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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Immigration Battle; Killer Snowstorm; Interview with Congressman Steve King of Iowa; Interview with Senators Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Mark Warner of Virginia

Aired November 19, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Forget shovels, rock salt, those puny little snowplows. New York State has brought in the National Guard.

I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

The national lead, a white wall trapping Western New Yorkers under a mountain of snow. Six people are dead and now, with more snow ahead, emergency crews are racing to dig out anyone else who might be trapped.

The politics lead, President Obama preparing to announce his go-it- alone executive action on immigration tomorrow, but his plans to halt deportations for some 3.5 million people in the country illegally already has the House speaker's office calling the president an emperor. How will Republicans in Congress try to stop him? Take away his funding, even shut down the government again?

And the pop culture lead, Bill Cosby's Netflix special canceled, his return to NBC scrapped, as a supermodel adds her name to the growing list of women publicly accusing one of the nation's best-loved comedians of drugging and raping her.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're going to begin today with our national lead and six people dead in one of the worst snowstorms to ever hit Buffalo, New York, and its suburbs, an area that knows from snow. Emergency crews found one man's body just this morning. He was inside his car buried under snow. Three other people had heart attacks while shoveling snow and another person died in a car accident in these very, very dangerous conditions.

To give you an idea of just how much snow fell here, trucks moved at least 230 loads of snow out of Buffalo alone. That's about 5,000 tons of snow. Plows are working to clear roads that are impassable right now, people are trapped inside their homes because huge mounds of snow are blocking their doors. This weather system has dropped more than six feet of snow on Western New York.

That is usually the total for the year. Instead, all of that snow came in just 24 hours. And guess what? More is on the way.

Let's bring in CNN correspondent Martin Savidge. He's in Buffalo right in the thick of all this. Martin, getting around there must be tricky.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Jake.

Yes, they had hay bit of a respite earlier today, but, as you can see, the snow has started falling again. We're actually outside of a fire station, which would explain why the streets look as good as they do. That said, though, they're still getting around here, the fire officials and police, on the backs of snowmobiles.

It is truly a challenge that this city is facing, and it's only going to continue to get worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE (voice-over): As Buffalo tries to dig out from an avalanche of snow, even more is on the way. The lake-effect blizzard hammered southern areas of the city Tuesday, dropping nearly six feet, yes, feet.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: I believe when all is said and done, this snowfall may break all sorts of records.

SAVIDGE: Of the 42 square miles that make up Buffalo, only 10 were impacted, but they're overwhelmed with snow the likes of which rarely, maybe even never, seen before. The impact was so specific to South Buffalo, even the airport just three miles away got only six-and-a- half inches.

A break in the weather Wednesday allowed emergency crews to start the big dig. More snow is expected Wednesday night into Friday, which could add a couple more feet on top of what they already have.

BYRON BROWN, MAYOR OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK: Please, do not be fooled by the beautiful sunshine. There is still tremendous amounts of snow on the ground in South Buffalo. If you don't have to drive, if you don't have to go out to work in other parts of the city as well, stay home.

SAVIDGE: Driving bans are still in effect in South Buffalo, where snow left many stranded on the New York Thruway, including the Niagara University women's basketball team, who got stuck on I-90 for 24 hours. That team was finally rescued, but calls keep coming in from those still stranded and, in many cases, rescues like this one last night were carried out on foot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This morning since 6:00 a.m., we had 12 new calls. So, those people right now, they should be OK, but officers last night were responding on foot.

SAVIDGE: EMS and firefighters have been depending on volunteers with snowmobiles to get into hardest-hit areas. The death toll from this brutal storm has climbed to six so far, some from cardiac arrest shoveling and others trapped in the snow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sadly, we have to announce, we found an individual today, 46-year-old male in the town of Alden. The car was buried under approximately 12 to 15 feet of snow and he was found deceased.

SAVIDGE: One of the biggest struggles, simply clearing streets. Plows aren't enough. They need front-end loaders hauling the snow away using hundreds of dump trucks.

Rescuers from as far away as Nevada have contacted Buffalo officials to offer their help, and the city says its most urgent need is for anything that can dig up and haul away the seemingly unending mountain of snow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Jake, we were able to get into the hardest-hit Southern Buffalo area. Just, really, you cannot wrap around how much snow there is. It has altered the landscape. Even people who have spent their whole life growing up there look around their neighborhood and do not recognize it. It's buried under so much white -- Jake.

TAPPER: Martin Savidge live in Buffalo, New York, thank you so much. Stay warm, my friend.

The huge piles of snow on the ground in Western New York are really only half the concern right now, believe it or not. As we mentioned, more snow is on the way and then the region will get a big warmup this weekend, but that could cause flooding. Time lapse video shows you just how massive the first wave of the storm was. This was the view from downtown Buffalo just yesterday.

