have. We won't see that until Super Tuesday.

But what you're seeing, I'll use New Hampshire as an example, Bernie Sanders won that primary. However, if Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg were to combine their support to one candidate, they would have won primary as well. So, it's interesting to see how it has splintered and how Sanders has amassed this progressive support and it's leading a number of us to question whether Sanders support actually has a ceiling at this point or moderates will need to consolidate and maybe try to outpace that support.

WALKER: Yes. So, Bloomberg is that other moderate. We obviously asked him from the first four contests. But he is focusing on Super Tuesday, which allots 33 percent of the delegates.

Julian, to you. I mean, this is a billionaire, multibillionaire who has spent gobs of money. And if we just put a graphic out, it will show you some of the money he's spent, nearly $400 million, $381 million so far on TV ads. This is, of course, his own money, 2,400 plus staffers with him, obviously, way outspending his opponents.

[07:10:02]

Julian, just put his candidacy into context for us and how it's impacting the race.

ZELIZER: Well, it's pretty remarkable. He's throwing retail politics out the window to some extent and really focusing on these TV ad buys. But he's benefiting from the fact that the electorate is still so uncertain and uneasy as the people in the video conveyed. And he's showing that he is able to build up his numbers.

But he's making a big bet that it's all going to pay off in some of these big state delegations and there is a lot of -- there are many questions about him from stop and frisk to his workplace that are now coming up. And, you know, it's unclear if the ads can outweigh those concerns that are emerging.

WALKER: That's a good point you bring up. As we're seeing Bloomberg's past is coming to haunt him, and you know, he's been battling a lot of sexual harassment claims, profane and sexist comments that he has allegedly made.

I want us to listen to "Washington Post" reporter who is on CNN last night talking about some of these allegations, especially about a lawsuit that regarded -- regarding a former pregnant employee and her pregnancy.

Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL KRANISH, NATIONAL POLITICAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: The saleswoman in her lawsuit said that Bloomberg told her, quote, kill it. This individual says he recalls Bloomberg said, are you going to kill it? And this witness who I interviewed said he also found that to be outrageous. Reported in the story that three sources tell me the settlement was in the six figures. But Bloomberg gave a deposition in the case that's never been made public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Can he overcome these issues with women voters and African- American voters, Julia? And also, I mean, not to minimize any of these allegations in any way, but do we have a double standard for the Democratic candidates and the current president?

MANCHESTER: Yes, exactly. I think a lot of us have been drawing that comparison in our minds. And, you know, it didn't hurt -- you know, unfortunately, these issues of sexual harassment didn't really hurt President Trump in 2016. In fact, he went on, obviously, to still win. It's a question as to whether this will hurt Michael Bloomberg, because we know the Democratic Party at least has been more vocal and more, you know, has been more willing to quash -- squash these allegations -- squash this kind of rhetoric from members of their party.

So, it will be interesting to see how the party establishment and how voters really respond to this. You know, talking to -- I followed Mike Bloomberg around Richmond yesterday and talking to a number of voters on the ground, I asked them about some of these allegations.

WALKER: Yes.

MANCHESTER: And some of these reported past comments. And they, you know, definitely condemned them. But they said at the same time, we are so focused on defeating Donald Trump, we feel that Bloomberg would be the first best candidate.

WALKER: And, quickly, I do want to give Julian the last word because you wrote a piece about this. Yes, the media, a lot of people, critics, some of the Democratic candidates, you know, wondering, hey, is Bernie Sanders a front-runner right now, even electable, a Democratic socialist?

And you remind people, look, our current president is the most radical of them all.

ZELIZER: Yes, the greatest double standard of all. I think that's a point the Democrats need to figure out, how do they make that point clear to the electorate. He is very radical in terms of policy, shifting on issues like climate change to the right.

He's very radical in how he uses his presidential power as we saw during the impeachment and his rhetoric. His public presentation is truly radical compared to what we've seen with other presidents. And we need to keep that in mind as we discuss what the range is in the Democratic Party.

WALKER: Although, that would be incumbent upon the Democrats to have appealing alternative.

ZELIZER: Yes.

WALKER: Appreciate you, Julia Manchester and Julian Zelizer.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

MANCHESTER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: It's a pretty dramatic move that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she did not intend to make. Coming up, why she says she decided to rip up the president's State of the Union speech.