You can see this wall of clouds moving over Lake Erie. Now let's show you what was left behind.

CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray has been climbing snow mounds all day. She joins us live from Buffalo.

Jennifer, what's the story where you are?

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, Jake, Martin was talking about moving this snow out.

What they have been doing all day, these bulldozers have been pushing the snow on to the corners of streets and then putting it into big dump trucks and taking it off. And when you push all of that snow, 40, 50, 60 inches of snow into the corner of a street, this is what you get.

We are standing on top of a mound that is probably 13 feet high and you have these all over the city. The problem now is, though, it's a race against time. We only have about 45 minutes of daylight left and the snow has just started to come down again in the last hour.

This isn't even the main event. The lake-effect snow will set up later tonight and it will run through Friday morning. We could possibly see two to three additional feet of snow and so that is going to mean even bigger problems for the folks here in Buffalo.

We were talking to locals all day and they say they have never in their entire lives have seen this much snow in this amount of time. The lake-effect snow warning in effect for tonight all the way through Friday morning. Jake, take a look at this. I want to show you Ralph Wilson Stadium. This is where the Buffalo Bills play.

They are offering for volunteers to come clear the stands before Sunday night's game with the Jets. They're offering to pay volunteers $10 an hour to help clear the stands. Of course, temperatures by Saturday, though, will be around 60 degrees.

So this will melt very, very fast and cause probably a lot of flooding concerns.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Ten dollars an hour doesn't sound like very much. Jennifer Gray, live for us in Buffalo, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

The women's basketball team from Niagara University is getting some well-deserved rest after spending 30 hours stuck in the snow, as Martin mentioned earlier. They were headed back from a game when the storm hit and brought their bus to a halt.

Corinne Jones is associate head coach of the team and she joins us now to talk about the experience.

Corinne, to make matters worse, your team had just lost the game and so everyone is ready to go home after a long day. This was supposed to be a four-hour trip. When did you first realize there was going to be a problem?

CORINNE JONES, NIAGARA UNIVERSITY ASSISTANT WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH: Yes.

I would say right as we were about five miles away from my car in West Seneca, and we slowed down to a complete stop, I was pretty sure we weren't going to make it that next five miles, and lo and behold, we did not. So it was just a complete standstill. It was a whiteout. We really couldn't see anything around us. We could see the FedEx truck in front of us and I knew at that point it was time to take a nap.

TAPPER: And so the first few hours pass, and the bus is going the whole time?

JONES: Yes. The bus was idle the whole time, so it was on. We had heat. We had a working bathroom.

We had outlets so we could charge our phones and really get all over social media and tell our story and get some help.

TAPPER: And then, at some point, I presume you start worrying about food and water?

JONES: Right. We did.

As the leftover pizza kind of went away and our players were saying things like I never thought I would eat veggie pizza in my life, and they finished the whole box, we started to get a little concerned that there were only granola bars left and then we have some water left. We were actually making water out of snow.

That's the few times we went out bus was to get some snow in cups, so we would have water, because we just weren't quite sure when we would be done with this journey. And then when it started turning dark out like 5:00 p.m. last night, our staff started to get a little stressed and a little anxious. We have 15 young women who are all children and have parents that are worried about them, and at that point we thought, what next? Like, how are we going get out of here, whether it be the bus or ourselves getting out through another responder or whatnot?

So, I think at that point at dark last night we started to get a little stressed.

TAPPER: And at what point did you know that help was on the way, that the state troopers were going to find you?

JONES: Yes.

We had a couple of police officers early on in the daylight yesterday that had stopped by to kind of check in, and, you know, make sure we were good. That was great. And then at about I would say 1:00 a.m., we had started to get some phone calls from, you know, New York State Troopers and the Thruway Authority, so we knew at that point when the phone calls started to come in that we would probably meet up with a first-responder or state trooper soon.

And the first-responders came first, which was amazing, because they brought Hawaiian punch and Mountain Dew and, I don't know, pretzels and all different kinds of candies and chocolate, I think, was a great thing for them to bring. So seeing other humans that weren't on our team was a nice feeling for us.

TAPPER: Were you guys scared?

JONES: We were I would say a bit nervous and anxious. Like I said, as it started to turn dark and the night, you know, we saw another night and we were about to see another sunrise, as our players would say, we were a little nervous, again, because what is the light at the end of the tunnel? We really didn't know what that meant. The snow just kept on coming, so it wasn't stopping.

TAPPER: I know that there is traditionally a lot of snow in that part of the country, but have you ever seen a storm quite like this one?

JONES: No.