WALKER: Plus, the president has been taking a victory lap since being acquitted in the impeachment trial. Now, he's going to the Daytona 500. Will he take an actual lap around the track?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:18:23]

WALKER: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is warning America's allies to steer clear of Huawei. Many European unions are turning to the Chinese tech giants to build their 5G cell networks.

BLACKWELL: Speaking in Munich today, Speaker Pelosi warned that using Huawei's technology would be choosing autocracy over democracy. Here's a portion of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: Security, economy and values all come together on the Huawei issue. In terms of national security, I have very, very deep concerns about giving the information highway direction to the Chinese government. I also think it is a matter of not having economic threats be a reason why someone would choose Huawei. It is cheaper for the moment. It is cheaper. They don't have to pay a

lot for their research and development because they reversed engineered many U.S. technologies and Western technologies.

And third, it's about values. This is very dangerous. This is about choosing autocracy over democracy on the information highway. It's about putting the state police in the pocket of every consumer in these countries because of the Chinese way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, earlier, Pelosi also spoke about the moment she ripped up President Trump's speech after the State of the Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. God bless you.

[07:20:01]

And God bless America. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Here's more of what the California Democrat told our Christiane Amanpour in Munich.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Are you giving a signal that the Democrats will fight back hard, that you will not be constrained by what you believe to be insurgent behavior on the other side, and that this is, you know, a time to go mano-a-mano?

PELOSI: Well, let me say this -- I had no intention of doing that when we went to the State of Union, that was well into the past of the first third of it. Now, I'm a speed reader, so I was reading ahead. I knew what was there.

I got past like about a third of it, and I thought this is terrible. (INAUDIBLE) a couple of pages, thinking I remember what's on this page, this page, and then I realized that most every page had something in it that was objectionable.

So it wasn't a planned thing, but it was -- one of my disappointments is the fact that with all that we have done legislatively, whether it's equal pay for equal work, raising the minimum wage, gun violence protection, issues that relate to our children, the list goes on, climate action now, we have literal press on it. It seems that if you want to get press, you have to get attention. So I thought, well, let's get attention on the fact that what he said here today was not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Well, some people call this NASCAR's Super Bowl. It starts today. Daytona 500 kicking off the 2020 season and President Trump will be there.

WALKER: He is set to speak before the race and sources say discussions are under way over whether or not he will take a lap around the track.

CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood is in West Palm Beach with more.

Will he?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That is the question, Amara, whether President Trump will take a lap when he attends the Daytona 500 later today. That is a possibility. The White House possibly planning on having the president do that lap in the presidential limo known as "The Beast".

The president will also be serving as the grand marshal of that race, which means he'll be giving that famous command, drivers start your engines. He'll make a little bit of history there. He'll be the first sitting president ever to say the words at the race. The last time a president served as grand marshal was 2004, President George W. Bush.

The campaign is also taking advantage that's likely to be friendly to President Trump by running a campaign ad with themes that are likely to go over well with the president's base. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD ANNOUNCER: America is great. Better than ever. Under President Trump's leadership, we are racing to new heights. Millions of new jobs, rising wages, record low unemployment, securing our border, protecting our country, and respecting our veterans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: The president is likely to get a warm welcome from the audience at this race today. It's keeping on a string of sporting events that the president has attended where he's gotten that warm welcome that he craves from the crowd. His attendance comes one day after he attended the most expensive fundraiser of his campaign so far here in West Palm Beach where couples paid upwards of $500,000 to attend that dinner with the president.

It was expected to bring in more than $10 million for his campaign just in that one night. That comes after the RNC and his campaign posted pretty high numbers from January, $60 million in that one month. They attributed that to impeachment victory, Amara.

BLACKWELL: Five hundred thousand dollars a couple, you don't have to invite too many couples to get $10 million.

Sarah Westwood, thanks so much. WALKER: It is a nasty battle of the billionaires that's getting worse

by the day. As Michael Bloomberg spends millions on ads targeting President Trump and the president fires back on Twitter. But are they more alike than they are different? Next, we'll talk with somebody who wrote the book on Bloomberg.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:28:17]

WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Amara Walker.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you this Sunday morning.

So, we heard carnival barking clown, massive dead energy. This is when you get when two billionaires start to insult one another on Twitter. One is the president. The other wants to be the president.

WALKER: Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to try to defeat President Trump. That money is mostly going into TV ad after TV ad, mocking the president for his record in office and his reputation before entering office.

BLACKWELL: The president responded to the Bloomberg ads on Twitter making fun of Bloomberg's height, calling him Mini Mike and his debating ability he made fun of.

Bloomberg fights back with shots at Trump's inherited wealth and his waist size.

Joining me, Eleanor Randolph, former member of "The New York Times" editorial board and author of the book, "The Many Lives of Michael Bloomberg".

Eleanor, good to have you this morning.

ELEANOR RANDOLPH, AUTHOR, "THE MANY LIVES OF MICHAEL BLOOMBERG": Hi, how are you?

BLACKWELL: Very well, thank you.

So, let's start here with these insults. You've covered him, his three terms as mayor, his life. How nasty should the country expect this could get?

RANDOLPH: You know, I think -- I mean, his main purpose right now, besides the fact that he will always wanted to run for president is to go after Trump. You know, the whole idea of when they go low, we go high, I just think -- a lot of people don't think that really works.

So, Bloomberg is not afraid to go after Trump. One of the things he says very often is who is the other billionaire? Because he's worth about $61 billion and Trump is maybe worth $3 billion.

[07:30:01] So it is -- it's quite a fight.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's interesting. The same convention at which former First Lady Michelle Obama says that when they go low, we go high, Mayor Bloomberg called Donald Trump a con.

RANDOLPH: That's right.

BLACKWELL: And that made the headlines from his speech.

But these two billionaires, New York businessmen had known each other for a long time. It's kind of like the narrative we saw from the 2016 race. They were friendly at one point and then things took a turn. What's the history between the two?

RANDOLPH: Well, you know, the Bloomberg people tend to say that Trump is a very different kind of billionaire. He inherited his wealth, lost lots of money, didn't pay his bills, whereas Bloomberg, you know, started out, he didn't have any money, had to pay his way through college and he created this machine that made him a super billionaire.

So, he didn't -- he didn't take money from people trying to fix his golf courses or anything like that. So they make a big deal about that, about the difference between the two of them.

As mayor, he had to be cordial to somebody like Donald Trump. I think it's become increasingly clear how -- how much he dislikes the man.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So, you talk about his time as mayor. That included a third term that he launched a campaign, not a traditional campaign but an influence campaign to get the law changed so he could serve for that third term. What do you know about his time in office and keeping that office, that would give us insight into his potential presidency and maybe his bucking norms that Democrats criticize the president for bucking?

RANDOLPH: You know, if you look back at the way he ran the city, he hired people -- he didn't care what party they were in. He didn't care whether they worked for an opposing candidate. He just really wanted people who could do the job that he wanted done.

And so he hired -- he makes mistakes in the people that he hired. But he generally hired a pretty good group of people and they stayed with him throughout most of those 12 years. And that -- he would often say that is the most important thing. In fact, that's what he told Trump when Trump called him after he was elected. He said, you know, hire people smarter than you are. Hire people that are super good in each of their fields.

BLACKWELL: Yes. You know, we rarely heard -- I think there's one apology we heard from President Trump, and that was for his comments on the "Access Hollywood" tape right at the end of the campaign season in 2016. We're hearing this apology from Michael Bloomberg about the stop and frisk policy that he didn't stop it soon enough, it went on too long.

Is this a man who typically apologizes? Is this someone who can be contrite?

RANDOLPH: You know, I mean, these guys don't like to apologize. You know, they are busy going forward all the time. They don't like to talk about what has happened behind -- in the past.

And so, you know, when I looked at that apology, I saw a man struggling to apologize because he believed for a long time that he was doing the right thing. And clearly, he wasn't. It took a long time for people to explain to him how much damage he had done to black and Hispanic young people in the city of New York.

BLACKWELL: You told an interviewer in December that you didn't think Bloomberg could win. Why is that?

RANDOLPH: I'm sorry. I missed that.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask again. You were promoted a book, you said in a podcast you didn't think Bloomberg could win. Why is that?

RANDOLPH: Well, look, we're seeing that now. I mean, he had two months when he was just free to say -- to declare who Michael Bloomberg is. And all those ads, they went after Trump but they also talked about Mike Bloomberg as the guy who gets it done. It was all sort of free and clear.