You know, it came a little bit close. I had drove a player home to Cleveland a few years ago when I was on -- just started on Niagara staff and the snow was really bad in that point, but it was never to a point where I had to stop my car, but this was really the worst I have seen in that area. I'm from New England, so I know what a nor'easter is and that's what I

felt like there was. When I was home in Massachusetts as a kid, I couldn't get out of my house. We couldn't get out of the bus, so it really felt like a nor'easter to me.

TAPPER: Well, Corinne Jones, we're so glad that you and the team are OK. And I know you have a game on Saturday against the University of Buffalo.

JONES: Right.

TAPPER: Best of luck with that for the women's basketball team at Niagara University. Thank you for your time and of course stay warm. Get out of the cold.

JONES: Thank you. I would like to get back in that car quickly and back home. Thanks.

TAPPER: Now for our politics lead, a different kind of storm. President Obama today ignoring Republican calls to hold off, announcing he will take executive action on immigration. The Republicans, they have metaphors. He's waving a red flag in front of a bull, per Senate Republican McConnell. He's playing with fire and he might get burned, per House Speaker John Boehner.

What will the president's political foes now actually do? I will ask one of them next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD, everyone. I'm Jake Tapper.

In our politics lead today -- President Obama digging in his heels over immigration, despite disapproval and warnings for Republicans in both the House and Senate. President Obama says he has the executive authority to begin overhauling the country's, quote, "broken immigration system". He'll announce those controversial changes in a primetime address to the American people tomorrow night.

The actions are expected to give reprieve to as many as 3.5 million people living in the United States illegally. The Senate, of course, passed the comprehensive immigration bill last year, but House Republicans have yet to vote on that bill. Indeed, President Obama says House Republicans are impeding any sort of agreement.

One of those congressmen, Republican congressmen, Steve King of Iowa, is live at the Capitol.

Congressman, welcome.

The president says Washington has allowed this problem to fester for too long. Does he not have a point?

REP. STEVE KING (R), IOWA: His point is that Congress has to do what the president tells us to do. No, he doesn't have a point, and he doesn't have the constitutional authority to tell Congress what to do. If you remember him give the State of the Union Address just down the hallway from where I am a couple, three years ago, and at that point, Justice Alito decided, I'm not going to listen to this.

But we have our own duty here and there has been an election. And the president has said to us, win an election first and the elections have consequences. Well, there is a majority in the House of Representatives. There is a new majority coming into the Senate.

That looks to me like that the president has decided that he is going to create a controversy between the Congress -- and the American people are going to be with us on this. They want to have a border security. They want the president to help his own oath to the Constitution. They want to protect the rule of law, and I would remind the president that there are 535 of us that serve in this building that also take an old to uphold the Constitution. We've got an obligation to do so regardless of the consequences.

TAPPER: So, what measures are Republicans prepared to take to stop the president? Would you go so far as shutting down the government over this issue?

KING: Well, Jake, the first thing we need to do is review the documents that identify this policy that's going to unfold tomorrow night, and I'm confident that it's going to be unconstitutional and the reason I say that is because the president would have acted by now if he'd had executive way to do what he wants to do.

And so, if we first stipulate that it will be unconstitutional and then the House can do first this, a resolution of disapproval that would stipulate the constitutional violations and the limitations of the powers of the president. We can announce that we're prepared to cut off any funding that would implement or enforce his unconstitutional act, presuming that stipulation is unconstitutional.

That would be the first thing we can do and a resolution of disapproval. So, I would start with that. I want to do the minimum to put the president back into the constitutional -- inside those constitutional guardrails.

The second thing might be a more serious and severe act, which could be potentially an act of a censure the president, that hasn't happened in a long time. But this may warrant it.

The third thing would be to shut off the funding. And, by the way, we have to fund everything else, everything else, and we generally have agreements to fund everything else and to the dollar amount. So, it would be the president that potentially would shut the government down and saying to America, I insist on my right to violate the Constitution and to take Article One authority away from the United States Congress.

I don't think that stands, Jake.

TAPPER: Congressman, in August, you said if the president did use his executive authority to push through some sort of immigration reform, Republicans need to consider impeachment. But you didn't bring that up just now.

KING: Well, I don't think I actually said the word, because I've been pretty studious about avoiding that and nobody wants to go down that route. If that should happen and here's what I won't do. I won't make -- there are no boots -- there will be no boots on the ground statement.

We have constitutional authority to do a string of things. That would be the very last option, but I would not rule it out, Jake.

TAPPER: You've used some pretty inflammatory language in the past about illegal immigrants. Even House Speaker Boehner called that hateful once. Have you been -- has anybody in the Republican leadership asked you to tone down your language now that the debate is reheating?