Now, he's suddenly -- his head is above the parapet. And you've got Biden and Sanders and others coming after him. And you know, the thing is, I just -- the problem I have with what I said back then is that I was saying the same thing in 2001. I didn't see how he could become mayor. So, I'm not sure you can trust my point of view.

BLACKWELL: All right. Eleanor Randolph, member of "The New York Times" editorial board.

[07:35:02]

And the book is "The Many Lives of Michael Bloomberg", written with years of access to the former New York mayor and now presidential candidate.

Good to have you this morning.

RANDOLPH: Thanks so much for having me.

BLACKWELL: All right.

WALKER: The NBA has made it all-star weekend an ode to Kobe Bryant. Andy is in Chicago. Now, the league is making sure his name will always be a part of the event.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Amara. Commissioner Adam Silver announcing that the MVP award for tonight's game will forever be the Kobe Bryant MVP award moving forward. And coming up, we'll hear how the players plan to pay tribute to Kobe in tonight's game.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:40:17]

BLACKWELL: When the NBA hands out the all-star MVP trophy, it will be named after Kobe Bryant.

WALKER: Andy Scholes is in Chicago for the game.

And, Andy, this is one of the ways they're honoring Kobe.

SCHOLES: Yes, that's right. Good morning, guys.

The commissioner announcing that the all-star MVP award moving forward will be the Kobe Bryant MVP award. As for tonight's game, the tributes will continue.

Team Giannis will be wearing Kobe's number 24 for the game when they step on the for, and Team LeBron will be his daughter Gigi's number 2. And this game is going to have a completely different format than previous all-star games in order to honor Kobe.

The teams are going to be competing each quarter to raise money for Chicago-based community organizations. Then the fourth quarter is going to be an untimed quarter with teams trying to reach a target score. That target score is going to be set by adding 24, Kobe's number, to who had the high score after three quarters. The teams then play to that number no natter how long it takes. The whole fourth quarter commercial-free on TNT.

I spoke with the captains of the teams. Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron, and Giannis says it's going to be a special night because of how much Kobe meant to everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO, ALL STAR GAME CAPTAIN: He was the Michael Jordan of my generation. He was one of the guys that gave back to the game so much. Gave back to the players. A lot of people when they're so big, they don't do that.

There was a quote that said talent is worthless if you won't share it, right? And he was one of the guys that was sharing his talent with us. And he's going to be definitely missed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All-star Saturday night, one of the highlights of the entire weekend.

The Kings Buddy Hield making his last money ball to beat Devin Booker by one in the three-point contest.

The drama didn't stop there. In the main event, the dunk contest. An epic battle. Derrick Jones Jr. and the Magic's Aaron Gordon going to triple overtime to decide this. Gordon had five dunks with a perfect score of 50. And he dunked over Tacko Fall. He never rehearsed. But somehow, he still lost the competition. People think Gordon was robbed of a trophy once again.

But Derrick Jones Jr., slam-dunk champion. Be sure to tune in to TNT tonight for the all-star game at 8:00 Eastern. You might want to tune in right away. It's going to be an emotional start. Jennifer Hudson doing a musical tribute to Kobe, Gigi and seven others who lost their lives in that terrible helicopter crash. It's certainly going to will be an emotional night in Chicago.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it sure will. Andy, thank you so much.

WALKERS: Waters are rising and a state of emergency has been declared in Mississippi.

Coming up, the historic flooding threatening neighborhoods in the state's capital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKERS: Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. But the second most common cause is radon. It could be in the ground where you live.

In today's staying well, we take a look at the home maintenance that can protect your family.

[07:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are setting up a radon testing device.

DR. SAEID KHANSARINIA, THORACIC SURGEON: It's a simple thing and it can save lives.

It's taken us a long time to show people the risks of smoking and tobacco use with lung cancer. It is very important for us to understand that the most second common cause is exposure to radon.

DAN DEOCAMPO, GEOLOGIST & HOMEOWNER: Uranium naturally occurs in a lot of different types of rocks. It can release natural radioactive gas. Because radon comes from the soil, it will generally be highest in the lowest level of the house, whether that's the basement or the first floor of the house.

It's important everywhere in the country to test for radon before you move into the house. And so, we did that and found very high levels of radon in the basement and so we had to mitigate that by installing some pretty simple hardware that prevents the soil gas from entering into the basement.