KING: Well, no, not at all. And, in fact, I was describing drug smugglers in the case that you were referring to, Jake. But there hasn't been anybody in the leadership, nobody in the Republican Conference, in fact, no Democrats either, have come up to me and said tone this down.

This is serious, serious business and I want to keep us on target here. Let's do the minimum, but we must defend this Constitution and we must defend the separation of powers. That is what this comes down to, our constitutional oaths when the president potentially violates his.

TAPPER: All right. Congressman Steve King, thank you so much. We'll talk again after we see what the president is actually suggesting doing.

KING: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: Coming up, two senators, a Republican and a Democrat, say they can get something done despite the dysfunction in Washington, with more dysfunction growing. But with this latest battle over immigration, will anyone listen to them? I'll ask them, next.

Plus, new information that the grand jury could make a decision in the shooting death of Michael Brown as early as Friday, but a decision could be kept a secret for days. We'll explain, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're going to continue with our politics lead. The grand showdown over immigration that we've been waiting for now officially scheduled to kick off tomorrow night in prime time. What we know President Obama intends to say tomorrow night, as Republican Congressman Steve King just made very clear, already has Republicans preparing for a real fight.

The president wants to eliminate the threat of deportation for millions of illegal immigrants, specifically for parents of legal residents. It's a move that could impact 3.5 million people.

But could the president's move to go it alone ruin any hope for cooperation during the last two years of his presidency?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Senators Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from New Hampshire, and Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, are here to specifically to talk about ways get Washington to work. They co-authored a chapter in the new book, "Money Ball for Government".

Senators, thanks so much for being with us.

I want to get to the book in a second.

SEN. KELLY AYOTTE (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: But, first we have breaking news that's not really irrelevant to what you want to talk about.

Now, Senator Ayotte, I'll start with you. I get that Republicans don't want President Obama to act unilaterally on immigration reform, but do you think this is going to poison the well for cooperation on everything, as many Republican leaders are suggesting?

AYOTTE: I actually don't think, Jake. I think that we really want to get things done for the American people, focus on the economy, creating a better climate for job creation, and it also goes to the work that Senator Warner and I are doing, on making sure the government is more efficient and effective. So, I don't think that it will poison the well.

But what it does worry me is that it will poison the well on immigration, and we have to get our broken immigration system fixed.

TAPPER: Senator Warner, what about you --you were just reelected narrowly, fighting off that red wave by talking about the importance of working across the aisle. I saw a lot of your commercials. Is President Obama making a mistake here by acting unilaterally, do you think?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D), VIRGINIA: Well, this was a piece of legislation on immigration that Kelly and I agreed on. We had 68 senators. It may not have been perfect, but I wish the House would come back with something. Other presidents have acted on immigration through executive order, President Reagan, President Bush.

What I'm hoping is that whatever the president does and I'm not -- I haven't seen the details yet, that there may be some phase-in time and hopefully that will spur the House into action so that we could at the end of the day get it fixed legislatively. That's the better long- term solution.

TAPPER: Senator Ayotte, what about that? I mean, what Senator Warner says is accurate. The House Republicans haven't acted. AYOTTE: Yes. But Jake, you could identify any number of issues where

either the Senate Democrats didn't act or the House Republicans didn't act. And it comes down to this -- I would hope that the president would follow his own advice from 2011 where he was asked about this very issue, and he said, that's not how our democracy functions. It's not how our Constitution is written, it was written so that Congress could be weighing in on this issue and we're stronger when that happens.

TAPPER: Senator Warner, the book says that governor needs to take a more data-driven approach, steering money toward programs that are driven to work, away from programs that don't. You guys don't do that already?

WARNER: I kind of believe we don't.

Jake, I was in business longer than I've been in government. And when I was governor of Virginia, we've got named business managed state. I know what Kelly and I have been on sometimes makes people's eyes roll back into their head. But we spend less than a dollar on every federal dollar we spend, really evaluating what works and what doesn't work.

So, Kelly and I have said we'll roll up our sleeves and do the hard work of looking at actual program effectiveness. We've worked on legislation to eliminate redundant reports. We are looking now at program elimination.

I think if we're going to try to save dollars, this kind of really hard core focusing on data is one of the ways we can -- and there's no Democrat or Republican, this is data-driven approach how we govern.

TAPPER: Senator Ayotte, what are some of the areas where this approach can work?

AYOTTE: I think we need to start with the obvious, Jake. GAO issues report every year on programs that should be eliminated or evaluated and really what we want do is make sure that we're investing our taxpayer dollars on programs that actually work.

So the work has already the initial work done. We've got to take this up and get things done and base our decisions based on metrics, data and are these programs getting results for the American people.

TAPPER: Senator Ayotte and Senator Warner, thank you so much.

AYOTTE: Thanks, Jake.