KHANSARINIA: Every state has different rules. And some states don't require it. Some states do. I think this is very important, just like we do termite testing, I think this is far more important than termite testing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TATE REEVES (R), MISSISSIPPI: This is a historic event. It's an unprecedented in the last 35 years. We are -- we haven't seen flood levels like this in the area since 1983.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Hundreds of people in neighborhoods around Jackson, Mississippi, they are getting out of the area because more historic flooding is coming.

WALKER: The Pearl River is expected to rise up to ten feet above flood stage, endangering more than 2,000 homes and businesses.

Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar with more.

I mean, this is serious stuff.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. The thing to notice, it's already at the fifth highest crest. But it may get as high as the third. Now, that's if we assume it gets up a foot and a half. Even if it doesn't, it has to get a half of a foot more to reach that third highest designation.

[07:50:06]

So, yes, this is a big problem. So, let's take a look at what we're dealing with, because I also want to point out, this isn't the only river gauge that we're worried about. You have seven total river gauges that are at major flood stage, 36 are at moderate flood stage and over 130 of them at minor flood stage.

So it's a pretty widespread situation here across the southeast. But now we focus in on the Pearl River. This is the one in Jackson we have been talking about. Currently, right know, it's at sitting at 36 point, just over a quarter of a foot.

They're expecting it up to get to the 38 foot level over the next 24 hours. Here's a look. We talked about this. It's currently sitting at number five, beating out this particular spot here, but has the potential to get up to the number three spot, if it indeed reaches that 38 feet.

But as we mentioned, what if it gets to only 37, what if it only gets to 36 1/2? It's still going to end up topping out at that number three spot.

Now, the impacts because everybody wants to know, that number means nothing if you don't know what the impacts are. Right now, we're already starting to see water closing in on some of the homes, but if it gets at the 38 foot level it comes inside the homes. Here are some drone video again, you can see the water up to crossing the driveways or up to the front door, but not actually inside the homes. That's the concern, as the water rises, now they're going to start to see it flowing inside the homes, inside of businesses, things of that nature.

And now, we're adding more on top of it. This is a look at the forecast over the next several days, notice it's one right after another, wave of rain coming in. Now, each individual one may not produce a ton of rain but overall look at this, two to four inches may not sound like that big of a deal but it's on top of what they have had.

Look at the last 30 days. This red area, over 6 inches. The pink over ten inches, so that ground is already entirely saturated and now we're adding more rain on top of it.

The other thing that was just the last 30 days, let's back it up even further, let's go back to the beginning of the year. Jackson, Mississippi, has had over 19 1/2 inches of rain over a foot above normal. Knoxville, Birmingham, Greenville, all ten inches above normal.

So, again, this is going to be a big problem. The focus is on Jackson and others may have a big concern once we get the next round of rain coming through, adding additional water to some other places as well.

BLACKWELL: Yes, rough time.

WALKER: Very concerning.

Allison Chinchar, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

All right. Breaking news in Japan, the evacuation of hundreds of Americans happening right now. They have been stuck on board a cruise ship under quarantine for almost two weeks now because of the coronavirus.

WALKER: These are live pictures and you can see the buses moving in. The passengers will soon be bused from the Diamond Princess ship to the airport in Tokyo to board chartered flights back to the U.S.

More than 400 Americans have been on board the Diamond Princess ship for the past 12 days, quarantined in their rooms if you can imagine that. Forty-six of them have tested positive for the coronavirus which means that they will not be able to evacuate with the others.

Earlier, health experts from the CDC spoke to some of the passengers on board and here's what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CDC OFFICIAL: Take a shower.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CDC OFFICIAL: And put on a fresh set of clothes, because sometime after six is when you're going to start disembarking from this. But it will be close to 3 in the morning or later before we actually take off and dress in layers. This is a converted cargo 747. So it has less insulation than the regular passenger jet, layers to stay warm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Got you.

CDC OFFICIAL: Any questions?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you -- I was going to ask you something, but I can't remember. Are we for sure going to be quarantined for 14 days?

CDC OFFICIAL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't like that answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes, especially after being on that ship in those small state rooms. Some of them without windows, 24 hours a day for the last 12 days. If 46 people on that ship of the 69,000-plus confirmed coronavirus cases in 28 countries.

WALKER: That's the reality, right? I mean, yes, they will be getting off the ship, they will be quarantined for 14 days unfortunately.

Well, that is our time. Thanks for starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" with Nia-Malika Henderson up next after a break.